Card Captor Sakura Fan Fiction ❯ Legacy ❯ The Gift ( Chapter 4 )

Disclaimer: don't own em, probably for the best since I would undoubtedly bring a lot of blood and dark stuff to the series. Granted, I would also bring a lot more then them just hugging... heh heh heh.... read into that however you see fit ^_^ this is actually a shorter chapter. It's all fight pretty much. Well don't loose faith in me, I still have one last chapter of legacy left, so don't go popping those cyanide pills just yet. The last chapter will take place in Hong-Kong. I know it's a lil depressing, but trust me. Once again I apologize for the wait between chapters. College math is the bane of my existence and may have me chomping a cyanide pill all too soon.

Let me know what you think at: logan91235@aol.com

Legacy

"The Gift"

The demon was unleashed, and so terrible that words trembled on the tongue when spoken in its horrifically massive shadow. It stood amongst the fragmented steel of the once proud and now ruined tower; gloating at the impending carnage which it was relishing as one might a particularly pleasant perfume on the air or a divine taste as it rolled over the tongue.

It's form bubbled with a physical manifestation of the dark glee that this emanation of wickedness reveled in. It was churning with motion as bladed protrusions erupted from it's livid black flesh and then melded back into the form. it was almost dragonlike, though more evil then any western serpent. This form seemed favored, Sakura had seen it take this visage far more frequently then it had any of its other hellish incarnations. Great leathery wings had sprouted from it's bone riddled vertebra and now blocked out the heavens and a shadow darker then any night upon them all. It's chest pulsated with gnawing motions that resembled the chewing undulations of a spider too closely. Beyond that grim false mouth reddish black flesh vanished away into a hole that seemed to go on forever.

The beast was terrible to look at with normal eyes, it was the epitamy of nightmare, but to Sakura's eyes its terror was more profound. She saw it both in the physical realm, and the magical one simultaneously. Spires of phantasmic evil ran to it like veins in a dozen directions. It's form was in true perpetual change in this spectrum. It was swirling with fangs and claws and so many other hellish appendages that both defied explanation and the idea that nothing so terrible could be real.... for it was. It's aura, more terrible then the beast itself, had latched itself onto the earth like a tumor and proceeded to twist and pulse with grotesque imagery.

Legacy snapped its jaws as the skies spun to the wicked axis of this demon that made their world his, only by existing within it.

There were screams as the innocent people ran. Legacy snorted at them with what passed as a scoff of sardonic humor to their plight. It exploded outward and atop them. it's black flesh shot forward like a tsunami and engulfed a dozen people who were swallowed up in the sea of livid flesh. Madison screamed and Sakura trembled as they watched the people smother as the demon's flesh flooded their mouths and forced itself down their windpipes where it did something that was as painful as it was fatal. They stopped squirming and submerged into the black creature.

It turned to Sakura..

She barely had a moment to step back before the beast was charging her like a bull, dragon, and flood all at once. It's form was changing with explosive speed as it rocketed forward. Horns and fangs were joined by hundreds of viperous forms which snapped like serpents. The ground rumbled as Sakura was nearly in its jaws.

With a sudden leap that almost could pass for flight she hurtled herself from its immediate path and released a flash of silver lightning directly at the demon. It hissed with the sudden sting, but it was just that, a sting. Sakura was running like a madwoman as the thing turned in pursuit and exploded with blades which flung out like the tails of a nest of scorpions. Sakura cried out as Kero swooped down and knocked them both out of the way. He turned and with a flash of reddish orange light, engulfed the demon in fire.

"Kero!" she cried as the demon smacked him away with a whiplike black appendage. It was charred, but regenerating with terrifying speed.

"Sakura! The hope card!" Yue cried as she frantically took it up. It was glowing as she withdrew the wand and struck the card.

A strange silver radiance filled the surrounds as the card exploded into glowing tresses of magical energy. The light took the form of an angel. He was seemingly asleep, floating delicately as if underwater. His form was chained and it broke Sakura's heart to hear the silvery bond clink and rattle as he was held tethered to the earth. He wore two massive wings that hung out, suspended in place by the bonds. The white feathers seemed radiantly silver in the alabaster glow that he himself was casting. He was Syaoran.... His shaggy cinnamon dusted hair swayed in the gentle currents of mystical wind which rocked him back and forth. His face was more innocent then Sakura had ever seen it. It was Syaoran's but without the determination or scowl... it was as if the life of training and sacrifice had been a dream, which had now passed away into dreamless innocent sleep. His skin was strangely radiant and ethereal. Sakura saw the slight crimson glow from his chest, it undulated like a heartbeat. She wanted to touch him, but somehow was aware of the possibility that he would turn to mist if embraced.

"Syaoran?" she whispered.

He did not reply.

