Fanfic Recs / Tsubasa -RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE-

Proof that the remaining 10% is worth claiming a feather for here.

These are recommendations made by tropers for Tsubasa -RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE- Fan Fics, all of which have to be signed to stay on the page. Feel free to add a fanfic of your own to the list, but remember to use the template found here.

Do warn when a fanfic may head into non-canon territory. Some people just don't like it, and as we all know, Shipping is Serious Business.You can also add to the current recommendations if you want. Refrain from posting Conversation in the Main Page though; that goes in the discussion page.

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Authors and Websites

zeeofgreeneyes

• Recommended by tsubasafan, cloverfield.
• Mostly known for their Fairytale AU's, it will be hard to find a fic you won't like. Features mostly Kuro/Fai, but there are several with rare pairings such as Kuroparents and Watanuki/Kohane.

uakari120

• Recommended by tsubasafan, cloverfield, LilienneSuzumiya.
• Relatively new to the fandom, uakari120 produces great fic after great fic with in depth worlds, massive-crossovers (as it is CLAMP), and wonderful characterization. Mostly KuroFai, but there are many other pairings as well.

FarenMaddox

• Recommended by suzushinayuriko
• Specializing in bringing Tsubasa characters to life in modern AUs with straightforward writing and accurately heartwrenching characterization, FarenMaddox is well known for works such as Freefall and Never Let Me Go. Focuses on KuroFai and some other CLAMP pairings.

Mikkeneko

• Recommended by suzushinayuriko
• Beautifully crafted multichaptered fics in vast alternate fantasy worlds. Outstanding world-building and characterization. The Wizards of Ceres (and its sequel) is one of the most famous Tsubasa fics and her coauthored work Not Quite Paradise is a personal favorite. Her works usually feature KuroFai as a main pairing.

General

Stories focused on the family and the friendly relationships of the cast. Plot-focused stories or light day-in-the-life stories. Pretty much anything that isn't focused on romance.

Last Year's War by Klitch

• Recommended by Serious Business
• Status: Complete
• Synopsis: Fai has trouble with time.
• Comments: A surreal glimpse into Fai's pyche, jumping between various points in his life. Though it hints at a developing relationship between Kurogane and Fai, the story focuses primarily on Fai's life with Ashura and the tension between Fai and Kurogane post-Tokyo. The author also makes excellent use of the present tense to give the story its dreamlike tone and sense of immediacy.

Reversal of Fate by Tonight's The Night

• Recommended by Nimmxx
• Status: Dormant
• Direct link here
• Synopsis: What if Syaoran had lost his memories instead of Sakura? How would their journey change if she was the one trying to find his feathers? AU.
• Comments: An interesting take on what would have happened if Syaoran had been the one to lose his memories. With such a key element having changed, the characters and their relationships develop in different ways as compared to the manga. Canon worlds are replaced with a few original ones, but the detail and thought put behind the working of every world definitely makes this story a fun read. Currently ongoing.

Lillies Upon our Graves by Obsidian Buterfly

• Recommended by Serious Business
• Status: Dead; last updated October 2019
• Synopsis: The last of his wounds- including the broken arm- healed up and tired golden eyes looked up at him. "Syaoran-kun." Fai was vaguely aware of the tears trailing down his cheeks as he stared at the boy. "I'm sorry." Warnings: Post-TRC, AU, possible character deaths.
• Comments: The premise is well-developed and interesting, and the writing style pulls you in and refuses to let go. This fic features the main TRC team, as well as well-developed original characters and a complex world. Ongoing.

The Missing Worlds by Mikkeneko

• Recommended by Triumph Forks
• Status: Complete
• Direct link: [1]
• Synopsis: In order to go to certain worlds, the gang must leave behind one of their members.
• Comments: A fascinating exploration of nature versus nurture. This work contains four story arcs, plus a prologue and an epilogue. It has Nightmare Fuel in the second half. The characters are very well-thought out and accurate. One of the worlds is set in Barry Hughart's The Chronicles of Master Li and Number Ten Ox trilogy. Well-written to say the least.

Six of One by rufustehshinra

• Recommended by Lyra_Dhani
• Status: Complete
• Pairing: None
• Synopsis: During a moment of relaxation with a troubled young man Kurogane watches and thinks. Set during chapter 141, so spoilers through that.
• Comments: rare well-written non-pairing fic

A Small Respite by ToastyToaster22

• Recommended by Lyra_Dhani
• Status: Complete
• Pairing: None
• Synopsis: Syaoran was burning himself out, they could see it happening right in front of their eyes. Fai just wanted to see the boy smile. Take a break. He should have known better than to wish for something like that. In which some forest spirits do their best to ruin everyone's day, Mokona incinerates some trees, Kurogane is a tired dad, and Fai is overwhelmed. Syaoran just wants to play.

