Hello my fellow readers once again! New story...again! -3- So, excited for this one no doubt, but not sure how it'll go yet since I'm writing in third person rather than first x.x It couldn't be avoided. There's just some things that need to be seen through all eyes for this story x.x Either way, I think it'll be good...once we get past chapter one ^_^;;
Anyway, just to clear this up, this IS actually the PREQUAL to Beautiful Liar. This was orginally never to be in existance when I started writing Beautiful Liar about two years ago and this was going to be an individual story, but with the more planning it underwent, I managed to find many connections to Beautiful Liar that I really liked and ended up making this the prequal x.x Sorry about the confusion, but if you've never read Beautiful Liar, AWESOME POSSUM! You can start from the true beginning!
Thank you all for choosing to read this story and hope you enjoy the ride with me~ ;D Love you all and happy reading!
T means scene change or time passing ; Italics means thoughts
Disclaimer: I do not own Tsubasa, the characters, or the story...this is just my own creative plot twist~
The soft padding of footsteps sound in the elaborate and spacious corrider with tall ceilings Fai saunters down. He glances around at the well-decorated surroundings, taking in the space he hardly ever gets to observe. Why would he, after all? Only two of the "Rest" Elite use any of the rooms down this hallway. To anyone else they were just places they had no business entering on their own accord. This was probably Fai's second time down at this end of the Rest Palace, if that.
I wonder what they're calling me down here for? They hardly ever talk to me. 'I hope I didn't do anything wrong...' he thinks silently to himself, sapphire eyes growing serious when the entryway to the observatory fill his vision. Poking his head around the corner, the forms of Yuuko and Clow conversing between themselves alerts him that he's reached his destination.
He is about to step in and announce his presence, but the sound of Yuuko's voice filling the room makes him halt.
"The way the blackness keeps faltering is starting to make me nervous. It slowly covers the rest of him, but he does one thing and it starts to slightly dissipate. He's so unstable... Are you sure that Fai will be able to do it, Clow?" Yuuko seems to question the air before turning her eyes away from the rounded glass toward the black-haired male. Long, silkly strands of ebony cascades down the male's back when he turns his attention toward her, revealing a gently smile lining his lips.
"I'm sure he can. After all, you said it yourself, Yuuko," he responds lightly.
"Yes, this is required in order for fate to progress," she replies back, keeping the mysteriousness in her voice as she always has. As much as Fai would love to listen in on what seems like an important world-changing conversation, he was called down there for a reason and he wanted to know why. Besides, it wasn't very becoming of him to eavesdrop on the two practically run this place.
"Excuse me," the blonde interrupts as politely as he can and begins to slip into the room, "Yuuko-sama, Clow-sama, you called me down?" The two conversing Elites turn and greet the blonde with kind smiles.
"Ah, Fai, you've arrived and just on time," Clow tells him in an almost relieved voice. Catching onto it, Fai querks an eyebrow a bit in question.
"Yes, what is it that you wanted me to come down for?" he asks, nearing them while trying to remain presentable to them. They exchange a glance before turning their attention toward the observing glass that oversees the physical realm of Earth.
"Come over here, please, Fai," Clow says calmly to the blonde, beckoning him over with a slight hand gesture. There wasn't really much for Fai to expect, so the only way he was gonna understand what Clow was trying to show was by actually seeing it himself. After a few seconds of uncertainty, he finally brings himself over to where they stand and observe the events of everyone's lives on Earth. The dark-haired male places a hand on his shoulder unexpectedly and points toward the glass.
"Look down there. See that young man with the spikey black hair and garnet eyes?" Fai leans in a little closer to get a better look.
"Wow, yeah I do. That's a pretty dense cloud of darkness... Is that why you have called me down? Do you wish for me to kill him before he runs rampant?"
"No," Yuuko breaks in. "That young man's name is Kurogane Suwa and we want you to cleanse his soul."
"How do you expect me to do that!? He's far too jaded!" he refutes back, frankly surprised with such a request.
