Shattered Skies: The Morning Lights, Chapter 4

CHAPTER 4: Sakura and the End of Days

-VERTEX TWO: 15.721699-

Tomoeda Park

The park hung in perfect silence, as if the world were holding its breath. Sakura and Shaoran stared in a mixture of terror and bewilderment at NOTHING, an impossible phantom from the past come back to haunt them. NOTHING glowered back, not with the mournful, lonely blue eyes that they remembered from five years ago, but with eyes stained blood-red and clouded by hatred. A deep, primal loathing boiled off of her in waves, barely kept in check, so intense it was almost visible to the naked eye.

No one spoke. No one moved. Even Joker with his ever-present grin seemed the slightest bit cowed by the depth of rage radiating from NOTHING...

Shaoran was the one to finally break the stillness. "Run," he said.

In her shock, Sakura barely heard him. It took a moment to register that he had spoken at all. She turned to him, her eyes wide and frightened. "But-"

"Run!" Shaoran repeated, squeezing her hand for emphasis. "It doesn't matter what Card you use! FLY, DASH, whatever! Run! Go!"

"Shao-"

"I'll be right behind you, just get out of here!" Shaoran let go of her hand, snatched a jufu from his sleeve, and called out: "Fuuka Shourai!"

NOTHING screeched and clawed at the barrier of thick green air forming a sphere around her. Magical energy crackled, and perfect, spherical gaps appeared at random throughout the park's landscape as the brunt of her immense powers were unleashed. As Sakura turned, she heard NOTHING scream, crazed with venom: "I'll get you! I'll make you pay! IT'S YOUR FAULT, IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT…!" And over her voice, Joker laughed his terrible, insane laugh...

"FLY," Sakura whispered. She could barely force the name out, a hard lump of fear and confusion blocked her throat. FLY's feathered wings sprouted from her back, and she took to the air, choosing a direction at random, not daring to look back. If she looked, she would have to see Shaoran put up a hopeless fight against NOTHING, sacrificing himself so she could get away… just like before...

Over the rushing of the wind, she somehow heard Kero's voice as he joined her in her flight, speeding along in her wake. "Sakura!"

"Kero-chan, thank goodness you're okay!" The lump in her throat shrank just a bit. Grateful tears streamed down her cheeks and were stolen by the wind; she rubbed her eyes to clear them. "I don't understand, how is this happening?! NOTHING was supposed to be-"

"I know, I know!" The frustration was evident in the Guardian Beast's tone. "None of this makes any sense! The Cards are yours now, you're the only one who's supposed to be able to use them! And NOTHING was bad news, yeah, but she changed… she let herself be sealed! This Joker guy… it's like he's undoin' everything…"

The Cardcaptor's wings strained to compensate as she made a hard left turn and followed the street, keeping low to the ground. A few of her feathers molted and scattered. Running out of magic. Not much time left… I've got to do something!

Branches rustled to her left; Sakura let out a yelp and rolled to one side, aiming the Clow Staff, fearful that the next - and last - thing she would see would be NOTHING's fearsome gaze…

"It's all right, it's me! I bought us some time," said Shaoran as he stumbled out of a bush. He was red-faced, sweating, and out of breath, but alive.

Sakura stopped just long enough to hug him tight and transfer FLY's wings from her back to her staff, so that he could ride behind her. His arms wrapped around her waist for support, and a rush of nostalgia seized her. It was inappropriate, she had far more important things to concentrate on, but it had been so long since they had flown together…

And Tomoyo-chan and I used to fly like this, too. A dagger's blade pierced her heart, and her eyes watered again, in a way that had nothing to do with the wind streaming into her face. Tomoyo-chan… I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, there was nothing I could do!

"Oh crap," moaned Kero, now huddled in Sakura's jacket pocket. "Heads up, here she comes!"

Banshee howls echoed through the street behind them. A few hundred meters behind and closing fast, NOTHING charged for them like an enraged bull, her wings flared wide. More and more spherical gaps appeared in whatever she passed; trees and telephone poles toppled, their supports gouged out or erased altogether, power lines snapped and came alive like maddened snakes, throwing off sparks. Any obstacles in her way she simply bored through with her sphere, leaving perfect circular tunnels carved in what little remained behind.

