CCS: Shadow of the Moon
Mar. 12th, 2014 10:47 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
aegistheia posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
aegiscryptTitle: Shadow of the Moon
Rating: PG
Genre: General
Word Count: ~3000
Warnings: Spoilers for the manga ending of TSUBASA: RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE.
Also Archived On: Livejournal; Archive of Our Own.
Summary: Magic connects, and amplifies fallout. Touya deals with the aftereffects of an interdimensional fight. Or something. He’ll think about it once his head stops ringing like a struck gong.
Series: Part 3 of the Moonscale Universe series.
A.N.: I should not have finished both TRC and xxxHOLiC in one go. WTF, CLAMP! Way to drive me into writing therapy fic.
Touya jerks awake, disoriented and disconcerted as he hadn’t been since his first full moon with magic.
He fumbles the blanket aside and sits up. Yue is hovering by the window, staring out into the perfectly ordinary night sky that feels anything but. “Do you feel that?” Touya blurts, then knuckles his temple. The Lady Dark has trained him to gather his counterbalance before he even thinks to swear, but his brain’s still not waking up fast enough—
“Yes. Anyone with magical potential will feel that.”
“Yeah, sorry, I meant— was that Clow Reed?”
A flicker passes over Yue’s face. “Yes. And no. This is Reed magic.”
“What?” His head is pounding, and he’s certain it’s not because of his brutal awakening. Or drugs. Plus, the moon is only in its first quarter—
“Reed magic. Clow Reed is from a magical family. He had relatives and descendants capable of—”
Magic pulses, strongly enough to interrupt Yue and practically rip the hackles from Touya’s neck. It also thoroughly ruins his counterbalance; he almost falls off the bed from the backlash. “What in the name of— wait, you said anybody with magical potential?”
“Yes.”
“What about Sakura?” Tension draws his voice tight; he has to force the next words out past a narrowing throat. “Is she safe? Should you go to her?”
“She is safe for now. She is protecting Li Syaoran and Cerberus against the worst of the fallout.”
Touya scowls reflexively at the mention of the brat, but mostly to fight against the wash of relief. It’s promptly followed by a deeper frown; if even Syaoran needs protection... no wonder his own efforts are so ineffective. “But wouldn’t you feel this more strongly than your other Guardian?” Moon magic is more susceptible to inconstancies, due to its nature as a magic without a self-generating source. Or so the Lady Dark says.
“I would. I do.”
Touya flinches as another throb blurs his vision, disintegrating the dregs of his recovering counterbalance. “Then maybe you should go to Sakura after all. She’ll be able to shield you.”
“The—” Yue shivers once, violently. Touya braces himself with a gasp as the universe shivers with them. “The fluctuations are centred around my Mistress and Li Syaoran. She bade me stay. In addition, it is no longer wise to travel, in our conditions.”
“I hear you,” Touya grits. Clow Reed’s magic is thrumming in the air as though all the centuries of his machinations in the world have come to answer a reckoning. Or Reed magic, whatever. They’d be lucky if it doesn’t make Touya’s magic take his head off mid-stride to Sakura’s. Speaking of which— “What about the reincarnations? Father? Hiiragizawa?”
“They, too, are safe for now.” Yue’s wings flare into perception with a snap Touya can feel in his bones. “They will develop their own protection.”
“All right. We’ll figure ourselves out on our own, then.” If he can figure out up from down, that is. “How’re you holding up?”
“I am functional. However, I do not know how long I will manage to stay this way.”
“Would changing to Yukito help?”
“No.” Yue pauses to breathe as another surge threatens to flatten them. Flatten Touya, at least. Good thing he’s already on the bed. “I know how to mitigate some of the side effects of unstable magic. My alternate form does not.”
“All right. I can’t seem to generate the counterbalance properly, but I think... Can you please come closer? Let me tr— hah, gods— Let me try again with more psychic mass, see if it can increase the gravitational force I can summon. Maybe it’ll help the both of us.”
Yue pushes off the window sill after taking one last glance outside. He lays his hand in Touya’s just as the next swell hits.
In the part of his brain that is still capable of remembering how to think, he’s grateful for the fact that Yue had come close enough to fall onto a soft surface. He breathes out hard, fighting through the riptide currents, reaching deep for the core of will he’d wrangled into being with the Lady Dark’s guidance. Even with Yue’s added magic, he has about as much a chance of balancing out these forces as the stupid stuffed animal resisting Father’s sweets – no, the chance of both Cerberus and Spinel Sun resisting, because apparently the Reed line tended to breed towards sadism, why would somebody make two deadly creatures with equally destructive sugar highs – but he has power. He has an obligation to at least try.
