A/N: Fai's part is probably my most favorite part out of all three. I figured since it's my birthday, I'd treat you all to an early update.

Enjoy!

Fai

"It's cold." She mumbled weakly.

"I know." He replied, his voice equally soft. "It's snowing out."

"We're going to die, aren't we?" she questioned dejectedly.

"I don't know." He responded quietly.

"That's a first." She snorted, struggling to pull her body into a sitting position, hissing when agony licked at her right leg with fiery tongues.

"Can you heal yourself?" he asked worriedly, eyeing her damaged leg apprehensively.

"I can't call on my magic." She shook her head, locks of satin and crimson tumbling around her shoulders. Tiny flakes of snow drifted to the ground from the small crack high up in the ceiling of the cave. It wasn't actually a small crack but it seemed tiny from the distance. It was miracle that they had actually survived a fall from that height without getting seriously injured. Well… apart from a broken leg for her and some cracked ribs and a twisted ankle for him that is.

"I was afraid of that." He frowned, limping over to her as their surroundings began to darken. It would be nightfall in a few hours.

"I guess we're stuck in one of those caves." She nodded, understanding creeping into her tone as she leaned against the ice-wall.

"We can only hope someone finds us here before it's too late."

"Something tells me it might be too late…"

"Since when are you such a pessimist, Masooma?"

"Since the time you've become such an optimist… It's really cold." She repeated her earlier statement, pulling her fur lined coat closer to her body for warmth. "I didn't mean you had to take off your coat and cover me with it!" She protested when he did just that. "Fai! You'll freeze to death."

"Are you still cold?" he said, ignoring her question as he hobbled over to the spot where their bags had fallen. Rummaging through it, he found a blanket and some books. Searching through it some more, he found a set of matches. Bringing the items over, he covered her with the blanket before ripping out the pages from the books and making a pile of them at a small distance. Striking a match, he threw it into the pages, starting a fire for warmth.

"Masooma?" he called her name when he received no reply, feeling his heart sink in his chest when he noticed the way her eyes drooped and her head sagged on her shoulders. "Masooma, wake up! You're not supposed to fall asleep." Hurrying over to her, he quickly shook her shoulders, waking her up.

"Huh?"

"You need to stay awake." He told her seriously. She had hit her head when she fell. If she fell asleep…

"Oh… okay." She murmured sleepily, head drooping to one side once again.

"Masooma," he shook her again, "Stay awake." He ordered, "Start talking to me about something."

"It's hard," she told him, once again beginning to give into the drowsiness, "I feel so sleepy…"

"Hey!" he lightly slapped her face, causing her to stare at him blearily, "No sleeping, alright?'

"Uh huh…"

"Tell me about your family!" he blurted out all of a sudden.

"My family?" she repeated in confusion, growing slightly more aware of her surroundings, "why?"

"Because you're never told me about them." He reasoned, turning his back towards her to throw some more pages into the fire.

"Only if you tell me about yours."

"There isn't much to tell."

"I still wanna know." She insisted, obviously putting more effort into staying awake now, "If I tell you about mine, you have to tell me about yours."

He looked over at her, watching the hope lighting up her slightly unfocused gaze, "… okay." He sighed, noticing the small smile that broke out on her face at his agreement.

"Before I came to Celes," she started, "I used to live with my father and younger sister, Umeed. My mother died giving birth to her. She was a witch. My sister is six years younger than me, not interested in magic in the least bit although she has a bit of magic in her blood. My father is just an ordinary merchant so he travels a lot." Her gaze became somewhat distant. "He always brings these little trinkets for me and my sister whenever he comes home though. I have this entire shelf in my room back home that's dedicated to all the things he's ever brought for me… even though I haven't gone to visit either of them ever since I came here to study under you, I still write to them every few days. Umeed started teaching at the village school last month." Silence fell between them for a while until she broke it, "your turn."

He dumped some more pages into the fire before leaning back against the wall.