"He's not the boy anymore Sakura. He's the hope..." Kero whimpered as he limped over to her side. The legacy was churning around them now with bubbling rage, but it held off for some reason as Sakura stared at the boy she loved.

"I love you, Syaoran.... please...." she choked back a sob as he remained asleep. Legacy was all around them now and Sakura could hear Madison cry out. The creature was looming all around them, ready to devour them with one great crashing impact. It started to plummet atop them.

"Hope." she whispered and with that word the angel's eyes shot open with a flash.

Legacy was all but engulfing them as a strange light exploded from within. The demon was thrown back in the form of splattering black flesh which rained to the earth and knitted itself together again.

Sakura and Kero had been knocked backwards and now stared at the fully awake Clow card. It's wings were held upright and its eyes were on Sakura. No trace of Syaoran shone in them.

"Hope card.... destroy legacy!" she commanded with a sad fierceness.

The spirit responded immediately as its chains snapped with ease and rained tiny metal links to the ground which vanished on impact. Hope shot upward into the night air and glowed with silver lightning and ethereally white plumes of light. Each flap of it's angelic wings sent swirling tides of shining magic out in swirling dervishes which vanished into glowing embers of light.

Legacy was whole again, and now hissing with transformation as bladed protrusions randomly exploded and vanished. It shot upward to him like a demonic spire which hope was able to dodge by an inch. The black turret exploded into snapping jaws which came at him from a dozen angles. Sakura watched with awed horror as the ariel battle ensued, legacy chasing hope in a dozen forms from several directions. Hope was able to evade, but it was impossible to speculate for how long.

Sakura cried out as a sudden bony lance shot from legacy's mother mass and struck the angel's wing. He stumbled in his flight and was soon in a frantic struggle to not be impaled by the many bladed claws which were swiping at him. He could fly, but the momentary weakness had put him on the defensive and legacy all around him.

"Mori-tomoshibi!" she spoke and hurled a spear of silver fire at the demon. He was struck and lurched backwards as the hope card flew higher and glanced down at Sakura.

His eyes closed and he touched the glowing center of his bare chest. With a flash of light he had began pulling something from his heart. Sakura's eyes were wide with disbelief as the hilt, pommel, guard, and then blade of a massive sword was pulled from him. It seemed to materialize from his own body, though the sheer size of the weapon made that impossible anywhere save the realm of magic.

The silver sword was breathtaking as it burned with heavenly white plumes of flame. It shimmered with veins of radiant gold that flashed as runes over the entire blade. The chains which hung from hope's arm tethered themselves to the flaming blade as legacy shot up at him.

The sword was hellfire as it cut legacy's tendrils, rendering them ash on the wind. The demon recoiled for a moment as it too noticed this new weapon. The sword gleamed like an angelic scythe; ready to cut demons like stalks of wheat in a dark harvest.

Sakura knew that objects, no matter how insignificant, have an energy to them. this sword not only had an aura, but a blinding one. The weapon's spirit wrapped around Syaoran's just the chains bound them. the serpentine aura trailed his entire form, knitting into his body and spirit as if it were truly an extension of his own body. The aura was one of fire, swirling like a tempest of fire and lightning.

Legacy's dark presence was choking the world around them as it snapped and clawed like a hive of malefic vipers. The creature swirled with hateful forms as dark and light crackled against eachother in an almost biblical struggle. The earth trembled as legacy suddenly lashed out in a thousand mouths, each brimming with pure icy malice.

Sakura watched in pure terror as the angel and devil danced with such amazing motion and speed that it challenged her capacity to even understand it all. That which once was Syaoran pivoted and turned with such fantastic speed and incomprehensible grace that it all seemed like an extremely well choreographed scene which could only be real when generated by computer for a movie. Dark flames lapped at white flames as the two sides erupted in lightning like froth as the waves crash against the rocky shore.

Legacy bit and clawed while the angelic blade tore and burned. The sky was darkening, but it flashed with oranges and silvers as if it were the sky over a battlefield, ignited by the flashes of guns and bombs as they exploded and rained fire.

"It's amazing...." Sakura gaped as Kero hung at her side.

"I've seen this a hundred times, but it's still so...." Kero trailed off, his eyes mirroring past battles that shone in the darkness of his elliptical pupils. His golden eyes shimmered in the light of the battle as flames of angelic fire washed over them. Sakura couldn't give the lion her full attention, she was still drawn to the fight, even though she could do nothing to help. Her magic could only prick the demon's flesh, much lest deal a true wound. She felt helpless as they fought, and even more so when legacy won.

Syaoran was blindsided by a massive set of teeth which bit down on him from behind. It was sheer luck that the sword was also snared in the bite, it's solidness prevented him being bitten through. The demon shook him and then threw him with such force that he rocketed through a building which crumbled to splinters of steel and a hail of concrete and mortar atop him. Legacy exploded into the sky with a snarl of triumph that rippled through his flesh like an explosion.

