Card Captor Sakura Fan Fiction ❯ Legacy ❯ Reflections in Dark Water ( Chapter 3 )

Disclaimer time!!! I don't own it, never will, but it would make a lovely Christmas present if someone is looking to go shopping for me. Oh my god I am sorry for this month wait between chapters. College and working have officially sliced my free time to a grand total of like ten minutes a day . *whimpers* so bear with me.... I shall finish this fic!!!! and then I get to start my next one ¬_¬ ok, I want to address the length of these chapters. Let me just take a moment to drive my thought process home to you, before I get reviews saying they are too long. I chapter my fics without thinking about page length. I break them off between major events.

This chapter is almost all explanation of what legacy is.... the true origin of the cards... and Sakura preparing for the final battle with legacy. I tried to make this one less painful by making the Clow stuff flashbacks, as opposed to just Kero talking.

The next chapter will be the final battle with legacy. The one following will be the series conclusion. Almost done ^_^

just to explain myself. Sakura goes through a personality switch partway through this. It occurred to me that after going through what she went through in this chap, she would be effected by it. (It's hard explaining something without spoiling the fic...) She will get a little better in the following chapters.

Mail me at logan91235@aol.com

Legacy

By Logan

Reflections in Dark Water.

The sky bled as the demon struggled forward like a hell spawned infant being ejected from the womb of the heavens. It tore with its claws, and as it did more of the red and black nightmare sky gurgled out and streaked the sky with phantasmagoric blood. The blue was palpitating around it as if trying to close and lock the beast back into the atrocity made landscape where it had come from.

The struggle continued, but the beast continued to maintain eye contact with Sakura. It watched her hungrily as it writhed his way forward, closer and closer to the goal it reflected in its oily black eyes. The need which burned inside those black embers was just as terrifying as the squirming flesh which wriggled with motion.

"What is it!?" Madison screamed as she clung to Sakura. Syaoran's eyes darkened to hateful slits as he stared up at it. Sakura was watching him as he took a step closer to the demonic mass of flesh which tore at the sky seeking both freedom and death. The posture he wore was so rigid and tight that Sakura could see his fist trembling with rage and a hate she had never thought him capable of. He was not intimidated by the creature, just as he was not surprised by it.

"Legacy!" he called out into the sky. The creature paused in his struggles and looked at the boy, though it had no pupils or retinas, his gaze focused on Syaoran. Its lips pulled back into a venomously reptilian hiss.

"Do you recognize me?! Do you know me?! I am Li Syaoran. The only son of LI Lerae and LiYaichiro... do you remember us monster!? " Sakura was stunned by his words as he stared up at the colossal creature who met his gaze with an icy hate.

"Hear me demon! You will not take this girl! You will not take anyone else!" legacy snarled and snapped as his jaws twisted into rows of fangs which bent to allow more to grow in. Sakura felt her stomach churn with revulsion as she saw the creature's lips pull away and meld back into his face, leaving fleshy gums which vaguely seemed similar to those of a baboon's wicked mouth. Its body seemed bound in eternal flux as shapes and appendages wriggled into existence, only to meld back in a moment later.

"Syaoran..... what is it?" Sakura questioned as she hesitantly climbed to her feet, hanging close to him.

"This is the Legacy of the card captor, Sakura... your destiny, and mine." his hair whipped in violent winds that had kicked up since the legacy's presence.

"Look at it Sakura... this is the price of the cards, and the responsibility of their mistress..."

"You knew this was coming?" she questioned as the winds began tp pull at her as if the demon was bringing forth cyclones of demonic energy.

"My people have known and fought this demon many times... " legacy's form exploded as his skull ripped away and formed two massive arms which seized the rim of the slit and struggled to tear it open further. The hole widened.

"It's coming through!" Madison called as Syaoran turned to stare at Sakura his eyes glowing with a strange radiance that sent a chill through her. he flashed before her eyes, and for that instant he was once again the archangel from her vision, and then in the heartbeat's passing he was once again Syaoran. His expression was stern and hard as his expression did not soften on her. He was waiting for her actions now, judging her as he had done when they first met.

"Come now Avalon.... show me your true mettle. This is no longer a game... this is not a test. Show me now if you are capable of this, and then I will answer your questions. Time is running out Sakura! SHOW ME I WAS RIGHT ABOUT YOU!!!" he roared as the sky began swirling with red as the legacy's form was half way out. His jaws snapping with anticipation.

Sakura's eyes narrowed as she stepped forward against the gale winds which bent tree limbs and tore at her hair. She reached for the key of the Clow which hung at her neck.

"The cards cannot help you with this Sakura... they have no power against the legacy!" he yelled against the wind. She dropped the pendant and let it fall back inside her shirt on its chain. Syaoran watched her as the creature began roaring with eagerness to his triumph that seemed no more then seconds away.

Sakura raised her arms to the black nightmare. Her hands trembled as she focused on the magic Syaoran had been teaching. Madison's eyes went wide as she saw Sakura's body begin glowing as soft words began emanating from all around her in her own voice. Syaoran smirked.

"Lumen a abolitio flagrare" her hands burst into white fire and she cried out but held them aloft. The spell was ancient white magic, and it was stronger then anything she had ever tried using. Her hands burned as she tried to remember Syaoran's lessons... in most spells clarity was the key... keeping control over the power and shaping it.... giving it purpose. Her eyes glowed as she drew the power together and formed it in her hands.

The silvery energy took the form of a bow and a single arrow. Both burned and crackled like lightning and fire as she took aim at the legacy and let the arrow fly. It split the sky as it flew, and like a bolt of celestial wrath, exploded against legacy who howled out in pain as his form was engulfed in the spirits of white flame. Tides of ivory fire washed over the sky like waves on the beach. They swirled and plumed outward in a thousand glowing embers as Sakura watched.

The fire faded away and, to their horror, the legacy remained. It was unscathed, but seething as Sakura cried out.

"It didn't work!!!" Syaoran stepped in front of her with a smile as the legacy bubbled with transformation.

"A good first step... you didn't back down... but your magic is no match for it....yet..." legacy exploded forward as its skull and shoulders became a serpent's form and struck down on them like a scorpion's stinger. The appendage terminated in a gaping black mouth that frothed with saliva as it bore down on them.

Sakura watched in horror as Syaoran reached to his side and pulled a stiletto from its sheath. The blade gleamed with unnatural light as runes flashed on its metalic finish. Syaoran gripped the weapon's blade in his other hand and winced as he made a tight fist around it. With a flick of his wrist he pulled the knife from his grip, cutting a gash in the meaty palm of his hand.

Sakura gasped as he opened his bleeding hand and held it out to meet legacy. With a flick of his wrist he spattered the sky with his own blood. It did not fall to the earth as gravity would dictate, instead each amorphous drop of blood hung in the air around him. The wound in his hand glowed as he gripped the wrist with his other hand, having returned the knife to his side. Legacy was rocketing forward, but reached them too late.

"shimanagashi..." he spoke in plain Japanese, but the word for banishment was endowed with magic beyond measure, as the floating blood exploded forward in a thousand crimson beams which tore the snake appendage to sunder and continued back like a wall of swirling scarlet magic that ripped through the black form, tearing it to pieces and hurtling them back into the chasm from which it had come. Legacy pushed back, but was overwhelmed by Syaoran's magic as blood continued to erupt from his hand and explode over the demonic mass like a tsunami of pure magic. Syaoran crumpled to his knees but still forced the thing back, destroying each new appendage as it was born, all the while driving it backwards. Legacy soon vanished into the rift which sealed itself closed around it.

The winds died away to nothing as the blue sky was restored just as if the epic battle never occurred. Syaoran looked groggily to Sakura and collapsed face first onto the ground.

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"What happened to him!?" Sakura yelled at Kero. They had managed to get Syaoran back to Sakura's house and now the entire household looked over him as he lay sprawled on the sofa. Sakura had said nothing of legacy, only about Syaoran. Kero knew that the time to tell her was here, but she wouldn't be able to fully absorb it all if the brat wasn't alright.

He had tried explaining the function of the knife, that it was a tool for channeling strong magic. Sakura stopped him part way and insisted he get to the point with Syaoran. Her tone was harsh and agitated by the wound on his palm which her father had been treating with bandages.

"He should be taken to a hospital, this will leave a scar without stitches." fujitaka remarked as he finished the last bandage on the boy's hand.

"Out of the question. The doctors would inquire too much." Yue replied from the distance. Sakura bid him silent with a glance and then turned once more to the flying rodent.

"Kero... what happened to him....?"

"He's drained. The knife is a tool that yields incredible power, but takes it from the life-force of the user. The kid will be out for a couple of days... we don't have that kind of time." he pleaded.

"I will not even begin dealing with that...'thing' until Syaoran is alright." she replied firmly

"I'm touched..." Syaoran replied weakly as he struggled to sit. Sakura embraced him tightly and kissed him (much to the chagrin of Touya and Kero) before helping him sit up. Even after, she didn't stray far from him, almost as if he were a dream that could vanish from the mind if not grasped tightly.

"Sakura was very worried about you young man..." fujitaka remarked as he returned the unused bandage to the first aid kit. Syaoran stiffened lightly as he addressed his hand and winced.

"It hurts as much as I thought it would.... I'm sorry I worried you Sakura."

Kero and Yue stared at him from a relative distance, both were alarmed. Kero had predicted a few days of comatose sleep before he would begin recovering. It had, instead, taken several hours. The previous night Yue had voiced a concern about the rapid leap in Syaoran's magic, it seemed that leap had gone farther then even the moon guardian could gauge.

