There's More Than One of Everything

Warning: Mentioning of violence, swearing and very likely character death. This can also include the main characters. But despite the angst, there will also be love and hope, and treason and shounen-ai.

Disclaimer: The characters all belong to CLAMP, while the concept of the story is based on the TV-Show Fringe by J. J. Abrams. So basically, all that I own is the dirt under my fingernails.

Beta:by KuRoHiTsUzEn. God, you put such an effort into cleaning up my grammatical mess, I don't know how to thank you. O.O

Prologue – the worst day

October 31st was not a very happy day for many people.

Some were bothered by the costumed kids who yelled for sweets and the teenagers who played their pranks on everyone, regardless of whether they had been offered treats or not. Some kids were upset because their outfit was not custom made or creative enough to impress, and they feared they'd get less candy than their friends. Furthermore, the days when Halloween had been about witches and ghosts were over.
People had changed, just like their fears.
Nowadays, one could see a zombie scuffling across the street and clowns hiding in the darkness of an alley. Werewolves danced across the streets with some men in black, and a fat man dressed as Sailor Chibi Moon (and honestly – what could be creepier than that?) was spotted at Dunkin' Donuts. Halloween had turned into a competition for the most expensive, most extraordinary, and most interesting costume; it had become a commercial event just like Christmas, because in the modern days, people no longer believed in monsters. The demons they feared were of a rather abstract nature, and their names were Unemployment, Abuse and Homelessness.

History has proven that the worst monsters of all had a human face.

For a small group of people, October 31st 2011 was a black day reigned by despair and fear, just the peak to a series of events that had started little more than a year ago. Agent Kurogane Suwa, head of the Fringe Division of the FBI, was one of those people. He was fearing for the life of his beloved; a man who had betrayed and lied to him; a man who was not even human by normal standards. Ever since he had heard of the existence of an alternate universe, he knew it had meant trouble, but as he was holding his lover's cold hand, it was not the AltVerse he blamed for his situation; it was the driver of a white Daihatsu he cursed and the stupid accident that had revealed Fai's true nature. It was Kurogane's job to make the decisions, but facing the fact that everything he had believed in last year might be a lie, he failed.

Then there was Yuuko Ichihara, CEO of CLAMP Dynamics, who –for once– was not anticipating the new information they gained from capturing a living specimen of the race known as 'shapeshifters'.

Yuui de Fluorite was mourning the loss of his brother – the one who had died three years ago and the one who had taken his place. At his side was Syaoron Li who, despite knowing that it was dangerous to get even more involved with the man, pulled the blond into a tight embrace. This was maybe the first moment since his birth that he wished not to be another. The time was coming when he would have to do what he was instructed to and then go home… only; he was no longer sure where his home was.

His 'brother', Syaoran, would soon feel similar, as Sakura Kinomoto had just discovered a secret about the brunet that he himself was not yet aware of. Her eyes trailed to Clow, who shook his head, silently pleading her not to reveal the lie he had known from the very beginning.