Prologue: Return To Sender

(Alternative Title: A Perfectly Normal Day)

Gleefully, Rachel pulled her young cousin along by the hand as she looked over the items put up for sale on the garage sale table. The start of their weekend camping trip up to the Black Hills caverns already had the ten-year-old excited, but the fact Rad's parents and hers had stopped when Rachel's mother Joy had spotted the sign in the camper made her downright giddy.

"Don't run off, and make sure you don't let go of Bradley's hand, got it?" Joy asked sternly once the camper had been parked, and Rachel nodded as solemnly as she could for a girl her age that had been given this kind of responsibility. "You can get something you like, but remember to show us first so we know how much it costs, alright?"

"Got it." Rachel had promised and now as she scrutinized the items on the table, she could feel Rad starting to tug on her hand as he attempted to go off on his own. "No, Rad, we have to stick together."

"But Way," Rad whined, his lower lip jutting out. It would have been cute, if Rachel didn't cringe at his effort of pronouncing her nickname. "I wanna go dere!" he pointed at another table, his childish face drawn in determination.

Rachel rolled her eyes, but allowed herself to be pulled over by a very insistent three-year-old. When they reached the table, she smiled indulgently as Rad held his arms up at her and she picked him up to settle him against her hip. He was still light enough for her not to be too exhausted from holding him, and she rarely got to see him so this demanding nature was still rather adorable.

Now though with Rad's parents having moved to the same town as Rachel's, she thought that this might get annoying soon enough and hoped he broke the habit before then.

Rachel looked over the new table they were at, and the first thing that drew in her gaze was a pink book sitting near the edge in front of them. She stepped closer and peered down at it for a better inspection; along the bottom of the cover was an outline of a shock burst and over that a darker pink banner which stretched from one end of the corner to the other in an archway. A gold chain was clipped to both sides of the cover, a yellow sun pinned to it, and on both sides of that were a miniature sun and crescent moon. At the lock clasp was an odd design of a three-furled up wing, and at the top there was a star-speckled dark pink banner, and just above that was a ten-pointed star with two wings outstretched on both sides. Another banner hung above that as well, this one in gold, but with the word 'Sakura' in large letters along it.

Glancing at the spine of the book, Rachel could see the same name, and noticed that it was the only one on it. 'Maybe it could be an autobiography.' She thought, but when she pulled back, Rad reached out and snagged it. "No, this looks expensive, we can't buy this."

Rad shook his head and clutched the book to his chest. "Mine, mine, mine!"

Rachel glanced around, but it appeared that a child about to throw a tantrum was worth nothing more than a cursory glance. If anything, Rachel was more worried about how two unattended children would look. "Be quiet or I'll get Mom." She warned, but it promptly backfired when Rad only nodded excitedly. She sighed and plucked the book out of her cousin's grasp, but paused slowly as she stared once more at the cover.

Her eyes took in the details again, and she was vaguely aware of Rad settling against her shoulder as he ran a finger along the same detailing. The reprimand was at the tip of her tongue, but she couldn't spit it out as she rubbed her thumb over the lock wing. When Rad's finger crossed over hers, Rachel's eyes widened as the wing flipped open and she dropped it in her shock.

The book clattered to the table, and Rachel's hand steadied Rad almost immediately as he gripped her by the shoulder. "What…?" she trailed off and furrowed her brow as she could almost see a faint light emitting from the sun emblem on the cover.

A pair of hands suddenly scooped up the book, and Rachel reeled back as she stared up into the smiling face of an older woman. The lady looked to be at least a few years younger than Rachel's own parents or Rad's, and the young girl found the older woman's presence to be very serene even as her smiled tightened while she struggle to push down the lock clasp.

"Now's not the time to be stubborn." She muttered and her smile relaxed when the lock was reset. "Hello, I'm Mrs. Li; did you see something you'd like to buy?"

"Well…" Rachel's eyes looked down at the book, and found herself being sucked in by the same fascination that had gripped Rad earlier. "I'd like to know how much this book costs."

"Oh," Mrs. Li gave the book a once over, "this isn't meant to be here; I think it got put on display by mistake. It's supposed to go to the book box; those are actually free."

Rachel raised a brow. "Really?" she was understandably dubious about this fact, but as this appeared to be Mrs. Li's yard sale, she could value books just differently. To be honest; inside, Rachel very much just wanted to snatch the book up, but reframed from doing so to preserve her own dignity. She hadn't wanted the book in the first place, and now it just felt like a hypocritical impulse. "You mean I really can just take it?"

"Yes, if this is what you want." Mrs. Li held out the book, and after a moment of hesitation, Rachel accepted it.

The girl felt the same profound sense of wonder as she had before, and she wondered just what about it made her feel so strange. "Um, thank you." She said awkwardly, and held the book under her other arm as she set about on her trek back to the camper; if it turned out the book wasn't to her taste, it wasn't like she just couldn't donate or even return it.

When Rachel felt Rad's weight start to cramp her arm, she set him on the ground once more, and she vaguely noticed that like before, Rad's gaze was locked onto the book just as hers was.

