Afterword on Freedom
Special note: This fanfiction of Tsubasa crosses over with a fanfiction of Axis Powers Hetalia having a similar title. Although it isn't necessary to read the other fanfiction to understand the events in this Tsubasa fanfiction, you'll get to see the same events from different perspectives if you read both fanfictions!
Disclaimer: Tsubasa belongs to CLAMP while Hetalia belongs to Himaruya Hidekaz.
He blinked once, stared hard in front of him, but nothing changed. Wherever he looked, no matter how long he waited, his eyes didn't adjust to the lack of light wherever he was. He placed his hand in front of his face, but was still unable to see it. He placed it back down with a sigh. It was as if there was no light to begin with. Only darkness. Syaoran frowned.
He was already aware that no solid ground was underneath his feet. He didn't let it bother him, though – he was too familiar with the dangling sensation for him to even be surprised. He knew from experience what was going on.
This was all a dream.
Syaoran turned around and tried to peer out into the darkness more so to keep himself active while waiting for… anything to happen. He knew these kinds of dreams weren't the normal ones others would have. These were special, one way or another. This dream was no exception. It all depended on what would come out of the darkness.
He waited patiently, floating in place, until something moved out of the corner of his eye. He looked over and blinked.
The man that appeared out of the darkness had spiky blonde hair, wearing a plain moss green uniform, military from what he could tell. His eyes were closed and his body remained a bit too still, but Syaoran recognized him right away. He saw him once through the eyes of the clone Syaoran and knew of no one else who had those very thick eyebrows.
Arthur Kirkland-san.
He opened his mouth to greet him when a book suddenly floated in between them. He paused, eyes now fixed on the strange book. The book held no special design on its cover, not even a trace of a title. But there was no mistaking the powerful magic ebbing from its pages. It felt almost ominous.
Before he knew what was happening, Arthur's hands were around the book even as the man's eyes remained closed. A bright light shone when they made contact, and Syaoran had to cover his eyes with an arm. The sudden burst of light after long moments of darkness caused his sight to blur. However, he knew his eyes weren't fooling him when Arthur's image split into three, no five…
All the Arthur's that separated from the original had different sets of clothing, as if they were depicting the different sides of the man.
The first one to detach only had a black cloak to differentiate him from the original, the hood covering half of his face. This one had the largest aura of magic around him, a faint light coming from his own person. The second one had a black two-flapped hat with a fluffy feather atop it, a draping red coat over his shoulders. He seemed to have a pistol holstered to his belt as well. He very much looked like an authentic pirate. The split image that followed donned on a redcoat military ensemble with what appeared to be a musket on his side.
The last image that broke away from the original Arthur wore clothes matching the style – puffy sleeves and all – of 17th century Europe in an Earth he had once lived in. But what caught Syaoran's attention to this particular image was the tears – they flowed right through closed lids, as if mourning over a memory.
He blinked and another flash of light illuminated out of the book again. This time, it was so bright that even hiding behind an arm wasn't enough to shade his eyes from the blinding light. Right before his sight was completely covered with white, another figure, an all-too familiar set of brown hair and determined eyes, reached out to him.
The only word that he ever heard in the dream came from the mirrored image's lips: "Syaoran…"
~oOoOoOo~
Syaoran gasped, sitting up quickly, and woke with a start. He looked around, and found himself lying on the floor and surrounded by three anxious faces. Mokona looked particularly worried, placing a gentle paw on his cheek. "Is Syaoran-kun all right?"
The boy only blinked at the white creature. He turned his head a bit and looked at the frown on Fai's face. "W-What happened?"
"You collapsed right after turning around a corner," the magician replied softly. "You've been unconscious for almost three hours."
He brought a hand up and touched a side of his head, almost expecting a bump in his scalp. "I was…?"
Fai nodded. "You just suddenly passed out on us. Kuro-papa was the most worried out of the three of us," he added with a smirk towards the aforementioned ninja, who looked surprised.
"Who are you calling 'papa'?" he dared, glaring at the chuckling blonde. Still, Syaoran could tell that the ninja's shoulders relaxed a bit.
He smiled faintly. "I'm sorry to have worried you," he muttered to them, comforting Mokona with a gentle pat.
"Do you think you're able to stand up?" Fai asked, standing up himself, ready should the boy need a helping hand.
Slowly, Syaoran held onto a knee and tried standing up on his own. A sudden draining of blood from his head caused him to lose balance and was about to fall over when Kurogane caught him nimbly by the arm. "Don't push yourself just yet," he told the boy firmly.
"I'm sorry…" Strange, he never felt so out of sorts in a long time.
"Are you sure you're all right?" Mokona urged, still perched on his shoulder. "You were thrashing about and about…"
"Were you having another dream?" Fai asked.
Syaoran thought for a moment. "Yes, but…" He looked down on the floor as he muttered, "…I don't remember exactly what happened…" Normally, he could easily remember the dreams he had, knowing its importance at some point. This time, however, it was all grey.
The faint blue light from Mokona's earring brought the group's attention right away. Mokona held up the ear donning the earring, looking at it for a moment before muttering, "It's time to go."
A/N: After putting this off for so long, here is the first chapter of the Strange Travelers sequel! Since this is a sequel, there would be mentions of events that happened back in Strange Travelers (like the fact that the TRC gang already met England). Also, just to play safe, I'll repeat the warning that there will be spoilers to the end of Tsubasa if the reader doesn't know it yet. Be warned!
And just to make things a bit interesting, I'll include a song in every chapter that has an appropriate-sounding theme to it. Note that it means that there may be chapters in the future with no accompanying song, heads up.
To end my ranting, here's this chapter's theme: "Theme of Sadness ~ The Flower Desired by the Devil" (as heard in Romaheta)