It's been so long that it's not quite as I had originally pictured it, and I'm not entirely sure the voice/writing style match the first two chapters. But I figured that it had been long enough, and as added incentive I decided that I wouldn't read the new Tsubasa World Chronicle until this was done. Hope you enjoy.

So give me reason
To prove me wrong
To wash this memory clean
Let the floods cross
The distance in your eyes
Give me reason
To fill this hole
Connect this space between
Let it be enough to reach the truth that lies
Across this new divide
-Linkin Park, "New Divide"

The world is ending.

All worlds are shattering and Fei Wang Reed watches, crazed eyes glittering with triumph. Fai and Kurogane attack, again and again as 'Syaoran' fights to reach Sakura. As Sakura's light disappears.

They knew when they made the decision to face this man, that it would not be easy. They will not give up.

But it does not look as though they will succeed, either.

He screams Sakura's name, hoping for…something (for her to move, to wake, to stop her light from disappearing; for the worlds to be whole and healed).

And then Yuuko's magic circle appears, and with it –

Themselves?

It is like looking into a mirror, is his first thought, ("That's…not Sakura…") followed closely by the pang of grief as he remembers their clones. The truth dawns on him slowly, as he swallows back his tears. It has been years since he has seen them, and he has never stopped wishing to see them again. To fall into their arms as though he were once more that innocent child, and feel their love, the comfort and security of their very presence.

"Mother…" he murmurs, "and Father…?"

They look back at him gently, lovingly, and for a moment he allows himself to bask in their smiles and their very presence.

And then he flinches as he senses magic explode from Fei Wang Reed. His mother grasps Sakura's unconscious body, while his father wraps an arm around him as 'Syaoran' concentrates on a shield. The entire group twists to face Fei Wang more directly, and the magic builds and builds until 'Syaoran's skin is almost buzzing with it.

(He knew his parents were powerful, but he never realized just how powerful, and he thinks that it must be enough, that with his parents here and fighting they must win).

Kurogane, Fai, and Mokona are shouting over the chaos, confused and nervous, and perhaps a little awestruck as Sakura and Syaoran each throw out an arm and channel what feels like an ocean of magic into repairing what Fei Wang destroyed. They huff and strain as the shattered worlds slowly, slowly begin to realign.

It is no surprise, then, that no one notices when they first begin to appear. To stand witness. To provide what support they could.

"Oh, Sakura-chan," a teary voice murmurs, near enough that Kurogane and Fai hear and whip around. "Syaoran-kun."

"Tomoyo-chan?" Fai exclaims after a moment of shock.

She stands behind them, eyes wide and fixed on the mirror images above them, hands pressed to her mouth. Her dark purple dress flutters a little in response to the clashing energies.

"How are you here?" Kurogane demands gruffly. She shouldn't be. It is far too dangerous.

"I brought her," a male voice says, and he appears mid-step at Tomoyo's side. His attention appears fixed on the stand-off between the Fei Wang Reed and the two couples above, but his dark eyes flicker over Kurogane, Fai, and Mokona, assessing.

Eriol Hiiragizawa is dressed far more ceremoniously now, in his dark gold and navy robes, a golden staff topped by a sunburst resting in his hand. Fai eyes it with a frown, thinks that something about him or his magic is familiar, something that he had not sensed when they first met not long ago.

"She has no powers, as you know, but I showed her the way in her dreams."

"But why?"

A large, dark cat and a tall, pink-haired woman, both with butterfly wings appear at his back. "To watch. To provide moral support, if you will," the cat says haughtily.

"The dream must end. That's what this is about, isn't it?" another voice says impatiently. Touya, with Yukito at his side, stands slightly away from the group, the former looking up at his sister with a glare that does nothing to hide his fear for her. "And it's about time. That gaki had better protect her and my nephew, and get them through this. After all these years, I'm not letting any of them get away with disappearing again."

"You're here to help?" Mokona asks hopefully.

"Yes," says Fujitaka softly, brow furrowed in worry. "However we can."

