Syaoran and Dimension-Hopping

Chapter Two

"Freaking…" That hurt. It felt like that time when Ruby Moon dropped him from above a building back when Eriol had been testing Sakura. The fall was not lethal, since Eriol had been trying to provoke Yue's reflex while seeing if his own will could override it, but that did not mean the wind was still not knocked out of his lungs.

"Interesting," Said a woman.

An unfamiliar woman.

I'm in trouble.

"Waaaah," A face popped into his view. "That was some fall you took there!"

Syaoran blinked. It was that fair-haired man. Well isn't this just dandy. "Who are you?"

"I can ask the same of you!" The man reached a hand down to the teen, "But I'll relent, since you're the one that had the fall. I am a Celes country wizard. Fai D. Flourite."

Syaoran heard 'Fluorite'. What kind of last name is that? And what country was Celes? "Ano…I'm Li Syaoran?" He allowed the older man to pull him up, turning around to behold some lady and—oh for—really? Psycho is here? This day just kept getting better and better.

Ichihara Yuuko was infuriatingly unhelpful. She had no idea how Syaoran had arrived here, especially since people usually came here or were sent here intentionally.

"I'm in another realm?" Mother of— "I need to pay a price to go back? And I don't even get to go directly back, I just get to hop around trying to see if some random dimension I landed in would somehow be the right one?"

This is bogus. He worried about Yue, since being in a separate dimension—would that cut off Yue's support? What if he faded already? Swearing, Syaoran took out his cell phone.

Since magic involved similar situations to this, Sakura and Syaoran had worked on spelling their cell phones to work without satellites. It involved some skillful tampering with the Maze Card, which could warp reality and theoretically operate across realms. This was never actually tested though; in the past, usually Sakura and Syaoran fell into some pocket dimension created as a subset of the real world. They were never transported out of their world and into another one entirely.

But the phone still had signal.

"Verizon," Syaoran read. It even had one bar. He was not sure what to make of that.

"What is that?" The man who called himself Fai looked over his shoulder.

"You can look after I give my dad a call."

"Your dad?"

"Yes," Since discovering he was in another world anyone, and that everyone was understanding each other despite the languages they spoke, Syaoran had switched to Cantonese. "I don't know what this bar means, but I'm going to see if this phone can call across dimensions."

Yue picked up in a hurry. "Xiaolang!"

"Oh, you're alright." Syaoran breathed a sigh of relief.

"Thank God…" Yue broke away to tell the others, from the sounds of it, that Syaoran seemed unharmed. "Where are you? The portal closed behind you and I could sense you but I couldn't pinpoint where you are."

Fai was scooting very close to listen to the curious noises coming out of the phone. Syaoran had a suspicion the wizard thought Syaoran's father was in the phone. He moved away so Fai's face would not brush his own. "Fluorite, please, I have a girlfriend. I'm not gay. Yue?"

"…What was that?"

"Some guy, doesn't know what a cell phone is. You can sense me?" That was encouraging. "I need help. I'm stuck in a realm that's also called Tokyo and there's someone named Ichihara Yuuko. The names sound Japanese, even if they don't actually speak Japanese."

"…Ichihara Yuuko?"

"Uh…someone also called her the Dimension Witch? The Eastern—no, the Far Eastern Witch. She said she can send me home but it would require a lot of detours, and I also have to pay a price. Which I don't want to pay."

"What price?"

"My magic." That was not happening for a variety of reasons, but most importantly because if he gave up his magic, he would be killing Yue.

There was a long silence on the other end of the line.

"You're with the Dimension Witch?" Yue sounded baffled. "How on earth did you end up there?"

Anxiety coiled in Syaoran's gut. "I'm in trouble, aren't I?"

"Well, it's going to be difficult to get you back. Especially from there—the Dimension Witch is a very powerful sorceress, and her realm is very far from ours. Transporting people from any realm is difficult as it is, but hers—as far as I recall, it's far."

Well, I'm not getting any homework done anytime soon. "This is not my fault," He complained.

Yue was not listening. Someone was talking to him, and he covered the phone to talk back. Fai had leaned close again, though this time he was keeping a discrete distance, so Syaoran allowed him to indulge in this curiosity. Meanwhile, the ninja-warrior, Kurogane, was scowling as hard as he could as he tried to bargain with Ichihara, who was watching Syaoran with something like fond amusement. Syaoran caught words like Tomoyo-hime and asserted that he really really wanted to go home.

"We're going to call Eriol. Can you stay on the line?"

