Authors Note (A/N): This story takes place about a year after Sakura defeats Eriol. She is 12 in this story and in the sixth grade. Li never confessed to Sakura, and the 2nd movie didn’t happen. Things in italics are either thoughts or emphasis.
by Shadowpheonix
Meiling awoke early, thinking about everything that had happened the night before. She had prepared a private jet to take her to Li in Japan. He better be waiting for me! And Sakura better still be alive… She wasn’t sure of the whole story, even after what Li had told her. She walked to the jet and set off to find Li.
Arriving in Japan an hour later, Meiling went straight to Li’s house. Li answered the doorbell and welcomed her in. “Li, tell me more about what happened. I want to help out too.”
“I already told you everything, Meiling. Eriol said he’d have a spell by today to take us to Sakura, so we should go find him. First let’s find Tomoyo. I hope she’s not mad at me.” Li looked down at the floor solemnly.
“Why would she be mad at you? What did you do this time?” Meiling stared at him angrily.
“Nothing. Let’s go.” Li didn’t wait for her answer, he started running.
“Li! Wait up!” Meiling ran after Li, barely keeping up. What did he do to make Tomoyo mad? He seems to get everyone mad at him.
Li continued to run. I wish I didn’t get her involved. My dream is worrying me. I’ll tell Eriol about it. Maybe he’ll know what it was really about. He ran up to Tomoyo’s large mansion and rang the doorbell. Tomoyo answered the door cheerfully. “Hi! Are you ready to go to Eriol’s?”
Li continued to run. I wish I didn’t get her involved. My dream is worrying me. I’ll tell Eriol about it. Maybe he’ll know what it was really about. He ran up to Tomoyo’s large mansion and rang the doorbell. Tomoyo answered the door cheerfully. “Hi! Are you ready to go to Eriol’s?”
“Tomoyo, why would you be mad at Li?” Meiling asked. “He mentioned hoping you weren’t still mad at him. And, of course, he wouldn’t tell me anything when I asked.”
Oh no! I wish she didn’t come! Li flushed.
“Oh, it’s nothing. It really doesn’t matter. I’ve forgiven him,” Tomoyo said smiling.
“Let’s go. I don’t want to wait a second longer to save Sakura.”
Li was relieved that Tomoyo didn’t say anything. He made a mental note to thank her later. He ran after the girls who had already begun to leave for Eriol’s. He arrived at Eriol's house and patiently knocked on the door. Eriol opened it and greeted them with a cheery "hello." A few minutes later,Li regained his impatience. “Eriol! You’re done right? You better be!”
“Do you want to save Sakura?” Eriol demanded violently. “Then shut up and follow me!” Eriol led them into his study and showed him the book he had found along with his notes. “Here, take this. I didn’t look through all of it, so you’ll have to figure things out as you go.”
“Eriol, all you’ve done is give me books! Aren’t you going to tell me what’s going on?” Li asked, as impatiently as usual.
“Do you want to rescue Sakura? THEN SHUT UP! The book I just gave you has the incantation you need. It will open a portal to one of the Realms. Here are the spells you will need,” Eriol pointed to a page in the book. “This will be useful, don’t lose it.”
Li held the book open to the page Eriol hadpointed to. Eriol said he didn’t have a chance toall most of it. Maybe there’s a spell in here that will let me find where Sakura’s gone. I wonder what those other seven books he gave me are… He read the incantation aloud:
“Powers of Fire,
Powers of Earth,
Open the Path,
Create the Portal.
Powers of Wind,
Powers of Water,
Powers of Thunder,
Release the Portal.
Powers of Light,
Powers of Dark,
Intertwine yourselves,
Open the Portal.
Path of Water,
Ever changing,
Show the way,
To Water’s Realm.”
In front of him, a portal opened. Li looked at the Portal, or rather, the distorted wall behind the Portal. The Portal didn’t have a distinct outline. You could only tell where it was by looking straight through it. It acted like a funhouse mirror or wavy glass.
“Well, here goes nothing. Let’s walk through it together!” He took the hands of the girls and they stepped through together.
He had used the incantation that Eriol gave him for the Water Realm, hoping that whatever had taken Sakura would be there. Penetrating the surface of the Portal felt to Li like walking into freezing water. He gasped as he stepped through, clenching the cold hands he held for warmth.
