Author’s Note (A/N): Only a few chapters left in this fic. Not sure quite how many.
Sigma, Solana and Candice find the rest of the Council Members. Shadow sends Eriol to give Sakura a message. Later, Sakura is toyed with by Lloyd and starts crying. She cries herself to sleep and so, we ended the chapter. Next Chapter:
by Shadowpheonix
Sakura woke up and stared around her dark room, remembering what happened an hour ago. She walked over to her belongings and searched through it for Shadow’s second note. I told myself I’d read it later. Well, it’s later, Sakura thought, unfolding the sheet of paper.
Sakura,
I plan on rescuing you and your friends. I’m sorry you have to go through this. I hope this cheers you up. Await my arrival: sometime in the next three days, maximum. Keep smiling.
Shadow
Thanks, Shadow, but how are you going to rescue me? What about Li and Altarrin? You can’t let him hurt them, Sakura thought solemnly. I hope you come soon, but I don’t want my friends to get hurt.
Sakura walked, barefoot, into the bathroom to wash her face. She splashed cold water on her face, fully waking herself. She turned around and pulled up her shirt to check her wounds. Surprisingly, they had all but disappeared, leaving only tiny, almost unnoticeable, red lines. Wow, that stuff Lloyd rubbed on here really worked. I wonder what it was…
“Sakura!” came Lloyd’s voice from the stairs.
“Yes?” Sakura asked, stepping out of the bathroom fearfully.
“Come, sit down,” Lloyd said, motioning for Sakura to sit on her bed.
Sakura did so, pondering what Lloyd might do to her now.
“Why are you shaking? You’re not scared, are you?” Lloyd asked.
“A-A l-little. Why?”
“Sakura, are you ok?”
Sakura stared at Lloyd, unable to comprehend his previous question. “Wh-what?”
“Are you ok? I’m sorry I hurt you. I really just wanted to have some fun. It’s so boring working for Altarrin. Look, I don’t want to be your enemy. I know Altarrin can be mean sometimes, and I don’t want to add to that. So, are you ok?”
“Thank you, Lloyd. I’m fine,” Sakura said, tears of relief and gratitude coming to her eyes.
“What’s wrong? Why are you crying?”
“It… It’s just that this is the first good thing that’s happened to me since I’ve come here. Thank you,” Sakura replied, wiping her tears.
“I’m sorry. Hold on, I’ll bring you something to eat,” Lloyd said, running up the stairs.
Why is he being so nice to me? Sakura thought, lying back down on her ‘bed.’ A few minutes later, Lloyd approached Sakura with a small bowl of soup.
“Sorry, this is all I could get,” Lloyd said, handing her a spoon.
“It’s alright. It’s enough.”
Sakura ate the soup in silence, wondering how everything would turn out. When she finished, she gave the empty bowl back to Lloyd and decided to go back to sleep. “What time is it?”
“It’s about ten at night. Sleep well,” Lloyd said, leaving Sakura to her dreams.
Sakura slowly gave into sleep, hoping that everything would be alright.
Sakura woke up in a lit room, puzzled as to where she was. She removed the blanket from atop her and got off the comfortable bed. Wasn’t I sleeping on a block of wood? Slowly, she came to her senses and realized she was back in Shadow’s castle, getting up out of her former bed.
“Sakura, you’re awake,” came Shadow’s voice from the other side of the door. “Can I come in?”
“Sure, I guess,” Sakura said, still half-asleep. “Shadow, what am I doing here?”
“Why wouldn’t you be here? Is something wrong?”
“I thought… I don’t remember. Something happened,” Sakura said, her thoughts escaping her for the moment.
“Well, Sakura, time to go.” Shadow held out his hand for Sakura, smiling as he did so. Sakura took Shadow’s hand and was led out of her room. Shadow led Sakura out of the castle and to a Portal. He quietly muttered something under his breath and the Portal’s surface became a deep, blood red.
“Shadow, where are you taking me?”
“I’m not taking you anywhere. Our journey ends here!” Shadow yelled, pushing Sakura through the eerie Portal.
Sakura fell into the Portal. The world swirled around her, shapes blended into one another, and she lost consciousness. Seconds later, she awoke on a black rock surrounded by red, bubbling liquid. Where am I?
She grabbed her Cards from her pocket and found fifty-four total Cards, two more than she expected. She quickly searched through her deck and found two nameless Cards, one with a hooded figure, its eyes shining a bright red. The other portrayed a large oval shaped glass, its body swirling with neither a beginning, nor an end. Staring at the two new Cards, she tried to make sense of where she was. She got up from the rock and stared out over the sea of bubbling substance.
