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It was hard to remember as time continued to pass, the kind of witch she used to be. She had been young and powerful. And there were no consequences to her actions. At least none that she was aware of. Until it was brought to her attention. 

It was a day that she never wanted to forget. Even if the rest of it was faded, not that she wanted to truly remember those long and shameful years. It was a special moment, though she wouldn't consider it such for some time.

She had felt the presence of another so she did the most reasonable thing she could think of. Attempt to destroy it. She could feel the magic. Feel it following her. She didn't care for stalkers or those that thought they could get a jump on her.

She let dark purple waves of her spell casting fly forward. But she could also feel her powers easily rebounded. Easily deflected and negated. Like she was nothing compared to the person on the other side. But she loved it. It was like electricity in the air. An amazing battle of spell casting and weaving magic. She grinned at all the strain and trouble this was. She'd never been challenged like this. A battle of all battles. If she could just somehow gain the upper hand she could-

And then she felt something sealing her. Locking her in place. Everything about her completely stopped. She was frozen in time. Impossible.

A man stepped forward young looking, with a staff in one hand and a card in another. He was well dressed and kind looking... a powerful magician. But she was powerful too, and yet he stopped her as if she was nothing. It was infuriating.

"How wild you are..." he began. "Untamed. It's not a bad thing. But there needs to be some level of control..." 

He put the card away, the words The Time catching her eye but she had no interest or desire to put too much thought into his tricks. She was a master of time and space, and yet she was trapped within time! That's all she knew. That was all that mattered. A spider caught in her own web.

This magician offered her a smile as he approached. His now free hand gently touched her. Just a brush of contact and the time that held her faded. She could move. 

She swatted his hand away the moment she was free and put space between them. "Who are you?" 

"Someone who is worried." 

"About me?" she laughed, who was this fool?

"Perhaps. But more importantly, the things around you." He walked past her towards the brush of the forest and gently picked up something from the trees. She could only watch curiously, this man... "Everything we do has consequences. The stronger you are the more you affect things around you. If you do not keep the balance... everything will suffer." He turned and held out a butterfly, its wings completely crumpled and destroyed. It was dying.

"I did this...?" He brow furrowed as she attempted to grasp what he was saying.

"Your magic is very powerful. But because you use it without restriction it lashes out and harms those around you. Everything around you."

She hadn't known it worked like that. She'd been going around as she pleased. There were people she'd hurt and killed on purpose. But this meant there was a trail behind her of things she'd hurt because of the backlash of her magic. Things she'd destroyed and torn apart. Innocent things that had slaughtered in her fun. This butterfly...

This magician continued to smile, tucking his staff under his arm so both hands could be free he enclosed the dying insect, trapping it in a cage of his fingers.  There is a flash of light and when he opens his hand the butterfly flutters out. Fine and brand new.

Magic that heals. Magic that saves.

She held out her hand to catch the bug on her finger, it landed without question. As if forgiving her for what she'd done to it.  

"My lady." Clow took his staff in hand once more. The other hand on his chest as he bowed deeply to her. Too grand a gesture for someone like her. Too much kindness. For he radiated goodness and purity. His staff was a sun. His magic circles when she caught a glimpse of them during their fight had suns on them as well. 

What was her magic circle? They were so distorted and dark... 

"My name is Clow Reed," he continued. Still smiling at him. 

"I'm... Yuuko Ichihara."

"Let's have tea~"

She simply stared at him. What a fool. Did he think that he could just come into her life like this? Did he think he could fix her or change her? "I'd prefer sake."

"Tea is just as good."

She scowled at him, what an idiot. No it was not.

A soft chuckle leaves the magician and he simply takes her hand and places a soft kiss upon it. Like she's some kind of fine lady. It makes her blush like crazy and she feels compelled to just deck him. Fool! Who does he think he is? But she doesn't do any thing like that. She simply looks away because it's just too much. "Fine. Tea it is." She mumbles, the butterfly that he'd saved catching her eye as it flies off her free hand. To live it's life now that it had been saved. 

