Chapter 1 – Twisted Beginnings

Sakura was standing in her home holding a picture frame. She smiled to it.

"I'm home father. You were right, the tip of the ruins is only the start of a much larger picture. The excavation of the eastern ruins is well underway."

A loud knocking was heard at the front door. She went and opened it and a figure jumped and hugged her. The figure crashed onto the floor with Sakura.

"Sakura! Welcome home! How are things! Did everything go alright? Did you eat enough? You didn't catch a cold did you?"

"E-everything is fine your majesty-"

"I told you to call me Syaoran!"

"B-But…"

"Syaoran."

"S-Syaoran…"

Syaoran smiled at Sakura and helped her get up.

"You know, I'm really happy your home Sakura."

"Your majesty….Syaoran, you knew when I would get back?"

Syaoran grinned and rubbed his hair with his hand.

"Yup! All the other people from the dig went to speak with Queen Touya, and I figured you would be back here."

"But you didn't come here all by yourself did you?"

Syaoran popped up and walked over to the round window in Sakura's small house.

"Yep again! I snuck out of the castle and made my way down here. Touya would never let me come see even you without at least one guard."

Sakura's face had the look of doom and gloom as he beamed after saying he snuck out if the castle. Syaoran went and picked up the picture frame Sakura had been looking at moments earlier.

"It's been seven years huh? Since you and your father first came to our country. I am still surprised that such a big and renowned archaeologist like your father would be interested in Clow's ruins. He even told my father, the previous king, that there was something more to them hidden within."

Sakura looked down a bit and smiled at the memory of her father.

"He died during the dig. But his life was a happy one and he was smiling until the very end."

Syaoran sat back down in front of Sakura and frowned at her.

"We invited you to live in the castle with us when he passed away! Why didn't you?"

"I would have felt weird living in a castle."

"It's not weird! We've been friends since childhood after all!"

"That might be true, but I feel more comfortable living on my own. Anyways, I have more than enough money from the digs to live on my own."

Syaoran frowned and looked away somewhat.

"But it's lonely not being to hang out with you as much anymore. We hardly see each other anymore. It's lonely. Isn't it lonely for you?"

"It's lonely. But excavating those ruins for both me and dad were-"

Syaoran interrupted her and smiled lightly.

"I know. I was your closest dream you both had, I understand that, but I still miss you when you're gone," He bent his head low and frowned at the floor, "Sometimes when I'm alone and getting ready to sleep, sometimes I wonder what you're doing and if you think of me. I wonder if you think of all the great memories he have."

Sakura smiled sweetly and put a hand on his shoulder. He looked back up at her as she did.

"Of course I think of you! I always think of our memories as well as the future ones we will share. In fact….."

Sakura began to blush and redden in the cheeks a bit.

"There's something I've been wanting to tell you….for some time."

"What is it?"

Sakura held her hands close to her chest and looked him in the eyes.

"Um…uh…..I…Syaoran….I…Lo-"

A loud bell was heard and made Sakura and Syaoran jump up quickly. Syaoran was the first to tell what the sound meant.

"Ah! The castles bells. It must be evening already then. Are you alright?"

Sakura looked at him and painfully smiled.

"Uhhhhhhhhhhhhh. Just a little startled, that's all! But I have the feeling that bell was rung on purpose…."

"Purpose? What purpose?"

Sakura reddened up quickly and smiled more.

"Nothing, nothing!"

"Well, when the bells ring, that means I have to go home. Otherwise big sister will be here to get me."

"Do you want me to walk with you?"

"No, that's okay! Its fine, I have to sneak back into the castle anyways."

Sakura walked with him to the door and opened it for him. He walked out and as he began to leave, Sakura spoke up to him.

"Syaoran."

"Yeah Sakura?"

"That things I was going to tell you. I will tell you tomorrow, alright?"

Syaoran turned and smiled one last time at her before he set of for the castle.

"Oh? Sure, tell me when you feel like it. Hopefully we will see each other tomorrow Sakura!"

And with that, he sprinted away. Sakura closed the door and walked back to the picture frame by the window. She looked out the window and smiled lightly as he vanished into the horizon.

"Tomorrow I will surprise him with a special meal cooked up by me. That when I will tell him….that I love him."

She continued to smile as she thought about the old and new memories they would have with each other.

…

Syaoran had made it back into the castle and was tip toeing his way through the main throne room. A loud feminine voice startled him and he almost tripped and fell. Recovering a bit from his shock, he peeked from behind a column and smiled at the voices location.

"Heh, I'm home Queen Touya!"

An extravagant looking young woman was seen seated in a bean-bag like throne, leaning her head on her hand. She stared at Syaoran with a blank look and spoke in a rude tone to him.

"Have you been with that hole digging twerp again?"