These were terrifying times indeed. The legacy had returned, and it seemed that each generation of sorcerers were growing stronger. If this trend proceeds, it would not be long until magic would spill out over the world again. Kero and Yue had watched the passage of centuries, witch burnings and crusades. How will they respond when magic becomes a dominant force in this world? Should legacy be survived, much darker demons waited to cast them to the flames, demons that go by the cumulative name of "Mankind".

"Syaoran... what was that thing? And why did it know you?" Sakura finally voiced as he glanced to his feet.

"It doesn't know me, it knows who I am. It has a history with my family..." he suddenly looked up and around the room, taking inventory of all present: Sakura, the guardians, her father, her brother, and Madison.

"we will explain everything." he motioned to the guardians. "But... only Sakura may be present. Everyone else has to leave." he commanded as softly as possible. Madison looked hurt, Touya looked pissed, and as usual, he was quick to voice it.

"Like hell! Some monster is coming after my little sister, no way I am leaving."

"Sakura is my best friend, and I've been involved in all the card stuff, I can be trusted." Madison was hurt, but Syaoran lacked the time to coddle them through this. He stood, wobbly at first, and despite Sakura's protest. His eyes grew luminous as he spoke.

"What will be discussed is the business of my clan. For an outsider to learn its secrets would be a desecration. Sakura and her guardians alone are privy to this knowledge, I cannot allow any of you to hear"

"She's not part of your clan either. And once again, I am not going anywhere. You can barely stand up brat, you think you can make me move?" Syaoran's brow furrowed as small tremors rattled through the house. His eyes had grown a luminous amber. As he rose, his hair began to flutter under nonexisting gusts of wind.

" I do not wish to insult your father or start a feud between our families, but understand that I am capable of a lot more then simply standing.... I asked you to leave, don't make me move you....." Touya's eyes were wide as he began feeling a pull around his form. It was not a strong one, but enough to get the message across. The brat's strength had very little to do with muscle. He looked to his sister with a glower.

"Are you going to put him in his place? We take him in and bandage that hand, then he starts doi..."

" please do as he asks Touya."She interrupted him.

"You're kidding me! You're taking his side?!?" fujitaka stepped forward and lay a hand on his son's shoulder. He shook his head and motioned for Madison to comply also.

"I don't know what to think of a lot of this, but I believe you have Sakura's best interest at heart." Syaoran smiled a little in thanks.

"And Touya, Sakura is part of my family." he grinned as the older boy snarled and Sakura gave a soft smile that no one saw.

"Are you sure that was necessary? That was pretty mean." she admonished as soon as they were out of sight.

"Legacy is a serious matter. And it has a very dark story to go with it, one best kept secret." Kero replied as Sakura turned to look upon him her eyes were hurt.

"You lied to me Kero."

"What?"

"My visions, you told me..... how could you?" her eyes were brimming with tears that she bit back. Kero was her most trusted friend, even more so then Madison. He had been her guide in the Clow, her guardian against Eriol's meddlings, and a friend thought the whole thing. She trusted him, and having found out that both her guardians had known about this legacy thing since the beginning... it cut her deeply.

"Don't forget Sakura, I've known what was coming since before I met you." Syaoran replied as he stepped forward. He was unsure why he volunteered, it was probably just him wanting to come clean to her. one of the lessons of his people was responsibility, he wanted to atone for this with her. She was crying now.

"I was trying not to think about that... everyone must think I really am pathetic. They lie to me.... hide things.... tell me they are in love with me and still keep secrets." Syaoran winced at that cut which was tailored specially for him. He deserved it, but still it stung.

"We all kept this from you, but not because we thought you were weak. We... we love you Sakura.

My people has spent three hundred years trying to stop legacy... there is only one way. That way isn't pretty. If you had known it would change nothing. No preparation can stop it, all that would serve is to make you miserable, and waste the last time we have together." his words sent a wave of terror through her. 'the last time we have together?'

"Had we told you from the very beginning, you would never have accepted the position of card captor at all. You were destined for it, just as you are destined to fight legacy. Please don't be mad at us Sakura... we wanted only the best for you... and now we are prepared to tell you everything... thought you won't like it." Syaoran said softly with no small measure of dread in his voice.

"None of us are completely sure what legacy is, but we do know that it is a kind of retribution for the sins of Clow Reed." Kero replied as Sakura looked at him with perplexity.

"Clow Reed's sins?"

"How he came to create the cards... he used the blackest of magic to make them. the use of that power takes a heavy price... it took his soul, and placed a curse on the Clow cards.... legacy." Yue spoke.

"What?....."

"Please understand. We didn't tell you because Clow Reed was our father. He did try atoning for his mistake, he tried for the rest of his life." Kero's tone was a sad one.

"I don't understand...." she replied, trying to take it all in. Kero nodded and cleared his throat in preparation for a very long, and very tragic story. Sakura had always loved his voice, it was as whimsically soothing to her almost like she was a child again, listening to fairy tales from her father. Sadly, this story would lack a happy ending.

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Clow Reed walked amongst the humble dwellings of his surrogate family. Life had been hard for him since his master had died and left him alone in the world with no assets except the knowledge of magic and a trusty walking staff. Mankind was beginning to show signs of fearing magic, he had been driven from his home since his master had died of natural causes. It was the excuse the village had been looking for, a bad omen which explained the drought which had claimed much of the rice paddies and rendered the village in famine.

They had made it quite clear that the young wizard was no longer welcome there, and that should he return, would be stoned to death in the square. Clow traveled to the east of his mountain village, usually with only hunger as his companion. He made dew where he could, offering parlor tricks to every passerby and village he came across. Fortune tellings and blessings were hardly what they once were. Where once a conjurer was almost a celebrity, now they were growing more feared. In his master's time magic was a wealthy trade, but now in this age of warring clans and rampant strife, the lone wizard was seen as a purveyor of mystical danger. As though each of them brought along a plague of goblins or other such mystical nuances.

It was by sheer luck that Clow came upon a village at the mouth of a great river which let to a bay. The village had been founded by a wizard, and thus his descendants were more inclined to accept one of those arts. Though none among them were capable of it, they each shared a love of magic. And soon Clow's journey ended there.

Times were good as the bay offered abundant sustenance and wealth. The village grew and Clow became their own resident mage. He would offer his council to the men, guiding them with relations and trade with other villages. He was a healer and good listener to the women of the village which he especially liked. They were not ill-mannered, and not mere decoration for their men. They were treated as equals, many trained and hunted along side their husbands and brothers. The children came to adore Clow Reed as his magic and stories offered them an endless reservoir of amusement and wonder.

He felt complete amongst them, doctor, wizard, friend, and brother. This village offered him all he could ever hope for. He loved them all, and when the emperor called for the men from each village to crush an army which was arising from the Mongle territories; he grew afraid. He did a reading for his village and was troubled by what he came to see.

"Please understand, my vision... It was quite clear. The village will be burned to ash should you all leave. You must not answer the emperor's decree!" he yelled out in the council chambers. The older men looked thoughtful, but then spoke.

"Clow reed, we cannot disobey our emperor's decree. And also this village is not defenseless. Our women are not helpless, in fact I would wager Ikusa could out battle any samurai in the land." many of the men burst into laughter as Ikusha slammed her fist into her open palm with a loud slap. She wore a pale kimono in the style of a man. She was quite beautiful, but by far the greatest fighter in the entire village.

"Please, I mean no disrespect. You have made me a home amongst you, and it is for that love that I beg you to at least leave some of the men. Perhaps Kero."

In hearing his name the young man with long golden hair smiled at the implied complement. He was one of the most noble among the village, and one of the most skilled with a sword. He was also one of Clow reed's closest friend's even though he was barely nineteen.

Yue, the unofficial leader of the village shook his head.

"Kero is one of the most skilled warriors in our village. He would be needed on the battlefield. We all would. I myself plan to lend my bow to the cause." Clow bowed, he respected Yue for his wisdom, though he was only thirty. Clow had wished either of the two men would remain.

"Clow, my friend. You have proven yourself a trusted member of our village since you first came to us all those years ago. I share your concern for our people, and so I ask a favor of you. While we are away at battle I ask that you act as protector to our people. Though you are far from a warrior, your wizardry places you as a great force. Should any threat arise I have faith that your magic and your wisdom shall guide our village." Yue's words were soft, but commanding, and the request denoted a great honor.

"I prey that my strength and wit are as worthy as you say, Yue. I also prey that the vision I had was misplaced somehow. I give you my word that I will protect our home."

"Well I would hope you do just that. Keep the village safe for us, and when we return make sure there is a great feast waiting!" Kero bellowed with youthful laughter.

"I will do just that, my friend." he replied

The day was warm and smelled of foliage and clean earth. The magics of this land were in good balance, and he hoped that was a good omen that the battle would soon be won and his friends would return. He was fearful of who might return and who might not, but such worry was a destructive past time and so he went on about his rounds.

Heijin was talking with ikusa. The boy was a favorite pupil of the fight-master. He was shaping up to follow in his older brother, Kero's footsteps. He was training hard with the sword, and seemed to have a genuine knack for it.

He was startled by a sharp cry as two young girls bolted to him. They were twins by the names of souseiji and sousei. Clow Reed knelt to meet the pair of panting nine year olds who looked very afraid as they began babbling in unison. He needed an additional two minutes to get the story, and then he too was worried.

