Card Captor Sakura Fan Fiction ❯ Invoking ❯ Image 01: Haste ( Chapter 1 )

_______________________________________Invoking_________________________ ____________

by: carpetfibers

Image 01: Haste

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It's a passing fancy, cryptic, unknowing, and lovely in each touch.

So I dreamt again.

You died last night.

I woke weeping.

It's a fleeting hope, transient, foreign, and brutal in each taste.

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"You can't cross the quadrant with her," the guard stated for the sixth time, his dented helmet tilted halfscance from his sweaty brow.

"I have a permit," the blank faced man repeated as well, once again holding out the small slip of coffee stained paper from his tanned hand.

"Permit or no permit, I'm telling you, you can't cross the quadrant with her."

The her of the discussion jerked shakily in her fever; her glassy green eyes flashed awake for a moment and then closed once more. The older woman holding the sick girl bit down on her lip to prevent the addition of her own words to the never ending discourse. She pushed away at her short violet bangs and looked to her daughter who sat seated behind them. She too was holding a patient in her lap- a pale faced young man who had been found with the ill girl, unconscious.

Sonomi Daidouji refocused her energies on the young woman in her arms. The poor thing was uncommonly thin, her gaunt face drawn close against high cheek bones, and when she opened her eyes, the green seemed too bright and the orbs too wide. They had to get her to the healer soon, or the fever might eat her alive.

The black haired man sighed and pocketed the permit. The guard lowered his shoulders and a half smile flitted across his bloated cheeks.

"I'm sorry about this, but you'll see you're making the smart choice. Beyond these gates, fiends have been not only feeding, but brooding- you wouldn't last an hour, let alone the entire day it'd take you to cross." The guard might have continued if not for the hand suddenly pressed to his brow and the chant that followed. The man's brown eyes dulled over and a strange stupor seemed to possess him.

Upright once more, the leader of the band of travelers lifted his permit for inspection and repeated his words. "I have a permit; open the gates."

Instead of arguing, the guard opened his mouth and slightly slurred words came in reply. "R-righf awray, shrir..."

With a loud shriek, the ancient apparatus whirled into life, and the gate rose with a distinctive electronic click. Sonomi released her hold on the girl to guide the craft through the gates. Once through, the gate slammed shut, the guard having released the trigger; Sonomi tossed the craft's controller to the now halted man.

"Touya, was that safe? Someone might have seen you-"

He cut her off, raising his hand for silence. Now that they were fully into the Oirthir district, Touya needed to exert all his attention and energy to getting them through. This was one of the overrun districts, long gone to martial rule. Whatever inhabitants had been caught behind the locked gates were left to themselves for survival. As his dark eyes searched up the neighboring alleys and streets, he very much doubted that many had- survived that is. It was a dangerous thing he was trying, but considering the state of the two in his care, he had no choice. This was the fastest way to the healer.

His eyes darted up the left and narrowed. Something had moved in the shadows.

"Sonomi, you and your daughter should grab hold of something. I'm going to run."

Immediately, the older woman's eyes widened in fear. "Touya, that's not safe! You shouldn't try-"

The mysterious shape in the shadows shifted once again, and Touya tensed automatically.

"No time for argument. Grab hold now!"

Not waiting for confirmation of his directions, he pulled out the small electronic circle that held the craft's controls. He squeezed once firmly, and it extended into a long bar, one red light pulsating at the narrow tip. Lashing out with it, he spun the bar twice to the left and once to the right and finally in the direction he wanted. Tapping the ground with his foot, he prepared for the ship's sudden movement. It would follow his mental instructions after this, so all he had to do was keep up. He'd be tired in the end, but he had no choice.

From the corner of his eye, he could see the sudden rush from the shadows of the ally way. Now or never.

He rose the bar over his head and shouted into the square:

"We fly!"

A rushing glare of silver streaked through the square and down the designated street, leaving behind only the dull emptiness of space. A young man stepped out from the shadows, blood stained against his cheeks, an equally crimson sword in hand, and a scowl apparent on his lips.

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Ancient breeze with misshapen shoes.

You hobble along, broken and wheezing.

Pathetic,

Vulturous,

Perhaps predatory?

I'll pretend you drowned with the crows.

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"They're missing; all we found were some tattered remains of her clothing and her companion's peculiar dagger."

"Were there signs of fiends?"

"No."