Resting on her side, Rachel frowned as she stared at the book. Her parents hadn't said anything when they saw it, though given that Rad's parents had engaged them in conversation for the rest of the trip, she wondered if they even gave it another thought. Still, Rachel had tucked it into the alcove just under Rad's bed, and she barely twitched when Rad leaned back against her thigh and tilted his head, his gaze also on the book. "It's weird," she said finally, the irrational thought leaving her unsure of just why the book seemed strange, "and I don't know why."

Rad shrugged, but showed no fear as he went to retrieve it. He didn't glance at the door as they could both hear the laughter of their parents outside of the camper. "Read?"

Rachel sighed as she sat up. "Might as well get it over with." She said and grabbed the book. She looked around the clasp for the button which had opened it before, but could see nothing on the clasp other than a keyhole. "Oh no, don't tell me we need a key." She said and rubbed her forehead.

Rad tilted his head, and gripped the lock, which unbuckled when he pulled it back. "It's open." He stated, as though the fact was as obvious as saying the sky were blue.

Rachel stared at him with a deadpan expression. "I can see that." She said and opened the book. She furrowed her brow as she saw that instead of pages, the inside was hollowed out to contain a card, and lifting that, she found that there were even more. "This just gets even weirder." She said and pulled all the cards out.

Rad reached out to pluck one of the cards from the deck, his head tilting once more as he held it up. Rachel neatly piled the cards back into their hollow container as she closed the cover. "What it say?"

Peering closely at the card and squinting at the fact it was colored completely in shades of pink aside from the gold design at the top, the star symbol at the bottom, and the blue hourglass a young robed woman in the center of the card was holding, Rachel's gaze then landed on the name scrawled across an equally pink banner with the word 'Sakura' written underneath even that. "It's says 'Return'."

"Weturn?"

" Re-tu-urn." Rachel sounded out.

"We-urn."

Rachel pursed her lips as she touched the name on the card. "Return." She said firmly, her statement being echoed perfectly as Rad repeated it. Her moment of triumph was ruined a moment later as she noticed a black cloud seeping out from under Rad's bed. Rachel flinched as she gripped Rad's wrist when the cloud moved at them.

Throwing herself over him, Rachel waited for anything to happen, her heart racing inside her chest. Peeking out, the blonde unfurled herself from Rad's form in surprise, her eyes wide as she looked around at the room. "This definitely isn't the camper." She said looking up at the strange structure in front of them.

Rad gasped, and Rachel looked down at him, her grip on his wrist tightening even as she expected her hand to go through his arm. They were both transparent, and yet she was able to touch him as though they were solid. Looking at the floor, Rachel found that the bed wasn't with them, and neither was the weird book.

"How is this happening? How?" she asked aloud, but wasn't surprised when Rad did nothing except stand up to wrap his other hand around her arm. His fear made Rachel push her own aside as she got up onto her feet, the Return card clutched tightly in her grasp. She petted Rad's hair soothingly after letting go of his wrist and she cautiously looked around the squishy-looking room, her eyes inevitably turning to the odd organic sphere in front of them.

Rachel flinched when the sphere began to glow, and she closed her eyes as the light enveloped the room. When it died down, Rachel found herself staring at three robots, bizarrely enough. They were about her height, in varying degrees of colors, but the hollow look in their eyes chilled her. "What are those things?"

Rad sniffled, but he pulled himself from Rachel's side as he looked at the robots. His expression slowly changed from fear to wonder; Rachel's hand grasping Rad's once more as he left her side and moved forward only as far as her arm extended. "Wobots." He said firmly.

"Intruders." The center blue robot said, its voice flat and digitized as it began to approach. "You will be des-" it stopped abruptly as it looked down to the small hand clasped onto its arm.

"Hi, I'm Rwad!" The little boy shouted, excitement seemingly replacing fear.

Rachel felt her brow twitch. "Rad." She corrected, but tensed up as she realized despite their transparency that her cousin was touching the robot. When the blue robot placed its hand over Rad's, Rachel didn't feel any more secure.

"Rad." It said, a soft white light beginning to emit from its hand where it was placed upon Rad's, and it's voice slowly grew louder as the dead gaze it had seemed to spark with life.

The boy nodded and beamed. "Rwad!" he shouted. "Wanna play?"

"Now's not the time to be thinking about that." Rachel said uneasily as she glanced around the room once more. She grimaced as she could see how the walls appeared to be moving, slimy…things roaming along them and she felt a sense of dread wash over her. "We have to find a way back home."

"Home." The blue robot said suddenly. "What's 'home'?"

Rachel's eyes shifted around the room yet again. "Home is somewhere you belong," she explained vaguely, "and we really don't belong here."

"Wanna play?" Rad asked again, his tone more demanding. "I want to!"

"Now's not the time!" Rachel shouted, and around them the room began to shake. She flinched and pulled Rad away from the robot and gritted her teeth. "We have to find a way to return home!"

