This is officially my second attempt at a chapter fic, seeing as the first one died a horrible death of writer's block and lack of reviews, so any help would be greatly appreciated.^_^ This is set after Outo, with some minor spoilers for Tsubasa and xxxHolic. Most of said spoilers can be written off as Author Fancy if you haven't read far enough to catch them. Oh! And a little bit of my favourite pairing, if you can catch it. XJ

Tsubasa is copyright to CLAMP, Del Rey, Funimation and Ballantine Books.

The group landed with a thump! In a pile of snow, being launched forth from the whatever-it-is that comprised the innards of Soel Mokona.

"Geroff!" Kurogane mumbled into the snowbank as a shivering Sakura quickly scampered off the ninja's back and over to where Syaoran was standing.

"Princess, you're shivering!" He announced, worriedly, putting his hands over her shoulders, at a loss for what to do about it.

"It's just a l-l-little cold." She stuttered, smiling up at him. A huge white coat suddenly enveloped her small frame, it's vast expanses covering Syaoran as well. It was still slightly warm and very fluffy. Fai smiled down at them.

"But won't you be cold, Fai-san?" The princess stammered.

"I'm used to it." He said, accompanying the statement with one of his huge plastic smiles.

"Th-thank you." The princess replied as she snuggled into the beast of a garment, Syaoran gently escorting her over the deep snow that neither of them was familiar with, being from a desert. Fai watched them tramp through the ice with what could almost be called a smirk, but it was far to caring to have such connotations, seeing the desert children stumble through something so unfamiliar to them.

"Stupid Manjuu, landing us in such a mess..." Kurogane mumbled as he brushed cold wet ice off of his armor. He scanned the area quickly, noting the terrain with accuracy befitting his profession. When he was satisfied at the lack of the presence of any threats, he relaxed his tense shoulders.... somewhat.

"Kuro-pyu is mean! Mokona was aiming for fluffy snow instead of nasty trees!" the white thing pouted.

"You did a great job, Moko-chan!" Sakura chimed in.

"Yes, Kuro-pyon is just mad that he had to be at the bottom of the pile, his pride is very sensitive, you know." Fai chuckled.

"What did you say you stupid mage?!" Kurogane howled as her drew his sword and ran after the spindly man.

"Hyuuu! Kuro-rinta is angry!!" He laughed as he ran over the snow covered hills with the grace of a cat, one who had been raised in the terrain of ice and cold, while Kurogane's feet sunk at every step and the children raced to keep up.

"I'm gonna kill you, idiot!" Kurogane shouted, when suddenly Fai stopped running, overlooking a ridge.

"What the...." Kurogane breathed as he stomped over to see what the hell the mage was staring at that could have made him stop his flight so suddenly. "Kami-sama..." He gritted as he beheld the sight before him. It was a large city, with a great castle over to one side, ringed by six? No... seven huge towers in a circle.... making the castle itself the eighth point, and hundreds of spires throughout, but they were all damaged.... few retained their tops. Even the buildings looked dilapidated. The whole city was sheathed in ice, it covered rooftops, doorsteps, windowsills... the inhabitants walked around in coats altogether too thin for such weather, they seemed frozen to the bone. Kurogane mused that if they lived in such a frigid place, why hadn't they fashioned warmer coats, like the horrendous white thing the mage wore everywhere?

"How horrible..." Sakura said as she reached the ridge.

"I wonder what happened..." Syaoran set to scanning the area with an archaeologist's eye, looking for any evidence of calamity.

There was a moment of silence as the group beheld the sight before them, the only things that spoke were the whispers of the wind and the groans of tall, weather-beaten pines whose boughs swayed in the rhythm of the whispers' song. Then suddenly...

"Fai-san?" A small voice broke the silence. Sakura gazed up at the mage. He was staring down at the forgotten city, with the eyes of a scholar studying an impossible puzzle. His eyes glazed over as his thoughts turned inward, entranced.

"Fai-san...?" She repeated. He snapped out of his reverie.

"Sakura-chan? What is it?" He asked.

"You looked a little out of it for a second there, mage. Care to tell us what's going on?" Kurogane ordered, his curiosity piqued at the rare display of anything but annoying mirth and falsity from the mage.

"I.... don't know..." Fai replied, looking down at the ground for a moment when the wind picked up and chilled everyone, running it's icy fingers through their hair and through their bones.

"We'd better find shelter." Syaoran said, and they made their way down the steep and rocky ice-covered slope towards the city. They picked their way over the rocks with care. Kurogane used the sense of balance he had perfected through years of training, and Fai used his knowledge of icy terrain to pick his way down. Syaoran, used to climbing precarious slopes on digs, felt confident in his ability to climb down. However, he did not know the treacheries of ice, lost his footing, and almost went tumbling down the slope. Sakura tripped with him, falling flat on her bottom. With luck that only Sakura could posses, she landed on Fai's coat, which caught Syaoran and kept him from toppling over the side. The kid still landed face-first in a snowdrift, though. From his new vantage point, he spotted an old wooden sign with intricate filigree worked around some odd letters.

"Gar-mon-tel.... Garmontelle." Syaoran announced.

"What was that, kid?" Kurogane questioned, pulling the boy to his feet.

"That sign, it sad Garmontelle." He replied as the others stood.

"The city of Magic."