Watanuki followed Yuuko into the garden, carrying a pitcher full of water. Maru and Moro were close behind, eerily silent, each holding one side of a glass basin. Etched into the basin's sides were strange runes that Watanuki had never seen before, though they slightly resembled a European language that he'd seen only once.

Yuuko indicated where to set the basin, and then the young girls scampered away after setting it on the grass. It shimmered in a peculiar sort of way, shining much brighter than the fireflies around it. The moon was gone tonight, and the lights of the city that surrounded them on every side seemed to have died away.

"Pour the water into that, slowly." Yuuko directed, and Watanuki did as told, tipping the glass pitcher into the basin. The water filled the basin up quickly, and threatened to spill over the rim. "Until there's nothing left." Yuuko added, and Watanuki continued to pour. Somehow, the basin contained it all, shallow though it was. "Now, step back." Once more, Watanuki obeyed orders, stepping behind Yuuko.

"What's all this for, anyway?" he asked.

"So we may see this alternate destiny." she stared at the basin. "You may set the pitcher down on the wood, keep it off the grass."

While Watanuki had his back turned, he heard a brief dripping sound, like rain dripping into a puddle. By the time he'd around it had stopped, and Yuuko hadn't moved.

"I don't believe you know what happened to the travelers originally, Watanuki."

"Er…" he racked his brain. "No, I don't think I do."

"Essentially," She said, "through a chain of events, the wizard, Fai, lost his eye to someone the travelers thought of as an ally. His eyes contained a great magic power, which this ally gained half of by eating one of the eyes." Watanuki grimaced at the thought of eating a person's eyeball. Yuuko continued, "Due to a lack of medicine in the country they were in, this could have been a fatal wound. The ally's name was Syaoran. He was the boy you saw with the princess on that day some time ago."

Watanuki stared. "B-but, he was a nice guy! I mean, I thought he was-"

"He was a clone of the original boy named Syaoran, who sealed part of his heart into this clone." Yuuko explained with the detached air of a narrator in an old fairy tale. "To save Fai's life, the warrior Kurogane made a wish for someone else. That wish's price was brought to me through great effort by Princess Sakura." Watanuki had this feeling that the witch was leaving something out here, but ignored it. "In return for making that wish, Kurogane learned that if he were to make Fai into a vampire, the wizard would live. However, this is not what the wizard wanted at all; he wished to die so the clone could not use his magic, which was very powerful, even though at half-strength.

"Kurogane disregarded this, and turned Fai into a vampire." Yuuko sighed for the first time in her story. "Fai can only feed from Kurogane's blood, but whether he wants to or not remains to be seen. From what I've heard, they've only just left that world, and nobody is very comfortable with each other."

"Do you know what this 'alternative destiny' or whatever it is… do you know if it will be for the better?" Watanuki couldn't even imagine the strife this group had been through.

"No, I do not. But stories with changed endings never change for the better."

The water rose from the basin into a sort of circular mirror, on the surface of which a movie seemed to be playing.

"Here is where the differences begin," Yuuko said. "Kurogane was at Fai's side by the time Syaoran made to attack."

"He made it in time to save him, right?" Watanuki watched the water-screen as it dripped into the basin. Vaguely familiar people were in it, fighting, yelling.

"Yes, Kurogane was able to save Fai."

"Well, that's good, right?" Watanuki glanced up at Yuuko, pushing his glasses up his nose.

"You can erase words from the page, but you cannot erase the blood spilled upon it." A firefly passed by Yuuko's eyes, and the water's light seemed to dim momentarily. "It was just a matter of changing whose blood was spilt."

"Wait, you mean Kurogane's—"

"Watch," she pointed an elegant finger to the screen, where three people were standing on a pillar. The tall form of Kurogane was standing between Fai and the other person. With a sickening feeling in his stomach, Watanuki realized that it was Syaoran.

----

"I need his eyes to collect the feathers."

This statement echoed through the chamber under the government building. From below, a girl's faint voice could be heard, yelling for her friends, who seemed hell-bent on killing each other. Fai had just received a good kick to the face, and Kurogane was now standing between him and the kid. This boy had the same body as Syaoran, but his right eye was pale and his aura was cold.

"His eyes contain a magic stronger than you could imagine. I need them." Syaoran said again.

"It'll be a cold day in hell when I let you have them," Kurogane's voice was low, his voice only carried to the boy.

"You're in the way," He replied calmly.

"And that's where I'll stay," Kurogane snarled. He reached for his side out of habit, but found no sword to aide him. He had never been much of a fist fighter, but knew he could throw a few good punches.

Kurogane had expected a retort, but the kid simply launched an attack, launching forward into a powerful kick. The ninja caught the boy's leg and threw him into the air, thinking he could knock Fai out of the way if he really needed to. Instead of aiming his new assault for the wizard, Syaoran sprang at Kurogane instead with a fierce determination.

Fai shook his head to clear the pain, and looked up in time to see the attack connect. Kurogane slammed into a pillar below them with a loud crack. Syaoran landed on the man's chest with force, though Kurogane didn't respond to it—he seemed to be unconscious.

The world seemed to slow. Syaoran raised a hand above Kurogane's chest, seemingly ready to rip out the man's heart. Fai jumped from the pillar above the two. Upon landing, he lunged for Syaoran, grabbing him about the waist and pulling him off of Kurogane. No spell would have been fast enough to knock the boy away, that's what he told himself.

In hindsight, Fai only wondered if you could really hear the sound of ripping flesh. He kicked away from Syaoran, who stood again. Glancing behind, he saw Kurogane's chest rising and falling— he was still alive, still breathing— but to Fai's horror, blood was flowing over the left side of Kurogane's face.

The wizard couldn't form any words. He couldn't say anything to Syaoran, whose hand was drenched in the ninja's blood.

He just let out a primal scream and fired a spell at the boy's chest.