"He's very jaded, but he hasn't been completely engulfed," Clow tells him. "Look." He points to the red-eyed male again and Fai watches him a little longer to see how much truth rang in the Elite's voice, eyes widening at how much the density of the cloud shifted. 'Wow... That guy has no idea how he wants to be...' he thinks to himself while pursing his lips.
"We want you to save him from "Unrest". We feel you're the only one who can do it," Yuuko informs him agian
"Even if I'm not an Elite? You'd think that you'd use a Rest Elite for a job like this."
"You're the only one that can change a human like him. Any Elite wouldn't know what to do. Besides, this is your chance to prove you can become and Elite," Clow informs him with a grin. Fai's eyes light up and his whole attention is instantly drawn to them. Becoming and Elite has become his dream ever since he heard of what they were. After his death, he left his twin brother alone on Earth. By becoming a Rest Elite, even if his brother wouldn't be allowed to see him, at least with the greater power and freedom he would possess as an Elite, he could be his brother's permanent guardian angel rather than some random person like this Kurogane Suwa guy.
Clow smiles at the new enthusiasm fromt he blonde. "So, do you want to take the job, Fai?"
"Yes! I'd love to show you that I'm worthy. Just tell me how to get started!" he tells them excitedly with a small sparkle that hasn't shined in his eyes for a while now.
"You only have a month to do this," Yuuko says suddenly. Fai's grin drops immediately, head snapping over to her.
"What?"
"You have a time limit, sadly. You have to save him before the end of a month's time before he meets his death. Can you still do it, Fai?" the red-eyed female questions, expression slightly worried, matching Clow's almost perfectly. Once the realization of Yuuko's words wash over his mind, Fai's ardor slowly dies down and his eyes fall downcast, the seed of doubt planting itself in his mind like it often does. What if he can't do it in a month? Would that ruin the chances of him becoming an Elite? Even losing his title as an angel of Rest?
He shakes the thoughts away and smiles confidently at them. All those negative thouhts are just going to make it impossible. This is his chance and better take it or he'll regret it later or even worse; never get another chance. "I'm sure I can do it," he assures them, earning smiles from both.
Yuuko draws their attention to her once more as she begins to speak up. "Very well. In a month, Kurogane will meet his end and be cast into Unrest. You must become his guardian angel and guide him to his salvation so he may be allowed to enter into Rest. We wish you the best of luck, Fai," she tells him, puntuating with a gentle smile.
T
Leaning over, Fai takes a whole eyefull of the physical realm. Feeling a little dizzy and nervous, he can't help but pull himself back away from the edge of the drop off and sit down. The Rest Elite jump off here and soar into Earth's realm all the time, so he should really stop his worrying and just go.
Then again, the Elite doesn't really have to worry about losing their wings in mid-flight. Being Elites, they're given more power privelages than the common angel from Rest so they can form wings whenever they so desire. Angels with the status of him are only given enough magic to form wings here in Rest or when they need to go and return back to Rest. Just another reason why the blonde wants that special title of Elite.
'Well, nothing's gonna happen while I just stand here,' he thinks while standing up and trudging back over to the drop off deck. 'It's time I go and change a life.'
The pale male closes his eyes, focusing everything on the area between his slender shoulder blades. Not a few seconds later, a glow bgins to shine over the lithe male's back, two magnificent, white wings materializing between the two blades. Soft, snowy feathers extend over a span of ten feet across upon stretching them out. Pale eyelids part slightly to reveal beautifully shining sapphire eyes underneath, slowly being more revealed the wider his eyes open.
He finally jumps, allowing himself to pick up some speed before swinging down the foreign, feathery limbs and safely guiding himself down through the different world's barriers and to where this troubled male lives.
He already feels the drop in the density of the magic needed to keep his wings materialized and he knows he will more than likely need that remaining magic for dealing with this Kurogane, so the wings become the least of needs quickly. Feeling a pang of sadness shoot through him watching the wings fade away, he instantly brushes it off and focuses his attention on finding the raven. His feet stretch to land softly on the roof and he glances around.