That same part of his brain also registers the fact that he’d pulled Yue painfully tight against him, as tightly as he’s trying to counter the fluxing magic, but he has no idea how to loosen, well, anything. “Can you tell what’s happening?” he rasps, as much to distract himself from the impossibility of his task as to distract Yue.
Yue folds even more tightly against him, wings draped across them like a living duvet. “Interdimensional magic. The worlds are collapsing into each other, and time is being destroyed. I don’t know— this is beyond my understanding.”
Oh, excellent. Of course everything being wrecked is under the domain of the Lady Dark, first under the domain of the Moon. “Has magic ever bothered defining its Schwarzchild radius,” Touya snarls.
“No,” Yue informs him, muffled against his shoulder.
“Of course not.” It must be bad, if even Yue’s budding sarcasm hadn’t taken the perfect opportunity to make its obligatory shot at the General Theory of Relativity; Yue is surprisingly opinionated on current theories of astrophysics. “Hang on.”
Yue’s magic unfurls at his touch and—
The world is gone. Space-time is ripping apart within his chest, destiny turning inside out, the impossible weight of black holes crushing through him, the inertia of broken physical laws a great drowning wave of incomprehension—
No. Digging his metaphorical heels in, Touya wrenches back against the relentless grind. I will not lose myself to this. I will not lose us to this. He still doesn’t understand magic. But he has never needed to understand something first before fighting against it. Even if existence itself feels as though it’s squeezing itself flat and fitting everything into a warping sheet of cellophane. All he has to do is hold on—
Light. Blessed, warm light, flooding their very beings, washing out the cruel tear of the universe fracturing around them.
Touya lets the sheer relief drop him into unconsciousness.
-----
He wakes to the distinctly unpleasant sensation of his head feeling like it had been cracked open like an egg and its contents scrambled, fried, and stuffed back into his skull. Both he and Yue are, however, still breathing, and still in whole pieces, on the bed they had collapsed upon, so they must have survived The End of the World As They Knew It. The magic seems to have settled down as well, but everything feels staticky, as though somebody had rubbed the cosmic magical alignments together very vigorously before pulling it apart.
Well. He’s had worse, like that one time he concussed himself in middle school—
Oh— well, it’s good to see nothing really changes between universes.
Touya jerks his head up, neck prickling, because in the echo of the static is a voice that sounds like-but-not-like Yukito.
The face that looks back at him is hovering in a borderless, slightly unfocused circle, as though they are observing each other through a scratched pane of glass in the middle of the room. But it is unmistakably Yukito. Yukito, dressed in foreign robes and holding what looks like a staff he could use for spells and for braining people at a distance. So... not Yukito. Especially as Yue is still passed out beside him, spread wings and all.
Touya concludes that his mind has officially declared itself mad and hared off to holiday. Maybe it really had been scrambled after all...
You’re not hallucinating, Not Yukito says helpfully, after a wide-eyed moment of his own.
Thank you, Touya manages not to say with every speck of sarcasm that could be dredged from his mental wreck.
Not Yukito has the temerity to laugh. Oh, I’m glad the translation charm works! You really are just like His Royal Highness.
His Royal Highness?
Touya’s brain is already whirring with the implications that:
1. Not Yukito can read his mind, or at the very least hear his projected mental voice. Assuming he isn’t delusional, Touya can certainly hear his.
2. Not Yukito knows a Prince.
3. The Prince is apparently quite similar to him, and Yukito is a fine judge of character. The Yukito he knows, at least.
Yue had said worlds.
Touya drags himself upright with that thought bouncing around his aching mind. Don’t tell me you’re from a different world.
I do believe I am, Not Yukito says brightly.
Later, Touya will marvel at how quickly his insane, vacationing brain can still function so well. So there are multiples of a person across different worlds?
You’re just as quick as His Royal Highness, too. If you don’t mind my presuming, your name is Touya?
And you’re Yukito.
I am. A pleasure to make acquaintance with you, Touya of an Other World.
Not Yukito gets rebranded to Other Yukito with alacrity. Nice to meet you, too. Why are you here? What are you looking for?
