As far as the eye could see, not even a single living soul was in sight. He had just picked up a random direction (A/N: It was either forward or backward actually ;)) and started walking that way. He trudged in the frozen wasteland for what felt like hours, calling out to nothing at all.
Finally his eyes picked up something which contrasted greatly with the grey and white frozen tundra surrounding him. At first glance it seemed to be nothing more than some sort of rag doll suspended from the wall by its arms but as he grew nearer, he realized that it wasn't an inanimate object rather a person. A person he knew and had been worrying over for more than a week.
"Fay-san!" the boy rushed towards the bloody mess that was Fay.
"What the heck happened to him?" the boy thought as he hurried over to the suspended blond. There was blood on the wall behind him, the red liquid was frozen on the ground beneath his feet and it had also turned his once white shirt and grey pant to red tatters. Large gashes were visible through the torn clothes but thankfully none of the wounds were bleeding. Syaoran could tell that the blond was still alive by the breath fogging before his mouth.
"Hang in there Fay-san." Syaoran said as he looked around to find something that could free the man, "I'll get you down from there."
"… thi… ll… spe…" Syaoran heard a faint murmur. Looking back he saw a dull almost lifeless golden eye looking at him as Fay's mouth quivered ever so slightly.
-0-
"What do you mean you can't find them?" Kurogane growled dangerously. The doctor standing before him cowered in fear. The poor guy had probably wet his pants in fear. "A comatose vampire and a sick seventeen year old boy vanish from a ward in your hospital and you have no idea where they might be?"
"W-we are lo-looking for them, sir." The man squeaked like a girl.
"You have something like those camer-thingies installed in your wards right?" Kurogane inquired.
"It's called a camera." Mokona corrected the ninja in a quiet voice.
"In the corridors." The man replied weakly.
"Good, show us what they captured." Kurogane ordered.
"Th-this way."
What a wimp. Kurogane thought in disgust as he followed the shaking man.
"How could they have just vanished into thin air?" Mokona asked no one in particular once they replayed the video tape for the tenth time.
"As you can see, no one came in or left the room." The man in charge of the security said as he stopped the video tape.
"Manju lets go." Kurogane turned on his heels and left. Mokona hopped after the red eyed man as he got into the elevator and pushed the button for the 7th floor.
"Why are we back here?" Mokona asked as the two stepped inside the empty room that had been Fay's.
"Those idiots might have missed something." Was the reply.
MEKYO!
"There is a feather in here?" Kurogane looked at the dimension hopper.
"No." Mokona's ears drooped. "Mokona could feel its waves in here."
"Meaning?"
"The feather was used in here recently." Mokona said as it concentrated. "But it's gone now."
"Why didn't you feel it earlier?" Kurogane heaved a frustrated sigh.
"Something must have been blocking the feather's power." Mokona replied thoughtfully.
MEKYO!
"What is it now?" Kurogane grunted as he picked up a book he had seen Syaoran read the previous night.
"The feather is being used." Mokona declared as its eye remained round as dinner plates.
"Where?"
"Mokona is not sure but Mokona thinks it's coming from the crumbling castle."
-0-
"…Fay-san..." the blond heard a voice call his name. Unlike the whispering wind, this voice was closer, much more real.
"Hang in there Fay-san." he heard the voice speak once more, "I'll get you down from there."
This voice was not an illusion. The realization came in crashing on the blond in waves of relief. Someone had found him! But he had to warn his savior about this reality. Fay lifted his head up to look at the hazy mob of brown and flesh before his blurry vision. It was Syaoran.
But, if the boy was here than did it means that… but how was it even possible? This reality was something created to haunt him and him alone. Syaoran would not be affected by it. This nightmare was not a creation of the boy's mind.
Could it be that whatever was causing all this had, for some reason, trapped the boy here because the teenager's own nightmare was destroyed? Had the creature been unable to trap Syaoran in a twisted reality in his own mind? Was this the reason why the boy was here with him?
Well whatever the reason, he had to let the boy know.
"… thi… ll… spe…" his weakness caused the words to come out as soundless murmurs. Even then, it did get the boy's attention on him.
"S… Spe... ll…" Fay tried to speak once more. He hoped with the bottom of his heart that the boy would get the meaning behind the word.
"Spell?" Syaoran repeated. His eyes widened ever so slightly as the boy cast another look around him.
Fay let out a sigh of relief as his head dropped on his chest.
-0-
Syaoran looked around in shock.
This place, what was it all? Was it all just some sort of illusion? Did that mean that the Fay before him was part of the illusion? Just like the Sakura and Clow country from his dreams before now?
