TL: Sorry for the late update. But I have very bad news. Other then the fact that my sem break is over, I lost every fanfic I wrote in my phone. Including this story. I think I lost 7 chapter worth of LWC. I did it on the sem break to, it makes me feel like I wasted alot of time because I lost it in the end. Cries.
So with that note, updates will be longer and far in between.
Sorry about that. But I hope you enjoy this chapter.
Enjoy!!!
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Yuuko let a genuine smile appear on her face as she stared down at the determined teen.
She didn't doubt that the teen could be swayed by her warnings.
Considering all his alternate selfs were very much the same, it was unavoidable.
Although that is the case, that does not mean she couldn't help them as much as possible. In this case, words of wisdom.
"Traveling through worlds is not an easy task. Many worlds exist within various of alternate universes. Each world is different and unique from the other. Either from their culture, lifestyle or terrain. However, there is always one thing that they have in common. The souls. Because of this, there will be people that you have met in other worlds before. So do not feel alarmed when you meet someone you know. However, even though they look the same, their experiences and memories differ them from your world and theirs. You two are a prime example of this fact..." She explained looking at both Xiao Lang and Syaoran. The two turned to stared at each other before their attention was snatched away by Yuuko again. "For those who were helpful to you in one world, you can't be certain they will be the same in another."
"There are worlds where the language and common sense can't be understood, living standards and rules that are different from the one you know.There are worlds that is conquered by criminals and heroes, or truth and lies. It may be peaceful or completely chaotic. You have to survive and pass through these worlds while looking for the fragments of the memories, not knowing where or when they will appear. But you are still steadily determined to pursue this path, I presume?" She smiled at Syaoran's look of determination which hasn't changed since she had started her explanation.
"Yes." Syaoran answered.
She smiled at the teen sadly. She wondered what would happen if the boy didn't take it upon himself to carry the responsibility. There just wasn't enough alternate that actually differ from the path. Sadly, the pair of teens' fate was already set in stone. Hopefully, they could at least change the aftermath.
With another will in play, she didn't doubt that more abnormalities will resurface. Either if it was for the best or not, only time will tell.
She walked to the middle and brought Mokona to the air. Her clients watched her with rapid attention.
Without another moment to loss, she brought Mokona higher into the air. The surrounding wind began to swirl around Mokona as she began to rise by the sheer magic surrounding her.
A bright violet magic circle -- filled with various shapes of circle and complex symbols -- began to appear under her as she glowed with power.
Li noted that the magic circle also contains the shapes of moon like a certain powerful wizard he knew it home.
"Readiness, sincerity and determination, qualities that are indispensable in order to accomplish your journey. Qualities you are provided with... Well then," She turned to Li. "Xiao Lang, please stand beside Mokona and provide the other half of magic for your travel."
Li watched the process unsurely. He didn't doubt that he had enough magic to do the job, however the state of his body was what worried him. But since the dimensional witch had not uttered a warning or stopped him yet, he just had to make do.
Li nodded in respond and went to stand beside the floating Puffball. He closed his eyes, letting the flow of magic travels throughout his body as he focused it on one purpose. A bright yellow light began to glow brilliantly as his magic circle -- covered in Chinese words, elements and the symbol of yin-yang -- began to appeared under him.
The others watched in fascination as Mokona sprouted a pair of white wings. She flapped them once and the power from that single movement stole their breath away.
On the other hand, Li was levitating from the ground as his magic began to defy gravity because of it's intensity and quantity.
Combined both power side by side, they're like a lighthouse to those with magic. Even those with the faintest hint of magic could sense their immense power.
Japan was in confusion. If it weren't for the shop's barrier, it would be in chaos.
"Please get going..." Yuuko smiled at the group, silently wishing them luck on their journey.
Mokona opened her mouth and began to suck. Magic surround the group as it enveloped them in a warm embrace. They felt the trickle of power on the surface of their skin and before they knew it, they were sucked into the creature's mouth like a vacuum... Slowly dissapearing like sand.
