Prologue 10 years after

Kereoberos, Yue and Sakura were in an old fun house lying down. Sakura breathed shallowly. Sweat coated her brow. Kero and Yue were in their true forms. The star cards lay next to Sakura on the table. A plague had been going around lately. A strange new plague, and Sakura had been struck by it. Rain hit the glass on the windows. Everywhere people were falling ill and dying.

Kero and Yue couldn't get sick, but Sakura could. Kero held her cold hand. Tears flowed from both guardians' faces, even as they tried to hide them. Sakura's breathing slowed even more. As the storm raged outside, the wind howled along. The old carnival was deathly still. Soon, completely silent, but for the sobs of the two guardians. Kero lowered his ears and took the blanket in his jaws, pulling it over his dead masters face. She lay next to the rest of her family. United once more.

"What are we going to do now?" Kero asked. The star cards lay on the table. Some cards had let themselves out. Mirror, Fly, Dash, Windy, Jump and Nothing sat in silence next to their dead master. The storm shrieked outside, the rain hammered the glass."What can we do?" Keroberos repeated. Yue looked stoic, but his eyes showed his true loss. The beings huddled together. Yue looked at their surroundings. The old carnival, rundown and abandoned. Sheltered in an old fun house of all places. The storm raged outside. The city below was virtually empty. Nothing moved. Nothing lived. 'Except the cards and their guardians.' The beings looked at each other.

Yue looked back at the book set on the table. "We do… We do what we did when Clow Reed died." He answered softly. "We return to the book."

Chapter 1

A girl named Aura lay in the grass on the hill over looking the town. The sun shone brightly as she stared at the sky. The clouds floated past. Linkin park played on her i pod. Her eyes drooped as the clouds floated over the sun. The city below bustled as always.

'How do people shake disasters like that off so quickly?' She wondered. She looked to the crooked tree that sat atop the hill. 'They act like it's nothing, the millions, maybe a billion dead, and they just act like it never happened.' She turned her head to the ground below the tree. 'I'm probably the only one who even remembers you. What of the other victims.' She wondered.

She turned her gaze back to the sky. Aura was a somewhat short girl. A bit under 5 feet tall, she was blond with blue eyes. She always wore Capri's more than any other pants or shorts. Usually black or dark blue with a vertical white stripe on the outer sides. She also wore a light blue shirt that had darker blue sleeves. She was also almost always seen barefoot.

"CHIMERA! Come on! We're leaving for the field trip!" The orphanage director yelled, calling her by her last name, as always. Aura flicked her ears with a scowl on her face. She rolled onto her belly and got up, plodding over to the bus. "Look, it's the stupid B*tch." Some of the trendy kids jeered. Aura kept her face neutral as she took her seat at the front of the bus, near the window. She knew she wasn't liked, not that she liked them either, so it had become a habit to ignore other kids.

One of the guy's elbowed his buddy in the seat across from her and laughed. The idiot reached over and tried to grab Aura's backpack. She hissed and swung at him with her hand. Her claw like nails dug his skin away in neat little rows. "OUCH!" The idiot exclaimed.

Aura put her pack on her lap and stared out the window. 'How can humans be so smart collectively and such idiots on their own?' She wondered with a sigh. The bus eventually pulled to a stop outside a factory.

The group of students toured a factory that made plastic. Aura was among the few filling out her worksheet as they went. Eventually the tour was over and they all were dismissed for the day, and those going homwe to the recently overcrowded orphanages, like Aura, given six dollars to spend to get home.

Aura strode into the outdoor air. "Why did we have to tour the stinking factory? That stench will be stuck in my nose for weeks now." She muttered to herself. Or it looked as if she was muttering to herself. She could imagine the other person next to her. A girl with fluffy hair and a sympathetic look on her face, Aura's imaginary friend. 'I pity you. We got to watch a movie yesterday, and notes in class today.' The figure 'said' to her. The figure faded as Aura looked around distractedly at the stores. Her clawed feet tapped the sidewalk as she walked into a dusty bookstore.

She skimmed the titles. 'Ugh, romance novels.' She thought. She came to the back wall. The fat shopkeeper looked up. "Hey, buy somethin' ur' git out!" He bellowed.

Aura slowly skimmed them. Romance, romance, romance, title less, romance. Aura looked back at the blank one. It was pink, with a lion on the cover, but she took it out anyway. It had a strange seal on it and weird circles and runes. 'Like and alchemy transmutation circle almost. Can't be though, that died out hundreds of years ago.' She thought. "HEY! Buy or scram!" The shopkeeper yelled. Aura looked at the price tag. $5.50 to buy. She had six to spend. 'Not like I'm allowed to keep the change. I'll run home instead of taking the bus.' She reasoned. Paying for the book she left.

"Well, let's see what this is about." Aura said. She stuck a claw under the seal. It wouldn't open. She wiggled her claw. Stuck. She drew out her claw. No wonder it was stuck. Her claw had grit all over. Cleaning out the grit, she tried again. It popped open. "Huh, a dirty shop, probably in more ways than one." She muttered. The book was filled with cards. The one on top caught he interest. It looked like a rabbit-fox creature. It was titled the dash. "Dash, huh? You cute. Is it Dash or 'The Dash'?" She wondered, reading the title.

The card glowed and the floor under Aura's feet showed the circle on the book. The creature flew out of the card and stood in front of her. It made a strange noise and ran around the room. Aura dropped the book startled. The cards hit the circle and glowed. Suddenly they took off, scattering into other direction. Only the card that Aura held, Dash, stayed put.

The creature returned to its card. The book glowed a moment, and a yellow head emerged. Two ears, a small body, little wings. It lifted its head and stared at her. Aura stood there and stared back. The creature opened its mouth…