Cardcaptor Sakura: Waning Hope

Author's Notes: There's probably been a lot of these stories, but I assure you, this one will be the best! This takes place after Card Captor Sakura the second movie and starts off at the end right when she captures the Void Card. Now, without further adieu…

Prologue

People usually take the things they have for granted until they lose them. For Kinomoto Sakura, Mistress of the Cards, it was no different. Everyone she'd ever known had been taken away from her. Her home, her school, and now every one of her cards had all vanished in an instant before her eyes.

She'd lost something even more precious than that once. She'd lost her first true love.

Li Syaoran.

After everything they'd been through together, he had been forced to return home. Only after confessing his true feelings for her did she come to realize that she loved him too.

With all her heart and soul.

And with every ounce of strength and every magical speck of power within her, she had tried to protect him, but she had failed.

Now, she had lost him again, except this time it was in a way she never dreamed of happening.

It all seemed so clear, a few seconds past. She had talked the Void Card into allowing her to seal it. There was a moment of hesitation, but she knew it had to be done.

She had to give up her most precious memory in order to seal the card, but even then, Syaoran would always be by her side and she'd save everyone in Tomoeda. There was only one choice…In the end, I never told him…my feelings…

Closing her eyes, she slowly accepted her fate. No one said capturing the cards would be easy, but she had opened the Clow Book, so it was her responsibility. She chanted the sealing spell by heart and converted it into one of her own. A Sakura Card.

Upon sealing it though, the card did not attack her or wrap her in its deadly black bubble. Instead it targeted the one boy, the one warrior, friend, and love, who had always been there for her.

"Syaoran-kun!" She shouted, running off the magical bridge created by her cards. She rushed to his side, separated only by a six-foot gap in the stairs, the only visible evidence of the Void Card's existence. Her eyes did not believe the sight before her.

"It's okay." He said weakly. His costume was torn in several places and his face held a pained expression. But even then he forced a smile so his little Sakura didn't worry. The Void Card's bubble tinted everything inside it a darker color, but despite this, Sakura could still see his amber eyes burning brightly underneath, his warrior spirit not yet giving up.

No! It's not okay! Her mind screamed. She saw him disappear once above the carousel, so how had he come here now? Was it to use his last breath fighting by her side and attempting to protect her at all costs?

Syaoran had gotten hurt before protecting her, but this? Hot tears formed in her eyes but had yet to fall.

Fear held onto her heart with such desperation, that she could not even hear his last words. Everything around her froze, muted, and ceased to exist for the Mistress of the Cards.

"Even if this feeling goes away…" He said in ragged breaths. "Sakura, I'll still…" Then nothing. His voice, his form, his very presence disappeared from her senses completely. It was too much for her…

"Syaoran-kun!!"

Suddenly, the love card hidden in her pocket exploded with a powerful light. Sakura had to shield her eyes from the magical rays, but when it died down her form continued to shake with sobs and the tears refused to stop flowing.

She had tried to stay strong for so long…

In every situation she faced as Card Mistress, she'd overcome and succeeded. But now she was as weak as a young child.

And no one was there for her.

"Don't cry." A tiny voice said. "It'll be okay."

Sakura paused and looked up only to see a Sakura Card float down in front of her. She caught it and as the light died down, she read the name, "Hope?"

Her gaze continued to rise until she saw the form of her endearing love, Li Syaoran. "Syaoran-kun…" She whimpered. "I…I don't care if you don't remember who I am…" She shrank back a little, a hot blush rushing to her cheeks despite the circumstances. She had rehearsed this so many times, attempted to tell him before this horror began, and now was the time of truth. "I know now who I love and that person is you, Syaoran-kun."

When he said nothing and merely continued staring at his hands, Sakura's world came crashing down around her. The tears came again and she didn't bother trying to hide them.

"Sakura," His ever-so-gentle voice said. "Why are you crying?"