"Could they have walked away?"

"No; they were fully incapacitated. Someone must have picked them up."

"Does she have any allies outside the Clan?"

"The rumors of her betrayal against her father have left her with no one aside from that boy."

Hayako Mizuki looked up sharply at his normally toneless guardian's voice. Despite the rather annoying news he was receiving, a glimmer of a smirk slipped across his lips.

"Hiiragizawa's disloyalty was surprising, wasn't it, Fusari?"

Taisho Fusari fought back the snarl that came from his throat and struggled out a curt:

"Yes."

Mizuki stepped from away from the consul and looked through the stone grafted window. Overhead a cracked moon looked down onto the valley, the crooked shine limelighting on the lost districts. His smirk fell away easily.

"We must find her."

Fusari dropped the retrieved dagger on his master's desk and stepped back.

"It's unlike anything we have."

Mizuki fingered the edge of his premature white hair and gazed down at the twin bladed object. Even in the dim electronic light of the room, the startling jewels encrusting the handle sparkled without restraint. He reached out to touch the handle.

"I wouldn't touch it. Two of my men lost their fingers. Like I said; it is a peculiar instrument." Fusari's expression softened enough that Mizuki could almost imagine a smile coming across the thin lips.

He quickly withdrew his curious fingers and peered down at the inscription upon the jewels. Not recognizing the language, he looked to his guardian for explanation.

The black haired man responded aptly. "It's an ancient tongue. I've posted several people to work on a translation. That boy was not all he seemed."

Mizuki laughed lightly, and reseated himself signaling a growing end to their conversation. "He did manage to pull past your inspection and better your own trainees. He certainly was not all he seemed. However, I would prefer to have Hiiragizawa retrieved alive. The girl has a fondness for him."

Fusari nodded, sending a shock of uncouth bangs across his tanned brow. "I'll leave you now."

Mizuki didn't respond to the announcement or the slam of the door. He rested his uniquely green eyes on the night sky and its broken moon. The consul beeped continuously, signaling a call from the council, but he ignored the sound. He sighed and queried aloud.

"Why did you run away? Little Ying Fa, you are much needed."

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She stood beneath a lamplight,

Carcasses lying in the thousands.

'They ran out of blackbirds,'

She explained.

'He needs his pies, you know.'

I woke screaming.

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He fled onward as the falling darkness dampened and filled the air with its stagnant breath. It was already touching upon latent suicidal urges to be in a fiend held quadrant, but to be in one at night touched upon the insane. Flashes of half eaten bodies poised in mid flight met his rushed vision, and he blinked away the horrors. His body was nearing the ending point of his modulated ability, and he knew without his guidance the craft would eventually stop. So Touya pressed on, ignoring the warning calls of his depleting system.

The attack came without sound. In a muted scream, the misshapen beast clawed out its daggers at the swift prey. He managed to dodge the blow, but the subconscious message sent to the craft behind him was a moment too slow. It careened into one of the half demolished buildings, adding to the refuse by tossing aside its four occupants. Touya pulled the stops and swung back around, knowing that it was now time to fight or die. The time of haste had passed.

His reserves already low, he waited for the shadowed creature to make the first move. He positioned himself between the beast and the knocked passengers. Behind him, he sensed Sonomi attempting to rise.

"Stay down," he ordered, his eyes fixed upon the slowly advancing fiend. It might have once been a simple forest creature, like a bear or puma, but the Cree Feayr had mutated it into a horrid nightmare of creation and science. Its mind long gone to waste, the savage animal snarled mutely. Transfixed, a subconscious part of Touya's mind recorded away the knowledge of this voiceless creature in his electronic analog.

A twitching in his hand pushed away any second thoughts and with a thoroughly sounded howl, he fell upon the beast. As one part of his body withdrew another flew forward. His arms and legs crossed into triangles and trapezoids of shapes, years of training adapting themselves to this new environment and new enemy. Weaponless but for his arms and legs, Touya knew that speed was his only ally. A torrid claw knocked him to the side, the soundless jaws opening to exude another muted scream. Of pain, he imagined. Pushing away his own pain, he went forward again. The pestilent hair filled his nostrils as his blows made a hedge way. This creature had long ago died, and its body was slowing decaying. The stench of rotting flesh made him want to gag, and if not for the fear of that pungent fur filling his mouth, he might have.