Syaoran reddened up with anger and spat at Touya who was smirking at him. She was really happy with herself for getting him angry and watched him explode.

"She's not a twerp! And her names Sakura!"

Touya rose from her seat lazily and bumped heads with Syaoran. She grinned at him while he bit his lower lip, angry at her for her rudeness behind Sakura's back. Grinning even more so, she put more tone into her voice to make sure that her point got to him about Sakura.

"She's a twerp! Once a twerp, always a twerp!"

"You take that back! At least she's more hardworking than you! All you ever do is sit in that throne and act like you own the place!"

Touya leaned back on a column and let her long hair fall over shoulder. She smirked at him and replied in a smartass tone to him.

"Well I do. I am the Queen after all, and you're the prince. It's my job to make sure no…"unwanted" females bug you. That twerp falls under the "unwanted" list if I do recall."

"What do you mean by that?!"

A voice from behind Syaoran spoke up to break the enpeading civil war that was about break out between the two siblings. Syaoran jumped and turned around and joyfully smiled at a familiar face he always knew. A young boy with glasses and short blonde hair was smiling softly and held a scroll in his hands. Syaoran ran up to his side.

"Yukito-san! Have you ended your duties for today?"

Yukito opened the scroll for him and pointed out some things.

"Yes. And we just finished hearing the reports from the diggers of the ruins."

"They've come a long way now haven't they? And to think they will be done soon-"

Touya chuckled under her breath and stroked her long black hair. As she was softly stroking her hair, she grinned when Syaoran looked at her with malice.

"They said they had uncovered a room that leads them to believe there is more to then the ruins. Which means the hole digging twerp will be busy for a long, long, long time.

Syaoran gripped his hands into fists and did his best to control his emotions.

"That's fine. She loves to uncover new things! It's hers and her father's most precious dream! As long as it makes her happy, then I am too!"

Syaoran quickly and furiously stormed off to his room. Once he made it inside, he slammed the door shut and slid down the back it. He rubbed his hair and shook of the comments from his overbearing sister.

"Really, I let her get to me to much! As long as Sakura is happy, then I will always be happy no matter what. I just wished she would take a break and go and do things again."

He stood up and walked to the balcony off his room. He leaned over and gazed at the ruins that loomed ominously in the distance. A light breeze could be felt, silently cooling the dark and starry night. As he gazed at the ruins, he spoke aloud to himself.

"You know what, I think I will drag my sister to the ruins with me tomorrow. Then Sakura and I will at least be able to spend some time together. And maybe, just maybe…I will be able to tell her my feeling for her. I will be damned if I let someone like my older sister stop me from being with Sakura!"

Just as he was about to turn in, a soft sound like that of a wind chime was heard in the distance. Syaoran cupped an ear with his hand and leaned forward more to hear it.

"What's that sound? It sound like its coming from the ruins." He began to float in the air and his eyes were in a drugged like state. He extended his left arm and pointed at the ruins. "It's almost as if I've heard this sound before. As if I had set it off before…."

A series of images began to could his vision. First he saw Sakura banging her hands and pounding with all her might on what looked like a giant glass window. Then, another image showed him a woman with curly black hair pointing what looked like a gun, but it was hard to tell since the image shifted once again. Finally, a man with a pronounced chin and whitening hair could be see sipping on a glass of what appeared to be red wine. He was wearing a monocle of some sorts and had what looked like a symbol of a bat on his chest. He leaned back softly in the seat and pointed at Syaoran. The man grinned and then Syaoran's vision went black as he fell asleep on the balcony, quickly forgetting everything he had saw.

…

Sakura was walking down a narrow and winding stone path deep within the ruins of Clow. She held a book opened in her hands and examined it as she strode with ease down the steps. I've never read of anything like this before. There seems to be no records of this existing before. We seem to be very lucky to have uncovered it, but it feels like it wanted to be found…..

She entered a circular room and looked down at the round engraving deep in the floor. A set of ancient looking wings were carved into the floor and she flipped through her book more for details on them. And this raises my interest even more so! There are no record of these carvings in Clow's history, or any of the other surrounding countries histories. This theoretically should not existed. Yet it does. Why?

She was suddenly surprised by the sound of feet running down the stairs behind her. She turned and saw Syaroan huffing and puffing behind her and beaming a large smile like he always did. All she could do was shout at him for rushing down into the dark chamber.

"Syaoran! What are you doing here? Does the queen know about this?"

He snickered at her fearfulness of his older sister and stood before her finally.

"Yeah, she's hear! But I dragged her here to inspect the outer areas of the ruins, so I'm free to come and hang out with you!" He snuck a look over her shoulder and pointed. "What do you have here? Anything mysterious?"

Sakura rolled her jade green eyes at his childish antics about escaping his older sister. Sakura was glad that Touya-hime wasn't here with him, she could be too overbearing at times for her. Sometimes even downright mean and evil towards Sakura….