"NO!!" Sakura cried out as legacy suddenly careened forward and swirled in a maelstrom of blades which tore gashes in all directions, ripping the earth to splinters. Sakura suddenly caught its gaze as the demon's form fixed on a small group of people who were frantically trying to free a young boy who had been pinned by some of the debris. The dust had painted them grey, and now they looked like ghosts as they pulled at the screaming child.

legacy exploded forward more like a tsunami of black water then like flesh. He was faster then Sakura had seen, as if he were charged from his battle with Syaoran.

Not fully knowing what she was doing, Sakura dug her nails into her own arm until she felt blood trickling from the wounds. She fell to the ground and pressed her bloodied wrist to the asphalt.

Legacy was atop them when the ground suddenly exploded upward in a column of earth and blood. Sakura was terrified by the magic she had suddenly used as it erupted upon legacy who was startled by the sudden assault and toppled backwards. Sakura's fear seemed to augment the terrible magic that was now flowing through her as if she had reached out and touched a high voltage wire, instantly making her a conduit to lethal energy.

The column of blood and earth crashed down on legacy and seemed to change as it made contact and smothered him bit by bit. It hardened over the squirming demon and then petrified like rapidly cooled lava, perfectly smooth and almost metalic. Legacy was tearing and clawing at this blanket of dense metalic earth. Sakura did not relent as her own lifeblood fueled this terrible magic. She felt herself growing dizzy, but also motivated by the need to bury this damn monster. Legacy's shape twisted beneath her, but she continued to pile more and more on.

"Sakura!! Stop! It's going to kill you!" Kero cried out as he slammed into his mistress using all his weight. Sakura was losing herself to the magic, that was the only possible explanation. She wasn't reciting any spells the boy had taught her, she wasn't wielding any talismans... the magic was flowing through her just as it would a wand. She was gasping as she rolled on her back, clutching her cut wrist. The blood had stopped, but shimmered on her alabaster flesh like lightning of red.

"Syaoran.... he's.... I had to."

"Not like that! You can't fight it like that! Hope is the only weapon you have that can do permanent damage!" Kero was looking over at legacy as he yelled over the monster's wails. It was a lie... he had never seen magic like that before, and for all he knew it could kill legacy, but it would certainly kill Sakura too.

She wasn't a girl anymore, she was infused to magic now. Maybe Syaoran had seen that in her, he had opened the door and let her awaken her true powers... had he recognized just how much magic was a part of her? Her blood, bone, spirit.... all of them were flowing with magics beyond understanding. She had dwarfed all other sorcerers and sorceresses in that solitary moment of such extreme duress... the desire to save those people had merged with her apprehension for the hope card and her sadness for Syaoran... they had unified into a force so prolific that even legacy was brought down by the sorceress's will. Kero looked over at the demon to find it clawing at its tomb of earth... it was more then just buried, it was fused to the earth and blood which shined in the light of the perpetual twilight.

There were stories of the ancient gods of magic. Hecate, Curnunos and a hundred others from various texts and depictions. Beings of pure magic. He had looked at Sakura when she was lashing out against the demon legacy, and was both filled with awe and terror to see Sakura had potential to go beyond sorceress, and descend into a state closer to godhood.

The ages of magic were rapidly passing now. Kero had witnessed the ages where sorcerers were plentiful to ones where they were almost extinct. Now the gift of magic was being elevated to the point when child sorcerers could reach plateaus that transcended all that was known of magic, and potentially become one with the power that all the universe revolves upon.

Sakura's eyes had shined with a magic that hadn't been felt on earth since its beginning... that kind of magic, once embraced, could never be returned from. He had stopped her before, by a fluke, she would evolve into something Kero had no way to gauge. His thoughts were broken as she yelled to him over the legacy's cries.

"How can we stop it then!? The hope card is...."

"The hope card is a weapon!! It's like a sword! It's potential is dependent on what power is put into it. You haven't been using it so much as just letting it do whatever it wants. You've got to synchronize your power with it!"

"How do I do that!?" legacy's body was enveloping the earth which bound it bit by bit. The bonds were being broken...

"Think of Syaoran. Of his love for you, his strength. Think about your connection... how you see each other!" legacy tore free and spun to face the sorceress with a murderous snarl.

"Sakura! Think dammit!!! not about how much you miss him!" legacy begin running for them.

"Don't focus on the pain... don't even focus on the good memories! Think of your connection... Of what ties your sprits together!!" it was coming for them half running and half flying now.

Sakura's mind ached as she reached out for him. For what made them so precious to the other. what makes Syaoran so special to her?

She closed her eyes and dropped to her knees as legacy reached them.

'His strength'

'His gentleness'

'His wisdom'

'His love'

'His pride'

'His faith in me!'

Legacy leapt for her.

