Author’s note (A/N): Well… It’s still the same. I don’t think it’s going to change anytime soon. I’ll add one thing. Since Li didn’t confess, it logically follows that I’m also assuming that most of episode 70 didn’t occur. Well, that means that Li didn’t leave for Hong Kong. So…
Eriol arrives in the Earth Realm and decides to help find Sakura. A sphienent appears and tells Sigma that its master is the Summoner of Spirits, threatening to destroy his Realm if he doesn’t give him Tomoyo, Meiling, and Li. Sakura recently tried to escape, but was caught by Shadow. Now… on to the chapter.
by Shadowpheonix
“Shadow?” Sakura asked, walking to the dining room. “Shadow, are you here?” Sakura walked into the kitchen in search for Shadow and something to eat. I hope he doesn’t mind if I get myself some cereal. It’s still early so maybe he’s not awake yet.
“I’m here. I see you’re already getting whatever food you want. Well, enjoy your breakfast. I’ve got some… errands… I have to run,” Shadow said, startling Sakura and causing her to spill some milk. “See you later. Oh, about the schedule that I gave you, we won’t be following it today. I’ll summon you when or if we have a test.”
“Ok, thank you,” Sakura said with a cheery smile. She poured herself a glass of milk and went over to the refrigerator to find something to eat. Hmmm… I think I’ll have a sandwich. She got out some peanut butter and found some strawberry jelly for her sandwich. What am I going to do all day? Sakura wondered as she ate her peanut butter and jelly sandwich.
After she finished, she picked up her plate and put it in the sink, still wondering what she would do for the remainder of the day. I guess I’ll go take a shower. I’ll think of what to do after that.
She quickly walked back to her room and picked out some clothes. She walked into the bathroom, turned on the water and began to undress when she heard an odd hiss outside the door. What was that? She quickly redressed and desperately searched for a good hiding place.
Sakura walked up to the door, unable to find a decent hiding place, and inched it open. No! I hope it hasn’t spotted me! she thought as she closed the door silently. My cards are out there! What am I going to do?
“I know you’re in the bathroom, little girl. Come out, or I’ll come in,” came a hiss from the other side of the door.
No! No! No! I can’t let it catch me. Where’s Shadow when you need him? Sakura stood in the middle of the bathroom, feeling rather doomed. “Help!” she cried out, hoping that Shadow would be around to hear.
“You have three seconds. Three,” the hiss came again.
“Leave me alone!”
“Two!”
There has to be something I can do! Sakura thought desperately.
“One!”
Suddenly, Sakura remembered the ring Shadow had given her. I hope this works!”
“Time's up! I’m coming in!” came the voice again as the door shattered.
Sakura stood, facing the Sphienent that had just entered the room. She raised the ring and pointed it at the Sphienent.
“Nice try, girl. You’re coming with me!” the Sphienent said as five of its eight tentacles grabbed and gagged Sakura.
“Mmmm mmm. Mmmmmm. MMMMM!” Sakura screamed.
“Nothing can save you now! You belong to my master!” the Sphienent cackled evilly.
Sakura watched in terror as her room faded out of existence to be replaced by a large prison cell. The Sphienent threw her into a wall and fazed through the cell bars. “My master said you had to be brought to him… intact. You should consider yourself lucky!”
Sakura fell to her knees, completely hopeless. “Please, please let me go,” Sakura pleaded.
“I don’t think my master would mind if I had a little fun. One more word out of you, and…” the Sphienent said, glowing threateningly.
What am I going to do? Sakura thought, beginning to cry.
“What’s the matter?” the Sphienent hissed. “Don’t want to fight? That kid, Shadow, not here to protect you?”
“What do you want with me?” Sakura yelled, in tears.
The Sphienent cackled maliciously. “That’s six whole words!” It lifted its tentacles and propelled them towards Sakura.
“Aaahh!” Sakura screamed as the tentacles approached.
“Stop,” came a soft voice from the darkness.
“Yes, master,” the Sphienent said, bowing and shooting an evil look at Sakura.
“You may leave,” the voice came again. “Help your brother with the rest of them.”
“Yes, master. At once.” The sphienent stood up and turned to leave.
“So, Sakura, how are you?” the voice came again.
Sakura shrunk back against the wall, unsure of what to say. “Who… who are you?”
“You’ve been putting up a fight. It took me a while to get you here,” said the voice again. “What did you hope to gain by avoiding what would inexorably happen? All you’ve done is gotten me mad. There’s a price to pay for that. Would you like to pay it now? Or would you prefer a short break?”