"There's not much really, just a dead end. We have reason to believe there's more underneath, but we just can't get past the panel on the floor. Syaoran walked past her and looked at the wing engravings and leaned down.

"This….I've seen this before."

"Huh?"

Syaoran placed the palms of his hands down on the panel and it began to split open. Sakura was almost swept away by the sudden gust of air that was released and Syaoran began to float over it. What's going on?! How is this happening…Syaoran!

Sakura ran after Syaoran as be floated down the opening. She landed on a narrow pathway and looked up above her. Gasping, she saw Syaoran extended in midair as a set of long wings appeared behind him. He was slowly being sucked into the wall behind him, but he was unaware of it, like he was comatose. Sakura muttered aloud at the sight.

"What in the world?!"

…..

The man that Syaoran had seen in his vision sat in an elegant and polished seat, sipping a glass of wine as he surveyed the scenes being shown to him from a looking glass like mirror. A dark haired woman stood next to him and emotionlessly watched as Syaoran was floating midair. The man set his glass down and pointed at the image of Syaoran and spoke up with a deep resonating voice.

"The power that had once been lost has been reborn! The power of time and space shall now be given to me! The Tsubasa!"

The woman next to him said nothing and continued to watch as the events unfolded.

…..

Sakura reacted quickly to the sight of Syaoran being sucked up by the strange wall. She made a running start and jumped up and grabbed Syaoran before he banished forever. They fell to the ground with a loud thud, and to her surprise she saw his wings curl up and explode. The sight of feathers could be seen as they cris-crossed all over the chamber and vanished until the wings were fully gone. Sakura looked down at Syaoran who was not fully unconscious in her hands. He's getting colder and colder by the second! I have to get him out of here!

She quickly picked him up with all her might and made her way out of the chamber, as the walls shook violently.

…

The dark haired woman finally spoke to her master next to her as Sakura ran out of the chamber with Syaoran in her arms.

"It's seems like it didn't work….Fei Wang Reed!"

The man smiled lightly and took another sip of the wine, enjoying the crisp taste of the liquid as it washed down his throat. He set the glass down next to him and spoke lightly to his underling to help her understand why it wasn't a complete failure.

"It's not a complete failure Xing-Huo, this is only the beginning of everything. Soon everything will fall under my discretion and then I will be victorious in making the dream come true!"

Xing-Huo glanced at him as he sipped more of his wine, then turned her attention back to the mirror.

"For your sake, I hope you are right…."

….

Sakura clutched Syaoran close to her and rushed outside of the ruins. But instead of seeing a peaceful land, the bodies of people she knew and didn't know were strewn all over the sands. Some of the bodies even had marking she had never seen from Clow or anywhere to be honest. What happened out here? It looks like a war zone now.

A familiar voice spoke up to her in a gruff manner and she recognized it at once

"What did you do to my little brother? He better be alright twerp!"

Sakura was shocked to see the queen grin painfully then begin to slump down. She was about to fall all the way, but another figure ran and held her as she lost consciousness, probably from the pain of her massive wounds. Sakura instantly recognized the boy in glasses that was at the queen's side now.

"Yukito-san! Touya-sama…."

Yukito looked at the queen as Sakura ran up with Syaoran to him.

"Don't worry, I will never allow her to die…"

He went and placed the palm of his hand on Sakura's forehand and frowned. He looked around them as he spoke.

"I have read your memory. It seems that the memory feathers have been scattered and can no longer be found in Clow, or the world anymore!"

"What! Memories?"

"The prices very soul. Without them…..he will die."

Sakura looked down at Syaoran hurriedly. He was still passed out and was growing even colder.

"Die! What can I do then?!"

"There isn't a moment to lose then!" He put his hands together and something began to appear below Sakura and Syaoran. A magical circle?! Where are we going…!

"I will send you to someone in another world. Some who like me, is powerful in magic's….perhaps even more powerful then myself…."

"What do I do when I meet this person?"

Yukito closed his eyes as waves of magic began to enclose Sakura and Syaoran. Her last words were heard before Sakura vanished.

"She is called the space time witch! You will tell her everything and beg her to save the prince!"

And just as the waves made everything dark, suddenly they disappeared and Sakura gripped Syoaran harder now. She felt the soft pitter pat of raindrops fall on her head and all around. She looked from where she sat and saw a beautiful young woman with long hair looking at her. Sakura could hardly hold back her emotions.

"Are you the space time witch?!"

The woman looked at Sakura with silent eyes and responded.

"I have been called that, yes."

Sakura gripped Syaoran tighter now and began to tear up.

"Will you…..I need you to save Syaoran!"

The woman said nothing and stared at her as the raindrops continued to fall loudly around them.

End Chapter 1