Author's Note: I'm very sorry about the delay! D: Thanks for your patience, and hopefully you won't have to wait this long for the next chapter...

Chapter 16

The city looked terrible from above. It seemed that the worst part of the bombing was over, but here and there she could still hear new explosions. Everything was covered in smoke and fire; most buildings were destroyed or about to crumble down any minute. Sakura closed her eyes, trying very hard to forget that her father and Shaoran were out there somewhere, and buried her face on the lion's neck. She couldn't afford to be distracted, not even by this. Shield had to work. All the Cards had to.

Suddenly she felt Kero take a dive. He was flying down in spirals now. She dared to look again and tilted her head a little, but that didn't give her a real perspective of where they were. She would have to sit up and look around. With a great effort, she forced herself to do so.

The first thing she noticed was Yue. He had stopped flying at last, and he lay on a pile of debris. It took her a moment to realize that he seemed to be looking for something.

"Oh, no," Kero moaned, speeding up his descent. "Not like that."

But he didn't land next to Yue. He left Sakura on the other side of what had once been a wall.

"Stay here," he told her.

"Kero..."

"Don't you dare come near us!" he insisted, before he took off to join the other Guardian.

Sakura nodded silently. She didn't want to imagine what they would find there. Kero had looked so frightening, for a moment, but in her heart she knew that he was just protecting her. He didn't want her to see anything.

She couldn't hold back her tears anymore. This was terrible, the worst possible outcome. They didn't even have a chance to say goodbye to him. And to know he'd died like that –

The murmur of people near her startled her out of her thoughts. A small crowd was starting to gather, now that they had begun to realize what had just happened. But she couldn't let them interfere, not yet... The Guardians deserved a moment of peace at the very least. Hoping she wasn't too noticeable, she ran towards a place where she could more or less hide.

"Please, Shield," she whispered, wiping her tears with the back of her hand. "I need a little more help. For them. Please."

She turned towards the Guardians and activated the Card. The transparent dome shone above their figures. There wasn't much she could see from her position. They were very close to each other, their wings spread out over themselves, as if still protecting their old master; but all she could see was a hint of dark robes, a wisp of black hair.

"Hey," she heard a voice from behind her. "Are you casting that force field?"

Sakura turned around, startled, and clumsily tried to hide her staff. But then he recognized the man behind her. It was the General who had been taking her letters to Tomoyo. He looked firm, but not angry; and he didn't seem surprised by her magic, for some reason.

"I need to go up there," he said. "Turn it off."

Gathering all her courage, Sakura looked at him in the eye.

"They never said goodbye. They need some time with him," she said. "Just a few minutes. Please."

"Look, kid, I've got orders," he told her. "That's the Seer who just got killed. I need to recover his body."

"But..."

"The Council will see that he gets a proper funeral," he went on, looking at the Guardians instead of at her. "They can say their goodbyes then."

"They need some time alone," Sakura insisted.

The General turned to face her, arms crossed, and frowned. Then he shook his head, muttering something inintelligible.

"I'll go check on those survivors again," he said at last. "Ten minutes, all right?"

"Thank you," she whispered, and smiled.

o O o

The room kept him interested for a while, but it didn't take long for Eriol to get bored. There wasn't much to look at there. He finally took the time to change into the clothes he'd found prepared for him. This seemed to be necessary, although he wasn't sure of why. There was a nagging feeling at the back of his mind...

Ah, yes. Someone was coming to see him. He only needed to wait until that person arrived, and then he would know what to do. He could make all the questions he liked, then.

Except there was still something off. It took him a moment to realize that perhaps it had to do with the constant noise. It gave him a bad feeling. Curiously, he moved the dark red curtains aside and peered through the window.

He was very high, and all the buildings around his were quite tall, too. There were very few people on the streets down there. But he didn't pay much attention to that; he was looking up. He could see the ships from where he was: small black dots in the distance, zooming over the city. They were bombing.

Surely, no one would move until they left. It became clear to Eriol that, for the time being, he was going to stay alone. Who knew how long would it take until the attack ceased? He vaguely wondered if there was someone he cared about, down there in the streets. He couldn'tremember anyone, but he still felt as if there should be worrying about someone. Perhaps he'd remember later. He felt a little groggy, as if he hadn't waken up completely yet. There were many thoughts struggling to be noticed, but he couldn't quite grasp them.