Tailing close behind her, a purple and white shape cackled with joy, watching the destruction with childlike glee. Joker's laugh chased them, followed them just as relentlessly as NOTHING did, snapping at their backs. "No need to keep running, mes amis!" they heard him cackle at one point. "There's nothing to be afraid of!" After that, the laughter was back, echoing from every direction…

Sakura banked hard, making a right turn onto Market Street at such a fierce angle that her stomach churned with vertigo. It put them a few more precious seconds ahead of their pursuers, but heaven only knew if NOTHING would continue to follow the street or simply charge through any buildings in her way to get to them…

No sooner had her stomach settled than she began to drop, slowly but steadily losing altitude. Sakura pulled upward, mentally commanding FLY to regain height, but the only answer was a buzz of static, and a brief feeling of regret. "No…"

"What's wrong?" Shaoran's arms squeezed her waist tighter.

"Running out of magic…" Now she felt tiredness creeping up on her, the same kind of irresistible fatigue that she remembered from years ago, when she first began transforming the Cards to their current forms. The toes of her sneakers skimmed the asphalt, friction scuffing the rubber. "Can't keep us up… much longer…"

"Hang on, Sakura, you've got to hang on!"

"Oi, Sakura! Now's not the time to be napping!" shouted Kero from her pocket.

Feathers fell like snow from FLY's wings. They were slowing down now… FLY was trying its best to let them down gently, she knew, endangering its own stability to ensure they touched ground safely. The poor thing… Sakura smiled blearily and reached out to stroke one of the molting wings. It's okay, FLY. You've done well. You can rest soon.

In another few seconds, they came to a stop. The wings vanished from Sakura's staff, melting into light that reshaped itself into FLY's Card form. Shaoran helped Sakura climb down... and the moment she was on solid ground, she sank to her knees in a heap.

"Sakura!" Strong hands grasped her shoulders and shook her. "Come on, we've got to keep going! You have to get up!"

"We're dead," moaned a voice from the shivering lump in her jacket. "We're dead, we're dead, we're dead…"

There was no movement at the corner down the street. None of them were foolish enough to believe that Joker and NOTHING had broken off their pursuit… more likely, they knew their prey was helpless, too exhausted to run. Now was the time for the predators to move in for the kill, savoring their fear…

Shaoran muttered a Cantonese curse and moved in front of Sakura, drawing his jian once more as he faced the corner. "It's going to be okay," he said, trying to sound brave despite the blood screaming in his veins. "I won't let anything hurt you."

"Shaoran…" Unbelievably, Sakura tried to climb to her feet, bracing herself against the ground with her staff. "Shaoran, no, you can't…"

From just around the corner, there came an awful sound: the relentless grinding of something carving a furrow in the street, moving slowly, inch by inch.

Following behind the sound was something worse, something that they could feel long before they could see it: a yawning, pitch-black void somehow squeezed into a man's shape… a living hole in the world, wearing a human form like a skin. All his pretenses were gone now that victory was in sight. Whatever the source of his power, whatever the source of the emptiness that lurked beneath his eternal smile, he saw no more reason to suppress it. Joker was coming. He wanted them to know he was coming, to fully experience how helpless they were.

Fingers of ice played up and down Sakura's spine, freezing her to her core. "We… we can't stop him…" Her throat grew tight, she swallowed to try to loosen it. "Shaoran, we can't stop him, but… but we can at least try to help NOTHING…"

Shaoran nearly dropped his jian. He looked back over his shoulder, gaping in silent disbelief.

"Are you nuts?!" Kero finally poked his head out from Sakura's pocket to goggle at her. "Sakura, that's not the same NOTHING from before! Whatever Joker did to her, he's got her brainwashed, rinsed, and dried! The second she comes around that corner-"

"I know." Sakura swallowed again. "I know. But if there's really nothing else we can do, we can at least try to reason with her, right? She's still a Card, and that means I should should still be able to talk to her..."

"And what if talking to her doesn't work?!"

"I don't know," Sakura admitted. "I haven't really thought that far ahead."

"Oh, great," Kero put his head in his paws. "Bein' erased the first time was bad enough…"

With a sad smile, Sakura reached down, stroking him between the ears with one finger. "It'll be okay, Kero-chan. It'll be okay. If she does erase us, at least Joker won't get the rest of the Cards. And at least wherever we go, we'll all be together."

"Sakura…" Kero looked up at her, his tiny eyes gleaming. She had never seen her little friend look so unsure.

"It'll be okay," said Sakura, meeting his gaze and trying to smile.

Shaoran turned to them both; looking backward was giving him a crick in his neck. "I think it's worth a try. If we can reach her, that's one less Card he can use against us. And if there's anyone that can talk some sense into her, it's you." He nodded and shifted his stance a bit. "Do your best, Sakura. I'll be ri-"

His voice cut off. Sakura's head snapped up…

… just in time to see the black sphere engulf Shaoran and the three feet of concrete he stood on. A crackle of magical energy, a rush of air filling suddenly empty space, and he was gone.

