Forever
Cephied Variable
King Ashura kept a music box in every room of his palace. Each box was finely carved wood inset with polished rubies and pearls and emeralds, framed with gold so pure that it was soft and malleable to the touch. They were magical clockwork devices which, a palace aide once explained, Ashura had crafted in his youth when his magic was still raw and un-used. Fye looked at his hands- at his fingertips- and wondered if his power would ever be so precise and benign as to create art.
When he was still new to the palace but bold enough to venture forth from his room, Fye wandered the halls, dreamlike, and in each and every room examined the music box. Every box told a different story, pantomimed by tiny, silver figurines dancing dazzling across a sheet of shimmering crystal. He put his chin in his hands and sighed, mind full of fuzzy thoughts of princesses and orphans and witches and children pulled from solitude and desolation by shining knights and lords on white horses.
The last box he watched was the one in his room. Night had fallen and Fye dimmed his lamp before gently lifting the box-cover, almost trembling with anticipation. There were no figurines inside, but rather a reflecting mechanism that showed the dance of a woman with long, white hair. This woman was tied to the moon, but as she danced there were monsters reaching for her from beneath the ice. The monsters had faces like humans, but teeth and eyes like wolves. Their arms were chains that wrapped around the woman's feet.
She screamed then- a harsh, metal grate interrupting the charming chime of the music box. The box went silent as she raised her arms above her, magic glittering blue and white at her fingertips. Fye wrung his small hands together in trepidation as she held the spell in her hands until it sprung loose, leaving her crumpled and prone in it's wake. The spell shot towards the moon and wrapped it in darkness, casting a crimson shadow on the ice. The monsters disappeared and the music began once again, dischordant and hollow. The only movement on the crystal was the red shadow drawing a spiral pattern around the woman's broken body. Horrified, Fye slammed the music box shut and pushed it as far back on the dresser as he could.
He crawled into bed, but all he could see was the moon through his window swallowed by darkness and turned red with blood. Quietly, he slipped out of bed and crept through the halls, trying his best to ignore the flickering child-ghosts his shadows cast behind him. He finally reached King Ashura's study. Taking a deep breath, he pushed the heavy doors open and entered, pressing himself against the door the moment it swung shut.
The study was orange and warm, full of sweet incense and rich tapestry. Ashura looked up from his books and smiled at the sight of his young ward.
"Did you have a nightmare, Fye?" the King asked kindly.
Fye shook his head and put his hands behind his back, "I don't want to be a wizard anymore," he said in a small voice, "I kept imagining that my magic swallowed the moon."
The King's smile faltered for a moment and he stood gracefully, his long hair moving around him like a cloak. Fye pressed his dry lips together wordlessly as Ashura knelt and gathered him in his arms, "My child, I will teach the moon to love you. As long as you are in my service, you will never have cause to fear yourself again."
"How long can I stay here?" Fye asked a little breathlessly, nuzzling into his king's bedclothes.
Ashura kissed Fye's hair, "Forever," he answered easily.
"Forever?" Fye echoed, eyes wide. He had only been talking about the study-chamber, but the king's gaze spoke of something much grander.
"Yes." he assured softly, "Forever."
Sakura had never been drunk before in her life, a fact she'd forgotten to mention when Fye handed her the sake bottle. He almost felt gulty, but Syaoran had been drinking too and she'd looked, for the first time on their journey, truly at home in her body as she'd linked arms with Fye and sung silly songs about kittens until well after midnight.
Fye half-carried her to the bed as she complained about an upset stomach and was about to leave when she spoke:
"Tell me a story," Sakura said, curling her knees into her stomach, "I want to hear a fairy tale about love."
"Certainly, Sakura-chan," Fye mumured, gracefully pulling a chair up beside her bed, "Once upon a time there was a prince who-"
"I- I don't want to hear a story about a prince," Sakura interrupted lazily, "I want to hear a story about- about..." she trailed off and raised her hands above her like she was making a picture frame, "Fye-san, tell me a story about a clever peasant boy. You had those in your country, didn't you?"
Fye smiled softly- of course the time witch's spell could only erase memory, not emotion. It was about time the Princess would begin to wonder at all the ways a commoner could be a hero.
"Once upon a time there was a King and Queen who were so desperate for a child they enlisted the help of a warlock. Though warlocks are always true to their word, they are also tricksome individuals. He promised the Queen that her daughter would be the most beautiful in all the land, however she must be locked in a dungeon where no one would see her face until her fourteenth birthday.
"The King and Queen were able to keep this promise for many years, however on the eve of her birthday the King could no longer stand to wait. He declared to his wife: "What difference does a matter of a few hours make!" and went to the dungeon to finally lay eyes upon his daughter's face.
"Indeed she was beautiful beyond all compare. She smiled and hugged her father happily, but into his ear she said: "I am a harbringer of destruction for you have broken your vow. At dawn I die and you will have a choice: place my corpse inside a box which must be watched by a guard every night, or threaten to rain plague and pestilence across the land." sorrowfully, the King watched his daughter die in his arms and immediately ordered that her body be sealed in a large coffin and preserved in the abandoned abbey.
"Every night, a man was set to guard the abbey, and every morning the man would be gone. Many brave men tried to keep the vigil, tempted by money and favour from the king and all of them disappeared. After a year, there were no men in the Kingdom left willing to stand watch and the King began offering large sums of gold to travelers.
"It happened that there was a very clever and brave miner who came to town looking to make some money. Despite being warned against it, he took the King's offer and chose to stand guard at the abbey that night. At midnight, he heard the sound of a box creaking open followed by the worst commotion he'd heard in his life. It sounded as if a million souls were crying in the eye of a storm. Cautious, he took refuge in the confessional until morning.
