Disclaimer: We don't own Tsubasa Chronicle. Also, the lyrics featured at the beginning are from a translation of the song Rakuen (Paradise) by the fabulous Do As Infinity. The translators at Mognet(dot)net have generously given us permission to include their translation. Thank you, Mognet!
This fic takes place directly after episode 26 of the anime, so at the end of season 1.
Blindly We Step Forward
By: Hane no Miko (link no miko + Koorino Megumi)
Aim for a paradise that you can't yet see Don't turn away, look ahead
Somewhere in this endlessly expanding world
We'll walk there
No matter how far away
Until your body falls apart
You'll live on
Toward the future
Chapter 1: What was Hidden
When they dropped into the world in their usual unceremonious heap, all that was visible around them was a field of grass stretching to the horizon. The sky was blue, with puffy clouds floating across it. There were flowers in the field, and their scent permeated the air, carried by a soft breeze.
Before any of the others could even react to the new surroundings, Sakura was letting out a gasp of delight. In an instant, she surged to her feet, hands clasped before her. And, as if she hadn't just traveled across the universe to a whole new world, the princess spread out her arms and began to spin, simply basking in the beauty of the place.
Mokona immediately bounded after her, landing on her head and beginning to sing as they spun. "Spiiinning spiiiinning like a ballooooon..."
"Hyuu hyuu!" Fye called, smiling broadly at the sight of the two as he stood and brushed himself off.
Kurogane made a grunt that could be taken as either annoyance or assent and rolled his eyes, also pulling himself to a standing position, crossing his arms over his chest.
Syaoran smiled as well. He was the last to get up, as he was keeping his gaze focused on his princess having fun and paying no real attention to what he was doing. Inside, he couldn't help thinking that he loved this world already if it could make Sakura so happy so easily. But he wondered if they would find a feather here? Not that he could ask Mokona at the moment.
"Let's join them, Syaoran-kun!" Fye declared, pulling Syaoran from his reverie.
The boy blinked. "What?"
"Join! Join!" Mokona sang.
"Come on!" The magician grabbed his hand, tugging him over toward the girl.
"But Fye-san, I..." Syaoran began to protest.
Pain suddenly shot through Syaoran, his words dying in a gasp. The current that passed through him then struck out of nowhere and was so acute that he barely managed to keep from crying out. Strangest of all, it was going directly through his right eye. The boy put a hand to the useless eye, wondering how or why it would feel such a sensation, but his efforts did nothing to ease the pain. He cringed, fighting against it, hoping his princess wouldn't notice his struggle, even as Fye stopped pulling him, saying words that his mind could only dimly perceive.
He must have closed both eyes against the pain. He didn't remember doing so, but he must have. Because the moment before the pain had hit was the last moment he remembered of the green field of flowers.
"Syaoran-kun!"
"Sakura-chan, wai--!"
The light hurt. His eyes closed instinctively as the white burned into his retinas, but still the pain wouldn't go away.
He raised his arms, fingers cool in the liquid that suspended him, and placed his palms against his face. The sensation was strange, new, and through the haze of pain he felt a myriad of other emotions--things he had no names for.
A sound echoed around him then, and his hands fell away from his face as his eyes squinted open. The light was still painful, but no longer blinding, and he could make out a strange, ephemeral shape through...whatever it was he floated in. His hands stopped their descent to rise again, this time towards the figure, and when they hit smooth coolness, he tilted his head to the side slowly.
The figure made a strange motion, and the pain intensified as he opened his mouth to scream.
Syaoran's eyes flew open, and he sat bolt upright, pain lancing through him. His hand flew to his right eye instantly as the echo of a scream haunted him.
As soon as his fingers made contact, something inside him lurched, and his vision blurred until everything was black, then white, then a strange amalgamation of color and sound. His eyes adjusted slowly, painfully, and when he could finally see again, he nearly screamed.
His reflection stared back at him, only this was a person he had never seen before. Tattoos covered the figure's arms, and a patch crossed his left eye. But it was his open eye that made Syaoran recoil in fear, made him try to run from something he could never escape.