Shipping Fics

Stories focused on the romantic relationships between the cast.

Ever After by Shadow over Egypt (AU)

• Recommended by Zashiki-Warashi
• Status: Dead
• Pairing(s): Mainly Kurogane/Fai
• Synopsis: Fairytale is a very trying place. Children get abandoned; loves fall under evil spells, and members of royalty get abducted on a regular basis. Still, if it's 'Happy Ever After' you're looking for, it's obligatory to start with 'Once Upon a Time...'
• Comments: It does eventually lean into Cast Full of Gay territory, largely because the hetero relationships keep hitting snags (though no worse than their canon counterparts) and most, if not all, of the pairing are at least hinted at originally. All of that aside, the best parts are how everyone continues to act like themselves and that the author really knows how to roll with the fairytale motifs. Half the fun is seeing how another CLAMP character will turn up.

Reasons to Drink by ParadiseAvenger

• Recommended by Huilisti
• Status: Complete
• Pairing(s): Syaoran/Sakura (yay!)
• Synopsis: Short looks at the times when Syaoran and Sakura got drunk and what happened then. (Gah, I suck at these synopsises. Too tired to think...)
• Comments: Every chapter starts from the canon facts, sometimes telling them from a different point of view, and moves on to what CLAMP didn't show us in the manga. It's well-written and a joy to read after all those Kuro/Fai fics.

The Wizards of Ceres by Mikkeneko (AU)

• Recommended by Zashiki-Warashi, cloverfield
• Status: Complete
• Pairing(s): Kurogane/Fai
• Synopsis: Ceres and Nihon are on the brink of war, and Kurogane and Fai must struggle to balance their loyalties to their home countries with the pressing demands of survival - for themselves, their countries, and for their world.
• Comments: Damn, what to say. The characterization is spot on, the plot intriguing, and the fic doesn't ignore the fact that the two main characters are on the opposing sides of a war. After much waiting, the author has completed the sequel, The Heralds of the White God (which has added Syaoran/Sakura to the mix).

Stray by Irene_Gerke (AU)

• Recommended by tsubasafan
• Status: Dormant
• Pairing(s): Kurogane/Fai, Syaoran/Sakura, and many others,
• Synopsis: As a child Fai is sent away from the cruel life he has had to endure only to wind up a stray in the Tokyo ward, Otthon. Years later, he finds a comrade in Kurogane and the people of the wards as war looms on the horizon.
• Comments: An ongoing fic. The relationships bewteen all the characters (including the few OC's here and there)has familiarity with it while at the same time having it's differences. Several characters aren't exactly like those from canon, but they are interesting like this, even some of the antagonists are given a more positive light here. Well written and definitely a fic you want to keep updated on.

Never Let Me Go by FarenMaddox (AU)

• Recommended by tsubasafan, cloverfield
• Status: Complete
• Pairing(s): (hinted/eventual)Kurogane/Fai, (hinted)Syaoran/Sakura, few others
• Synopsis: The events that lead to the beginning of Tsubasa is stopped. Fai and several other children from the multiverse's are sent to another world in order to live in an orphange with Ashura. Kurogane, however, is sent to live with Sonomi (CCS). Shows Kurogane, Fai, and Syaraon growing up in this new world together.
• Comments: An ongoing fic. One of the most interesting ideas for a fic I've seen in a long time. You never get to see what the characters are really like as children in the manga and this fic manages to make the characterizations both believable and good. There are plenty of questions unanswered as the fic starts to delve into its main plot.
  • cloverfield: I've never read a kidfic quite like this one; it takes the characters and gives them believable, painful development that still manages to be heart-warming in the right places, and is beginning to show the way the TRC universe as we know it might be different if the cast had been allowed to grow up together.

Freefall by FarenMaddox (AU)

• Recommended by cloverfield, Zelinxia, SilverStar, lynink
• Status: Complete
• Pairing(s): Kurogane/Fai, Syaoran/Sakura, Doumeki/Watanuki, quite a few others
• Synopsis: Real-world AU massive crossover fic, focusing mainly on the plot and characters from Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicles and xxxHOLiC, but featuring a fair few other characters and CLAMP references. As the author has stated, "It's AU because it's set in modern-day America. No magic. No monsters. No vampires. No destiny. No time travel. Just a group of people struggling to survive the hand they've been dealt—together." Tropes page here.
• Comments: This is one of the most detailed, believable and incredible fic I have ever read. At times painful, at times laugh-out-loud funny, I cannot recommend this enough to any CLAMP fan.
  • SECONDED. Everyone's IC and the plot transfers surprisingly well.
    • THIRDED. Even though it's recommended you have read Tsubasa and xxxHolic, I think people who never read CLAMP's works can enjoy it. That's how great this work is.
    • FOURTHED. This Fic was really amazing and the author clearly did proper research. I would also recommend reading the author's other fics.
    • FIFTHED. So bad. The relationships are spot-on and well-written. Everyone has their place in the story and tying things together, and the pacing was just right. It's so worth it.

