I don't own Tsubasa Chronicles. And I doubt that I ever will. Please enjoy the folloeing 1,291 words that have been typed in a half hour.
I stand on my balcony, listening to the tense silence that fills your apartment; my eyes are staring out at the night-darkened city that lies out before me. It is painful for me to stand here alone, but it is a sacrifice that I willingly make to ease the pain that lies within your heart, knowing that if I keep my distance and do not attempt to get close to you, it will be so much easier for you to hate me. So much easier to pin the blame for the previous events solely on my shoulders. Easier to forget that I am not the boy that you have known for almost two years.
This balcony is were I sleep every night while you curl into warm beds. My comfort sacrificed for yours, this I make willingly. Your sleep is fitful and troubled; I have no need to make it more so. I can hear you, every night, crying yourselves to sleep, the walls are thin and my hearing exceptional. There is little that you speak that I do not hear. Your pain I fear I cannot take away or ease, though I do what I can. When you can no longer simply cry, when you need something to aim your frustrations at, I will take it all silently. Your swords, your words, your fists. There is nothing that you can throw at met that will cause me more pain than your ignoring my presence.
The sounds of your arguments reach my ears on occasions that grow more numerous as the days pass, yet I do not move to interfere, knowing well that it is not my presence or words that will quell them. I do what I can to dampen the sounds for the sake of the princess, knowing as well as you that she does not need you fighting with each other; her little family has been torn apart too much already. In return, my own hearing is strengthened and I have no choice but to listen as you fight. I suffer the rift that exists between you in her place, so that she might sleep easier, content in the belief that you do not fight.
My sacrifices will go unnoticed and ignored but it makes them no less real. Tonight I plan to make a far greater sacrifice than I have yet made for you. A sacrifice I hope you will appreciate, even if you never know that it was I who made it. A sacrifice that I hope will make you happy, that will bring genuine smiles back to your faces. For you, people I have known only a few months, I would do whatever is necessary to give you happiness. Without a second thought, I will willingly give my life to protect your own. On this night I will make more sacrifices for you and the one you lost, the consequences shall be mine alone to bear and I will do so gladly.
As you each return to your rooms for the sleep you all need desperately, I remain silent on my balcony, eyes never leaving the city that stretches out to the horizon. An hour later, I slip silently into your apartment, my presence hidden from any of your senses, and head into the bathroom. My hand lies against the mirror, letting the dimensional magic that I have been slowly building within the reflective surface drain from my body. Ten minutes later and the mirror is ready for me to direct the flow of dimensional magic to the granter of wishes. Yuko's image appears before me, a faintly shocked expression on her face.
"I have a wish." I state. "My clone's freedom and the group's happiness."
She nods slowly. "The price will be great, are you sure wish to pay them alone?"
Her question brings a slightly hollow smile to my lips. "It is what I owe them for all that they have done. They would give their own lives to protect him, a being created without a soul with the sole purpose to find the feathers. A being created to have no consciousness, to kill without care and cause great pain. The Mage knew this. The Ninja too. Yet they gave him a family, a dysfunctional one, true. Nevertheless, it was the only family he had known for a very long time. They deserve to have him back with them." My voice is quiet but filled with conviction that you will not hear. "I don't care if the price for his freedom is my own, all beings, no matter their origin, deserve to have the freedom to make their own choices, sacrificing my freedom the first time was my choice as it is this time. I care not if the price for their happiness is my life, if they are happy than I have no reason to live as my presence will only bring them pain. So, please, Yuko, grant me these wishes for their sake and not my own."
Her crimson eyes close as she inclines her head sorrowfully and I can see that she has agreed to aide me in this task, bringing you the happiness that fate seems so determined to deny you. "Your price will be your blood and true name; I will keep it in my possession until the day it is bought." Her eyes are open and watching me sadly, pleading without words for me to change my mind.
There are so many things I wish to say to ease her sorrow, the guilt I know will settle upon her shoulders when she accepts my payment and grant me this wish. Instead of any of them, I say simply, "I accept your terms." Taking a small vial from my pocket, I had brought it with me when I escaped from Fei Wong, and a small silver knife from the cabinet that you have placed in here for when Fai needs blood. There is no trace of anything on the blades tip before I pierce the skin of my forefinger, I'd selected a place that was easily healed over one of the many scars that I had acquired in Fei Wong's care, knowing that even if you had noticed the soon to be healed injury you wouldn't be able to say with certainty that it was new. Once the vial is filled with the crimson liquid that will seal my fate, I carefully wrote out my name on a small roll of paper that I wrap around the glass. Both are placed in a pouch, sealed with a prayer that my father had taught me for good fortune and safety. Without a single thought of regret, I send the pouch through the portal between dimensions that I had formed Yuko smiles sadly at me and inclines her head before her image fades from the glass. The magic that I had used collapsing in on itself and shattering the mirror.
The sharp glass cuts at my skin as I pick each piece from the floor before using a modified transport spell to place each back were they belong. The cuts I received are easily healed as I return to my balcony.
The next morning He arrives and I watch from the balcony as you each reunite. A small smile pulls at my lips before I disappear over the edge of the railing. My presence here is no longer necessary. It felt…odd to be a place older for my clone. But it also felt right. The smiles on all of your faces at your reunion will be my greatest treasure for as long as I draw breath. For no matter what, nothing and no one will take my memories from me.