Ah... I’m at my lessons now, and the High Priestess is teaching me scrying.
A frisson of dread runs up Touya’s spine. To take stock of other worlds? Check the damage from... whatever just happened?
Other Yukito gives him a keen, thoughtful look. Well, that, too. But I really am at my lessons! Don’t worry; your world is unharmed. He pauses then, a complex series of expressions flitting across his face that Touya can’t immediately decipher; it’s as effective as a dose of Hiiragizawa’s disconcerting tea. This isn’t his Yukito, all right. Do you have a sibling in this world?
Touya starts to frown. Yes. Sakura. Do you have a Syaoran in your world, too?
Yes. How are they, in your world?
To my awareness, they should have been protecting each other. Why?
I’m taking stock, remember? I’m glad to hear that they are safe. No, no, he adds hastily when Touya reaches for his phone, probably reading the lines of intent in his movements, perhaps you should check later.
Touya stares. Why did you ask, then? What happened? ...What’s wrong?
Other Yukito’s eyes widen. What? What do you mean?
You look sad.
I see... I’m fine, and if your world’s Sakura and Syaoran had taken protective measures, then they should be as you say. His Royal Highness has astute senses; I believe you would also know if Sakura was in any danger.
Touya takes a deep breath. He can’t explain why he already trusts a Yukito he doesn’t know, but he’s not about to trust that trust. Yuki— Yukito-san. If I don’t get a good explanation within the next few answers I am going to wake them up to make sure they’re okay. What. Happened.
Other Yukito’s mouth twists. Someone tried to make an impossible wish come true. Our world’s Sakura and Syaoran was caught in the backlash, and because of the nature of the magic involved, it had an interdimensional impact.
And that had been Reed magic. Damn. Not only did his ancestors breed sadistic, they bred insane.
The damage was reversed, but at a price. However, I do not believe that it had been collected from this dimension. Other Yukito pauses to smile at Yue, still insensate and curled by his side. I would wager that the two of them are very tired, after the ordeal. I suggested that you delay only because they would probably appreciate the rest.
And what of your world? Your Sakura and Syaoran? How are they?
They are alive and physically uninjured, but beyond that... I don’t know. It’s too soon to tell.
Touya frowns. That Sakura would suffer, in any world... Is there anything I can do?
Not for ours, no. All you can do is love yours, for as long as you can. Yukito glances at Yue again, the corner of his mouth twitching. Thank you for taking care of him.
You— In retrospect, Touya shouldn’t have been surprised. This is Yukito, after all. Scrambled, fried, and stuffed back, indeed. His mind has also probably been seasoned, too, to taste. By some laughing Reed ancestor, if his luck is running as it is. You know who this is?
Magic does not lie. Apparently all Yukitos have the same wistful smiles. Sakura appears to be extraordinarily powerful in any dimension. She has had to support him for a very long time, hasn’t she? I am thankful that he – that I – can still be by your side, and by hers, in this world.
It is our honour to be able to love you in any incarnation, in any dimension. Touya leans forward, willing Other Yukito to understand. We are thankful that you are here.
...Apparently all Yukitos blush the same way, as well. Thank you.
At his side, Yue stirs. “I am here...” he murmurs, “what are you talking about?”
Touya strokes back silver hair from Yue’s face. “Did I wake you? Sorry.” I guess I projected a little too hard.
No. Other Yukito looks amused. You’re still drawing from his magic. He doesn’t have to try to hear us.
Touya blinks. I am?
Yue evidently recovers faster than Touya. He hadn’t even moved to sit up when he stiffens. “Is that...”
“My name is Yukito,” says Other Yukito out loud; his inflection is almost but not quite identical to his Yukito, making Touya twitch again. “It is an honour to meet you!”
Yue combs his hair back, drawing himself upright in a gesture that makes Touya’s mouth run dry. His eyes are careful mirrors, as blank as a muffled scream. “Well met. I am named Yue, in this world.”
“Yue...” Other Yukito opens his mouth, then closes it, eyes gentling. “A great honour, indeed,” he replies, softer than starlight. Touya lays a hand on the small of Yue’s back, unable to offer much more. Yukito is, as usual, mostly right again; nothing really does change between universes. For better or for worse.
“Hey,” Touya says, quietly.
The little shake Yue gives himself trembles its way up Touya’s arm. “It is, yes,” he replies, wrapped in the calm of a forest lake. His wings shift against Touya’s shoulders, restlessly, before stilling. “Not many are given the chance to meet themselves across dimensional boundaries.”