Touya pulled back from the black blood pouring out from the creature's many wounds. It was no longer advancing. The pain too great for its deadened mind, the beast retreated to the shadows outside of the broken building's walls. He wiped the thick froth from his forehead, refusing to look at the moldering liquid. He managed to stumble to Sonomi's side. Kneeling beside her, he looked over the two passengers they had picked up the night before.

"How's your daughter?" he murmured, his serious eyes remaining on the pale and sweaty face of the unknown girl.

Sonomi glanced over at the long haired girl who stood with her eyes closed, one hand to her forehead and the other slowly circling over the area.

"Tomoyo's fine. She's checking the perimeter. She'll stand watch while you rest."

Touya didn't argue, but nodded. "Wake me if she senses the slightest movement."

The pale faced woman nodded, her energies focused on maintaining her two charges' already dwindling health. The girl in particular worried her. This unnatural sickness that held her nearly covered her entire body. The rash only showed at rare instances, this moment being one of them. The lines and crosses glowed in a blinking haze of red, fading into browns. She could make out some sense in the designs- it was almost as if she had been written across in a some strange tongue. And then, as it had done three times already in the past twenty-four hours, the rash faded, and the girl convulsed.

Sonomi held her down by the shoulders as the weak body thrashed and twisted, her unusual green eyes flying open and her dried lips moving as if to speak. Just as quickly as it came, the seizure left, and once again the auburn haired girl laid limp in her arms. The boy had yet to awake as well. His chest fell and rose in time with the girl's, and despite a thorough search for the blow that had knocked him out, no wounds had been found on him.

No marks found on him at all to explain his unconsciousness; there was only a small tattoo on the inside of his left wrist: a black circled within a pentagram.

"Tomoyo, don't strain yourself. Use your energy sparingly," Sonomi whispered over to her daughter.

The young woman opened her matching violet eyes and smiled warmly with a gentle shake of her head. "I'm being careful. Don't worry, Mother."

Tomoyo re-closed her eyes, and continued surveying the area. Beneath the cover of her lids, the tiny red lines of vessels and too thin skin, an image appeared of abandoned streets and darkened corners. Everything was coated in easy greys and hallow blacks. She smiled mentally; this would be an easy area to monitor- anything of color would show up like a fire.

"Tomoyo, honey, maybe you-"

"This is fun. You should try to rest a little yourself. Touya wouldn't be happy to wake and find you half dead from exhaustion. He'll need you when we get to the healer's."

Sonomi pushed away her maternal concerns, and nodded at her daughter's wise words. From the mouth of babes...and this was no exception.

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There's a beetle on your elbow.

Might want to brush it off.

I hear beetles make an excellent soup.

Lift it slowly- look at the legs squirm!

Save the soup; this is for now.

A small snack.

Just like life- swallowed whole.

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The dissected remains of the moon were nearing the eastern sky when Touya finally opened his eyes. Gingerly, he scanned over his body: his energy was only half way replenished, but it would be enough to get them through the quadrant. He pulled himself from the concrete flooring and frowned noticing that the normally tireless Sonomi had fallen asleep.. The woman's daughter was still standing in the middle of the open air room, her eyes closed and hands out reached. At his movement, she dropped her arms and sent him a gentle smile.

He only jutted out his jaw and made for the remains of their hover craft. Originally only meant for three passengers, Touya had been pressing his luck when he added a fourth to that list. The machine, after being clawed into a wall and after being slammed into the concrete, was visibly cracked. He swept out the control and checked the diagnostics. The craft sputtered to life with a dulled whirl, and his frown eased just enough to be noticed by a pair of soft violet eyes. A gentle hand fell against his arm, and he passed over the control for Tomoyo's inspection.

"It will work, but barely," she said, her musical voice comforting his tensed nerves. "Mother and I can walk."

Touya nodded and retrieved the control. "It'll be slow this way."

Again her pale hand fell to his arm. "It'll be fine."

And oddly enough, he believed her.

"Tomoyo- don't wake your mother just yet. I need to discuss something with you."

The tanned man sat down roughly to the ground, his long legs folding in front of him. The long haired girl followed suit, her movements far more graceful. She waited in silence for him to speak. She knew, as always, that he wasn't speaking so much for her to agree, but to sound out his worries, his concerns. He had done it this way for years, when he was but a teenager and she a young child.

