Disclaimer: Still. Not. Mine. *Sigh*
A/N: Well, I think this chapter is the turning point of the story, really... After this, Fai's life will never be the same again...
Quick word to the reviewer:
Shadw: I hope this chapter has been quick enough to come ^^
Kayla-chan1990: Yeah, Fai will sure get his happy end, for I can't let him be sad in the end ^^'
12 One Of Many Pawns
Fai felt his back hit the wall with a loud 'thud', and he groaned as his right shoulder collided violently with a dirty and oh so hard ground.
Somewhere in the distance, he heard a screeching noise and something that sounded like metal being brutally folded... A sigh exited his lips when he realised that he could have been stuck between the two cars that had hit each other, and he slowly got up, his vision still blurry because of the shock... After all, nineteen and a half was way too young an age to die!
The man that had pulled him on the pavement, out of danger, was someone Fai could swear he had never seen before. His red hair and pale skin, he could have forgotten it... but not his gold-stained smile, with half of his teeth being fake. There was a crazy look in his dull brown eyes, and Fai instantly felt something was wrong. The other must have sensed the caution in his prey's eyes, for he smiled mockingly before speaking:
"Hello..."
His voice was far from pleasant, coming from his nose and stained with a cold irony that made Fai feeal ill-at-ease... A feeling that could only increase when he saw four brainless and belliquous looking men who where at least five years older than he was.
Fai felt his throat tighten and his fist ball up around his mittens, the reassuring iron plates pressing against his fingers, and he readied his muscles against the attack he knew was comming.
As usual, the first blow was aimed for the face. Fai dodged it swiftly and backed in a corner, avoiding a kick as he did so. He knew by know what he had to do, how he should work when engaged into a fight... Neither his muscles –stronger than what they appeared but still not that strong- nor his weight were enough to make sure he would win, so he had to use his brain.
The first rule was to avoid hitting first, by any mean. In case things turned wrong, it was the only thing that would protect him: being able to tell without lying that he had been acting in legitim defense.
The second rule was to let his ennemies lose patience and strenght, trying to hit him and chasing after him... This at least he was doing perfectly well. Softly glidding out of reach whenever a fist or a foot approached him was something he had mastered long before learning where he should aim his blows in order to be as efficient as possible.
He dodged a few other kicks, before being trapped between the wall and Golden-Teeth, who tried to punch him in the nose. Fai blocked the fist and shoved the man aside, thus leaving an empty space near his head. A chinese-looking guy seized the occasion and hit the blonde's left hear, knocking him to the ground. Another one –tall and pale skinned with light brown hair- jumped above him, aiming for his stomach. Fai managed –God knew how!- to kick his back before he fell, sending him one or two meters away before he rolled on his knee.
A strong pair of arms seized his neck, and Fai bit it harder and harder, until warm blood flooded his mouth and the arms went away with a beast cry. Fai ran toward a trash bin lying here and, grabbing the iron plate that covered it, he used it as a shield, as a new opponant ran toward him. He knocked him down with a strong punch and dodged a kick aimed at his upper legs.
Suddenly though, there was a fist on his nose, quickly followed by an elbow on his bottom lip, and Fai's world began spinning around him, his vision blurry and his ears buzzling. Later on, he would be totally unable to relate what happened in the following ten minutes, only vaguely recalling giving a few more kicks and punches... then a sharp pain in his left eye, and blood.
Blood on his face, blood on his shirt, blood on his hair, and skin, in his mouth... So much blood he thought he was going to die and, somehow, there was a part of him who welcomed it, if not happily, at least without fear.
"I think you've had enough..."
The voice was deep, rough, and definitely older than Fai was, though only by two years or so. Forcing his right eye open, Fai managed to identify a monocled face, with very dark hair –except for a white strand on the forehead- and a prominent chin.
"Fei Wong Reed..."
The voice laughed madly, almost casually, and Fai knew he had been right. Their was a dark blurr on his left, and suddendly, Fei Wong was by his side, breathing in his ear.
"You will certainly be happy to learn that it is the last time you have to fight... because of me, that is."
Later on, Fai would swear he had always felt it, somewhere deep inside. For the moment, he just felt his body screaming his pain, especially his eye, and all he could do was to utter a poor and weak "Why", with a trembling voice.
"Why? Well because it was part of my plan." Fei Wong laughed, the way the bad guys laughed in movies, when they exposed their plans to the hero who was about to die. "I have another you who needs to learn how to fight. He needs to learn it even though he's not born yet. Don't worry, you're not the only one I used to train him, really. There are thousands of Yuuis living accross dimensions, you're only one of many pawns."
"I...don't... understand..." Fai craked painfully.
"You don't need to." Fei Wong laughed. "Just know this: thanks to you and all the progress you've made, this other Yuui will be able to protect his Sakura when they'll go chasing after feathers."
"You... made my life a living hell... for years... because of feathers?"
"It can be seen this way."
Fai felt himself screaming as he tried to grab Fei Wong Reed's collar. However, the other man managed to dodge the blonde's attack, and to dissappear in a matter of second, and Fai's head fell back on the ground. He had time to taste something salty melting with blood on his lips before everything went black.
oOo
In the end, though, Fai didn't die.