Other Yukito tilts his head, the same little heart-wrenching smile making a repeat appearance. “My scrying exercise is scheduled to end in a few moments. But perhaps... we could converse again at a different time?”
Touya has, to date, not actually done much with his magic beyond modulating it against the moon’s intrinsic fluctuations. So it’s more than a little shocking to feel Yue reaching with his power – fitting his power – against Other Yukito’s portal-gateway-thing. Other Yukito’s startled breath vibrates across the inside of his skull. “I’d like that,” Yue murmurs.
Predictably enough, Other Yukito smiles like the sunrise. “I’m glad. Please take care.” The warmth of his joy lingers even as his image dissipates into the air without a trace.
Touya’s hand fists in Yue’s tunic. “Yue, that Yukito—”
“It was just one world out of many possibilities,” Yue says, subdued but steady. “I realize that.”
Touya frowns at him, smoothing an unruly lock of hair back from Yue’s guarded eyes. Other Yukito’s yielding grace flashes unbidden through his mind. “All right,” he relents. “But just— stay? Just for the morning, at the very least? Yukito would have wanted you to stay, too.”
Yue closes his eyes briefly, but sways towards Touya all the same. “All right.”
“Good. So do you know what had happened back... then? When the world was imploding on us?” Touya’s curiosity might be a wary thing, but it is far from dead.
Yue mulls this over. “I do believe that Mistress Sakura had stabilized the Dark by summoning the Light. Interesting.”
Touya crosses his arms. “That reminds me. That Yukito suggested that I check on them after they’ve slept. What do you think? Is Sakura and the brat all right?”
“They are fine, merely weary. Mistress Sakura, especially so; she must have sent aid when she sensed you using her power.”
Scrambled, fried, seasoned, and missing a mouthful too, because laughing Reed ancestors probably also enjoy confusing their descendants. Great, now he’s thinking of zombies. “What?”
The edges of Yue mouth flickers into something approximating a smile. Touya can only stare. “Psychic mass cannot be borrowed at a distance. You have learned to augment your magic by drawing power from nearby sources.”
“Erm.” Touya shifts. Okay. Right, he’s still drawing from Yue. One step at a time. “I think I’d like to learn how to disengage now, then.”
A fine grey eyebrow arches. “Release your gravitational core.”
“...Oh.” He’d held onto his counterbalance so hard he’d actually gone numb. Relaxing his magical deathgrip is almost painful, like stretching out cramping fingers that had been locked into position for days. Touya winces. “Did I hurt you?”
Yue lays a hand on his chest. Warmth spreads through him in tandem with the burgeoning relief. “You hurt yourself first,” he says quietly. “Don't worry about me.”
“Yue,” Touya says, a trifle sharper.
Yue sighs. “I am unharmed. It will take far more power than what you can currently draw to affect me.”
“I’m just glad you’re not hurt. Thank you for... whatever you just did.” Touya wraps a careful hand around Yue’s elbow, pulling him closer so he can drape his other arm over his waist. “I’ve been thinking in increasingly disturbing food analogies all morning, so I think it’s a sign that my body wants breakfast. Would you like to eat something?”
Yue shakes his wings out thoughtfully. “Can we have eggs?”
He ends up spending the rest of the breakfast preparation giving Touya strange looks as Touya grumbles about Reed insanity thinking alike. The smell of eggs and an overabundance of crumpets, proper Western fare to emphasize exactly how abnormal this entire event had been, barely makes him feel any more charitable about possibly mad ancestors.
Oh, well. Touya’s had worse mornings.
“Oi!” The stuffed animal is extraordinarily loud and instantly recognizable, even over the jubilant slam of the front door being opened with more force than required. “Sakura-chan and Syaoran ain’t in no shape to cook today, so— hey, did you make breakfast already? Got extra ta feed the magnificent me, the mightiest Sun Guardian in existence?”
Even if Touya has to challenge fate to ensure that. “Take the honey away,” he hisses. Yue is already moving for the bottle. Magic-induced insanity or no, at least there is some benefit to thinking alike. If they can survive a surprise visit from Cerberus in search for food, they can surely survive even a magical – or zombie – apocalypse.
Shaking his head, Touya takes a bite of his eggs, leaving Yue to deal with his fellow Guardian. The extraordinary morning is fast turning into an ordinary one, and he wouldn’t give anything up for that.