Before Li was sucked in as well he muttered. "Talk to you later, Sakura... I'll miss you." He closed his phone once she replied back and placed it back into his pocket. He turned to Yuuko. "I hope you are alright, Yuuko-san," Yuuko blinked at his sudden words. "See you again, goodbye Yuuko-san, Watanuki-san."
And he too disappeared into the mouth of the white fluffball.
On the side note, Watanuki was so done that day. Meeting a familiar face was bad enough, now there's two. What has his life coming too. It's all Yuuko-san fault...
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"Are you sure you don't want to rest, Xiao-chan?"
Li grimaced at the pet name. "Just a while longer..." He looked up from his folded knees. "And Fai-san, can you just call me Li? I don't appreciate being called small. " He said, waving at the sleeping teens on the floor.
Fai blinked in confusion. Did he call him little just now? Oh, does Xiao means small in his world? Cute. He grinned at the revelation while Li cringe at the mischievous smile. Maybe he should've just kept that tad bit quiet. But at least Fai knew when to tease and when not to, as he nodded his head in understanding. Hopefully.
After they had made it to the new world, they were completely lost. They had two unconscious teenagers and one that is close to fainting. Fortunately for them, a couple found them lost on the street and took them in. Giving them shelter to rest and adapt.
Right now the youngest among them is refusing to rest even after the huge usage of magical energy. Apparently, he was waiting for something, what that something is -- only the boy would knew.
"Alright!" Fai agreed, wanting to create a good relationship with the boy. A good first impression is a must. "However I have to ask, what's the difference between Xiao Lang and Syaoran? They sound almost the same and yet I can't tell the difference." He tilted his head while tapping his chin in wonder.
"Xiao Lang is a Chinese name while Syaoran is Japanese...I think. It's just a matter of how the name was converted into different cultures. The meaning is still the same." Li explained, placing his head on his knees to save his already limited energy.
"Oh-ho? So your world have different cultures? Sounds like your world is filled with mini worlds too..." Fai mused.
"It is!" Li breathed in relief knowing that Mokona would be able to explain the complex subject of cultures to Fai. "I guess in Li's home world, he also have many countries like mine!! There's Korea, Singapore, Brazil, China and many more. It's a multicultural world so it is kind of like other worlds. Yuuko used to bring us to Britain or London, it was so different there that we almost thought we traveled into another world!" As Mokona explained with such enthusiasm, she had jumped on everyone's shoulder, landing on Fai's slim one as her last stop.
Fai nodded along at Mokona's explanation like a good student. "I see... There wasn't that much country in my world and everyone wore snow coat so I wouldn't know. So this is a first for me..." He thought for a while before turning a grin at Kurogane, who had sat quietly in the corner trying to block out his noisy companions. "How about you, Kuro-pu? Do you have this thing they call multiculture?"
If nothing seemed to catch his attention, the pet name seemed to do it's job. "It's Kurogane, you damn Mage!" He shouted in anger.
Li winched at the loud noise, making his headache even worse. He glanced at the sleeping teens, how the heck are they able to sleep after all that noise, he has no idea -- but he was super jealous of their bliss.
Fai playfully frown. "Kuro-chan! Language! There are children here!!" His hissed, pointing at the slouching Li.
Honestly, Li really doesn't care. Sakura's brother have spouted more rotten words at him than his sisters combined. Combine that with the stuff animal that Sakura always brings along, nothing but a veteran sailor could match them.
"Yeah, Kuro-chan! Yuuko always says to watch our language infront of kids! " Mokona added. Puting oil into the fire.
Kurogane was so close to exploding that he was kind of grateful for the interruption (He doesn't like to explode full on demon lord, especially for something so petty. He still have his pride.). Everyone turned to the sleeping teens.
Syaoran was rousing from his sleep. Mokona quickly made his way towards the sleeping boy, Li joined her but sat a feet away from the teen to avoid getting bumped on.
Syaoran's eyes slowly flutter. When it was fully opened, Mokona got real personal. She unfortunately, forgot the rule about personal space. "Puu~I want..." Why she started with those words, Li couldn't understand but he let's it go to focus on the waking teen.