"I'm apparently not going anywhere!"

"Don't worry, Xiaolang, we're going to get you home," Yue promised. There was something reassuring about having him say that, even if Syaoran knew logically that Yue had no more guarantees than Syaoran did.

"Syaoran-kun?"

"Sakura."

"Gomen nasai! It happened so fast—"

"It's not your fault, don't worry." Syaoran spent the next minute reassuring her. At this point, Fai had gotten over his curiosity and was just watching him with amusement. Syaoran found this a little puzzling. What's so amusing about me talking on the phone? Maybe it did look funny to people without phones.

"You are a lot stronger than I expected you to be," Ichihara said to him when there was a break in the phone conversation.

"Oh?"

The witch nodded. "Then again, many things happened in your realm that I had not expected."

Syaoran found this interesting. "Do you know of all of them?"

"Not all," Said the witch, "But I am somewhat familiar with your world, yes. It goes to show, for all our wisdom, the universe is far greater than our mortal minds can comprehend. You are weaker than you usually are, however. I expect it is because you are sustaining your parent across realms."

Syaoran narrowed his eyes. Where was this all going? She is not going to attack me or something right? Seemed awfully strange to do when she had waited for his cell phone call. Besides, as far as he knew, the Li clan never crossed with anyone outside their own dimension. Not someone from a real dimension, anyway.

Sakura suddenly came back on the line. "Syaoran, how much magic do you need?"

"…" Syaoran blinked. "How am I supposed to quantify the amount of magic that I need to hop through dimensions? I mean, it's big enough that I can't use any of mine without risking Yue. I don't know if that gives you any idea."

Sakura broke away to discuss in the background.

"Are we seriously going to wait for this kid?" Kurogane demanded, frowning frightfully.

"Patience, my guest," Ichihara replied, "He is more of an ally than you may realize."

"I don't need allies. I need to get back home."

Sakura came back on the line. "How about this, Syaoran, three cards."

Syaoran blinked. "…Nani?!"

"The Hope is really two cards in one, and the two most powerful cards besides—" Someone said something to Sakura, possibly Kero. "Well the deck was fine even without the Nothing and when it fused with Love everything canceled out so I don't know what you mean by 'balance the deck'. Hoe? Well I guess I'll make another if it's really necessary. Iie, but we need to get him home."

"How are you even going to transport your cards here?" Syaoran's mind was still spinning from what his girlfriend was offering to do. "And this is stupid, you shouldn't be paying for an accident. Whoever caused this mess should be paying for it. I certainly didn't arrive here because I had some wish."

Ichihara smiled at this, but said nothing.

"Well when you find whoever caused this mess, be sure to get them to pay up front and get my cards back. Consider this a loan."

"Can that even work?" Syaoran looked up at Ichihara and asked her this."

"Hmmm…" The witch hummed thoughtfully. "The price being paid is not for my own pleasure, Li-san. It is used to power your wish. However, in this case, since your effective wish is merely to tag along with the others until you arrive home, and you were indeed not sent here on purpose…I will allow it. Tell the Card Mistress that her cards will be safe in my possession…until you find whatever caused you to arrive here."

Kurogane huffed in annoyance. He had already given his sword, which he relinquished with profound displeasure, and vowed to return to find it. Fai seemed to be mouthing the words 'Card Mistress'. Syaoran hoped he was just as curious about the title as he had been about the cell phone, and he did not actually know what a Card Mistress was. He had no idea what it meant if it was the latter.

Add another thing to the list of 'things I have to do'. Alright, Syaoran related what Ichihara told him. He felt a little better about this arrangement. "So Hope, since you're not likely to use it…but are you sure you don't want to hold onto it just in case?"

"I have fifty other cards. I'll think of something. I'm keeping Flower though. I've used it before, it's the only thing that works for last-minute bouquets."

Syaoran rolled his eyes, but she was right about that.

"I will give you the Wave, no reason to hold onto it if I have Watery already. Bubbles, since you pointed out I don't need it. The Sweet, because I have no intention of giving anyone diabetes."

"Ha!" Syaoran loved Sakura.

"So that's four, actually. The Twin, I don't even know what that is for—"

"Sakura, you don't need to hand over half the deck—"

"I will accept five cards," Ichihara interrupted, "And a token, from you."

"What token?"

Ichihara smiled grimly. "Since you have the combined powers of your own magic and half of Clow Reed's, you are best suited for a task I must complete. Upon your return to your world, when all this is settled, there will come a time when I request a favor from you. I want your vow that you will give it."