Time went slow as the demon's massive jaws gaped for her, then were split in half. Sakura cried out as the demon's body split down the middle and fell on either side of her and the stunned lion. In the distance they saw the hope card with his sword to the ground, he was panting softly as he studied his mistress and her guardian.

"He's ok!!" Madison cried out from the sidelines.

Legacy reformed itself behind Sakura, now oblivious to her in light of this new hurt. It was as evil as they come, but it's attention span seemed to be easily swayed. It was behaving on sheer rage.

Sakura was expecting it to charge again, but was surprised as its chest ripped open into a giant beam of burning energy which shrieked through the sky tword the angel. The hope card drew up his sword and blocked the beam, but as the energy washed over him it was apparent that this dark pulse of energy was incredible. He bore back against the beam, but found himself being pushed back, each foot digging a small trench in the upturned earth.

"Sakura! Focus!" Kero cried out as Sakura thought of the boy she loved. It wasn't working Sakura panicked. She was focusing on him as best she could, but it wasn't enough. She still saw him as Syaoran, not the hope card. It was too much like he was still human... She suddenly realized the only thing she could do.

Sakura willed as much of her aura to him as she was able to possibly do. It was like what she and Syaoran had done during some of their more intimate moments, but never this much... Sakura was syphoning all that she was to him. She blinked with dizziness as she fell forward onto the concrete. Her cheek was scraped badly, but she looked out blankly through her open eyes. She saw nothing, too much of her essence was interwoven with the hope card. Kero cried out her name, but she didn't hear it.

Hope suddenly snapped to life as he easily deflected the beam to his side. It split into seven other rays which carved great gashes in the landscape and cut buildings down the middle, or simply shaved parts of them off as though they were no more then butter under a flaming blade. The beams prismed off the sword and by the time it had terminated, the city was sliced into sections that glowed in the twilight like red hot metal. In the distance they could hear sirens. The cataclysmic power of legacy was apparent and anyone could easily see why Syaoran's clan could pass the devastation off as either war or ecological disaster.

Legacy hissed as hope drew up his sword.

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

"is she ok!?" Madison cried out as she and Yue reached Sakura. Madison grabbed her friend and turned her over, wincing at her scraped cheek. Kero hung at his mistress's side, nuzzling her jaw with worry.

"Almost all of her spirit is infused with the hope card. I've never knew such a thing was possible."

"It's been a day where a lot is possible" Kero whimpered from his mistress's side.

"Sakura.... what's wrong with you!? Wake up!! Please!" Madison cried out as she wept against her friend. They were suddenly thrown forward as the legacy and the hope made contact again, this time right next to them.

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

the sky rippled with magic as legacy and hope lashed out at one another. Hope's power seemed monumental with Sakura joined to him. The monolithic demon was being torn apart with slash after burning slash.

One such blow sent legacy plummeting backwards into the ground where it reformed a mere few feet from where the damned sorceress lay. Legacy's mind raced with flaming heat as it saw the sorceress laying in the arms of more of these humans. It recognized the two guardians immediately, it had seen them before many times.

With a sudden rage the demon spun around for them with one massive taloned claw. They didn't have time to evade, just gape at the impending death.

The angelic spirit of hope realized what the demon was looking to do just moments before it would have been too late. With a sudden gesture of his hand the ground exploded upward with thousands of burning chains. Legacy yelped as one of the fiery chains wrapped around his claw, diverting the blow off target and to empty earth. It tore back its claw, but found that the chains were soon replaced by dozens more.

It only realized the peril it was in as a hundred of the tiny burning bonds secured themselves around its throat. They were exploding from the ground faster then the creature could rip them away. Legacy leapt for the sky, seeking to go airborne, but was quickly brought down as more and more of the serpentine manacles yanked his wings back to the ground. Legacy roared with pain and rage as more and more of the burning coils slithered over it's body. Soon it was completely immobile, fastened to the ground and bristling with rage. It's body thrashed and raged against its prison of sizzling steel, but it could do little more then budge.

Its thrashing halted as its inky eyes fell on hope; which was hovering in the sky with a look of dark intent on its ethereal features. The burning sword seemed to glow brighter against the bloodied sky as the silver plumes of flame flared in livid motion, snapping and writhing against itself as if it were alive. Fireflies of silver lightning swirled around the angelic form, periodically bathing it in sapphire illumination which flickered for a moment and then retreated to darkness. The already massive sword now seemed to grow longer as it's flames grew more excited. Soon the metal of the great weapon was only a charred shadow amongst the swirling coils of fire and light which encircled the weapon from pommel to blade.

The red overcast sky began rippling with motion as the weapon was pointed to the heavens. It obscured its holder soon enough in the rippling tides of heat and fire. It's light dwarfed all things, including the burning scars which branded Tokyo in fire. The fire swirled now several times longer then the weapon itself in a great cyclone of pure angelic flame.