'Let's see... The last place I saw him when I was up in the observatory was down one of these alleyways while he was doing some sort of dealing,' he thinks while starting to leap to each gothic style roof and scanning down each alleyway he passes over. 'However...' He slows down to a stop and purses his lips, staring at the Victorian roof's shingles in discouragement. 'That was a while back when I saw him. There's no telling where he's at now...' A moan sounds from him and he slumps into a sitting position, hugging his knees to his chest. "How am I supposed to find him in a big city like this? After all, this is London..." he asks himself in frustration, eyes saddening at the problems aready being presented. Replaying the images of the general area he landed in and how far he leaped around for a bit, he tries to calculate how far away he must be from the raven. A growl escapes past his lips against his knees when trying to figure how far away the male has probably traveled by now.
"Hey! Hey, man with the spikey hair!" a voice yells from down on an alleyway street near him. The blonde's eyes widen and he finds himself nearly falling off the roof after hastily crawling over to its edge with immediate hope growing in his chest.
A young, ebony-haired male who was just about to round a corner freezes and slowly turns his attention back toward the other man's voice. His face quickly grows frustrated and he starts to pivot and be on his way had the other guy not already been so close to him. 'I can't believe I was this close to him!' the blonde thinks in surprise, excitement tingling in his body. He leans a little more to try and get a better view of what's going on.
"Hey, Spikey. I hear you're that Japanese guy that deals the opium," the sleezy and dirty guy says, earning an irritated sigh from the tanner male. 'I can't hear them...' The blonde hastily jumps up and leaps over a few roofs closer to get a better distance for hearing. Making sure he hasn't been noticed, he eventually peeks over down at the two males conversing, noting everything that he can.
"Just go home and leave me alone," the raven tells him harshly, spinning to be on his way once more.
"But I have the money right here!" 'Money? For what?'
"Shut up! Do you want to get caught, Dumbass?!"
The guy seems to completely ignore the tanned male's warning and continues on. "All the money I have is right here. Enough to buy some. Now gimme some!" he demands, struggling to hold back a dry cough.
The male's red eyes narrow and disbelief floods his expression. "All the money you have? You'd pay every cent you go, just for this shit?"
"Yep, now hand it over. I ain't got all day, Spikey" The guy holds out the money expectantly, other dirty and calloused hand held out to recieve the drug the raven holds in his possession. However, instead of an immediate exchange like the blonde was expecting, his eyes are drawn to the garnet-eyed male who seems to be a bit hesitant in handing any over. Fai's surprised but definitely pleased over the other's hesitance. 'That's it! Just keep it to yourself and keep walking away. Don't give him the means to end his life!' the blonde chants to himself with a small grin on his lips. Sadly, it was short lived.
"Well?" the man questions again and Kurogane finally takes the money and places the opium in his hand. The raven watches the man take off before slowing turning to be on his own way again. The blonde's eyes follow his retreating form then crosses his arms over his chest. 'I think I can see now what they mean over him not completely being engulfed by that cloud of darkness. He's still somewhat pure. Even if hesitating to give someone opium isn't the biggest deal ever in "greatness", it still shows that he has some idea of "right and wrong" that controls his actions.' He gazes down the direction raven parted in and follows after him with a few more jumps over the roofs. 'I think I CAN change him, but the question is, how?' he wonders when leaping onto the roofs of the building leading in the raven's direction that overlooks a more open scenery of a park where the raven can easily mix in with all the people. 'I suppose I'll have to learn more about his reactions and thought process first before I can get any idea to change him.' A sigh erupts from his chest and he slumps over a bit not really wanting to go through this much trouble to assess the situation.
