(A/N) Go ahead. Do it. Tear me limb from limb. I've been gone for, what is it now, six months? Well, you know how it is. Life gets hungry and this semester was particularly difficult. It's only just now winding down. I wrote when I could.

(peaks) Well…if you're not going to kill me, then you should definitely go check out Moro-Moro's deviant page again if you haven't recently. Two more beautiful pictures, Inferno and Reflections of the Past. She posted Inferno only two days after I posted chapter twelve and it's absolutely amazing. Tee-hee, so long as she continues to turn out this amazing fan art, I will keep dedicating my chapters to her. I heart you, Moro-chan!

http:// moro-moro. deviantart. com /art/Inferno-141341595

Here you are. As always, I hope it meets with your expectations of me and that it was worth waiting for. Let me know if you spot any mistakes and, above all else, enjoy.

La Belle Au Bois Dormant

Chapter 13: Someone To Sing To

Locked in…she was completely closed in…trapped with no way out…no way to help Yuui.

Tomoyo had fought tooth and nail to go with the others when they had left so suddenly to go and rescue Yuui, Himawari, and Sakura, but they had all insisted that it was too dangerous and they had sealed her inside of the bedchamber, leaving her to wait anxiously for news. Yue had been posted outside the door, but he wouldn't tell her what was happening and Subaru had silenced the mirror before leaving. She had no way of knowing what was happening. Yue only said that he would tell her when Yuui was safe. But she didn't need him to tell her anything. She heard Yuui herself.

I'm sorry, Tomoyo. I tried…really, I did, but this is just too much. I'll be waiting for you…my love.

When Tomoyo heard Yuui's voice in her head, she instantly knew what was happening. She could almost swear that she was feeling it happen. Yuui was letting go…slipping into the darkness from which there might not be any return.

NO! No, Yuui! You can't do this! Don't give in! You can't leave me like this! What if you can never come back?! What if you die?!

I believe in you.

For a moment, Tomoyo felt Yuui's love…but then there was only emptiness…silence, darkness, and emptiness. Tomoyo knelt on the floor before the empty mirror, feeling the enormity of her loss crush her. She didn't know when she had ever felt so alone. It was just like before…with Fai. Kurogane hadn't been able to get to him. They'd kept him away just long enough…and they'd taken Fai away. Would they take Yuui away, too…Yuui and the baby? They couldn't!

"No! I won't let you go!" she shouted hysterically as she raced to the bed, throwing herself down on it. She was sealed in; that much was true. She did not have the power to undo the magic that had been used to imprison her…but there was one power that she did still have left to her…the ability to walk in dreams. If Yuui was falling asleep…maybe she could still catch her in dreams.

"Tomoyo-hime? What are you doing in there?" Yue asked from the other side of the door. Tomoyo ignored him, willing herself to fall asleep. It didn't take much effort from her to set even one foot on the road that led to dreams.

Moments too late, Tomoyo heard the moon guardian burst into the chamber, shouting at her to stop, but she couldn't stop. She was already asleep, dreaming her way to Yuui.

She was moving, walking…steadily drifting away from her…fading into the black.

"Yuui! Yuui, stop! Come back!" she shouted, running after her. Yuui didn't even look back. With every passing second, her form grew dimmer and dimmer in Tomoyo's eyes. She could barely see her…and no matter how fast she ran or how far she reached, she could not grasp her lover in her arms.

"Well, well, well. What do we have here? A little lost princess?" a cold voice suddenly whispered in her ear as a pair of viselike arms wrapped themselves around her waist, stopping her short. Yuui continued to fade away.

"No! Let me go! YUUI!" she screamed as tears poured down her face.

"She can't hear you," the voice explained. "She is forgetting. The love that filled her heart is leaving her…leaving her open to Darkness. As it did with Fai-kun, it will flow into her…take her and make her its own."

"NO!" she cried out, still fighting her hardest. She couldn't even see Yuui anymore! She couldn't let something horrible like that happen to her. She just couldn't!

"It's too late. Forget about your beloved princess. If you ever see her again, you won't be able to recognize her. Once she has been known by Darkness, she will be forever changed. She won't be the girl that you love anymore. It's best to remember her as she was."

"No! Never! I can't just give up on her like that!"

"Believe me, Princess, if you had followed her down that path, you would have been just as lost as she is…but if you insist on remaining trapped in the Darkness…then you can stay here with me…my dear Tomoyo-hime." As the owner of the cold voice spoke, he pressed a tender kiss to her ear…and, suddenly, she knew him.

"It's you," she whispered in dread.

"Yes, me," he replied softly, sliding a hand up her body and fondling one of her breasts with it. "And since you're so keen on being a prisoner…perhaps I can show you just how I deflowered Fai-kun two years ago."

As he started to reach into her yukata, Tomoyo remembered how Yuui had broken down and sobbed when she'd told her what had happened to Fai that night. She remembered the wish for death that she'd seen in the boy's eyes the very next day. The guardians hadn't been able to protect Fai against Seishiro. Yuui had failed, too. Kurogane hadn't even been able to keep Fai safe from Seishiro. What chance did she have against him?

"NO!" she screamed once more as she tore herself away from him. He released her quite easily and she fell to the ground, quickly rolling onto her back to stare up into the cold face of the dark prince. "W-why are you here?"

"I thought you might try something like this, so I came to stop you. You can't very well break my kaa-san's spell if you're trapped in a dream yourself. Until the time is right, you'll stay here with me…and I think I know just the perfect setting for your prison." Having said so, Seishiro waved a hand and the scenery instantly changed. The darkness faded away to be replaced by the twins' old room in the cottage in Celes. Yuui was laid out on her bed with Sakura crying over her and everyone else bustling around them like mad, trying not to think they might have just lost the one they were trying to protect.

Tomoyo tried to go to Yuui, but found herself stopped by a barrier. Briefly, she pounded her fists against it, but she already knew that it wouldn't give no matter what she did. She sank to her knees, gazing across the space that separated her from her comatose lover in despair.

"Oh, Yuui…Yuui…" she cried softly.

I could have saved you. If I'd only waited, I could have come to you and broken the spell…but now we're both trapped. I was such a fool! Who's going to rescue you now, Yuui…my sweet Yuui…?

"You failed her, Tomoyo-chan," Seishiro said gently as he placed his hands on her shoulders. Tomoyo did nothing to shake him off. She nodded her agreement…then buried her face in her hands and cried.

XxX

She was lying naked on the ground. Gentle hands were supporting her body, but she could barely feel their tender care through the pain that gripped her entire being. Her innards were on fire with agony and it felt like the opening between her legs was being torn open by a bolt of lightning. She screamed to high heaven in order to relieve some of the pain, but it seemed that no amount of screaming or pushing would bring true release from it.

"Come on, Yuui. You can do it. You're almost there. It's almost over. She's coming…I can see her now. You're so close, Yuui," Tomoyo's soothing voice coached her as she appeared by her side, rubbing her heaving stomach and holding her hand tightly to relieve some of the burden.

"Oh, Tomoyo," Yuui cried weakly as tears of pain slid down her face. She gripped her lover's hand for all that she was worth. "I…I can't do it. It hurts so much. I'm going to die!"

"Don't say things like that. You'll make it. You'll both make it. You'll hold our daughter in your arms…and you'll name her…and you'll see her smile for the first time and sing her to sleep at night," Tomoyo reassured her. "Just a little bit more."

Renewed by Tomoyo's words, Yuui forced her wasted body to give one last mighty push. With a scream of agony that felt like it could have split her in two, her daughter was born in a violent torrent of blood. As she collapsed back on the stone floor, she heard the sweet cries of a newborn.

"You did it. She's perfect, Yuui, absolutely perfect," Tomoyo praised as she knelt beside her once again, this time holding a tiny bundle in her arms. Yuui could hear her daughter crying out for her and she could see her tiny fists waving in the air.

"Let me hold her," she mumbled weakly, reaching out her arms for her baby.

However, just as Tomoyo was moving to pass the little girl into her arms, her happy, smiling face twisted into a mask of pain and shock. A gasp of pain left her lips, followed by a small fountain of blood. Yuui glanced down and found the tip of a blade protruding from her chest.

"TOMOYO!!"

The blade retracted as Tomoyo fell, lifeless. Yuui caught her wailing daughter as she fell from Tomoyo's grip, clutching her to her chest in terror as Fuuma appeared behind Tomoyo, holding Assassin's Hand…stained with Tomoyo's blood.

"Fuuma-san! Why?! WHY?!!" she screamed, clutching her child to her all the tighter. She couldn't escape. Even if she could run…there was nowhere to run to that he could not find her.

"Because this is our fate, dear princess," he replied, smiling softly as he dropped the sword and reached forward, grabbing the baby girl's small head and crushing it in his large hand.

"NOO!!" Yuui shrieked, her baby's death scream filling every corner of her mind as her breast was bathed in warm blood. Fuuma knelt beside her, catching her body in his arms as it went limp.

"Why? Why?" she sobbed over and over again as she hugged her dead child to her chest. "Why did you take them away from me? I love them. I can't live without them!"

Fuuma's expression became rueful as he held the mother of his child close, pressing a gentle kiss to her cheek. "You misunderstand, Yuui-chan. I've taken nothing away from you. It was you yourself that did that."

"What?" she whispered, her eyes blinking open in shock.

"You carved your own sorrows into your path the moment you were born. This is the destiny that was laid out for you and your otouto. You are fated to visit ruin and tragedy upon the world. You and the child that you shared a womb with are the wrath of Hell sent into the world disguised in fair flesh. The two of you will be the portal through which Darkness will enter this world. When the two of you become one flesh, the world of men will fall into darkness and perish and a new age will begin…an age that sees the setting of the sun and the coming of the endless night."

"One…flesh…" the princess whispered in horror and disgust. "You're…wrong…"

"I'm not. You don't have to accept what I tell you will happen in the future…and it will happen; the two of you will lie together and find ecstasy in each other's arms in the act of creation…but you must believe what you are. The twin prince and princess of Valeria bring disaster in their wake. All those who come into contact with you…whom you choose to love…will suffer for it. Himawari-chan was cursed with misfortune, but the two of you…it is in your very blood. You cannot escape it…unlucky children of an unhappy bloodline. All who descend from Clow Reed's seed are fated to bring sorrow to those they love the most."

"I don't believe you!!" Yuui screamed.

"You say that, but you know…in your heart…that what I say is the truth." As he spoke, Fuuma pressed his bloodstained hand to her bare breast…against the place where her steady heartbeat could be felt…the proof of her life.

The proof that has been snuffed out in so many lives…because of you…

The moment the guilty thought entered her mind, Yuui found herself floating underwater, still held by Fuuma and still clutching her dead child. It wasn't just water, though. Whatever liquid they were suspended in, it was red…thick, warm, and red…

No…No! It can't be!

"Open your mouth," Fuuma ordered calmly. Yuui shook her head. If she obeyed him, if she gave in, if she acknowledged it…then she would absolutely lose it.

"I said open your mouth," he repeated a bit more firmly as he took hold of her jaw and attempted to force her lips open. Briefly, she struggled against him, but it was no use. He forced her mouth open, the substance rushed into her, and the metallic taste of copper filled her mouth.

"What is it, Yuui-chan? Tell me what it is," he hissed in her ear.

"BLOOD!" she shrieked. "It's blood! Dear God, it's blood!"

"Yes, blood. This is the blood that has been spilled for your sake. This lake filled with blood exists because of you."

"Lake?" she whispered, dazed, uncomprehending in her shock.

"This is Spirit Lake, Yuui-chan. It has turned red with blood. See?" he murmured, nodding his head to something floating in front of them. Against her better judgment, Yuui followed his gaze and found herself staring at Clow Reed's lifeless corpse. His arms drifted haphazardly in front of him…as if reaching out for something. His unseeing eyes stared listlessly at nothing.

"Grandfather?"

"Yuui," the half-imagined whisper drifted from the dead lips to her ears.

"He allowed himself to be killed so that you might live. Not just him, either. Look."

She did. Her eyes shifted away from the horrifying sight to find that the water was filled with corpses. Kotori…Himawari…Syaoran…Tomoyo…Fai…Kurogane…Souma …Subaru…Kamui…Sakura…Watanuki…Doumeki…all of them…so many…nameless and faceless corpses.

"Why…are you all dead?" she called softly to them, needing and dreading an answer.

"They died for you, Yuui-chan. They did so willingly…because they love you."

"But I don't…want them to die," she cried.

"Armies have fought and died for the sake of your precious life. They die for you without ever knowing who you are…what you really are."

"I never…asked anyone to fight for me. I don't want people dying for me!"

"That cannot be helped. Because of who you are, as long as there are people who love you, they will die for you. They will all of them be led to the slaughter with a smile on their faces to save your life. You see, Yuui-chan, people do not kill because they hate. They kill because they love...all this violence…all in the name of love."

"Stop it."

"Himawari-chan abhorred violence. She hated bloodshed…yet she slaughtered thousands of Oni in an instant…snuffed out countless lives…perhaps even a few innocents without meaning to. This she did because of her love for you…her precious daughter."

"Stop it!" Yuui screamed desperately. She wanted to block it all out…to silence the truth coming from the lips of the man who had fathered her daughter…to banish the sight of everyone she loved dead in a sea of blood…and the bitter taste of it from her mouth…but it was hopeless. She could never escape from the truth of the nightmare because she knew it in her heart. All around her, the voices of the dead screamed silently in her ears.

"Can you hear them, dear Yuui-chan? Can you hear their cries? They do not grieve for themselves. Even in death, they only want you to know how much they love you. Well, words whispered through dead lips lose their effect, perhaps?"

"I hear them. I can hear them all!" she sobbed openly. Hatred would have been better…but she only heard words of love…love that had led them all to their deaths. "WHY DID YOU DIE?!"

"Kaa-san?" a tiny voice whispered. Yuui looked down to find the half-crushed face of her little girl blinking up at her with the green eyes that Kotori had foretold. "I love you, Kaa-san."

Far too shocked to scream, Yuui simply released the tiny body, allowing it to spiral away to join the roiling sea of the dead.

"That is why they died, Yuui-chan. This is the world that will soon be born. When you and your twin finally consummate the demon union you were born to carry out and you mate…together as one…no child will be born as a result of your coupling. When you open to your otouto and he plants his seed inside of you…the world before your eyes now is the world that you will create."

All of the fight had left Yuui. She was completely drained. She didn't resist when the man who had raped her turned her body about in his embrace…and began to touch her. There was no reason left to fight.

"How does that make you feel, Yuui-chan…knowing that you'll one day open your legs for your own brother and he'll come inside of you? Something like this, maybe?" he suggested, stimulating just the right spot and sending a jolt of undesired pleasure through her body.

"No," she murmured numbly.

"You are going to mate with Fai-kun, Yuui-chan. It is going to happen. I promise you. You shared a womb and you were born together; now you will share flesh as lovers," the former lord said as he took her for the second time in their lives. "It almost makes the things that Seishiro and Fai-kun have done seem tame, doesn't it? The passionate intercourse we shared will be all but forgotten when he takes you. I promise you that no one else will be able to satisfy you once you've known the forbidden taste of your twin's lips…the touch of his skin. I'll just have to give you something to remember me by."

"F…Fuuma…Fuu…ma!"

XxX

It really was too much. It was almost as if those two difficult months had never passed. It was as if they had never left the tower room where Fai slept.

Yuui was laid out on her bed and Sakura was kneeling beside her, holding one of her cold hands in hers and stroking her hair with the other.

"How could I let this happen?" she mumbled to herself over and over again as tears streamed silently down her face. First her son had been taken, then she had lost her husband…and now her daughter, as well. Would she lose all of them? She hadn't even allowed herself to truly feel the loss of Syaoran yet. If she acknowledged that she would never sleep by his side again…that he would never hold her close and press his lips to hers again…she would die right there. Now knowing who she was, and knowing that she had fey blood, she also knew that she had nearly an eternity to spend without him. For the rest of her life she would need him, think of him, turn to say something to him…and she would never be able to reach him again.