“Fly!” Sakura shouted, causing wings to sprout out of her back. She flew over the liquid and searched for a way back… somewhere. Where am I supposed to go? What am I supposed to do? she wondered, unable to find anywhere to land.
Thirty minutes later, she finally found a piece of land, not too different from the one she had awoken on. She landed and let Fly return to its Card, exhausted from the long flight, and sat down on the rock. Where am I?
Sakura got up and paced the length of the island. I thought I was with Altarrin. How did I end up with Shadow? Suddenly, she was standing in a large, marble room with a large, stone arched doorframe at the far end. Where the door should have been, there was a soapy film, glistening in the bright light. What’s going on?
“Prepare yourself, Sakura,” came a familiar voice followed by a malevolent laugh. “The end is near!”
Sakura looked around, unable to find the source of the voice. “Who are you?”
“I am the puppet master! I will use your life as my freedom!”
Sakura trembled in fear as darkness closed in on her. No! What am I going to do? she thought, running from the tentacles of darkness. The darkness edged nearer, threatening to bind her within their grasp, to snuff the life out of her.
“You are only delaying what is inescapable. You will never escape!” the voice called after her.
Sakura ran through the strange marble building, searching for a door to the outside. There has to be a way out! All of a sudden, she was in a beautiful meadow with small, newly sprouted flowers in front of her. Flowers of many different colors lay in front of her, filling the meadow with color. A clear stream ran through the meadow, leading to a large, bright castle. Where am I now?
What looked like a winged horse pranced through the sky, ridden by a light-brown haired woman. The pegasus landed a few feet from Sakura and the woman got off, smiling until she saw Sakura.
“You’re alive? How?” she asked, walking over to Sakura, putting a hand on her cheek. “You’re really here!”
“Wh-who are you? What’s going on?” Sakura asked, completely confused. “Why wouldn’t I be alive?”
“No, I’m dreaming. It’s not possible. We saw you… We saw you die. You can’t be…” the woman said, fading away to be replaced by a younger brown-haired girl.
“You! You took my father from me!” she said, surrounding herself in a bright aura. “I will make you pay!”
“What are you talking about? Who’s your father?” Sakura asked desperately. “Aaaahh!” she yelled as a stream of burning energy drew near to her.
“You will die!” the girl said, wielding a bright steel sword.
Sakura ran from the deranged girl, positive that she had not killed the girl’s father. In front of her, seven different colored figures appeared for a split second. What were those? she wondered. I must be dreaming!
A second later, a large, translucent, dragon descended from the sky, unleashing a torrent of lightning strikes. The yellow, translucent dragon saw Sakura and headed straight for her, creating a large, yellow sphere in its two fore claws. Out of the sphere came a bolt of lightning, aimed at Sakura’s heart. Instinctively, Sakura dove out of the way, landing on her stomach a foot away from the singed earth where the lightning had hit.
Quickly, Sakura got up and ran from the hovering dragon, lacking time to think. Somehow, she ended up in a large house, comfortable looking and full of imperial red cushions. Sakura sat on one of the comfortable chairs, attempting to regain her breath, and caught up with her thoughts. What’s going on? None of this makes any sense!
“Of course it doesn’t, Sakura. How can anything make sense to you? You’re no longer alive!” Shadow said, appearing in front of her. “Through your death, you unleashed upon all the worlds a terrible evil! We owe our pain and suffering to you!” Shadow shouted as a dark aura surrounded him.
Suddenly, Sakura was against a wall, pinned down by invisible chains of pure energy. The chains tightened, ripping into her flesh. “ Aaaaahhh!” she screamed as the skin on her wrists tore. “Shadow! Stop!”
“After what you’ve done? You’ve committed what is unforgivable! I will not allow you to harm her any longer!” Shadow said, forming a dark, steel sword in his hands. “Your life has caused chaos! Your death has caused suffering! And your death again will be our redemption!” Shadow charged at Sakura with his sword and slashed her across the chest.
“Aaaaahhh!” Sakura yelled, feeling immense pain as the dark blade cut through her flesh.
Sakura awoke with a start, the images of her dream fresh in her mind. Shadow wouldn’t do that, would he? What happened in there? Am I going to die? Sakura wondered, walking over to the bathroom to wash up again.
“Miss Kinomoto, why all the noise?” came a slightly annoyed voice.
Sakura immediately turned around to find a figure cloaked in darkness. “I… I’m sorry. I… I j-just had a… a dream,” Sakura stuttered as Altarrin advanced.
“You’ve disturbed my peace. Perhaps your last punishment wasn’t enough. Or perhaps, you’ve taken a liking to being punished. Tell me something, Sakura Kinomoto, which one of your friends here do you care for most?”