"Did you see the markings your mother mentioned?" he asked. Tomoyo nodded and tucked a piece of loose hair behind a pale ear.

"I recognize the lettering."

This caused a bit of a start from the demure young woman, but she stifled her surprise and nodded for him to continue. Touya sighed loudly, digging into the dust and stone with his worn boot. He hung his head, his shock of black hair falling across his cheeks.

"It's part of my original memories. Just as I recognized that girl, I know that language, and yet- I don't. The meaning of the figures are too vague for me to understand...but the gist is there. I need to speak with her."

Tomoyo recognized a few things of her own, like the urgent tone in her long time guardian's voice. It was the same frantic drive that had been present when he had pulled her out from the Cree Feayr's grasp. She could close her eyes and remember that moment perfectly: sitting huddled beneath a steel table, its surface scrubbed clean and gleaming in the morning air; the way he had stumbled into the room, his face half covered by a vaguely familiar crimson liquid; the way his lips had opened to cry her name.

It was the same as that time.

"However, after we reach the healer's, I want you and your mother to return to Fardach. I'll leave it to you to convince her."

Touya turned his piercing eyes to the girl's face as she softly laughed.

"Why are you laughing?" he demanded.

Tomoyo allowed the laughter to curve her lips into a smile. "Touya, what makes you think that I am going to agree so easily?"

He only grunted and pushed off from the ground. "Dawn'll be here soon. Time to start moving."

She nodded and wiped the dust from her pale blue skirt, noting the need for some future stitching along the side. The coarse fabric still felt foreign against her skin; the porcelain organ was long used to the softer comforts of silk and cashmere. Linen was a hardier thing, but the vain and indulgent part of her sensible mind still longed for the remembered amenities.

She knelt beside her mother's prone body, her easy smile stretching as she looked over the woman's serene features. Almost half way into her life, Sonomi was still a beautiful woman. No amount of age or hardship would remove the elegance in which she held herself. Even when sleeping, Tomoyo's mother bespoke refinement.

"Mother," Tomoyo whispered, shaking her shoulder gently. The exhausted woman opened her eyes immediately and stretched her arms.

"Time to leave?" Sonomi asked while pulling out the kinks from her legs. She doubted she would ever get used to sleeping on floors, no matter how often the event occurred.

"Hmn." The raven haired girl helped her mother up, and then they both turned their attentions to their patients.

With matching careful hands, they placed first the shaking girl and then the immobile boy. Touya nodded once before squeezing down on the control, changing it into the extended staff. Now attuned to his mental commands, he led it and the two women from the alcove and into the main street. Overhead, the first pink hues of morning were making their appearance. In front, not a thing stirred. Absent of life altogether, the avenue looked better suited to a surrealist's canvas than to a city.

Oirthir was surely in the throes of its final minutes.

Behind, however, was another matter. Touya could sense their movements, as could Tomoyo with her occasional scans. While the former prepared himself for any possible attack, the latter merely continued with her easy smile and small words of conversation. No one thought to mention the lack of food and drink since the day before, and no one thought to mention the unfamiliarity of the area.

Touya didn't like their position in the least. He would have preferred to soup up the craft to its best ability and make another run for it. With just him and the hover, they would make it to the Tuath gates in easily an hour. But neither of the Daidouji women had his ability; neither of them were part construct. He fought back the frustration of the situation and continued with his slow advancement. Time, patience, and diligence would bring them just as assuredly to the gates as any other plan.

Not bothering to turn around to speak, he called out to the walking women: "Pick up the pace. I'm finding the Oirthir district a bit dull for my tastes."

Tomoyo smiled gently and hummed under her breath. A quick translation: Touya was worried about them.

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Dust is scattered.

Scattered pieces from the east.

Imagine it on ice cream.

Sounds delicious.

Now it's ash, fragrant pieces of bodies.

Even better.

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They weren't difficult to follow. The only challenge came from blocking out his energy so the long haired girl wouldn't sense him. He had almost shown himself when the beithir, the bear like creature, attacked the craft, but the head male had held his own. He was surprised by the skill with which he fought, and even more impressed by the lack of weapons he used. However, after observing him more this morning, he was sure that the head male was part construct. In place of the respect was now an intense dislike.