-fin-
Rating: PG
Genre: General
Word Count: ~3000
Warnings: Spoilers for the manga ending of TSUBASA: RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE.
Also Archived On: Livejournal; Archive of Our Own.
Summary: Magic connects, and amplifies fallout. Touya deals with the aftereffects of an interdimensional fight. Or something. He’ll think about it once his head stops ringing like a struck gong.
Series: Part 3 of the Moonscale Universe series.
A.N.: I should not have finished both TRC and xxxHOLiC in one go. WTF, CLAMP! Way to drive me into writing therapy fic.
Touya jerks awake, disoriented and disconcerted as he hadn’t been since his first full moon with magic.
He fumbles the blanket aside and sits up. Yue is hovering by the window, staring out into the perfectly ordinary night sky that feels anything but. “Do you feel that?” Touya blurts, then knuckles his temple. The Lady Dark has trained him to gather his counterbalance before he even thinks to swear, but his brain’s still not waking up fast enough—
“Yes. Anyone with magical potential will feel that.”
“Yeah, sorry, I meant— was that Clow Reed?”
A flicker passes over Yue’s face. “Yes. And no. This is Reed magic.”
“What?” His head is pounding, and he’s certain it’s not because of his brutal awakening. Or drugs. Plus, the moon is only in its first quarter—
“Reed magic. Clow Reed is from a magical family. He had relatives and descendants capable of—”
Magic pulses, strongly enough to interrupt Yue and practically rip the hackles from Touya’s neck. It also thoroughly ruins his counterbalance; he almost falls off the bed from the backlash. “What in the name of— wait, you said anybody with magical potential?”
“Yes.”
“What about Sakura?” Tension draws his voice tight; he has to force the next words out past a narrowing throat. “Is she safe? Should you go to her?”
“She is safe for now. She is protecting Li Syaoran and Cerberus against the worst of the fallout.”
Touya scowls reflexively at the mention of the brat, but mostly to fight against the wash of relief. It’s promptly followed by a deeper frown; if even Syaoran needs protection... no wonder his own efforts are so ineffective. “But wouldn’t you feel this more strongly than your other Guardian?” Moon magic is more susceptible to inconstancies, due to its nature as a magic without a self-generating source. Or so the Lady Dark says.
“I would. I do.”
Touya flinches as another throb blurs his vision, disintegrating the dregs of his recovering counterbalance. “Then maybe you should go to Sakura after all. She’ll be able to shield you.”
“The—” Yue shivers once, violently. Touya braces himself with a gasp as the universe shivers with them. “The fluctuations are centred around my Mistress and Li Syaoran. She bade me stay. In addition, it is no longer wise to travel, in our conditions.”
“I hear you,” Touya grits. Clow Reed’s magic is thrumming in the air as though all the centuries of his machinations in the world have come to answer a reckoning. Or Reed magic, whatever. They’d be lucky if it doesn’t make Touya’s magic take his head off mid-stride to Sakura’s. Speaking of which— “What about the reincarnations? Father? Hiiragizawa?”
“They, too, are safe for now.” Yue’s wings flare into perception with a snap Touya can feel in his bones. “They will develop their own protection.”
“All right. We’ll figure ourselves out on our own, then.” If he can figure out up from down, that is. “How’re you holding up?”
“I am functional. However, I do not know how long I will manage to stay this way.”
“Would changing to Yukito help?”
“No.” Yue pauses to breathe as another surge threatens to flatten them. Flatten Touya, at least. Good thing he’s already on the bed. “I know how to mitigate some of the side effects of unstable magic. My alternate form does not.”
“All right. I can’t seem to generate the counterbalance properly, but I think... Can you please come closer? Let me tr— hah, gods— Let me try again with more psychic mass, see if it can increase the gravitational force I can summon. Maybe it’ll help the both of us.”
Yue pushes off the window sill after taking one last glance outside. He lays his hand in Touya’s just as the next swell hits.
In the part of his brain that is still capable of remembering how to think, he’s grateful for the fact that Yue had come close enough to fall onto a soft surface. He breathes out hard, fighting through the riptide currents, reaching deep for the core of will he’d wrangled into being with the Lady Dark’s guidance. Even with Yue’s added magic, he has about as much a chance of balancing out these forces as the stupid stuffed animal resisting Father’s sweets – no, the chance of both Cerberus and Spinel Sun resisting, because apparently the Reed line tended to breed towards sadism, why would somebody make two deadly creatures with equally destructive sugar highs – but he has power. He has an obligation to at least try.