He saw death in that eye, the loss of all he loved and knew, and with a knowledge born of only intuition, knew it was all by his hand.
And then his reflection raised its hand, a shard of glass held between the pale fingers, and Syaoran had only a moment to feel the slice of the shard through his eye before his world went black.
Syaoran opened his eyes slowly, hissing slightly against the pain. The sun shown brightly down around him, hot and cloying, and he had only a moment to wonder if it had been this hot prior to his collapse before something blocked his vision. Blinking in surprise, he had just opened his mouth to speak when the white creature turned away and called out to the rest of the party.
"Everyone! Syaoran woke up!"
He heard a scramble of feet against the ground, although that was strange, wasn't it, that there wasn't thudding against hard-packed earth? But then Sakura's face replaced Mokona, her eyes wide in worry, and he tried to smile for her.
"Princess..."
"Syaoran-kun, what happened? Are you okay?"
"Yes, I'm fine," he said, sitting up slowly. He froze when he took his first good look at the world around them, barely feeling Sakura's arms on his shoulders as she supported him. "Is this...Clow?"
Sakura's gaze locked on his in surprise. "Do you know this place, Syaoran-kun?" she asked. "I...think I remember it."
Syaoran's eyes widened, the pain, while not forgotten, more easily ignored. He smiled for real now. "That's good, princess. If this is Clow, then it's your home."
Sakura gasped, turning to look around them. "My home...?" she repeated softly. He knew she wasn't questioning him; she would always believe him. But still, she couldn't help looking around at the world, and Syaoran could understand why...
They were near the garden that he had planted. Their secret garden, the one that everyone knew about and came to but no one knew the origin of--no one but the two of them. And now, him alone. But even he barely recognized it. The flowers that he had taken such careful care of were all withered and fading. The ruins around them looked as if they'd been ruined all over again--broken and partially buried in the surrounding sand. The sun beat down with the full force of its heat, the shade in the area destroyed by time and its effects. It was nothing like the refuge he had left behind.
What happened here after we left?
Sakura turned and noticed his expression, her own excitement fading quickly. "Syaoran-kun, what's wrong? Are you in pain?"
He shook his head and tried to stand, but only winced and grit his teeth. His head reeled, but he ignored it. "No, it's just... There should be flowers..."
The girl blinked and looked around again, and he watched as her expression saddened. After one last look, she turned to him and once again placed her hands on his arm. "Ne, Syaoran-kun... I..." She stopped and bit her lip, and he tilted his head curiously.
"Princess...?"
She shook her head and smiled. "No, it's nothing. I just... Syaoran-kun used to live around here? You told me once you lived in Clow."
He looked away at those words, over to the broken and dead garden as his mind and heart cried out. They were home, weren't they? Couldn't he finally stop lying?
"I...traveled a lot, with my father. We never stayed in one place long."
The princess frowned. "Oh." She looked at Syaoran, and he watched her, heart pounding with the fear that she would ask another question that he couldn't answer--one that would make him lie to her once again. But they were interrupted by a different voice before the girl could speak another word.
"If this is Sakura-chan's world, I wonder what we will find here?" Fye piped up, standing and looking around, his expression as pleasant as ever, though Syaoran knew his interruption had been no accident.
Mokona bounced up onto Fye's head, looking around as well with a frown on his face. Syaoran blinked, the real reason for their travels coming back to him at the sight. "Do you sense a feather, Mokona?"
The little creature continued to frown, concentrating for a moment before shaking his head. "Mokona doesn't know," he said mournfully, "There's strange energy all around."
"Then we'd better start looking for a town." Kurogane stepped in front of the group, arms crossed over his chest, surveying the area. But before leaving to go anywhere, he gave Syaoran a glance out of the corner of his eye.
Syaoran blinked, thrown off by the attention. A hand strayed unconsciously toward his own eye, where pain still lingered. "You're right. Shelter is important in the weather here. The town isn't far..." He pulled himself to his feet with effort, though he tried not to make his pain visible to his companions.
But what will we find when we get there? Will everyone still be there?
