A/N: Hi everyone! My finals are finally finished and to celebrate my newly acquired freedom of twelve days, I bring you all the next chapter of Dead.

This chapter is in Fai's and Sakura's POV.

Tell me what you think, k?

Enjoy!

It was close to midnight and I still couldn't get myself to sleep. With a sigh, I sat up, swinging my legs to the side of my bed.

It had been Akira all along.

Even now I wasn't sure how she had managed to escape from Celes, but one thing was clear. She was here. In this world.

And she had Syaoran.

My thoughts drifted back to the dream I had had last night.

I put my head in my hands, pressing the palms of my hands against my closed eyelids remembering those dull amber eyes staring at me.

"I'm not going to fail him too." I told myself forcefully, trying to will myself to believe my words.

You won't. I heard a faint voice say.

My body stiffened automatically.

It couldn't be…

I raised my head and scanned the room with disbelieving eyes.

It just wasn't possible.

"K-Kurogane?" I breathed.

There was no answer.

"Are you here?"

Nothing but silence.

I felt like laughing and crying at the same time. Maybe I even did that; I don't know. My mind was in too much turmoil.

Akira was back. Syaoran was missing. And I was beginning to lose my mind.

Great!

Just great.

Now who the hell was going to look after Sakura?

She might have Syaoran's knowledge and skill now, but she was still my princess.

I had to keep it all together. For her sake.

"I can't believe I'm going crazy at a time like this." I mumbled, pulling the covers over my body as I turned over to lie face down.

I was back in the snow-covered field. Behind me I heard the castle collapse on itself. In the snow next to me, the bloody motionless body stained the whiteness a deep crimson. I looked at my hands, only to find them painted with blood.

"How does it feel, mage?" She stood before me, her charcoal eyes alight with mirth as her raven hair billowed about her face, catching the falling snowflakes. "Losing someone close to you? Knowing there was nothing you could do to save them?"

"You $%^&!!" I snarled, feeling my magic crackle all around me. "I'll kill you."

"By all means High Mage," she laughed. "Do try."

Hatred so great, so powerful that I had no choice but to give in, overcame me. With an enraged growl, I summoned magic to my command. The Fluorite stone at the tip of my staff cracking under the strain it was put under.

For a second, time itself stopped as I stared in those black holes. Then she laughed and time moved again.

I threw everything I had at her; every single spell that I had ever learned, making up new and more deadly combinations as I went along.

My chest was heaving as I looked down at her smirking figure. She was bleeding, but an expression of triumph was still on her face.

"You lose mage," she cackled, as her body began to glow black. Yes. Her body glowed black.

My eyes widened in shock as the energy condensed inside her for the millionth part of a second before she let it all out.

The explosion that followed destroyed the entire field; the trees, the castle, everything was gone. A huge crater was all that was left behind in its place.

And her wild cackle surrounded me.

"You'll never make it mage," she laughed, "you'll always be too late."

I bolted up in my bed. Sunlight was pouring in through my window. Heaving a sigh, I got to my feet, walking to the bathroom, lost in thought. Once I was done, I walked to Sakura's room. I knocked on her door but she gave no answer.

Finally after telling her that I was coming in, I opened the door.

She was lying on her bed, curled up in a ball. On her cheeks there were trails of dried tear stains.

"Sakura-chan," I shook her shoulder gently, "wake up."

"Syaoran…" she mumbled gently before opening her eyes blearily. "Oh." She blinked a couple of times.

"Good morning, Fai." She greeted softly. I spotted her bloodshot eyes, but she quickly turned her head away.

"Good morning, Sakura." I greeted her, pretending to not have noticed anything. "I'll get breakfast ready, you should freshen up. We'll be leaving shortly."

"Ok." She nodded.

Sakura's POV:

I knew that Fai knew I had cried last night. But I was grateful that he did not bring it up.

I'm sure he already knew the reason for my tears so…

We had a quiet breakfast after which we left for Peter's apartment. Half an hour later, we were following the small man to the outskirts of town. Every now and then, he would cast wary glances around us, as though expecting an attack.

After walking for another fifteen minutes, we found ourselves standing outside a wrecked factory with rusty chimneys and shattered glass windows.

"This is the place." Peter told us, stopping outside, his eyes darting all around us.

I wondered what it was that had him so scared but before I could ask, I heard footsteps approaching us.

"Good work Peter." It was the bald-headed man with dark skin, the one who had followed me and Syaoran two days ago.

Fai stiffened next to me.

"You." He breathed, narrowing his eyes.

"Hello again, High Mage." The man smirked in his direction.

"Where is Akira?" Fai hissed, his eyes once again flickering to vampire mode.

"You seem to have surrounded yourself with quite powerful magicians," he said, looking in my direction. "But no one can stand against Akira. I thought you had gotten the proof back in Celes."

In a flash, Fai rushed forward, his clawed hand threatening to gouge out the other man's eyes. "You didn't answer my question."