Unable to find the words, her throat now nothing more than clenched muscles, she croaked, "Iie, nothing." Why? She thought. Why did this have to happen?

Surrounded by his own darkness, a being sat with his legs crossed and his hands on his knees. A heavy robe covered his face and body, revealing nothing of his nature. But, just below the brim of his hood, an aged, cracked smile broke across his features. "That was close. Had Hope been able to succeed, my darkness would be all but destroyed. I've bought myself time but Hope's power grows stronger by the moment. That girl, she is the one with the power. I will use her. Soon my prison will be obsolete. And darkness will cover the entire world…

Opening the door to her house almost mechanically, Sakura neither announced her arrival nor acknowledged her awaiting family. She turned and walked up the stairs. And for days she stayed in her room, refused to see anyone, and couldn't find the energy to eat. What was the point?

In her darkened world she began to wonder…

How would the tides rise without the pull of the moon?

Would the plants of the Earth still grow without the shine of the sun?

What would happen to people's hopes and dreams if there were no more shooting stars to wish upon?

And what would Mistress of the Cards, Kinomoto Sakura, do without her warrior and protector, Li Syaoran by her side?

It was the same for love…

The same for all…

It was the same for her…

They couldn't.

Her spirit would not rise, but instead fall into the depths of despair.

Her heart and soul would not grow strong, but weak and frail – tainted by sadness and depression.

And her hopes and dreams, wishes and desires, would disappear on the fading tails of the shooting stars that would never again streak across the night sky before her awaiting emerald eyes.

Kinomoto Sakura, Mistress of the Cards, was for once truly without hope.

Meiling and Tomoyo met at Tomoyo's house with Kero and tried to figure out what was wrong with their friend. "She won't take my calls anymore." The girl's best friend said worriedly.

"I talked to Syaoran, but he doesn't know what's wrong either." Meiling said.

Kero sat on Tomoyo's shoulder and rubbed his tiny chin in thought. "From what the brat said, Void was sealed and everything returned to normal. Sakura isn't acting any differently, so I can't imagine what the Void Card did to her."

Meiling frowned. "But Syaoran is. I can't put my finger on it, but it's like a part of him is missing. He cooks and cleans just like he used to, but there isn't that look in his eye. Like when he thinks about Kinomoto-san, he gets this dreamy look in his eye."

Tomoyo's eyes went wide. "What if Void didn't attack Sakura-chan?"

"Well, she is the one that sealed it so she's the stronger of the two. Why wouldn't it go after her?" The little guardian asked.

Tomoyo frowned at the question. "Do you remember when Sakura-chan first started changing the Clow Cards into Sakura Cards?"

Kero was beginning to catch on. "It tired her out and drained her of all her energy! The same thing might've happened if Sakura used too many of the cards in one battle."

"She'd be weaker than Syaoran, which means…" The warrior's cousin cut in. "The Void Card attacked him and he's forgotten about Sakura?"

"Not completely, because he does know who she is, but doesn't remember how he feels about her or the memories he had with her." Kero corrected her.

"Well that's easy then!" Tomoyo exclaimed. "All we have to do is jog his memory with my video tapes and he'll remember everything."

"You can't do that." The guardian beast said.

"What? Why not?" Both girls asked.

"Because, if you try and get him to remember, it's like jump starting a person with amnesia, but the consequences would be even graver for Syaoran since it involves ancient magic."

"So, there's no way we can help them?" Meiling said worriedly. Over time she'd gotten used to the energetic, green-eyed girl that had once so captivated her former fiancée. He seemed so happy that she wanted to help him too.

"Nothing comes to mind yet." Kero admitted. "But I won't know more until I'm able to talk to Sakura."

"Then maybe all we have to do is cheer her up!" Tomoyo clasped her hands together. "And I know just the thing!"

