Disclaimer: Not mine, CLAMP’s, not mine at all!
Shounen-ai? Quite dark and twisted. Sometimes love gets really messed up…
A darker alternative to outcome of the Final Judgement (anime version).
Sakura stared, stunned at the figure of the Moon Guardian that loomed over her. Moments ago he had been Yukito-san, the person she loved best of all but now no trace of the smiling older boy was left… just Yue, the cool, impassive Final Judgement Maker.
He peered down at her, unblinking and Sakura flinched.
She was silent as Keroberos argued her case to the disdainful Yue, who insisted that the Final Judgement was irrelevant if no single person could capture all the Clow Cards. Keroberos supported her claim to become the next Card Mistress and with one last cold look Yue summoned her to stake her claim.
“With the Clow Cards you have, defeat me.”
And Sakura was suddenly dodging crystal shards as sharp as razors. But she didn’t fight back, couldn’t fight back, knowing that somewhere, behind those cat-like violet eyes was the one she loved best of all.
The briefest of battles came to a predictable end, the spell turned against her… And yet she fought, she wouldn’t loose her special person, wouldn’t let everyone she had ever cared about loose the ones they loved. Then came the chiming of the bell, the strange bell that Kaho wielded, calling her back, breaking the magical chains that bound her.
“This bell was left behind by Clow Reed, to give you a second chance.”
Sakura turned away from Kaho as the bell faded, turned back to face Yue, to prove that she was worthy of being the new Card Mistress. She could do this… she could…
“WHAT?!” Yue’s furious scream reverberated through Sakura’s head.
“Clow Reed-“ Kaho began, possibly trying to explain; and the crystal shards that were suspended above the Moon Guardian’s hand were evaporating, consumed by a terrible black flame. The cloudless sky was suddenly darkening; previously non-existent clouds pulling an impenetrable shroud over the moon. Time appeared to stop.
Sakura could only turn slowly back to Kaho’s precarious perch on Tokyo Tower as the black ball of flame hurtled past her striking the metal-work, shattering, twisting… Could only watch as seemingly in slow-motion Kaho fell, unable to save herself…
“No. Clow Reed is no longer my Master.” The voice of the Moon Guardian came from behind her.
“Why? Why did you have to kill Mizuki-sensai?” Sakura found herself crying out.
Yue looked at her, surprised “You really don’t understand do you, little one?”
“You killed her! Why?!”
“For the same reason I killed Clow Reed.”
“What! But… but you loved him isn’t that why-“
“You have no idea…” He paused then seemed to relent, “I am only a servant; forever bound to obey my Master’s will.”
“That doesn’t make sense!”
The violet eyes flickered with puzzlement for a moment “Of course it does. I love and obey my Master… that is all there is to it.”
“They why-“ She didn’t have time to finish as another ball of black flame hurtled towards her.
The battle was painfully brief with Sakura’s being knocked unconscious the only thing that saved her. The Moon Guardian looked down at her, with dispassionate eyes. “Judgement complete.” He said calmly.
As Sakura’s unconscious form reappeared in the grounds of the shrine both Tomoyo and Keroberos rushed to her side. Neither noticing the faint smirk on Syaoran’s face.
“Sakura! What-“ Keroberos’ futile cry.
“She failed.” Yue commented, also reappearing.
“But how?”
Yue shrugged, lightly clasping the CardCaptor’s wand in his hand and inspecting it.
“Then disaster will befall the world.” Keroberos bowed his head.
“Not necessarily.”
The Sun Guardian looked up, surprised.
“Master.” Yue tossed the wand into Syaoran Li’s waiting hand. There was a brief flash as the wand merged with Syaoran’s sword. “I name Syaoran Li the new master of the Clow Cards.”
“But he didn’t even fight you! He’s not the chosen candidate.”
“Not your chosen candidate and certainly not Clow’s but…”
“What?” Now Sakura had finally regained consciousness and was sitting up groggily with Tomoyo’s help.
“I’m sorry, Sakura-chan but this was the only way that I could defeat you.” Syaoran looked anything but sorry as he turned to leave. “You may remain here Keroberos, I have no need of your service. I will be creating my own Guardian Beast soon enough.” He called over his shoulder.
“Yue!” Keroberos looked about but the Moon Guardian had already vanished.
Syaoran Li woke the next morning in his bed, greeted by the smell of breakfast cooking. He rubbed his eyes. What a strange dream that had been. He’d dreamed odd things before but this was positively psychotic.
He’d dreamed that in his desperation to defeat Sakura and become the new Master of the Clow Cards he’d made a deal with a not particularly sane Yue. Somehow the Moon Guardian had already chosen him to become the new Master of the Clow Cards, thus rendering the entire business of capturing the cards and the Final Judgement irrelevant. Why was that? Syaoran vaguely remembered Yue saying something about being eternally bound to serve those of Clow’s blood. At the time Syaoran had wondered if it had been the effect of that binding that had caused Yue to fall so deeply in love with Clow, the effects of the magic being far too strong…
And Yue was so very obsessively obedient to his Master’s will…
Syaoran laughed nervously, it was a good thing that it was only a dream. He got up and got ready for school.
That day was surprisingly uninteresting, though Sakura wasn’t in due to illness. Syaoran managed to stop Tomoyo in the corridor just as they were leaving at the end of the day to ask about it. Tomoyo looked at him suspiciously at first then told him that Sakura was still recovering from her injuries and that, incidentally, Toyua had been diagnosed with anaemia. Syaoran frowned and was about to ask if he could go with Tomoyo to see Sakura when he found that they’d reached the school gates and oddly Yukito appeared to be waiting for him. Tomoyo tried to hurry off without attracting his attention.
“Please give Sakura-chan my regards… and To-ya, if he wakes up, that is.” Yukito smiled far too cheerfully.
Syaoran stared, open-mouthed.
“Good afternoon, Syaoran. And how was school today?”
Syaoran found that he couldn’t think to form a coherent sentence. It had been a dream, just a dream, he would never have gone that far to gain the Clow Cards, he didn’t want to see Sakura hurt…
“I wouldn’t have…” he blurted out.
“But you did… Master.” Yukito replied, amber eyes, flaring violet for a second.
“But… but…” Syaoran stammered and Yukito placed a hand on his shoulder and began to guide him away from the school.
“It was what you wanted.”
“No, not it wasn’t.”
“Of course it was, Master.”
“But…”
“I’m only a servant, here to carry out your will, I only acted as you wanted me to.”
“That’s not true… I didn’t…”
“You wanted to defeat Sakura-chan, didn’t you? You wanted To-ya out of your way. The same for Mizuki-sensai.”
“No… no…” Syaoran fell silent.
Finally they reached his apartment, where Yukito had apparently moved in too.
“Clow-sama…” Syaoran began nervously “Clow-sama, he… he wanted to die didn’t he?”
“Of course.”
OK, how freaky was that? I was originally picturing a different reality where Syaoran became the new Master of the Clow Cards instead of Sakura but that was about it, and possibly Yue falling in love with Syaoran instead of Toyua, to fit in with that reality. Oh, well… maybe I just needed to write something so odd, so strange that it’d knock me back into finishing some other stuff rationally.
18:32, 26/08/02
Narsus