Their sister, Kagami had suddenly collapsed and now had a fever. Their mother, Fukohon was tending her, but had asked for Clow to come immediately. The sorcerer scooped up both girls and ran with them back to the family's home where he found the beautiful seventeen year old girl covered in filmy sweat and short of breath. Her mother was quick to explain how it happened and Clow was even quicker to examine her.

He recognized the ailment, and thankfully knew a remedy.

"She will get worse unless a remedy is brewed. I have the ingredients save one. A herb which grows a day's journey to the west. Without it she will die." he looked down to the girl who was a pale reflection of the angel she once had been.

"Please, we must have it..." the woman pleaded as Clow reed thought. The herb was difficult to identify to one not trained in the art of healing. He would have to go himself. he was about to go off in search of tomoshibi, Yue's wife when her voice reached him.

"Set out immediately." she commanded with all the regalness of a goddess. He was hesitant to leave, but could not let the girl die.

"We will be alright dear sorcerer. The child needs you, make haste." Clow nodded and ran tword his hut, where he packed quickly. He was no older then twenty five, but he felt both like a young boy and an old man as he quickly set off in search of the only salvation for the girl. It had all happened so fast, but as he looked back to the village he was overcome by a sense of dread, he had to hurry, the feelings of dread that washed through him must have been a very bad omen for the sick girl.

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"How is it that you never told me this story before Kero?" Sakura marveled at the story about Clow reed's life. He seemed so young then, kind and good hearted, just as she had always pictured him.

"It isn't something we talk about very often, plus it happened before he created you."

"So that is where you two were named... after the people in his village. I never knew that." Syaoran commented

"I suppose it is an honor being named after master Clow's friends...." Yue replied as Kero began the rest of the story.

*******************

The journey had been far too difficult. The terrain was rugged as drop-offs presented themselves between dense groves of thorny bush. He had made it to the clearing where the herbs grew amidst a rockface, retrieved the herbs, and set back upon the trail. He was surprised by the speed at which he was traveling. It almost was as if he were running now, and all the while he was haunted by a feeling of impending doom. It grew like a dark cloud in the panorama of his mind. He was running as he neared the final stretch. He had kept going all night, energized by fear of the vision and the fate of the sick girl.

His breath was haggard as his legs burned and his side throbbed. He plowed through the brush and was only vaguely aware of the tearing of his cloths and the scratches which bled across his exposed skin.

He was close to the village when the smell of smoke met his nostrils. He was terror-stricken when he spotted the mushroom of brown and black smoke which raised high into the sky over the spot where his village had once stood. He was suddenly moved by a profound panic and with a lapse in his judgement, ripped a gash in the foliage from village to where he stood. The magic was hastily used, and too destructive... no growth would replace the dematerialized verdure for several years. He didn't even pause to contemplate it when he came to see what waited beyond the perfectly empty path in the sand.

The village smoldered below, embers still ablaze, though the large fires had burned away their fuel and been extinguished. The ground was soot which made each spark of flame seem as though it were a dying sun in the cold tides of black space.

The great pillar os smoke swirled as it rose upward, infecting the clearness of day with its darkened haze. The grief-stricken sorcerer watched as the faces of death materialized and faded in the swirling amorphous tower of smoke. All was gone. Their boats were either sinking or burning, some already gone to either ending.

His eyes were stinging as the winds changed and sent the shroud of ash upon him. It snowed around him as his lungs burned with each inhalation. He walked eerily slow down the hill, a familiar path, but now alien. He knew that there was no point in rushing anymore, they were dead. He sensed their lingering terror and pain on the wind just as easily as he felt the ash as it kissed his skin. The sun was shrouded away completely now, the world had been cast away to twilight, and for Clow that twilight would never be lifted.

the village was as dead as those who lay sprawled upon it. Clow could see fragments of familiarity in the lifeless faces that now stared beseechingly to him. A child lay broken on the earth his mouth hung open and the ash fell upon him. It was unreal as the tiny flakes of burnt wood and brush now piled in the sockets of his still gazing eyes and in the cavity of the wound which opened his chest.

It must have been a parade of demons to do such evil. children of varying ages and genders bore the grim residue of a sick lust which preceded their deaths. A woman with a snowy complection was nailed to a smoldering wall, naked and fragile. Her snowy hair now was bathed in ash and she looked almost beautiful, but empty of all that she had once been.

Many were burned, many raped, but all dead. It was clear by the variety of their murders that the group who did such a thing had been having fun. The wounds were less the result of effective killers, and more playful. Arrows to the legs to cripple, then knives to the flesh.

Clow walked down the street with no conscious act of where he was going. He paused at each friend with glazed eyes to match theirs. He stopped all together when he saw Heijin and ikusa.

The boy was nailed to a wall with his own sword, he would have died a brave little warrior, but sadly too young to win. The fighting woman who was on par with any man was proud even in death. She was surrounded by the corpses of several would-be attackers. They had shot her with seven arrows, from a distance. No man could have taken her at close range. Clow studied the face of one of the dead men. A simple bandit, the kind who had given them trouble for years. His gaze narrowed upon his blank expression with a hate that had never been known to the young wizard before. He was startled when the man's scull suddenly collapsed into ash. Clow was too far gone to realize how much dark magic was welling around him, and how out of control it was. Clow left them where they lay and continued to the place he suspected he was being drawn to, completely unaware that as he left each of the bandit's forms dissolved in a puff of ash.

The sick girl lay in her bed, mother and sisters on the floor near by. All had been violated, but none more so then the one Clow had left to defend. She was beautiful, young and firm in all the right places, but as he stared down at her naked form he saw a child. Her face was looking at the door, she had died looking away from the men who had taken her, most assuredly with degradation at being raped, but also with hope. She had been watching that door in the hopes that a hero would appear through it to save her. Clow had failed her. he fell to his knees ans scooped her naked form into his arms. With his face buried in her cold skin he wept out apologies and though he couldn't comprehend it, assurances that it would be alright. Her neck had finally been broken after the hours of hell she had endured. He held her head carefully, cradling it as if she were an infant.

He took the girl to the center of town and lay her on the open ground. He arranged her into as modest a pose as he could, and then went to get another. It took hours, but it felt like moments as bodies were collected and arranged one next to the other on the warm earth in a large circle. He stepped between two bodies and took his place in the center, kneeling.

Moved by a smoldering hate and a darkness that, if made real, could smother all light in the world leaving only a expansive blackness. He bowed to the earth and chanted softly, not knowing the words, but saying them with such conviction that the phrase soon hurtled forward like a train down the tracks. Words hung in the sky with dialects that defied comprehension and tones that rivaled the demonic. Clow snarled out in pain as the palm of each hand begin to bleed through phantom wounds.

He took no time in examination of his hands, and instead slammed them down on the dead earth, which rumbled at his touch. From where each palm made contact, the earth changed. A tiny fissure split the soil and broke away into tributaries which drew out a massive design in the circle. The inch-deep chasms drew out an elaborate pattern which connected both sun and moon in a web of pattern that all revolved around the tormented sorcerer.

"I CALL THEE BACK!!!" Clow reed screamed into the sky which rumbled and then cracked with crimson lightning. Each body grew radiant as pale skin shimmered like the moon on a clear night. The chanting continued, though Clow was not doing it anymore. He rose up and in tandem, each corpse lifted up vertically where it floated several feet off the now bloodied ground.

They begin revolving around him in a slow circle as the seal of the Clow began glowing beneath Clow's feet.

Each set of dead eyes stared at him as his ebony eyes fixed on each friend, now dead. The magic he was using was the blackest of all magics ever to be known, but he had ceased caring. The loss of his family had rendered him quite insane. With a motion of his wrist he drew the once sick -now dead- girl to him. She floated before him with a puzzled and pained expression. She blinked at him and tried speaking, but since the dead have no breath she was silent.

He reached out and touched the cold flesh where once her heart had beat. "Mirror." he spoke, and with the word, she was transformed. In a flash of swirling magical energy her human form was gone, leaving her changed and completely inhuman.

Her hair had tripled in length and now flew on ghostly winds which kept it aloft and in perpetual motion. She wore a white kimono that was so pure that it might as well have been fashioned from moonlight. Her brow was adorned with strange markings that complimented her pale and iridescent jade skin. She carried a mirror in which Clow cast no reflection. He stared at her innocent face with a bewildered expression. She had no doubt been someplace good before the sorcerer had pulled her back to her now spent shell. He was unsure of her awareness, though her eyes possessed a bleakness that could convince him of her true awareness. He looked away and bid her to return to the swirling revolution of spirits. He called the next.

Again and again he changed them, turning human into a being born of himself and thus named Clow. They were not the people he loved, their essences had left their old bodies and transcended to wherever the light goes after the form fades away. He had used black magic to draw that spirit back and imprison it within a mystical form. they would never know death again... but they would know vengeance...

*******************

Sakura was quiet as the story paused. They looked at her as she stared down at her feet, absorbing the secret origin of the cards. She had originally seen the spirits of the Clow cards as wondrous and magical, now she almost felt dirty for having used them as their mistress.

"They were people?" she asked as though she had not heard it said, hoping that she had been mistaken.

"Yes.. Each card has a mind and a personality. They are powered by the souls of those women and children who were killed." Syaoran replied softly as he reached out and squeezed her unnaturally cold hand.

"How terrible.... what happened to them."

"Clow Reed loved them, seeing them murdered like that sent him over the edge. He did the unforgivable and imprisoned them... sealing them." Kero said softly.

"And I did the same thing when I was catching them."

"No!" Syaoran snapped with a sudden fierceness.