They emerged on the other side, still feeling the effects of the freezing cold barrier that had brought them here. They were standing on a small piece of land, about three yards long. There was what seemed to be a ruined temple near them. About five feet above the top of the ruins, there was the Portal that had brought them here. Aside from this small piece of land, there didn’t seem to be anything else that was above water. There was no sky. Above them, there was a dome of blue, shimmering like the water thatlay no more than two feetin front of them. A dim light, coming from nowhere in particular, shone on the place.
“Is everyone alright?” Li asked halfheartedly, with his mind still on finding Sakura.
“We’re fine. What about you?” Concerned, Meiling walked over to Li as she asked him. “Tomoyo, are you ok?”
“I’m fine,” Li and Tomoyo said at once. They looked at each other, feeling slightly embarrassed at having spoken identically.
Looking away from Tomoyo, Li observed the area around him. “This is the Realm of Water. I hope Sakura’s here.” As soon as he finished speaking, he took out his Lasin board, recited the incantation, and watched as the light shot off, down into the water. “I wonder how we get down there,” Li said, half to himself and half to the girls.
“Li, remember the books that Eriol gave you? Have you read any of them yet?” Tomoyo asked Li, knowing what the answer would be.
“No, I haven’t. I couldn’t. I was too tired when I got home, and I just fell asleep. Then I was too busy hurrying to Eriol’s house to read, butI have them with me. Lets each take a couple and look through them for something about the Water Realm. Maybe it has a spell for us. If not, we’ll just have to try a different Realm.” Li took out the seven books from his bag andunintentionally dropped the blue book. As soon as it hit the ground, it began to glow an eerie, vivid blue.
“It’s… beautiful,” Tomoyo said, getting out her video camera. “Go pick it up Li. Maybe it’s got a clue for us.”
Li obeyed and walked over to the book. When he touched the book, the glowing lessened until only one page was still emanating the eerie blue. He opened the book to this page. It was in a language he couldn’t understand. Weird symbols cluttered the page. He stared at it for a moment, before giving it to Meiling.
“What does it say? I can’t read this.” Meiling stood, staring at the jumble of symbols on the page in front of her. “ Tomoyo! Stop recording. Do something useful!”
“I am. You want to be able to look back at everything we’re going to do here, right? So I’m going to keep recording.”
“Look, just stop recording! It won’t do us any good! Come make yourself useful for a change!” Meiling was growing impatient with Tomoyo, who was still recording, ignoring what she said. She closed the book she held in her hands and threw it at her camera, hitting her just under her shoulder. “Stop being so obsessed with recording everything that we do! It’s more important to save Sakura right now!”
“I know that, bu…”
“Will you two stop arguing? We need to find Sakura! We don’t have time for you to yell at each other! Tomoyo, put the camera away! Now come here, I think I’ve found something.” Li pointed to a picture in the thick book Eriol had given him just before they left. “Look right there.” Li pointed to a small piece of land, roughly the same shape as what they were standing on. “I think that’s where we are. Maybe this is a map.”
“Li, Look out!” Tomoyo and Meiling both screamed as a monstrous, half-whale-half-falcon creature jumped out of the water and headed towards Li. He had just enough time to grab the book and jump back before the creature landed just a few inches from him. He drew his sword and called for his lightning elemental. The lightning rushed forward from the small parchment, heading for the creature’s left eye. Inches away from the creature, the lightning hit an invisible wall and disappeared. The creature, startled by the bright, flashing lightning, flapped its gigantic webbed wings, and dove back into the water.
“What was that?” Li asked, knowing that no one would answer him. “Let’s get out of here.” Li brought to mind the image of the monstrous creature, with massive black, webbed wings and sharp long teeth. It looked like a whale, roughly the size of a small shark, with razor sharp talons. It had a bird-like tail rather than that of a whale. Li turned his attention back to the task at hand.
They searched for the proper spell among the notes that Eriol had given them. For a few seconds, they argued between going to the Realm of Air or the Realm of Earth. Their arguing was cut short as three whale-like creatures attacked them again. Li randomly chose one and read the incantation to the Portal.
“Path of Earth,
Strong and sturdy,
Create a path,
To solid rock.”
“Let’s go! Don’t just stand there!” Li cried as soon as he finished the incantation. They jumped off of the ruined temple, into the Portal. Again, they felt the freezing effects of the Portal as they entered. They fell through the Portal and landed on hard rock. Relieved that they had escaped, they got up, slowly, surveying the land around them.
