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The Labyrinth	By : Capitalist Category: +. to F > Card Captor Sakura Views: 10491 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Card Captor Sakura, nor any of the characters from it, nor do I own Labyrinth. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
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Chapter 3
‘alone’

Gradually, little by little, the stars overhead grew brighter, freckling the purple velvet sky with their pinpricks of light. Night was coming on, but the darkness was not absolute and Touya had no trouble seeing. The whole labyrinth was suffused with a subtle, sourceless light that at least let him view his surroundings and watch where he stepped. Now that the illusion was broken, it was easy to see the multiple paths and possible turns, every section of the maze a near-identical replica to the next. He worried about backtracking before he spotted the broken-off chip of rock, and tested it against the flagged stone floor. It left a chalky scratch, a nicely visible sign that he’d passed by and which direction he was going.
Feeling good, feeling pleased with himself, he marked an arrow and started moving faster, pausing in each open area to scratch another arrow. The maze was much cleaner and better kept here, with fungus-free walls and neatly manicured shrubbery. Small fountains splashed from stone animal heads set in the walls, reflecting the starlight. It was actually almost pleasant. He didn’t see, moving ahead as quickly as he was, the wake of disturbance he left after every chalky mark. Furious at the defacement of their homes, the tiny gnomes that dwelt under each tile pushed it up and rotated it, or simply flipped it right over.
Blissfully ignorant, Touya developed a complicated system of signs and used them to navigate, moving at a good pace for maybe an hour. After kneeling to draw another arrow, he straightened and turned the corner to find himself facing a dead end. Whoops. He backed up a couple steps and turned around, ready to draw an X over his arrow, and stopped short. He’d only turned his back for a few moments, yet it was quite clearly pointing the opposite direction that he’d drawn it.
“What the- somebody’s been changing my marks!” he burst out, in complaint to the empty and uncaring labyrinth. “Can’t I get one stupid break?” He hurled the rock against the wall and gripped his head in his heads, trying to force back the boiling frustration. Losing his head wasn’t going to help, panicking didn’t solve a maze. But it really was hard.
With a weary sigh, he shuffled over to the splashing fountain, pouring from a lion’s head into a pebble-studded basin and sparkling temptingly in the moonlight. He was thirsty after so much walking and slurped greedily at the cool water, then splashed his face and raked his fingers through his hair. At least the water here was accommodating, not like the rest of this accursed place. Touya wiped his face with the sleeve of his navy shirt and stopped, his attention arrested by a peculiar pattern in the water.
He blinked and told himself it was just his imagination, but when he circled around to stand at the side, there really did seem to be a regular order to the colored pebbles on the bottom. The darker ones moved in a straight line and turned left, then immediately right again. He looked up; the nearest opening was directly in front of him.
“What the hell,” he muttered to himself, and started walking again. It was as good as anything else, anyway. He turned left in the next section and then took the very next right, and there was another fountain. This time it was a frog, and along the bottom the smooth and polished pebbles were laid in a different design, pointing where to go. It was like a map, strung out along this entire passage. One just had to know how to look for it.
“Yes!” Spirits renewed, Touya picked up his pace again and followed the trail from one fountain to the next. Now he was sure he was going the right direction, and could even see the spires of the great castle, still well ahead in the distance but at least he was moving toward it now. Half-jogging, half-walking, he wended his way through the twists and turns until he came up unexpectedly against a solid wall with a door set in it.