The angelic warrior slowly wielded the blade of divine fire in a rotation of three circles. After each rotation the open air that had touched the blade glowed with ancient markings in a long forgotten text. The symbols burned with the same fire as the blade, and by the third rotation had stretched out to fill the air surrounding the hope card. The markings were reminiscent to those of the seal of the clow, but these seemed far more complex. Kero stared up at them and noted a few recognizable symbols interwoven upon the tapestry of burning verses. Angelic script from some of the more archaic scripts the lion had read. Their meanings had been lost to time, but it was clear that their power was just like the beings that existed back before the age of man: beyond comprehension.

Legacy suddenly struggled with newfound urgency as it's snarls and cries rang out with incomprehensible rage, but also a shadow of fear. The chains that bound it were melting into it's flesh now, pooling like mercury in the form of similar insignias to those that burned in the sky around hope. It fell to it's knees with a roar of agony as it hissed with torment.

Madison watched with awe as the circular incantations begin revolving around the hope card which still held the fiery implement of such fierce magic. The symbols sped in their rotations and then broke off so that the two dimensional diagram became a massive sphere of gyroscopic incantations.

In the midst of legacies snarling no one heard Sakura faintly whispering words in a language she had never heard before.

Hope drew back and then, with a swiftness that was beyond compare, let the blade fly free. It exploded through the swirling charms like a bolt of flame and lightning. Legacy only had time to shriek and draw back before the weapon exploded into its chest. It lurched back, as in that instant every burning silver rune on it's black body exploded with light and flame. It was blinding as the red sky exploded with white fire. The blood hue was forced back as though it were the stratospheric equivalent of the red sea, and the hope Moses. Pillars of lightning bridged the narrow gap between heaven and earth and were soon joined by tornados of spinning fire of similar hue and radiance.

And then with one final flash of light the battle was won, and the sky was left a strange twilight grey as the faint blues and violets mingled with a strange ethereal glow. It was like looking upon a sunset of another world. Beautiful, but alien.

Legacy's black form dropped to the ground with a thud as it split the ground in dozens of fissures. It lay there, dead, looking out through eyes that shone with the same radiance as Sakura's now did. A smoky light.

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

Sakura watched as legacy fell in unnaturally slow motion. She was vaguely aware that this was another vision, the colors were off. All tonal value seemed shifted to blues and other somber hues that shined with a strange dark luster in the same motions as water rippling. Sakura was amazed by the strangeness of this world that mirrored her own, but was utterly spectral. Ghostly apparitions of Madison, Kero, and Yue stood like paintings around her, frozen in the moment. The world was still, as if it were decades derelict. The sky however was lividly churning with motion as time sped up the natural motion of clouds as they drift on the sky. The cloud cover now flowed across the stratosphere as though it were a quickly moving river, and the cumuli, no more then leaves swept away in its waters.

When legacy finally hit the ground Sakura felt the impact on a spiritual level, shockwaves of mystical force rippled through the inert panorama and even sent the sorceress's hair fluttering in the ghostly winds. But Sakura felt no pressure from the gusts just as she did not reel back in the slightest from the impact.

The city dissolved away like chalk on a rainswept sidewalk, leaving Sakura alone with the stricken demon who wheezed in shallow breaths. It's colossal head lay on the earth as it's eye fell on Sakura and looked to her beseechingly. The rage and hate had faded when it had been stricken down, but the need still was felt. It's black orb of an eye looked to her beseechingly as it's form began to change. From it's body figures were formed, the faces of women and a few children. The faces of the Clow. They were human at first, then rippled away to their new personas as Clow spirits. They each watched Sakura; with pleading expressions on their faces.

They were trying to tell her something.

She stepped forward to touch one, but the representation of the windy card recoiled from her hand and fell to the earth as a card. The others followed immediately, until all the cards were laying on the ground at her feet. Sakura watched as they almost instantly dissolved away into a black liquid that pooled around her feet.

Sakura suddenly clutched her temples as the world pulsed forward. She stumbled backwards as it fluttered back and forth. Each surge that tore the fabrication sent white hot agony through her mind. The dimensions of the landscape began to twist and distort as she found the scenery she had been standing right next to getting farther and farther away from her; stretching away till it began vanishing with each searing pulse.

The vision was fading, but she was fighting to keep it. It was as though she stood on the threshold of revelation, yet was losing it with each pulse of her throbbing temples. She collapsed to her knees and reached out to where the cards had been pulled by the shifting dimensions, yet they grew no closer. She blinked and found the world losing its integrity. What once had looked ethereally real, now was fading to translucent smoke and pale shadows.

With one final blink her eyes had dispelled the vision and began to see the real world. She saw Madison and Kero, both speaking in muted voices. The hope card was at her side also, knelt with his face to the ground.

"Where?" she shakily tried to speak.

"You've been having a vision, it's ok... legacy is dead." Kero replied.