"You did not do what he did... they are Clow as cards or beings. The only difference is that as actual entities they can hurt others. They are confused and don't know what they are, so they lash out in frustration. If you hadn't sealed them they would only bring mayhem! They would kill more innocents Sakura..."

"The brat is right Sakura.... the spirits of those people touched whatever is beyond life, after being pulled back from it.... they were changed. Their memory was a wisp back when Clow first made them, they forgot who they were a long time ago. Now they are just the Clow, they don't know right from wrong, pain from pleasure, or good from evil.

If you were not their mistress they would be even more lost then they already are. And if you hadn't caught them they would have already killed everyone in japan." Kero reassured.

"I still feel guilty." she muttered as the story was continued

*******************

Clow pursued the bandits for three days before coming to their camp. It was fairly late at night and yet the bandits were still for the most part awake they cheered and sang with celebration for the newest conquest that no doubt followed Clow's village. Their voices were merry, but slurred as the ale flowed as freely as their off-color singing.

The camp was humble: several tents in a circle around the exterior, a large fire where some animal -probably stolen- was roasting on a spit, There were barrels full of ale, and a large stack of spears and other implements of murder which Clow chose not to think about.

"These wars are great, I can't remember the last time we've had it so easy." The man with a tattered grey gee laughed as he spilled part of his drink on a passed out comrade.

"I know what you mean. Without their men these villages are a joke. I might as well stop brining my sword"

"It wouldn't make that much of a difference, you can barely use it as it is."

"Oh screw you." the men laughed.

"But what about that village before last? Some of those women really put up a fight."

"It's fine with me, I like a woman with a little spirit. Especially when they looked like those women did. Normally you just find a few jewels with a lot of hags and a few that even the brothels would reject... but that one was really the exception to the rule."

"Almost a shame we had to kill them so soon, we could have drawn it out a little longer."

"You know what a mistake it is to stay too long. Just makes it more likely someone will come. The last thing we need is a samurai or some.."

"Sorcerer?" Clow posed as he walked boldly into the center of camp. Many of the bandits took up a weapon and looked at the sorcerer. Clow walked straight up to the group in the center of the village. Behind him men were snickering at him and calling him a suicidal fool.

"My look at that.... what a little idiot. Maybe he's one of those kind?"

"What kind?" another man asked.

"Well look at him, he's thin, has long hair, and is dressed in such a pretty robe. Maybe he's seeing if anyone is interested." the bearded man laughed. Others made comments that were as crude as their company.

"If he's looking to get impaled on anything I do have a sword I can spare."

"Hey, don't. I want his robe, it would look good on my future wife."

"Yeah sure..."

"What do you want with us? Besides a swift death of corse." the leader of the group finally questioned as Clow glowered.

"That village you were talking about was mine."

"We missed one? Well I'm sure we can accommodate. What do you say boys? Shall we toss him on a spit and roast him?" several cheered as they all begin drawing closer to Clow.

"You murdered my friends..."

"So?"

"They are here to kill you now."

"You really are insane...." the man knocked his bow and pulled back an arrow. With a "thunk" the arrow flew. Instead of killing Clow it was swallowed up by a blackness which erupted from the heart of the shadow itself. The wraith of livid shadow pooled at the sorcerer's feet.

"What is he!?"

"Some kind of conjurer!" the camp exploded into chaos as Clow stretched out his arms and unleashed the spirits of the Clow. From all directions the phantasmagoric emanations came. Some in flaming glory hot with rage, while others simply hung back and watched with uneasiness.

It was the essence of chaos as each spirit did what they were bound to do. The fiery card exploded through the camp with such pyrotechnic fervor that men were made to ash within step from where they once had been. The great lightning beast who had once been a young boy now tore through the throngs of his murderers with an animalistic lust that bordered madness. The elemental cards seemed most geared to violence, with the exception of the sword and fight cards...

Clow stood there and watched as the fire cast ghostly lacerations of orange light on his skin. He watched them with anonymity for each bandit was preoccupied with their own problems. Some of them chose to fight back. Futile. No blacksmith could forge a sword capable of cutting through a spirit just as no arrow could pierce one. He turned to find a snowy white apparition at his side. The light card looked at him with a sadness that undoubtedly came from the last wisps of human memory she possessed. Her sister stood behind her, not making eye contact with the sorcerer. Instead, she watched as her siblings reveled in godless chaos. Flower petals rained from the sky amidst hails of arrows. A tide of bubbles swept over the bloody earth in some insane act of cleanliness which defeated all logic. It would have been comical if it ultimately were not so terrible.

Clow looked away from her gaze, seeing the grim truth of his descent into madness and his forfeiting of his soul. He listened to the screams and each seemed to call out his name in a shrill accusation. He felt no better after they finally stopped, the silent sounds of the night were incriminating enough as it is.

He though back to his master... his sage wisdom had apparently been cast to deaf ears. Clow had crossed the line the aged wizard had warned him of. The blacker the magic the blacker the soul. The lesson was a well known one. You get back worse then you give. He had cheated the forces that govern life and death. Damned the women of his village to a limbo spent as spirits. Then he had went out with them and brought death to others. They had deserved it, but their blood was his curse now. He feared this retribution beyond simple death, his sacrilege would be visited back on him so much worse then mere death.

The camp began vanishing as the erase card whipped it away piece by piece. Though the traces of this massacre were mystically expunged, they remained whole in Clow's gaze. The blood still pooled around him, though now it was a manifestation of his own mind. There were faces that flashed like lightning behind his closed eyes. The faces of his dead friends, the murdered bandits, and also the faces of the men who were still at war... they had no way of knowing what had happened in their absence, it would be a month until their first campaign ended and they would be given leave.

They would return to their home and find it gone. Each structure would be no more then a black skeleton of charred wood and blackened stone. There were no bodies, so no ivory fragments of bone would be left amidst the debris. The men could be spared that at least. They would not have to sort through the ashes looking for the remains of their daughters and wives. Their women were preserved forever in ethereal flesh. That would be no consolation to them. they wore the faces of who they were in some cases, but the mind and memory they once knew was gone. They could never be wives or daughters again. They could never love back, and probably never comprehend the concept of such a complex emotion. Clow wondered if the remains of their village would be overgrown with plant life by the time they returned. Small green sprigs growing over each blackened post, vines clinging to the ruined stone wall which had once carved out the village's perimeter. Such growth would symbolize the healing effect of time over a wound. But to them it would be no solace. Nothing would bring them solace... Clow felt his hand trembling as he realized that no magic could ease their pain. No spell could quench their anguish. Magic could change reality, but not so much that it could soften the edge that those who called Clow brother would soon feel.

He felt helpless and dirty in a way that permeated skin and bone, straight into the soul. He felt the blackness in himself, the byproduct of his own evil.

He was returned to reality by a sudden jolt of awareness. The forest around them was being attacked now, burned, flooded, and changed with random flashes of magic. The cards had moved on from the campsite and now were diverging on random targets. Clow Reed was stunned by this. He had no idea they would behave so indiscriminately. He had brought them to the camp and freed them so that they could take their revenge. But now it seemed they were just acting out at all things. murderers had the same priority as trees. They were moved not by their own minds, but by their powers.

He grew more troubled as he realized the extent of their consciousness. They were simply vessels to their powers now. He hadn't expected them to be the women they were, but he had expected them to be sentient. These spirits seemed more like avatars to their powers. They were dispersing, but veering tword the closest village. They were pulled Tword life. When they made it there it would be a repeat of the camp... they would kill everyone with the same mindless vigor that they had purged the world of the bandits.

"ware-Iza-tame" he muttered and each spirit was pulled back to him as if they were connected by a unseen leash. They hovered around him as glowing wraiths of shapeless energy. He had created them, he needed to control them now. It was clear that the spirits were free willed, and that will was not a rational one. He was held accountable for doing such an irredeemable thing as taking their essences and sealing them in magical forms. However, if he let them roam free now... he would deserve worse then he would get.

He knew what he had done, the evil of it all... but he could at least find a way to keep the spirits of the cards from harming anyone else... It was all he could think to do now... his soul was forfeit, but he could spare the world a legacy of random death. Or so he thought

*******************

Sakura's eyes were shadows of the shade they once had been. The very thing that made her so special was now the very thing that smothered her light in shades of sorrow. Her empathy for others was a chain that bound so many destines to her own, and also crushed her.

"The Clow cards.... they're really did that?"

"You are their mistress, you know their true nature. You remember catching them? They act out with their powers since that is the only thing they are capable of."

"But that can't be right.... the cards aren't like they were in the story. They aren't just mindless spirits. The light card..." Kero's brow furrowed as he looked at her in question.

"The light card.... she spoke to me when I caught her. and the other cards, they don't talk, but I can feel them. they are not like that. They are.... sweet." Yue stared at her with a strange expression.

"That's not possible. The cards lost all memory of their past lives hundreds of years ago."

"If Sakura says it then I believe her. but still... if the cards are still sentient why did they choose only Sakura to talk with?" Syaoran posed. A moment passed in silence before Kero suddenly leapt up.

"Her visions! No other master has ever had them. they must be able to communicate with her by tapping in on her power to see shadows of the future. That's what makes Sakura so unique." Syaoran nodded and gave her a quick grin. He had been right when he claimed that she was special.

"If this is true... then the cards have been aware in some capacity for years. I doubt that they are truly aware of everything... but the fact that she was aware of it means that Sakura possesses a greater synchroneity with the cards then Clow Reed..." Yue commented.

"How sad for them... it must be a like a prison...." she said as she looked down to where they sat in her pouch.