"None of us are any less to blame, Sakura-sama," Kakei said sadly. "There wasn't anything that any of us could have done."

"It'll be all right, though," Watanuki insisted as he and Subaru hurriedly went about the task of conjuring a mirror. "All we need to do is bring Tomoyo-hime here."

The three guardians had decided on the very first day that there would be no mirrors in their home. It would have left the twins far too vulnerable to being contacted by someone who would have done them harm. Unfortunately, that didn't matter anymore. If Kakei's theory was correct and Sakura could travel between the two worlds through mirrors, then they needed a mirror now. Sakura would be able to bring Tomoyo through to Yuui and they would never have to worry about facing Seishiro. Then she would be able to transport them into the labyrinth safely, as well.

"It's ready," Subaru announced grimly as he and Watanuki stepped back from the newly created mirror: a work of art set into a finely detailed, freestanding, silver frame. Much as he wanted to believe that Tomoyo would be able to help…almost nothing had worked out in their favor thus far.

Doumeki was the one to finally step forward to activate the newborn mirror. He pressed his hand to the cool glass, praying with all his might for the face of Tomoyo.

"Princess?" he murmured softly as the surface faded to black. "Princess, can you hear me?"

The darkness faded away fairly quickly, but the face that they'd all been so fervently praying for was not the one that came into view. Instead of long, black hair, slightly tanned skin, and violet eyes, they saw white hair, moonlight pale skin, and ice blue eyes…Yue.

"What is happening?" the moon guardian asked reservedly. "I felt…the princess…Yuui-sama…"

"She has been taken from us," Kero reported sadly as he came to stand beside Doumeki. "But there's still time. We only need to bring Princess Tomoyo to her."

Yue shook his head. "No…I'm afraid there isn't any time left. You're too late."

"What are you talking about?!" Kurogane demanded, shooting up from where he'd been sitting on Fai's bed. "Where's my imouto?!"

"I'm sorry, Kurogane-sama. I wasn't fast enough," Yue explained as he stood to the side to allow someone else forward…someone carrying something.

It was Lady Sai, a look of sorrow bleeding through her usually stoic countenance as she revealed what she held in her arms. Tomoyo…just as pale and unmoving as Yuui. The Mokona were perched on the clan master's shoulders, crying helplessly over the fallen princess.

"Tomoyo?" her brother whispered, uncomprehending.

"I'm sorry. We failed her. We should have left someone with her."

"What happened?" Souma breathed in horror as she stared at her princess' lifeless face.

"She must have felt it…when Yuui-hime went. She tried to follow her into the dream. We cannot wake her. We've been trying. Nothing will rouse her from this sleep. She is imprisoned inside a dream. The enemy knows that the princess is a dreamseer. I suspect that Yuuko is somehow behind this," Yue explained.

"No matter what we do…it seems that she is always one step ahead of us," Subaru said mournfully, voicing aloud the thing that everyone was thinking.

"Yue-kun…who knows of this?" Kakei finally asked.

"Those of us who were gathered here. Amaterasu-sama did not…react well. Yukito-san and Chitose-san took her back to the sitting room to try and calm her. Saiga-san and Kujaku are with them, as well. As you know, the other lords were informed that Her Highness' labor had begun and they are on their way here. Doubtless they will already have felt that something has happened to Yuui-hime. But…Kakei-san…is everyone safe?"

Kakei shook his head. "Eagle-kun will have felt it already, but we still have the unhappy task of informing him that his only child is dead."

"Himawari-san?" Yue asked, his eyes widening.

"Yes. She gave her life to end the siege."

Yue and Sai both bowed their heads in sorrow and the two Mokona cried all the harder.

"Himawari!"

"Himawari!"

"She was much too young," Yue said softly. At the very moment he spoke, the sound of a door opening could be heard from his side of the mirror and Yukito, Kujaku, and Saiga soon came into their view.

"Oh, hello…Kakei-san," Yukito half-stammered upon seeing him in the mirror. "They told me what happened…to Yuui-chan. She's not…still in labor, is she?"

"No. The labor appears to have halted completely. We can only guess that it will resume when she wakes. How is Amaterasu-sama?"

"Sleeping. Saiga-san had to cast a spell on her. Chitose-chan and Chi-chan are with her now. Is…Sakura-chan there?"

All who stood before the mirror moved aside to allow Yukito to see past them to Sakura and Yuui. Upon seeing the state that his queen and princess were in, the high priest looked stricken.

"I'm sorry, Sakura-chan," he murmured after a long moment of heavy silence. "Syaoran-kun…will be missed."

"All right," Kakei finally spoke up, taking a deep breath. "There's nothing for it but to move forward. In the absence of the princess and her consort, I will take charge. If she can do it, Sakura-sama will bring Tomoyo-sama through to this world. Until we can discover a way of waking Tomoyo-sama, I think it would be best that we keep the princesses together. We cannot let them be separated."

"With all due respect, Kakei-san, would it not be safer to keep them in Faerie, where the enemy cannot get to them?" Yue asked.

"There is less and less guarantee of that with each passing moment. I say that we keep Yuui-hime as close to the labyrinth as we can for the time when she awakens. We'll need you to come, as well. It will be safer here because you and Kero-chan are going to form a barrier around this place."

"Could I come through, as well?" Sai broke in suddenly. "I don't know why, but I feel responsible for this. I feel that I ought to protect her as best I can."

"As you wish. We'll need all the help we can get. Though, Saiga, if you wouldn't mind staying behind to tell the others of everything that has happened-"

"Say no more. I'll keep things under control here. Do what you have to."

"Larg…have you got the baby blanket that…Himawari-chan made?" Watanuki asked.

"Uh-huh. Himawari finished it last night. She told Mokona to keep it safe for Yuui."

"Kakei-san?" Yukito cut in hesitantly. "I don't wish to sound like I'm complaining, but what about me? I…want to see my husband as soon as I can."

"I understand, but the kingdom of Valeria is unstable at best. I think it would be best for you and your companions to remain under the protection of Faerie until Cephiro can be considered secure again. Right now, our top priority must be Yuui-hime and Tomoyo-hime."

"Of course. I understand."

"If it's all the same to you, I'll come, too," Kujaku said casually. "My princess has need of me, after all."

"If you insist," Kakei responded, his voice sounding almost tight as he turned to address Sakura. "More importantly, do you think you can do this, Sakura-sama?"

Sakura trembled visibly as she climbed to her feet, reluctantly releasing Yuui's cold hand. "I don't know what kind of power I have…but I'll do whatever I must to save Yuui. I'll try."

"All right then. Come here," Kakei said, holding out his hand to her. Slowly, she came to him, took his hand, and allowed him to lead her to the mirror.

"Do you remember how you felt earlier when you did it?" he asked her as she placed her hand on the smooth glass. She nodded, closing her eyes and focusing her will on the mirror.

I have to get there. I will get there! Nothing will stop me!

For a moment, Sakura heard a great rushing noise in her ears. When she opened her eyes again, she found herself standing in front of the mirror in the bedchamber she'd left not two hours ago.

"It worked," she breathed. "It actually worked." The very next moment, she felt a pair of arms wrap around her and lift her up into the air.

"You're brilliant, Sakura-chan. Absolutely brilliant!" Yukito cried out.

"So how does it work?" Kujaku asked as the high priest set his queen back on her feet.

"I…I think you just need to be touching me. That's what happened earlier…when we traveled."

"All right. Let's give it a try."

Once again, Sakura turned to face the mirror, this time seeing Kakei and the others on the other side instead of Yue and company. As she placed her hand onto the glass once more, the others gathered around her. Yue placed his hand on her right shoulder and Kujaku placed his on her left. Hefting Tomoyo in her arms, Sai grabbed a hold of Sakura's left elbow and the Mokona twins scampered forward to settle in the crook of her left arm. Again, she focused her power, and again, she heard the rushing sound. Then she was collapsing on the wooden floorboards of her children's bedroom with the others gathering worriedly around her.

"It…worked?" she asked faintly, feeling someone gather her up in their arms.

"It worked," Watanuki said softly to her. "Are you all right, Sakura-sama?"

"Yes. I think I just…made myself tired. I'll be fine."

"In the future, you should probably transport fewer people, Your Highness," Kakei gently chastised her. "I didn't expect you to attempt to bring all of them at once, but before I could say anything, you were already here."

"What about Tomoyo-sama?" Sai asked as Watanuki helped Sakura to her feet.

"Lay her with the princess. I said that we would keep them together and we will."

Sai nodded and carried the younger princess to Yuui's bed. As she moved, Doumeki moved back to the bed as well and lifted Yuui into his arms. Then Subaru moved in and pulled the blankets down for them. Doumeki and Sai laid the sleeping girls back on the bed and Subaru tucked them in, preparing them for a long sleep…as the three guardians had done for Fai. Watanuki came last of all, holding his hands palms-up over the bed. From one hand, an apple blossom sprouted, pure white with pink tints at the very edges of the petals. From the other, a pale pink sakura blossomed. With the greatest care, the nature spirit tucked the apple blossom behind Yuui's ear and the sakura behind Tomoyo's ear. Just as the rose tucked behind Kurogane's ear was a symbol of Fai's life, these blooms signified the lives of the two princesses.

"They look so beautiful…together like that," Sakura whispered as tears began to gather in her eyes once more. The two young women did indeed look ethereal in their beauty in this moment, but it was made all the sadder by the fact that they were so close…and yet still could not touch each other.

As the others looked on, Kurogane slowly approached the bed where his sisters lay. He hadn't spoken a word since Tomoyo's awful fate had been revealed. Now he knelt beside her and reached out a hand, catching a strand of her dark hair and gently allowing it to slip through his fingers.

"Tomoyo…" he whispered as his carefully stoic exterior slowly began to crack.

I failed her. I've failed her…so many times. I lost her. I lost them both…just like I lost…Fai!

Drawing his sword in an inhumanly quick flash, the fallen prince released a cry of impotent rage and anguish, burying the blade violently in the floor.

"Kurogane…Kurogane, stop. Stop it right now!" Souma sobbed. "This won't make anything better!"

Falling silent at the sound of Souma's panic, Kurogane knelt over the protruding hilt and gripped it in his hands once again. Slowly, he withdrew the blade and sheathed it, then pounded an angry fist against the floor before sweeping out of the room.

"Kurogane-kun, wait! Where are you going?!" Sakura cried after him, unable to pursue him in her weakened state.

"Let him go," Kamui said softly as Doumeki moved forward to repair the hole in the floor and Subaru drew the curtains closed around the bed. "He needs to be alone. He can handle himself."

Souma wasn't certain how true that was. Only she, Tomoyo, and Yuui knew just how far Kurogane had fallen…and now only she knew how far he could still fall. However, even though she knew all of this, she also knew that she couldn't help him. He wouldn't listen to her. There was no one that he would listen to anymore. For the past two months, he had only listened to Yuui and Tomoyo…and not very well, at that. Without the two princesses…who would reclaim Kurogane's slowly fading sanity?

Kurogane's heart was disappearing. Souma had seen it with each passing moment. Every step that Fai took toward death…was a step that Kurogane took toward Darkness.

XxX

Several hours later, night found Sakura in the bedroom, alone except for the sleeping princesses and the Mokona twins, who had both promised to remain with the girls until they could find some way of waking them. Save for her, everyone else in the room was asleep. Sai was just outside, standing guard.

The queen had taken several hours of rest on Fai's bed, recovering from the very powerful feat of magic. Yue and Kero had gone to erect wards around the glen, promising to keep an eye out for Kurogane, but he still had not returned, as far as she knew. Souma and Subaru had gone out to search for him.

Sakura was currently sitting in front of the mirror, gathering up the nerve to contact her brother. She didn't think she could stand during this. She knew that he would ask her about Yukito…and then offer his condolences about her own husband…and she didn't want to hear it. She didn't want to hear anyone tell her how sorry they were that Syaoran was…dead.

Sweet Goddess, just…just get it over with, Sakura.

"Nii-san?" she murmured, focusing her thoughts on the mirror. "Touya?"

Slowly…waveringly, like her thoughts…the mirror went dark, then began to ripple into focus once more. When the image was at last solid, she found herself looking at the tired face of her older brother.

"Where are you?"

"Somewhere safe."

"How're Yuki and Eriol?"

"Still in Faerie. They're fine."

"What about Yuui?"

Sakura swallowed heavily, briefly turning to glance back at the bed where her daughter lay. "It's happened. Just like Fai. She…she's so cold, Nii-san. She won't wake. But…it isn't just her. Tomoyo-chan's gone, too."

Touya's eyes widened. "How? What happened?"

"She tried to save Yuui herself…by following her. They think that Yuuko…may have trapped her in a nightmare somehow."

The former king bowed his head for a long moment, looking contemplative. "They can get her back, right?"

Sakura shook her head. "I don't know." Beginning to feel herself overcome, she placed her hands over her mouth, trembling slightly. "Where…where…?" she tried to ask.

"The old dungeons," he responded with a look of pity. "It's the only place big enough…to keep all of the dead. I had the mirror set up…because I thought that you might want to see."

"How…how is…the city?" she asked, struggling to get the words out.

"We have respite for the moment," he said softly. "There should be time for proper funerals."

"Is…is he…is my…the king…"

Touya said nothing. He only moved to the side to allow his sister to see into the room behind him.

It was a fairly large jail cell. Back in the old days, it would have been able to hold at least ten prisoners. Valeria had had little use for its dungeons and prisons in recent years…so now the dungeons of Cephiro had become an impromptu morgue.

He was laid out on a cot that had been draped with white silk. His body had been cleaned of blood and dressed in simple robes of green linen. His hands were folded over the right side of his chest in the pose of the dead, ready to offer himself to the Lord and Lady. At the very least, his face was free of pain and strife. He was at peace. He might have almost been asleep…like their babies. If only…if only it could be so easy…to just pass through the mirror and awaken him with a kiss…

But he won't be there when they wake. We'll never be all together as a family…like we used to dream. You won't ever know your son…or your granddaughter. Why? Why now, Syaoran?! I need you so much! Why did you have to leave me now?! You were supposed to be here!

"Syaoran! Syaoran!" she cried helplessly, over and over again, her body wracked with sobs of anguish. She wanted so badly to go to him, but she knew that if she went to his side now, she would never leave it. She would die with him…and she knew that she was still needed.

Throughout all of this, Touya looked on in silence. There was nothing that he could say.

XxX

"Souma and Subaru just returned," Doumeki reported as he walked back into Himawari's room. Watanuki was sitting on the end of the bed with his chin in his hands.

"Did they find him?"

"No. I don't think they really expected to. Celes is unpredictable. If Kurogane truly doesn't want to be found, then he won't be. He'll come back when he's ready. He has no ill intent. The forest will protect him until then. I think the two of them just wanted to feel like they were accomplishing something."

"We're all feeling pretty useless right now," the nature sprite bemoaned as Doumeki sat down beside him. "Couldn't even keep Tomoyo-chan safe inside our own kingdom."

"We can't blame ourselves for this," Doumeki said, keeping his voice low as he placed a hand on Watanuki's knee. "Dreams…Tomoyo has that kind of power. She was desperate. She would have done it no matter what. Any of us would have done the same."

"I guess," Watanuki said sadly, turning his gaze down to the smooth wooden floor beneath his feet. Outwardly, he made no reaction to Doumeki's hand on his knee. Inwardly, his already confused, despairing thoughts only became more jumbled. For several long moments, the two of them sat in silence, neither one quite ready to break the silence that had been between them for the past eighteen hundred years. Watanuki was the one to finally speak.

"Doumeki…why did you kiss me?"