The poor teen was so confused. "Sa... Ku... Ra..." His eyes widened in shock at the fluffball infront of his face, but that was the only reaction he gave.
Mokona turned away, feeling dissapointed. "Aww, he's not suprised enough..." She hopped on Li's knees, asking the boy to pat her.
Syaoran turned to the closest person his eyes reached. His mirror image blinked in synchronization with his movement as everything that had happened rushed into his mind.
"Are you alright?" Li asked, looking at him and the person in his arms in worry.
Syaoran eyes widened as he remembered what had happened to his princess. "Sakura!!" He bolted upwards, but something caused him to stop. He looked at the weight on his body and sigh in relief when he realize that it was his princess. He warped his arms around her thin shoulders, wanting the reassurence that she was alright. She was there, with him. Alive.
"Glad you're awake, I wiped her face and limbs as much as I can since she got wet in the rain." Fai sat on the opposite side of Li making sure his young companions are alright.
"Mokona helped too!!" She squealed from his comfy spot in Li's lap.
"…Even while you were asleep, you never let her go, " Syaoran turned to the one who produce the soft voice. His amber eyes met another identical ones. "She must mean alot to you..." The younger boy smiled slightly, the expression making his face flushed in embarrassment even though previously it was filled with exhaustion.
Syaoran looked at his princess and nodded while sofly whispering a small 'yes'.
"Anyway~" Fai said in an oddly cheerful tone -- it certainly got the boys attention though. "My name, is long, so you can call me Fai, " He turned to the brute in the corner. "And the black one over there is --"
"I am not black!!" Kurogane shouted in anger. "I'm Kurogane!"
"Kuro-chan? Kuro-rin?" Mokona added childishly. Kurogane exploded in a few curses but they all ignore him.
"I'm Li Xiao Lang," Syaoran turned to look at the younger boy. He was feeling conflicted, he had the same face as him and also the same sounding name. A person with identical souls but different experience. To think such a thing exist. "But you can call me Li, just so we won't get confused about who's who." He bowed respectfully.
Syaoran blink before he bowed as well. "My name is Syaoran. I want to thank you for paying the princess's price. I can't thank you enough, I am in your dept."
Li waved his hand in a universal dismissed gesture. "It's alright, from now on we're companions. So I hope we can get along." He gave Syaoran a small smile which he recuperate.
"Oh, I almost forgot, this is --" Syaoran began to introduce his princess but was interrupted by the younger boy.
"Sakura, right?" Li smiled at the comatose girl.
Syaoran blinked. "Yes..." He wondered how the boy knew... Wait, if he is a counterpart of himself does that mean that there is a counterpart for Sakura-hime as well. "Sakura is in your world as well." He stated.
It wasn't a question but Li answered it anyway. "Yes, and I love her dearly, " He glance at the older boy. "I can tell you feel the same way? " He smirk at teen's the reddening face.
However the older boy's face soon lose all of it's colour after feeling Sakura-hime's skin. Li was puzzled by the sudden change of mood, so he reached out to the older Sakura to see what was wrong. He flinched back so hard that he almost hit Fai (Who moved to his side) in the face.
Sakura was so cold that Li was afraid that he was touching a corpse instead of a living body.
Li was suddenly pulled back by Fai, leaving him confused before understanding took hold of his mind.
Fai reached into Syaoran's cloak, leaving the poor boy startled out of his skin.
The others watched the scene with obvious confusion.
"What are you doing?" Kurogane asked, a little creeped out by the mage's actions. He hoped that he was not dealing with a pedophile here.
Not answering his question, Fai continued on his search until he found what he was looking for and pulled out a white feather with a pink heart symbol in the middle of it.
"Isn't this the memory fragment of this child? " Fai asked, smiling at the boy's shocked expression as he held out the feather for Syaoran to look.
"Eh?!" Syaoran exclaimed in confusion. He hadn't noticed it was there at all!
"It got stuck on you. It's the only one." Fai explained, leaning over them to gently let the feather fell onto the girl's chest.