Sakura shrank further back, pressing herself against the wall. Tears came to her eyes again as she realized what the voice was implying. “Please, leave me alone. I… I’m sorry. Please?”
“Answer my question. It could be so much worse for you. Answer me,” the voice said ominously.
“I… I…” Sakura stuttered. What am I supposed to tell him?
“Three.”
“I… Please don’t. I…” Sakura said, crying harder.
“Two.”
Sakura cried harder still, thinking about what this new being might do to her.
“One. Last chance,” the voice said as a multi-colored glow surrounded something long and slender in the dark.
“I don’t know… Please… Please let me go… please…” Sakura said between sobs.
“I guess I’ll give it to you now,” the voice said as the glowing, multi-colored object whizzed through the air towards Sakura.
“No! Please!” Sakura screamed as she discovered the whip coming towards her.
“Now or later. Your choice,” the voice said. “If you don’t choose…”
“Please… leave… leave me alone!” she yelled.
Just then, the ring in her fingers emanated a dark black aura and directed a large bolt of energy at the multi-colored whip.
“Nice try,” the voice said as the whip’s glowing outlined grew brighter. The energy bolt hit the whip and disappeared, seemingly absorbed by the whip. Seconds later, the same energy bolt shot upwards and blew a hole threw the ceiling. “Now, since you won’t make a decision. I’ll have to punish you until you do. Any last requests?” the voice asked.
Sakura pressed herself flat against the wall, hoping to avoid whatever punishment was certain to ensue.
“Fine,” the voice said, and the whip slashed diagonally downwards, creating a crescent shaped line of energy. The voice mumbled a few indistinct words and the line propelled itself towards Sakura at an unfathomable speed.
Lacking even the time to scream, Sakura was hit directly across the chest by the line. “Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhh!” she screamed, and bolted up in her bed.
(A/N: You didn’t really think that I would let Sakura be captured so early, did you? That would be a terrible way to start a chapter! If anything, I’d let Sakura be captured at the end of a chapter. Anyways, enjoy the rest.)
Sakura sat up in her bed, cold sweat beading on her face. She got out of bed and walked over to the bathroom. Splashing cold water on her face, she pondered her ephemeral memories of the dream. Who was that? It… he? was so strong.
“Sakura,” came Shadow’s voice from outside the bathroom door.
Sakura leapt three feet into the air. “Y-Yes?” she said shakily.
“I need to talk to you. When you’re done, come to the dining room,” Shadow said.
“O-Ok,” Sakura said, trying to steady her hand enough to turn off the water. “I-I’m r-ready.”
“Good. It’s probably better if you don’t walk alone. Not now, at least,” Shadow said when Sakura opened the bathroom door.
“Wh-What’s going on?” Sakura asked, still attempting to calm her voice.
“You’re shaking all over. You tell me.” Shadow grabbed Sakura’s wrist and pulled her out the door. “Do you want some breakfast?”
“B-Breakfast? Wh-What time is it?”
“It’s around five. Do you want some? You look a bit pale,” Shadow said as he sat her down on one side of the table.
“Can… can you turn on the… the lights, please?” Sakura asked unsteadily.
“Sure. You sure you don’t want something to eat? It’ll help if you do,” Shadow said as the thirty candles brightened the room.
“I… I’ll have… some p-pancakes. I… I’ll just have… two.”
“Two pancakes. I’ll be a second.”
“Let me come with you!” Sakura said with a sudden burst of energy.
“I’ll only be out of the room for a minute or two, but if you must,” Shadow said, motioning for her to follow.
Sakura followed silently, holding her hands tightly at her side to keep them from shaking. “Th-Thank you.”
Shadow walked into the kitchen and heated a couple of pancakes with the microwave. “What do you want on them?”
“Uh… It doesn’t matter.”
Shadow took the pancakes from the microwave and grabbed some maple syrup. “Let’s go.”
Sakura followed him out as he set the pancakes down. “Thank you,” she said without stuttering.
“Ok, now that you have something to eat, we need to talk about something,” Shadow said in a foreboding tone.
Sakura looked up from her plate to see Shadow staring at her. “Wh-What is it?”
“Do you have your Cards with you?”
“Y-Yes…”
“Release your staff.”
“Why?” Sakura asked, bewildered.
“Just do it,” Shadow replied.
Sakura did as she was told and released her staff.
“Good. Now I need you to take out the ring I gave you. Make sure you never lose it. Focus all your magical energies on that, and use Fiery to incinerate this block of wood.”
“That one on the table?”
