Chapter 4 – Waves of Death

He was back in the tower.

But this time, the ground was clean and devoid of bodies. The air smelled fresh, untainted by the stench of rotting corpses. He could feel his magic residing within him, and he knew, in the way that half of a pair knows, that Fai was not trapped above him. He relaxed a bit, glad that his brother had escaped.

Then he heard it.

A thump behind him.

He turned around, to see a crumpled form lying a few meters away. He approached it cautiously, and turned it over.

It was Kurogane.

Another thump.

Syaoran.

Thump.

Sakura.

Thump.

Even Mokona.

As the amount of bodies raining down around Yuui grew thicker, the feeling rising in him threatened to overwhelm him.

No matter how he fought, he couldn't suppress it. Couldn't help it.

At last, he gave in.

He headed for Kurogane.

It was time to drink.

Fai awoke to find his fists clenched around his fists and a tide of despair waiting to sweep him away.

Try as he might, he couldn't run away fast enough. The waves always came crashing back, determined to sweep him out to somewhere where he would lose all his strength before he could struggle back.

At times, he welcomed it. The cold, icy feeling of death whispering against his skin felt almost like home, like it was how he was supposed to be. At times, it numbed him, let him escape the pain.

At times, he hated it. He craved the touch of another body, sometimes even just the flutter of a smile, to remind him that not everything and everyone was chilled to the core.

He longed for someone to reach out to him and say, "Here, take me hand. I'll save you."

But no one dared step into the frigid waters that loved him so, and no one had ever offered a hand to Fai.

He couldn't ask for someone to take the dive into death's realm to save him. He wasn't even sure anyone would.

He couldn't save himself.

All he could do was keep on swimming, towards a shore that seemed to elude him more often than not, and hope that someone would finally see him floundering among the waves.

As he pulled himself together for another day, he became aware of the noise downstairs. Curious as to what the trouble was this time, he made to get dressed.

Seeing the clothes from yesterday, he grimaced and debated internally for a long moment before finally deciding what to do about them. Raising his hand, the air around the clothes was presented with indigo Celesian script. They all disappeared, with the exception of his outer coat, and were replaced by fresh clothes.

He heard footsteps on the steps and hurried to finish pulling on his boots. Feeling his customary smile slipping into place, he prepared to face Kurogane.

The smile faltered when he heard the footsteps pass by his room with only a small, almost unnoticeable pause. The corners of his mouth didn't lift as easily when he felt the minutes slip away and wondered if Kurogane was going to avoid him entirely.

Then he heard the footsteps returning in his direction again. He found himself apprehensively watching the doorknob when the sounds of Kurogane walking down the hallway had arrived, and stopped, at his door.

The door opened. Fai breathed a silent sigh of relief.

"There's trouble," Kurogane grunted, leaving Fai to follow him as he led the way back downstairs. Syaoran and Mokona had emerged from their room to trail after Kurogane as well, and even Mokona was subdued by the tense atmosphere and the loud sound of the crowd below them.

They were greeted with a hushed silence once they had descended into view. Fai contemplated piggy-backing Kurogane, and then decided against it.

He'll probably just make a scene and toss me away, he thought, unconsciously hugging himself.

The innkeeper stepped forward, the crowd parting for him.

Fai wondered what had happened to have set pretty much the entire town against them. Most of the faces staring at them weren't very happy ones, although almost no one dared to meet his eyes.

"What's going on?" Kurogane asked flatly.

The innkeeper took in a deep breath. "The soldiers of His Majesty are on the way. By the end of the day, not a single one of us will be left alive." His voice wavered. "I'm telling you this now because I'm going to die anyway, and if one of you truly is a skilled magicks-user, you may still live to see a new dawn.

Our king is a horrible and cruel sorcerer. He is an absolute lover of power, and the one thing he fears most is someone that could take his throne from him. Because of this, the use of serious magicks within the kingdom is forbidden, and everyone with significant power is torn apart by the king's dogs and then roasted and fed to those very same dogs.

