Disclaimer: I do not own TRC, nor anything of CLAMP

Chapter 9

Normal POV

A thunder clap crackled through the air. Lighting light up the world and drowned it in a flash of white.

When the world came to again, smoke filled the red and black sky, reflecting the fire blazing through the entire village. The dome-shaped, one-room huts, made of grass, straw, and mud, were engulfed in the orange and yellow tongues. People were screaming as they ran about the chaos.

Swords clashed, blood splattered, bodies fell to the earth as the village's warriors fought the invaders, shielded in bronze armor with red markings.

Freya's brown eyes stared downward, absently, at the alleyway's pavement and she did not move. Her legs were stretched out in front of her and her arms lay at her sides, her palms facing up, limply.

These horrific memories flashed through Chii's mind making her cry, moan, and toss around in her sleep. The thunderstorm raging outside in Celes Country just made it all seem the more real; hence trapping her in her cage of nightmares, and drowning her in her pit of inescapable sorrows and misery.

"Chii!" Fay cried as he opened the door and ran in. He watched by her bed side, his blue eyes wide, and his mind racing as he thought of a means to wake her up. Beforehand, he had been sleeping peacefully in his room just down the hall, but her cries and screams were loud enough to stir him from his deep slumber. Even a few guards had raced over alongside him.

Despite the four years, nearing five, Chii had spent in her new home, her traumas from the past did not lessen. No matter what Sakura, Yuko, and the others did to try to make her forget, the memories were absolutely relentless as they tormented the small Chobit. No force of magic could undo the damage that had been done to the once so innocent little girl. "Chii. Chii, please wake up!" Fay shook her as gently as he could as not to scare her any more, but her writhing only progressed as did her screams.

"Master Fay, we urge you to step away!" One of the guards called from behind him, "She could injure you in her state!"

The platinum blonde boy turned to him, "And she could injure herself if she remains in this state!" Seeing the determination in his blue eyes, the soldiers backed down and Fay turned his attention back to Chii. "Chii . . ." he said gently leaning close to her furry, white ear, "it's me. You're safe in the castle. Sakura, Kurogane, and Syaoran took you in long ago.

"You made friends with little, white Mokona and that was when your walls broke down. You opened up to everybody else after that and that's how we met a whiles later. Please, wake up! . . . You're not—ah!" He screamed when an icicle pierced through his abdomen straight through his back.

"Master Fay!" The soldiers hurried to surround him, but Fay stopped them by holding up his hand, not taking his eyes off of Chii.

"You're not . . . in danger anymore, Chii!" He said in between breaths and clenched teeth. The spear dug even deeper through his frail ten-year-old body and he put more of his weight on Chii's purple-sheeted bed. "You . . . can . . . overcome this. . ." His voice trailed off as he fell to his knees, the pain overbearing and his stomach and back soaking in sticky, crimson blood.

By now the guards could not standby any longer and they surrounded him, "Sir, you have to go to the infirmary! Your bleeding will only grow worse!"

"Somebody wake that girl up so she no longer has control of that ice!"

"No!" Fay shouted, reaching for Chii while he was being dragged away. "Don't hurt her! Let go of me! Chii!"

His voice seemed to echo and Chii's brown eyes flew open and she gasped bolting to an upright position. She gripped the sides of her head, pressing her large ears down, clenching her eyes shut, and screamed so loudly, and so shrilly, that the window above her bed shattered sending a mass amount of glass raining down.

"Duck and cover!"

"Somebody grab her!" Just as a guard grabbed Chii, the glass covered her bed and the icicle ripped out of Fay's body, making him scream in agony, and shrunk down to nothing.

Chii, trembling immensely, continued to cry in the man's arms as she wrapped her bare, lightly cut arms around his neck, tightly, and buried her face in his armored chest. "We have to get these two to the infirmary!" He called to his fellow men who hurried off to the room.

A few moments later, Sakura, Syaoran, and Kurogane burst into the large, white room where a team of guards stood about as nurses tended to the two children. "What's happened?" Sakura demanded with worry. Chii, residing in the bed nearest the door, was still trembling and wailing softly in a ball. Her white, sleeveless nightgown revealing non-threatening cuts on her legs and arms. Fay, on the other hand, was in much worse condition. He winced greatly, gripping the bed sheets until his knuckles turned white. The nurses did all they could to stop the bleeding with tight wrappings, but he continued to lose a dangerous amount of blood.

The princess' heart felt as if it were being stabbed with a thousand swords upon seeing her children, who she had taken under her wing so long ago, going through so much pain. She firmly placed her dainty hand on the shoulder of one of the soldiers, her green eyes tearing and frantic with worry. "I said, what's happened!"

"The Chobit girl was having a nightmare." He explained, "The young master tried to wake her up peacefully, but she attacked him in her sleep."

The strawberry blonde turned to Fay who was wailing with the pain. "Fay . . ." she turned her attention Mokona with her eyes ablaze. "Call for Yuko, Mokona."

"Yes, Sakura!" It cried and left the room with Syaoran and Kurogane.

"Settle Chii down for me, please."

"Yes, Princess." One of the nurses nodded and went to the counter, filled with medications, for a moment before returning with a needle. A few nurses gently restrained Chii, enabling their coworker to inject the serum into her neck. In a matter of seconds, the little Chobit's sobs and trembling lessened until she was completely sedated.

Arms tucked into her elegant robe's sleeves, Sakura slowly approached her side and placed a gently hand on the young girl's head, stroking her hair. "I'm so sorry, Chii." She whispered.

"Ch-Ch-Chii." Fay stammered, his pain growing even worse as he struggled to look at his childhood friend, "Wh-what . . . did you do to her—ah!"