That same part of his brain also registers the fact that he’d pulled Yue painfully tight against him, as tightly as he’s trying to counter the fluxing magic, but he has no idea how to loosen, well, anything. “Can you tell what’s happening?” he rasps, as much to distract himself from the impossibility of his task as to distract Yue.
Yue folds even more tightly against him, wings draped across them like a living duvet. “Interdimensional magic. The worlds are collapsing into each other, and time is being destroyed. I don’t know— this is beyond my understanding.”
Oh, excellent. Of course everything being wrecked is under the domain of the Lady Dark, first under the domain of the Moon. “Has magic ever bothered defining its Schwarzchild radius,” Touya snarls.
“No,” Yue informs him, muffled against his shoulder.
“Of course not.” It must be bad, if even Yue’s budding sarcasm hadn’t taken the perfect opportunity to make its obligatory shot at the General Theory of Relativity; Yue is surprisingly opinionated on current theories of astrophysics. “Hang on.”
Yue’s magic unfurls at his touch and—
The world is gone. Space-time is ripping apart within his chest, destiny turning inside out, the impossible weight of black holes crushing through him, the inertia of broken physical laws a great drowning wave of incomprehension—
No. Digging his metaphorical heels in, Touya wrenches back against the relentless grind. I will not lose myself to this. I will not lose us to this. He still doesn’t understand magic. But he has never needed to understand something first before fighting against it. Even if existence itself feels as though it’s squeezing itself flat and fitting everything into a warping sheet of cellophane. All he has to do is hold on—
Light. Blessed, warm light, flooding their very beings, washing out the cruel tear of the universe fracturing around them.
Touya lets the sheer relief drop him into unconsciousness.
-----
He wakes to the distinctly unpleasant sensation of his head feeling like it had been cracked open like an egg and its contents scrambled, fried, and stuffed back into his skull. Both he and Yue are, however, still breathing, and still in whole pieces, on the bed they had collapsed upon, so they must have survived The End of the World As They Knew It. The magic seems to have settled down as well, but everything feels staticky, as though somebody had rubbed the cosmic magical alignments together very vigorously before pulling it apart.
Well. He’s had worse, like that one time he concussed himself in middle school—
Oh— well, it’s good to see nothing really changes between universes.
Touya jerks his head up, neck prickling, because in the echo of the static is a voice that sounds like-but-not-like Yukito.
The face that looks back at him is hovering in a borderless, slightly unfocused circle, as though they are observing each other through a scratched pane of glass in the middle of the room. But it is unmistakably Yukito. Yukito, dressed in foreign robes and holding what looks like a staff he could use for spells and for braining people at a distance. So... not Yukito. Especially as Yue is still passed out beside him, spread wings and all.
Touya concludes that his mind has officially declared itself mad and hared off to holiday. Maybe it really had been scrambled after all...
You’re not hallucinating, Not Yukito says helpfully, after a wide-eyed moment of his own.
Thank you, Touya manages not to say with every speck of sarcasm that could be dredged from his mental wreck.
Not Yukito has the temerity to laugh. Oh, I’m glad the translation charm works! You really are just like His Royal Highness.
His Royal Highness?
Touya’s brain is already whirring with the implications that:
1. Not Yukito can read his mind, or at the very least hear his projected mental voice. Assuming he isn’t delusional, Touya can certainly hear his.
2. Not Yukito knows a Prince.
3. The Prince is apparently quite similar to him, and Yukito is a fine judge of character. The Yukito he knows, at least.
Yue had said worlds.
Touya drags himself upright with that thought bouncing around his aching mind. Don’t tell me you’re from a different world.
I do believe I am, Not Yukito says brightly.
Later, Touya will marvel at how quickly his insane, vacationing brain can still function so well. So there are multiples of a person across different worlds?
You’re just as quick as His Royal Highness, too. If you don’t mind my presuming, your name is Touya?
And you’re Yukito.
I am. A pleasure to make acquaintance with you, Touya of an Other World.
Not Yukito gets rebranded to Other Yukito with alacrity. Nice to meet you, too. Why are you here? What are you looking for?
Ah... I’m at my lessons now, and the High Priestess is teaching me scrying.