Sakura stared at Altarrin as three cages winked into existence next to him. Li, Tomoyo, and Meiling each lay unconscious in their own cage. Sakura stared in horror when Altarrin stepped towards Meiling’s cage and dragged her unconscious body out.
“Well? Is it this one?” Altarrin asked, producing his whip in one hand and grabbing Meiling’s collar with the other.
“No! Leave her alone!” Sakura cried.
“Then choose. Which one do you like most?”
I can’t choose… Li… “They’re all my friends! I won’t let you hurt them!”
“And how might you prevent me from doing so? Take Meiling here for example. If I choose to draw my hand back in preparation to strike her, like so, what can you do about it?”
“Stop! Leave her alone!” Sakura yelled.
Altarrin threw Meiling back into the cage and turned to Sakura. “Perhaps you’d like to take her place?”
Sakura fell to her knees in tears. Why can’t he just leave us alone?
“Well? Or perhaps Miss Daidouji here. How does that sound?”
“Leave them alone! Please?” Sakura begged.
Altarrin laughed spitefully. An odd aura surrounded him and suddenly, Sakura rammed into the wall behind her. He raised the whip above his head and slashed diagonally downwards, three feet in front of Sakura. A line of energy followed the tip of the whip until a crescent shaped line floated in the air. “This will be your punishment for disturbing my peace!” Altarrin yelled, thrusting the energy at Sakura.
The energy crescent hit her across the chest, inflicting an unbearable amount of pain. “Aaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh!” Sakura screamed as it hit, knocking her unconscious.
“You should consider yourself lucky. If I had the privilege of finishing you off, I would!” Altarrin yelled, turning his back on Sakura’s unconscious body, lying on the bathroom floor.
“Is everyone here? Where’s Tyrell?” Shadow asked, sitting at the head of the long dinner table.
“In a second!” came a gruff voice down the hallway.
Exactly one second later, a flash of light appeared in Tyrell’s seat. When the light disappeared, Tyrell was found sitting in his chair.
“That was completely unnecessary,” Candice commented, a little annoyed.
“Get over it,” Shadow commanded. “We’ve more important matters to attend to. First, we need to come up with a good plan of attack. Remember, your Realms are at stake here!”
Candice stared at Shadow crossly. “I think I’d rather lose my Realm than have to work with you!”
“Candice, quiet down. We have to work with him right now. Besides, it wouldn’t be wise to start a fight here, on his ground,” Sigma advised.
“Fine, but I’m only here for Sakura’s sake!” Candice yelled, crossing her arms beneath her breasts.
“Now that that’s settled, what’s your plan of attack, Shadow?” Solana asked cheerily.
“Before I tell you that, we need to be clear on one thing. If we don’t work together, we will fail. Altarrin has unimaginable power. Some of us know about this,” Shadow said, motioning to the older Council Members. “However, some have yet to experience his power firsthand.” Shadow looked at Solana and Tyrell as he spoke. “Also, he does have in his possession a large amount of ‘innocent bystanders.’ We can’t risk their safety. Abner, you especially must be careful. He has your daughter.”
“What? When did you figure this out? How do you know?”
“I went to… visit… him a few hours ago and I felt the presence of a Light sorcerer. I assume this is your daughter. If not, it will be someone from your Realm.”
“You would be correct. Only my daughter and I can access the Light Sphere in the entire Realm. Unless Altarrin himself can do so, he has my daughter. I told her not to go off on her own!”
“Ok, now that we’re clear on these items, let’s talk about our plan. We can’t attack him directly, so we’ll have to sneak up on him.”
“How do you plan on doing that?”
“I assume you’ve all brought your Anti-rings, yes? Well, I plan on creating a diversion. The six of you can use your rings and your natural powers, working together, and create something, whatever you want, to distract him. Then, I’ll sneak in, along with Eriol and Solana and we’ll rescue the captives. Then, we’ll have to attack him with all we have.”
“That sounds simple enough, but is it too simple? How do we know this will work?” Matriana asked.
“We don’t. Those of you who are weaker in power here, namely Abner, Candice and Solana, will come with me afterwards to help save Sakura.”
“I object!” Candice said, standing up. “You want me to work with you?”
“Yes, I do. For Sakura’s sake, remember? Besides, we won’t be next to each other. I need enough people to rescue all five of them. If Elaine is in there –”
“How do you know my daughter’s name?” Abner cut in.
“That’s not important. As I was saying, If Elaine is in there, I want you, Abner, to go after her. Candice, you and Flame can go with Solana and Zephyr to find Li, Tomoyo, and Meiling. I’ll get Sakura out.”