*******************

Clow reed devoted himself to making provisions for the cards during the month's time. Using his strongest magic he forged a card to bind each spirit. And for the cards he sought out to breath life into guardians who would protect them.

From the river mud he sculpted figures. A black winged puma who was endowed with the spirit of the sun itself, a spirit of the moon who wore the wings of a butterfly and drew her strength from the moon. The lifeless clay and earth was sanctified with Clow's own blood, and later, a sliver of his own soul to make each figure live.

He named the woman Ruby Moon to signify the blood which was spilled on that moonlit night when the bandits had killed his friends. She was an idol of vengeance and strength. Her place would be to protect the cards from one who would unleash their dangerous potential.

The second figure was named for Clow's old master. Spinel would be a source of information and wisdom to guide the card's keeper.

The sorcerer looked over to the two mummified mounds of red clay which he had fired with the aid of the fiery card. They were lifeless forms without the spark which would animate them. he would provide them with their embers of life soon enough, but he still had work to do...

The final effigy was a vessel to be the cards' new master.

He chanted softly in words without definable meaning as he toiled in the chest of his final creation. Reaching over he took pinches of herbs from various bowls and sprinkled them in the dark recess within the figure. Each herb had significance as did the handful of earth he scooped up from the ground. The fires had been extinguished long ago, but the ashen ground was still charged with energies that related to the cards and to their master's grief. This work was based in significance, and none more then the earth which had caught the blood of his loved ones. To make these figures draw in the donated fragments of soul, they must be prepared with great care and even greater attention to detail. He used a knife to carve the incantations into their clay cocoons. Each line was precise and perfectly scripted. Spells to bind the soul to the form, spells to evoke the power of creation, spells to sanctify, spells and more spells. Each figure was riddled with such tattoos that almost were art in their intricacy of design.

"Argilla ac terra, cinis ac os, ablocare anima crescere in."

He reached to the table where his bowls of earth and herbs waited. Taking up a blade he cut his wounded left hand again, causing fresh blood to flow. He made a fist and hissed with pain as the blood dribbled from his clutched hand. Upon opening he saw that it had repainted his entire palm red. He reached over and pressed the crimson palm to the figure's head. Leaving behind a red imprint of Clow's hand. The deed was done now...

All that remained was the sealing of the clay form and then firing. He did so quickly, though not forgetting to fill the new panel with incantations done with a different knife. His hand ached but he was finally finished.

He stared down at the new figure he had birthed. The effigy of a human boy. He would be the card's new master and guardian. Born with all the magic Clow could give him, this boy would be both a reincarnation and a kind of son to the sorcerer. He would be a new life mingled with an old one... the perfect vessel for the spirit of Clow Reed. He was named Eriol.

Clow sat on a small bed and expelled a breath of exertion. This was the only hut in the village that was not completely annihilated by fire. Only one wall was lost and it was a mess. He was sweating from the heat and the labor, his hand was throbbing, and he was taxed in a spiritual sense. He looked over to the pillow and saw a tiny leg sticking out from under the pillow. He blinked in confusion and moved it to reveal two toys. He knew this had been a child's bed... but somehow seeing the two toys renewed the pang of grief. He didn't know the child who owned them, but he almost wept for them. they were carved from wood. Both fantastic creatures, one, a winged lion, the other a male angel.

He held the two up and examined them in his hands, unaware that a little blood had gotten on both of the figures. The lion reminded him of his friend Kero, and the angel shared similarities to a younger version of Yue.

"Kero... Yue.... I failed you both..."

"What happened here Clow...." a trembling voice came from the open door. Clow spun around to see Kero standing there with a look of pure grief and horror. Clow could not speak. He dropped the toys and stood shakily. He had not been able to adequately think of something to say... what could he?

Kero was joined by the faces of other men from the village. Each was horrified. Many men were wounded from their campaign, but those wounds paled to the ones they wore in their eyes now.

"The village.... was attacked." his words came slow, but soon gained momentum until he wasn't pausing between sentences, but rocketing through them. hurrying to tell them everything so that the pain he felt could be quickened by not giving time to relive each detail. He didn't look at them but he saw their horror at what had transpired. The bandits, the cards, the revenge. It all jumbled together in one great landslide of horrific detail. When it was over he found them wordless. Their eyes were filled with so many things, but the most damning was the revolution that they held when they looked at him. He had taken their essences... their lives were beyond his capacity to save, but their spirits... it was a crime beyond words.

"How could you do such a thing Clow?" Kero trembled as he backed away from the man.

"I can't make it right... but I can protect the cards... I made these figures to be the card's guardians. And this one to be their master. They just need life." he turned to motion to the idols he had made of clay and blood.

He was stopped from taking another step Tword them as a single arrow shot through the opening and plunged into the base of his skull. He fell unceremoniously as the group of men turned to stare at Yue who's bowstring still vibrated. The older man's eyes were filled with tears, but also a fire.

"You killed him?" Kero questioned.

"He wasn't the same person. He was something.....dark" Yue's words were hushed, and a tremble went with them almost inaudibly.

From Clow's body orbs of radiant light erupted with spectral fire. They hurtled through the air in a great swirling hurricane, flashing with turquoise lightning that was both real and ghostly all at once. The group of men gasped in shock as the orbs rotated like planets on a suicidal revolution with one another. Then with a flash they shot outward to the figures of clay like lightning. Each orb vanished away inside the figures, but of the orbs, several veered off and vanished behind the wall.

There was an aquamarine radiance that faintly glimmered from the open wall. A soft rumbling cast the tiny pebbles and chips of stone to shiver on the ground. The men had backed away during the spiritual pyrotechnics, and now they stood ready to flee. Yue took the initiative and walked tword the strangely radiant ruin.

He was stunned by what he saw as three clay forms splintered with thousands of glowing cracks and then crumbled. The first two forms were notably not human. A winged panther exploded from his clay shell with a sudden jerk of its wings. It was terrifying and yet beautiful. The face was not truly that of a panther, it had qualities reminiscent with an Egyptian Jackle. It's form wore a breastplate and a few other adornments made of alabaster and emerald. Such regalia paled to his massive wings that were modeled for a butterfly, yet more spectacular then any to ever dwell amidst a meadow of flowers. On their black mantle intricate patterns of jade laced outward like veins of gold in a subterranean rockface. The beast blinked in unsurity as it surveyed this world to which it had just arrived.

The second chrysalis chipped away, leaving the one known as ruby moon. She was draped with flowing veils of snowy white, jet black, and of corse crimson. Her hair was fixed into an ornate style, yet it seemed to flow on some ghostly updraft. She looked down at her hands with marvel and stunned disbelief. Her wings were identical to her feline counterpart, though hers flushed with crimson instead of jade.

Yue was most shocked by the next incarnation. The clay form looked almost like a sarcophagus as it splintered away. The form that emerged seemed the most disoriented of the group. A young boy around the age of twelve. He was naked and looked completely shocked to be there. His skin was pale and seemed radiant in contrast to the darkness. He slowly sat up on the remains of his shell and studied his body. His face was familiar to Yue... a mystical quality. His hair was a dark shade that almost seemed blue. His eyes were the same hue. he looked like a boy. He had the body of one just on the verge of puberty, but those eyes shone with agelessness reminiscent of a man far older then Yue was. He looked at his comrades and seemed vaguely to know them. then his celestial gaze fell on Yue.

"Who are you?" Yue asked hesitantly. The boy thought for a moment.

"Eriol...." he replied.

"What are you?"

" I don't know." the boy looked scared as he lay there so powerful and yet so helpless. He was a child and an incarnation of the great sorcerer, Clow Reed. He didn't know who he truly was. Or what he was. Yue could never forgive Clow for taking the souls of his loved ones, but he found he could not hate this child Eriol who was, in fact, the reincarnation of Clow. He was an innocent, though undoubtedly he would have a purpose beyond that of a normal child.

"Do you know what I am?" he timidly asked.

"You are... my son." the older man replied softly. he had been a father, but due to the actions of the bandits and Clow, that was no longer the case. He didn't know why he was so ready to accept this boy as his own. but he felt it was right. He would be Eriol's father.

The boy smiled at him suddenly as if the words were magic. They seemed to evoke false memory within him. He painted the image of Yue as his father with no more to work with then the simple blind love of a child. Yue walked to the boy and picked him up. He was light in the man's arms.

Eriol clung to him with timid affection and Yue felt his eyes streaked with tears of longing for his wife, his child, and a kind of strange happiness due to this child. They were joined by the two figures which introduced themselves with the names they had been given. They, like Eriol, had no knowledge beyond that.

Their attention suddenly went to the shadowy corner of the ruined hut as a sound reached them. in the darkness two figures stood. A lion with the wings of a great white bird and an angel with silver hair. These two radiated a strange power that the previous effigies did not. They also were aware of what they were and the context of how they came to be.

It was in the darkness of night, when everyone was sleeping that Yue spoke to the two nameless spirits. He was relieved that they didn't dispel his place as surrogate father to the boy... but he was troubled by their expressions as they looked on the child. Not with hate or a thirst for vengeance... with a grim comprehension of what he was.

"We were not meant to be. The wizard Clow did not mean to create us. Why we were created isn't entirely clear in itself. But while the others do not yet remember their place, we do. Fate has churned into motion. Clow had intended the boy to be the card's master. But that is not meant to be." the angel spoke while the lion served as sentinel to assure the conversation was not being overheard.

"Was I wrong to call him my son?"