"That is for me to know," he dropped to the ground, slipping through Fai's grip. He swung his leg around to kick out Fai's legs from under him but Fai just jumped out of the way. "And for you to find out."

Fai clapped his hands together to summon Ginryuu as he took up a stance.

The sound of more approaching footsteps was my cue to summon Syaoran's sword. I copied the motion I had seen him perform countless times before and felt the tingling sensation in the middle of my palm as the sword began materializing in a flash of blue light.

Even though I had no idea what to do, my body seemed to move of its own accord, taking up a stance like Syaoran's.

I gripped the sword tightly in my hand, waiting for one of the three men encircling me to attack. They had their own weapons in their hands. One man had a black metal spear with a jeweled tip, another had two short swords, one in each hand, and the last one had a katana.

They all attacked at the same time. Once again, without really thinking about it, I ducked under the spear thrust towards me, rolling out of the way as the dual short swords landed in the place where my shoulder had been a second ago.

Still on the ground I swung my leg around, throwing the man with the spear to the ground.

Surprisingly, I blocked the katana as it tried to hack my arm off. For some reason, I found myself grinning. But it wasn't an innocent, happy grin. It was the feral, bloodthirsty kind of grin; something that would have looked out of place on the face of the old Sakura.

But not this one.

I sensed the short sword coming for my unprotected side but I flipped out of the way.

The men must have been magicians themselves because their respective weapons began glowing with magic. I turned my head in Fai's direction, only to see him parrying five opponents at the same time, including that dark-skinned magician.

A blast of magical energy that nearly blew my head off made me focus back on my own opponents. They were all observing me, as though trying to assess the amount of damage I could cause. I might not have been able to do much but I knew that Syaoran could easily have taken them down, which meant that I could do it just as easily.

Fai's POV:

The dark-skinned magician was the most powerful amongst my opponents and it didn't surprise me at all. That much was to be expected of Akira's apprentice.

I ducked to avoid the swipe aimed for my head. While still in a crouch, I spun around, swinging my leg upwards to hit the apprentice straight in the chest. Another kick aimed at his legs sent him crashing to the ground.

Flipping to my feet, I brought my blade around me in a half-circle, slashing it at one of my other opponents. With a pained cry, the man dropped his sword, choosing instead to nurse the bleeding stub that was once his arm.

I allowed myself a grim smile.

Two down, three to go.

For a second I turned my head in Sakura's direction only to find her holding her own with ease. Once assured that she won't need my help anytime soon, I returned my attention to my own opponents.

The apprentice had backed out for a while, leaving his three underlings for me. One of them aimed his sword for my heart but I managed to avoid it without much effort. A quick, hard blow to the skull and the guy was out like a light.

His partners did not take kindly to his fate and rushed at me not a second later.

I calmly dodged the onslaught dropping my shoulder. I rammed it into the stomach of the bulkier of the two men remaining standing, flipping him over my back. The guy crashed into the wall behind me, knocking part of it down. The bricks landed on top of him, burying him underneath.

"Not putting up much of a fight are you guys?" I said in a bored tone, letting some of Kurogane's cockiness show. It always intimidated your opponents.

The last guy tried to catch me in a headlock by dashing in my direction but I was faster. I dipped out of his grasp so quickly that he was left with nothing but air to clutch at.

He swung his arm around in an attempt to punch me but I caught his arm, swinging him around me twice before letting go. He sailed through the air, funnily enough, crashing in the wall at the same place but a little higher. The top part of the wall gave way as well, raining a barrage of bricks on top of the poor guy beneath him.

The apprentice rushed forward. Apparently he had had enough. He tackled me with an inhuman speed, knocking me to the ground, beneath his weight. Luckily, I recovered pretty fast, managing to get my legs between myself and the man on top of me. I flipped him off of me and jumped to my feet.

Without waiting for even a second, I spun around, letting the magic build up in my sword.

"Hama-Ryou-Jin!" I cried out, releasing the locked energy. The apprentice brought up his own sword, cutting through the attack. Time stood still for a while as we locked our narrowed gazes.

Now it was only me and him.

Sakura's POV:

Once more, the men lunged at me at the same time. Funnily enough, this time around, I was hard pressed to keep up with them for several moments. I didn't have any time for conscious thought, only movement as I twisted, turned, jabbed, sliced and kicked.

Landing on one knee, I ducked under a swipe aimed for my neck, but could not avoid a thrust that cut through the right shoulder of my jacket and shirt, drawing blood.

Wincing slightly, I forced myself to push the pain to the back of my mind as I rolled with the blow and easily dodged another.

Getting back on my feet, I brought my forefingers to the blade of the sword in my hand. Energy built up in the blade as my fingers tingled with the sensation of magic. The men attacked once again just as I released the magic.

"Raite Shourai!" I yelled, summoning lightning to my command. The force of the spell knocked down two of the men but the third one managed to jump out of the way in time.