Watanuki winced briefly when he felt the weather spirit's grip on his knee tighten slightly. His own hands gripped the blanket beneath him, turning white as he waited in anxious silence.

"Look at me."

"Why?"

"Because I want to see your face."

Another agonizing silence followed the request, but Watanuki eventually complied, slowly turning to look into the assassin's eyes. As usual, his expression was stoic, but there was something…more in his eyes tonight. Loss…acceptance…longing…need… love? Whatever this new thing was, it was roiling so fiercely in his eyes that the confused nature spirit could hardly pin it down.

"I didn't kiss you any less than you kissed me. We kissed…and you know the answer to that question."

"Then…why?" he asked again, feeling his chest tighten unbearably.

Doumeki reached out and placed his free hand on Watanuki's cheek, gently stroking the soft skin. "Do I need a reason? I knew you were different from everyone else from the very first moment I saw you."

"But how can you be so sure?" Watanuki asked, his voice breaking. His eyes were starting to itch again.

"I'm not wrong," the taller faerie replied with absolute conviction. "I knew it was you before I even knew what it was. If I learned anything from my tou-san, it was to trust your instincts. I know that you'll be the one."

Watanuki shook his head. "You're not answering the question. Why me?"

"Because it's cute how flustered you get over the tiniest things. Because that flowery scent of yours reminds me of spring rain. Because it hurts to see you crying. Because you were the first person who had the spine to hit me. Because your eyes are like the sky just before the dawn breaks. I have thousands. Do you need to hear more?"

"I only have one blue eye now," Watanuki reminded him.

"That isn't the point," he countered.

Again, Watanuki looked down, staring directly at the hand on his knee. "You haven't said it yet," he whispered in a tone so soft no mortal ear could have heard it. "I want to hear you say it."

Gently, Doumeki slid his hand from Watanuki's cheek down to grasp his chin, slowly drawing his face up to look him in the eyes. He could hear the sound of the smaller faerie's breath trembling in the utter silence they were cocooned in.

"Kimihiro Watanuki…I love you. I've always loved you. I want you with me forever."

Watanuki laughed bitterly as several tears escaped his mismatched eyes. "You make it sound so easy. Can we really just…out with it…and expect everything to turn out all right?"

"Even if it doesn't turn out all right…at least, at the end of everything, we'll be able to say that we have this," he consoled, reaching up to wipe the tears from Watanuki's face. For the first time since knowing him, Watanuki suddenly heard uncertainty in Doumeki's voice. "You…haven't said it either."

As he gazed into Doumeki's eyes, the enormity of the situation suddenly descended upon Watanuki. In this moment, for all his stoicism, the hardened assassin was his to make or break. Shizuka Doumeki had finally spoken the words that had been suspended between them for so long. What would his answer be?

"Shizuka," he whispered, using the other's name for the first time since he had pulled him back from the grave. He raised his own hand and laid it on top of the hand that gripped his knee. "My heart belongs to you. I…I love you…but don't expect me to say it every minute of everyday," he couldn't quite resist adding as a few more tears trickled down his face. He'd been terrified of admitting these feelings to himself for so long…it almost felt like he was giving in to Doumeki…and something about that would always irk him.

Doumeki just shook his head as he drew Watanuki closer, an almost-smile lighting his shadowed features. "Wouldn't have it any other way." As he whispered the words, he closed the infinitesimal distance between them, pressing his lips to Watanuki's once more. At first, the kiss was soft and chaste, a gentle sharing of tenderness, but a few more moments of the intimate contact made it firmer…more demanding…passionate…

As Doumeki laid Watanuki down on the bed, he kissed the tears away from his face, slowly starting to remove his tunic.

"Wait," Watanuki murmured, pressing a hand against Doumeki's chest to slow him down. "Can…can we really be doing this right now?"

"You don't want to?"

"No, I…I want to. I want to be with you. It's just…right now? What if we're needed?"

"I've spoken to Kamui…he and Fuuma only had one night together before it happened. I guess…what I'm trying to say is that we can't know what's going to happen tomorrow. If the sun sets tomorrow night and…one of us isn't here anymore-"

"Don't say that!" Watanuki hissed, shoving Doumeki back. "Don't. Just don't. We've lost too much already. If I lose you-"

"You know it could happen," Doumeki shot back, grabbing the shorter faerie's shoulders and pinning him to the bed. "No one is invincible. Our time is limited. We're just bricks in the wall that separates Yuui and her daughter from Yuuko and Seishiro. If the worst should happen-"

"No," the nature spirit whispered as more tears squeezed their way out of his eyes. "Please…don't…"

"If it does…I don't want either of us to have any regrets. I don't want to regret not showing you what you are to me…if one of us doesn't make it through to the morning."

For a long while, Watanuki lay beneath the weather spirit, trembling and crying softly. There were so many things that he had wanted to say to Himawari. What would it feel like if Doumeki left him, too? What would he do if he were forced to wake every morning for the rest of his life knowing that he had never shared this moment with Doumeki? He couldn't bear it. When he finally felt that he was ready, he swallowed hard and looked up into Doumeki's eyes once more. "I don't want that, either. I'm ready now. Take me."

Doumeki was only too happy to obey. First, he went about kissing every single tear away from Watanuki's face, leaving him fresh and clean. Then he slowly stripped him of his clothing, leaving him completely open. Once he had removed his own clothing, he took a long moment to just take in the sight of Watanuki beneath him…ready for him. Goddess and Consort, how long had he dreamed of this moment?

"What?" Watanuki finally sniped, unable to bear the archer's silent stare any longer. A light blush spread across his face as he slid his eyes away from Doumeki, who chuckled when he saw the display.

"Even at a time like this," he began, reaching down to stroke the most sensitive part of his lover's anatomy, "you can't relax?"

Watanuki shuddered in pleasure at the sensation, tossing his head lightly from side to side as he moaned, bucking up slightly against Doumeki's skilled hand. They had barely begun and he was already embarrassed by the strange new sounds that Doumeki could cause to trickle from his lips.

"How does it feel?" the taller faerie asked, loosely pumping the hardening shaft and running his thumb in circles around the very tip of it, already swollen red.

"Feels…good…" he moaned, already half-gone with pleasure. If Doumeki could do this to him with a few simple touches…the climax would be nothing short of earth shattering.

The pair wasted no words as they went about uniting. They blended so seamlessly together, one would have thought that they were meant to be one…that they had always been one. As they glowed in each other's arms, one green and one silver, their complementing scents filled the air, inundating the cottage with the scents of newborn flowers and a mix of rain and lightning.

For someone who carried the power of the lightning in his hands, Doumeki was as gentle and loving as a light spring shower. In his arms, Watanuki knew no pain…and afterward, when he slept there, the two of them knew the first real peace they had experienced since the loss of their son.

"No more regrets," Doumeki whispered in his sleeping lover's ear as he ran his fingers through his dark hair. He knew that he wouldn't sleep tonight. He had waited so long…he didn't want to miss a moment of this. He would hold his Kimihiro close to him for as long as he was able. Gently, he pressed a kiss to the younger sprite's forehead.

"I love you…Kimihiro."

XxX

Battle. She was surrounded by battle. Perhaps…she had never left it? Maybe the fight was still happening? Maybe none of it had happened? Maybe…her father was still alive…and Himawari hadn't…sacrificed her own life? Maybe…?

"Kaa-san?" she mumbled weakly as she looked around. Blood and magic filled the air; and through this haze, she began to realize that it wasn't the same battle. The land was different. The Oni were still the enemy, but their opponents were different. Fey…only fey…not a human in sight.

Just when Yuui felt ready to collapse and bury her head in the sand, she heard a voice. Not just any voice, but a beautiful, enchanting voice filled with light, warmth, and healing.

Leaves from the vine,

Falling so slow,

Like fragile, tiny shells

Drifting in the foam.

Little soldier boy

Come marching home.

Brave soldier boy

Comes marching home.

Turning about to find the source of the voice, the princess laid eyes on a young faerie with the same shockingly white hair as Karura…and she was enclosed in a barrier with none other than Karura herself. Could it be…her sister? Karyoubinga?

Yuui swallowed hard, clutching her own arms in horror as a dreadful revelation was born in her heart. If this was truly Lady Karyoubinga Garuda…then she already knew what moment she was witnessing.

Her fears were confirmed when she saw Yuuko approaching the shield, accompanied by a male faerie that she'd never seen before. Karura was aware of them almost instantly, channeling more of her strength into maintaining the barrier. Karyoubinga noticed as well, but she continued to sing her song, knowing that it was needed.

Yuuko smiled her typical, not-quite-sane smile as she revealed the weapon she wielded…none other than Assassin's Hand. Karura drew her own sword, wincing as Yuuko easily shattered her wards with the dark blade. Rather than engage the Garuda master, Yuuko stood back and let her wingman do it. The new faerie sprang into action, wielding his own dark sword. He moved about Karura, lashing out at her in bursts of inhuman speed and power. Yuuko just stood back, smirking languidly. She knew she could take her time.

"Karyou!" Karura shouted to her sister from the heat of her battle. "Get away! Get out of here!!"

Yuuko's eyes flashed almost simultaneously with Karura's command. Before Karyoubinga had had even a moment to contemplate obeying her sister or not, Yuuko was upon her, thrusting her son's sword into the young woman's heart.

"KARYOU!!!!!!" Karura screamed as her sister coughed up a small stream of blood and slipped awkwardly off the end of the blade.

Yuuko backed away as Karura ran from her attacker to Karyoubinga's fallen form. Her assailant did not pursue her. He simply fell back to Yuuko's side. The Dark Queen watched with a sad smile as the distraught noble gathered her sister in her arms.

"That one is much too young. Tell him to yield," she ordered Karura before disappearing back into the battle with her captain.

Karura barely heard the command. All of her will was focused on keeping herself together as her baby sister died in her arms.

"N-Nee…sama?"

"Karyou…Karyou…please don't die, Karyou," the mighty storm mistress cried desperately.

"I…I'm…sorry," Karyoubinga murmured weakly as blood continued to stream from her mouth. Then a final shudder ran through her body and she died.

For a moment, Karura could only stare at the lifeless corpse she held. Then, as she pulled her sister's body closer against her chest, the fragile young faerie faded away into nothing. Yuui could see her sanity fading as the clan master gazed uncomprehendingly at her empty hands. It was the same look she had seen in Kurogane's eyes so often since that horrible moment in the tower.

"AAAAAAAAGGHHH!!!!!!" Karura shrieked as she threw her face to the heavens, raking her fingers across her chest and biting deep into the flesh, drawing blood. As her unearthly screams filled the air, her rampant power summoned storm clouds to the field of battle, calling down rain and lightening. The vision slowly faded into the storm as the other combatants turned toward Karura's display of boundless grief.

"Poor Karura-san," Yuui murmured as the darkness enveloped her. She could certainly forgive the clan master for thinking that she wasn't strong enough to help avenge this terrible wrong. But…was that truly what had happened? She had never seen the past in her dreams. Was it her seer's gift…or the nightmares that had plagued her since Fai had been taken away?

When the darkness twined itself into a new vision, Yuui found herself in a completely different place…a darkened corridor…perhaps the sithen? It certainly wasn't anywhere in the mortal world. The occupants of this vision were all fey, though she only knew one of them by name. A younger Kamui Shiro stood beside an unfamiliar man, both with swords drawn, menacing another faerie who stood at a door that led out of the corridor. Upon closer inspection, Yuui realized that it was the one she had seen at Karyoubinga's death…the dark one who had fought against Karura to keep her distracted.

"You shouldn't be here," the faerie with Kamui said softly, neither advancing nor retreating.

"You know it isn't a question of whether or not I should be here, Kazuhiko," the dark faerie spat. "What you should be saying is that I can't be here. How, oh how, am I here…when all of those who chose to serve the Dark Court were banished from Faerie? Well, I'm here because Tohru wants me to be here. That's how I could enter this place."

"Akuma, don't hurt them!" a female voice called from beyond the door. "I'll give you what you came here for. Just leave them be!"

"Give me? Heh, you're in there begging for it right now. If anyone's giving anything tonight, it's me," the one called Akuma replied, sneering.

"You're clearly out of your mind. Do you really want Tohru to see you this way? You should leave," the one called Kazuhiko told Akuma.

"She never loved you, you know?" the dark faerie whispered, leaning casually against the door. "Why she married you is beyond me. I'm the one that she's always loved."

"I know that," Kazuhiko replied calmly. "It was not a marriage of love for either of us."

"Tou-san, what are you saying?!" Kamui asked in a shocked voice, turning his attention to his father.

"You knew?! If you knew…then why did you take her away from me?!" Akuma hissed dangerously as he drew his own sword, moving menacingly toward his rival.

"Because I had already lost the one that I loved…and Tohru told me that it had to be so."

"Had to be so? Well…you'll pay for your little 'had to be so'…pay with your life!"

"Akuma! Stop! Don't do this!" Tohru's voice called desperately. Yuui felt magic attempt an assault on the sealed door.

"Don't come out here, Kaa-san!" Kamui insisted, battling against his mother's power to keep the seal on the door. "We'll take care of this madman."

"Kamui, don't interfere," Kazuhiko ordered, calm as ever. Kamui looked ready to argue, but seemed to decide against it. He trusted his father's abilities.

The duel didn't last very long. Kazuhiko didn't even seem to fight very hard. Almost before Yuui had realized what she'd witnessed, Kazuhiko was on his knees with Akuma's sword in his chest

"TOU-SAN!" Kamui shouted, rushing forward. Without even glancing at him, Akuma threw a blast of dark magic at the young Shiro. The black energy easily seized him and pinned him to the wall. No matter how he struggled, he could not break free of Akuma's power.

"Don't worry about your wife, Kazuhiko. She won't be lonely after you're gone. I'll keep her company tonight."

Kazuhiko made no response. He only smiled sadly. Yuui didn't know that she had ever seen despair and relief combined so seamlessly in one expression. However, the very next moment, that ambiguous expression was gone, as Akuma had withdrawn his blade from Kazuhiko's chest and beheaded him.

Kamui couldn't quite believe that his father was dead until the headless corpse and its accompanying head vanished into the night air. His shouts of rage and anguish filled the corridor as he struggled all the harder against the spell that bound him.

"It's no use, boy. There's no one that can help you now," Akuma taunted, drawing a cord from the mass of dark energy that held Kamui prisoner and pulling the younger faerie right up against his own body.

"Akuma! Akuma, why?! He was no threat to you at all!" Tohru's voice continued to call from beyond the sealed door, now riddled with sorrow.

Instead of answering, Akuma placed his free hand on the door and began to undo the spells that sealed it. When the door finally swung open, Akuma was facing a fey woman that Yuui had never seen, but whom she could only assume was Lady Tohru Shiro…Subaru and Kamui's mother.

"It was never about whether or not he was a threat to me. I knew you never loved Kazuhiko Fay-Ryuu," he explained as he forced his way into the room, dragging Kamui behind him. "It was about him touching what was mine."

"And you wonder why she chose my tou-san over you?!" Kamui snarled.

"Be silent, little fool," Akuma hissed, quieting Kamui by calling up another strand of darkness. The new rope snaked its way up Kamui's neck and forced its way into his mouth. "This doesn't involve you."

"Are you going to kill my son, as well?" Tohru asked calmly. "He is the ultimate proof that Kazuhiko touched me."

"No, Tohru. I wouldn't do that to you. He doesn't need to die," Akuma said, turning and resealing the door. Then he used the dark energy imprisoning Kamui to bind him to the wall once more…and, once more, he struggled.

"What do you want?" Tohru asked.

"I want him to watch," the dark faerie replied as he moved toward Tohru, gently taking her into his arms. "I want someone to know the truth." Then he pressed a kiss to Tohru's unresisting lips. This made Kamui struggle all the harder.