"Settle down." A nurse reassured as she pressed down on his wound, "She's only knocked out. Be still."

"Like hell I will! Ah! Leave her alone! It's not her fault this happened—ah!"

"And we understand that, Fay." Sakura said as she walked over to him, her sleeves tucked away again and her green eyes brimming with sorrow. "But she had to be, only for a little while, to calm her down until-"

"-the dimensional witch is here." One guard reported as he entered the large, white room.

"-Yuko arrives." Sakura concluded, looking at him and nodded. "Do send her in, please."

Straightening again and giving a nod, he hurried out. The princess looked at the young magician who was trembling from the pain and his loss of blood. "Yuko will heal your wound, Fay. It's going to be okay."

"Like hell it will . . ." he said with shaky breaths, "I'll only be okay until Chii is." Sakura sighed as she looked at him.

"I have come." Yuko announced, Syaoran and Kurogane at her sides, and the staff inside the infirmary turned to her.

"Over here." A nurse directed to Fay.

The magician stared up at his current mentor, unable to speak, but his eyes and bodily actions gave away his condition. Giving a quiet sigh, Yuko looked down and placed her hand over his abdomen to examine his wound. "I take it Chii's magic is getting stronger with each passing moment."

All were shocked as no one had told her that was what had happened. "Wh-wh- h-how did you-?" Fay stammered.

"Do not take my lightly, young one." The tall, raven-haired women replied looking directly into his eyes with her red orbs. "After all of this time teaching you, you should know that about me, by now." No one spoke another word as she brought her attention back to his injury.

Beneath her long, slender hands, came a white glow and Fay winced again, twitching his head to restrain his screams. Yuko narrowed her eyes as she continued and after a few moments longer, the light faded. She straightened and looked at her student. "You're lucky I had come when I did, Fay D. Flourite." Her eyes narrowed. "Any longer and you would have bled to death in a matter of seconds."

Sakura gave the soldiers a small nod, signaling them it was all right to leave, and then directed her reassuring gaze to her two body guards who nodded and left as well. All the while, the nurses backed away slowly to give the child and Yuko some room. Fay sat up, panting, and looked at his lap.

"I will not reprimand you for your actions, child," Yuko instructed, "however, I will inform you that it was still foolish for doing what you had done."

"How! She was in pain! I was only trying to help her!"

After a moment, the witch looked behind her to see Chii fast asleep in the bed next to him. "After all of the pain she has endured in such a short time, I don't think there is any way to fully heal her." The platinum blonde gave her a puzzled look, which she only returned with her familiar cryptic gaze. "I would advise you get some rest now." She said as she stood up. "We can take a hiatus from your lessons."

"B-but . . ."

"Do as she says, Fay." Sakura nodded as Yuko approached her. "Will they be all right?" She asked quietly.

"Yes." Yuko responded, then looked ahead. "For the time being." Without another word she walked out of the room, leaving Sakura with her two children. She looked at them somberly for a while before coming up to Fay.

"Are you all right?"

"I will be. . ." His back was turned to her, his arms folded across his bare chest as he lay in his bed. "Once Chii wakes up."

Sakura smiled slightly. "I understand. She'll wake up soon, don't worry. The drug will be wearing off within the next hour or so." She placed her hand on his head. "Goodnight, Fay. Sleep tight." Kissing him gently, she slowly left the room and closed the door behind her.

Fay turned onto his side after a moment and sighed, then looked at Chii who was facing him as she slept. Chii . . . His blue eyes revealed the deep concern he felt towards her, as well as the pain in the truth that he was nearly powerless to help her. What exactly did you go through to still bear all of this pain to this day . . . Why won't you tell me? With that as his final though, he at last drifted off to sleep.

Hours later, a bell tolling woke him and he stared at the white ceiling, a fan slowly spinning. "Fay?" He jumped at the quiet voice and sat up to see Chii kneeling at his bedside, her brown eyes brimming with remorse, pain, and sadness.

"Chii!" His shirt was still off so the bandages around his abdomen could be changed more efficiently. Because of this, Chii was able to take a look at the damage she had done and her hands flew to her mouth as tears flooded in her eyes.

"Oh no." She whispered, "Chii's sorry. Chii's so sorry! She's so very sorry!" She began to cry in her hands.

"Chii . . ." Pain swelled up inside of him as he watched her and he brought her close. He didn't know what to say as she cried into his chest and was only able to stay like that. As he closed his eyes, he remembered Syaoran telling him how he was once in this exact same situation when Chii first came to the palace.

You must have gone through so much to be left with all of this pain. "Chii . . ." He softly said when she had finally calmed down.

"What did you go through to be hurting so much . . . It must have been entirely devastating if it affected your speech like this. . ." His blue eyes pleaded for her to confide in him and reveal her past, but she only stared up at him. "Chii, please, don't take this the wrong way . . . I truly, and utterly, just want to help you in any way I can."

The cream-blonde looked down sadly. "Chii does not want to talk about it . . ." Her voice began to crack as she began to tremble from the memories of her past. "Chii misses Freya and the others too much. . . She only wants Fay to hold her and never let go . . ." the ten-year-old Chobit buried her face in his chest again as she cried, "and she does not want him to ever leave her alone . . ."

Fay sighed as he watched with a pained heart. Then, closing his eyes, he rested his cheek against her head and gently held her back.

Well, if you've been following me you'll have noticed I now have three stories going at the same time; one which case is a remake of one of my first fanfictions, but the rendition will contain the exact same content. I just felt the need to state this to inform you that updating this story may not be as frequent as it has been due to my schedule for the other stories. Thank you for your attention.

At any rate, I hope you enjoyed and I'll see you next time. Please Review! Bye!