They were on top of a large rocky hill, standing next to another ruined temple. There was no sky above them, just more earth and rocks. The light here also did not have a source. It was much brighter than the light in the Water Realm and shone fiercely, illuminating the entirety of the Realm. Over the horizon, they saw what looked like a castle. “Let’s go over there. Maybe someone lives there,” Li suggested as he took a step in that direction.
“Li, help! My foot’s stuck,” Meiling pleaded. Li turned around and decided to help her out. After trying repeatedly to pull her foot out, and failing, he took out his sword with an evil smile on his face. “Wh-What are you going to do with that?”
“Well, we can’t get your foot out… so…” Li said, pausing for a moment to revel in the look of horror on Meiling’s face.
Meiling just stared at him, unable to comprehend what she thought she heard. As she realized what Li was implying, she started screaming at him. She got up, using all of her strength to pull her leg free, and kicked Li in the shins. “Are you crazy? You want to cut off my leg?”
Li winced in pain as Meiling’s shoe connected with his shin. “Well,” He said, in between sharp breaths. “It worked didn’t it?”
Meiling stared at Li, then looked down at her bleeding foot, and stared at Li again. “YOU COULDN’T HAVE THOUGHT OF ANOTHER WAY?” Meiling screamed at him, before limping over to him to embrace him in her arms and tell him she was sorry for kicking him.
“Your welcome,” Li said, and started limping off again towards the castle-like structure.
“Li, hold on. We’ve gotta think before we go off doing things. Use your Lasin board again. Maybe Sakura’s not even in that direction.” Tomoyo had kept silent until now. Li decided that it was a good idea, took out his Lasin board, and watched as the white light pointed in the opposite direction of the castle. Sighing dejectedly, Li walked off in that direction, looking back at Tomoyo who wore a triumphant smile on her face.
“Li, you can’t just leave me! I can barely walk!”
“At this rate, we’ll never find Sakura! Let’s go!” Li screamed at her as he began to grow angry. “Sakura could be in danger right now! We’ve got to find her as soon as we can!”
“So you’re just going to leave me here? Just for Sakura? You’d risk my life?”
Li stood unmoving, not even daring to breathe. This is way too much like that dream I had. I care about her too; it’s just that I care about Sakura more! Is there really something wrong with that? Recovering from the initial shock of Meiling’s words, he walked back towards Meiling and helped her up, supporting her. “Tomoyo, grab her other arm. We’ll walk her like this.”
“Li, I care about Sakura as much as you do. We haven’t seen each other in about a year and the first thing I hear about her is that she’s in danger. I know she is, and I want to help her too.” Meiling said, on the verge of tears.
“It’s ok. We’ll find her,” Tomoyo said, trying to convince herself as much as Meiling. “We’ll find her. Don’t worry.”
“Let’s get going. We’re going to have to go to that castle now. We can’t carry her all the time, and she needs somewhere to lie down. Let’s hope that somebody can help us there.” Li and Tomoyo carried Meiling off towards the castle. I won’t lose any of them. They’re all important to me. I can’t risk them just to save Sakura. I’ll make sure they’re all safe.
Sigma noticed a strange presence. Hmm, I wonder what that is. Something wielding magic has come here. There hasn’t been anyone here in ages. He got up and walked to his window. Peering out of it, he saw three young kids, walking towards his castle. The magic’s coming from them. Who are they? He turned away from the window and walked down the stairs. Trespassers! They’d better have a good reason for being here!
He walked to the large steel door and opened it. “Come in. You must be exhausted. Sit down, have some dinner,” Sigma said as he welcomed in the three children. They sat down at a long wooden table with a chair you might find in the throne room of a king at one end. “Sit down. What would you like to eat?”
“We’re not hungry. We just need a place to rest until my friends leg gets better. I hope we’re not disturbing you,” The boy with the brown hair said.
“No, not at all. I’ll be glad to have you. I don’t get many visitors around here.” Sigma wasn’t lying. He didn’t get many visitors. There’s a good reason for it too, but these three don’t know it yet. I will enjoy this immensely! “So, what are your names?”
“I’m Li,” the brown haired boy said.
“I’m Tomoyo, and our friend here is Meiling,” the girl with the long, wavy hair said. “We’re sorry for intruding on your castle.”