"I wouldn't struggle if I were you," Akuma warned, turning his attention away from Tohru. "The more you fight, the more that dark energy will crawl inside of you."

Almost instantly, Kamui's eyes went wide and an odd, strangled sound escaped his throat.

"Don't hurt him," Tohru ordered softly.

"You don't fight. Did this 'have to be so', as well?"

"Nothing has to be so, my Akuma. It's that things must be this way so that something even worse won't happen."

"Worse? How could it have been worse?! Everything I've done, I've done for you. Why would it have been worse if you had chosen a life with me?"

"I wish you hadn't done it. I love you no matter what you look like…but Akuma…do you truly like yourself this way?" she asked as Akuma pulled her into his arms once again.

"It doesn't matter," he whispered in her ear. "Like you, I know a few things about what must be so. Just let me have this one night."

"Yes…I'm ready," she murmured breathlessly as Akuma carried her over to her bed. As the dark faerie slowly undressed her, Tohru kept complete eye contact with her son.

I'm sorry…I wish you didn't have to see this…but this is also the truth that I want you to remember after we're gone.

With that, Tohru Shiro and Akuma Satani began to make love. Even this, Kamui might have been able to endure, but the worst shock was still to come. As the two clan masters drew closer and closer to their release, their skin began to glow in harmony, twining together perfectly…just the way they were meant to.

This was the moment that finally broke Kamui. He turned away just before the glow reached its height, unable to bear watching his mother climax with the man who'd just killed his father.

So…this is it. The events that led to Subaru-san's birth…the secret pain that Kamui-san has carried with him all these years…they were all the results of a love that couldn't be acknowledged. They all claim that it was rape. Subaru-san has always been told that it was rape. Kamui-san can't let himself believe that it was anything else…after what he witnessed in that room…but…was it really rape? Did Tohru-sama really love Akuma? Is it possible that…the glow of skin can be wrong?

XxX

"Why are you crying?"

Tomoyo looked up to find herself staring at…herself…if not a few years younger.

"Who are you?"

"I'm Princess Tomoyo," her mirror image responded.

"But…you're not me, either…right?"

"Not exactly, no," she said with a smile.

"Another me…like Kakei-san said?"

"Yes. I'm you from a different world."

"Then…you're a dreamseer, too?"

The other Tomoyo smiled sadly as she sat down beside her. "For the moment…and the dream has brought us together for some reason. You didn't answer my first question."

Tomoyo bowed her head in shame at this. "I failed my love."

"Show me," the other her said gently, taking her hands in hers. Tomoyo nodded, allowing her own memories to flow into her younger twin. She gave her everything. Their days in the forest…their brothers…the moments of their first love…Yuui's baby…their engagement…and finally…losing her to the darkness.

"So this Yuui-san is…Queen Sakura's daughter?"

"Yes."

"I had a Sakura-chan that I loved…but she died when we were both very young."

"I'm sorry," Tomoyo consoled. She didn't even want to imagine how she would feel if Yuui were to truly die.

"It's all right. Everyone dies. I'll be with her again someday. But…you…this Seishiro, the one keeping you here…Is he a dreamseer? Can he see you now?"

Tomoyo shook her head. "I don't know. He's done…many horrible things in dreams."

"But apart from this nightmare…have you ever actually seen Seishiro in your dreams?"

"No, I-" Tomoyo stopped quite suddenly. She had thought of that before. She had seen many of the other fey in her dreams of the future. Seishiro, on the other hand…the one who had hurt them the most…the one who had caused the most suffering…she had never once beheld him in her dreams until he had come to her. She had never been able to see what he would do until he was actually doing it. Could it be that…she couldn't see him in her dreams? "But…if I can't see him, then…is it a dream that he has me trapped in?" she wondered aloud.

"He called it a Hand of Illusion, didn't he? Perhaps it is just that…an illusion. I don't think we would be able to meet like this if he could keep you imprisoned in a dream. You're dreaming now."

"But I can wake up from a dream. I don't know how to wake up from an illusion. I don't think I can leave until he decides to let me go."

"He will. From what I understand, he has to remain inside the illusion himself in order to keep you imprisoned. He can't possibly stay there forever."

Tomoyo nodded. "Yes. You're right. Thank you…Tomoyo-chan."

The other princess giggled. "You're welcome, Tomoyo-chan. One thing, though. Could I ask something of you?"

"Anything."

"Could you please make sure that your onii-san finds happiness in your world? Kurogane has fought so hard across so many different lives. He deserves to be happy with his soul mate in at least one of them. He's as dear as a brother to me in my own world, and I can guarantee that he can be with the one he loves…but I cannot guarantee that they will have a happy ending. Once…just once…I want for Kurogane and Fai-san to find happiness."

"I'll do my best."

"Oh, and if you ever happen to see them, tell them that I'm thinking of them."

XxX

When one considered the fact that right up until his night with Kamui prior to his transformation, Fuuma had been one of the most eligible bachelors in all of Faerie, it truly was unfortunate that the only witness to his approach to Spirit Lake was a semi-conscious Seishiro.

Himawari's attack had completely destroyed all of his clothing…had almost taken him along, as well. As he approached the shore of the lake, naked as the day he was born, the only thing he carried was Assassin's Hand, still stained with Syaoran's blood.

Remaining silent, he laid the dark sword down beside Seishiro as he sat beside him. The Dark Prince was sitting cross-legged in the surf, hands resting on his knees and eye half-closed, as if he were in a trance. Fuuma knew his orders. He was to deliver Assassin's Hand to Seishiro, then report to Yuuko in his stead. Of course, he didn't think anyone would mind if he took a small moment to rest before continuing back to the Dark Court. While it hadn't managed to destroy him, Himawari's dying spell had severely taxed his strength. Surely a night of rest won't go amiss, he thought as he lay down to sleep, secure in his knowledge that the powerful of Faerie would be too caught up in the recent tragedies to worry about them for one night. Either way Seishiro wouldn't be here for much longer. He didn't need to keep Tomoyo prisoner in his illusion for long…

…just long enough.

XxX

Anger…hurt…confusion…denial…pain. He had never felt a pain like this one in all his life. Anger and jealousy roiled fiercely in his stomach, making him feel like he might be sick. Where his heart should have been, there was only pain…as if someone had shoved a flaming blade right through it.

Betrayal.

"Why now?" the source of his agony asked. "Why did you come now?"

"Because you called for me. I was looking for you," he answered, barely able to contain his own rage.

"Well, you're too late…far too late. If you'd come sooner, it wouldn't have happened," Fai cried. "God, I didn't want you to see me like this!"

"Well, I am seeing you like this. God, Fai, it's like I don't even know you," he said angrily, gesturing wildly at the bump that protruded from his fiancée's stomach. He had wanted so much for a miracle…but that miracle was not his. It seemed that…they were not meant to be after all. "Is this what gets you hot? Having an affair with the man who raped you? He's your Goddamn uncle, Fai! It's disgusting!"

"I know."

I know? I know? I fucking know? That's all he can say?! Didn't Fai understand how much he had hurt him? So much pain…so much rage and jealousy…he honestly felt like he could die right now. "I loved you…and you betrayed me…with him."

"No! It's not like that. I didn't mean to. It just…happened. I don't know why. I never wanted this. I could never betray you. I love you, Kurogane," Fai insisted as he moved toward him, trying to embrace him.

Kurogane couldn't take it anymore. He shoved Fai away, resisting the urge to help him as he fell to the ground. "Don't bother lying to me, Fai. I can't even hear you. That thing inside you is screaming louder than any words you could ever say."

"Kuro-koi…please…hold me, kiss me…make love to me like you used to. Take me in your arms and tell me that it's going to be all right. Please…forgive me!"

"No." How could he ever forgive him? What could possibly make him forget this hurt?

"Please!" Fai begged desperately. Kurogane just shook his head. He really wanted to take Fai back, but something in him wouldn't let him. Agony? Hate? Anger? Jealousy? He didn't know…and he never would. All he really wanted right now was to end it. He didn't want to live past this hurt. He wanted for the two of them to die together.

"We're finished, Fai. It's over. There's nothing left to fight for anymore. Just go back to him. He's the one you really want," he said, bringing all of his anger and jealousy to bear on Fai…to prevent himself from breaking down and crying until he was empty.

"Don't…don't say that!" his former lover sobbed brokenly. "Don't look at me like I'm nothing to you! You're the only reason that I'm alive, Kurogane!"

"Then you're dead," Kurogane said plainly as he drew Ginryuu, "because you are nothing to me." His entire world became Fai's scream of agony as he plunged the blade into his stomach, spraying blood everywhere…Fai's blood…

It was his own cry of denial that woke Kurogane from the nightmare. He shot bolt upright in Fai's bed, fingers raking desperately at his face and arms in a vain effort to cleanse himself of Fai's blood.

He vaguely heard people calling his name and he felt arms around him, but he couldn't reconcile them in his mind. His only thought was that he absolutely had to get the blood off. He couldn't be stained with Fai's blood. He just couldn't be!

It wasn't until he was bodily pinned to the bed and he could no longer scrape at his skin that he realized that it wasn't Fai's blood that he was covered in; it was his own. He had torn deep gashes in his own flesh in order to rid himself of the memory of Fai's hot blood splashing onto his skin. It had taken Sai, Watanuki, Doumeki, and Subaru all working together to hold him down and keep him from hurting himself any further.

"Oh, Kurogane…what have you done to yourself?" Souma cried softly as she surveyed the bloody furrows that her friend had dug into his own skin.

"Are you here, Kurogane?" Doumeki asked calmly once Kurogane had stopped struggling. The young man nodded, barely feeling the pain of his self-inflicted wounds.

"Yes."

"We're going to let go of you now. Will you promise me that you won't hurt yourself anymore?"

This acknowledgment was a little slower in coming, but Kurogane finally nodded.

"Yes."

Slowly, the four faeries that held him down withdrew. Subaru hovered near, ready to start healing his wounds, but Kurogane held up a hand to stop him, groaning in pain as he sat up.

"We need to take care of those," Subaru said sternly. "If we don't, then you're liable to bleed to death. Never mind infection."

Kurogane shook his head, reaching behind his ear.

"He only needs a minute," Souma clarified, knowing what he was doing.

Kurogane plucked the rose from its place, drawing it to his face to make absolutely certain that it was safe. When the delicate bloom presented itself to him, healthy and whole, he breathed a sigh of relief and kissed one of the petals, holding it close to his face to breathe in the scent.

"Can I continue?" Subaru asked uncertainly. Kurogane just nodded. Subaru quickly went about sealing up the deep tears in the young man's skin, which were shockingly numerous for how little time had lapsed between his horrified cry and this moment. As he worked, Watanuki moved in to clean up the bloodstains.

"What happened?" Souma finally asked.

"I…I killed him," Kurogane whispered, staring helplessly at the rose. "I killed him with my own two hands."

"But you wouldn't do that," Souma tried to console him, sitting down beside him as Watanuki and Subaru finished their work. "You would never do that."

"Really?"

"When did he come back?" Sakura asked Sai as the others tried to give Souma and Kurogane some space.

"A few hours ago. He said that he wanted to see his sisters, so I let him in. You were sleeping in front of the mirror. He fell asleep on Fai-sama's bed. I know he doesn't like sleeping…but I just couldn't wake him. He looked half-dead," Sai explained sadly.

"It's all right. Any of us would've done the same. He'll never admit that he needs to sleep," Sakura murmured, the worry of a mother in her voice.

"Hello?" another voice suddenly echoed in the dimly lit room. Everyone stiffened upon recognizing the speaker. "Hello? Would someone mind unblanking this mirror? I have a message for the false queen and her rabble."

Sakura moved to stand near Souma and Kurogane and Souma made certain that Kurogane remained seated as the faeries all moved to stand in front of Fai's bed to conceal them.

"Don't pretend that you don't know that you can't speak to Yuui," Watanuki said angrily as he unblanked the mirror, allowing Kyle Rondart's image to appear on the glass.

"Oh, dear. Has the little princess finally gone to sleep? Sweet dreams, darling Yuui-chan," he sneered.

"Be quiet!" Kurogane snarled.

"Why, Watanuki," Kyle began, completely ignoring Kurogane's outburst, "is there any particular reason why you're dressed in nothing but a sheet?"

Too angry to be embarrassed, Watanuki just glared. "I don't see how it's any of your business."

"It isn't, but the answer is Doumeki standing there in absolutely nothing," Kyle said, appreciatively eyeing Doumeki's well-displayed figure. Watanuki growled low in his throat, an unusual sound to hear from the nature spirit…but Doumeki did not even flinch, not even when Kyle continued with, "I shall have to have a taste of that when Faerie belongs to us."

That was too much for Watanuki. "If you touch him, I'll-"

"What do you want, Kyle?" Kakei quickly interrupted.

"As I said, to deliver a message to the renegade queen and her consort."

"Stop playing games!" Kurogane shouted, attempting to jump up from the bed. Souma managed to keep a hold of him, though, and the line of faeries remained in place, still concealing them from view.

"Oh? Are you back there, Kurogane-kun? Excellent. It will make the message that much easier to deliver. You see, as king of Nihon, I was going to-"

"You are not king of Nihon!" the young man shouted, finally succeeding in throwing Souma off of him. Sakura caught her before she could fall off the bed.

"Why don't you come around to the front so we can talk better? It's rather hard to see you behind your little gaggle of protectors," Kyle chided mockingly.

Kurogane wasted no time in coming around to the front, seething in anger. "What do you want?!"

"As I was saying, before I was so rudely interrupted, I was going to tell Yuui-chan and Tomoyo-chan to hand you over. Now I'll just ask you to turn yourself in. The sentence of banishment has become one of execution."

"What happens if I don't turn myself in?"

"Then your high priest, Chang Ang, will die…and for each day that you do not submit, more of Nihon's people will die."

Kurogane stiffened in shock upon hearing the ultimatum. Prince or no, he still had an obligation to his people.

"Think of it this way," Kyle continued when Kurogane remained silent. "If you come to me by the stroke of midnight tonight…alone…I will tell you where you can find your precious Fai-kun. That's a fair trade, isn't it? Just remember that you only have until midnight."

"You can't go, Kurogane," Souma insisted the moment Kyle's visage had disappeared from the mirror. "It's a trap. You'll never make it out alive!"

"Of course it's a trap," he muttered, staring angrily at the mirror. "He means to kill me. He thinks he can get me into his web by tempting me with a way to find Fai, but he's just going to kill me." His logic appeared infallible. He seemed to be perfectly in control of himself and to see right through Kyle's trap. The only problem was that the trap was working. Kurogane was perfectly aware that he was being lead around like a horse on a lead rope, but he didn't care. If he could find out where Fai was, it would be worth the risk. Now that he had Ginryuu and the power of fire on his side, he might be able to get the information he wanted and still manage to escape alive. Besides, much as he disliked Chang Ang, he couldn't let him or anyone else die for his mistakes.

"Kurogane-kun, I know that look," Sakura suddenly stepped into the conversation, utilizing an imperious tone that was very unnatural on her tongue. "Don't think for one minute that we're going to let you go off and get yourself killed. We'll find another way."

"I don't mean to die. I'll get that pompous old windbag out…and I'll save Fai. Don't tell me you don't want that."

"This isn't the way. We have enough magic in our hands to be able to find Fai when the time is right."

"It's still not as good as an exact location."

"You really think he'll tell you?" Doumeki asked calmly. "Why would he give you the information if you're already caught in his trap?"

"He'll give it to me. I'll make him."

"You can't possibly think that this is going to make anything better," Watanuki reprimanded him. "Nothing short of destroying Kyle will stop him from killing your people."

"Well…maybe I can do that, too," the fallen prince responded, a shade of his former confidence showing through.