"The King was pleased to see him still standing guard at the entrance of the abbey and offered him twice the previous night's payment if he would stand watch again. The miner agreed, but this time when the sound of dying came, he didn't hide. Instead he stood behind the alter and watched as the dead Princess slowly pulled herself from the coffin- hideously ugly and decomposed- and danced like a harpy between the pews. She hissed and spat and swore at him, but could not reach where he stood.
"For another sum of gold, the miner returned for the third night. However, instead of waiting for the Princess to emerge on this night, he opened the coffin and crawled in beside her, holding her cold body to him as he slept.
"The next morning, he emerged from the coffin to find the princess- now beautiful- crying in front of the alter. When she saw him, she told him that his bravery had broken the curse set upon her at birth by the Warlock. All the other men had run away at the sight of her horrific face. As a reward, she offered her hand in marriage and all the treasures in the Kingdom. The miner, of course, accepted the proposal and-"
"- but did he love her?" Sakura asked suddenly, swaying a bit as she sat up in her bed.
Fye blinked and tipped his head, "Princess, what do you mean?"
"The clever miner? Did he truly love the Princess, or did he just marry her because it was his duty? And because it was profitable?"
Fye could see the way Sakura's hands were trembling as they gripped her skirt. Normally, Fye would be tempted to explain that in fairy tales, love was hardly a factor. It didn't matter whether the miner loved the Princess or not; what mattered was that his bravery deserved reward and the Princess' love was just compensation. But this was a delicate situation and Sakura was a delicate girl. He placed a hand upon her shoulder and gently laid her back down, kissing her forehead.
"Of course he loved her," Fye promised, "He loved her from they very first moment he saw her."
Fye's very favorite fairy tale was the one about the child who was born with the devil's hands. Wherever he went, death danced at his fingertips and the land wilted beneath his feet. Finally, the Lord of his land locked him beneath an ancient tower and forbid that anyone see him, touch him or show him any kindness. The child could no longer see the sun and he was not given any food or drink. An eternity passed and he began to pray aloud for death, however the devil's hands would not allow him to perish.
Eventually, his kingdom was conquered by a great and beautiful Wizard from another country. This Wizard held himself like a God and held the sun, moon and stars in his hands. After slaughtering the King, the Wizard freed the poor devil child from his confinement and invited him to come live in his great ice castle in the land of eternal snow.
The devil child kissed his hand and said: "Please, please take me somewhere far away. Please take me to a true elsewhere."
Fye was shivering. Their backs were pressed against the wall of a back alley just outside the city. There were still people here on the edges of the great Capital, which perhaps made it the best or the worst possible hiding spot. Fye was trying to whistle under his breath and pull up a magical cloak which likely wouldn't work but would certainly make him feel better. Unfortunately, the chattering of his teeth made it near impossible to purse his lips. Had Celes been this cold before he'd left? Had King Ashura's long sleep brought a harsh winter upon the land, or had Fye simply been away from home for too long?
He wished he knew where Syaoran and Sakura were. He wished he knew where they were so he could tell them to take Mokona and run as far away as they possibly could.
He jumped when Kurogane's thick hand clamped around his wrist. Fye hated it when the ninja did that, mostly because of the way it sent a shiver up his spine and did weird things somewhere in the bottom of his stomach. Oh, he knew exactly what that all meant, but-
"This is your country, isn't it?" Kurogane's eyebrows were quirked quizzically- there was disturbingly raw worry displayed on his face. The kind of worry that made Fye long for the days when the ninja just looked angry all the time.
"Let go," he demanded, attempting to wrench his wrist from Kurogane's grip. The ninja just held on tighter- Fye could feel the skin bruising beneath his fingers. They stared at each other for a moment- worry and defiance, counterpoint- and Kurogane pulled him into a loose embrace.
Fye held his breath for a moment. Long enough for Kurogane's free arm to lock behind the small of his back, "You're cold," the ninja said simply. Indeed, there was nothing particularly intimate about the embrace (and hadn't Fye been dreading that) and Fye suspected that Kurogane was pragmatic enough to have no ulterior motive, however...
... however, Fye didn't like being close enough to hear Kurogane's steady breathing (he'd spent some time imagining it erratic) or to feel Kurogane's heartbeat pulsing through his chest, his wrists, his neck-
- he especially didn't like being close enough to trace the line of Kurogane's jugular.
"What are you going to do," Fye asked quietly, yielding hesitantly to Kurogane's touch, "When he comes for me?"
"I told you before that I don't care about anything like that. I'll still fight by your side. I'll protect you and the kid and the Princess for as long as I need to."
Fye bit down the bitter words that were forming and curled back his tongue. They tasted stale, so instead he chuckled: "Even if that means you'll never get home? Even if it's for-" he stumbled over the word, "- forever."
"Yes." Kurogane answered too easily.
Fye wanted to laugh some more. He wanted to shove Kurogane down in the snow and hiss in his ear about all the things he'd seen and done during his long years in King Ashura's palace. He wanted to make sure Kurogane knew that he was nothing more than a child- one who had barely lived two decades... God and Goddess and sun and moon, they were all children. None of them knew what "forever" meant. It was a word that tasted like gold and sunshine on their tongues and sounded like the sweetest symphony anyone had ever heard. But it didn't mean a thing.
Instead, Fye kissed him, because it was easier than listening to Kurogane make more promises he couldn't keep.
"Fye, what did you do?"
"He's... asleep, Chii. It's a very deep sleep."
" W-will Ashura sleep forever?"
"No," Fye shook his head sadly and loosely wrapped his arms around the girl's narrow shoulders, "No one can sleep forever."
fin.