“It’s OK. Stay as long as you’d like. Are you sure you don’t want to eat something?” Sigma stood up and walked towards Meiling. “Is there anything you’d like me to do to help her?”
“No, I don’t think you can, unless you can magically heal her leg.” The boy called Li said. “We just need somewhere to stay for a little while.” Li stood up and walked over to Meiling. “Do you have a few rooms for us to stay in?”
“Of course I do. I only have a few servants in this castle. All the other rooms are open. No one’s come here for quite some time, so you can have whichever room you want.” Sigma said with a smile on his face. “But first, let’s eat. Servants! Please prepare for us a nice meal.”
A short, plump woman answered Sigma’s call, “As you wish, my lord Sigma. What would you like to have?”
“Salmon, for four. Make it extra special for our guests here. We wouldn’t want to disappoint them.”
“I’ll have the kitchen get to it right away. Is there anything else?”
“No, that’ll be all. Make it quick,” Sigma said as the plump lady walked out. “Please, sit down. I’ll show you to your rooms after dinner.”
“Ok, we are a bit hungry,” Li said. “Come on Meiling. I’ll help you to your seat.”
“Thanks Li. I’m sorry I’m so much trouble.”
Four tall waiters came out of the kitchen with their food. The one in front of Sigma whispered a message in Sigma’s ear, “Everything will go as planned. They won’t suspect a thing.”
“Let’s eat. I’m sure all of you will find it to be delicious,” Sigma said to his guests. “So, what brings you here? Not too many people come here.”
“We just stumbled onto this place. We’ll leave as soon as we can,” Li said while eating his fish. “This is delicious. What’s in it?”
“Oh, nothing exotic. Just your everyday Benethan Root,” Sigma said with an evil smile on his face. “The three of you won’t be leaving any time soon.” (A/N: Benethan Root (bĕn-Ē-thĕn): Herb, native to the Earth Realm, that can be used to induce sleep. Normally used for medical purposes. It is NOT a real root.)
“Wh…” Li said as he fell over, succumbing to the sleeping effects of the root. Tomoyo and Meiling stared at him for a moment longer before falling over sleepily themselves.
“Perfect. Good job my servants. Throw them into their cells. Make sure they don’t escape. I will interrogate them personally when they wake up.” With that, Sigma left the room and went back upstairs. I will know why they are really here! The Beast might have dinner today…
Li was lying on a cold rock floor unconscious. Next to him, Tomoyo and Meiling lay, stirring into consciousness. Tomoyo was the first to awake. Grunting and still slightly groggy from the Benethan Root, she sat up and tried to think straight. Where am I? She got up and immediately fell back down to her knees. She was still too drowsy to remain standing. She crawled over to Meiling and attempted to wake her up.
“Huh? Tomoyo? What’s going on? Where are we?” Meiling asked, recovering from the effects of the root.
“I don’t know. Let’s wake Li. Do you remember anything that happened?” Tomoyo asked as she crawled over to Li and shook him.
“No, I don’t. Last thing I remember, we were talking to some Sigma guy. Why isn’t Li waking up?” Meiling looked worried. She crawled over to Li and tried to help Meiling wake her. It was no use.
“Li, wake up!” Tomoyo raised her voice a little as she violently shook him. “It’s no use. We’ll just have to wait for him to wake up. Just then, Li began to stir.
“Li? Are you ok?” Meiling asked with another worried look on her face. “Li, say something.”
“What wrong? Why are we here? Where’s Sakura?” Li asked as he came to. He sat up and leaned against a wall. “Tomoyo? Meiling? Are you guys OK?”
“We’re fine. Li, what are we doing here? I don’t remember anything that happened,” Tomoyo said.
“Last I remember, we were talking to Sigma and he offered us some dinner. I bet he poisoned it or something.” Li was beginning to get mad. He reached for his sword and found that he didn’t have it with him. “Do any of you know any way out of here?”
“Don’t bother trying to find a way out. Come with me,” A familiar voice commanded from behind the opening door. Sigma stepped into the room. He advanced on Tomoyo and grabbed her by her elbow.
“Li! Help!” Tomoyo screamed, kicking and punching her captor who seemed to ignore her. Sigma pulled Tomoyo out of the cell and closed the door in Li’s face.
“Tomoyo! Let her go you creep!” Meiling shouted from the bars at the top of the steel door.