“Yes. Now, when you use Fiery, make sure you’re focused on the ring. Use your magic through the ring.”
“Ok, I’ll try,” Sakura said, determined to succeed in whatever task Shadow had put her to. She concentrated on the ring in her hands, picturing every detail she could remember on it: the swirling lines that adorned the outside of it, the smooth, elegant curve on the inside, and the tiny engraving of a circle with three lines, broken where they should meet at the center of the circle. She poured all of her energy and concentration into the ring and tossed the Fiery Card into the air, twirling her staff as she did so. She pointed her staff at Fiery, still focusing on the ring, now floating in front of her, glowing a dark black, and yelled, “Fiery!”
A burst of fire shot out from the Card floating next to Sakura’s staff and soared towards the wooden block. Seconds before the ball hit, the wooden block burst into flames. After the fireball hit and disappeared, all that was left of the block was a tiny pile of ashes.
“Wh-What happened?” Sakura asked.
“You used the energy from that ring to strengthen your Card’s attack. I want you to fight a sphienent again.”
“WHAT?” Sakura asked incredulously.
“Not a real one. The one I had you fight last time.”
“It wasn’t real? What was it?”
“Get ready,” Shadow said as he took out a gray and black card. “Create!” he said, a little louder than usual. Seconds later, a sphienent appeared between him and Sakura. “Good luck. Do what you just did. Use whatever Cards you feel necessary.”
“Ok,” Sakura said, directing her magic back at the ring. The ring floated up into the air as she pulled out The Arrow. “Arrow!” she cried, using the ring as a medium for her magical energies.
Arrow emerged from its Card and blasted the sphienent with a wave of energized arrows. The sphienent roared as it stumbled backwards and disappeared.
“Good,” Shadow said as his Create Card floated down to his hands.
“Shadow, how did I…” Sakura said as she lost consciousness and fell into Shadow’s arms, drained of her magical energies.
“Won’t be long now. Hang in there, Sakura. Hang in there.”
“Wake up, Tomoyo, Meiling.”
“Huh? Li? It’s… five thirty in the morning. Why… Oh,” Tomoyo said. “Ok. I’m awake.”
“Go tell Sigma we’re almost ready. I’ll wake Meiling and come after you.”
“Where’s Eriol?” Tomoyo asked.
“He’s already down there. He woke up earlier than I did to talk to Sigma.”
“Ok. I’ll see you downstairs!” Tomoyo cried as she walked down the stairs.
Tomoyo walked out of the room, eager to help find Sakura. “Eriol! Good morning!” she said when she saw Eriol walking up the stairs.
“Good morning, Tomoyo. Are you ready?” Eriol asked.
“Yes, I’m ready. Does Sigma want to speak with us before we leave?”
“No, but he’ll want to know that you’re ready. I’ll be up in my room getting my stuff.”
“Ok. See you later, Eriol.” Tomoyo waved goodbye to Eriol as she continued down the stairs.
“Tomoyo! Good to see you. Is everyone ready?” Sigma asked when he saw Tomoyo approach.
“Li asked me to tell you that he’s almost ready. I’m sure he’ll be down in a few minutes.”
“Alright. Here. Hold on to this,” Sigma said, handing Tomoyo a small blue gem.
“What’s this?”
“It should help protect you against wild creatures in any of the Realms. I only have three of them, so don’t lose it.”
“Ok. Who gets the other two?”
“Well, since the only other person that needs it is Meiling, I’ll give one to her and hold on to the other myself until someone needs it. Your friend, Sakura, has magical powers, right?” Sigma asked.
“Yes,” Tomoyo replied.
“Good. I think I’ll give it to her anyways,” Sigma said.
“Do you know exactly where she is?”
“Well, when I spoke to that Shadow kid, he said she was in his custody. I guess that means she’s in his castle. We’ll go there first.”
“Do you think he’s the one that took Sakura?”
“He could be, but again, I don’t see what a ruler would want with her. My guess is that some creature was attracted to her magical powers, even if she wasn’t in the Realm, and decided to capture her. Of course, it doesn’t make any sense for him to keep Sakura there. We’ll have to find out when we get there.”
“I… think I understand. Oh, look! Li’s here.”
“Good morning, Sigma.”
“Hey, kid! Are you ready?” asked Kero as he came down behind Eriol.
Li walked over to Tomoyo, ignoring Kero.
“Kero, you should be more polite. Li has a name,” Tomoyo said.
“To such a magnificent creature such as me, he is nothing but a mere kid. He should refer to me as – ”
“Conceited,” Li said.
“What was that?”
