Frozen

by GossInABox

[KuroxFai]That cold touch of Celes will be with Fai forever, even after the journey has come to an end.

Title: Frozen
Pairing: KuroganexFai
Rating: PG
Warnings: Light Shounen-ai, Spoilers for Acid Tokyo, Celes, and authoress' own ideas on ending
Summary: That cold touch of Celes will be with Fai forever, even after the journey has come to an end.

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If he closed his eyes and raised his head up just so, baring his throat to the chilling wind, this world almost felt like Celes. The air was thick with snow, and it had always been thick with snow in that frozen country. It was almost like Celes, but Fai had long since realized that this Japan would never reach the mind-numbing cold that he had known ever since he had first been given the chance to truly live.

Celes was a place of strange beauty in the frozen countryside and the gently falling snow.

It was the home and future that Fai had once thought he had.

It was where the horrifying truth of Fai's life had revealed itself.

It was the place where Fai had wished for death.

It was the place where Kurogane had pulled him from death, exchanging an arm for his life.

Even as they fled that cold, chilling world Fai could not tear his eye away from the sickening amount of blood that flowed too freely from the grotesque hole in Kurogane's shoulder. The arm had been left behind as Fai had been pulled from death once again.

He cried for Kurogane then, silently promising that he would live for this family, for Kurogane. If Kurogane would only live!

Kurogane lived and Fai had found the will to live on.

But the journey had continued on and Fai now found this world to be as lifeless and empty as Celes had grown to become.

Even when he was pressed in on all sides in the crowded city of Tokyo or visiting Yuuko's shop his heart felt painfully heavy and lonely.

A gust of wind blew, pulling on strands of pale blonde hair and biting at unprotected skin. It was cold and it was sharp, but just not as sharp. He missed the cold that could have ended a life so easily and so swiftly back in that ice-covered wasteland.

Fai stared defiantly up in to the cold sky, trying to force the doubt and the fears and that horrible need away. He had promised he would live for them.

But it had been three months, and everything was different now.

It had been three months since Sakura had retrieved her last feather.

Three months since Syaoran, Sakura's Syaoran, died with a soul in his eyes and love for Sakura in his heart.

Three months since tearful goodbyes had been exchanged with the children. Sakura and the 'other' Syaoran, so familiar and yet such a stranger, had returned to Clow. They had been weary, and they had been sad, but they had been whole.

Three months since Kurogane had returned to his home, to his Princess.

Three months since Fai had said goodbye with a smile on his face.

Three months and he still wondered what else he could have said. Would anything have changed if he had only allowed the mask to drop? But his family was gone. Kurogane was gone. It was almost like Celes; a chilling cold that encased his heart, built from sad memories.

Three months since Fai had truly smiled.

Two months since the loneliness set in.

One month since the smile froze over. That false face only shattered when he was alone, feeling cold all over.

One week since the snow started falling and Fai wondered what it would be like to sleep, forever beneath the white blanket.

Fai's heart was cold, like the snow, like Celes.

Fai wanted to die.

But Fai could not die, because even worlds away Kurogane would not let him die.

The mage lowered his head against the cold snow, a small, sad smile gracing his face. He wrapped his thin arms around his body, fighting off the chill in both body and heart in this small way.

No, he would not die.

Kurogane wanted him to live, and so Fai would live on until the day worlds collided once again and Kurogane returned to him.

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Author's Notes: Well, this took a bit of my own thoughts on a possible ending to TRC. It's also my first time writing this series or this pairing, so I hope the characterization is ok. This also did not go in the original intended direction as all.

I'm fiddling around with the idea of writing a second part that centers around Kurogane and that will actually bring the piece back in the intended direction, but we'll see if the inspiration kicks in. ;;

Well, I hope you enjoyed. :D