Units of Measurement
Sakura measures Gain. Hers is the only truly joyous journey; one of discovery and growth. Every world transforms her, every feather gained is a part of her assimilated. And even more than the feathers, it is her own self-worth that she seeks to find. Her place in the world; her definition of home is something that becomes increasingly defined with every world, every day. She is Hope embodied; and even though she knows she has lost as well, it is the future, glorious and unexpected, that she places her trust in.
Syaoran measures Loss. Oh, he will find the feathers, find them all if it kills him, but with every feather gained, he is one step closer to losing the Sakura he remembers, she who was and will never be. For all that this new Sakura is exactly like his childhood friend, there are subtle differences – an in-joke not caught, a glance left unanticipated, a smile expected but not given. Memories shape reality, shape the person – he knows this most viscerally, and knows that for all his gains he has equal and greater loss.
Kurogane measures Towards. Every world, every feather is an accomplishment, but it is also another step towards a dark-haired cryptic priestess, towards the home that he misses so intensely. He has trained himself to never look back, to waste no time on regrets or what-ifs, and in the spirit of that training he moves ever forward, hoping that the legends of his world are true; that life moves in circles, that in every ending one is led back to the beginning, that the world he has left behind with lie before him someday.
Fai measures Away. Every world is another place where his trail might grow cold, where his pursuer may be led off track. Fear lends wings – or in this case, a Mokona. It is why he has discarded the last vestige of his former life – his magic. But no matter where he goes, he can never truly shake off the past that clings so stubbornly to him. It hovers at his shoulder and determines his every action; and so he runs, as hard and as fast as he can, away from a destiny whose inevitability he knows.