A frisson of dread runs up Touya’s spine. To take stock of other worlds? Check the damage from... whatever just happened?
Other Yukito gives him a keen, thoughtful look. Well, that, too. But I really am at my lessons! Don’t worry; your world is unharmed. He pauses then, a complex series of expressions flitting across his face that Touya can’t immediately decipher; it’s as effective as a dose of Hiiragizawa’s disconcerting tea. This isn’t his Yukito, all right. Do you have a sibling in this world?
Touya starts to frown. Yes. Sakura. Do you have a Syaoran in your world, too?
Yes. How are they, in your world?
To my awareness, they should have been protecting each other. Why?
I’m taking stock, remember? I’m glad to hear that they are safe. No, no, he adds hastily when Touya reaches for his phone, probably reading the lines of intent in his movements, perhaps you should check later.
Touya stares. Why did you ask, then? What happened? ...What’s wrong?
Other Yukito’s eyes widen. What? What do you mean?
You look sad.
I see... I’m fine, and if your world’s Sakura and Syaoran had taken protective measures, then they should be as you say. His Royal Highness has astute senses; I believe you would also know if Sakura was in any danger.
Touya takes a deep breath. He can’t explain why he already trusts a Yukito he doesn’t know, but he’s not about to trust that trust. Yuki— Yukito-san. If I don’t get a good explanation within the next few answers I am going to wake them up to make sure they’re okay. What. Happened.
Other Yukito’s mouth twists. Someone tried to make an impossible wish come true. Our world’s Sakura and Syaoran was caught in the backlash, and because of the nature of the magic involved, it had an interdimensional impact.
And that had been Reed magic. Damn. Not only did his ancestors breed sadistic, they bred insane.
The damage was reversed, but at a price. However, I do not believe that it had been collected from this dimension. Other Yukito pauses to smile at Yue, still insensate and curled by his side. I would wager that the two of them are very tired, after the ordeal. I suggested that you delay only because they would probably appreciate the rest.
And what of your world? Your Sakura and Syaoran? How are they?
They are alive and physically uninjured, but beyond that... I don’t know. It’s too soon to tell.
Touya frowns. That Sakura would suffer, in any world... Is there anything I can do?
Not for ours, no. All you can do is love yours, for as long as you can. Yukito glances at Yue again, the corner of his mouth twitching. Thank you for taking care of him.
You— In retrospect, Touya shouldn’t have been surprised. This is Yukito, after all. Scrambled, fried, and stuffed back, indeed. His mind has also probably been seasoned, too, to taste. By some laughing Reed ancestor, if his luck is running as it is. You know who this is?
Magic does not lie. Apparently all Yukitos have the same wistful smiles. Sakura appears to be extraordinarily powerful in any dimension. She has had to support him for a very long time, hasn’t she? I am thankful that he – that I – can still be by your side, and by hers, in this world.
It is our honour to be able to love you in any incarnation, in any dimension. Touya leans forward, willing Other Yukito to understand. We are thankful that you are here.
...Apparently all Yukitos blush the same way, as well. Thank you.
At his side, Yue stirs. “I am here...” he murmurs, “what are you talking about?”
Touya strokes back silver hair from Yue’s face. “Did I wake you? Sorry.” I guess I projected a little too hard.
No. Other Yukito looks amused. You’re still drawing from his magic. He doesn’t have to try to hear us.
Touya blinks. I am?
Yue evidently recovers faster than Touya. He hadn’t even moved to sit up when he stiffens. “Is that...”
“My name is Yukito,” says Other Yukito out loud; his inflection is almost but not quite identical to his Yukito, making Touya twitch again. “It is an honour to meet you!”
Yue combs his hair back, drawing himself upright in a gesture that makes Touya’s mouth run dry. His eyes are careful mirrors, as blank as a muffled scream. “Well met. I am named Yue, in this world.”
“Yue...” Other Yukito opens his mouth, then closes it, eyes gentling. “A great honour, indeed,” he replies, softer than starlight. Touya lays a hand on the small of Yue’s back, unable to offer much more. Yukito is, as usual, mostly right again; nothing really does change between universes. For better or for worse.
“Hey,” Touya says, quietly.
The little shake Yue gives himself trembles its way up Touya’s arm. “It is, yes,” he replies, wrapped in the calm of a forest lake. His wings shift against Touya’s shoulders, restlessly, before stilling. “Not many are given the chance to meet themselves across dimensional boundaries.”