Silence.

Sakura crumbled where she stood, her eyes locked on the curved depression in the sidewalk where Shaoran had been seconds ago. He had been right there, giving her strength as he always did, smiling… the smile that he so rarely showed to anyone but her. She could still smell him… that sandalwood soap he was so fond of, mixed with the polished steel tang of his sword and the lingering scent of Chinese herbs left on his hands from his dinner. She could always tell at school when he had made his favorite spicy lo mein the night before, and it never failed to frustrate him that he couldn't completely be rid of the herbs' scent for days afterward. He turned so red whenever she looked at him, smiled, and said "Lo mein again?", and she would always giggle at the way his face would crinkle up and his cheeks would puff out…

He had been right there, right in front of her, smiling… and now he was gone. The only things left of him were his scent and the three-foot hole in the sidewalk that marked where he disappeared. Gone.

Shaoran was gone. Erased.

"Kouzo…" said Kero's voice from somewhere far away, meek and hesitant, so unlike him. Sakura barely heard him. "Shaoran, he-"

As if in a dream, Sakura looked up, somehow tearing her eyes from the hole, moving as if underwater. At the corner floated NOTHING, still seething with rage, unnatural red eyes boring into her. Sakura knew how her powers worked; she didn't have to lift a finger to use them. The sphere of darkness that took Shaoran from her… she probably created it with just a thought. That was all it took; she wanted Shaoran gone, and she made it happen.

But it wasn't her thought, was it?

During the week of the Sealed Card incident, when NOTHING first was unleashed upon the world, she was many things: terrifying, easily provoked, prone to lashing out, unstoppable… but above it all, lonely. NOTHING had the mind of a scared little girl who was afraid of losing her friends, the other Cards. All the destruction she caused was a desperate effort to get them back. Just like any other Card, she wasn't inherently evil… capable of causing great pain and suffering, yes, certainly, but not malicious.

The NOTHING that stared at Sakura now… wasn't the NOTHING she knew. No matter how angry she was before, justified or not, she would never do something as horrible as she had just done.

Which could only mean that she was being manipulated. Controlled, just as Tomoyo was. A puppet being made to dance by a being that was capable of such an act of heartless malice…

Tears spilled from Sakura's eyes. She wept, bitter, heaving sobs…

Somewhere behind her, the harlequin materialized, sneering at her pain. "Oh, don't be like that. Honestly, you're better off without him, mademoiselle." His lips stretched wide. "If you knew the trouble that you and him and your children and their clones were going to get into… you'd be celebrating right now. I've done you a favor."

Sakura couldn't answer, couldn't move. She wept, for herself, for Tomoyo and Shaoran, for the families and friends who loved them, for all who would miss them when they were gone…

Kero, however, who had been frozen inside her pocket since Shaoran vanished, was more than capable of speaking for her. Spurred into action, he darted from his hiding place, spreading his wings as wide as they would go as he snarled at Joker: "You bastard! How dare you… how dare you come here and-"

Joker's clawed fingertips fluttered against his chest. "Moi?"

"These three kids…" Now Kero shook with the effort of keeping himself from charging for the harlequin's neck. His small body shone with an aura of golden light. "Sakura and Shaoran and Tomoyo… they aren't any threat to you, they never did anything to you…! Why would you… how could you…!"

Again Joker's face darkened, and the eyes of his mask lit with flame. "Why? Mostly because I wanted to, Monsieur Kerberos..."

Sakura wept for the Cards, her precious friends, stolen from her and twisted into shadows of themselves, forced to do such terrible things…

"... but also," Joker continued, "because she's one of the Three. Most of the others I can safely ignore or be rid of altogether, but Mademoiselle Sakura and the other two? Let's just say they have a rather nasty track record of repeatedly doing the impossible." His leer spread impossibly wider, inch by inch. "They're the important ones, the strongest ones, the pillars that support the rest. But if I eat away at the hearts of those pillars… it all comes tummmmbling down..."

That did it. With a roar that belied his size, Kero launched himself at the harlequin like a small golden bullet. Never mind that he was still locked in his temporary form; there was no thought in his mind except to make Joker pay for hurting his master, his friend…

Sakura didn't hear him. She didn't hear anything. She climbed to her feet as if there was an unbearable weight pressing on her shoulders, taking a trembling step, and then another. She slipped and almost fell, but caught herself by bracing her staff against the pavement. There was no one else to catch her anymore, she couldn't let herself fall again. If she fell again, she would never get back up.