Li turned away to examine his belongings. “Ok, Sigma. I’m ready.”
“Where’s Meiling?” Tomoyo asked.
“She’s getting ready. She should be down in a few minutes.”
“Ok, I’ll go get her. Do you want to come, Kero?” Tomoyo asked.
“Anything to get away from the kid,” Kero replied and floated over to Tomoyo.
Tomoyo smiled at Kero and led him upstairs.
“Kero, aren’t you worried about Sakura?”
“Nope. She’s alright. I know she’s still alive, and I’m sure she’ll make it. She’s probably already beaten whatever it is that took her and is just waiting for us.”
Tomoyo looked at Kero, kept silent, and continued up the stairs.
“Are you worried?” Kero asked after a moment of awkward silence.
“A little. Sakura’s never been away for such a long time. Even though she’s changed all the Clow Cards into Sakura Cards now, I… I don’t know whether or not she’s ok. I’m sure she’ll make it, in the end, but what about right now? I… I guess I’m just a bit worried.”
“Don’t worry. It’ll be alright. She’s a very strong girl, and she has her Cards with her. I’m sure she’s fine.”
“Thank you, Kero. I… I’m glad you’re here with Eriol. You’re right. She’ll be ok. She always is.”
They arrived at the large double-doors to their room. “Meiling!”
“Aaaaaahhh!”
“Meiling? Meiling!” Tomoyo yelled, attempting to open the door.
“Let me!” Kero yelled as he changed forms. Keroberos shot a stream of flame at the door.
“It’s not working! Go get Sigma!”
“I’m already here. We heard the scream. What’s wrong?” Sigma asked.
“Meiling’s trapped inside, and the door won’t open!” Tomoyo cried as she continued to push at the door.
“Stand back a bit,” Sigma said. He went into a sort of trance and gracefully moved his hands towards the door, blowing it to pieces.
“Help!” Meiling cried, ensnared in the sphienent’s tentacles.
“Ah! If it isn’t Lord Sigma. If you come one step closer, she will experience… breathing difficulties.”
“Drop her! I warn you!” Sigma said.
“Sigma! You can’t put Meiling in danger!”
“I know!” Sigma yelled exasperatedly.
“Not one step,” the sphienent said, laughing.
“Sigma! Where are you going?” Tomoyo asked when Sigma turned around to leave.
“I feel… a magical aura,” Sigma said. “It’s your friend, Eriol’s.”
“Aaaaaahh! What’s going on? Something is pulling at me! Let me go! Aaaaahhh!” the sphienent cried as it released Meiling.
Meiling bolted out of the way as soon as she was released.
“You’re going to pay for that. I warned you not to come back here!” Sigma hollered and formed two steel axes, surrounded by a brown aura, in his hands. “Goodbye!” he yelled as he threw the axes at the sphienent, The axes spiraled through the air and struck the sphienent in its chest.
“Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh!” It shrieked as it flew backwards, through the window, and disappeared.
“Is it… dead?” Meiling asked as she walked towards the window.
“No. They don’t die so easily. It phased out of our Realm again. Sphienents are capable of traveling to whatever Realm they want, regardless of Portals.”
“So… It’s going to come back?”
“I hurt it pretty badly. I don’t think that one will come back for a while. Are you ready to leave, Meiling?”
“Yes. Let’s go.”
“Ok. Here, take this,” Sigma said, tossing Meiling a blue gemstone.
“What’s this?”
“It’ll protect you from wild monsters. Just keep it with you and don’t lose it.”
“Ok.”
“Alright! Time to leave!” Sigma said, leading them all downstairs.
Tomoyo dropped back with Meiling and spoke to her. “What were you doing up there for so long?” she whispered.
“I brushed my teeth and washed my face. The stuff you usually do when you wake up.”
“Did it take Li that long to wake you up?”
“What are you two whispering about?” Kero asked, popping up between them.
“Aaahh!” they both screamed.
“Kero!” Tomoyo yelled. “Don’t do that!”
“Sorry,” he said, finding his way into Tomoyo’s purse.
“Meiling! Are you alright?” Li asked as they arrived downstairs.
“I’m fine, thanks to Sigma.”
“It wasn’t me. It was your friend Eriol. What did you do?” Sigma asked, approaching Eriol.
“Something I did to Li a while ago,” Eriol said, holding out a ball of thread.
Li shot Eriol a distasteful look and walked over to the dinner table. “We are going to have breakfast, right?”
“Yes, of course. Pancakes?” Sigma asked.
“Sure, pancakes will be fine.”