Syaoran frowned. "What favor?"

"It will be revealed, in time."

He frowned even further. "You're asking for a blank check."

"What's going on, Syaoran?"

Kurogane groaned when Syaoran related this to his family. "Kid can't even make up his own mind? Seriously? He has to consult with that little box of his for every decision?"

"It's some kind of communicator," Fai explained, "I want one of those."

"Who is he communicating to?"

"His parents, I believe. And perhaps some sister."

Syaoran made a face at this. Yue had flipped out when he learned that in addition to pedophilia—Fujitaka had been a high school teacher who married his student when she was sixteen—Sakura's family also had a case of unfulfilled incest, by the manner of Sonomi and Nadeshiko. It was not something he ever intended to share with his girlfriend, but he found the whole matter disturbing himself. At least Sakura did not seem prone to falling in love with Tomoyo. He supposed he would have to watch out for Touya. Good heavens, what if he is waiting…ugh, ew ew ew ew ew—

"No way," Yue's voice was adamant. "Syaoran, don't you dare agree to it—"

"Syaoran, I'll hand over however many cards it takes to get you home—"

"You don't make that kind of vow lightly,"
Yue went on, "And you can't break out of it. If later on she has you do something reprehensible, you can't back out. No deal."

Ichihara, once again, seemed aware of what was going on. "I will not compel you to do anything that goes against your values, Li-san."

"All of them or some of them?" Syaoran asked astutely, "And would you swear that in turn?"

"All of them," The witch said readily, "And I will do so, before you do. Is that fair?"

I doubt this is what Eriol meant when he told me to make magical connections. Syaoran related this to the other side again.

Yue was still dubious, but less firm about this decision. "I do not like it, but from appearances it is acceptable."

"Eriol-kun said it is acceptable. He said the Dimension Witch is not evil. Which is a relief for us,"
Sakura sounded wry.

"So five cards and a favor from me? We're in agreement then?"

"Hai. And we'll try to draw you from whichever realm you're in that is accessible to me. I'll work on that."

"How are you even going to get the cards here?"

Ichihara decided to help with that, instructing Syaoran to tell Sakura to place the cards, one at a time, on Yue. Since Yue was a being of magic that had a direct connection to Syaoran, the two could behave like relays for magic. The power of the card would absorb into Yue's body, travel upstream to Syaoran, and supposedly sail out of his aura and accumulate in her dimension.

The first time Sakura tried that was nauseating. Syaoran felt like he had adhesions from his abdominal wounds all over again. The first card was the Wave, which came out of his chest in its spirit form, which splashed everyone except Ichihara. It turned into a card and hovered in front of her. She took it from the air.

"That is one," She said.

Kurogane was cursing, utterly drenched. Fai looked fascinated, though he also seemed a little worried about Syaoran, who felt like all of his blood had pooled into that wave.

"Kami-sama," The boy exclaimed, "That did not feel good."

"Gomen ne…" Sakura was apologetic, "Did it work?"

"Hai it worked. Give me a second, will you?"

Bubbles followed, making Syaoran feel no less nauseous, then Twin, which temporarily made doubles of everyone before accumulating into its card form. Kurogane was especially disturbed by that one. The Sweet, which bounced around, looking especially at Kurogane, whom Syaoran had to admit had the least sweet disposition out of the company. Hope came out, gave Syaoran a kiss on the lips, much to his astonishment and embarrassment, winked at him—it must have been from Sakura—and went obediently to Ichihara.

"What. The. Hell." Kurogane exclaimed when this business was over.

"I had no idea there was magic like that!" Fai exclaimed. "What is this, 'Card Mistress'? How many cards does she have?"

Syaoran was on his knees. "I really hope we don't have to do that again."

The wizard rubbed his back. "You did well, kid. That was amazing!"

"When you are ready," Ichihara announced, "You and I will make our vows, and I will give you the power to go through dimensions."

"Since your price is reduced," Ichihara told Syaoran, "I can only do part of the work for you. Some of your magic still has to be expended to attach yourself to Mokona."

Said creature looked like a white ball of fluff that happened to have long ears like a rabbit. It had a black twin, and the sight of them was so bizarre that Syaoran could not stop staring. These two creatures could easily have been Clow Cards.

"How much magic?" He asked. If it was too much, then he was back to the reason he could not leave the dimension in the first place.

"You should have enough to spare for your parent," The witch told him, "However, I would recommend resting between each stop, to recover your strength. You would not have enough left over for your guardian if you do more than one jump at a time. In addition, whatever sent you to this realm came from one of the realms out there, and it may behoove you to take a look and see if you can find whoever was responsible for sending you here."