NOTHING's eyes grew wild. "Stay back!" she shrieked, opening voids in space to either side of the Cardcaptor. "Don't come near me!"

Sakura drew a single Card, and her lips moved. SHIELD's energy enclosed her in a skin-tight barrier as she took another step.

"STAY BACK!" NOTHING held out her arms, casting more and more of her power… only to watch her spheres slide off of Sakura's body harmlessly. Screaming in frustration, she reached for SHIELD… and found that even with half its power gone, even with its form distorted, it refused to come to her.

Still Sakura trudged forward, giving SHIELD every positive thought she could sum up to keep its power active for a few seconds more… Just a few steps from the edge of NOTHING's sphere, she straightened up, spread her arms…

… and Sakura wept for NOTHING. She looked her straight in the eyes and cried for the lost Card who had just taken away the person that she loved with all her heart.

NOTHING drew back, Something in the Cardcaptor's eyes terrified her, sent shivers through her soul. She was crying… shedding tears not for herself, but for her. Why would she do that? NOTHING shook her head, put her hands out as if to protect herself. "S-stop it… get away from me! Stop looking at me like that!"

"Please," whispered Sakura. "Please… I know you're angry, I know you're hurting. Please, tell me why…"

"It's your fault!" NOTHING howled and strained to reach for SHIELD again, but still it wouldn't come. "I hate you! It's all your fault!"

"That's not true," said Sakura, tears flowing down her cheeks like rain. "You were angry at me before, but we became friends. Try to remember…"

-static-

NOTHING staggered, clawing at her temples. Tatters of memory flickered through her mind like sparks from a candle's flame. "We're not," she said, "we're not…" The tatters coalesced, wove together… but there were two conflicting, threadbare tapestries of memory there…

In one tapestry, NOTHING saw herself sealed beneath the mansion, alone for so long, for hundreds of years. And the man that woke her, the man with the mask and the solid black eyes… he told her that the Cardcaptor, the magician she had been created for, had forgotten her, left her there to rot while the Cardcaptor used her fellow Cards for nothing but her own gain… she was the only one of her brothers and sisters that would be left behind, alone forever. She remembered something inside her twisting, and then rage, terrible rage coursing through her like poison… flames of hatred consuming her from the inside...

In the other tapestry… she saw herself awakening on her own, and feeling the Cards changed from what they were before, in possession of someone new... the Cardcaptor. She remembered being afraid, desperately reclaiming the Cards as she took everything that the Cardcaptor treasured from her. But then-

SHIELD's barrier hissed and crackled as Sakura did the impossible: she embraced the dark sphere that forever enclosed NOTHING. Teardrops fell and sizzled on its surface… if she could have, she would have reached through the sphere and taken the lost Card into her arms. "Remember," she whispered. "remember who you really are…"

-static-

NOTHING's head jerked backward violently, her lips opened in a silent howl of agony...

"This isn't you," said Sakura. "You changed… you're not alone anymore, you're not NOTHING… you're…"

And NOTHING wept. Tears spilled from her haunted eyes, now returned to a peaceful blue, as she shook her head softly. "No… no… what… what have I done…"

As much fun as it was toying with the Guardian Beast, Joker was quickly growing bored. His work here was done, other worlds beckoned, and besides, Kerberos wasn't the real prize. Stubborn little thing, though… no matter how many times Joker swatted him away, he came streaking right back, buzzing all around him in search of a weak spot like an oversized furry hornet. Joker yawned; he barely even heard the Beast's angry words and snarling anymore. Idly he wondered how NOTHING was doing with-

Whoops. A little too careless. Kero anticipated the next motion of his arm, weaved out of the way, and dived for his exposed hand headfirst. Sharp little teeth sank deep into Joker's flesh just below his knuckles, jolting him back to full awareness in a red flash of pain… how exquisite. "Why, Monsieur Kerberos, how positively savage of you!" Joker grinned and brought his hand and its passenger up to eye level. He was really dug in there, hanging on tight. The harlequin cackled. "This is a good look for you, I approve! But now that I think about it…" He tapped his chin with his free hand. "Those wings of yours are quite gauche, monsieur. They really don't go with the rest of you at all." His fingers hovered over the little creature's feathered wings, seeking the quickest and most painful way to pluck them off. "No, please, don't get up! Allow me to make an adjus-"

Something was wrong. The Beast's hot little mouth was growing hotter… much hotter, much too quickly. "Hmmm?" The heat escalated, building and building and building until Joker felt a bizarre sensation, rather like a chill… and that was when he saw the tongues of flame leaking out from the edges of Kero's mouth.