Every single magicks-user with the potential to overturn His Majesty's rule has been hunted down and slaughtered, then their family would follow while their villages burned to the ground … His Majesty does not forgive 'traitors' easily.

Yesterday evening, His Majesty detected a sudden flare of very strong, very powerful magicks. There is little doubt in my mind that it is the fault of one of you, although I only sense elemental magic from the brown haired one," the innkeeper gestured at Syaoran. "Yet I cannot hold the blame against you, for clearly you are not from this country.

I will die tonight, but I won't blame you."

Fai couldn't help but stare at the ceiling, the floor, Kurogane's back, anywhere that wasn't the face of another person who would die because of him.

Somehow, he deduced, my tattoo must have been temporarily defective after the dimension jump. It must have been my magic that their king sensed …

In a twisted way, he wondered if the only reason he hadn't yet drowned in death's arms was the amount of other lives he managed to toss into the frozen ocean. His punishment for all of those lives ended, whether by his hand or simply by his indirect fault, was surely this life that was dragged on and on through pain and suffering.

In the end, it was the intrusive wailing of a baby that caused him to look down.

In a rush, he skimmed the entire crowd in front of him. He took in the view of several couples clinging to each other with desperation; young boys with heroic fantasies, a cutting knife, and a desire to prove their worth; babies cradled to the chests of their mothers; brave children that didn't understand, didn't want to understand.

I won't let you die because of me.

Kurogane looked back at him. Fai wondered if he felt the sound of death slapping violently around him, fighting with itself.

The ninja stepped forward and the room fell silent. "We'll fight for you."

Syaoran came to stand beside Kurogane. "It's our fault that the soldiers are coming, so please …"

"Just hide. Stay inside, stay safe, and we'll make sure you don't suffer for our own actions." Fai's voice carried easily as he joined his companions. He felt detached as if he was watching from outside of his own body as the crowd erupted in a flurry of discussions.

Death drew ever closer to all these innocent people, swallowing up more and more of the shore until it was out of Fai's sight.

"That is kind of you," The innkeeper was talking again. "But it is too much to ask. Am I correct in saying that you three men are on some sort of journey?"

Fai frowned and probed the man with his magic. He couldn't know that unless … he's a dreamseer, and a fairly competent one too.

Fire magic and dreamseeing … what else is this man hiding that I didn't see at first?

"It's ok," Syaoran replied quietly. "We can't leave knowing we've condemned an entire village to a dark and painful death."

Still … a dreamseer …

If he says he will die tomorrow, does that mean it is so?

If he says Death will claim all these people, does that mean it will be?

If he says we have a chance of surviving if we, meaning I, use magic … what does that mean?

The innkeeper studied the three men for a long moment.

What is he seeing now?

"If they want to help us, we should let them!" A man called out. "Would you refuse a chance at life?"

"Would you be able to live knowing these three died for you?" The innkeeper countered.

"I won't die," Syaoran spoke again. "Not while my most precious person waits for me."

A new thought occurred to Fai. Now that he was free from Fei Wong Reed … that also meant …

I am free to die, now that I no longer have Fai waiting for me.

"Not everything can be solved with sheer will and love," A shadow crossed the innkeeper's face. "But if you are willing to fight, it would be foolish for me to refuse."

"We won't let you down," Syaoran promised.

"Don't worry about us," Fai added grimly, a new, feral smile on his face. "Worry about all those soldiers you're going to have to bury."

He could hear the waves laughing as they swept ever closer to the town.

I'll fight.

But I am so, so, afraid of drowning.

A/N - Did Fai's little death rant make sense in there? The original ramble was over a page long on MS Word, and I decided it was way too morbid and long and got off-topic anyway, so I cut off most of it. I know the ocean is usually compared to life, but somehow, I think it represents death better -innocent smile-

Sorry if breaking up the innkeeper's speech into paragraphs was a bit annoying to read, but I thought it was better than a giant blob of text anyway ^___^

As for the use of magicks and magic, there is no real difference, I just thought I would put something in to better highlight the difference between the townspeople and the travellers (although if you say them out loud there's no difference anyway ... -sweatdrops-)