Later that morning, Fai and I finally tore away from one another and got dressed in Clow Country's traditional clothing that had been left for us outside our room. I blushed and hoped that whomever left the clothing for us had come while we were asleep and not while we were… um… busy.

"So I've been thinking about something you mentioned about your dream." Fai said once we were dressed.

"Oh, Fai. I love you but I don't think we keep practicing making kids without someone coming to look for us." He laughed, pulling me close to him.

"You're right, but that's not what I was thinking."

"Alright, what were you thinking?" I giggled, looking up into his eyes.

"The others of us were married. The customs of Celes are a little different, but I did learn a thing or two from your world when we first met."

"What do you mean?" I asked as he removed his arms from around me and took my hands in his.

"Forgive me if I don't do this quite right." He smiled, dropping down to one knee causing me to gasp. "Mai, you're my everything. In every world, in every universe, I want to be by your side. And I hope you want to be by mine."

"Of course I do." I squeaked out, tears springing to my eyes. He released one of my hands to use his magic to conjure up a small box that sat open in his palm. The most beautiful diamond ring sat inside of it.

"Left hand?" He asked, confirming that he was assuming correctly.

"Left hand." I giggled.

"Mai, I don't know where the future will take us, but all I care is that it takes us together. Will you do me the honor of being my wife?" He asked, holding the ring to my finger and waiting patiently for my response.

"Yes! Yes! Absolutely!" I cried, letting him slip the ring onto my hand before throwing myself into his arms. He kissed me softly while wiping away the tears from my cheeks.

"I love you." He whispered against my lips.

"I love you, too." I whispered back.

xxxxx

Once I had managed to stop crying, we met up with Kurogane to go for a walk through the town. It was a relief to find the townspeople alive and well. I held Fai's hand tightly, sneaking glances at my new ring every chance I could as the three of us made our way through the bustling market.

"You could have rested up at the castle for a little longer." Fai told Kurogane.

"Lying around doing nothing bores me." The swordsman grunted.

"Lying around doing nothing bores me." I teasingly imitated his deep voice. "You're hopeless, Kuro-burrow!" I giggled as he rolled his eyes at me.

"So? How are you feeling?" Fai asked him.

"Not bad." he replied. Fai smiled, patting Kurogane's shoulder and watching the man grimace in pain.

"You really are hopeless."

"Whatever. The kid slipped out of the castle too, right?"

"Yep." Fai answered. "He said he was going to visit his old house."

"Poor thing. In this world, his house might have only been empty for a few days, but to Syaoran it's been way too long since he's been home." I said, feeling so heartbroken for our friend.

"And the other kid… and princess… they disappeared, huh?" Kurogane spoke.

"Their bodies, at least." Fai answered him again, squeezing my hand gently. "Back then… Sakura melted away and left a feather behind. I hear the same thing happened in the world where the two Syaoran's were imprisoned. Those feathers are their memories. Or, perhaps to speak in the style of Nihon Country, it would be more accurate to call them their souls."

"Then… when those feathers were absorbed into the two who remained…" Kurogane started.

"It seems that which was cloned was returned to the original." I finished.

"That's one way of looking at it but…" Fai started, but paused, unsure if he should share a theory he clearly had.

"But what?" Kurogane encouraged — not demanded, for once.

"I don't think Syaoran sees it that way." the wizard told us.

"He's not happy with the way things turned out, is he?" I sighed. As if any of us were.

"No, perhaps that's why he chose the price he did. The world has returned to normal but that which has been destroyed can never be fully restored. The same thing goes for the 'logic' that Fei Wong destroyed. And one manifestation of that is Syaoran himself." Fai explained.

"That makes sense." I said. "Syaoran was born as the son of a father cloned from himself and a mother cloned from Sakura. The clones have disappeared but Syaoran is still here."

"The closed loop has been broken certainly, but Syaoran and Watanuki… the two of them have been left behind. Lone entities disconnected from the world." Fai continued.

"And the princess?" Kurogane asked as I stopped to buy an apple from one of the local merchants. The fruit in Clow truly was delicious.

"Sakura has her own separate parents so it's not like with Syaoran." Fai answered before stealing a bite from my apple. I wrinkled my nose at him jokingly disapproving of his theft. He leaned down and kissed my nose quickly before speaking to Kurogane again. "If it were the same for the princess, Syaoran would probably have chosen a different price."

"But now, in this world, the two of them, their existence is a paradox, right? And what did Syaoran choose to pay?" I asked.

"Mhm. It's impossible to know what effects they might have upon the rest of space and time. That's why in order to suppress those effects to the greatest possible extent, Watanuki chose to stay in a single place for all of time to come while Syaoran chose to move ever onward, never staying in a single place. But…"

Fai was cut off by a familiar sound whizzing toward us. Kurogane lifted his arm and easily caught Mokona mid-zoom.

"I thought you were staying with Sakura?" I asked our friend.

"Sakura went to see Syaoran! She had… a dream." Mokona told us.

"I see. Perhaps she found out already, then."

"In that case, it's time we made our decisions, too." Kurogane said.

"What we're going to do from now on." Fai added.

"One more choice to make." I smiled at the others, knowing that we were all on the same page. "I guess we should go find the kids."