'Syaoran' sees them at last, his family, and he gasps in surprise, heart racing at the sight of these long-missed people. His concentration falters, so that a shard slips through the shield and slices a thin line into his father's arm.

"Father!"

"Don't get distracted," his father says sternly, serious eyes boring into his own. "You made the decision back then, didn't you? 'I will not allow Sakura to die. Never.' Do not lose sight of your wish."

"It is my fault that this has come about," Eriol says, and there is an echo of guilt in his words.

"Our fault," Fujitaka corrects sadly. "An honest mistake, but there are always consequences, and these are ours."

"What do you mean?" Kurogane demands crossly. "How can this be your fault?"

"Well," Eriol retracts. "Not ours, not exactly. But it is our responsibility to see it through. To end it."

"You! Impossible!" a voice howls in rage. Fei Wang's attention focuses like a laser on Eriol, who looks like a young Clow Reed and feels like his magic. "Clow!"

"Half his reincarnation," Eriol says with a maddening smirk. "But I understand the confusion."

"You will not stop me! I will not permit your interference! None of you!" And he is dearly tempted to annihilate the infuriating interloper, but he is not so far gone in his madness to abandon the better strategy. His magic explodes from him, tearing violently toward where Sakura and Syaoran are attempting to reverse the damage done.

"Syaoran!" Fai shouts in fear and warning.

Eriol's expression darkens, and he slams his staff into the ground. Ruby Moon and Spinel Sun glow, turn to streaks of light, and dissolve into the staff, so that it shines as bright as a sun. He is too late to beat the attack, but he must trust that 'Syaoran' can hold the shield. Instead, in the aftermath when they will need the energy, he gives to his descendants his magic. The smoke clears and the two boys glow with it, still intact.

"Sakura!" an accented voice shouts, and a small stuffed animal only just emerges from a cocoon of feathers to become a winged lion.

"Mistress," a soft voice breathes, and Kurogane, Fai, and Mokona watch with wide eyes as Yukito transforms into a long-haired man with wings and colder, harder eyes.

"Can the high priest do that too?" Fai wonders out loud, fascinated.

"What are you waiting for Yue?!" Kero exclaims, racing through the air for Sakura and who could be her double. "You're gettin' slow!"

"Some decorum, Keroberos," Yue says, streaking through the air and beginning to overtake his counterpart and brother, but his eyes are fixed on Sakura and a certain desperation is evident in the set of his body.

Despite her look of concentration, the strain of wielding such powerful magic for as long as she has, Sakura smiles, looking upon them with such happiness and love.

They glow and race faster the closer they come to their long-lost mistress, until they are simply two streaks of blinding light that strike her chest with bright flash, and she glows as they augment her power with their own.

Fei Wang is not done with his attack, gathering even more power to strike again, and Fai's attempt to block his magic is more or less batted aside. Kurogane growls, as the aftermath of the magic collisions nearly whip everyone off their feet, and he plants himself more firmly in place, grabbing hold of the mage and the white manju bun. The…visitors, he supposes, seem unaffected. So all of them are dreaming, then. He had suspected.

The dust clears, and Fei Wang's eyes widen in shock and rage when it becomes evident that both Sakuras and Syaorans are unaffected. "Clow's magic circles," he breathes tightly, seeing the shapes of the circles that hover beneath them. "Clow's magic itself."

"We gave it to them," Eriol says serenely, and Fujitaka bows his head slightly in acknowledgement. Eyes narrow at the implication, and the three travelers near them remember his mention of being a half-reincarnation.

Fei Wang attacks again, desperate and with no reason to hold back. It is stronger, again, than previously, and it is enough. Sakura and Syaoran cringe and the rotation stops.

"Resurrection is not possible," Eriol continues. He tilts his head and says sadly, wistfully, "Yuuko is gone. She cannot come back."

"No," Fei Wang Reed says. "No! That was the only proof…that I exceeded Clow. I won't let my plans, all these years and manipulations…it will not be in vain!" He takes from his robes the glass prison, and all who watch suck in a breath in surprise and worry. "Absolutely! I will absolutely revive her! I will turn back time once again with your freedom as the price!"

