New Year in Winter

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Branch

Ink Burns

This is a work of fiction. All characters and events portrayed in this book are fictional, and any resemblance to real people or incidents is purely coincidental.

This is a work of fanfiction, produced according to the principles of transformative fair use as put forward in US copyright law, and abiding by the custom and practice of fan-produced work in Japan, where the source texts were created. No author is in any way affiliated with any of the creators of the source texts, nor with the companies who distribute their products, nor any other rights holder, and these stories were not authorized by either the creators or the producers. Ink Burns is a fan site and the material here is freely provided for the enjoyment of fellow fan-community members; there is no commercial infringement.

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 US license at the Ink Burns fanfiction archive (http://alltrees.org/archive/).

Published on 2007-04-10 21:33:47.

Attributions can be made by author's name and a link to the archive.

This ebook edition was published on May 16, 2012 by the Ink Burns fanfiction archive.

New Year in Winter

Takes place just after the Final Judgement. The Cards are happy; Yue isn't, very. Drama with Angst, I-3

The Cards were celebrating.

The blue dusk of their Place nearly sparkled with the brightness of their pleasure, lit with the glow of them flitting back and forth, congratulating each other, sharing stories of their capture.

Yue watched over them. He took his duty to them seriously, unlike certain fat, lazy Sun guardians he could name.

He watched, but he did not rejoice with them.

A soft breeze touched the feathers of his wings and he glanced over, unsurprised to see Windy. She stood beside him, hands clasped and eyes lowered. "Yue-sama."

"Yes?" he asked, when she hesitated.

"I beg your pardon," she murmured softly.

Yue shrugged one shoulder. "There is no need. It wasn't your fault." Not Windy's fault that he had been captured himself, subdued and humbled by a little slip of a girl with bright eyes and an open smile. "It was your Master's power and intent."

"Yes." Windy smiled herself, almost as brightly as their new Master, hands pressed to her breast. "A warm power." Her eyes met Yue's properly once more. "I think... you will like it, too, Yue-sama."

Yue sniffed. "It will be quite some time before she is strong enough to see."

"Ah." Windy's smile was, perhaps, a bit wistful as she bowed to him and moved back among the other cards, who seized on her happily. She had been with the new Master the longest; everyone wanted to hear her stories.

As the celebration rolled on Yue caught a number of glances in his direction, flickering toward him between laughter. He answered them only with his presence; he wasn't sociable, the way Keroberos was.

After a while, though, shadow moved in the blue and Dark slipped up to lean delicately against his shoulder. He didn't unfold his arms, but he did curve a wing in over her. Dark was, of all of them, the closest to his own nature; she was comfortable enough to have here. She knew the value of silence, for one thing.

"The bell did not give her any power," Dark said, eventually.

At that, Yue stirred. "I know." He glanced down at the spilled shadow of her hair. "The bell was of our alignment. I saw what it did." And it hadn't been made to do anything but bridge the girl's own power to Windy. His mouth tightened. "If she had not defeated me by her own power, I would not have chosen her as Master for you." No matter how determined Clow had been to make him.

"Oh, Yue-sama." Dark sighed. "You can choose for yourself, as well, you know," she said softly.

Yue looked away, long hair swinging against his back. "That is not my purpose." That much had been made plain; twice. Once by his abandonment and again when Clow guided another's power to take him.

Dark looked up at him with a faint smile. "A new Master is new life to us. A new life gives us all new purpose, don't you think?" She stood on her toes to brush a light kiss over his cheek and slipped away as Yue blinked at her.

He thought of calling her back to ask what she meant, but she had already found Light and twined fingers with her, and he knew the two of them had been unhappy to be separated while the Cards were scattered.

He settled back to watch over them. He would hold to his duty for however long it would last. It seemed to be all he had.

End