However, he is well aware of the fact that he's going to have to do anything it takes to turn this unlucky male's fate around and get him into Rest if he wants any chance of being an Elite, even if it requires a lot more work than the blonde's accustomed to. Sapphire eyes shift up to be met with a hazy sky of orange, pink, purple, and yellow all blending together in a beautfiully painted campus. 'If I can do this, my dream will be realized, The sooner this is over with, the faster I become an elite~' A grin finds it's way onto the angel's lips, determination settling over his pale features and dancing in his eyes.
'It'll be dark soon. I gotta find that guy before it's too late to see him. London doesn't have friendly nights,' he thinks to himself, keeping to the rooftops as his method of travel for a better view over the crowd of people. Even if he's not mixed in with the people, it's still just as risky jumping around up on the buildings. Humans don't typically roam around on rooftops, much less have the ability to do so. If he's spotted, there's no telling what type of attention he'd recieve. For now, it's just better to stay out of public's view until he's been around this Kuro-san or whatever guy long enough to know what to do.
He scans over the cluster of bodies in the park, looking for the tanned male to show up somewhere amongst the collage of people. He made the mistake of letting him get too far ahead of him so he didn't really see if he turned left or right down at the corner he saw him leave at a while ago, so he just went right and hoped for the best. However, from what he managed to remember about the male's aura, this feels like the right direction. 'It's getting dark fast. I gotta find him soon or I'll have to wait a whole other day before I can track him down for sure.'
The farther down Fai travels, the more he begins to realize the lesser quality the buildings and houses seem to present. He's even more warry about landing on the roofs wrong at risk of them breaking and him falling through. The male halts momentarily, glancing down one of the alleyways at the slim hope his search would be over, only to not be realized. He scans the area around him, noticing how much the scenery has changed. He was still by the canal that he noted earlier in the park, but the buildings were definitely lacking in comparison to those he saw earlier. There were considerably more people but they were dressed in more ripped, dirty and swaddling clothing than those who he saw earlier. Though there were people dressed the same as this mixed in with those who looked more presentable earlier, but not the population was overwhelming. It surprised Fai when taking in such conditions. He's had his fair share of sights of underdressed and clearly struggling people, but he'd have never dreamed up a place like this. He's never really been out this far either though nor had any reason to look over into this place when he'd occassionally glance over the drop off deck up in Rest.
Pursing his lips, he shakes his focus back to finding the Japanese male he lost track of earlier. Closing his eyes to get a stronger focus he begins to sense out the other's presence since it's gotten too dark outside to see anything in the already blackened alleyways.
A feeling of fire dancing more zealously than every other energy in the area feels most familiar to that of the unique presence of the raven he felt earlier. It takes only about five minutes of prancing over a few roofs to meet up with the frenetic energy.
"Found you~" the blonde sings to himself, peering down though the thick blanket of darkness to try to see the raven. He's just walking, to where, the blonde knew not, annoying him a bit to no end. 'Does he just take evening strolls for no reason? Hmm...' he thinks to himself, following the tanned male closely now that his eyes have just adjusted to the dark. 'Time to assess. Now, what to do.' Fai tries to think back to earlier and get any idea of how to learn more about this guy he's been assigned to.
'Oh~ I have an idea,' the angel smiles to himself, magic already beginning to take form below him in the house below him that's just a little ahead of the black-haired male's walking path. "Let's see what you do," Fai says to himself, quickly followed by a piercing scream of a woman.
The raven pauses, attention immediately jerking toward where the disturbance sounded from. The scene of a distressed woman trying to drag herself out of a door and away from a man clutching tightly onto her ankles fills the male's garnett eyes. The helpless woman notices him and throws her hand out toward him, eyes sparkling with tears.
"Help me! Please! Save me from this man!" she pleads with Kurogane, nails scraping across the ground. His jaw tightens and he clenches his fists, nails biting into his palms. Tension becomes evident in his muscles and his eyes seem to be conflicting with unnamed emotions. Fai watches him intently with arms crossed over his chest, mentally recording everything the other male does.