"No... the boy has a purpose in this life. He will be your son until he dies... then he will belong to the Clow cards just as the Spinel Sun and Ruby Moon and the two of us do. Clow intended to make that boy the card's master, but that is not his choice. Eriol will be a guide to the card's true masters. But in this one lifetime his purpose is unknown. Even we don't know everything. Whatever power decided to give us life gave us a small fragment of knowledge about what we must do during this one existence.

When the boy dies we will have new roles. But in the meantime we are to help him remember all the magic of Clow Reed. ."

They looked over to the sleeping boy who was a child and a sorcerer all at once. He was innocent and yet also guilty.

The men would disperses tomorrow. There was no reason to rebuild... without their loved ones this place was no more then cursed earth. Kero had decided to stay with Yue and the boy for a time, but aside from that, they were all separating. Yue looked at the angel and was afraid of him in some strange capacity. He knew that these familiars to Eriol would not harm him or the boy, but they all seemed so specialized. It all whispered of some great purpose that was beyond their full grasp. He looked over to the distance where Clow reed's body still lay.

"What have you done to us?"

*******************

"Eriol's not human?"

"No. He's like us. His purpose is to help the new master master the cards. Clow intended to make the boy their master, but instead he became their master's guide."

"What did he have to do?"

"Excuse me?"

"You said that Eriol had something to do before that?" Sakura questioned. It was Syaoran that answered.

"He took a wife and founded my clan." Syaoran's eyes were downcast as Sakura looked at him. It was amazing how life ties itself in such elaborate circles. Clow created the cards, then became Eriol. Eriol started Syaoran's family. The cards brought Syaoran to Sakura, and now their lives were intertwined. She was shocked by the revelations that had come already, and those which may be disclosed soon. Much of the story had still not been heard, but what she knew was just more depth to an already immense tale.

"The cards have been passed down thought my family for countless generations. The cards choose their master, and for a very long time they only chose from our family. Things continued like that up until the last generation. That is when the cards vanished....and sought you out." he met her eyes which brimmed with disbelief at what he had just said.

"Yes. The cards have had many different masters. Each generation they are claimed, then rejected. The process repeats itself over and over again." Kero replied.

"You've had other masters too?" she addressed to the golden effigy.

"Yes... they fade from our memories each time we are inherited, but yes. We have had many in our lifetime."

"Why would they give up the cards?" she asked numbly.

"Because legacy came..." a silence filled the room and made it as dark and still as any crypt.

"What is the legacy?"

"No one knows... many think it is penance for what Clow did... a curse that comes each generation and brings misery. The card master and their guardian are the only ones who can stop it, and afterward the card master never is able to use the cards."

"Guardian? Like Kero? And what do you mean can't use the cards?"

"They can't use the cards because it hurts too much." his words wore a shadow of hesitation upon continuing, but he did.

"The guardian isn't like Kero or Yue.... your guardian is the hope card."

"I.... don't understand."

"you created a hope card?" Kero questioned, though he did know the answer.

"But it has no power." Yue continued as Sakura nodded mutely.

"The Clow cards are powered with human souls... that's what it will take to give the hope card power. A human sacrifice." Yue spoke coldly and for it Sakura could almost hate him for being so blunt about this revelation which she would prefer not to process.

"You can't be saying what I think you are!?" she shot up.

"Yes we are." Syaoran replied with a tone of voice that Sakura had never heard. It was hollow and sad, and also defeated. " legacy is a void... a black hole. The only power that can stop it is the hope card... but to use it you must find a person to endow it with. The person must be tied to your heart in some way. A parent, sibling, lover, or friend. You seal that person along with the card to create the strongest of the Clow cards. The hope can destroy legacy, but the person is lost in the process. It's a high price... but one you must pay." Sakura was on her feet and practically twitching with anxiety and agitation. She suddenly snapped around to him with an anger in her emerald eyes that had never before burned. She loved Syaoran, but he was telling her that she had to kill someone! The information was flowing so quickly that she almost staggered from it. For the first time since she met him, she was inclined to actually yell at him. She had been tempted before, but in the beginning, intimidation and later love always stopped her.

"What is wrong with you!? You want me to kill someone I love!? There has got to be another way!!!" she shouted. He snapped up and took her by the shoulders. His eyes were fierce as he scowled right into her core.

"YOU THINK I WANT THIS!?! legacy has been a dark curse on my family since the beginning! Every generation one of us had to give up the person they love the most to save the world! We have spent hundreds of years trying to stop it, but it can't be done!"

"Just because your family has dealt with this doesn't make you an expert Syaoran! Reading scrolls and manuscripts doesn't make you an expert. Especially about what it's like to ask someone to give their life!" Kero was cowering behind Yue as the fight roared. Syaoran's voice boomed as he silenced Sakura.

"Yes I do! I lost my father to legacy!!!" Sakura's eyes widened as a tear streaked his cheek.

"My mother was the card mistress before you... Eriol came and helped her to become master to the cards just like he did you... and then the legacy came." his eyes were both unnaturally light and unnaturally dark.

"She had to sacrifice the one she loved best. My father became a Clow card and died stopping legacy. I never met him, never knew him, all because of that demon. My mother lost her humanity to legacy... she had to kill her own husband."

"Oh god, Syaoran...."

"That's part of the reason I still tried to beat you as a card captor even after I started liking you... I knew that someday the legacy would come. And now it has...

Magic is wonderful, but also it has a price. I never taught you that... I failed there. I was only able to open the door for true magic in you... teach you how to feel your way through it. I wish I had time to teach you this... magic demands respect. And sometimes it demands sacrifice.

I wish I could take this from you Sakura, but we each have a destiny... yours is to stop the legacy from doing what it came to do."

"What did it come to do?" she asked though she already knew.

"Legacy is the worst form of evil. a murderer is more then just evil... he has anger and jealousy and sometimes love. He has a lot of other sides to him, shades of grey, some darker and others lighter. That makes him human, the fact that he isn't just one thing.

Legacy is a void, it's a emptiness of everything. No mercy. No anger. Nothing but a emptiness. It will come through that rip in the sky and swallow everything into itself. It doesn't kill for a reason, it's the kind of evil that is beyond evil. no reason, just cold oblivion."

"No it's not true... in my visions. Even when it tried to come through... I sensed things from it. Powerful emotion. There was hatred, terrible rage, and a kind of need... I don't know how to describe that... it wanted something from me. They were horrible, but they were the strongest emotions I have ever felt."

"That's impossible Sakura... legacy is a void. We've proven it."

"I'm not imagining this... I felt it so strong! It had to be from the legacy, it was the only thing there..." she paused as it occurred to her, in all of her recent visions she had felt those horrible feelings... but what if Syaoran was right. What if they weren't really coming from legacy. She could feel the emptiness from it. The hate, rage, and need, however, seemed to come from everywhere. It was so strong that it couldn't be tracked to a single point. She felt her blood turn to ice as she thought about that grim and terrible possibility... something horrible was generating those feelings, but what if the demon wasn't the only thing there with her?

Syaoran touched her cheek to try and offer her some comfort; she had gone so pale so fast. His hand felt cold on her skin, like the life had ceased radiating within his touch. She shivered.

"I know this is a lot to deal with Sakura, but legacy will resurface soon. I don't know if I can use the knife again..." he still sounded weak and defeated. God she could hate him for that, it forced her to the strong role.

"Tell me about the hope card..."

"It's the most powerful card in the deck. It uses the connection between the sacrifice, or avatar, and card mistress to synchronize its power. The greater their connection the stronger the hope is. That's why you have to choose someone who is very close to your heart. Love is the core of hope, and hope is the strongest weapon ever to be.

You have to choose soon Sakura. Tomorrow at the latest. The legacy is trying to break through right now." Syaoran motioned to the sky beyond the window. Sakura's eyes widened as she saw murky shadows swiping and churning beyond the fabric of our world.

"It's not strong enough to get through right away. It's too drained from the first try." Kero reassured. It was still scary as hell to see it moving beyond the blue like the shadow of a shark.

"What does it do?"

"The legacy has a physical form, though not a fixed one. It changes and remakes itself at its whims. It has magical weapons and physical ones. This form can die. Afterward it returns as a soul. This is the most dangerous form... it is a void impervious to all attacks, it can only be stopped by sacrificing the hope to it." Yue replied

"What?"

"The hope card is absorbed into the emptiness. The only way to fill an empty soul is with hope. So it is with the legacy. It drains the light from the card and eradicates the demon's core. It stops legacy but also takes the card's spirit with it. There is no way to return it." Yue's words were as cold and dead as the lunar orb from which he drew his essence. Sakura felt a despair filling her as she realized that they were right. She would have no choice.

"How can I kill the person I love most?" she whimpered. Syaoran held her and he still felt cold. She no longer shivered since she felt just as cold as he did inside her core. Their foreheads touched and he kissed her softly on lips. There was no passion in it, just a love mingled with sadness.

"It's your destiny Sakura. My people can only do what they always have done. Preyed for the mistress and the avatar of hope's souls. And after legacy has been destroyed; erase the memory of it from the rest of the world. They couldn't deal with the memory of the destruction. It will be painted to look like a earthquake, bombing, tsunami, or some other disaster to warrant the aftermath. Only a few people will remember. And you will be one of them.

You won't be the same after it Sakura. You will never see the cards the same way, never see the world the same way, and you will never be able to forget that you had to choose someone you love to be lost forever.... it is your destiny, as it had been for my mother, for all who came before you, it is the legacy of the card captor...."

*******************

Madison had gone home hurt that Sakura had not told her the secret. Sakura watched her leave, and with her, Sakura's old life departed forever. Syaoran had been invited by her father to stay the night.