That made sense. Syaoran nodded.

Mokona took an instant liking to Syaoran, opting to sit on his head and mess up his hair with its paws. The little creature had a great deal of magic, which only bemused him further. Fai, easy-going and light as air, clapped a hand on his shoulder, while Kurogane made a point of staying away. Which was fine, because Syaoran was not sure he wanted to associate any more than he had to with a potential psychopath. He realized that in addition to getting home, he also had to survive his companions.

This was going to be a long trip.

Hooking on to Mokona left Syaoran completely winded.

"You have a lot of power!" Fai exclaimed, "That was a rough ride, but you held on!"

"How long before your magic or whatever recovers?" Kurogane demanded.

Ichihara was right about one thing. Syaoran definitely did not have enough power in him for another trip in a row. Not without risking Yue. "At least a day," He told the warrior. "I'll let you know. You have a woman to get back to, so do I. We might even get picked up here, and then my girlfriend and I can try to send you…wherever your place is."

Kurogane snarled.

Guy needs to get a sense of humor.

"So where are we right now?"

As the other two tried to figure this out, Syaoran wasted no time giving Yue a call.

"Hi Dad."

"I felt your aura drop."

"Are you alright?"

"I'm fine. I'm more worried about you. Did you make it?"

"Well I'm in another world…"

After everyone assured each other that they were all respectively fine, Syaoran hung up to join his companions, who were talking to a pair from the current world they were in.

"We should get you indoors!" Said the two strangers, leading the way. Fai followed, with a bizarre smile on his face. Kurogane looked annoyed and ready to protest, but Mokona hopped from Syaoran's head to Fai's shoulder, prompting the two others to follow.

Syaoran supposed he should not be entirely surprised that his kudan or whatever it was happened to be a wolf. It was convenient, because he did not want to use his actual magic, especially since it seemed to be regenerating more slowly than usual, but the kudan served as an automatic spell reservoir. On the other hand, it did irk him a little that his two companions had nicer familiars than he did. Kurogane had a dragon, while Fai had some sort of phoenix.

"So where did you two come from?" Fai asked, as they rested in the sitting room of their hosts, the Arisugawas. Once again, Japanese-sounding names, but no Japanese language.

Kurogane responded by leaving the room, wordlessly announcing that he had no intention of breaking any ice with his companions.

"Awkward," Syaoran remarked.

"Very," The wizard agreed. "Well, I guess it's just you and me, Syao-chan."

Syaoran winced. "Can you not call me that? I wouldn't mind, but there use to be this girl who use to call me that." Nakuru had called all three of them: Touya, Yue, and Syaoran, by mocking endearments, thus ruining potentially cute nicknames.

Fai responded with a whistle. "Bad breakup?"

"Of a sort. She wasn't my girlfriend. It's a long story, but the short of it is, she was very annoying, and I never liked her, but she was the sort that could not take a hint, you know?"

"Ah, I know what you mean." Fai nodded.

"What about you?"

"I'm from Celes."

"Not familiar with it."

"Wouldn't expect you to be."

"You were some court wizard? Did you work for a King?"

There was a slight hesitation. "Hai."

"Any girlfriend of your own? Wife, maybe?"

Fai grunted. "Iie." He looked at Syaoran. "So what's that thing you called, a 'cell phone'?"

"Oh." Syaoran took it out to show him. "You were right, it is a communicator of sorts. Normally doesn't work without a satellite, but my girlfriend and I spelled it so that it can work without it. At least, it's linked to her cell phone and my dad's."

Fai examined the device. "So how does this thing work?"

He dreamed that night.

He was on the run. He was starving and thirsty and a headache pounded in his skull. His knees trembled with every step. Behind him, magical auras were approaching.

Please please please please please…

Life had become a blur of madness. No thought, no emotion except fear and desperation, the most basic instincts to live and fight for another breath. He was no better than a wild animal, a young wild animal that had lost its mother and discovered the world to be full of predators.

But panic could only sustain him for so long. Rough hands captured him, covered his face. The spike of fear that shot through him blasted his mind into wakefulness.

It was night. The Hanshin Republic continued its bustle outside, but all was dark. His companions were sleeping.

Syaoran sat up and rubbed his arms to ease the fright from his muscles. I guess all this dimension-traveling is really getting to me. No Yue to come to him and reassure him.

He could always call.