Sigma went into the kitchen to make pancakes for them. A few minutes later, he came out with three pancakes for each person. They all, except for Yue, spent the next thirty minutes eating breakfast in silence. Afterwards, they all grabbed their belongings and followed Sigma out of the castle.
“Ok. We’ll take the Portal all of you came through. It’s the Central Portal for this Realm, and it’s closest to us,” Sigma informed them as he walked towards it with his large hiking backpack.
“Umm… Sigma? What did you pack?” Meiling asked, staring blankly at the large backpack on his back.
“Herbs, food, water, sleeping bags, and a communication orb.”
“That fills up that gigantic backpack?”
“I brought three sleeping bags,” Sigma explained.
“Sigma, can you answer a few of my questions?” Eriol asked.
“Sure. What are they?”
“Where are the Realms in comparison to where we came from?”
“I don’t know that I can answer you right now in such a way that you’ll understand. I’ll let you know when we take a break at the Portal. It’s only about five minutes away,” Sigma said. “Remind me when we get there.”
“Ok,” Eriol said, falling back to talk with Tomoyo.
“Why do you want to know that?” Tomoyo asked.
“It’s good to know where we are, and I’d like to know more about these Realms that Clow had such a hard time studying.”
They all walked in silence until they reached the Portal, four minutes later.
“Ok, we’ll take a short rest right now. Eriol, I’ll answer your question now,” Sigma said, sitting down on the floor. “Imagine this,” Sigma drew a straight line on the ground. “To be your world. This,” Sigma drew another line, perpendicular to the first. “Is the Earth Realm. The rest of the Realms are parallel to this Realm, and there are likely other worlds parallel to your own.
“However, the Realms, like your world, are obviously not straight lines, but spatial, three dimensional areas.”
“Explain to me, again, how time runs in this Realm compared to the world we came from.”
“Time in all of the Realms run at the same pace. However, this pace is usually different from that of your world and is always changing. When something in your world, or one of those parallel to yours, happens at the same time as something in one of the Realms, like two people dreaming the same dream, or traveling through a Portal from your world to mine, the flow of time alters and either speeds up or slows down.”
“I see. Can you explain why I can see rocks and ground above me?”
“Oh, right. I’m sure that’s very confusing to you. Well, I know that on your world, Earth, that gravity pulls to the center of the Earth. However, here, in all the Realms, gravity pushes away from the center of the world, where the Realm’s invisible Power Sphere is, rather than towards it.”
“Is there anything on the outside of all these rocks and ground?”
“No. It’s not possible to go outside of it because the dirt and rocks continue infinitely in this particular Realm.”
“Thank you. That’s all for now,” Eriol said and walked away from Sigma.
“Alright, let’s go!” Sigma shouted, turning to the portal to recite the incantation.
“Shrouded path,
Hiding danger,
Unveil the way,
To the shadow!”
The portal shimmered for a moment and settled again. “Ok. It’s ready. Now I just have to set up that ward that Matriana helped me make. I’ll meet you on the other side. Once you step through, stay together!” Sigma warned.
They entered the Portal in pairs. Spinel Sun and Ruby Moon went first, followed by Keroberos and Yue. Then, Li and Meiling went and finally, Tomoyo and Eriol. Sigma turned from the portal and found the threads of Earth energy flowing from the Earth Power Sphere. He felt for the Water energy threads already in place by Matriana and weaved his own into them.
“This should keep everything out of my Realm until I return,” Sigma said and stepped through the icy, cold Portal to join Li, Tomoyo, Eriol, Meling, Yue, Ruby Moon, Keroberos, and Spinel Sun on the other side.
Great chapter (well... I think so). Not too much happened, but they’re going to meet up soon! (We hope) Well, I hope that you enjoyed it. I enjoyed writing it. Once again, ask me any questions. I’ll usually answer any yes/no questions you give. Please, please don’t hesitate to ask anything. Here’s some “to remember for next time” stuff:
There are 9 people going after Sakura. They say “there’s safety in numbers,” but I think “they” are wrong.
Sakura gets captured in a dream by the person that controls the sphienents. When will this actually happen? Will she be strong enough to face it now that Shadow’s taught her to use the power of the ring he gave her?
And again, the challenge:
Challenge to the readers: Here is a challenge for all you mystery fans: What's up with Shadow? Why does he claim to care so much about Sakura, but show it in such an odd way? What's does he really want with Sakura? Be the first to email me the correct answer to this question, and I’ll post your name at the end of the fic.
I know… it’s repetitive… so figure it out and I’ll post your name from here on out, replacing this repetitive blah…