But if Fay were an illusion, why had he just told him about it? What would the person trapping him in here gain from that? No. Maybe Fay was trapped in here with him. Or from the looks of it, he had been trapped here way before Syaoran arrived in this place, maybe somewhere around the same time when Syaoran had entered that Clow country.
That Clow and Sakura had been from a life he had dreamt of once upon a time. It had been based upon a dream of his. Did that mean that this place was one of Fay's dreams? Or more appropriately, his nightmares perhaps?
Well, whatever the hell it was, Syaoran had to free Fay from those shackles and get him down. Something silver glinted in the snow at a distance of a few feet from him. Syaoran realized that it was a key as he bent to pick it up.
What sort of game was their capturer trying to play with them? The boy thought as he tried to fit the key in the manacles around Fay's wrists. He turned the key and the shackles opened with an audible click. Immediately Fay slumped to the ground like a puppet whose strings had been cut off.
The moment Fay hit the ground, a sharp pain shot through Syaoran's head.
"Ahh!" Syaoran clutched his head as he felt thousands upon thousands of needles pinch the inside of his brain while something heavy pounded against his head. Syaoran's knees hit the ground before he collapsed on the snow next to Fay.
Through the haze of pain, Syaoran could see Fay's dull golden eye stare at him as the vampire struggled to move his limbs. He could feel the cold seep in through his thin jacket as the snow melted beneath him due to his body temperature and wet his clothes.
But at the same time, for some reason, Syaoran could also see himself walk into a large, moonlit, dusty hall. He could feel a cool breeze play across his face as ocean waves crashed on some shore in the distance while something warm and heavy pressed down on his right shoulder.
It was strange. It seemed as if he was in two places at once. He could see Fay struggle to move towards him as he lay there paralyzed in the snow due to his immense pain but he could also see himself carry something across the length of the hall to the very end where he started to climb a once grand but now crumbling staircase.
Syaoran could see that Fay was speaking, his mouth moving to form words as, slowly but surely, the vampire inched across the snow towards him. Syaoran knew that the words he was speaking were accompanied by sounds. Funnily enough though, the boy heard nothing apart the silent tap of his feet against the stone and the sound of waves crashing against the seashore somewhere close by as he made his way to the top of the staircase. The ever present warm weight on his shoulder making itself known despite the snow that numbed his body as he lay on it, paralyzed.
A feeling of dread clutched his heart as the boy saw himself walk down a long corridor and end up in a large ballroom; the same ballroom which had he balcony which overlooked the sea, the one Fay had fallen down from.
"Don't worry," he heard himself speak in a cold yet gleeful voice as he dumped threw the weight off of his shoulder. The object landed in an unmoving heap at his feet. "It will all be over soon."
Syaoran saw himself kick the object with his foot to turn it over. His heart missed several beats as he found himself looking down at a familiar face.
-0-
A/N: Wow, this story is so far the most popular with you guys. I'm really glad you ppl like it.
A big thanks to all those who reviewed- anonymously or otherwise. The last part would be kind of confusing at present, no? I wonder why Syaoran can see himself at two places at the same time…
Kurogane: Won't you be the one who knows?
Me: Erm… yeah?
Kurogane: Then why are you wondering why the kid is at two places at the same time?
Me: (Exasperated) I know why. I was just trying to get the attention of the readers on that thing… seriously kuro-tan…
Kurogane: How many times do I have to lock you up in that closet before you learn to say my name properly?
Me: I already know how to say your name properly.
Kurogane: really? Tell me then. What is my name?
Me: your name is Kuroga… Kurogan… Kuro…
Kurogane: (cuts in by yelling at the author) Just say it already!
Me: impatient aren't we today? Fine. Fine. Its… KURO-TAN!!!
Kurogane: Finally she got it right… Hey!
Me: (snickers and runs off for the sake of dear life)
Kurogane: (struggling to get out of the chair.) HEY! GET BACK HERE YOU CRAZY DEMENTED AUTHOR! WHO SAID YOU COULD GLUE MY CHAIR?!? JUST WAIT TILL I GET OUT OF HERE! YU ARE DEAD! YOU HEAR ME?
Me: (in the other corner of the world. Kurogane's yelling and cursing can still be heard in the distance) ahem… well yeah. So like I was saying earlier… wonder why Syaoran is in two places at one? Or is it even Syaoran himself that the boy is seeing in the ruined castle???
Find out that and a lot more in the next chapter of "What the hell?"
Till then
Ciao!
PS. Don't forget to review. :)