"I was born a twin in the kingdom of Valeria." He closed his eyes to fight the painful memories that sprung up with that single name alone, "My father died not long after my birth. Mother committed suicide when I was five. My uncle took over the throne but because twins are a misfortune in my home-world, we were locked away in a valley not much different from this cave. We were seven at that time. My brother was locked up in a tower so high I could not even see the window of his cell… We spent nearly an eternity in that place… Always calling out the other's name… Then one day, a man came and he told us that he would get us out of that valley."

"So where is your brother now?"

"Dead," he replied emptily, "He promised to get us both out, but only one of us could actually leave there alive… he told me to choose who got to live and… I being a cowardly monster, chose to save myself. My brother fell to his death from the tower."

"You were just a child…" she protested weakly, as he fed the dimming fire a bit more of the paper, "the man that gave you the choice was the monster."

He smiled a bitter smile, not for once believing the excuse she made for him, "Ashura-ou came and rescued me from there not long after that."

"Fai…"

"It's kind of ironic that I end up getting stuck in a place similar to the one my brother died in. From the looks of it…" he gazed at the sliver of sky overhead, "I might die here too."

"…I thought you were supposed to be the optimist." She nudged his shoulder lightly, making him look back at her.

"Your pessimistic germs killed my optimism."

….

"Hey Fai?"

"Hmm?" he cracked an eye open to look at her. Her trembling lips were turning blue from the cold, frost covering her hair and part of her face. A bit of blood stuck to the right side of her face, frozen just like the snow.

"You're cold too, right?"

"Yeah."

"Me too." She sighed, leaning her head against the wall to stare at the crack in the ceiling. The sky had taken on a slight orange hue. It was sunset. As the last of the pages of the book they had been burning for warmth turned to a pile of wet ash, they were plunged in cold darkness. Shuffling a little, he joined her under the blanket, though he let her remain wrapped up in his coat.

"I know."

…

"Hey… Fai…" she called out his name in the dark, her frozen fingers searching for his hand "No one is going to find us, are they?"

"No," heaving a sigh, he shifted closer to her shivering body, "I guess not."

"I'm sleepy." She confessed, leaning her head against his shoulder.

"Me too…"

"Fai?" she mumbled breathily.

"Yeah?"

"I don't want to die…" her hand twitched slightly in his grip, "There is so much I still have to do…" she trailed off, silence reigning between them until she broke it again, "My dad used to hold me close to him whenever I was scared… I feel so sleepy…"

"Masooma, you can't fall asleep."

"I know… I'm scared…"

"… Me too." He admitted.

"Could you…" she hesitated, "Could you hold me as I fall asleep?"

Wordlessly, his arms wrapped around her trembling shoulders as he drew her closer to his body. Mindful of her injured leg, he shifted her so that she rested on his lap. Judging from her lack of reaction to the jostling of her leg, he'd say her appendage had grown numb from the cold. Trembling slightly, she hugged him around the waist, trying to share some of the almost non-existent body heat.

"Hey Fai… You're so warm…" Smiling softly, she pressed the side of her face into his shoulder. Her shallow breaths began to slow as her eyes drooped once again. "And I'm not… afraid anymore… Thank you."

A small bitter smile graced his lips as he pressed his mouth against her hair, feeling as her shallow breaths halted completely. Her arms fell limp by her sides not long after that.

"I wish I could say the same." He mumbled, darkness encroaching at the edges of his vision as her body grew cold and stiff in his hold though he refused to let go of her.

Hours, minutes, centuries seemed to pass before he heard sounds of footsteps and shouts in the distance. Light filled up the entire cave causing him to squint his eyes.

What were the odds?

A harsh laugh escaped his lips as he heard people approach him.

"Down here!" they were found after all, though like Masooma had predicted, it was already too late for her. "I found them!" As his eyes drifted close, he wondered if it was too late for him as well.

A/N: In case if it wasn't clear, this takes place in Celes. Fai and his apprentice were sent on a visit to a neighboring kingdom for some work and on the way they had an accident, which led them to being trapped a crevice that had the same anti-magical properties as the 'valley of sinners' in Valeria.

I'm having trouble coming up with something for Kurogane and his is the only part that's left. If you've got any ideas on what should happen to him, feel free to let me know. I'd love to hear on your opinions so leave a review. ;)