"No.. The c..cards. They need me. For something." she tried to get up but was held down by her concerned and teary eyed friend who chided her gently not to move.

"Legacy... it's..." she shook her head to try and clear the haze. Her body and mind both mutually ached.

"It's ok Sakura. Li killed it." Madison offered, but was silenced as the sorceress shook her head.

"It's still here... and it's trying to tell me something. These visions... they aren't normal. Something is giving them to me, it has to be legacy. Kero.. Help me stand." the lion supported her weight with Madison's help as Sakura stood on her wobbly feet.

She was suddenly pitched backwards by some invisible force. Yue caught her and looked at her. her eyes were flickering from smokey blue to their normal ethereal green.

"What's happening to her!?" Madison called out in horror.

"The visions... legacy is trying to make me see something." she blinked as the images of the dead women flashed in her eyes.

"How can we make it stop?" Madison asked Kero quickly.

"You can't! Don't try to stop them!"

"But Sakura!"

"No! I've got to know what it's trying to tell me!" another flash threw her back into Yue's arms. Her eyes flashed with twilight as she saw a glimpse of a woman who would later be known as the windy, being slashed with knives by a man with demonic eyes. Madison screamed as she pointed to Sakura's arms, which had suddenly began bleeding in phantom wounds.

"Sakura! Stop it!"

"Come on... show me..." she growled through gritted teeth. She nearly doubled over as though she had been struck in the stomach. She wheezed into her hand as more pain radiated through her. taking back her hand and looking up she saw her palm was red. She whipped it on her pants as she watched a shadowy figure holding a young naked girl in his arms, weeping.

Kero's eyes went skyward as he saw the remains of legacy deteriorating to black plumes of smoke that rose high into the sky. Time was running out.

Sakura cried out again as she saw more of the dead villagers, this time each holding a Clow card to their heart.

Legacy's form was nearly gone, and now the sky was darkening with an inky, pulsing shadow. The heavens began to rumble as heat lightning splashed the entity with silver. It looked much more terrible when illuminated.

The visions were terrible. The women were strung up by chains of fire with a car nailed to their chest. Sakura winced from both the image, and the stab of pain through her own chest. Madison screamed and Sakura didn't bother to look down. She had to keep fighting, she had to understand this.

The shadow in the heavens swirled like the eye of a hurricane as it's speed began generating gales of hot wind that stunk of blood and brimstone. The ethereal vortex stretched wider and wider as blood red lightning flared across the heavens, illuminating it's contours. It, like legacy's body, was in constant motion. The soul and spirit of legacy was terrible beyond the capacity of words. Bits of razor sharp claw swirled through the eddy of demonic wind as bits of leather wing and sinewy coils breached, and then submerged with a frenzied lust. Tendrils of malevolent energy were interwoven within the dervish of livid evil. it would take both a demon and a poet to do the tempest of legacy justice, it was terror made real as spectral claws swiped the air, hoping to snag a morsel. They began to feel it's pull.

Hope was staring up at the thing with unreadable expression on his face. Sakura cried out again as she cried red tears. Madison was clutching her as she cried out the sorceress's name in sobs. Sakura had stopped crying out.

The surrounding area began roaring as tornados touched down and began swaying in destructive dances around the core of the terrible power. Lightning flared like the forked tongues of demonic snakes. The scene could be described in a single word: Armageddon.

"Sakura, you have to send the hope card inside it! We don't have time anymore!" the ruined building soon was pulled skyward brick by brick , then swallowed away into the black core of the swirling claws and mouths.

With a flash both guardians, hope, and Madison were thrown in all directions as the roaring winds grew utterly silent. The world was completely without sound as they watched Sakura with wide eyes.

She was held upright with her arms out to her side, as though she were crucified to an invisible cross. She floated inches above the ground, her eyes completely without hue.

Kero yelped in shock as he saw a dead blond woman with a missing face hover in the distance with Sakura, she was soon joined by the others. The ghosts of the past held out their red hands to Sakura as if she were an angel of mercy, and they the damned. Phantasmic fire swirled around them all as they watched each of the spirits of the Clow fall to their knees before Sakura, arms up and beseeching. Their eyes were wet with tears that shimmered with a great need.

Sakura was covered in blood and sweat, but she looked utterly angelic as she floated with flowing auburn hair and skin that glowed with light. The ground around them glowed with the seal of the Clow and the heavens bore a different seal. The two magical insignias radiated a strange power that was neither good, nor evil.

"Sakura?"

"We're seeing her vision.... we are actually seeing it." Yue gaped as he watched his mistress glide amidst tides of magic, as magic.

Sakura drifted downward to the first of the Clow cards, her twilight eyes focused on the ruined woman as she knelt down to her. the windy card stretched out its hands to her as if to embrace the sorceress. Sakura leaned down and kissed the woman's forehead.