"He will kill you," Sakura said sternly, her face a mask of pain and anger. "Too many have died already. Himawari-san and Syaoran both gave their lives. I won't see you die, too. If you die…then Fai dies, as well. Think on that before you go making reckless plans."

That silenced Kurogane fast as lightning. Sakura had seen this happen before…the moments when the fraying threads that held the prince together seemed to snap all at once…when his face became a mask of pain, confusion, despair, and anger. She felt such guilt at being the cause of it, but she knew that she had to contain him until they could come up with a plan. Souma came to lead Kurogane back to Fai's bed as the talking began in earnest.

"The sun is only just rising," Subaru noted as he glanced out the window. "We only have until midnight tonight. What can we do?"

"Could one of us go…disguised as Kurogane-san?" Watanuki suggested.

"Oh, yes, because Kyle wouldn't see right through that," Kamui said snidely, rolling his eyes.

"Have you got something better?" Doumeki shot back.

"We have to do something," Sakura insisted, closing the curtains of Fai's bed around Souma and Kurogane. "We can't just let him walk to his death!"

"Why not?" Kujaku asked, speaking for the first time since arriving and shocking everyone.

"How can you say that?" Sakura asked softly, not quite certain what to make of the faerie.

"I can say it because that kid'll go no matter what you do. The only way to stop him would be to kill him…or do the exact same thing that Yuuko did. It's not a question of whether or not he's going. The only question is how are you going to protect him when he does go?"

"M-Mokona can help," a shy voice suddenly came from behind the curtains of Yuui's bed. The next moment, Soel hopped onto the floor. "Mokona can't be held by normal magic. Mokona can get through wards."

"It's very brave of you to offer, Soel," Sai said as she went to pick up the white Mokona. "But I don't think we can count on it working a second time. We were lucky the first time. These past months…Kyle will have been preparing to defend such a hole in his fortress."

"Maybe not," Kakei said thoughtfully. "Clow knew what he was doing when he created the Mokona. He will not have made their own brand of magic so easy to poke holes through. With only Kurogane-san and Soel-chan…we just might be able to pull this off."

"You want the two of them to walk into this death trap…alone?" Sakura demanded fiercely.

"It's what Kyle wanted. It's the only way to get Kurogane-san inside the city with any prayer of escape."

"I still don't like it. I think Himawari-san would have agreed with me," the queen continued to argue, glancing pleadingly at Doumeki and Watanuki.

As the debate continued, Soel hopped out of Sai's arms and over to Fai's bed, slipping through the enchanted curtains. Kurogane was sitting up, leaning heavily against the headboard. Souma was sitting in front of him with one hand resting on his knee. Kurogane just stared straight ahead. He could hear the conversation, but the argument meant very little to him. Kujaku was right. He was going…no matter what they decided. The risk was worth it. He didn't fear his own death…but the thought that it would be the cause of Fai's death sent a small thrill of trepidation through his entire being.

Soel hopped into Kurogane's lap and nuzzled gently up against his stomach.

"Kurogane is sad," the tiny creature lamented. "Mokona knows that Kurogane misses Fai…but why does Kurogane hurt so much?"

Kurogane visibly winced as washes of memory flooded through him. It had been a little easier to bear back in Faerie because he had no memories tied to the place…but here…there were so many memories in this room alone…memories both tender and burning with passion…and some of pain and anger. After all, it was in this very bed that Fai had suffered his most grievous pain…but also here that Kurogane had held him close and made love to him so many times…where they had whispered of their love and dreamed of their life together…

"I love you…Kuro-koibito."

But now…there was only silence.

"Because I can't protect him," Kurogane finally answered, patting the tiny guardian's head. "I promised him that I would. I swore that nothing would hurt him while I was around…but I didn't keep that promise. I couldn't do anything to protect him when he needed me the most…and now he's suffering…burning alone in the darkness. That's what hurts…feeling his nightmares. I have to make them stop. I have to get him back…no matter what."

Soel hopped up onto Kurogane's shoulder and nuzzled itself solemnly against his cheek. "All right. Mokona will help."

"Good," Kurogane said softly before standing from the bed, pushing the curtains aside, and announcing, "I'm going."

"What?! You can't go now!" Sakura objected. "You should at least have some food and rest first."

"Oh, yes…because we've all seen what wonders sleep has worked for me," Kurogane growled softly, looking the Valerian queen directly in the eye. "I'll eat if you really want me to, but once that's done, I'm going. I'll take the fight to Kyle this time."

XxX

The sun was hanging low in the sky when Kurogane and Soel materialized within sight of the gates of Shirasagi. The others had convinced him that it would be wise to wait and at least make it appear that they were deliberating.

Kurogane knew it was foolish, but part of him still wished that it would be Saiki and Sorata guarding the gates as they had a few short months ago. He wanted to walk through those gates after a day in the forest with Fai and know that he was coming home. He wanted the city to be the same…the streets filled with the cheerful, fast-paced hubbub of people going about their lives. However, he knew that it couldn't be so. This place wasn't home anymore.

A figure cloaked in pure black waited at the gate. Before it could be spotted, Soel quickly burrowed into the hood of Kurogane's cloak, keeping out of sight.

It's an Oni, Kakei's voice said calmly in his head. For some reason, Kyle is wasting glamour giving it a human form.

While only Soel could actually be with him undetected, that didn't mean that the others needed to abandon him entirely. Being fey, they could speak to him in thoughts and see the situation through his eyes…and while he couldn't speak directly to them, they could easily read his own thoughts and respond to them.

"What is your business here?" the concealed demon asked in a voice that one would almost expect to hear from a snake.

"I was summoned here…by Kyle," Kurogane responded through gritted teeth.

"If you wish an audience with His Majesty, then you will show the proper respect for Nihon's sovereign. Use his proper title," the guard admonished.

If this bastard thinks for one minute that I'm going to-

Do as he says, Kurogane-san. Kyle is watching you right now, Kakei warned him. He wants to see you debase yourself. He could just as easily have the Oni take your head off right here. The protective charms we laid over you have already lost their effectiveness this close to the city.

No way in Hell! I won't bow to him!

I'm not asking you to bow. Just use the words king and Kyle together in a sentence. Is it that difficult?

Kurogane growled low in his throat as he stared at the dark faerie. Just because he wasn't prince here anymore didn't mean that Kyle was king.

It's for Fai. It's for Fai. It's for Fai, he reminded himself over and over again as he rephrased his earlier statement.

"I was summoned here by the king…Kyle."

"That's better. If you'll follow me, I will take you into His Majesty's presence," the guard said, bowing wispily as it backed off to open the gate.

Even the air tasted different when Kurogane entered the city. The sad misery of what his eyes, ears, and nose reported could almost go without saying. He had been able to steel himself slightly against that…but this foul taste in the air he had not been prepared for. What was it?

It is darkness. Doumeki was the one to respond this time. Dark magic…after a time, the essence of the stuff will come to pollute a place. I'm certain it will get stronger as you get closer to its source. It went without saying what that source was.

In truth, Kurogane almost didn't recognize his own city. What he remembered as open and light was now twisted and smothered. People who had been reasonably well clothed and nourished were now dressed in threadbare rags and looked to be practically starving. No one greeted their neighbors or friends. They seemed to avoid eye contact at all cost. The eyes he did manage to catch were filled with misery and mistrust. The fallen prince also noted with alarm that several shops had been burned down. Some of the charred sites had notices posted on the wreckage proclaiming that fey blood would not be tolerated. As they moved away from the market and through the residential areas, he saw that several homes had been vandalized…graffitied with the kanji for faerie. It was a crumbling city on the verge of chaos.

Lady and Consort, what have they done? What have these monsters done to my people?!

Nothing that cannot be undone, Subaru reminded him gently. Kyle wants you to see this. He wants you to feel the rage. He means for you to completely lose control when you confront him, but you must not. You must remember that all wounds can heal if given time. Remember whom you are fighting for.

Kurogane nodded resolutely, steeling his nerves as he was led inside the palace. He couldn't forget about Fai. The only way to stop all of this was to defeat the Dark Court and rescue Fai.

If the city was swimming in dark magic, then the palace was very nearly drowning in it. For the first few moments, the young man struggled to breathe, coughing several times as he fought to keep pace with his guide. Other Oni in the guise of men had fallen into step around them as they moved onward, closing in around him.

Any weapons you might hold could not possibly hurt them, Kamui said in response to Kurogane thinking that it was odd that no one had yet tried to strip him of Ginryuu. What is a human child to them?

Then…if Kyle's not scared of me…why the huge escort?

No one had an answer for him as he was brought into the throne room. The air was very nearly unbreathable here at the heart of the darkness. It wasn't visible, but it was a tangible thing, nonetheless. Kyle was at the center, lounging on the throne with a victorious sneer twisting his face.

"So…you came back after all."

"Couldn't stay away," Kurogane replied, his teeth still gritted.

"You do understand that this is the day you die, don't you?"

"I might surprise you." He had not broken eye contact with Kyle once since entering the room.

"What do you think of my kingdom, Kurogane-kun?" Kyle asked as he rose from the throne.

"Even if it were a kingdom…it's not yours," Kurogane spat rather calmly. "I came, just like you asked. Now free Chang Ang and tell me where Fai is. I didn't come here to chat."

Kyle shook his head as he snapped, summoning in two more poorly disguised Oni, dragging something in between them. "I had so hoped that we were past this whole messy business. Here's the old man if you really want him that badly."

The old priest had been through Hell. Kurogane could see that as the old man was tossed at his feet. His once fine robes had been worn to rags in his time of imprisonment. Where he had been skinny and slightly weathered before, he was now sallow and skeletal. Several wounds crisscrossed the paper dry skin. He looked as if the slightest breeze would shatter him into dust. Kurogane knew, in that moment, that it didn't matter that he had come to bargain for his freedom. As far as humans went, the high priest was well and truly ancient. No matter what any of them did, Chang Ang was going to die soon. That didn't mean, however, that Kurogane was going to let him go on Kyle's terms.

"Ku…Kuro-gane…sama?" the old priest whispered in a thin, gravelly voice as Kurogane gently turned him onto his back. He reached a hand up to touch the young man's face, not quite believing what his eyes and ears told him. "I'm – sorry. I don't think…I can stand."

"That's all right. I'll just carry you. I'll get you out of here."

"Foolish boy," Chang Ang coughed. "Don't tell me that you…came back here…to save this dying old man."

"Damn you, you old bastard," the prince murmured with the tiniest of fond smiles, feeling like his old self for the briefest of moments. "If you're dying, then you're doing it my way, not his."

"Stupid child," the high priest mumbled back with the same barely there smile. "To throw your life away for a dead man."

Kurogane just shook his head. He was doing that already…or, at least, he may as well have been.

"He's right, you know," Kyle said, still smirking that same infuriating smirk.

"What did you do to him?" Kurogane asked, still managing to remain calm.

"Just tried to persuade him to contact Tomoyo-chan so that we might gain a channel into Faerie. The enchantments that keep us out are very weak right now, after all…no sovereign and all, but that's going to change very soon."

"Yeah, it is…when Yuui's kid is born. She's going to be the ruler of Faerie."

"But only if the baby is born. For the moment, that child is staying where it is and everyone knows it. If that princess doesn't wake up, then Seishiro-sama will be king…and Yuui-chan will never wake up, not without your imouto." Then, almost as if he'd just thought of something, Kyle's smirk changed from triumphant to just plain evil. "Oh, and of course Fai-kun will never wake…because you're going to die, right here and now, and he'll slip into death in a few short weeks. Well, at least you'll finally be together again."

Kurogane, control yourself, Doumeki ordered, trying to break in on Kurogane's thoughts.

Kurogane wasn't even conscious of his reaction. The next thing he knew, he was in front of Kyle with Ginryuu buried hilt deep in his chest, his vision red with rage and blood.

If the dark faerie showed any signs of pain, Kurogane didn't see them. After a few moments, he started laughing.

"I'm pretty sure we've played this game before."

"WHERE IS HE?!" Kurogane screamed in rage as he whipped the sword out of Kyle's chest and went in for another attack. "TELL ME WHERE HE IS!!"

Kyle easily evaded him, laughing all the while. "But my dear Kurogane-kun, you know perfectly well that he's a prisoner in the Dark Court."

"THAT'S NOT GOOD ENOUGH!!"

"Oh, all right, if you insist. I'll tell you what you want to know."

The very next moment, Kurogane found himself held immobile. For a moment he struggled against his captors, but the barely extant rational part of his mind knew that he couldn't fight the Oni. Kyle approached him once more, leaning in very close…right next to his ear.

"The Dark Court is very far from here…in the northern most regions of this world. Its roots go deep into the earth. It is there, deep beneath the ground, at the darkest heart of Queen Yuuko's power, that your sweet prince is lying. There, in a coffin of nightmares, the Darkness feeds on his light, day by day devouring his soul; and do you know what the best part of all this is? You can't enter that place without being utterly consumed by that Darkness. You can certainly try to rescue your Fai-kun, but the truth of the matter is that he belongs to the Darkness, now and forever."

Kurogane's response was completely unintelligible. He simply screamed with primal rage, fighting his hardest against his captors, and still without success.

"Poor little human child, gone mad with his flaming emotions."

Of the words in Kyle's taunt, only one registered in Kurogane's brain…flaming…fire.

You have weapons. Use them!

Soel had just enough time to shield itself before Kurogane's skin caught fire. Flames burst outward, piercing the darkness of the throne room. Kyle had just enough time to shield himself before the fire washed over him, but the Oni surrounding Kurogane were not so lucky. Their demon shrieks filled his ears as they were bathed in flames. Just because it wouldn't kill them didn't mean that it wouldn't hurt.

"Oh, my," Kyle exulted, his eyes alight with wicked plans. "You have grown. Just for this marvelous display of power, I think I'll give you a little gift. I'll let you try to escape. There's only one catch," he added as he moved toward Kurogane once again, reaching into the hood of his cloak and plucking Soel from within. "You can't use this. You didn't really think I was that stupid, did you? If you want to leave here, then you must defeat my body guards."

"KUROGANE!" Soel shouted in a panic as it watched the fallen prince's face. The fire from his body was slowly coming to heel, but if nothing else, the fire in his eyes had grown. There was no question for him of whether or not he would survive. He just would. There was no other way events could happen. Soel, though, was terrified for the survival of his sanity. Something wasn't right here.

"I know my little shield won't hold you forever," Kyle said softly to the tiny guardian. "You'll find a way through it eventually, but it doesn't need to hold you for long…just long enough."

"KUROGANE, STOP!" Soel tried again, even though it knew that he wouldn't hear.

Kurogane-san, don't do it. Something isn't right about this, Kakei attempted to cajole him. All of the faeries knew that something was wrong, but none of them would attempt to control his actions by force. That would be taking things a step too far.

Kurogane, however, was deaf to all pleas. Ginryuu was drawn and there was already blood on his hands. If the only way to get out was through this swarm of Oni, then Ginryuu would taste their blood.

He lost himself in that dance. He had trained so long and hard with Ginryuu that the movements were as natural as breathing. He didn't flag or give an inch…not even when he was drenched in blood. It was strangely…exhilarating…feeling that he had so much power. Enemies fell before his blade and fire in droves. He couldn't be stopped. Nothing would prevent him from escaping and rescuing Fai.

Not until it was too late…far too late…did Kurogane realize his mistake.

His enemies actually fell before his onslaught. They were Oni…weren't they? They should have stumbled and then shaken it off, healing easily and resuming the attack. They didn't. The throne room was littered with bodies. Only a few others remained standing besides Kyle, and these were the ones who behaved like normal Oni. The rest…

Oh, God…what have I done?

"Those were human soldiers, Kurogane-kun…your own men…and you killed them," Kyle informed him, a triumphant look lighting up his features.

Lady and Consort, we were wrong! They weren't just Oni in bad human disguises! They were spelled to read as Oni, Subaru suddenly connected the dots, trying desperately to explain away Kurogane's mistake.