...will anyone?
"Shall we go, princess?" he asked, holding out a hand for her, struggling to keep his worries hidden deep inside. She looked at him for a long moment, and he would never know the expression that passed across her eyes, but finally she nodded and smiled.
"Yes."
Travel was difficult. The desert sun beat down on them mercilessly, and despite their covering, Syaoran could feel his skin burn and crack. They should have reached the town long ago--Syaoran knew the path between the garden and the castle well. But the lack of anything besides unrelenting sand made his heart freeze in his chest and his hand tighten unconsciously around Sakura's.
If she noticed, she said nothing.
For their part, the two adults were strangely quiet. Kurogane mumbled under his breath about the heat and the fact that the white manjuu had decided to nest in his shirt, which just added to the unpleasantness. Fye would tease him every now and then, but his eyes roamed the area and his mind seemed elsewhere. Syaoran wanted to ask what was wrong, but every time he looked at the magician, the older man would catch his eye and smile and shake his head.
And they would continue on in silence.
It scared Syaoran that they had still found absolutely nothing when they should have reached the castle long before. He thought about modifying their route; maybe he'd gone the wrong way?
He didn't want to think that there might not be a castle to return to.
Sakura continued to hold his hand as they walked, squeezing it occasionally--usually whenever he began to think about just how far they'd gone and how little they'd seen. She didn't break the silence that had fallen over the group, but her smile made him feel better than any words could have. And sometimes she added to it with a soft, "I'm sure we'll get there soon."
But as time continued to pass and not even a plant was seen, even the princess began to grow worried. She kept looking at him, and her smiles seemed less genuine. "How are you feeling, princess?" he would ask, but she would just say that she was fine and keep watching him.
And Syaoran kept walking, wiping at his brow as they went along, keeping his pace easy because the princess was walking with him. Or at least, that was what he told himself. They had to keep moving, after all; there was no choice. So it didn't matter how hard it was getting to keep walking, or how often his eye sent twinges of pain through his body. He couldn't stop, and he wouldn't.
It was only when Sakura started desperately calling his name and everything began to blur together that he stopped, turning to reassure her that everything was fine and collapsing to the ground in a heap.
"He should be fine soon, Sakura-chan."
"Sakura-san, come away. He'll wake soon."
"But he's so warm..."
"He's burning up..."
"He'll be fine, Sakura-chan. Come away."
"He will be okay, Sakura-san. Please come away."
"Syaoran-kun..."
"Syaoran..."
Water fell somewhere--a constant drip that echoed in the emptiness. Syaoran stood ankle-deep in a pool so still it was like glass, with only an eerie, ambient light allowing him to see anything at all. He took a step to either side, and still the mirror-surface did not break, and when he called out, his voice was swallowed in the darkness.
And when he looked down, a boy with an eyepatch and tattoos reached up towards him.
Syaoran stared, eyes transfixed on the image. The boy stopped moving, arm raised toward the surface, and locked his gaze with Syaoran's. A black cloth covered his left eye, but his right met Syaoran's perfectly. And as Syaoran watched, the arm lined in red tattoos resumed its ascent. Syaoran wanted to pull back, to move away from the water, and he fought desperately to do so, but he could not move. His body refused to respond to anything he said to it. All he could do was look into that brown right eye, the one that held the sight that his did not. The one that mirrored his perfectly, but did not... He could see things in that eye, things that made him shudder, made him fear. Just like before, he could see that it held death--not his, never his, but the death of all those who were important to him. One by one, dying in that gaze, fading. And it was all his fault.
The boy's hand reached the surface, and as Syaoran watched in horror, unable to stop the movement, his own moved down to meet it, and they touched.
Suddenly, the water surged up to meet him, and Syaoran tumbled into the pool, toward the image, his body consumed in an instant. He gasped for air, wanting to fight his way back to the surface, but he still couldn't move, even as he fell, deeper and deeper. Even as his body grew sluggish from the lack of air and spots obscured his gaze.
He could still feel the boy's hand in his as the water overcame him and his vision finally faded to black.