With a sudden flash of gold the woman was hole again, she had two eyes, and her face was whole once more. She looked down at her perfect, bloodless hands and blinked with tears. She Disintegrated away into a thousand embers of shimmering gold light.

Madison watched as her eyes reflected the golds of the releasing of the women. It was so incredibly beautiful, and also she felt the magic that flowed through Sakura. It was amazing, and it assured her. she felt her friend's love, and the sorrow of each spirit melt away as Sakura kissed their forehead. Golden embers rained down over Madison and the guardians like a snowfall.

All their pain and sorrow was being washed away as the card mistress touched them, she was mercy made flesh.

The golden light faded back to the dark reds and blacks as the vision faded away to reality. Sakura fell into the arms of the hope card and opened her eyes. Her emerald eyes shined with a light that pooled from the spring of her soul. She smiled at hope as he gently let her stand on her own feet. He was cutely baffled by all this, so perfectly innocent... she looked up at the sky.

"I know what it is."

"What?" Kero questioned.

"Legacy, I know what it is. I know what causes it." she spoke softly without looking away from the evil maelstrom.

"Legacy is the pain of the Clow cards."

"What?"

"When Clow sealed their spirits to the cards he trapped them. they couldn't move on, even though they feel they have to. The sorrow, the pain, the loneliness, the anger, the desperation... it all builds up over time. It creates legacy, a creature of pure hate and rage. The cards are what creates it." Kero's eyes widened.

"How do you know this Sakura?"

"I don't know... but it's true. The cards are victims, they are screaming to be saved, but they can't be heard. That's why they are trying so hard to reach me. I can hear them." she looked over to Kero.

"I know how to stop it. Now and forever."

"Mistress?" Yue questioned.

"I will free them... I will set them free so that they can do what they have needed to do for hundreds of years. Transcend."

"Sakura, you mean you're going to?" Madison blinked.

"Yes, I'm going to destroy the Clow." Kero and Yue stepped back in disbelief.

"It can't be done! The cards, they are indestructible."

"I will... I have to."

"Sakura... if you're wrong. They'll be gone forever. You won't be the card mistress anymore. You won't be our master anymore." Kero replied with a tremor in his great voice.

"I love you... but this has to be done. I won't let them suffer anymore, and I will make sure that the Syaoran is the last to ever be needed. I will stop the legacy of the card mistress, for good..."

Kero nodded and stepped beside her, soon followed by Yue and Madison. Sakura reached into her pouch and withdrew the cards. They glowed brightly in her hand as she gently took the first card. The windy card, her first Clow card, her most trusted ally as a captor, and, in a sense, her friend. She whispered a goodbye and ripped the card in half.

The card's two halves floated to the ground and began to glow brightly with golds. Kero and Yue watched in amazement as the cards were destroyed in Sakura's hands. She cried as she tore each and watched them vanish into gold embers and light. The radiance swirled through the air like plumes of gold before vanishing away. With each card that was destroyed, the legacy grew calmer. The vortex that potentially could swallow all life was closing.

Fly.

Jump.

Flower.

Sweet.

Create.

Change.

Fie ry.

Dash.

Mirror.

One by one they vanished into the cloud of golden radiance. Sakura mourned as each card faded from her, she could no longer feel them the second they were destroyed, but she still sensed that this is what they wanted, needed. Kero stared in awe as he watched their ethereal forms fade away into the place they had been seeking for hundreds and hundreds of years. Madison was crying happy tears and waving as they departed into the sky. Yue watched legacy grow more and more calm as it's rage was being extinguished one card at a time.

"Last one!" Sakura chimed out as she held the light card out for inspection. She smiled as she tore the last of the cards, and freed the last of their souls. It faded away into the heavens.

"There, it's done. It's over." she smiled.

"Why is legacy still here then?" Madison suddenly cried out as they all looked up to see a tiny dark orb which shimmered in the red heavens.

"No! It had to work!"

"Sakura..."

"This isn't right! I destroyed the cards!" Kero nuzzled her hand as he closed his eyes.

"No. You haven't. There is still one card left." Sakura looked puzzled for a moment before the truth hit her and her puzzlement turned into horror. Her eyes shot to the hope card which was looking at her with that sweet innocent face. She took a step back as her eyes began streaming with tears.

"No!! I won't do this again!! I can't! Please Kero, please no!" Hope cocked his head in confusion. Why was she looking at him like that? He hadn't done anything to displease his mistress, had he? Kero whimpered.

"Sakura, you mu..." she cut him off

"NO! I COMMAND YOU! I WILL NOT!" Kero winced at both her words and her tears. His own eyes shined with tears as he hung his head.

"You must Sakura. You must stop it, now and forever. You've got to." she was crying as she clutched the card tightly to her heart. She fell to her knees and wept.

"Please, I can't do this. I can't...."

"Syaoran believed in you Sakura. He trusted you with stopping legacy. You've got to set him free... avenge his family..."