The woman's whimpering and cries fill the otherwise quiet night and her crazed eyes cut into Kuro's own. "Help me! PLEASE!" she screams out to the motionless male again. Kuro bares his teeth then finally flings himself forward to keep walking away, doing everything he can to not cast another glance at her. She screams out one more time before she's dragged in through the door and a slam echoes in the night. Fai continues to watch him and shifts his weight onto his left foot. 'So, it seems that he has issues making his own decisions. It's clear he at least has some recognition of what's right and wrong, but when it comes to making a decision between the two, he struggles.' The blonde jumps over to the roofs that follow in the direction of the retreating raven, his magic fading in the house that the girl was pulled in to. 'We'll have to worn on that, now won't we?' He smirks to himself, hastily trailing after the raven's movements.
The dark-haired male make a sudden turn around the corner and Fai promptly follows, impressed by the seemingly out of place building Kurogane seems to be heading toward. It isn't like a noble's home, but it most certainly doesn't look all run down like the rest of the sad architecture in this area. 'Intriguing...'
The other male disappears around the door after a few seconds of waiting and Fai seizes this chance to get closer. Scanning the area to make sure no one sees him randomly jump down from a high building and deeming it safe, he leaps down and gets close to the door the raven entered through moments before. He couldn't exactly go inside, so the blonde went with the next best option and presses his ear up against the door's cold frame.
It's silent for the longest time and Fai's about ready to deem it useless until two voices resonate from the other side of the wood. The voices are slightly muffled until they get closer to the door.
"You made some pretty good profits today, Kurogane," a deep, sophisticated voice rumbles.
"Mm..." another male's voice replies, probably belonging to Kurogane.
"Here's your share."
"Thanks..." Kurogane's voice (at least who Fai presumes) sounds again, followed by footsteps. The blonde's heartbeat speeds up a bit, realization washing over that he needs to get out of there before he's caught, that is until the other man's voice speaks up again.
"Oh, Kurogane. Be sure that you get me a playtoy, hm? By tomorrow night, please," the voice says, followed by a mumble of understanding and footsteps starting up again. The blonde gasps, scurrying away from the doorway and jumping up onto the roof in one leap, something no human could ever hope to do. The click of a door closing fills the air from behind Fai, making him turn to see the black-haired male making his way away from the building. 'So, you need to find a broad for that guy inside now? Sounds fun...'
T
Fai was surprised with how close Kurogane actually lived to wherever that place was he entered earlier. It was about a ten minute walk tops, so that came as a pleasant realization to Fai who was tired of having to follow around this male all day.
The red-eyed male enters through a somewhat broken door into a building that's considerably lower than the building surrounding it on either side. It's a small house that's snuggled in between two tall, brick buildings at the end of a short alleyway. It looks small, but is probably one of those deceiving houses where it's bigger on the inside then on the outside. It feels like a place that goes by unnoticed and guarded. The blonde entertained the idea of it seeming to match the raven. 'Well, I'm not gonna learn anything from up here. I may not be able to just walk in, but getting closer may help,' he thinks to himself, getting closer to the edge of the roof to jump off and get within a closer vicinity.
"So, you seem to have your eye on that human as well, hm?" an all-too-familiar voice rings from behind the angel, atmosphere behind him immediately thickening with a defiling energy. Sapphire eyes widen and he's jolted from jumping down. It's as though everything moves in slow motion when snapping his head around to allow his vision to affirm his suspicions, heart stopping when icy golden eyes meet his own. Long black hair blows in the gentle wind then falls to drape over his shoulders. The blonde's once shocked eyes immediately grow cold, animosity flooding the sapphire depths.
"What are you doing here, Ashura?" Fai questions with venom dripping in his voice, earning a mocking grin from the demon in return.
.rough...! x.x That was one of the hardest chapters I've ever written x.x I think I went insane toward the end of it... *sighs* It's just all the description... Anyway! Hope this was a good read and that you all are looking forward to the next chapter that will be tons more awesome! R&R? It'll make me happier and make me update faster! Adieu for now! TAKE CARE~