After practically dragging the depressed girl from her room, Meiling and Tomoyo had managed to get her to come over to Tomoyo's mini movie theatre and get her to watch the edited version of the play. Since the play was never completed in front of everyone, the video camera specialist had been forced to include scenes from their dress rehearsal, but the result was almost as good as the original would've been.

Sakura and Syaoran watched the play, Syaoran more than Sakura, while Tomoyo and Meiling watched Sakura and Syaoran. They wanted to see if either was moved by it at all.

The play continued on, the ball scene still bringing tears to both Tomoyo and Meiling's eyes. Then it came to the final act just before the Void Card attacked. Sakura sat on a bench looking off in the distance, her eyes glazed over in heartache.

The fear Sakura felt before returned and she tried to turn away, but her eyes refused to listen and stayed locked on the screen.

"Please! Forget everything about me!" She heard herself plead to a desperate Prince Syaoran. "Forget everything…from your heart." Then she launched herself away into the darkness only to have her prince call out after her.

"Princess wait!"

This is where Tomoyo's editing came into play and the dress rehearsal continued on. Syaoran took this moment to sigh and stretch out his arms. "Man, this play is good and I was in it."

Tomoyo and Meiling smiled at his upbeat attitude, but Sakura remained silent, still staring at the screen as if she were reliving something else.

"Sakura, you did a really good job playing the princess. All that rehearsing paid off. I could've sworn I saw actual tears fall from your eyes…"

"I have to go!" Sakura choked and jumped to her feet, running from the room and away from the boy who didn't really know who she was to him anymore.

"Sakura-chan wait!" Tomoyo called after her, only to be held back by Meiling, who shook her head.

"Let her go. She still needs time it seems."

"What happened to her?" Syaoran said with a frown. "Why'd she run off like that?"

Meiling and Tomoyo exchanged looks, but said nothing.

Sakura ran from Tomoyo's house without ever looking back. Being around him, hearing his voice, but knowing that he wasn't truly there. His love for her didn't exist anymore. Syaoran, if only you knew. If only you remembered that I cried because I was afraid of loosing you and forgetting you and now…now…Her heart broke inside her chest and she tripped, falling to her knees in anguish. Now my worst fears have come true in ways I never imagined. He's been taken away from me…He… Unable to hold it in anymore she cried out, "He's gone!!"

Merely an empty shell of her former self, Sakura continued to walk the streets of Tomoeda in a state of unrest, a daze that surrounded her body and eyes, shielding her from the pains of the outside world, and them from her anguish.

A cheery blossom fell to the floor at her feet and she glanced up in shock to see she'd unconsciously walked to the same tree she's caught the Return Card in.

This is where Syaoran used the Time Card, putting himself at risk to save me. She knelt before the mighty tree, her back towards its strong trunk and cried into her hands. He loved me! Even then, even if he didn't know it, he loved me!

"Don't cry. It'll be okay."

Sakura gasped as the words the Hope Card said earlier came back to her as clear as if it had been spoken right besides her. Angrily, she took out the card, nowadays always carrying them with her, and struck it with her transformed star wand.

Hope appeared before her and still held the symbol of the previous Love Card in its hands.

"You lied!" She said in anguish. "You said everything would be okay! But it isn't! He's forgotten all about me, forgotten what it was we had between us and you call this okay?"

Hope looked at her mistress sadly and looked down at the heart against its chest. "The way to love is woven between you, but it will not be an easy one." It said, though its lips had not moved.

"What's that supposed to mean!? I'm no closer to saving him than I was before!" Sakura argued.

Surprisingly. The Hope Card smiled and handed Sakura its enchanted heart with wings. The mystical object floated lightly in its mistress' dainty hands. "You must not lose hope. His love for you lives, but it is hidden, trapped by another."

"Another?"

"Just remember, no matter how bad things seem, just like you once told me, you are never alone." The physical manifestation of the card slowly disappeared and the heart thereafter.

Sakura sighed, her mind in more turmoil than before, and headed home.