“I’ll return her soon. You two just sit where you are until I come back for you,” Sigma said with a commanding voice. “Now, let’s go.” He pulled Tomoyo along behind him, into a room.
“What do you want? We haven’t done anything to you!” Tomoyo screamed as she bit down on his hand.
“Stop struggling,” Sigma said calmly, appearing not to have felt the bite. “It will only make things worse for you. If you answer my questions truthfully I won’t hurt you. Much…” He pulled Tomoyo to a chair and sat her down, strapping her arms and legs to the chair. “Now tell me, what are you doing here?”
“We just stumbled onto here. We’re not doing anything. Really,” Tomoyo said, fearful that he would know she was lying. I hope he’s not the one that took Sakura. Sakura… I hope you’re ok.
“Do you really think it’s a good idea to lie to me? People don’t just stumble into an ancient Realm. The only way to get here is by the incantations,” Sigma said, raising his voice. “If you won’t tell me…” He walked over to the fireplace and picked up a hot iron. “I’ll have to make you tell me. Now, tell me why you’re really here.”
Tomoyo stared at him in fear. What am I going to do? If he’s the one that took Sakura, he’ll kill me if I tell him. But if I don’t tell him, he might know I’m lying. “Don’t hurt me,” she whimpered. “I’ll tell you. We’re here looking for our friend.”
“You’re here looking for your friend. And who is this ‘friend’ of yours?”
“Her name is Sakura, she’s got green eyes and brown hair,” Tomoyo said. I hope he didn’t take her. “Have you seen her?”
“And how did your ‘friend’ get here? People don’t just walk into places like this,” Sigma said, adding, “You’d better not be lying to me. Bad things happen to people who lie to me.”
“I’m not lying! I don’t know how she got here. She just did!” Tomoyo began to tremble in fear as Sigma walked closer. “I’m not lying…” she whispered, unable to summon up the strength or courage to speak louder.
“So, your friend just stumbled into this Realm, and the three of you, three children, are chasing after her? That has to be the worst lie I’ve ever heard. I’ll give you one more chance. What are you doing here?”
“I’m not lying. That’s really why we’re here. I… We just want… want to save Sakura,” Tomoyo said, beginning to cry as much from fear as from the thought of Sakura, screaming in the hands of this man.
“Let’s say for a minute that I believe your little story. Tell me how you got the incantations to come here. They’ve been lost for centuries to all humans outside of the Realms.”
“Our friend Eriol found them in a book and gave them to us.”
“I saw that. How did he come by this book? The only people that would have access to such books would be Council members, and Eriol is not a name of a Council member.”
“Council? I have no idea what you’re talking about. Eriol never told me where he got it. He gave it to us right before he left.”
“Hmmm… I’ll take your story. For now… You better not be lying. I have ways of finding out.” Sigma walked over to Tomoyo, untied her, and took her back to her cell.
“You said her name was Sakura? I’ll see if she’s in this Realm. If she isn’t, then you’d better come up with a really good excuse for why.” Sigma opened the door to the cell Tomoyo was just in. “Don’t try to escape!” He ordered as hethrew Tomoyo in and shut the door.
“Tomoyo, what happened? Are you all right?” Meiling asked as Li walked Tomoyo in.
“How does he know about Sakura? You didn’t tell him did you?” Li asked.
“He asked… He asked me questions. He… had a hot iron… said not to lie…” Tomoyo was crying, struggling to tell them what had happened. “I… I had to tell him… I…”
“It’s ok Tomoyo. At least you didn’t get hurt,” Meiling said, shooting a look at Li.
“But… Sakura… What if he… if he’s the one… we’ll all die…” Tomoyo continued to cry, holding Meiling for comfort.
“Don’t worry. I’m sure Sakura will be fine.”
“I don’t know anymore. If he took Sakura…” Tomoyo couldn’t bring herself to say it. He’ll hurt her. Then he’ll come for us. Tomoyo slumped onto the floor, crying herself to sleep in Meiling’s arms.
“She’ll be fine. We’ll get out of this, and we won’t leave without her.”
“Meiling’s right. We’ll save Sakura,” Li said. “She’ll be fine.” Li walked over to Tomoyo and put a hand on her shoulder. “She’ll be fine…”
Did you like it? Questions? Comments? Email
me and I'll be happy to answer any and all questions about the story, but I
won't give away what happens next. You're welcome to guess. I'll tell you if
you’re right.