"Mokona knows where they are!" Our guide cheered before leading the way to the rest of our little family. We made our way back toward the castle. I shared the last of my apple with Fai as we walked hand-in-hand and even gave Mokona a piece as she rode atop Kurogane's shoulder. If you didn't know better, we'd just look like a group of friends out for a stroll. We walked through the castle and began climbing a long staircase.

"Me too." I heard Sakura's voice as we got closer. "I want to see the other self that lies within me again. But… I can't go with you. Can I?" I pulled back on Fai's hand and grabbed Kurogane's arm, stopping the men from interrupting the kids.

"Sakura…" Syaoran spoke.

"I want to go with you, but if I were to do so, your journey would only be more painful… that's what I dreamed. I don't want everyone to have to go through all that pain anymore so, I'll stay." The princess said, sounding like she was about to cry. "Um, there's one thing I have to say to you before you do go. Something I've been meaning to say for a long time… I love…" Before she could finish her sentence, I heard Syaoran move to embrace the girl.

"Sakura, I love you." He told her.

"I love you, too!" She cried.

"Awww!" I cooed, unintentionally giving away our location. I covered my mouth with my hands in hopes that maybe they didn't hear me. But no luck. The kids broke apart before looking over the ledge at us.

"Umm… did we maybe get here a little too soon?" Fai chuckled down at me.

"Kurogane really doesn't know how to be sensitive to other people~!" Mokona laughed.

"You're the ones who dragged me here in the first place!" The swordsman yelled.

"Why are you…" Syaoran started to question.

"Well, Mokona told us this was where you would be so." Fai answered with a big smile.

"Yeah! And Mai tried to stop us from making a sound but she was still an eavesdropper!" Mokona added, jumping to my shoulder and nuzzling against me.

"I can't help it if I just love love!" I giggled.

"So, you're setting out on a journey, right?" Kurogane asked, getting our conversation back on track.

"That's right. Are you…" Syaoran answered.

"Well, you know me! It's not like I have a home to go back to anymore! I have my magic back, too, and I'm a pretty good cook. I'd like to think it's a pretty good deal so… how about it?" Fai smiled.

"I've got some magic I can use, too! And love to travel. And you need a big sister in your life to watch your back and make sure your parents aren't pushing you too hard. Plus, Fai and I are kind of a package deal. Right?" I grinned up at the wizard, thumbing the ring on my left hand.

"Right!" He answered, petting my head lovingly.

"I'm going." Kurogane said without our extra commentary.

"What about Nihon Country?" Syaoran asked.

"I did tell Tomoyo I'd be gone for a while. Besides, I still have to give that guy and the princess a proper beating." Kurogane told him.

"Aww! You don't have to be so violent!" Mokona whined.

"I know right?" Fai laughed.

"Don't make Daddy angry!" I added.

"I'm going, too!" Mokona bounced into Syaoran's arms. "After all, you can't journey across dimensions without me! Although you do have Fai and Mai…"

"Eh… doing that really takes it out of me." Fai sighed.

"I collapsed the last time I did it! But I did sleep very well for days afterward." I added thoughtfully. Sleeping well could have come from the crossing or from the relief of being back with Fai. And all the sex. It could have been a number of things now that I think about it.

"Oh and also!" Mokona said before opening her mouth and producing a new earring. "This is something the other Mokona has been keeping safe this whole time. It's got memories stored inside it! Precious, precious memories belonging to all kinds of different people! The memories inside here will lead you back to all the different people who remember you. And the biggest of them all — the memories of the Sakura who's stuck inside Sakura right now will lead you back here to Clow Country more often than any other world! The next biggest after that is Watanuki's memories, so you'll visit the shop plenty as well! Everyone's waiting to see all of you again."

We all looked to one another realizing that this wouldn't be goodbye forever.

"Thank you." Syaoran said.

"Group hug?" I suggested. I was met with confused looks from Syaoran and Kurogane and chuckles from Sakura and Fai. But as soon as Mokona lept into my arms, we all managed to converge on each other in a lovingly awkward five-way (plus Mokona) embrace.

xxxxx

Later that afternoon, we had all been given new clothes that were durable for travel. The hooded cloak hanging from my shoulders was warmer than anything I had worn yet and the fabric was surprisingly soft.

"Thanks for the clothes!" Mokona cheered in her own pink mini cloak. We gathered in the desert midway between the town and the ruins where we had just been locked in battle a few days ago. Sakura, the King, Queen, Prince, and Yuukito all gathered to see us off.

"I pray that those clothes will lead you back to this world and that they will protect you." Sakura said, blessing us and our journey.

"See you soon." I said, smiling at the girl.

"Yes. We will." She smiled back.

I took Fai's hand in mine, sad to be leaving our dear friend but happy to be by his side — forever. Mokona lept into the air, preparing to take us to a brand new world. Sakura rushed forward, reaching out to take Syaoran's hands in hers as they both spoke to one another once more.

"My real name is…" Syaoran said at the same time Sakura said,

"My real name is…"

"Tsubasa." They spoke in unison.

We all smiled at the princess, Fai even waving goodbye to our friend, as Mokona whisked us away. I squeezed Fai's hand tightly in mine as we floated through time and space.

I smiled up at him, feeling at peace by his side. How different this trip was from the first time we flew through this universe together. He smiled down at me before leaning down to kiss me softly. We didn't know where the future was taking us, but it didn't matter. We had found each other and we weren't ever going to be alone again. All that mattered was that I had the love of my life by my side and we were going to be together forever.

And so our journey continued on.

The End