Archive of Our Own ^beta

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The day after Sakura had the vision about their son was ordinary. They went over their day as if the universe hadn't just set a timer on their fates.

Sakura is pretending to sleep beside him. Tsubasa is curled on his chest. His son. His real self.

"What shall we do now?" He asks almost to himself.

"What we have been doing so far," Sakura whispers back, defeated but resolute. "Raise him, love him."

Syaoran hums. It's not like they can do anything else. The wheels of time are in motion. He holds his son closer, and tries to sleep.

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The ruins are eerily quiet, the gentle fall of the water and their own ragged breaths echoing soothingly across the pools. It is a stark contrast to the hell that was unleashed minutes before. 

Fai breathes, looking down at the sleeping girl in his arms. He sweeps her tears gently. Fai’s own battered body is gently washed by the water, blood tainting it pink. 

He looks up to Kurogane, holding an equally unconscious Syaoran. They share a weary but relieved nod as they hear footsteps getting closer.

They're out of fate's hands, their future unknown. But for now, they’re okay. 

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Across universes, a woman prepares for her delayed departure.

Humans weave their own destiny, their decisions threading the tapestry of time. However, time is a thread that they can only weave forward. 

Humans are stubborn, though. One has managed to tangle the thread to the point of collapse. 

A man waits for his plan to be fulfilled. Two mirror beings are ready to collect their wish. Two men who changed their fate once are ready to do it again. 

A boy that shouldn’t exist begins to finish what he started. Love tangled the tapestry, and love will unravel it again.

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Foolish are those who presume to control other people’s fates. 

A man sets a plan in motion: Tricks a boy to break time to save his precious person. Makes copies, artificial puppets to carry out his will. Shapes two pawns, even though one slips from his hands. 

The plan unravels once it’s set in motion.

The copies become children, growing hearts that no magic can destroy. The pawn goes off script, helped along by a girl meant to be a prop and the blood and limb of the infiltrate. Fate can only fall short in the face of hearts intertwined. 

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"Another birthday comes and goes…" Fai muses as they lie in bed, tracing the shape of his face with his finger. 

Kurogane hums. He's forty-five now, and he's starting to feel the weight of age on his weary muscles.

Fai's eyes have that faraway look he spots when noticing the signs of age on his lover's body. He holds his gaze, shaking his head minutely. Not the time. 

Fai lets it go and smirks, "You're still so young though, not even 50 and already a foxy grandpa." 

His husband's laughter gets smothered by the pillow he throws at his face.

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Syaoran extends his hand to her, a warm smile and tender eyes just like before—

“I’m so sorry,” And he says it so ruefully, and she’s missed his voice, missed him, and there’s something wrong —

She steps closer, hope heavy in her bones as the water below her swallows her feet. Maybe...

“Sakura.” Her name feels like a melody in his lips —

She freezes. He wouldn’t call her that. 

She staggers back, familiar yet foreign hands helping her back to shore. Sirens, the locals had warned. 

“Are you alright?” A phantom voice asks her, and she chokes on a sob.

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“They must be a protection charm…” The kid murmured, looking at one of the many dragon busts they had passed by after training. 

“How can you tell?”

“Well, all of them have the same design, right?” The kid started excitedly. “The placement of…” A pause. His cheeks flushed as he looked down. “Sorry, I’m rambling…”

Kurogane scowled. The kid couldn’t talk about his life much, not with the nature of his price. Kurogane could see how it pained him, to swallow down the words burning at his throat. 

“Placement of what?” He hid a smile when the kid’s eyes gleamed.

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Sometimes, Fai’s mind awakes, but his body doesn’t. Stuck in his own mind, with only fear as company.

Well, only fear and him .

Today he’s perched atop a wardrobe in the corner of the room. He can barely see him, but his presence is oppressing, as if he were pinning Fai down himself.  

He never says anything. He just watches Fai, his face hidden by his bony knees. Unkept hair tangles around him like withered vines. 

I’m sorry , Fai wants to plead, but his mouth won’t move an inch.

Blue eyes bore into him. 

Fai can’t do anything but repent.

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Worlds without magic were troublesome, Sakura decides as she rushes forward, scrambling for an explanation as to why Mokona just jumped into the table of a group of girls.

“I’m so sorry! I accidentally flung my .... pouch here.” She eventually settles on. 

The girls seem to buy it however. They pick Mokona up, gushing over how cute it was as Mokona did the best to lie very still. Sakura exhaled in relief. 

“It’s so tiny! What do you even keep in there?” One of them asks as she hands Mokona back to Sakura. 

“Uhh…” Sakura mumbles.

“Swords!” Mokona whispers helpfully.

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Sharing drinks with Kurogane, Fai finds himself comfortable in their newly-found camaraderie. The feeling sits heavy in his chest, as if his ribcage will burst with the pressure. 

Fai doesn’t know where it started. He does know it won’t change anything.

They have common grounds now. Be it the kids, be it that they are the only support they have, but here they are. 

It’s new and fragile. It’s pointless. As fake as all Fai builds. 

(it’s oh so real. It scares him)

He pulls his best smile as he drinks and teases, ignoring the panic deep in his gut.