You didn't know. You didn't know, Kurogane-sama! It wasn't your fault. Just get out of there now!

None of the faeries' words registered in his head. He was frozen where he stood…staring at his blade in silent horror. Even through the layers of gore on the sword, he could still see his blood-soaked reflection. It was just like before…when he killed…Fai!

I…I didn't…how could I…I was only…I did this…me! I betrayed them…

"KUROGANE!" Soel continued to shout, trying desperately to get through to the young man who seemed to have lost all touch with the world around him.

"Scream all you want," Kyle taunted as the tiny guardian finally burst free of his shield. "He can't hear you. He won't ever be able to hear you again. He belongs to us."

Soel tried its hardest to shut out Kyle's jibes as it flew toward Kurogane. His mental state could be addressed later. The most important thing was getting him and Chang Ang out of this dreadful place. Thankfully, Chang Ang had been steadily dragging himself across the floor from the very moment Kurogane had started to break down. He was reaching him now, just as Soel was activating a wind portal to take them to safety.

One whoosh and a totality of darkness later, Kurogane found himself sitting in the grass just outside of the cottage in Celes Forest. The sky was growing dark overhead and Chang Ang was lying beside him, but these things hardly seemed to register with him… neither did the voices filling the air…calling his name.

"Kurogane-kun!" Queen Sakura's voice cried out as a pair of arms, presumably hers, wrapped themselves around him. "It wasn't your fault. It wasn't your fault."

Kurogane pulled away from the queen, seeming neither to see nor hear her. She was also covered in blood from where she'd embraced him. He slowly got to his feet, not really seeing anything around him. No one knew what to make of the empty expression in his eyes. Before any of them could say anything more, he turned and began to walk away into the forest.

"Kurogane, stop! Please, stop!" Souma cried as she hurried after him. Of course, he paid her no mind.

"Go with her, Subaru-kun," Kakei ordered gently. "With his magic, it will take more than just Souma-chan to prevent him from harming himself if the notion should enter his head. Besides, he might need healing. The rest of us will get the priest to a bed."

Subaru nodded, swiftly catching up to Souma and Kurogane. The young ninja was still pleading with her friend, but he looked like he would never hear anything again. He just stared blankly ahead as he moved through the foliage, dragging his bloodied sword behind him, the hilt held in an iron grip.

"Kurogane, why won't you listen? It wasn't your fault. You didn't know! You couldn't have."

"It was just like Kusanagi said," he mumbled numbly. "I lost control. I cut what I didn't mean to cut."

He fell silent after that. None of them kept track of just how far they walked. It wasn't like it mattered with Celes. They could end up anywhere. Kurogane didn't stop until he heard the sound of his feet splashing into the Yume River. For a moment, he just stood still, but then he began to inch into the deeper waters. Souma and Subaru were making to follow him when he came to a stop yet again, the river swirling about him at about waist height.

"K-Kurogane?" Souma tried to call out to him once again. The fallen prince slowly raised his enchanted blade, holding it just beneath the water's surface and watching the layers of blood smoothly wash away from it.

"I…I killed them," he murmured, staring at his reflection in shock. "They're dead. They…won't ever wake up again."

For a moment that could have been eons or mere seconds, Kurogane gazed at the blood that washed from his skin and clothing and flowed away with the river. It seemed like such a long time that the water was clouded with blood.

Then Kurogane threw his head back and gave a cry of such anguish and utter loneliness that it raised the hairs on the backs of both Subaru's and Souma's necks. Then, quite suddenly, he just dropped into the water…just floated on the surface, slowly drifting with the current.

As hands grabbed a hold of him and carried him to the riverbank, Kurogane remembered the first time he'd ever seen Spirit Lake.

Even if it was small, a tiny part of him wished that Fai had not taught him how to swim all those years ago.

XxX

Fire…burning…everything…always burning. Fire burned in his skin…deeper…at the very core of him. By rights, he should have turned to ashes a long time ago, but he never did. He only continued to burn…and the burning grew worse moment by moment…but something was different now. Something inside told him that the burning had reached its peak. That something…was clawing, shrieking…fighting with all its might to break free of his body. He knew…and it knew…that it would tear him to shreds when it broke free of him.

Fai gazed down in fear when he realized what was happening to him. The center of the burning was his swollen stomach. It was the seed that Seishiro…Darkness…had placed inside of him. The child of their union was ready to be born…and its birth would be the ruin of all. The prince of light threw his head back and screamed in agony, clutching at the dead earth on which he lay, as his body tore open, literally splitting in two.

"Hush, Tou-san. You mustn't cry anymore. I'm here now," a deadly, silken voice whispered in his ear as a pair of ice cold arms wrapped around his broken form.

"W-what?" he murmured, slowly opening his eyes. Not daring to look at the state of his pain-wracked body, he looked instead to the face of the person who now held him. His eyes bulged in shock when he found himself gazing into his own face.

"Who…who are you?"

"That hurts, Tou-san. I'm your first-born son…your child."

"But…you're me," he mumbled in confusion. They looked alike down to the very last detail. The only difference was that this Fai was as cold as death and he wore a leering expression that Fai himself would have died before using.

"I'm that, too," his mirror image said with a cruel smile.

"I don't understand."

"You've come too far into the darkness. You're dying. I'm the you that was born to take your place when your light finally goes out. I'm your son, the child of your union with your uncle, son and cousin both to you…but I am also you…the true you. I have the strength to survive here in the dark. In fact, I will thrive. When your Kurogane finally comes for you…if he comes…it will be me that he finds in your place."

"That…no…you can't…" Fai mumbled uncomprehendingly. Goddess, he was in so much pain. In this very moment, he would have gladly died just to be free of it.

"Well, we can't have that, now can we?" his doppelganger muttered acidly, as if he'd read his thoughts. "You haven't earned your death, Tou-san. I'll see those baby blue eyes shed many more tears and tear hundreds of delicious screams from your pretty white throat before I let you sleep beneath the earth. So, for now, I'll keep you here with me." As he spoke, the other Fai held a hand over him and the glow of dark magic flowed from his hand and into Fai. The blonde watched in repulsed fascination as the gaping wound that had been his stomach slowly knit itself back together. Of course, as the body was mended, the pain quickly subsided, as well.

"There, now. Isn't that better?" the other Fai asked in a singsong voice, almost as if he spoke to a small child. Fai was about to nod when his other…his child…bent over him and kissed him on the lips…very passionately. Fai felt an unwelcome twinge of desire in his loins in the brief moment before he managed to shove the other young man away.

"What are you doing?!" he demanded furiously.

"Kissing you…and everything that comes after that…Tou-san," his other said, leering as he eyed him like a piece of meat. The moment those eyes began to caress his body, Fai could have sworn that he felt hands on him, stroking him just the way he liked…though there were several feet in between the two of them.

"Stop it!" the confused prince shouted, backing even further away. Tears formed in his eyes as arousal began between his legs.

"As much as I'd love to say that tormenting you is purely for my own amusement, I can't stop wanting you anymore than you can stop wanting me. You feel it even now, don't you…the need to be one…the desperate desire for me to throw you to the ground and ravish you senseless."

Fai's retreat came to a sudden halt. How…how did he know?

"I know because you and I are the same person. As long as we both exist, we will be driven to unite…to become one. Until one or the other dies, we will both feel an uncontrollable urge to mate with each other in an attempt to become a single person again. Of course…having sex won't do any good…not this deep in the darkness. Here…we are absolutes of darkness and light and we cannot recombine. You'll go right on needing me until the moment of your death…until I decide to release you," he explained, finally catching up to Fai and taking him in his arms once more. He didn't run this time. When his double kissed him, he kissed back. He wrapped his arms around his other, ran desperate fingers through his hair, tore the tunic from his body. The need to be touched…kissed…held…taken…was just too strong. It wasn't until he felt his other's hands inside his pants…roughly squeezing that need…that he found the will to pull himself away, though his body screamed out for release.

"No. No!" he cried, shaking his head as he clutched at himself…as if he could somehow contain this soul-crushing lust. "I don't want this. I don't want to! It's too much."

Once again, the other Fai followed his retreat, reaching forward and cupping his cheek in his palm, lovingly caressing the tear-stained skin.

"The difference between you and me, Fai, is that you're trying to fight the fact that you want me. I'm not ashamed of it. I don't care how dirty I have to get to satisfy this hunger. I don't care if the Lady Herself watches us fuck. I want to get so sinful that no one can stand it. If you truly don't want this…then fight back. You have the power. You have the Hand of Blood now. Use it. Kill me, Tou-san."

Fai froze as the memory of hot blood splashing onto his skin rushed through him. It had been so easy to do. Carrying the memory of it, however, was not easy.

"But I…I don't want that power," he cried helplessly. Dear Goddess in heaven, why was he so weak?!

"That's what I thought. You won't fight. You won't ever resist. You're a doll for the taking. I can do what I like with you…so get on your knees."

XxX

"Yuui," a silky voice called out to her, practically singing her name. It was a voice both dulcet and dangerous…and somehow familiar to her. It was like a voice she knew had been taken…and twisted into something irredeemably dark…but at the same time, it was still so…beautiful.

As the scintillating voice continued to sing her name…calling for her…she slowly became conscious of herself. She was lying on a bed in a dark room, laid comfortably between layers of silken sheets. Had she been sleeping? Perhaps she could sleep again…in this warm bed…cradled in the arms of this sinfully lovely voice…

As thoughts of sleep floated through her head, she felt the very subtle shifting of blankets that indicated someone was crawling into the bed with her. So lulled into complacency by the hypnotic voice was she that she did not care. All she wanted to hear were the honey-tipped tones of her own name from the lips of whomever it was that possessed this voice.

"Yuui," the owner of the voice whispered in her ear as arms suddenly wrapped around her and pulled her close to another warm body. There was nothing but skin between them…warm, soft skin. Yuui smiled languidly as the voice's owner kissed her.

"Oh, Yuui…I love you so." The golden words slipped inside her ears as she was pulled even closer. Her hazy mind didn't even question it when she felt her breasts press against the flat, muscular chest of a man. She moaned softly as the voice's owner…the young man…slipped a hand in between their bodies…his tantalizing fingers teasing her flesh just inches above the prize.

"Mm…touch me," she pleaded, moaning a little louder and pressing herself against the hand that was a mere breath away from plunging straight between her legs.

"Your wish is my command, my sweet princess," the luscious voice penetrated her ears once again…caressing her in ways no voice should have been able to. Then she felt it…the plunge…the fingers pushing into her body and a dexterous thumb rubbing at the hot, moist nub between her legs. The already intense feelings of pleasure were so strong that they caused her to cry out, wanting more.

"Oh, my," her partner started, laughing softly and mockingly…a hint of the danger she remembered from earlier. "You're soaking wet, Yuui. You little slut. I'll have to hurry. We can't have you coming too soon, after all."

Yuui giggled coquettishly as the invading fingers rubbed at her insides, heightening her pleasure and doing their best to block out the sense that something was wrong. Blonde hair and pale skin briefly flashed in her vision, somewhere above her. She had somehow come to be pinned beneath the young man. When the fingers were withdrawn, she felt the tip of something bigger, harder, and infinitely more dangerous press against her entrance.

"Please…please…take me!" she moaned in desperation. She needed to come. She needed him to be inside her. Something was wrong! Something was horribly wrong…but she couldn't make herself care enough to stop what she was doing.

"Your wish, my darling," her lover's honeyed voice sang to her. He pressed several heated kisses to her face as he plunged deep inside of her. The feeling was too much. Yuui screamed as she climaxed all at once. Golden laughter filled her ears as her body writhed with the force of the orgasm. "You poor baby. You came much too fast. I haven't even had my own play yet. You really are such a little slut."

"I'm sorry," she cried softly, clinging weakly to him as the last tremors slowly faded away. He'd made her feel so good. All she wanted now was to please this honey-voiced young man.

"It's all right, koibito. I can still finish. I promise you, this won't hurt a bit. You'll like it," he whispered soothingly to her as he sat up on his knees and pulled her with him, settling her comfortably in his lap. As she wrapped her arms and legs around him, he lowered his head to her breast, his warm breath ghosting along her tender flesh. For a brief moment, she couldn't help but think that he looked exactly like someone she knew…but the dark…the heat…the sweat…it was impossible.

Coherent thought vanished when he started to move, bouncing her body up and down on his hips. At the exact same moment, he took one of her nipples into his mouth and began to suck, sending an arrow of sensation through her chest. It felt so wonderful that she could have almost come again right then and there.

Quite suddenly, however, the fragments of pleasure in her breast turned to pain. Instead of the sensations of being pleasured, she felt something…being drained out of her…but she still couldn't break free. The rest of her body still felt so good. He looked into her face, straight into her eyes…and she still couldn't quite recognize his face. A wicked leer spread across her lover's face and she noticed that a trail of white liquid was dribbling from the corner of his mouth. White…liquid? Milk…was it milk? Her milk? He'd been…breastfeeding? What?

"You were wrong, Yuui." His voice was still unbearably beautiful, even though his face had twisted into something sinister. "We did unite. We did make love. Only I can satisfy you…my sweet…beautiful…onee-san."

It was that one word that caused the illusion to shatter and served to jolt Yuui out of her stupor. They were both naked…he was buried deep inside her, about to climax…and she was staring into the face of…

"Fai?!" she sobbed, tears of horror spilling down her face. "What…what are you doing?"

"Making you mine…and mine alone…for eternity," he promised as he pressed a claiming kiss to her lips. She was far too shocked to push him away.

"How…how could you-" her mumblings of confusion and hurt were suddenly silenced when her twin brother seized her hips and forced himself as deep inside her as he could go, preventing her escape.

"Oh…Oh, Yuui," he moaned softly…mockingly. "I'm coming."

"NO! NEVER!" she shrieked, digging her fingers into his chest and tearing herself away from him only a moment before it was too late. As she collapsed on the bed, his seed spilled on the sheets between them. It was pain beyond pain…tearing away from her twin…She almost felt as if she herself had been torn in two.

"Poor, poor Yuui," her brother crooned as he knelt over her battered body. "Why did you stop it? You know it will happen eventually. It must happen."

"Who…are you?" she mumbled weakly.

"I'm your otouto," he whispered into her ear as he kissed the sensitive flesh.

"You're not. No…he would never…do this." Goddess, she was so weak right now…her entire body ached from the force of the separation. If he chose to take her right now, she didn't know if she'd be able to stop him.

Had they experienced this pain when they were conceived together?

"Well…you're half right. I'm Fai…but also not him. I'm the true Fai. My power will be fully realized." As he spoke, Yuui saw a faint flicker of fire in his blue eyes and suddenly knew, beyond doubt, that this was the demon that Kurogane had witnessed in his nightmares…the demon that was slowly taking over her brother.

"My brother…my real brother…where is he? What did you do to him?" she begged desperately. It had been so long…to suddenly be so close…

"Do to him? What I was going to do to you. I made him mine," the image said with a satisfied smirk.

"Where is he?" she repeated, not wanting to acknowledge that they'd failed to save Fai once again.

"If I were you, I'd get used to the idea of having me around, but I can show you if you really think it will make you feel better." With that, the imposter Fai slowly lifted her up into his arms, making certain that she had a good view of the darkness beyond their bed. Then he waved a hand and an image began to appear.

For a moment, it was just a vision of Fai…the fake…the copy. She knew it from the satisfied smirk he wore on his face…a twisted expression that didn't suit her brother's beautiful features in the slightest. Her real brother was the one to appear next…as an indistinct figure crouched directly in front of the false one. Their positions, her brother's movements, and the fake's hands in his hair left no doubt in her mind as to what Fai was doing to him.

"That's right. You're nothing," the copy moaned as it thrust harder. "Now take it like the weak little nothing you are!"