Confused, Touya took a step back and considered. He was sure he’d followed the path correctly, but the passage dead-ended here with no other way to go. This must be some kind of barrier to the next phase of the labyrinth, elaborately engraved with a grid of square stones and a fierce looking dog’s head. He could see no handle, but remembering his experience at the perimeter of the maze he ran his fingers curiously along the edge.
“Here now!” the dog snapped, and Touya jumped right back. “Watch where yer puttin’ those fingers, laddie!”
“Sorry,” Touya gasped, his heart hammering away in his chest. He’d grown so accustomed to the quiet that to suddenly be addressed like that had given him a severe shock. Not to mention the fact that this was a door talking to him. “I’m sorry. I- I was just wondering how to get to the other side.”
“Oh, were ye then?”
“Yes.” A short but awkward pause followed, before Touya thought to follow it up with the actual question. “Will you let me through?”
“Nay, nay, Aye couldn’t do that.” The dog sniffed, not like an actual dog would sniff, but in a self-important sort of way. “What lies beyond me is a terrible doom, one that Aye wouldn’t wish on any passerby. Can’t let ye through, no, no.”
“Terrible doom?” Touya echoed skeptically. “That wouldn’t happen to be the castle, would it?” He could still see just the tip of its tallest tower if he backed up a few steps, far away but a straight line behind this door. This just had to be the right way. The dog blinked in confusion and considered his question.
“Aye don’t know,” he finally announced, looking faintly puzzled at this revelation. “Aye’m just the door, after all. Aye don’t know what the terrible doom is.”
“Then will you let me through?”
“Nay, nay, Aye couldn’t do that to ye, laddie. In any case, Aye’m locked. Ye’d have to solve me to get through, that ye would, and nobody’s ever done that.” He nodded in a self-satisfied manner, sure that would bring an end to the matter. Touya’s eyes dropped to the grid set into the heavy wooden door. It looked like a chiseled mosaic of stones, but there didn’t seem to be any order to the picture. A few squares shimmered faintly with a hint of pearlescent shine, some covered in it and others only partly. The top left corner stone was missing.
“It’s a puzzle,” Touya said aloud, the second he realized it. Of course, a puzzle within a maze, he should have been expecting as much. Experimentally he placed a finger over the square below and slid it up, where it clicked softly into place. Just like the sliding two-dimensional puzzles back home, only he wasn’t sure what picture he was supposed to form. Scowling in concentration, he moved a few more squares around in the grid.
“Now then, laddie,” the dog appealed. “Ye don’t want to go to so much trouble, do ye? It’s a simple enough matter to turn back, Aye wouldn’t think the less of ye.”
Touya didn’t even hear him. Puzzles and games of logic had always been his favorite when he was younger; he had a mind suited for them. Already he was absorbed in the challenge and rapidly sliding the smallish tiles up and down and to the side, trying to assemble those with a hint of color. Eventually he formed a near perfect circle, but there were other shimmering squares still scattered around the grid, some almost solidly colored, but others had just a thin crescent –
“It’s the phases of the moon,” he mumbled aloud, sliding and clicking even faster.
“Really?” the dog asked interestedly, before shaking his head and resuming his lecture. “Now come on then, surely it can’t be worth all this trouble, can it? Ye can find another way to the castle, paths are plenty ye know.”
“Mm-hmm.” Touya bit his lip and took a second to study the emerging picture, before attacking the grid again. It was a sequential order, with the thin crescent moon in the lower corner, moving up through the gradual phases to the full moon in the upper right. It took several minutes, and some backtracking and second guessing, but at long last Touya slid the final tile into place. “Done!”
The mother-of-pearl sheen in the moons may have flashed once; he wasn’t really sure. The dog just hung his head and moaned an “oh, dear” that he ignored, and reluctantly swung open. Touya grasped the edge and pulled it wide open, really smiling for the first time since Yue had brought him here.
“I knew I could solve it. Logic really can work here, you just have to know how to do it. I think I’m finally getting it!” Those were the last words out of his mouth before he stepped over the threshold and promptly fell through the ground.