"No..." she whimpered with a shaky voice.

"He's trapped Sakura. He's like the other cards. You can't keep him from moving on.... you could never hurt him like that." Yue spoke gently to her, the most gently he had ever spoken. She closed her eyes and took hold of the card. Her hands were trembling, but just when she was about to do it, she cried out and took her hand from it.

" I can't do it..." she blinked suddenly as another pair of hands took her own. she looked up and cried as Syaoran smiled at her gently. He was the hope, but he was looking at her the same way he had when he was alive. He was smiling at her with both pride and love in his eyes. He saw her as Syaoran had always seen Sakura, not as the hope.

"Syaoran?" she whimpered.

He smiled at her and gave a soft nod.

"How...?"

He shrugged and grinned, taking her hand and placing it back on the card, his own on top of hers.

"I can't loose you..."

"He tried to speak, but was frustrated by his lack of sound. He settled for shaking his head and touching his pendant at her neck.

"I love you, Syaoran."

He mouthed out "I love you", then together, they tore the hope card in half. Sakura closed her eyes as she did, and bit back a sob as his hand vanished from her own. Kero nuzzled her neck while Madison hugged her. even Yue embraced the girl as she opened her eyes.

Syaoran was gone.

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

The sun rose as it had so many times before, but somehow it was different. The world had not ended, it would survive until the next apocalypse, either of magic origins or of man's doing. Madison had called Sakura a hero after they had returned home. Sakura couldn't truly respond to that, she was neither hero nor villain, she was both.

When she sealed Syaoran, he was still with her, by her side as he had been in life... but now that was no more, he was truly gone, and she felt different for his absence. She had cried, and she had stopped, but she still felt his absence. She had lived apart from him so long, searching the auras from across the sea for a wisp of his. Now that he was gone she realized that she had always felt his. It was all around her, in the air and the sky, subtle, but everywhere. Now the world seemed less vibrant in all aspects. She had never appreciated him as much as she should have...

The sky was gold and endless, stretching out before her in all of heaven's majesty. Hero? There were real heros, but she was not one. Syaoran had given her this gift, the morning that never was meant to happen. Syaoran was a hero, she was the one still alive.

She waited in the terminal, near the window. She packed one suitcase, the rest to be sent to her later. She stood alone in the light of the rising sun, feeling it bath her skin in fiery light. She wore black: pants, shirt, and a long knit jacket that stretched to knee length. She attracted attention that she ignored. Passing travelers cast a longer glance her way as they proceeded into the day that Syaoran had given them.

She saw a young child sitting on a seat several rows away from her, staring. The girl wore a pink dress and had tiny black clips in her hair. The girl's mother motioned to her to stop and asked why she was staring. The girl turned and said something about Sakura being such a beautiful woman, but looking so sad. They spoke quietly, but Sakura heard it all. Her arms were up against her chest she once again found her attention to the amber stratosphere.

They were all so small. Sakura felt that now, as though they were all no more then children. And in a wondrous way, they all were. The cards were destroyed and legacy gone forever. They would get to live on as children, free of magic for as long as the force that turns the world deemed it so.

Her father had kissed her and told her that he loved her, her brother cried when she left. Sakura's last act as mistress of the Clow was to make Yue remain with her family. Kero would accompany her to the land of magics, where her true love had been born. They were no longer bound to her, but her guardians seemed content with remaining. Madison hugged her friend and promised that no matter what magic was used to make the people forget legacy and the cards, she would always know Sakura.

How one girl's life can change... not too long ago she had thought college would be the place where she would grow into the woman she was going to be for the rest of her life. But it seems that somewhere along the way that had already happened to Sakura Avalon. It took a deck of cards, a boy from china, and a demon to show Sakura her place in the world. And now she was there: standing in the sunlight on a day that never would have happened without her.

"We are now boarding flight one-seventy one, non stop to Hong Kong at gate 'A12.'" Sakura turned her attention to the loudspeaker, then turned for the gate. As she passed she turned to the young girl who said she looked so sad. The girl's eyes were still fixed on her as she stared at the child in passing. She smiled at Sakura, and then disappeared from Sakura's line of sight.

That girl would grow up now. She would grow into a woman and be loved by a man like Syaoran, though there was no other like Syaoran. This boy that was still a whisper from fate's lips would love her intensely, as Syaoran had Sakura. She would have what Sakura could not. That was Syaoran's gift, and Sakura's legacy.

Courage is not found in the heat of battle.

Courage is found the next day, facing the repercussions.

Benevolence is not giving what you will not miss.

Benevolence is giving when the cost is dear to you.

Love is not without pain.

Love is pain's most excruciating incarnation.

Dying is not hard.

Living on is.

The legacy of a hero is not made on a foundation of invulnerability.

The true testament of a hero is born of tears and sadness.

Still not the End....