He needed to eat something. That was it. It would make him feel better. He had no trouble at all to recognize the device he needed to get food, or to make it work. He didn't even need to think about it.

This gave him an idea. There had to be many things he could figure out how to do, to pass the time until that mysterious person he was expecting was able to come. Besides, distracting himself might make those reluctant memories stop trying to hide so much. But what to do?

Suddenly, he smiled. A memory did come, vague and complex at the same time, and most of all very useful. Just because he was waiting for someone didn't mean he had to be alone until then.

He sat on the floor, waved a hand to bring a toolbox and some metal closer to him, and started working immediately.

o O o

Time was running out, and Sakura didn't know what to do. It seemed terribly cruel to tell Kero and Yue to leave, but she felt that waiting until the General returned would be even worse. The ten minutes he'd offered had already passed and, even though he had been very kind, he would come back eventually and chances were it would be soon. He couldn't avoid doing his job for too long, or someone else was going to notice it. There were already too many people around, and as soon as the attack stopped completely it would get even worse. She didn't want them to be around when a multitude of people left the safety of their houses and came to see what was going on around here. It would hurt them even more.

But she couldn't go and fetch them herself. They didn't want her to see that, and she knew they had a good point... She was going to have to try something else. This hadn't really worked yet, but it was the best idea she had, and in any case it would be better than to just stand there waiting. She took a deep breath, made sure she was still concentrated on Shield, and called the other Card.

"Mirror!"

It was still strange to see the figure materialize in front of her, looking just like herself. But she didn't have time to wonder or to feel amazed. There was something urgent to do.

"I need your help, Mirror," she said. "Please tell them to come back. I know they'd like to stay a bit more, but it's going to be dangerous if we don't leave soon. Tell them I'm waiting for them down here, all right?"

Mirror nodded and ran towards them, hurrying to deliver the message. Sakura couldn't hear their words from where she was, but it was quite clear that they didn't like the plan. The Card insisted; Sakura was beginning to worry. This was taking longer than she had expected. Still, the most worrying of all was Yue's expression. Kero at least looked sad and angry and he was fighting back at poor Mirror, who had only tried to deliver a message. But Yue... Yue's face was blank. It was almost as if he wasn't there at all; as if he thought all of this was happening to someone else.

At last, it was Kero who seemed to convince him. All three of them approached her, much slower than she would have liked, and Mirror returned to her Card form as soon as the Guardians arrived at their mistress's side.

"I'm sorry," Sakura said, trying very hard not to cry, "but we really should go. It's dangerous."

Kero nodded silently; Yue didn't react at all. But there was no time to feel anxious about that. The bombing was finally stopping, and people were leaving the buildings to come and see the results of the explosion. From the corner of her eye, Sakura saw the General approaching quickly, obviously trying to get there in time to stop the curious. They had to leave now.

They didn't argue at all, and that was both worrying and relieving. At least they'd be able to reach the storehouse without trouble. Almost without thinking about it, Sakura cast Illusion around them, to protect them from people's prying eyes. It didn't take long until they reached their destination.

"What happened?" Mokona asked, jumping nervously towards them. "Are you all right? Where have you been?"

The poor thing looked truly distressed, so Sakura took him in her arms to soothe him – and herself, she had to admit that.

"We're all right," she whispered. "Please don't worry."

Suddenly she found herself thinking of all the other people she'd managed to keep in the back of her mind so far. Now that she had no urgent worries she couldn't help but thinking of Shaoran and her father. Shaoran should have stayed at home, but her father was at work, and if he'd been travelling... She bit back the tears and put the little droid down.

"Please stay here," she told them. "I really wish I didn't have to leave you alone, but – I need to find Dad, and –"

"It's all right," Kero said softly. "It's all right. Don't worry."

"Are you sure...?"

"We've got each other," he said. "We're not alone."

Sakura nodded, trying her best to hold back the tears. Kero had a point. And perhaps, even though she didn't like to think so, Yue would feel more comfortable if she wasn't there. They would be all right, she told herself. They had to be all right.

"Okay," she said. "But I'll be here first thing tomorrow."

And with that she finally left the storehouse, without knowing if she should worry the most about those she was leaving behind or those she was trying to find.