He fell, bumping painfully against the walls of the narrow chute and scrabbling desperately for a handhold. Loose dirt crumbled under his fingertips and his skin burned with every scraping contact, hard roots whipping past him and leaving searing trails of pain. Frantically he clawed at the air and by luck grabbed a thick, heavy root, stopping short his freefall. His hands burned with the friction and his shoulders protested at the sudden yank, but at least he’d stopped hurtling down into the infinite. For a moment he dangled, catching his breath, then carefully tried to pull himself up a little. Immediately the entire thing came out and he was dropped, fortunately just a little ways further, unceremoniously on a hard and cold floor.
Loose dirt showered over him and he curled up, shielding his face with his arms. There was no part of him that didn’t hurt and his breathing echoed loud and raspy in the darkness, his heart pounding fast and hard. Hands trembling slightly, he uncurled after a few moments and took a long deep breath. He was in some kind of cave, its size hidden behind a cloak of thick blackness that pressed in from all sides on his meager pool of light from above. He could see nothing in it at all, and had no way of climbing back up.
And then, just for good measure, the opening high overhead closed up and left him in the dark.

Onii-chan.
Sakura’s green eyes flew open and she inhaled sharply, her heart beating fast though she wasn’t really sure why. The ceiling overhead was unfamiliar and she instinctively knew she was not in her home. Vague memories of a nightmare castle filled with goblins and trolls rushed through her mind, and she sat up straight with alarm, panting a little.
Someone at her left squeaked and ducked below the edge of the bed and Sakura yelped, throwing herself against the headboard of the bed and cowering against it.
This was definitely not any room in her house. The room was quite large, larger than even her father’s room or their living room. The walls and floor were sparkling clean, marble and a faint white in the soft moonlight that spilled in through the open doors of a romantic-looking balcony. A breeze teased the gauzy white curtains, material that matched the drapes tied against the posts of this lavish bed. The sheets were a deliciously soft satin, woven with every shade of pearl and beautiful, but Sakura was far too petrified to appreciate them just then. Shaking with fear, she clutched a pillow to her chest – some protection was better than none at all – and tried to peek over the edge without getting too close.
Long black hair puddled over the floor obscured her vision, but it was someone small and someone scared, trembling almost as much as she was and pressing her forehead to the floor.
“H-hello?” Sakura ventured. The trembling didn’t cease, but her visitor raised her head at the sound, and fixed a pair of glassy violet eyes on Sakura’s face.
“M-my lady,” she stammered. “I did not mean to wake you. I have been ordered by my king to create for you a suitable dress, I thought merely to take your measurements while you slept.” She uncurled her fist and revealed the crumpled ribbon, marked with chalk at regular intervals. None of what she said made any sense to Sakura, but it was obvious enough that she was terrified, and Sakura didn’t want that.
“It’s okay,” she offered, “you didn’t wake me.” The girl on the floor relaxed a little and stopped shivering, but it seemed she was uncomfortable with eye contact and dropped her face again after a few seconds. “Where am I?”
“The king’s castle, of course,” she answered, sounding a little shocked, and taken aback enough to raise her eyes briefly. “He has arranged you this room, and given me over to you as your personal servant.” She bowed her head again, her long black hair brushing against the cool marble floor.
Given me over…
Something about her words ruffled an unpleasant memory in Sakura’s mind, and she looked at her wrist. There were bright red marks strapping her skin, evidence of the rope burns even though her hands were no longer bound. It hadn’t been a nightmare after all.
Fear bubbled up inside her and she half-choked, hot tears spilling out of her eyes and dripping onto the sheets.
“My lady!” The one who called herself a servant lost no time in pushing something soft into her hands: a neatly folded and sweet-smelling handkerchief. It wasn’t satin or white, but a reassuring cotton and lavender that matched its owner’s eyes. Gratefully Sakura dabbed at her cheeks with it, but it wasn’t helping the fact that she was all alone and in a place far away from her familiar home. Her shoulders shook with the intensity of her sobs, and after a while she felt a soothing warmth as an arm crept around her, hesitantly, and held her. The simple contact went a long way towards calming the little lost girl, and she tried to sniff back some of her tears.
“Thanks.”
“Please forgive my boldness. You seemed lonely.”
“I am,” Sakura whispered, staring hard at the crumpled and splotchy handkerchief. “I don’t like to be alone.”
“Very well, my lady. I will stay by your side until ordered otherwise.” It was delicately phrased as an obedient reply to an unspoken command, but the offer was a gesture of pure kindness. Thrown into a world so alien from her own and terrified of facing it alone, Sakura grasped at this girl’s presence and held it close. At least she was not horrible and ugly like the creatures that attacked her before. Nor was she terrifying like the tall one with great white wings and eyes that shone like ice.
“My name is Sakura,” she sniffled. “Please call me that.”
“Er, very well, my- Sakura. If it is what you wish.”
“What’s your name?”
“My name?” She drew away from Sakura, her expression baffled. “Why?”
“So I know what to call you.” She looked so confused that Sakura almost managed a watery smile.
“I am your servant. I will always be there for you, you will not have to call for me.”
“I don’t want a servant,” Sakura said obstinately. “I want to know your name.” She cringed a little and ducked her head.
“Forgive my disobedience. My name is Tomoyo.”
“Tomoyo,” Sakura repeated. “Nice to meet you.” She bowed a trifle from her sitting position, as she had been brought up to do, and after a second Tomoyo copied her. “Did you say you were making a dress?”
Almost instantly Tomoyo’s worried lines were swept from her face and she beamed, nodding.
“Oh, yes! It’s very important that you look suitable for the king, and I already know just how I want to sew it. If it pleases you, I can finish measuring and start cutting the material.”
She looked so enthusiastic. Sakura still didn’t understand what was so important about it, but the happy expression was contagious and she felt cheered by Tomoyo’s obvious delight. Making a dress was at least something her young mind could comprehend, unlike the rest of this world and why she was here. And when (if) she would be able to return to her home.
“Okay.” She squeezed her new friend’s hand, not caring what it was they were doing just so long as she didn’t have to be alone. “We can finish measuring.”

Disclaimer: I do not own these characters

I’m really glad you’re giving this a chance, guys! The deeper we go the more my plot will diverge from the original, so keep reading. I’m so happy this story finally has a home.
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The Labyrinth