As soon as she turned around, she found herself screaming as the same black cloud from before washed over them. In one instant, she found Rad and herself inside a room that was metallic instead of organic, and the confusion cut off her mounting terror. "What just happened?"

"I want to play." Rad said pouting, and Rachel found herself rolling her eyes despite herself.

"So do I!"

Rachel glanced up sharply, her eyes widening as she saw the same blue robot from moments ago, but the unnerving look in its eyes was gone and it clapped its metal hands once more, the previously dead tone alive and cheerful.

"I'll play with you! It's been so dull since I last saw you; everyone else just wanted to fight!" It said, and Rachel had the absurd notion that if she there was a mouth instead of a metal guard over the bottom half of its face, the robot would be pouting. "I'm so glad we were able to get off-world even if our ship got a bit dinged up, but now we're just floating around and the others went to sleep, so no fun from them!" It paused and tilted its head. "How are you both still so small? Is that the way your species is?"

"No-oo!" Rad said childishly. "I'm a big boy! Mama and Papa say so!"

"But that one is bigger." The robot pointed at Rachel, who felt offended despite how logic was trying to tell her that none of this should be happening.

"My name is Rachel, and of course I'm bigger. I'm still just a kid though, what are you?"

The robot tilted its head, its eyes dimming faintly before they brightened back up. "I am a mini-con. The name I was programmed with is High Wire, which I never got to tell you." It looked at them both, its eyes now eerily intense. "How are you both here though? Are you a glitch in my programming?"

"We're hemens!" Rad said proudly, his tiny chest puffing out.

Rachel rolled her eyes, a familiar irritation settling in over the headache she was beginning to get. "Hu-ma-ans." She sounded out.

"Humans." High Wire repeated, and walked over to the large computer, tapping a button that lit the screen up. Rachel tensed up as it hummed and nodded to itself. "Humans, we'll go where 'humans' are." Its eyes lit up again and clasped its hands together once more as the computer screen showed a map of the stars, and it began to zero-in on patterns that flew by so fast Rachel couldn't keep track. "We'll be able to play together real soon, you'll see!"

Rachel began to feel unease worm its back into her thoughts as they repeated themselves; just what was happening? How was this happening? While nothing about any of this made sense, she knew that she didn't like what was being said no matter how absurd it was to feel this way about a dream. "We have to go. Rad, it's time to return home."

Rad frowned, but screamed and threw his arms around Rachel waist, High Wire's shriek following as Rachel jerked back when the same black cloud settled over both of them again. She reached down to clutch Rad to her chest, eyes shut tightly as she just wanted to wake up.

Rachel gasped as she felt a hand shake her shoulder, and she froze up when she opened her eyes, but as her vision adjusted to the light streaming in through the camper window, she found it was only Rad's mother Cindy leaning over her.

The older blonde's smiling face settled the mounting terror Rachel had felt almost instantly. "Breakfast is in five, wake Rad up and meet us outside." She said and glanced at pink book beside the young girl, and the card lying on top of it. "And be careful with that, you don't want to give yourself a paper cut." She said sternly and made her way out of the room.

Rachel found herself nodding absently, and her gaze lowered to the card as well. She breathed in deeply, and with a quickly resurging bout of fear, she quickly set the card back into its hollowed out compartment. When she closed the book, slamming down the lock in the process to hear a satisfying 'click', she felt a cold weight settle into the pit of her stomach.

It felt as though she had just done something unbearably awful.

The blonde shook her head furiously, refusing to be sucked in by the nonsense of her dream, or the strangeness of the book. It was odd to be sure, but nothing worth getting worked up about.

Still, Rachel found herself stuffing the book deep into one of the duffel bags regardless of how logic and reason dictated that her dream was just that; she only knew that didn't want to think about any of it for the rest of the trip.

And when all was said and done, with the glow of the family togetherness from the camping trip behind them on Sunday, Rachel threw the pink book into the attic, and never looked back.

The book lay on the dusty floor; forgotten and embittered, feeling the harsh sting of rejection for the next seven years.

So, I figured I should explain a few things: I'm trying not to use OCs for parts, even minor ones, so a few names may or not seem familiar as I plucked them out of the TF Wiki for the purpose of this fic, though even the wiki can't solve every problem.

I also can't explain everything here about what happened in the prologue above, but I can say that the whole 'dream' sequence is my response to trying to fix the bizarre moment near the end of Transformers Armada about the alternate timeline thing. So, uh, yes, a Sakura Card did it.

Since this is going to be wildly different from the previous Cardcaptor Rad story, I decided to leave that story up as I'm reluctant to take it down. Elements from the story will undoubtedly show up, as this is still a rewrite, but as it's been a while since I've actually seen Armada, please bear with me as for the most part basic Armada episode plots will hopefully be sort of intact, but other than that I'll be taking liberties with the material.

Lastly, I'm giving fair warning here that the slash element from the previous story will carry on over here, but for the most part it's just going to be relegated to backstory or overtones until shown or stated otherwise.