I was a little surprised when the spell worked, because I had never thought Fai's spell would have cloned Syaoran's ability to use elemental magic into my body as well. Oh well, now I had some really powerful attacks at hand.

I fought the man before me for quite a while, neither of us managing to beat the other. But then the impossible happened as my sword sliced through the man's chest. He gave out a strangled yell as his blood sprayed my face. His eyes rolled to the back of his head and he slumped to the ground.

Something exploded in the distance but I had frozen right where I stood.

I had just killed a man.

I brought one hand to my face only to see red staining my skin.

My eyes widened in shock and fear as my body began to tremble, the horrible sound of flesh and bone being cut by metal ringing in my ears over and over again.

I heard Fai call out my name but his voice was so far away as well.

There was only one thought running through my head.

I killed him.

I killed someone.

I …

"Argh!"

Something hit the back of my head. I staggered, swaying dangerously as I turned around. My vision was blurring and I was beginning to see double.

I saw Peter's grinning face as it swam before my eyes. In his hands was a brick with something red coating it.

Blood.

That was my blood on it.

I didn't understand it.

Why had Peter hit me?

Wasn't he on our side?

"Sorry princess," he grinned, looking down at me.

Strange.

When had I fallen to the ground?

"I'm just following Akira's orders."

I'm pretty sure, I heard him say Akira. So he was working for the witch.

The witch.

She had Syaoran.

"Syao…ran…" My grip on the sword loosened as the world went black all around me.

Fai's POV:

We were both at a standstill, assessing each other warily, sweat rolling down our bodies as we breathed heavily. We were both tiring out, but I had more stamina than him, a plus point of being a vampire. Or so had I thought.

The minute he used a spell way above the level of an ordinary magician, I knew it for a fact that Akira was sharing her stolen magic with this guy.

The factory behind me exploded in flames as I dodged the attack.

"That ninja's skill won't save you from Akira for long," he commented casually as he rushed towards me.

"But I don't rely on Kurogane's skill alone," I said, summoning my own magic to my hand. My eyes darted in Sakura's direction to check on her status but what I saw made my blood run cold.

Peter. He was creeping up behind her with a brick.

"Sakura watch out!" I yelled but she didn't appear to have heard me.

She was just staring at her own hands as though she was seeing them for the first time. Or that was what it looked like initially. There was something at her feet.

A bleeding, motionless corpse lay on the ground, a deep gash in its chest. I understood the reason for her shock.

The Peter's brick came down on her head as she gave a small cry. She wobbled on her feet, turning around to face the man.

My anger flared up, amplifying my spell. I allowed the ribbons to snake in the apprentice's direction but the bastard just dodged them.

I turned my head in Sakura's direction again, only to see Peter slinging her across his shoulders.

"No!" I ran towards him but the apprentice blocked my path.

"What, aren't you gonna finish the fight?" he said, blasting dark magic in my face.

I flew back several feet in the air before colliding painfully with one of the still standing beams of the ruined structure behind me. I felt blood trickle down the side of my face, mingling with my sweat but I paid no mind to that.

I staggered to my feet, clutching the sword even tighter. I looked up to see the apprentice smirking while Peter scampered away with Sakura.

I couldn't let them take her away too.

I had to protect her.

I had to get to her.

But my mind was fuzzy and incoherent.

I must have hit my head pretty hard.

What the hell are you waiting for mage!

That sounded so much like Kurogane.

"I'm going Kuro-tan," I mumbled absently, not paying much attention to the words that had come out of my mouth.

I raised my forefingers, allowing blue ribbons of Celesian runes to surround me and Akira's apprentice.

"You're finished!" The symbols clung to his body, encasing him in ice right where he stood.

Without wasting another second, I ran in the direction Peter had gone but he was nowhere to be seen.

I let my vampire senses take over, checking the air for the scent of Sakura's blood.

He had gone in the forest behind the factory.

I turned and ran, my fingers digging into the palm of my hand clutching the sword.

I jumped over the overgrown roots, ducked under the wild branches. Soon, he was in my line of sight. I let magic crackle all around me as I moved.

My vampire instincts had kicked in ages ago, so I managed to dodge the spike of ice that came at me from behind.

"I don't have time for this." I growled, hurtling spell over my shoulder at the apprentice coming after me.

A/N: A cliffy! Yeah, I'm still pretty evil to leave you all hanging but…

So, Sakura just got badass. Sort of. She accidently killed a man but, he was evil anyways sooo…

Who is the person Fai keeps seeing in his dreams? Is it Syaoran? Or someone else. Knowing me, you never know but still, would anyone like to guess?

Can Fai get to Sakura in time? Or will she end up in Akira's clutches as well? And what about Kurogane? Will he ever be heard?

Find out the answers to all these questions and a couple more next time. Till then, don't forget to drop by in the review room and tell me what you think.

-Nims.