How she loved her father. He had no magic, but he could see into people's minds and hearts far better then any sorcerer ever to be. He saw the truth about how bad this fight was going to be. The truth that Sakura's own life may be forfeit in the battle, but that her spirit would forever be lost. No offer was made for Syaoran to bunk with Touya or take the couch. Syaoran would be sleeping with Sakura tonight.

Normally such a thought would be a nightmare to any parent. There was no romance tonight. Neither Sakura nor Syaoran would be able to do anything but comfort the other with their presence, scent, and embrace. Wether her father knew the truth about what they needed or wether he believed they would make love was inconsequential. She went to her room and changed into her pajamas which seemed childish and precious to her. they were soft and pink with a cartoon penguin emblazoned on the chest. She had continued to wear the PJs since she was a kid because they were warm and reminded her of simpler and better times. Now she treasured the faint aura of innocence that they clung to and she now had lost.

Syaoran entered with Kero on his shoulder. It was unnatural to see them so peaceful. And also unnatural to have Kero so quiet. He flew to his drawer and closed himself in on the little bed Sakura had made for him. Syaoran smiled softly to her and undressed to his boxers. Sakura watched in the faint dusky light. He looked beautiful to her as his hair fell over his eyes when he lifted his shirt over his head. His body was attractive and under different circumstances the image of him disrobing in front of her would be incredibly erotic. He undressed and she watched with all the monotony that would exist for a couple who had been together like this for years. His boxer shorts were green and baggy up to the elastic waist. He hesitated only a moment before slipping into bed with her. her back molded to the contours of his front as his gentle and yet strong arms encircled her. he lay his head on her shoulder and kissed it tenderly.

"I love you Syaoran..." she voiced. It was a simple sentence, but it held so much. His strength, his genteelness, the fact that he was able to hold her now and make some of the pain fade. He returned her words with just as much weight to them.

"Legacy will come tomorrow?"

"Most likely... it should be able to break through in the afternoon."

"I'm telling my dad that I am leaving tomorrow." he was quiet.

"Their world isn't mine anymore. I can't do what I have to do and come back like nothing happened. I think he will understand that. I didn't tell him the whole story, but I told him that what I have to do will be very hard. He understood how hard..." she had tears running down her cheeks. Syaoran squeezed her a little.

"I have something I need to ask you Syaoran.."

"You are one of us Sakura. You can come live with my family. They will understand what you've gone through as best anyone can. They'll love you too..."

"You knew I was going to ask?"

"I have wanted you to come back with me... I planned to take you back after we got through legacy. I have a ticket for you back at my apartment."

"Thank you..."

"I wish it could be under happier circumstances. I wish all of this could be..."

"I know..."

"Syaoran?"

"Hmm?"

"Why does this feel like the last night for us?"

" legacy will be a hard fight... it might be. I'll be with you though..."

"I've read books like this. The last night before the final confrontation with the evil warlock... I feel like we should be doing something. Preparing weapons or going over battle plans... even making love. But all I want to right now is be held and cry. Some hero... you would have been the better card master Syaoran."

"Stories are never like this. Heros in stories don't have to save the world by killing a friend. They don't face a real test. We do.. I love you Sakura, and more then that, I respect you. You are the one true card mistress... and you will make me proud just like you always do." he buried his face in her hair and smelled her scent. She smelled sweet and clean, innocent in a world of impurity she was his little pink flower.... but somehow she was so much more. She was Sakura Avalon, and Sakura Avalon was not a frail petal on a branch. He let his aura merge into hers and held her as she fell into a dreamless sleep. She felt so good in his arms...

How he would love to take her back home with him. But somehow he had known that this was the last night for them. the ticket he mentioned was waiting for her at his apartment, but there was only one left since only one would be going back. He remained awake, breathing her scent and listening to her breath.

*******************

Morning had come and Sakura found herself alone in the tangled sheets and covers. Kero told her that Syaoran had left at dawn. He had refused to say where he was going, just that he would find her. Kero was growling as he spoke of Syaoran, but Sakura silenced him.

"It doesn't matter Kero. What I have to do today... I want to do it alone."

He hesitantly bowed to his mistress. She seemed different. She smelled of the brat, but he could tell that they hadn't done anything during the night. Her difference was a depth that had never before mirrored itself in her. Sakura's life was a innocent one. She had fought, but never killed. Felt passion, but never was engulfed in it. This was a new morning for her; the dawn of a new life. Her change was subtle, she had a poignancy to her eyes that made them seem as ancient as the gaze of the pharaohs emblazoned on stone in Egypt. Her movements seemed softer somehow, more smokey. And most notable was a shadow which hung on her in a way no shadow had ever done before.

She had made the choice. The choice presented to all card masters, and finally accepted by all. She would choose someone to die in the hope that their life could save others.

She left without saying goodbye. Her father walked to the study as though he were a zombie, he was so sad to have her leave... so sad to have lost her. he would explain to his son, though he wasn't completely sure how he could do it.. He didn't understand so much, and he himself was not really dealing with the pain of it all.

Kero looked to the door from which Sakura had left, his eyes shone with sadness on many levels. Once she killed legacy she would no longer be his master. He would miss this girl so much... just as she would miss the side to herself that she now lost.

*******************

The murderer watched from the top of a brick building that overlooked her prey. It was clear out, but the world seemed grey. She had been watching her victim for twenty minutes so far, the girl was so blessedly unaware that she was marked to die.

She went about her tasks as producer/director/writer with a happiness that made the tasks seem like play instead of work. She was laughing as she went about her tasks as Sakura plotted her murder.

Madison would trust her... she would be able to lure the girl into a deserted alley, just far enough away from the filming that the light show would go unnoticed. Once there she would seal Madison to the hope card, thus endowing it with the power to stop the legacy.

Sakura didn't fully know why she chose to watch Madison before killing her. she knew it wouldn't help. She watched her best friend and felt her eyes stinging with tears. Madison would die and Sakura would have her blood on her hands. Kero had explained the process to be a painless one, there would be no blood... but Sakura would forever feel it on her hands. She would see Madison's face just as she saw those of the women who died in Clow's village.

She made ready to descend the building and discretely take Madison away, but oddly as she moved, she did so away from the girl. Sakura found herself running to the other side of the building, then with a flash of magic, escaped into the sky via the fly card. She flew fast and recklessly. She didn't make an effort to go unseen, just to escape as fast as she could.

She was a murder... she was so ready to take Madison's life. Sakura was terrified of the woman she was becoming. She had chosen her friend so quickly....

Her attention was suddenly caught by a figure dressed in black who stood on a roof looking up at her. Syaoran. She plummeted in a quick descent and landed with a thud as her sneakered feet met asphalt hard. The angelic wings dematerialized to twinkling embers of light, and then faded away all together. she was panting with red eyes and a anguished expression as she looked at him with a thousand thought churning through her mind.

"Hi." he said with a sad smile.

"I... almost killed Madison. She is my best friend and I almost took her life." he remained silent as he stood at a distance from her.

"She was going to be a famous director and I almost stole her future away. I almost killed my best friend Syaoran! What kind of monster am I!?"

"You aren't one..."

"You're wrong."

"Would you like another lesson?"

"What?"

"I am your teacher... let me teach you one more lesson."

"Ok..." she replied hesitantly

"It's about destiny. You see there are two views of destiny. One is that everything we do is already mapped out. The other is that we make our own destiny with each choice. The truth is that it's somewhere between the two." the light was to his back casting his face in shadow.

"No one has the right to force a destiny on someone else. It's the cruelest of all crimes against someone. You can't just choose someone to give their life for the greater good..."

"But..." he cut her off.

"But you can accept their decision." his eyes burned brighter then the sun in the heavens.

"What?"

"I love you Sakura... and you love me." her eyes widened.

"NO!!"

"I came to japan because you were going to be faced with this. I wanted to help you. So let me fight for you!" he replied as her eyes shined with fresh tears.

"How can you ask me to do this to you! I just found you!!!"

"I am begging you Sakura... this is my destiny, my place with the cards. My place with you... this is what the oracles of my people saw, and this is what you saw too. I will become the hope and I will stop legacy from taking more fathers away from their sons."

"No please Syaoran...." she backed away, but was caught in his arms as he advanced and engulfed her.

"I love you Sakura, that is why it has to be me. I feel it." she was looking at his feet as she spoke with a defeated tone.

"I don't want to loose you."

"You can't. I'll be with you, if you can see me or not."

"Please don't make me do this, Syaoran..."

"Be strong Sakura, you are the card mistress."

"I don't want to be that anymore..." she sniffled.

"Then be strong because you are the woman I am in love with, and the future matriarch of my clan. I would never be able to love a weak girl, and your clan will need you too." she was shocked that he had bequeathed a title that would only be bestowed on his wife, to her. that knowledge didn't dull the ache, just augmented it.

"I'll never love anyone again... my life began with you, and it ends with you." she whispered as she choked back a sob. She reached into her pouch and withdrew the pastel pink card. The hope was a heart, shielded in wings. It was beautiful, but she could not bear to look on it.

Syaoran took it from her hand and examined the card. He smiled at her.

"It looks cool." he laughed a little. His eyes stared into her core with a love she had never known before him, and would never know again. She slipped the chained pendant from her neck and whispered the chant. With a flash of rosy light, the key manifested itself into the ornate wand. She held it at her side as though it were the sword that would kill him.

"I want you to take this Sakura. So a part of me will always be there to protect you." he slipped the pendant which became his sword from his neck. It's black onyx stone shined with a rich luster in the light. She numbly took hold of it and clutched it in her fist as though it were a rosary and she a catholic priest. He smiled at the image of her holding the ancestral sword of his people. She looked like a Li.