Joker's eyes narrowed in annoyance, and his lips twisted into an ugly scowl. The pain and the injury were nothing, but the impudence… With a swift motion he ripped Kero off his hand and flung the horrible little beast as hard as he could. At that velocity, Kero couldn't right himself in time; when he hit the street ten meters away, he bounced against the asphalt twice and then lay still.

"Tch…" Joker's eyebrow twitched as he inspected the damage. What a horrid little nuisance… his teeth had gouged him almost to the bone, and his skin and muscles were burnt to crispy black ash by the fires of the Beast's breath. "Perhaps it's not just the wings that need to go…" Power swelled in his uninjured hand as he floated toward Kero, to finish the job…

And abruptly, he couldn't feel his hand or the power within it anymore, nor could he feel the pain in his other hand. In fact, everything below his neck was oddly light, weightless. Joker glanced down… "Eh?"

A whirling, solid black sphere had swallowed his midsection and both his arms. The harlequin blinked and raised his eyes to where the Card and Sakura had been…

NOTHING stood before the Cardcaptor, quivering with fury, blue eyes deadlocked on his and wet with tears. Her wings spread wide as she hissed at him, in the same tone she had used when she first caught sight of Sakura earlier: "You…! It was all lies… everything you told me was lies! The one who hurt my friends, who used them, who took them over… it wasn't her… it was YOU…!"

Joker giggled. Then he laughed, and continued laughing as the sphere swallowed him completely. The laugh rang through the street, reverberating off the old stone buildings long after it should have been lost to silence.

That was when NOTHING collapsed, sinking to her hands and knees within her sphere, shaking like a helpless child.

Sakura came to her side and raised her hand, then stopped. It was all right now, NOTHING didn't want to hurt her anymore… but without SHIELD's protection, touching that sphere would still erase her. Such was poor NOTHING's curse… Sakura's fingers flexed as her hand hovered there, useless. "Are… are you okay?"

Faint sobbing could be heard from inside. "I…" NOTHING's voice was husky and strained. "He… I didn't mean to, I couldn't-"

"It's going to be all right," said Sakura. Her invincible spell, the one that never failed. "He's gone now, I promise he can't hurt you now. You..." She swallowed, and her heart hammered in her chest. "... you can bring everyone and everything back now, like you did before…"

Flaxen curls fell over NOTHING's shoulders as she raised her head to look at the Cardcaptor. "That… that wasn't me," she whispered. There was terror in those startling blue eyes, terror and regret… "It was who I'm supposed to be, but I'm not-"

Of course. Sakura understood, and her heart went cold. The NOTHING she knew combined herself with the Nameless Card to become her final Card, the HOPE… and without the Nameless Card… Sakura reached for her again, her voice on the edge of breaking. "We'll get it back," she said… whether to reassure herself or NOTHING or both of them was unclear. "We'll get it back, and fix everything, I promise-"

"Ah," said a drawling voice, "but promises are so easily broken…"

Both of them froze. Both of them looked over their shoulders…

Something black and cold and indistinct hung in mid-air, and formless clouds of ink coalesced around it, hiding it from sight. The ink sharpened and defined itself, becoming limbs, then hands, fingers… and then the smile, the Devil's smile... The head was last, slowly regaining color and shape, forming around the smile, a mockery of the Cheshire Cat. Joker floated before them, restored, not a scratch on him.

"How…" Sakura stared at him in shocked disbelief.

NOTHING couldn't make a sound.

"I'll give you credit," said Joker, wiggling his long fingers. "I wasn't expecting that. These Cards have stronger loyalties to you than I thought, mademoiselle." He turned his gaze on NOTHING, who made a strangled cry… "But loyal or not, they still have to obey the rules. And a Card that breaks the rules is taken out of the game…"

"No!" Too late. NOTHING was already fading, dissolving just as Tomoyo had, returning to her sealed state, her Card tucked between Joker's fingers. Sakura was left gazing at the space where she had been, helpless… another friend gone...

"I may not be able to control her anymore," Joker sneered, dismissing the Card into the ether, "but I can at least keep you from using her. She could be quite inconvenient, that one."

A vise of cold, hard iron constricted Sakura's heart. Trembling, in mortal fear for her life, she stared into the depths of Joker's bottomless black eyes as he approached her, and said the only word she could think of: "Why?"