“Fine!” Candice yelled, sitting back down and re-crossing her arms, muttering something under her breath.
“What are we supposed to do after we create the diversion?” Tyrell asked.
“Well, I expect he’ll come out and attack you. I need you to hold your ground until we get everyone out. Then we’ll all hit him with everything we have. Eriol, you’re going to come with me to get Sakura. If anything goes wrong, make sure you get Sakura out of there.”
“Ok, what about these four?” Eriol asked, motioning to the four guardians.
“They’ll be outside, waiting for us. You four can help with the diversion.”
“So, what are we waiting for? Let’s go!” Sigma yelled, getting up.
“Alright, now that we’re all clear on what to do, let’s go rescue Sakura,” Shadow said, getting out of his chair.
The twelve of them walked out of the castle, all determined to rescue Sakura and bring down the Summoner. Slowly, they approached the large mansion. “Is everyone ready?” Shadow asked when they were less than half a mile away.
Everyone nodded determinedly, ready to bring down the Summoner.
“Good. Start the diversion,” Shadow whispered, leading Solana, Candice, Eriol and Abner away from the group.
Sigma watched as they left and reached for the Earth Sphere, pulling as much energy as he could hold. He added the Anti-ring’s power to his own and looked at Matriana who did the same thing, staring at Tyrell. Tyrell embraced his own Power Sphere and nodded to Sigma to signify that he was ready.
“Ok, let’s pool our energies together,” Sigma said, directing the energy he held to a spot between the three of them. Matriana and Tyrell did the same and an invisible pool of energy appeared between them. The three of them nodded in agreement and pulled on this mixture of energy, sending it in front of the mansion. Suddenly, the ground in front of the mansion shook, thunder rumbled above it, lightning stuck the ground repeatedly, and a cyclone of water touched down. The electrified cyclone was surrounded by strips of earth as pillars of rock appeared from thin air. A large, semi-transparent sea dragon’s head appeared from the electrified cyclone and roared terribly.
“What’s all this racket?” a boy asked, stepping out of the mansion. “Whoa.” He quickly ran back inside. A few minutes later, a figure that seemed to beckon the darkness to himself appeared in the doorway. In one hand, he produced a glowing whip while in the other, a ball of energy appeared. The figure jumped up and slashed diagonally downwards with his whip while shooting long streams of energy at the cyclone.
“We have to strengthen it. Hurry, we need to gather more power,” Sigma said, pulling energy towards him, transferring it to the pool, and directing a mixture of the energy to strengthen the cyclone.
Yue, Ruby, Spinel and Keroberos flew to the cyclone, sending bolts of energy to strengthen it.
“I am Altarrin! You will fall before me!” the figure shouted, sending streams of energy at the cyclone.
Altarrin landed next to the cyclone and jumped back into the air, spinning with his whip. The tip of the whip drew a golden line of energy, creating a cyclone of its own. Seconds later, Altarrin could no longer be seen, surrounded in a golden wall. The golden cyclone touched the ground, shaking the earth for miles.
“We need more power!” Matriana yelled, adding her Water energy to the pool.
“Agreed,” Sigma said, looking at Tyrell. The three of them pulled more energy into the pool while building up their cyclone’s defenses, preparing it for Altarrin. Huge walls of rock appeared between Altarrin and the cyclone, blocking him from attack. A large storm cloud appeared above the golden cyclone, readying to strike. Large rocks appeared above the cloud and spiraled into the golden cyclone as electrified hail fell from the cloud.
“They need a bit more time! We have to keep this up just a little longer!” Tyrell yelled, exhausted from all the energy output. The three of them nodded in agreement and continued their attack on Altariin’s cyclone.
“Fools!” Altarrin boomed, sending his golden cyclone straight towards the other one. Quickly, Yue and Keroberos created an energy shield around the cyclone, hoping to save it.
The two whirlwinds collided with a loud crack causing the semi-transparent sea dragon to roar, spewing electrified liquid at its opponent. Clouds appeared all over Altarrin, raining baseball sized hail onto Altarrin’s head. Everyone was met by a flick of his whip, breaking them to pieces.
“You cannot defeat me!” Altarrin yelled, creating line after line of energy. Large streams of water, hail, and thunder collided with Altarrin’s lines, leaving them completely unharmed. The lines sped through the air, colliding with the watery cyclone to aid their ally.
“Just a little longer!” Sigma yelled, exhausted.
“You will cower in fear!”
We have to hold on! Just a few more minutes should be enough for them to get back out! Sigma thought, straining his magical energies.