Other Yukito tilts his head, the same little heart-wrenching smile making a repeat appearance. “My scrying exercise is scheduled to end in a few moments. But perhaps... we could converse again at a different time?”
Touya has, to date, not actually done much with his magic beyond modulating it against the moon’s intrinsic fluctuations. So it’s more than a little shocking to feel Yue reaching with his power – fitting his power – against Other Yukito’s portal-gateway-thing. Other Yukito’s startled breath vibrates across the inside of his skull. “I’d like that,” Yue murmurs.
Predictably enough, Other Yukito smiles like the sunrise. “I’m glad. Please take care.” The warmth of his joy lingers even as his image dissipates into the air without a trace.
Touya’s hand fists in Yue’s tunic. “Yue, that Yukito—”
“It was just one world out of many possibilities,” Yue says, subdued but steady. “I realize that.”
Touya frowns at him, smoothing an unruly lock of hair back from Yue’s guarded eyes. Other Yukito’s yielding grace flashes unbidden through his mind. “All right,” he relents. “But just— stay? Just for the morning, at the very least? Yukito would have wanted you to stay, too.”
Yue closes his eyes briefly, but sways towards Touya all the same. “All right.”
“Good. So do you know what had happened back... then? When the world was imploding on us?” Touya’s curiosity might be a wary thing, but it is far from dead.
Yue mulls this over. “I do believe that Mistress Sakura had stabilized the Dark by summoning the Light. Interesting.”
Touya crosses his arms. “That reminds me. That Yukito suggested that I check on them after they’ve slept. What do you think? Is Sakura and the brat all right?”
“They are fine, merely weary. Mistress Sakura, especially so; she must have sent aid when she sensed you using her power.”
Scrambled, fried, seasoned, and missing a mouthful too, because laughing Reed ancestors probably also enjoy confusing their descendants. Great, now he’s thinking of zombies. “What?”
The edges of Yue mouth flickers into something approximating a smile. Touya can only stare. “Psychic mass cannot be borrowed at a distance. You have learned to augment your magic by drawing power from nearby sources.”
“Erm.” Touya shifts. Okay. Right, he’s still drawing from Yue. One step at a time. “I think I’d like to learn how to disengage now, then.”
A fine grey eyebrow arches. “Release your gravitational core.”
“...Oh.” He’d held onto his counterbalance so hard he’d actually gone numb. Relaxing his magical deathgrip is almost painful, like stretching out cramping fingers that had been locked into position for days. Touya winces. “Did I hurt you?”
Yue lays a hand on his chest. Warmth spreads through him in tandem with the burgeoning relief. “You hurt yourself first,” he says quietly. “Don't worry about me.”
“Yue,” Touya says, a trifle sharper.
Yue sighs. “I am unharmed. It will take far more power than what you can currently draw to affect me.”
“I’m just glad you’re not hurt. Thank you for... whatever you just did.” Touya wraps a careful hand around Yue’s elbow, pulling him closer so he can drape his other arm over his waist. “I’ve been thinking in increasingly disturbing food analogies all morning, so I think it’s a sign that my body wants breakfast. Would you like to eat something?”
Yue shakes his wings out thoughtfully. “Can we have eggs?”
He ends up spending the rest of the breakfast preparation giving Touya strange looks as Touya grumbles about Reed insanity thinking alike. The smell of eggs and an overabundance of crumpets, proper Western fare to emphasize exactly how abnormal this entire event had been, barely makes him feel any more charitable about possibly mad ancestors.
Oh, well. Touya’s had worse mornings.
“Oi!” The stuffed animal is extraordinarily loud and instantly recognizable, even over the jubilant slam of the front door being opened with more force than required. “Sakura-chan and Syaoran ain’t in no shape to cook today, so— hey, did you make breakfast already? Got extra ta feed the magnificent me, the mightiest Sun Guardian in existence?”
Even if Touya has to challenge fate to ensure that. “Take the honey away,” he hisses. Yue is already moving for the bottle. Magic-induced insanity or no, at least there is some benefit to thinking alike. If they can survive a surprise visit from Cerberus in search for food, they can surely survive even a magical – or zombie – apocalypse.
Shaking his head, Touya takes a bite of his eggs, leaving Yue to deal with his fellow Guardian. The extraordinary morning is fast turning into an ordinary one, and he wouldn’t give anything up for that.
-fin-