I'm no longer a kid though. Syaoran could not always go to his guardian every time he had a nightmare. And this one was alright, really. It did not get too far.

I need a drink of water.

"So that is the general store, has everything from clothes to food to medicine, you name it, they have it, and that over there is some beauty parlor for women…"

Syaoran was distracted. There was something odd about this world, now that he was out on a tour. It felt like a light remnant of the portal that had taken him to Ichihara.

Kurogane loomed over him like a shadow. "What are you twitching for?"

Syaoran was a little cowed. "…I'm twitching?"

He was met with a flat glare.

Really needs to lighten up. Syaoran was not going to take chances with someone who clearly had no qualms about slaughtering people, though. He did need to defend one point, however. "I don't twitch. I just sense something, it is very faint. I'm not sure what it is."

Mokona bobbed its ears up and down. "Syaoran-kun senses something?"

This caught Fai's attention, as well as the Arisugawa. "Eh?"

Syaoran wanted to slap his forehead. "It's probably nothing, but I feel the tinges of the same magic that had pulled me to Ichihara. I'm not sure though. It's too faint. I might just be imagining things."

"Ooh. I would keep that in mind," Fai declared, "This one's no runt. We'll keep a lookout for you, Syaoran-san." Ever since explaining to him why he did not like the nickname, Fai had been considerate and called him properly, though he did not relent on Kurogane. It was nice to see that the wizard was not afraid of the warrior. That made one of them. Maybe it was because Fai was older.

They were taken to a restaurant, where Syaoran experienced another rude shock to his nerves.

"Touya-san!"

"Eh?" The man who resembled Touya to the hair blinked in confusion. "Do I know you?"

Well, that is scratch one for stupid things I've done so far. "Oh, you just look like someone I know."

"Someone who also happens to be named Touya?" Asked the fair-haired young man with glasses.

Syaoran played along. "What a coincidence."

This world's Touya, at least, seemed as disinterested in smalltalk as Syaoran's own. "Are you ready to order?"

Fai elbowed Syaoran in the ribs, chuckling. Syaoran set his head down on the table when the waiters left, with the fair-haired man, Yukito, making fun of Touya's "now un-original name".

"It's alright," Said the wizard, "This sort of thing happens."

"You should be more careful what you blurt out," Kurogane scolded.

"Oh come, Kuro-puu, not like any real harm could have come out of that."

"Do not call me that!"

Syaoran raised his head. "I am really ready to go home now."

His cell phone rang. Everyone looked at him for a moment as he stared at it.

It was Sakura.

"You're still too far," She told him, "You need to go somewhere else."

Syaoran muttered something ungracious. "Guess what," He changed the topic, "I saw your brother just minutes ago."

"…Hoe?"

"Splitting image, kind of creepy, has similar mannerisms too. I really want to get out of here before I meet some other version of you, or heaven forbid, myself." Fai laughed at this.

"Oh. Goodness. Kami—well I can't do anything. You will need to go to another world."

"That's…not going to happen for a while." His magic was nowhere full, and he did not want to risk Yue in any way. "Where's Otou-san?"

"Resting. He's at my place. He didn't want to drain you in case you come up against something dangerous."

Syaoran grinned wryly at this. Here he was, trying to conserve his powers so that his guardian was alright, and Yue was back home trying to conserve powers so that he was alright.

"Any luck finding out what sent you away in the first place?"

Syaoran frowned at this. "I might. Will get back to you on that. I'll call again when we shift worlds, but it might not be for a while."

"Daijoubu. Eriol-kun is arriving soon, we'll let you know if we come up with something."

"Sure."

He hung up.

"All is well on the home front?" Fai inquired, as Mokona munched on the food in front of them.

"They're not the ones hopping around worlds with totally different rules of metaphysics."

"True," The wizard chuckled with good humor.

Different rules of metaphysics also meant different rules of culture. It was not long before the supposed gang rivalry system that predominated the realm found them, and Syaoran was forced to face the confrontation—not that it was particularly difficult or costly, he just used his kudan. It did slow down his recovery, however, and in the meantime he determined that…no, whatever he had sensed earlier when they were sightseeing was no longer there.

"The thing moves?" He complained to Fai, "That's going to make it even harder to trace." He wanted to go home, but he also wanted to get Sakura's cards back. Especially since the Hope was not a trivial card to give up.

"You'll find it," The wizard assured him, "If it's yours, it's yours. Don't worry."

"Easy for you to say," Syaoran muttered moodily, and prepared to latch on to Mokona as they entered another world.