“Hurry,” Shadow whispered urgently as a large cyclone of water appeared in front of the mansion. “We won’t have much time. Altarrin’s pretty strong and the three of them can only do so much.”
“I know!” Candice hissed.
Shadow kept quiet, deciding it was better to avoid a feud at the moment. “Let’s go,” he whispered, motioning for Eriol to follow him. “I don’t know exactly where the others are. You’ll have to locate them on your own.”
“Ok, we’ll be fine,” Solana said, leading Candice through the window.
Abner followed them. Once inside, they went up the nearest stairs, beginning their search. Meanwhile, Shadow and Eriol nodded at each other and walked down the stairs to find Sakura.
“Well, what do we have here?” asked a platinum haired boy as they appeared at the bottom of the steps.
“Who are you?” Shadow asked, taking in Dark energy as he did so.
“I am Lloyd, humble servant and advisor to Altarrin. You must be the infamous Shadow. I’ve been waiting to meet you face to face! Sphienents, attack!”
Two sphienents appeared from behind Lloyd, glowing a deep red. “Yes, master,” they hissed, sending their tentacles at Shadow.
Shadow dodged through their tentacles with lithe agility, each one flying clear past him. He released his staff with the large eagle-like bird at the top and called on Fiery. Fiery appeared and hit one of the sphienents with tremendous force, knocking it back and setting it ablaze.
“Aaaaaahhh!” it screamed, rolling on the floor to put out the flames. The other sphienent lunged at Shadow, missing as Shadow quickly sidestepped the attack.
“Sword!” he cried, transforming his staff into a long sword. He pulled in the Dark energy from around him and suffused his sword with it. The sword in his turned a deep, eerie black, surrounded by an aura of Dark energy. Shadow slashed straight down with the sword, an explosive line of energy appearing on the ground where he hit. The line extended, obliterating the sphienent when it hit.
“You may as well give up, Shadow. One wrong move and your friend Sakura will have to say goodbye,” Lloyd said, producing what looked like a joystick in his hand. A small, blue button shimmered on top of it, his finger inches from it. “Lose your weapon,” Lloyd commanded. “You too, drop that staff!” he said, noticing Eriol.
Shadow and Eriol let their staves disappear, unwilling to risk Sakura’s safety. “Fine, what do you want?” Shadow asked.
“It’s simple really. Come here,” Lloyd said, walking into the dark room behind him.
Shadow and Eriol exchanged glances and followed after Lloyd, Sakura’s safety hanging in the balance.
“Come,” Lloyd said, leading them to Sakura’s sleeping body.
“What do you want with her?” Shadow asked, ready to embrace the Dark energy flowing through the Realm.
“Take her and run. Knock me out; make it look like you overpowered me.”
Shadow stared at Lloyd, more than a little confused. “Sorry? What did you say?”
“You know what I said. Look, just do it. You want to save her, right?”
Shadow glanced at Eriol, then Sakura. Finally, his eyes landed on Lloyd’s watering eyes. He nodded and filled himself with Dark energy, just enough to knock Lloyd out. “Why are you doing this?” Shadow asked before he struck.
“I just am. Your friends outside need your help. If you defeat Altarrin, promise me you’ll let me see her again.”
Shadow nodded again and hurled some dark energy at Lloyd, gently knocking him unconscious. “Let’s go,” he said, picking Sakura up.
The two of them walked up the stairs in complete silence, still unsure what to make of Lloyd. When they reached the window, Eriol climbed out first. Shadow handed Sakura to Eriol and climbed out afterwards.
“We need to take her somewhere safe. Eriol, can I get you to take her to the castle? I’ll inform Keroberos and Yue,” Shadow said, running back to Sigma and the other rulers.
Eriol stood holding Sakura for a while before walking off towards the castle. Well, at least Sakura’s free.
Questions? Comments? Please do email me at any point to give me your comments/questions. It won’t be too long before this fic is over, but I’m planning a sequel. Let’s see just how this will end. Here’s your ponderment list:
What’s with Lloyd? He’s kinda weird, isn’t he? Did anyone expect him to do that?
Sakura has the weirdest dream. I wonder what all of that is about. Sounds to me like the doom will reign on the world if Sakura dies. But what did Shadow mean by ‘your death again?’ Did he expect Sakura to come back to life?
Hooded figure with bright red eyes. First off, a note: Imagine The Shadow Card with two specks of red light under its hood. That’s the picture of this new Card. Anyways, hmm… a hooded figure: wonder what it could be. New cards… will more appear?
Well, that’s that. I hope someone figures out the challenge. There’re only a few chpts left before I reveal it to the world. I think. I’m not sure if I’ll do it in this fic… Here it is again for those who are too lazy to go back to find it.
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.