He woke up two weeks later on a beautiful June morning, feeling as though and elephant had decided to use his head as a punching bag, and the world looking awfully flat before his eyes. Or rather, he realised after a while, before his eye. His left eye was no use anymore.
Fai clenched his fist, not caring in the least that it brought a sharp pain in his left shoulder, because feeling his nails bite the flesh of his hand -as though it were claws- was the only thing that could prevent him from screaming.
Two years.
During two years, he had had to fight every fucking week, sometimes several times a week, suffering, lying and being frustrated, and all that for what? Because some bastard wanted top get hold of stupid feathers? He had been deprived of his youth, forced to become an adult long before due time, forced to put on a mask he was know unable to remove, forced to lie to everyone –Sonomi, Tomoyo, Chii, Kurogane...- he had even accepted to loose a part of his bond with Yuui, because it had meant safety for him... All that –innocence, carefreeness, confidence- sacrified for the sake of a single man's wish!
Had he been present, Fai would have strangled Fei Wong Reed with his bare hand.
They all came to see him: Yukito, Sakura, Tomoyo, Hiromu, Sonomi, Chii... Touya came too, and since they had broken up more than six month before, their had not been any akwardness when they had talked together.
The hardest day came when Yuui visited him. He was pale, with deep purple marks under his red-rimmed eyes and, when he took Fai's hand in his own, he was shaking.
"Ne refait plus jamais ça." Yuui said in a shaky voice, yet firmly. "Je ne veux plus jamais ressentir ça alors, si tu as de nouveau des ennuis, je t'en supplie, parles m'en... Même si tu ne me donne pas tout les détails, dis moi au moins si ça ne va pas. Promis?"
"Promis."(1)
Fai didn't need to ask what Yuui was talking about. Ever since they were born, there had always been a strange bond between the twins that allowed them to feel when the other suffered –when they were younger, they called it magic, because they could physically feel each scratch their brother got. Fai had forgotten that –maybe he had voluntarily done so- and to be reminded of its existence in such a way very far from pleasant. He knew perfectly well that, had he been in Yuui's place, he would have felt in his heart, in his very bones, that there was something wrong with his brother... But he also knew that, had Yuui been in his place, it would have been him who would have become the shadow of a man Fai was now. For this reason, he was glad it was him, and not Yuui, that Fei Wong had chosen for his 'plan' as he said, even though he hadn't understood it at all.
Fai took his brother's hand in his and pressed their foreheads together, the gesture as comforting as it had always been, feeling as though nothing wrong could happen as long as they stayed like that.
"Il faut que j'y aille." Yuui whispered. "J'ai promis à Sonomi de retourner en cour cet après-midi."
Fai nodded, and Yuui smiled weakly.
"Je comprends."
"Repose-toi bien."
"Promis."(2)
Yuui left the room, and Fai laid back in his pillow, until Kurogane's head poked through the door.
"Hey, Kuro-Wanko!" Fai smiled softly. "Hello."
The nine years old boy walked up to Fai's bedside and stared at him in silence for a long minute. Then, slowly, he raised his hand and delicately touched what Fai guesse was a scarn starting on his forehead, above his left eye, and ending in the middle of his cheek.
"It's paler now." The boy stated.
"You mean duller."
"No. Paler, but not dull."
Fai smiled again but soon, surprise replaced the smile, as Kurogane's hand enclosed his own, and as the boy's forehead was pressed against his.
"I'm glad you're alive."
Kurogane's voice was barely a whisper, obviously not directed toward anyone but himself. Fai, having overheard, could not help to tease:
"And I'm glad to see you finally admitted to like me, Kuro-Poo."
"I don't like you!" Kurogane barked. "AND I AM CERTAINLY NOT NAMED AFTER SOMETHING YOU FIND IN THE BOTTOM OF A TOILET BOWL!"
Fai allowed himself to laugh –a genuine laugh- before resting his head against Kurogane's again.
"I'm so sorry." He whispered softly, his voice barely audible.
Then, all of a sudden, the reality of what had happened -of what he had done, of what Yuui and the other must have endured because of him- dawned on him, and Fai found himself crying more than he had cried on his parent's burial, his face hidden behind his thin hands, for once not minding in the least that someone could see him. Not even realising that Kurogane, too, was crying.
All this was just way too much for him.
End of One Of Many Pawns
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(1)"Never do that again." ... "I don't want to feel that ever so, if there's something else that goes wrong, I beg you to tell me... Even if you can't give me all the details, at least tell me when there's something wrong. Promise?"
"Promise."
(2)"I have to go." ... "I promised Sonomi I would go back to school this afternoon."
"I understand."
"Rest well."
"Promise."
A/N: In case you had not guessed, Fei Wong was speaking of the Fai we know, from the TRC books :)
My er... 'theory' is that when a Fai learns something, a very small part of what he learns his transfered to the other Fais who are not born yet... So, Fei Wong decided to force several Fais to learn how to fight, so that Our!Fai, when he is born will developp natural ease in the art of fighting... Wich implies that –at least - a good hundred of Fais must have endured something similar to wath this Fic's Fai went through, since Our!Fai is such a talented fighter.
I feel like I didn't make any sense here oO Please, tell me if there's something you didn't understand^^
