Card Captor Sakura Fan Fiction ❯ Wish Unbroken, Dream Unspoken ❯ Chapter 11

"It's like she's in a coma," a hushed voice whispered.

Cool hands brushed over Sakura's face, wiping away bangs plastered to her skin from sweat.

"It was too much for her. I don't know if she has the energy to return from wherever she is. She gave everything to save them."

"Does he know yet?"

"No, none of them do. Clow's reincarnation might suspect, but he's worrying about too many things right now. They think she's sleeping."

Kero's authoritative voice cut through the whispers. "I can't concentrate on finding her. She's too weak, stop distracting me."

A small voice dared answer. "You've been searching for hours. You're almost depleted, you'll kill yourself if you keep looking like this."

"I don't care! I can't let Sakura stay like this forever!"

The cards danced restlessly in the air above their mistress, each of them terrified of that outcome.

The small voice came again. "She needs moon based energy to find her...that's the connection she lost to the world when she tried to save Yue. You can't find her, Guardian of the Seal--but I can."

The other cards danced around the one, protesting as one. Some began to say they would do it themselves, others cried for another solution, but it didn't matter.

The Mirror smiled at them all and kissed Sakura gently on the forehead. "Kero-san, will you tell her brother...tell him I hope he's happy. Tell him I said thank you."

"You can't do this! I forbid it!" Kero roared at her.

"I don't have to respect your authority when we're not sealed," she said gently, smiling. "It must be done, and only Yue could stop me."

They tried to stop her, but like a shooting star she blazed in the room, rushing to infuse Sakura with her energy...guiding their mistress back to life. Footsteps pounded in the hall, the magic bringing everyone in the house running to see what was happening. As the door opened Sakura opened her eyes.

In her hand was a nearly blank slip of paper. Faint lines on both sides were all that remained...traces made before the original spell had been cast.

Eriol stumbled into the room and fell to his knees as soon as he saw the paper.

Sakura looked at the paper in shocked horror.

Nakuru frowned deeply, glaring at Yukito who had no expression on his face whatsoever.

Touya walked slowly over to his little sister, sitting carefully at the edge of her bed. "Sakura, what is it?"

She pulled the paper to her chest, clutching it to her tightly as tears began to fall. "No," she whispered softly. "It can't be. I fought so hard, I tried so much, this can't...no. She can't be...she can't be gone." Her voice broke on the last word and a sob escaped her chest. Touya pulled her gently into his arms, still confused, but only needing to know one thing. His imouto-chan was in pain. That's all he needed to know to hold her against him, offering his strength and stroking her hair reassuringly.

"Shhh, it's okay Sakura. It's okay," he murmured softly, just trying to be there for her. He didn't think about what he said, he just had to say something to help her. She trembled in his arms and he just held her through the pain and tears.

"No," she denied. "No, no, it's not. It's not okay. No. No! Mirror! NO!" Her crying was now loud, wracking her small frame with the violence of her emotion. "Mirror!"

Touya stiffened. Of all the cards, that was the only one he actually knew. That was the one he had-- "Oh God."

That's when he saw. Sakura wasn't just clutching a slip of paper, that's just what everyone else was focused on. In her other hand were hair ribbons. The ones he had bought for the Mirror card. His hands slid down Sakura's arms until he found himself fingering the beautiful slips of fabric, remembering each time the apparition had appeared in Sakura's form, blushing and looking up at him the way his sister never would. Mirror had been too shy, too delicate to ever fool him into thinking she was Sakura, no matter how she appeared. Even when she had lured him to peril that first time....

And now she was gone.

Another sacrifice made.

He fell forward again, enfolding his sister in his arms as if to shield her from a world where these things could happen. There was a hollow spot in his chest, grief settling upon him once again in his life. All he could do was comfort his sister while everything else in the world faded into insignificance. They sat together, rocking slowly, wrapped up in their own pain.

Yue found himself alone in the Kinomoto's kitchen, looking out the small window over the sink at the dark landscape. He quickly checked the clock and was shocked to find that Yukito had taken the form for over 12 hours. He couldn't imagine what could have happened to cause that. What kind of emergency had befallen that required so much magic?

He swallowed, looking around carefully. Dread filled him at the unnatural silence in the house. It was as if everyone was asleep, but why would he be in their kitchen still if--

The front door opened and their father announced his presence cheerfully. Yue heard someone thunder down the stairs, running at a reckless speed, and then Sakura's voice welcomed her father in a high, reedy tone. She sounded as if she had been crying, he noted with a pang. He walked toward the hall with no small amount of trepidation, anxiety holding him back as he heard Sakura sobbing into her father's arms.

He found himself unable to intrude on this moment, but he couldn't understand what was happening. He looked around, confused, with the sense that something was drastically wrong. He couldn't move, not wanting to know, but he was unable to suppress his curiosity another moment.