"'Why?'" Joker stooped, retrieved something from the street… Kero. He tossed her poor little friend at her like a soiled rag… Sakura was barely able to catch him before he hit the asphalt a second time. Holding him to her chest, she mouthed his name, felt his tiny chest rise and fall slowly, erratically…

"'Why?'" repeated Joker, flames glowing in his eyes as he stooped forward, looming over her. "You know… I was just answering Monsieur Kerberos a moment ago. He kept asking me 'why, why', and didn't seem to be at all happy with my responses. However, if you'll forgive me, I do have one other answer for him. I hope you'll pass it on to him once he wakes up…

"Have you ever lost everything?" Joker's tone grew deadly soft, a razor blade wrapped in silk. "Don't mistake me, I don't mean just the people or places or things you care about, but also your purpose… the reason you exist, what you were created for. Imagine knowing, with utter certainty, what you were meant to do with your life, and having that snatched away from you. And dying horribly in the process, but that's another matter."

The harlequin leaned closer, his mouth a thin, pale line. The glow from the eyes in his mask was no longer that of hellish fire… now there were faint lights within them that inexplicably reminded Sakura of dying stars. "That happened to me, mademoiselle. My purpose wasn't merely taken away, it was betrayed… betrayed by the very being that gave me birth. And it happened because of your kind, you and others like you. You made me lose everything. Can you imagine that?"

Then the grin was back, that terrible mad grin… "Oh, wait. Never mind, you don't have to imagine. You're about to live through it. You and everyone, everywhere, everywhen else."

Sakura couldn't move, couldn't speak. She was immobilized by the gleeful hatred of this being, more evil than anyone she could have dreamed of in the darkest of nightmares… His hand reached for her, the blackness within his skin straining to be free, and she could do nothing but watch the hand draw near…

"Oi." Someone tapped Joker on the shoulder.

"Eh?" The harlequin turned in genuine surprise. He hadn't even felt anyone else there...

… and two rock-hard fists smashed into his nose and mouth, one after the other, sending him crumpling to the street.

Sakura's breath caught in her throat…

"You look like you're new, so let me make this clear," said Toya Kinomoto, pressing his fist into his open palm to staunch the flow of blood from his knuckles. His voice was raised no more than usual, but there was unmistakable fury in his dark eyes. "No one picks on my little sister except me."

Next to him, ignoring his own injured hand entirely, was someone whose gentle face bore no anger, only concern. With his usual grace, Yukito Tsukishiro sidestepped the harlequin and came to Sakura's side, moonlight glinting off the lenses of his glasses. "Sakura-chan, are you all right? We came as soon as we felt something… what happened?"

"O-o-onii-chan..." Sakura spoke in a hushed tone, as if they both would disappear if she spoke any louder. "Y-Yukito-san…!"

Strong arms wrapped around her, the arms that she had wished to hold her countless times in days long past... "It's all right, Sakura-chan," Yukito whispered. "We're here. It's all right."

"Yu… ki…" That was all Sakura could get out. Despite the warmth of his embrace, she shook like a leaf in a gale, unable to stop, the sum total of all the events of this terrible night hitting her at once. "H-he… he made T-Tomoyo-chan t-try to k-k-kill Shaoran…" Choking sobs drowned out the next part. She tried again… "... s-stole my Cards… t-took away Tomoyo-chan… and Sh-Shaoran…" What had happened to Shaoran was too awful to speak aloud. Clutching Kero even tighter to her chest, she heaved... "He h-hurt K-Kero-chan… and I…" It all bubbled up from her in a rush as she bawled into her dear friend's shoulder. "I c-couldn't stop him… couldn't do anything…! Yukito-san…!"

"Shhh." Yukito held her tighter. He loved Sakura as if she were his own sister. To see her in this much pain… "I'm so sorry, Sakura-chan… if we had known sooner-"

That was quite enough explanation for Toya. Anyone watching would have sworn they saw lightning flash in his eyes as he delivered a savage kick to the fallen harlequin at his feet. "You. Get up." Another kick, even harder this time… he had never wanted to tear someone apart more. "I said get up."

A weak chuckle. "H-heard you the f-first time, monsieur… pardonez-moi..."

Toya found a collar, dug in his fingers, and hauled Joker upright to look him in the face. Without pausing for thought, he let him have it again, damn his bloodied knuckles, damn everything except dealing back every hurt this monster had visited on Sakura ten times over. Something cracked and gave way under the force of his blow, and he felt a fresh, hot flow of blood that was not his own. "Give back what you stole from her. Now." His tone made it deadly clear that there was no room for argument.