Lost in Translation by Sunlight through Leavess

• Recommended by cloverfield
• Status: Complete
• Pairing: Kurogane/Fai
• Synopsis: Post-series fic focusing on the relationship between Fai and Kurogane when an error in translation -and an assumption they're married- sparks a chain of events in a world based on the steam-punk genre. Inspired in part by this piece of fanart. Tropes page here.
• Comments: Although the fic is quite short (and still updating) a lot happens in four chapters, and the simple translation error reveals itself to be a massive error of communication between Kurogane and Fai that symbolises their relationship wonderfully. The world this fic is set in is fascinating, and the culture intriguing; the plot moves fast and features a well-structured antagonist and some believeable and likeable OC's. A great fic that is building up to a great climax!

Shatterheart by Tonight's The Night

• Recommended by Koneko Otome
• Status: Complete
• Direct link here
• Pairing: Kurogane/R!Syaoran
• Synopsis: R!Syaoran is ostracized and reluctantly accepted by the group during an expanded version of the Infinity Arc and becomes close to Kurogane, who is the first to see him as something other than "Not Their Syaoran."
• Warnings: Torture
• Comments: The fic is quite long, but it uses it to make the development of a romantic relationship between Kurogane and R!Syaoran both believable and compelling and does not ignore the consequences of such a pairing. After reading this, I actually tried to find more of these two even though I know its not a popular ship.

A Most Precious Thing by Dream_edge (AU)

• Recommended by lynink
• Status: Complete
• Pairing: Kurogane/Fai, Fai & Tsubasa Family
• Synopsis: There is a name on your back, for all children of Valeria are born with the name of their intended upon their skin. Yours is in a language you cannot read and do not recognize. It makes you dream of far away places, where no one has ever heard of cursed twins.
• Comments: A fairly recent fic but Good. God. I'm not even into second person but this author uses it so well. It's an amazing investigation of Fai's life and development throughout the series with the soulmates twist. It's so amazingly written, especially in how it blends the two ideas together. We get an in-depth character study of Fai, especially in how he grows to love the family he never planned for. It's so beautiful and I could shed a tear on just how much I love this fic. Highly recommended.

Not Quite Paradise by Mikkeneko and Reikah (AU)

• Recommended by suzushinayuriko
• Status: Complete
• Fanfiction.net mirror here
• Pairing: Kurogane/Yuui/Fai, Syaoran/Sakura
• Synopsis: In a future where science and psionics rule the skies, and both are controlled by the iron fist of the Earth government, two young men make a desperate leap into the unknown in order to evade capture and slavery.
• Comments: From two well-known writers in the Tsubasa KuroFai community, one of whom is the author of the acclaimed Wizards of Ceres series mentioned above, Not Quite Paradise is absolutely thrilling multichaptered masterpiece. The sci-fi setting is crafted beautifully as an intriguing mix of a future society thriving on interplanetary travel, the advent of widespread psychic abilities, and a not-quite-morally-sound government pursuing our Tsubasa characters on the run through space. Everything is so incredibly well written, I'm surprised it wasn't a shoe-in for this list before. The only flaw this story has is not being finished yet - the sequel is stated to be coming in the future. Highly, highly, highly recommended as Not Quite Paradise always stood out to me as one of the best multi-chaptered fics I've ever encountered.

Crossovers

Ripples of Fate by Stars Of Yaoi

• Recommended by Katherine-Sanderson
• Status: Complete
• Crossover with xxxHOLiC
• Synopsis: *Touya/Yukito, pre-relationship Doumeki/Watanuki* He had been searching for years, scouring through the dreamscape for the Witch of Dimensions, and finally he'd found her. And now he could find his missing family. - "So tell me, Kinomoto Touya, what is it that you wish for?" "I wish to meet with my nephew," he said, and his voice carried over to Yuuko the urgency of his request.
• Comments: A story about Touya, brother of Reincarnated!Clone!Sakura, and his wish to meet the nephew he can still reach. Both heartbreaking and heartwarming at the same time.

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To Those Left Behind by Lady Hallen

• Recommended by Lyra_Dhani
• Status: Complete
• Crossover with xxxHOLiC
• Synopsis: Sakura knows the boy sleeping under the covers is not her son. Or everything has come full-circle and the parents left behind must take steps to make sure the boy created to take their sons place would be fine.

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