No member of the lost Clan agreed with the creation of constructs. Constructs were akin to the Cree Feayr's army of fiends. Some constructs eventually became more machine than they were human, trading off the weaker organs- the heart, the lungs, the liver- for mechanical replacements. Even if there were only a few remaining members of his Clan left, no Li would ever trade up their humanity for such a grotesque deformity. It showed weakness and lack of pride. The Li were strong, and their strength was entirely natural.

Syaoran scowled as he dove behind yet another piece of rubble. That damned construct kept turning exactly to where he rested. He should have just taken the Fakider the night before, when the construct was recharging. But his sense of honor prevented him from attacking two women. The Elders had commissioned him with finding the Fakider and bringing her back to the Clan. He wasn't given a reason, but then again, he didn't need one. As the lost Clan's Chosen One, he was tasked to return them to their former glory.

If kidnaping this girl, the Fakider, was what it took, then it was fine by him.

The dirt and blood stained young man suddenly hissed. Two large ruans were coming at an exceptionally fast speed from the west. Three others were following not far behind the leaders. Did the construct sense them?

"Two- no, five fiends are coming from the west!" the girl who had been humming stupidly up to this point shouted to the construct.

Syaoran listened, his hand poised next to his talisman, as the construct began barking out orders. The girl who had first warned them ran behind the tall male, as did the older woman with the short hair. The broken craft fell to the ground, neither of its occupants waking from the sudden jolt. He tensed, his legs balanced to spring into motion at the slightest threat to the Fakider.

The first of the beasts charged into the wide avenue, its rotting trunk spitting forth a black ooze. Its baggy skin clung in half putrescent clumps from its skeleton, and pieces of wire stuck out from its back where it had been wounded. The black haired man immediately moved into action, sweeping out with one of its legs to knock the ruan in the knee. With a deafening roar, the mutated creature careened to its side, its balance removed.

The second of the beasts chose to enter then, charging to its member's side. Showing no sign of fatigue, the construct attacked its legs as well, once again knocking the creature to the ground. Syaoran watched as the construct with human features methodically removed the creatures' ability to move by piercing the knob directly on the back of their necks. He didn't however, let his guard down for a moment. There were still three more of these fiends coming- and all at once.

A roar and sudden thunder of weight pounded from the far end of the avenue. Dust and rubble rose in the air as the three creatures charged as one. Syaoran lifted the talisman and leapt forward with his sword. No matter how powerful, the construct would not be able to stop this charge, and he could not allow his mission to get hurt. The Fakider was to be protected at all costs.

The construct narrowed his black eyes but fell in next to Syaoran. Questions would be saved for later. The three ruans, their stench suffocating all other odors, released another roar, more of the sickly black ooze spraying out in all directions. Both sets of eyes narrowed as wall and concrete melted from the contact. Springing forward, almost in perfect agreement, the two sudden allies swung out at the creatures' knees. Still moving with intense speed, Syaoran swiped out at the back of the neck. One was immobilized. He turned to the second and dodged as more of the acidic ooze sprayed from the rotting trunk.

Crouched on the ground, he watched as the construct removed the third ruan from being a danger. All that remained was the wounded yet still volatile center beast. Its mind must have been more intact than the others', for there was a beady intelligence left in its glassy red eyes. The tiny retinae swept across the avenue, marking its enemies in the two blood drenched males on the ground, the two clinging women behind a torn down wall, and finally landing on the discarded hover craft. Something akin to recognition flashed in the dulled pupils and with a cry of rage, the beast floundered past the two attackers and straight for the craft.

Syaoran flew after the crazed ruan, his sword flashing through the dust and air with speed and confidence. Yet, the beast still did not fall! He fell back in horror as the stomping feet managed to pull the defeated creature to where the Fakider lay. Futilely, he threw his sword at the rotting grey hide, praying for it to hit its mark, but the sword fell to the side with a flash of silver and then transformed back to its talisman state.

Four pairs of eyes stared in horror as the fiend began to spew forth more of its poisonous acids and then in shock as an intense light flashed through the avenue. The light consumed everything, blinding all eyes in the areas, and when it receded, the fiend was completely gone, its footprints the only sign left of its once existence. There was only the sick girl, her too wide green eyes open and flashing and her body aglow with the strange symbols. They pulsed once, twice, and then faded. The girl fell and all was still.

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Hey, hey, hey now.

Carnies blow you kisses.

Heart of the show,

You tried starvation

And my, how much I laughed!

Foolish thing;

That won't save you...

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