Despite his mouthful of blood and broken teeth, Joker still smiled, and the expression was all the more hideous for it. "E-easier said than done, monsieur…" Blood bubbled from his lips as he chuckled again. It was unnaturally dark, thick, shiny, and viscous, with an odd smell…

Ink, thought Toya, though he didn't know how that could be, magic aside. Aloud, he said, "You have thirty seconds. Make it easier."

"Onii-chan…!" Sakura gaped at her brother in shock over Yukito's shoulder. She had seen him angry before, but never like this.

"Don't hurt him too badly, Toya," said Yukito, adjusting his glasses with one hand. In his heart of hearts, he wished for another crack at the harlequin himself, but his rational mind recognized that hurting him more would serve little purpose. "He still has a lot he needs to answer for."

"Ah hah!" Joker cackled, then winced as the action sent ripples of fire through his jaw. "But isn't searching for answers one of life's great joys, messieurs? It would be so rude to deprive you of hllk-"

Abruptly, he was far closer to the elder Kinomoto sibling's face than either of them would have preferred. Toya's eyes narrowed to slits as he took a larger fistful of Joker's collar. "Now you have ten seconds."

Joker coughed and gagged, and ink-blood spattered Toya's face. "Pity, pity," he croaked. "If you insist on being violent, then I'm afraid I must be going..." With a snap of his fingers, the harlequin dissolved into a shower of playing cards, and Toya held nothing but air.

"Sonofa…!" snarled Toya as he whirled on his heel. "Yuki, did you see-"

"He's still here," Yukito and Sakura said in unison. They exchanged awkward, brief glances before scanning the street for any sign of their enemy…

They didn't have to look far. "Up there!" Sakura's finger pointed to a silhouette now perched atop the Tomoeda Elementary clock tower to the north. It stood out against the moon behind it like a scar...

Only the hellish flames of Joker's eyes were visible. The rest of him was black… not obscured by shadow, his entire body was black… no, deeper than black, he was the color of emptiness itself, sucking in the light around him. It should have been impossible for them to hear him from their position, but his voice thundered in their minds. "While I'd love to stay and teach you a lesson for laying hands on me, humans…" That last word he spat out as an obscenity. "... this act is drawing to a close, and it's time to drop the curtain." The shadow laughed long, loud, and crazed as he raised an arm… "Come forth, Time Reaper!"

A second figure appeared next to him in a swirl of a midnight cloak. Its presence was accompanied by a gathering of clouds, clouds that spread out above them with unnatural speed, blocking out the moon and stars. The figure's cloak billowed around it, its inner lining dark, dark red, the color of old blood. Before the ceiling of clouds blocked the moonlight completely, Sakura thought she caught a glimpse behind its hood… a bleached white skull, hollow eye sockets, inert and lifeless…

The cloaked figure drew a long shape from its sleeve, an ornate metal staff. From the red jewel at the staff's crown there came a wicked, curving blade of angry crimson light, warping and distorting, never holding the same shape for more than an instant. Without a sound or the slightest hesitation, the Time Reaper brought its scythe down in a ferocious slash. A dome of the scythe's red light enclosed the town, and there was a tremendous, earth-rending crack...

And below, Sakura, Toya, and Yukito watched in stupefied horror as the sky began to break.

Cracks spread from horizon to horizon, as if the heavens were a pane of glass struck by the hammer of a giant. Every building in Tomoeda shook to its foundations. The shrieks of countless car alarms split the stillness of the night, and the clock tower's bell gonged over them, sounding eerily like an anguished scream. One by one, the windows on Market Street exploded, their shards spinning and dropping to the street in a deadly crystalline rain.

"No." Sakura stared helplessly at the two figures above the clock tower, one laughing, the other silent. Beads of icy sweat ran down her forehead. "No…" The dream. She had seen this happen the night before… it had begun so similarly to her old dream years ago, but the two above the clocktower were unfamiliar… and-

The myriad of cracks above them spread, deepened… and under the stress, the sky shattered. Great fragments broke loose from the whole, enormous enough to crush entire city blocks… and behind where the fragments had been, there was no night, there were no stars, there was simply nothing… It was as if everything outside the dome of red light had ceased to exist...

Yukito watched the falling sky, his eternal calm broken by his shock… and that was somehow more frightening than Joker or his companion, more frightening than the sky's destruction. The red light from above reflected off his glasses. "Sakura-chan," he said softly, somehow audible over the wail of sirens, the crescendo of breaking glass, and the pealing of the clock tower's bell. "Toya… what are we going to do…?"