Sakura and Syaoran remember the agony of waiting, of watching and never ever being able to touch or hear the other, pressing futilely against a sheet of glass and hoping that they can change the future and end the dream.

That they can save the children.

They shout out, all of them, when Fei Wang begins to draw the two couples into the device. Kurogane leaps forward with his sword, Fai draws out his magic, but it is not enough.

Sakura and Syaoran do the only thing they can. Syaoran knocks his son away, and Sakura launches the other 'Sakura' out of range.

They are horrified to feel another hand grasping their wrist at the very last moment.

"No!" the other 'Sakura' says, awake at last. Kurogane and Fai strain to reach them, but there is nothing to be done as they are trapped once again, 'Sakura' and 'Syaoran' with them this time.

But they refuse to be trapped; they choose to move forward, no matter what (break the cycle, break the dream), and the chaos of before is nothing compared to what happens when the four of them gather their power to shatter the prison. It is a chaos that Fai and Kurogane take advantage of, and at last, as his blade slices through flesh and bone, Kurogane has his revenge.

(Eriol and Fujitaka watch in sorrow and pity and regret as Fei Wang Reed dissolves, and for two such dissimilar-looking men, their expressions are eerily alike)

But neither Syaoran emerges, though both Sakuras appear, dazed by their power. Yue and Kero's essences pulse comfortingly in Sakura's heart.

"Sakura!" Eriol shouts urgently. "Quickly, you need to pull them out!"

The woman with the appearance of a young girl snaps to attention, narrowing her eyes. She is exhausted, drained, but she will never let her husband or her son disappear.

"Come on, kaijuu," Touya drawls, unable to completely hide his worry, and sends her the trickle of power that remains in him. "Time to go save that gaki again."

She scowls slightly, automatically protesting, "Not a kaijuu." If their eyes are wet with tears of joy and relief at the once familiar exchange, neither will admit it.

She gives everything she has, everything she has been given, into drawing the two missing boys, and feels their magic reaching out, struggling to return. Something has happened, wherever they are, something is happening, and for a moment she feels the faintest brush of a familiar/unfamiliar power, and her breath hitches when she realizes that it is her other son. She is glad, so glad, that Syaoran can see him, even briefly, and envious that she cannot yet.

'Sakura' and Fai lend her what little strength they have left, and there is a surge of power, a tearing, ripping feeling from the resistance, and she collapses in standing water, barely conscious.

"Sakura!"

"Mother!"

Two similar voices shout, and she half-sobs in relief, struggling to remain conscious. Someone kisses her brow, and the blackness at the edges of her vision recedes. They are in an underground cavern, a cistern perhaps. The world around them is solid and real, and the dream-images of her family are gone. Sakura can barely feel Kero and Yue, but they are still here, and safe.

Syaoran helps her to her feet, and then they are hugging, teary-eyed with relief and grief at all that has passed to bring them to this point, triumphant and exhausted.

"Thank you," Sakura says, to Fai and Kurogona, to Mokona, to 'Sakura'. "Thank you for looking after our son. For loving him."

"Yes," Syaoran echoes, smiling a little at the blushing 'Syaoran'. "Thank you."

Later, when they are more fully recovered, Sakura and Syaoran gather the traveling companions together.

"We cannot stay," Sakura says. "And I know," she addresses her son sadly, "that you cannot stay. But we will see each other again. And until then…"

She holds out her clasped hands, and in them is a feather. 'Sakura' gasps, pressing a hand to her mouth in surprise. "Is that…?"

They turn their attention to Syaoran, who stands across from 'Syaoran' and holds a similar feather delicately in his hand. "Your other selves," he says.

The children reach out, almost as if in a trance, and the feathers immediately absorb into their chests. Fai and Kurogane quickly leap forward to catch them as they begin to collapse, tears slipping from beneath closed eyelids.

"I am sure you will find something in your travels to help them," Sakura murmurs to her son who struggles to remain aware as she strokes 'Sakura's' hair. "After all…

"Everything will definitely be all right."