Syaoran ponder as he tries to remember how the feather could have stuck onto him. 'Well, the feather were scarttered at the time I held her...' He watched in fascination and hope as the feather sink into his beloved princess's body. "So this is a fragment of Sakura's memories."
Li leaned forward and touched the older girl's hand. "She's getting warmer..." He sigh in relief. "So that's how it is..." He muttered lowly, glancing at his companions.
"She would've died if it weren't for the feather."
"It was by chance that the feather was stuck to my clothes." Syaoran muttered, grateful for the small mercies. But he was also terrified at what would've happened if Fai hadn't found the feather. He might never noticed that it was there and his princess would die right under his nose...He shook his head to rid himself of the thought.
"There's no such things as by chance in this world or any world really," Li stared at his look alike intensely. "Everything is destined to happen... The only difference is the journey we take to achieve that end, " Silence reign at his words. Of course to not make it even more awkward, he sliced it in two. "That's what Yuuko-san would say." He quietly added. Suddenly nervous by the attention he got from his companions.
"But~" Fai continued where Li left off. "You must have caught that feather unconsciously to help this girl."
"…yeah..." Li whispered. "I'm sure your feelings will reach her one day," Syaoran stared at the younger boy in worry. Li was dangerously swaying from side to side. His eyes were glazing over and lost some of its previous light. He blinked hard, trying to get his focus back just a little longer. "Ah... I'm... at... my... limit..." But it was futile. Fagitue finally got it's claws on him.
Li's eyes flutter to a close. He fell to the side but fortunately, Fai was able to catch him before he touched net the matted floor.
The mage gently lay the boy on the floor, making sure he was in a comfortable position. He examine the child intensely, his brows furrowed in worry. The boy was sweating bullets, brows furrowed in obvious discomfort and his arms were trembling slightly. That was not a good sign.
Syaoran lay Sakura on the floor as well to let her sleep, and went over to Li to see how he was doing. He picked up Mokona along the way, preventing her from interfering with Fai's examination.
"Is he alright?" He asked, worry evident on his face. He didn't like how sweaty the boy was. Or how his face was pinched with invisible pain. This boy, Li-kun, was the one who helped him and Sakura without any hesitation, so he didn't want the boy to get hurt for their sake.
Fai gave him a grimace before nodding. "Yes, he should be fine. His magical energy have been greatly depleted after that jump, so it is not unexpected for him to lose consciousness," He whistles (kind of) in awe. "What I'm shocked about is how long he was able to stay awake. I guess he was waiting for you to wake up before relaxing himself. He was quite stubborn, you know?"
Syaoran let out a sigh of relief. Relieved to know that the boy would be alright but felt a pinch of guilt knowing that the reason he was left bedridden was because of him. If only he could shoulder Sakura's price as well.
"That's what happens if you push yourself unnecessarily, the brat won't be able to survive a battle field if that's how he treats his body." Kurogane muttered from the dark corner.
Everyone who was conscious swirled their attention to the large man, shock beyong belief.
"What?" The man growled, irritated by their reaction.
"Kuro-kun, cares!" Fai gasped dramatically which is followed by the mischievous bun bunny.
Kurogane's face began to take a light shade of red (from anger or embarrassment, who knows). He launched into a tirade of insults at the magician. "That's because the brat is the one providing us with the energy to travel to other worlds! If he's dead, I'm stuck with you lot!" He finished his long tirade with an indignant gruff. He could have gone further, but stopped when he realized that it was a waste of energy. He sat back down with a huff.
"I hope he's alright... I don't want to burden him when he's done so much already..." Syaoran muttered, looking at the boy sadly. Suddenly he had an urge to pat the boy's head but resist the temptation, after all they are strangers.
"Let's let them rest. We need to talk about our course of action from now on," Fai picked up Mokona and placed him between the two unconscious children with a smile. Mokona used that opportunity to fuss over the unconscious teens (wiping Li's sweaty face and so on) "So, how are we going to search for the feathers? A feather won't always get caught on our clothes after all." He asked to no one in particular.