He straightened himself and held the card over his chest, face out. He was smiling at her for her own benefit, though she still cried. She slowly rose the mystical implement over her head and prepared to seal the two together.

"I love you Syaoran." she whispered as her eyes spilled down her cheeks. He looked at her as she was about to strike him down.

"You're not alone. I promise I will never leave your side." she brought the wand down with an anguished cry and struck the hope card.

*******************

Kero rose his head from the pillow and sniffed the air.

"She did it."

*******************

The sorcerer, Eriol, stood on the terrace of his mansion home. The stars shined with unnatural luminosity in the celestial panorama.

"Something wrong master?" ruby moon questioned as she joined him on the terrace.

"It has begun." they watched the stars burn in the night with mutual sympathy for the card mistress.

*******************

Li Lerae stood alone on the balcony. Her eyes were downcast as she felt the rippling magics of the hope card. They brought back dark memories of the time she last saw her husband.

How sad that the little cherry blossom now was facing the same heartache. She had chosen and now the great matriarch of the li clan had lost her only son.

He had called her earlier today with something to the extent of a last will and testament. He sent a few goodbyes, and a few decrees. One of which was that Sakura be regarded as if she were his wife. She was now to be the matriarch of all the clan..

Meilin had cried and ran off to be alone.

Kai had went off to the dojo where he rendered his knuckles bloody on the training dummy.

The great council held a meeting where nothing would be accomplished aside from long winded accusations and aristocratic whining.

His sisters went numb; each retreated to their rooms as they had done when their father had been killed.

The clan mourned.

Lerae watched in silence.

*******************

The sky spun like the waters of a cup of tea as clouds and turquoise mingled in unnatural spirals. The colors of the sky, the trees below, the building, and Syaoran especially became exaggerated to the point they all seemed to radiate a neon glow. The brightness was blinding, but Sakura could not blink.

Winds swirled around the young sorcerer as his hair danced wildly with flaming plumes of silver light. There was no pain, just a disconcerting sense of lightness, both physically and mentally. He felt his mind and memory drifting off as if all he was was a small boat on a still lake with cut ropes. His mind became fuzzy as the white haze which blurred his vision blurred his mind. He thought of Sakura, he loved her as he had before, but now there was a strange reverence to her. he suspected it was since she was the card mistress, and he, a Clow card becoming... he didn't mind that. She was his goddess long before now.

Sakura's cheeks streamed with tears as she watched his form begin to dematerialize along with the hope card's. They both rippled away into swirling tendrils of luminous wind which stretched out in its serpentine plumes around her. she felt it brush against her cheeks and almost thought it to be his lips. Then it all swirled together into the shadowy form of a card.

All traces of the magic faded away as the colors around her returned to normal along with the sky. The card hovered in the air for a moment before falling to her feet. She felt a radiant life to it that she had not felt from it before. It was alive now, just like all the other cards.

She picked it up and looked at it. Syaoran was emblazoned on the card as he had been in her vision. The hope card's old wings were now his own. he was naked from the waist up and she saw the rosy hued chest were his new heart resided. His wings were stretched out and draped with chains as the rest of him was. His arms and legs also were bound by the silver chains, holding him aloft and rigidly postured.

He was gone now. No longer human, but instead a card... the hope. She felt colder then she had ever been, and also truly lonely. She could no longer look at the card right now, and so she slipped it into her pouch. His sacred pendant, however, was kept in her hand as she descended the building with the jump card and proceeded to walk home.

The street was busy, but Sakura was alone on it. Everyone she passed was a shadow of humanity, she didn't sense any warm auras from them, and if she had, she would have recoiled from them. She was alone on that street which was filled with stupid and ignorant people who never would know her pain. Someone special had just died and they didn't recognize it. It was another day for them, and somewhere inside her heart Sakura didn't hate legacy as much for trying to wipe these people away. They were normal and she was not.

Her mother had died, but she was too young to feel that grief fresh. She was surprised that she wasn't sobbing, but instead marveled at the strange feelings that now flowed through her. resentment and sadness. A darkness she had never touched before now lived inside her. she didn't miss him yet, but she soon would. She both blessed and cursed the icy numbness that made her heart feel like lead and her stomach knot into sobs that soon would escape her in a flood of salty tears.

The sun shone down on her and did not warm her. the breezes that swept tiny cherry blossoms through the air didn't calm her or inspire her with their beauty. the laughter of those people only darkened her mood. She walked home alone under a turquoise sky that soon would split open and give birth to a black demon who's core was made of the same icy blackness that now Sakura felt inside her. Was this loneliness the true legacy of the card mistress?

*******************

Sakura had walked to the Tokyo tower which seemed to shine like gold in the setting sun's light. Hours had passed and she still felt numb and cold. The sky overhead swirled with demonic wrath as the black entity twisted like a dark tide in the golden halcyon skyway. This was the place her fate had been sealed...

She was judged by Yue here. This is where the final judgement was passed on her, she was named mistress of all the power of the Clow cards. And in that sentencing she was tied to the destiny of killing Syaoran. She resented the cards and the destiny she was handed as their master. She ached for Syaoran and longed for the dream that now was dead.

She would kill legacy here, on this hollowed earth where her destiny had been sealed. It was poetic to her, this was the axis of all her great battles. The judgement, Eriol, and now legacy. Her mind swam with confliction. Love and hate for the people who walked to and from the observation tower. Pity and hatred for the patron sorcerer of the cards. She was the card mistress.

Her mind flashed as she spun around and saw the forms descending upon her. Yue, Kero, and Madison. She rode atop the great lion like a character in one of her books. The people were gasping in shock and offering shrill cries as the great lion descended before her.

"You've been seen." she replied.

"They will forget soon enough.. Syaoran's clan will cast the spell to erase the memory of all magic after legacy is dead." Kero replied as he regarded the awestruck onlookers.

"Sakura! You..." Madison was cut off in mid sentence and mid step as Sakura's eyes fixed on her and froze her with their fierceness.

"You shouldn't have brought her, she could be killed."

"You shouldn't be alone." Kero replied feebly.

"I am the card mistress.... I am alone."

"How can you say that!?" Madison cried out. Sakura just looked at her.

"I killed Syaoran."

"What?" she backed up a step, sure she had misheard.

"I sacrificed him to make a weapon. He said that he loved me; I murdered him." Madison blinked in disbelief.

"Don't worry, you'll forget everything soon enough. The terms of the clan's spell is to erase all memory of magic. That includes your memories of me..." Madison's eyes blurred with tears at both her friend's words, and the soft tone she spoke them in. She sounded like Syaoran's mother.

"You deserve something better then this Madison. You shouldn't have to remember legacy, the cards. I've been ignorant and then I've been aware of the truth about magic. Trust me when I say that you'll be happier going back to a time when it's all just a wonderful fantasy. You will never know the price for it. You'll never have the chance to miss Syaoran." her eyes were shimmering with crystalline tears as her hand went to Syaoran's pendant. Madison reached out and hesitantly touched the sorceress's cheek.. Sakura was doing this for love, the love of Syaoran, the love of the innocent people around her, and the love of her childhood friend. She was still Sakura deep down, but now there was feet of snow blanketing it. Madison didn't understand what happened to Li, but this sudden change in Sakura must be the result of it.

"What made you change like this? You aren't yourself anymore."

" I am the card mistress. And I'll destroy legacy! I'll make sure you get the chance to have a normal life... your story will have a happy ending. With a healthy flare for the dramatic." Sakura laughed softly as she turned her attention to her guardians.

"Protect her."

"As you ask, mistress." Yue bowed and took a position before Madison. His wings stretched out and ushered the girl closer.

"this is where we part ways, right Kero?" he hung his head in confirmation.

" you've been such a big part of my life. I'm going to miss you so much. I love you, both of you." she wiped the tears from her emerald eyes. "Try to remember me, even after you have a new master."

"We could never forget you Sakura." she smiled and turned her attention to the tower and the sky which swirled beyond it.

"You are taking too long." she addressed the legacy. After a moment more she scowled with an icy determination she stepped forward.

"Fine, you wana be shy... I'll drag you out kicking and screaming!" her features exploded with ethereal light. Both hands shot tword the sky and she shimmered with alabaster light. The crowd of onlookers and the guardians gasped in wide eyes disbelief as she began to almost levitate amidst the radiating magic that was blindingly visible to even the least magically inclined. Kero gaped as she did more then recited a spell that already existed, but instead created one in plain Japanese.

"Magics of both dark and light do my will now. I, Sakura, bid thee split the heavens and open the sky to me. Bring me the demon known as legacy! Let the skies part and the demon stand before me now!!!" the earth rumbled as the will of one small girl tore the heavens and ripped the demon from the fabric of the sky which swirled in a maelstrom of red and black clouds as dervishes of hot wind tousled her hair.

The twisting amorphous form of legacy spiraled down to earth and took hold around the great tower. It's black flesh knit together in terrible contortions around the Tokyo tower. Then with a great monolithic roar it tore the tower to fragments which rained down atop the fleeing civilians. Sakura watched it as it took it's viperous form. the demon legacy stared down on her as it towered into a bloody sky and then smiled hatefully to her with a dark anticipation of what was to come. Sakura returned the smile.

Destiny is a tricky creature that is both or creation and our master.

In some respects we are born to it like we are to our blood,

in others aspects we sow it like a seed in a garden.

It is our road and our momentum.

It is our chain and our prison.

It is our enigma and our answer.

Not the end.....