"Fai, stop! What are you doing?!" Yuui cried out, struggling to get to her brother. Unfortunately, she was still in intense pain and couldn't escape her captor's grasp.

"What he was meant to do. He gives other people pleasure. That's the only reason for his existence…and he's good at it," the fake answered with a knowing smirk.

"That's a lie!" Yuui sobbed.

"But it happened, dear Yuui. You cannot change what happened. I took him. He gave himself to me. He would rather be used like this than use the power inside of him to fight back."

"What…what are you talking about?"

"Prince Fai…has great power," the fake whispered to her. "He has come into his own Hand here in the darkness. He could be truly beautiful. He could be such a magnificent killer…but he will not use his powers."

"He would never…hurt…"

"Never say never, my princess. Everyone is capable of the darkest deeds. Everyone has something that would push them over the final edge…one line, that if crossed, makes going back impossible. Fai can never go back. Kurogane can never go back. You yourself will find your one thing here in the dark."

"Why is he…so hard to see?" she asked weakly, having no response for the fake's words and beginning to worry over the fading coherency of her little brother's form.

"He is forgetting. The love that filled him is leaving him. He is going into the darkness from which there is no return. He is fading. He won't last much longer…and you will follow him into that darkness. Here…you will know your true self."

Yuui made no response. No sooner had the false Fai stopped speaking than it pulled her body flush against its own and she realized…Her stomach was flat! Inarguably, inescapably, horrifically flat. No baby. No baby! No baby!

"Where is my baby?" she finally asked, her voice a breathless whisper on the verge of bursting into tears once more.

"Does it really matter? So long as you are here with me, that child will never be born. Your daughter is gone from you."

Yuui shook her head in denial as tears spilled down her face. "That…that's not true. I'll get out of here. I'll save my otouto…and I'll get my daughter back!"

Her brother's doppelganger laughed as it laid her back down on the bed. "You just keep dreaming, Onee-sama. You are truly beautiful when you struggle. You will make a much more interesting conquest than Fai did. The resistant fire in your heart only makes me stronger…makes me want you more. You'll be mine yet, Princess Yuui."

Then, pressing a bruising kiss to her lips, her brother vanished into the darkness from whence he had come…his dangerously beautiful voice still lingering in her ears and his passionate touch still clinging to her skin.

XxX

"Arashi, please! Talk to me. Give me some kind of sign that you're still alive in there," Sorata begged softly.

Arashi's only response was silence. She had been in a meditative trance for what felt like several days. They had no way of knowing just how long they had been Seishiro's prisoners for and Arashi hadn't been able to keep much food down recently because she'd been getting sick fairly often. He knew what she feared, but there was no way to confirm that fear unless they could discover how long they had been held captive. To that end, Arashi had entered the trance. She didn't know if the power was still in her blood, but she had heard that the fey possessed the ability to speak directly to the minds of other beings. Even if she couldn't speak to another mind, she had at least hoped that she might be able to touch one…to find the information that she sought somewhere.

Sorata didn't know when he'd started to speak to his comatose lover. It was maddening to be trapped here…unable to know how she was faring on her journey…whether or not she was okay.

"Please…come back to me," he murmured beseechingly, placing his hands on hers. He had lost count of the number of times he had chanted this plea. "Arashi…I don't care if the baby's his. You might not even be pregnant. I just want you back. Don't leave me here alone."

Sorata might have sat there in the dark, holding Arashi's hands and pleading softly with her unresponsive form until he went mad had she not jolted awake quite suddenly, collapsing into his arms and hyperventilating.

"Arashi! Arashi, are you all right?! What happened? What did you see?"

"Sorata, Sorata," she murmured over and over again as her breath slowly returned to her. All the while, she clung to him with trembling hands. When she was finally ready to talk, it was only in short, whispered bursts.

"I'm…not really sure…whose minds I touched. It was…all I could do to…stay connected. Terrible things are happening."

"Did…did you find what you were looking for?" Sorata finally managed to ask.

"Two months," she whispered despairingly. "We've been trapped in this cage…for a little more than two months. I haven't bled for two months!" she hissed in anguish.

"Oh…Oh, Arashi," he whispered soothingly as he pulled her body even tighter against his own, fully aware of what this meant.

"What we were afraid of…it's finally happened. I…I'm with child."

XxX

They sat…staring…just staring. Ever since the princess had seen through the prince's little deception, it was all they had done. Seishiro would now and then try to distract her with tempting visions of what was happening in the world beyond, but Tomoyo would not allow herself to look away from him. There was nothing to be gained by it. Trapped as she was, she could not change what was happening. The best thing she could do right now was try to figure Seishiro out.

"Why can't I see you?" she finally asked.

Seishiro's amiable grin grew a little wider. "See me? What do you mean you can't see me? I'm right here, aren't I?"

"Of course you're not. This is an illusion, not a dream. I've never been able to see you in my dreams. You've been the bane of my brothers' existence; you've done countless horrible things…and I've never once seen your involvement in the future in my visions. I know my gift has limits, but it isn't that limited. You are such a defining factor. Why are you hidden from my sight?"

"Perhaps…it is because I have no future," the dark prince suggested neutrally.

"Everyone has a future. Until the moment the last breath is exhaled, the future can still be changed. It wouldn't explain why I haven't been able to see you all these years."

"You misunderstand, Princess. Can you see the future of the Light and the Dark in your dreams? You know that I am the Sakurazukamori. I am an absolute…the embodiment of all that is dark and chaotic. I am invisible to you because I am not a player in this game. I am a force."

"And yet you still choose to take form as Prince Seishiro Reed. By your need to exist within a conscious being…the very fact of your nature…some part of you must still have a destiny."

"We will see."

"They know." Tomoyo suddenly heard a voice from behind her. It was different now, but she still knew the voice. The man who had taken Yuui and given her her child…Fuuma.

She did not turn to look at him, but waited for him to pass into her line of vision. He moved forward and knelt beside the cross-legged prince.

"Do they?" Seishiro asked, smiling to himself. "I was beginning to wonder when she'd acknowledge it."

"What do you want to do?"

"Release them. Give them back to their rabble in the forest. Let them decide what to do."

"And-"

"A little bit longer yet," Seishiro cut him off, glancing past him and toward Tomoyo. "We haven't quite reached the point that I need."

Fuuma simply nodded, rose, and strode away, not even sparing Tomoyo a passing glance as he passed from the illusion.

"Aren't you going to ask me what that was about?" Seishiro teased.

Tomoyo shook her head. "I could…but I know you a little better, I think. If you mean to tell me, then you will." Besides, she had a sinking feeling that she knew whom he was talking about anyway.

Seishiro responded with a nod. "Very good. You're learning, little hime. I think…perhaps…that your time will come soon."

XxX

Sleep was not a common activity in the little cottage in the glen. Of the occupants still possessing the capacity to choose waking or sleeping, only Souma slept on a semi-regular basis. As such, none of the bedrooms were used very often, so it wasn't difficult to make Watanuki's old bedroom ready for the dying high priest. When Subaru and Souma had returned with a once again catatonic Kurogane, Subaru had done his very best for the old man, but Chang Ang had asked for respite.

"Please," he'd begged softly. "I'll last a bit longer for you, but I'm ready to go now. It's been so long…and I want to rest."

True to his word, he had lived through the night, but now, as the morning sun shone into the little cottage, they all knew that it wouldn't be much longer. Sakura had just gone to Faerie to bring Amaterasu back in order to administer Final Release to her priest. Everyone else, save Sai, who had hung back to guard Yuui and Tomoyo, was gathered in the bedroom. The old priest seemed, almost, to be nothing more than a coherent outline beneath the blankets. Whatever Kyle had done to him, it had slowly begun to devour his very essence, leaving only the bare frame of a human being. Already, he had one foot in the realm of death.

"Chang Ang?" Amaterasu murmured softly as Sakura led her into the small room.

"Your Majesty?" he responded, raising his head slightly before quickly collapsing back against the pillows. "Is it you, my queen?"

"I am here."

"Where…where is…Tomoyo-hime? Is she safe?"

The older queen closed her eyes and swallowed painfully. She'd been allowed to see her daughter before Sakura had led her down…her Tomoyo…lying cold as death…

"She will be," she finally responded. She had to have faith that her daughter would be saved.

Chang Ang nodded as he closed his eyes. Her meaning was clear and he didn't need to know more. He wouldn't be able to apologize for the grief he'd caused her.

"Chang Ang…High Priest of the Lady and Her Consort…you have asked for the rite of Final Release. This will I grant, but there are things I must know first," Amaterasu said formally as she took the ailing man's hand in hers.

"Anything that I can give…Highness," he answered weakly, belying the quiet strength with which he gripped the offered hands.

"I have seen…through Queen Sakura's eyes…the sights that my son beheld when he returned to Shirasagi yesterday. That…that was not the home that we love. That place…was the nightmare from my childhood. Tell me…what has that monster done to our city?" she asked, her voice trembling just slightly.

"It's…as you say. Kyle has brought back…the world of your otou-san…the tyrant, Taishakuten. He tells the people…that the fey are the enemy. He turns them against those with fey blood in their veins…and those unfortunate ones are either driven from the city or killed."

"Just like before," Amaterasu whispered as her face went white in dread. As if the long years had never passed, she could suddenly feel her dying lover in her arms once again.

Saya…

"Yes. He keeps his own duplicity concealed. They believe him…to be human…and they believe…that you are still in the castle. He's told them…you are simply weak…from carrying a child. He's…also told them…that the prince and his imouto…were spirited away by faeries."

"So that's how he turned them so easily," Souma said softly, half to herself.

"I don't…know what the snake stands to gain…by turning the people against Faerie. Neither do I know…how far his tyranny has spread. It could be contained within Shirasagi…or…it could be…spreading unchecked throughout the kingdom."

"You can rest easy, old friend. This evil will not be allowed to stand. We'll take back what's ours…and our people will remember that you were brave…and did not bend before his tyranny," Amaterasu reassured him.

"Thank you…Amaterasu. Where…where is…Kurogane-sama?"

"He's here," she answered, allowing her gaze to move toward her son, who was standing beside the open door, only half-seeing everything that was happening in the room. When he gave no sign that he'd heard Chang Ang's request, Souma and Subaru moved in to flank him and gently led him over to the bed. Chang Ang shook his head at the empty expression that adorned the prince's face.

"Foolish boy…it wasn't your fault. Kyle tricked you."

"Nothing any of you can say…can change what I've done," Kurogane replied, his first coherent sentence since Souma and Subaru had brought him back from the river. "All those soldiers ever did…was pledge their loyalty to my kaa-san."

Kyle knew me well enough to know that I would get caught in the trap. I'm no better than the rest of them. That nightmare could come true. I really could…kill Fai. I'm a monster…

"And that's why…Kyle did it. He knew…you would react this way."

"It doesn't matter why it was done. I still killed my own men," the fallen prince responded calmly.

"I haven't the time…to sit here and explain everything to you. You wouldn't listen to me…anyway," the priest grumbled, giving several hacking coughs before continuing. "You'll listen someday…someday…you'll find your redemption…in the arms of the moon."

"What?" Kurogane asked, suddenly seeming to come into alignment with the world around him and really seeing the dying man before him for the first time. Chang Ang didn't give him an answer, though.

"Amaterasu…it's time now. If you're going…to let me go…then do it."

The queen nodded as she sat down on the bed beside him, drawing his hand up close and pressing it against her heart.

"Chang Ang…you have walked this earth for one hundred years of men. Eighty-four of those years were dedicated to the faithful service of the Crown in the name of the Lord and Lady. My kaa-san exhaled her last breath in giving me my first…and my otou-san was dead to me before I could even know him. You were the closest thing I had to a parent. You taught me so much…and I'll never be able to thank you properly for it. All I can give you is this promise. You are forthwith released from my service…and have my full blessing to go forth and find happiness in your next birth. Go now…and make of dying what you will." With that, she raised his hand to her lips and pressed a tender kiss to the ancient, gnarled skin. The old man sighed in contentment.

"I will die free…That is…all I wanted. Tera…I'll carry your love…to Saya-chan and Ashura-sama."

Briefly, Amaterasu's eyes shone with tears. "Thank you," she whispered.

"Tell…Tomoyo…that I'm sorry," he whispered to Kurogane as his eyelids flickered closed.

Kurogane nodded, though he didn't specifically acknowledge that he would tell her. "She'll know."

Chang Ang looked like he might say something else, but he just continued to draw slow breaths for several more minutes. Then his chest rose…fell…and did not rise again.

Taking a moment to check for the beat of blood in his neck and heart, Amaterasu finally laid the old man's hand down on his chest. Bowing her head, she said only, "Rest well, dear friend." When she looked up once again, all signs of tears were gone from her face. "We'll need to prepare a funeral pyre for him. He was born in Koryo Province and it was his wish that his ashes be scattered about the Lady's sanctuary in Koryo City."

"It will be done, Amaterasu-sama," Kakei said solemnly. "We will need to pass through Koryo Province in order to reach the Dark Court anyway."

Be aware, the combined voices of Yue and Kero suddenly sounded in everyone's head. The Sakurazukamori approaches.

"Seishiro-san?" Subaru whispered, half in fear and half in rage.

No, this one was once Lord Fuuma Monou.

"He's alive?" Kamui asked, the relief in his voice plain to be heard as he made for the door. The others slowly followed suit, wondering what the Dark Court could possibly want with them now.

I will remain with the princesses, Sai informed them. The Sakurazukamori will not have them.

It wasn't that Yue and Kero had simply formed a barrier around the glen…it was that they were the barrier. They had shifted their forms into wild magic…pure energy…the source that the fey had originally taken form from. It was dangerous for anyone to attempt this feat for any lengthy period of time. There was always the danger that one would forget oneself and simply remain in a state of pure magic for eternity. The only ones who had a prayer of retaining their identities in this state for a period of time longer than a few hours were Yue, Kero…and the Sakurazukamori. By that same token, only the Sakurazukamori had a chance of breaking through such a powerful barrier…if it was of the mind to try it.

Fuuma stood at the edge of the glen, just beyond the invisible shield that Kero and Yue had made of themselves. Two cloaked figures were on their knees at his sides.

"Fuuma?" Kamui murmured as Yuui's protectors came to stand before him. "What are you doing here?"

"Don't I even get a hello kiss? You thought I was dead, didn't you?" he teased with a smirk, holding an inviting hand out to his former lover.

Kamui turned away, closing his eyes against the sight. "Fuuma…Sakurazukamori…whoever you are…no more. Don't do this to me."

Fuuma shook his head. "Since this one doesn't seem to be in his right mind just now…is there anyone else willing to do business with me?"

"I'll deal with you," Subaru said as he stepped forward, angry on his brother's behalf. "What is it you want here?"

"I came to deliver some gifts," he said, smiling as he reached down to flip the hoods off of his two captives, revealing the haggard faces of –

"Arashi-sensei!" Souma shouted, making to move forward before she was stopped by Doumeki. The weather sprite halted Kurogane's advance in a similar fashion when the prince recognized Sorata.

"You want them back, don't you?"

"How do we know this isn't a trap?" Subaru asked, trying to keep a cool head.

"Simple. This barrier of yours keeps out evil intent, correct? I'll just shove them at it. If it's not a trick, they'll pass through unharmed; but if harm is meant…then the harm will be turned back upon them."

Before anyone could say anything more, Fuuma lifted both Sorata and Arashi up by their hair and threw their helpless bodies at the shield. When they easily passed through, Watanuki and Sakura were right there to catch them.

"Be careful with her!" Sorata ordered as Sakura helped him to stand.

"Are you hurt?" Watanuki asked the woman in his arms, wondering at the ninja's command.

"No," the kunoichi said softly, not really looking at him as she spoke.

