This is a Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles fan fiction, after the tragic events of Chapter 179.
In a place elsewhere, in a time elsewhen.
From the thin air a came a blot like spilled ink, and Syaoran that was not Syaoran stepped through. The young clone fell to his hands and knees, the mighty sword Hien clattering on the floor.
"End it. Please end it."
Syaoran approached his clone, sword raised and pointed at him.
"Syaoran, wait!" But Kurogane's hand was shrugged off, and Syaoran advanced until his sword-tip was above the clone's head.
"End this pain. I will not be a puppet."
Fai, coming behind Syaoran, said, "What causes the pain, Syaoran-kun?"
The clone trembled. "I killed her. My important person, the Princess. This pain. End it. The compulsion... is strong. Please, I won't be a puppet."
"What is your wish?" asked the sorceress of the Wishing Shop. The Black Mokona and the White were in communication.
"End it. To disappear. To be free." Syaoran's naked sword was poised behind the clone.
From behind the Dimensional Witch, Watanuki shouted, "You wish to disappear?"
"Shush, Watanuki-kun. And if you disappear, how will you pay for the wish? There must be payment, Syaoran-kun. Every wish has its price.
"The payment will be servitude to me, Syaoran-kun, until the wish is paid for. Is that acceptable?"
"Yuuko-san, I hope you aren't serious about this."
"Oh, I am serious about this, Watanuki-kun!"
"But to let him disappear! I don't want him to disappear!"
"Who said anything about that?"
"What?"
"What did that boy say, exactly?"
"End it. To disappear. Oh! To be free!"
"You can be bright sometimes!" chuckled the witch. The twin girls echoed, "Sometimes! Sometimes! Sometimes!"
"Shaddup!" Watanuki shouted, arms waving, overreacting again. The twins merrily skipped out of reach. "So, does Syaoran-kun, the clone know what wish he got?"
"He will once he works through his payment. He will stay here and do what I say."
"And by the end of it, he will no longer want to disappear?" said Watanuki hopefully. "We'll try to change him little by little?"
"Ohh... we seem to be out of sake!" said the witch, shaking an empty bottle of the last drops.