Slowly, others came down the stairs. Touya was first, walking as if weights were tied to his shoes. He didn't look up once; he just went straight to the entry where Sakura was finally speaking in hushed tones to their father. Eriol walked down the stairs next, followed closely by Nakuru. She was strangely as somber as the rest of them. Eriol shot Yue a glance and hesitated on the stairs for a moment, but he walked over to Sakura and murmured softly in her ear, and Nakuru shadowed him.

Yue backed away from the hall slowly, a strange numbness blanketing him. Someone had died. There was no other explanation for what he had seen. Had there been a sudden battle? Why else would he have been pulled away from the world for so long?

But what had happened?

He wrapped his arms around himself, walking to the living room to escape out the glass sliding doors. He couldn't stay here. If he stayed, he--

If he stayed, he'd find out, and that would make whatever was wrong something that really happened.

He hesitated with his hand outstretched toward the handle, ready to slide the door open.

"Yue." Eriol's soft voice broke the silence in the darkened room. "I need to talk to you." It was Eriol who actually opened the door and stepped out first while Yue still hesitated just a few moments longer. It was hard to force his feet to move, but he finally found the ability to follow.

They stood under the dark midsummer sky, staring at each other uncomfortably. "Clow," he began automatically...then corrected himself. "I mean, Eriol," he tripped over the unfamiliar name. "What happened today?"

"Mirror is dead," he said bluntly.

Yue gasped, eyes growing wide and already filling with tears. "How? Why?" If it had been an attack, why would Mirror of all cards been involved? If there had been no attack, how could this have happened at all? This was just wrong, no matter how he looked at it. Mirror could not be gone. Not her. No.

"She gave up her energy to save Sakura when she--I--" The mage broke off, leaning heavily against the side of the house. He looked as if he were on the verge of breaking down when he said softly, "I should never have interfered. This is all my fault."

Yue still couldn't understand what was going on. He was still trying to contain the knowledge that one of his cards, one of his friends, was now gone forever, but it was too much to grasp. Now there were other details to be added and he didn't know how he would be able to fit it all within himself. Just one thing was too big, but the expression on Eriol's face was so much more.

"I'm sorry, Yue. Please forgive me for what I have done."

He couldn't accept those words. How could it be Eriol's fault that Mirror was gone? Clow had loved those cards so much; he would never, in this life or the last, done anything--anything....

"This is my fault," he said again, tears reflecting starlight now running down his face freely. "I should never have..."

"What happened?" Yue demanded, now frantic. His hands closed around the young mage's shoulders with crushing pressure, demanding an answer he was certain he didn't actually want.

"Yukito tried...." The hesitation was entirely too understandable. Yukito had done something? Of course no one would want to tell Yue when Yukito could hear every word! What would anyone say? "Yukito returned the magic to Touya, then tried to keep going until there was nothing left."

Yue backed away in horror. He couldn't imagine such a thing. It wasn't just suicide, it was...it was....

He began to feel sick as the words began to sort themselves out in his mind. New implications came clear with every passing second as the information was synthesized. He held his hands to his head as if it would somehow help, but the dizzy feeling of being overwhelmed only increased. He fell to his knees in the grass, heart racing and head feeling like it would burst.

He felt arms around him, comforting him and soothing him. So much like Clow, so fatherly and protective, and yet not. There had been a time when Clow was Yue's entire world and all he craved was Clow's love and attention. This would once have been a glowing memory to be treasured...but now it was simply his darkest hour.

"Hush, Yue...my creation...my child...my own...I'm so sorry. I'm sorry that I did this to you. This should never have happened, never. I'm sorry." He kept murmuring apologies, holding Yue tightly, offering comfort, but Yue was too numbly detached from his emotions.

Yue finally pulled back, unable to accept any more apologies from his former master. Clow had never apologized to a creation of his, even on the day of his worst betrayal when he had sealed them away and left them forever for someone else. There had been a smile but no apology...and now Eriol couldn't stop apologizing. The world began to spin faster around Yue, filling him with too much to accept, too much to take in, too much to deal with all at once.

"I wish...I wish I could just talk to him. It was hard to watch him every day, and it's harder still to know he's there but only watching me. I know he's part of me, but we still don't understand each other I think. So, I want to talk to him face to face, but it's impossible--"

"Yue, there was never supposed to be such a rift between you and your false form." Eriol looked worried and hesitant about sharing this information with the moon guardian. He opened his mouth to say something else, then shook his head, changing his mind. "If the two of you spoke, do you think it would help?"

Yue shrugged. "I don't know. After seeing me for who I really am, he might not want to speak to me at all, but I'd like to try."

Eriol looked even more troubled for a few moments, then he nodded, standing. He quickly made a swipe at his face, deftly drying tears he didn't want anyone to see. "We'll go talk to Sakura. You're her guardian, and--" he broke off with a sigh, lips twisting in a sardonic grin at what he was about to say. "I don't have the right to 'play' with her guardians as if they were still mine. A hard lesson to learn, but I think I've learned it."