"The butterfly can dream once more." Clow stated, his hand still holding hers. His kind gaze on the beautiful insect. 

"Do butterflies even dream?" she asked dryly, her attention slowly returning to the magician. 

"They do. Everything dreams. Even butterflies." The smile he gives her now is even warmer. It's bright and she finds she can't even think. If she didn't know any better she'd say that she'd been bewitched. He's too much for her in every way. "I don't have dreams." 

"Then let us find you one, Tricky Witch." 

"You can try, Foolish Magician." and she offers him a faint smile. She would not let this man change her life. There was no way. She'd attempt to be more careful so not to harm those around her. But she would continue on her path. It was the only one she knew. 

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It should have been the end of her story. It was ending a bit too soon for her liking. But she'd done a great deal of bad things. It was fitting. Balance. That's what Clow had taught her. For the crimes you do you pay for them. What should have been a long life ended sooner to make up for it all. 

He held her hand gently, his thumb running along the back. His expression was somber. Sad. It broke her heart. 

"Don't you fret, my foolish magician." she spoke softly, her voice hardly above a whisper. "It's finally time for everything to balance out." 

"Don't say that." he spoke as quietly as she did. His eyes falling closed and hiding the emotions that were always so clear in them. He didn't even use her little play nickname. Tricky Witch...

"You're really bringing down the mood." she teased, attempting to make her voice stronger. The frail witch pushed herself, using the last of her strength to do such a thing. She lifted her free hand and poked at his cheek. "Killing my buzz per usual~" 

He was not amused by her antics. Not even one last smile before the end...? She closed her eyes and leaned against him. Why did he have to be like this? This is not how her last moments should be. 

"What is the point of having all this magic when you cannot help the people who mean the most?" 

"Clow..." she murmured, her hand gripping his as tightly as she was able before it went limp. The life in her body was fading. 

He held her tightly. She could feel his warmth against her. We wait to late to say the important things, don't we foolish magician? She sighed taking her last breath. It was a good way to go... To be in his arms in the end. 

And then she heard it. So loud and clear. It wasn't spoken. But thought. As her last breath came out his thoughts captured her. Her magic still present and alive for a few moments longer than her body took in the obligation of his loud powerful thoughts. 

Keep on living.

She had to keep on living. He wished it. So it would be done! 

The witch jerked forward in his arms, taking in a gasping breath. She hadn't been dead long. Just seconds. But there was more to it then that. She was frozen. Her time would never move again. 

Dark eyes wide she twisted to look at him. His just as wide as realization at what he'd done so clear and evident slowly captured him. It was an accident. It was never supposed to be this way... It had just been a thought. It had just... 

To wish the dead back to life, it was wrong. Forbidden. Dangerous. The worst thing beings like them could do.

"What have we done...?" she whispered, bringing her hands to her mouth.

The price of this wish... 

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Finally she could move the final chess piece and claim checkmate. 

Winning the game came at a sacrifice... no, a price. A price she had to pay to balance out the great crimes her and Clow had caused. She had thought it would be something easy to pay many years ago. But she should have known better. 

You create connections with people in your life and cutting those ties was not an easy thing to do. She had told this to Watanuki not terribly long ago. 

She was a victim to those threads. She'd grown to love that boy so very much. 

She and Clow... her powers prevented any kind of actual family. The price of that life was impossible to pay. And she knew had she never gotten sick, had they been able to actually live, he'd have tried to find a way to pay those prices. He was so foolish like that. 

But Watanuki... Watanuki of Clow's decent, lacking any kind of parental figure, being looked out for by her. Protected by her... 

He... he was her son. 

And in some way, though fragmented and not quite right, they'd managed to have a family. 