Toya couldn't speak, and hated himself for it. Yuki and his sister depended on him, and he could do nothing but stand there, struck dumb…

With one arm, Sakura held Kero close to her heart. The other tightened her grip on Yukito. Would that she only had another arm to hold Toya… Is this how it ends? she thought, fear casting a pall over her senses, making her faint. All I worked for, all I struggled to protect my home, my family, my friends… is this how it ends?

This can't be right…

It's all wrong…

A sound and a movement, both quiet as a footstep. Sakura and Yukito felt the presence before they saw it, and somehow tore their eyes from the destruction above them. There was a time that Toya would have felt it too, but no more… he noticed nothing until Yukito uttered a confused "Toya…?"

Toya looked down. "Huh?"

There was a girl approaching them. A very, very small girl, likely no more than four years old by the look of her. Though the street split underneath her and glass and debris fell down around her, she walked straight in their direction, tranquil as a still lake, never deviating from her course. Her eyes were locked on Sakura's, unwavering…

The little girl had astonishing blue eyes, the bluest eyes Sakura had ever seen. Her round face was framed by scarlet curls, her hair done up in two heart-shaped buns that sprouted tiny ringlets that might one day be twin pigtails. She wore a simple school uniform, a sailor fuku from a school that none of them recognized.

"Is…" Toya tensed. "Sakura, is this one of your-"

Bewildered, Sakura shook her head. She had never seen her before- but no, that wasn't true. At the very end of her dream last night, for just an instant, she saw those astonishingly blue eyes staring up at her…

The little girl walked right up to them and raised a chubby little hand to Sakura, and once again those eyes looked into hers, expectant.

Moving as if in a dream, Sakura reached for her. Tiny fingers wrapped around one of hers…

"Oh…!" Sakura saw. She didn't know what she saw, exactly, but she saw… the vision was as clear as daylight. A point of light in the darkness, a place hidden away from the chaos engulfing Tomoeda, a brilliant white signal beam lancing out into the void… But the vision was more than just images, it was feelings… warmth and shelter, security, refuge...

The tiny fingers released her, and it was over.

"Sakura, are you all right?" said Yukito, grasping her shoulder.

"She…" Sakura swallowed. "She wants us to come with her."

"Huh?" said Toya again. "Sakura, what's going on?"

"I don't know," she admitted, "but she… she spoke to me. She wants you and me and Yukito-san and Kero-chan to come with her…"

"Come where?!" Toya almost screamed in frustration. "The entire city is falling apart arou-" He stopped, staring.

Before them was a door… a simple wooden door, with peeling white paint and a round, tarnished brass handle, standing by itself with no means of support in the middle of the ruined street.

Sakura looked from the little stranger to the door and back. She thought she saw the girl nod. "She wants us to come with her," she repeated.

"But…" Toya sputtered. "What about Dad, our friends, everybody else?"

"They can't come." Sakura shivered with the finality of it. It broke her heart to even think of leaving anyone behind, but- "There's nothing else we can do."

"It looks like the only way, Toya," said Yukito, heavy with regret. "If we stay here, we'll die…"

"Please, onii-chan." Sakura let go of Yukito and took her brother's hand, squeezed it tight. "I don't know who she is, but… but she knows the way. I know she does."

"The way to where?!"

"Safety," said Sakura. It was the only way she could describe what she had seen.

Turning around, the little girl headed for the door. She strained to reach the handle on tip-toes and swung it open. Inside the frame was a tunnel of multifaceted color and light…

Around them, Market Street's buildings tumbled down into their own footprints. The earth heaved and split, pulled in too many directions at once. Over the howling of the sirens, more sirens than ever now, the bell rang one final time and cracked in two, the sound breaking off into discordant groans, like death rattles…

Sakura swallowed again and gently tucked Kero into her jacket pocket. She took first Toya's hand, then Yukito's, and together they walked to the door. Just before they stepped through, Sakura looked back at her poor little town that she loved so much, the town she was born in and had lived in all her life, where she met Tomoyo and Yukito, Kero, Shaoran and Meilin, where she first learned of the world of magic, where she faced challenge after challenge to become the Master of the Cards, where she found love…

She watched her town in the throes of death, and before she went through the door she whispered to it: "I'm sorry."

They stepped through the frame, and an instant later the door was gone, as if it were never there.

The shattered skies fell down on Tomoeda. When the red dome of light that sealed it off from its surroundings finally faded, the place where the city had been was little but a crater, a hole in the world.

END OF CHAPTER 4