"Mokona knows!!" The little fluff ball exclaimed happily. She had already felt satisfied with Li's examination, so she felt it right to join the conversation.
"Eh?" Syaoran's face clearly shows his confusion.
"Just now, there was a strong wave of energy from the feather, " Mokona hopped happily infront of Syaoran, happy to finally be of help. "If it is close, I'll know by the energy wave," Her face got closer to the boy. "And becomes like, Mekyo! This!" Mokona's eyes suddenly opened to reveal deep amethyst cat like eyes.
"Urk!" Kurogane exclaimed in shock after staying silent for most of their conversation.
Syaoran's sweat dropped at the odd sensing detector style while Fai just chuckled in amusement.
Fai moved closer to Syaoran and patted the cute creature gently. "That's great!" He praised genuinely. "If the feathers are close, Mokona will be able to sense it."
"Will you tell me when the feathers are close by?" Syaoran asked Mokona who agreed enthusiastically. Syaoran smile at the magical creature. "Thank you." Hope was swelling from within him. He hates to admit it, but he seriously have no idea what course of action he should take. Searching blinding was on top of his list though if it weren't for this effective alternative.
"Whether or not you get to search for the feathers is up to you guys," Kurogane piped up from his corner, one knee raised in a defiant position. "But this has nothing to do with me. I came here to return to my world, that is my only purpose..." He gruffly said. "I don't plan on joining or helping you lot at all."
Syaoran nodded in understanding. He knows not all is as kind or willing to help as Li was. "Yes. This is my problem, I will not give you trouble."
This seems to stunned Kurogane into silence.
Fai brust into laughter at the boy's earnest and straightforward personality. Such an instense gaze from someone so young.
"And you?" Kurogane asked, to stop the guy from his irritating laughter. Fai stopped and gave him a puzzled look. "Are you going to help the kid?"
The mage made a show of thinking about the request. "Um--yes I will," He turned to look at the young teen. "Returning to my world isn't my priority. I'll help as long as my life isn't in danger, " In the background, Mokona and Kurogane was doing a short tsukkomi skit. "Futhermore, there's nothing to do." He smiled at the boy's clueless expression.
Syaoran opened his mouth to speak when the door suddenly opened. "Yo! You woke up!" Syaoran turned and held Sakura to his chest, wary of the new faces appearing within the room. The tall man with spiky hair blinked his eyes blankly at the defensive posture but his face soon melted into a huge grin when understanding came to him. "Don't be so alert, you came from Yuuko-san's place right?"
Syaoran nodded mutely. The upbeat aura swept him for a moment.
The man suddenly stopped beside Li and Syaoran unconsciously stiffened. He warily watched the man brush Li's hair from his eyes.
"So he finally take heed of our words and rest?" He turned to Fai.
Fye shook his head. "He fainted from exhaustion."
The woman with long raven hair sigh. "I've told him to rest to avoid such situation from happening... Now he won't be able to wake up for awhile." She took the tray full of teas from the man's hand to avoid it from spilling. She turned to Syaoran. "My name is Arashi."
"I am Arisugawa Sorata and this is my lovely wife, engrave that in your minds." When he declared that, he was looking at Kurogane.
Kurogane balked in indignant and disgust.
"I'm Syaoran." He bowed. She gave him blankets and he accepted it gratefully. He gently lay down the princess onto the soft blankets, making sure she was comfortable. Then he made his way towards Li to do the same for him, with a little help from the excited Mokona.
While he was doing that, Syaoran missed the talk between Sorata and Kurogane.
"Anyway! That nii-chan has told me about the situation. The blonde guy seems OK but the black one has no courtesy." He walked to the window. "But for one thing, you guys are a little lucky," Fai hummed for him to continue. "Mokona can't choose the next world, right? So~because this is the first world you arrive at, there is nothing but full of happiness," Sorata slid the window to the side, giving everyone the perfect view of the world they had landed on. "Welcome to The Republic of Hashin!" He greeted them with a proud grin.
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TL: If you have any question, please ask away.
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Thank you for reading, ciao!!