She was happy to have had such a thing. Hopefully Watanuki would grant her wish and live his life. But if he chose not to she had some set ups within the shop to ensure he at least could one day leave. She knew in her heart the painful choice he would make. 

What she had to focus on now was the end of all things. 

Being reborn in some way shape or form after taking this final step. But should that happen to her it would be a life alone. Clow split himself so no mistake could ever be made again. He had been born in two forms. One... the father of Sakura. The other containing a great deal of powers and memories, Eriol. He had looked for her. She felt his presence around the boundaries of her shop but he had no actual need so he could not enter. 

He was not nor would he ever be Clow Reed. He knew that. She knew that. The meeting would have been too painful. So she never saw him or sought him out and eventually his presence could no longer be felt around the shop. 

Had that been the right choice? She didn't know. Going forward, should she be reborn her days would be alone. Clow had made his choice and the price they pay on top of everything is to forever be separated. 

Hearts are tied to one and only one even in a new life. Even their lives were like that. 

"The price we pay for our sins, Clow." The darkness coiled tighter around her form, stealing her life away. 

Should she be born again... perhaps she'd search anyway...

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"They're empty." She informed the wizard, looking over the girls who were nothing more than  life sized dolls. 

"They are. But that does not mean they are lifeless. They will be good companions for when I have to depart." Clow answered, adjusting his glasses for a bit. "The will awake when I leave this world." 

The witch frowned deeply at this, not caring for that kind of talk right now. Or ever, to be quite honest. She did not care that this is the way things had to be. What a mess they'd put themselves in and now they had to pay the price for it. And it would be heavy and last for years upon years. The first part being that they had to be parted. Clow had to go off to somewhere else and play father to a princess and prince. She understood the plan and what had to be done but that did not make it easier. Not by a long shot. 

"Don't make that face." Clow said softly, reaching out to place a comforting hand upon her cheek, his thumb gently brushing against her pale skin. "This is my mess. And I will fix it. I only am sorry that you must pay as well." 

"I granted the wish. I will help you." 

"You had no choice but to do just that. My magic..." He closed his eyes for a moment, already having come up with a solution to his problem with being too powerful. "I know how to avoid something like this from ever happening again. But first... we must deal with this." 

"Of course..." The witch's scarlet gaze returned to the still dolls. One of pink and the other of blue. They were cute but she doubted they'd be much company. 

"One day your shop will be full of life and happy faces." The wizard assured, finally removing his hand from her cheek. 

"Until then, you will make believe a family. And I will wait here, till the promised day arrives?" 

Clow said nothing more simply stepping away from him and back to the dolls. "Their names are Maru and Moro and they will serve you well. They are tied directly to the shop and will keep the spells in place, should they ever wane they will as well. I have done all in my power to ensure your the safety and peace of this shop and ensured that you will be well here. I intend to return... but I also fear that the price of my wish will not be so simple. It's well may be, that we will never meet again." 

Yuuko wrapped here arms around herself knowing that could be the case. He stopped a death so it was only natural that one must be taken in return. "Are you telling me you are going to die?" 

"Perhaps. It is still unclear. I hope to make it back here and see the fruits of all our efforts. To see the boy that will one day come into your keeping. I hope to see a great many things. But I also know a great force works against us, already they are trying to take advantage of my folly. And so... my tricky witch, do not be bitter. We should not part with anger in our hearts. There would be regret if that is how we leave each other." 

She wanted to say many things. How he should have left her to die and this and that but none of that would change the present that they were currently living in. This was what was and they had to deal with that. They'd fractured the world, universes even, and now they must play the game of catch up and correct the damage. And she would do well to remember that all things happen for a reason. This was meant to be... and so it was. 

"Before you leave... tell me what you know so I can be prepared against our enemies. For if you do... die on me, Stars and Moon forbid it, I will have to fight this on my own." 

"My beloved witch," Clow said, smiling brightly for the first time during this rather sad conversation. "You will never be alone."