"What is this?" Subaru asked, turning his attention back to Fuuma. The former lord had come closer to the barrier and laid his hands on it, unable to pass through…though he almost seemed to be contemplating trying it. After a moment, he backed off and smiled up at Subaru.

"Oh, I've either just brought you a little bundle of joy…or your own destruction."

"What are you talking about?" Watanuki asked as he helped Arashi to stand on her own.

"That woman there is with child," Fuuma replied, nodding at Arashi. The usually proud kunoichi hung her head in despair, unable to meet the gazes of the others as they turned to look at her. "If we have done our jobs correctly, it is Seishiro's child."

Though Fuuma's words were greeted with a moment of absolute silence, the shock that traveled through the group was no less tangible. Subaru was the one to finally ask, "Why in the world would you hand us the one obstacle to Yuui-hime's ascension?"

"Because that one was sleeping with her as well," Fuuma explained, indicating Sorata, "in the hope that his seed might take root instead. For all you know, this child that you so fear is his…and not the child of your enemy. That is why we give them back to you. What safer place for our greatest weapon than in the caring hands of our enemies? None of you would harm this child on the off chance it is Sorata-kun's."

"Wouldn't we?" Kujaku suddenly stepped in. His expression was very much akin to Fuuma's amiable, smiling one. "Why shouldn't we eliminate such a glaring threat to our princess? It is our duty, after all. If we've made a mistake, these two can most certainly have other children." His logic was so cool…calculated…but it somehow lost its effectiveness when applied to the murder of a potentially innocent child.

"Ah…Kujaku…the child even the Dark Court did not want. I'd learned from this mind that King Reed had taken you on as a lapdog, but I'm almost surprised to see you accepting it. You used to be so fierce," the possessed lord reminisced, not even addressing Kujaku's barely veiled threat.

Kujaku only smiled as the focus of the assemblage shifted to him. "Well…ferocity never got me anywhere. This new guise opens so many doors that would have otherwise been closed. I'll play this hand through to the end, thanks."

"Hmm…I'll leave you to it, then. Just because you see the practical way out doesn't mean that your compatriots will. You're outmatched…child of sin." Fuuma left yet another wave of shocked silence behind him when he disappeared. Arashi was the one to finally break it when she fell to her knees before Amaterasu.

"My queen, I'm so sorry!" she cried helplessly. "I would have died rather than betray you and Kurogane-sama, but…he was going to kill Sorata! I couldn't…let him…"

Rather than remain in her dignified position, the Nihon queen slowly lowered herself to her knees before the distraught ninja mistress. Being careful of her own little one, she gently wrapped her arms around Arashi's trembling form…woman to woman…mother to mother.

"You would have been my imouto, Arashi Kishu," Amaterasu whispered in her ear, only for her. "You know that I've felt the pain of losing someone that I loved so dearly. I would never wish that pain on anyone, let alone my Saya's imouto. It will be the last thing that person does if someone should ever try to blame you for this."

"Majesty?" Sorata began softly as he knelt beside the two of them. "May I?"

Amaterasu nodded, relinquishing Arashi to Sorata's care.

"So what do we do?" Kamui was the one to ask, finally managing to regain his composure.

"The solution is simple, really. If there's even the slightest chance this child is Seishiro's, we should remove it from the picture. It's a threat…nothing more," Kujaku said coldly.

"This baby didn't choose its tou-san," Amaterasu responded firmly. "You can't kill it for something that isn't its fault."

"Isn't there some sort of spell you can use to determine if the baby has fey blood or not?" Souma asked in exasperation.

"Such spells exist," Kakei started, "but they will be of little use in Arashi-chan's situation. She has fey blood herself. No matter who fathered the child, it will have some measure of fey blood. So early in a pregnancy, any such spell could only tell us whether or not a child has fey blood. Just how much of that blood is fey and how much is human could only be determined much later…about four months in at best."

"If the child is Seishiro's…why couldn't we just keep it with us?" Sakura queried. "If having an heir is what makes him king, why do we need to surrender it to him?"

"I don't think you understand how this works, Sakura-sama," Kakei continued. "When it comes to selecting a new sovereign, the only voice in the matter is Faerie itself. If this child is somehow born before Yuui-hime's is, then Seishiro just is king. No ifs, ands, or buts…no choice. He is king…and if he so chooses, then the lives of the princess, her consort, and her daughter are all forfeit."

This grabbed the attention of both queens. Neither of them thought it right to kill the child Arashi carried…but could they make such a stand at the expense of their own daughters? Even so…what if the child wasn't Seishiro's at all…and they murdered it? At the present moment, nearly everyone there was of the same mind.

If we do this…just how are we different from them?

Amaterasu was the one to finally break the tense, questioning silence. "The final decision…will rest with Arashi-chan. I will not ask her to destroy her baby."

"Why her?" Souma finally asked aloud as she watched Sorata care for her fallen sensei. "Out of all the people…in this goddamn world…why did he choose her?"

"It's because she's part fey," Sorata answered her, cradling Arashi close.

"What do you mean? What's that to do with anything?" Watanuki asked him.

"He said…that when he got her with his child…she would become a symbol to the half fey of Nihon…that Kyle would drive them from their homes and the Dark Court would welcome them with open arms. When they see that the mother of his child is just like them…he believes they will flock to his service."

"That's it," Subaru breathed in shock. "That's why Kyle's turning the people of Nihon against the half fey….to trick them into seeking asylum from Seishiro."

"But…what would the Dark Court want with an army of half fey? More than half of them probably won't even have come into a Hand yet," Kamui mused.

"A shield, perhaps?" Kujaku suggested callously. "Unlike Faerie, the Dark Court has no rules. They know that servants of the light won't attack defenseless mortals."

"That's it," Kakei said softly. "That's exactly it. It can't be anything else."

"All of those people…so much depends on it," Subaru mused despairingly. "Can we really…risk…allowing the child to be born?"

"Would it kill you to stop talking about her like she's not here?" Sorata asked heatedly, glaring at the debating group.

"Sorata-san…can you tell us what the…odds are, exactly?" Amaterasu asked him.

"That monster…took her…so many times," the ninja warrior muttered angrily. "But…every time he did…I was with her…right after…just so there might be some chance…some prayer…that any child she had might not be his. The odds are exactly fifty fifty…that the baby's mine…or his. I'm sorry, Your Majesty, but is there a place where I can take her to rest? She hasn't been sleeping well and she doesn't eat nearly enough to support both of them."

"Of course," Amaterasu said softly. "Watanuki-san?"

The nature sprite swiftly bobbed his head and indicated that Sorata should follow him into the house. The ninja nodded and, without waiting for her consent, lifted Arashi into his arms and carried her in behind Watanuki. Amaterasu followed after them.

"Souma-chan?" the young Kunoichi vaguely head Queen Sakura's voice calling out to her. "Are you all right?"

She wasn't…and she certainly didn't imagine she looked like she was. It had broken something in her to see Arashi in such a state; she'd felt it snapping upon seeing her sensei handled like she was little more than a broken doll. She'd been worried for Arashi's safety ever since hearing news of her disappearance…but she also felt guilty because there had been times when other matters had pushed fear for Arashi to the back of her mind. She was relieved and destroyed in a single moment.

"I…no…I…" she could barely manage to mumble. Was it not bad enough that she had to love Tomoyo without any prayer of respite? Unrequited love seemed so normal now…so different from the Hell she was currently living. As if the world had sought to remind her that her unspoken love for her childhood friend was not the worst pain she could experience, she had lost that love and all of her best friends in nearly one fell swoop. Fai, Yuui, and Tomoyo were all gone and Kurogane was no better than gone…and he was slipping further every minute. So many had died…and many more still suffered. The world was already crumbling around her…and now her own sensei was being used to destroy the only love she'd ever known in her life. It had been too much when Yuui went. Now…

"No," she finally answered, her voice ringing strong and clear for that single moment before she fled into the forest.

"Souma-chan!" Sakura cried out after the girl, ready to give chase…until she found herself held back by Kurogane and Subaru. "Let me go! She'll get hurt!" Sakura insisted.

"You can't…help her now," Subaru tried to explain. "You aren't what she needs."

"Kurogane-kun? She's your friend! Why won't you go after her?" Sakura asked, trying to reason with the half-mad prince. He only shook his head, sharing a look with Subaru. Whatever place his soul had become trapped in, he understood that he could not reach Souma from that place. She deserved better than he could give her right now. She deserved to have her sacrifice rewarded. Of those who remained, only Subaru could give her what she needed. Not a parent…and not a friend.

Subaru understood the meaning in Kurogane's eyes…even if the prince himself didn't fully grasp it. He had come to know it within himself. He had gotten to know the girl much better over the past two months and come to see that she was much like himself…an injured soul who couldn't be with the one she loved.

Subaru was the only one she might listen to right now.

XxX

It was well after nightfall by the time Subaru managed to locate Souma. The kunoichi was curled up at the base of a sturdy tree along the bank of the Yume River. The salty tracks of tears on her face were long dried. He sat beside her, and for a long while, they said nothing.

"Why couldn't we find Kurogane?" she finally asked when she was certain her voice would not fail her. "How did you find me so easily?"

"Because you wanted to be found," he replied simply, placing a hand on her shoulder. "He did not. This forest knows the both of you and accepts you. If you'd truly wanted to remain hidden, Celes would have made it so."

"Subaru-san," she started after a moment, "what's it like…making love?"

Subaru was thrown by the abruptness of the question. ""You mean…you've never…you're still-"

Souma nodded. "I've never really wanted to. There isn't…anyone…but sometimes I…wonder. I've seen it cause pain and suffering…the things that have happened to Fai-kun and Yuui-chan…and now Arashi-sensei, too…but I've…also seen it bring joy and healing," she recounted softly, remembering seeing Kurogane after the first time he'd lain with Fai. He'd seemed…in bliss…vindicated…transcendent, even; and yet…that self same act had caused both Yuui and Fai to cry out in pain and anguish. It was sacred…sinful…so powerful, this thing.

"What is it?"

Subaru deliberated a long while before saying anything. "I don't…know how I could explain something like that. I've only ever been with Seishiro-san, and he was…"

"Your soul mate?" Souma finished for him. "I don't need a soul mate, but…sometimes I really wish I could experience…just once…"

"I'm not her, you know?" Subaru finally cut in. It was the only way he could think to say it. They both knew what the other one wanted, but neither of them could say it. It wasn't wrong…but it wasn't quite right, either. The others would pretend not to know about it…pretend they didn't see it. Some of them might not even notice. Whatever happened, it didn't truly matter to them. They were just two lonely hearts who needed someone…someone to share the pain with.

"I'm about as far from him as you could get," she responded with a grateful smile, her eyes shining with unshed tears once again.

"Are you sure you want this?" he asked as he lay down beside her, reaching forward a tentative hand to trace her lips with. "I'll be gentle, but if you're still a virgin…then it is going to hurt some."

"I do want this. Please…just once," she murmured, kissing his delicate fingertips. "You don't ever have to look at me again. The others don't have to know. I just…want to know…just once-"

Subaru easily silenced her with a kiss. While it was true that he'd never been with a woman, he'd certainly been alive long enough to learn how their bodies worked. He would have to make her ready for him before he took her.

Souma was a quiet lover, and Subaru knew that only Seishiro could make him cry out. He also knew they were both grateful that neither of them would glow. Alone in the silent darkness, they didn't have to hear or see. They could just feel…feel and pretend.

XxX

In all of the years that she'd lived, Yuui could never remember feeling quite this cold. This wasn't just a winter cold. It was a cold of death…of stone and ice and graves.

The princess found herself in a dark, stone room. Glancing around, she found no doors. The only way in or out was through a barred window, and the cell's only other occupant was clinging to the bars, too short to look through the window, otherwise. It was a little boy, dressed in nothing but a threadbare shift. His hair grew in tangled waves down his back, and it was probably a beautiful shade of blonde underneath the layers of grime. How she even knew he was a boy, she couldn't possibly say. The child was skinny beyond malnourished and, like his hair, the rest of him was covered in grime. What had happened to this poor little child?

"Hello?"

Upon hearing her voice, the boy yelped and released his hold on the bars, crashing to the floor. He quickly scrambled back against the wall, pressing himself as far back against the stone as his wasted body would go, trembling in fear. He stared at her with blue eyes as wide and unblinking as some nocturnal creature.

"Who…who are you?" he asked, his voice hoarse with disuse. "Are you…the angel?"

"No, I…I'm Yuui," she said, her voice breaking slightly at the state the child was in. "What angel am I meant to be?"

"The Angel of Death," he answered, his voice carrying the resignation of one who had lived for a hundred years.

"Who are you?" the princess asked, tears filling her eyes at the thought that such a young child would believe that an angel of death had come for him.

"I'm Fai."

"What?" she whispered in shock. "You…you can't be Fai. You're not…" She couldn't say more.

"Well…you can't be Yuui," he responded with a touch of petulance. "Yuui's below."

"But I am Yuui…and you're Fai…and Yuui, too," she said softly as realization washed over her. She didn't know how…but she and this child were the same. They shared the same soul. Different existences…yet he was her and she was him. "Why would I be the Angel of Death?"

"Because I…I think I'm about to die."

"Why would you say something like that?" Yuui asked him, a single tear escaping her eye.

"The other one…he said that if…if I wanted Yuui to live…then I'd have to die. So I told him that was okay. I want Yuui to live. I want him to be free."

Yuui had to fight hard to keep herself from crying in front of him. She had no idea what was going on in the world around her, but right now…she connected with this child. She felt for this little boy…who was also somehow herself.

Moving very slowly, so as not to frighten him, she walked toward him and knelt before him, holding out her arms so that he could come to her. For a moment, he only stared at her, uncertain. However, he eventually allowed himself to fall into the circle of her embrace. She did her very best to pass some of her own warmth to him; he was so cold…cold like he had never really known warmth. Briefly, she heard the sound of tears. He was frightened. Of course he was frightened.

"It's all right, little one. Everything's going to be all right," she murmured soothingly, hugging him tight as she rocked him and stroked his grimy hair.

However, the very next moment, she heard the sound of the cell walls shattering, and the child was torn from her arms…hurled away to the unfeeling ground far below.

"FAAAAIIIII!" she screamed, feeling her own body broken along with his. As the vision shattered around her, she heard horrified screams of anguish and denial, echoing from far away.

My otouto…he's in pain…so much pain…terrible pain. There has to be something I can do!

XxX

No one really said anything when Souma and Subaru returned the next morning, though the scent that clung to them was as plain as day to most of the cottage's inhabitants. Among the fey, there was no shame in the act itself. It was simply a need that demanded fulfillment from time to time. The only thing wrong with the situation was the lack of true feeling between the two participants. Would it become awkward between them? Would they remain friends? Would they…continue to seek solace in one another? Could they somehow…settle…for each other? There was no way to know.

The only one who even deigned to comment on their return was Kakei.

"Well, at least someone decided it was all right to be found."

His very own words were the things that caused his movements to halt and his eyes to widen in revelation.

"Found…found…of course…of course! Why didn't I see it before? Goddess forgive me for not thinking of it sooner. Sakura-sama!" he called, heading for the stairs.

"What's going on?" Subaru called, quickly following after him. Anyone else who was downstairs at the time also followed, wondering the same thing as Subaru.

Sakura, Amaterasu, and Sai were up in the twins' room with the two princesses, and Kurogane's was sitting on Fai's bed as usual, brooding.

"Sakura-sama, I need for you to make a trip into Faerie. It's vitally important," the ancient spirit said urgently.

"I'll do whatever you ask," the queen started, slightly confused, "but why is this so important?"

"There might be a way to get Tomoyo-hime back."

"How?" Amaterasu and Kurogane asked together. The others began to titter softly among themselves. It didn't need saying. If they could get Tomoyo back…then they could get Yuui back.

"Of course. I'll go at once," Sakura responded, moving over to the mirror in order to make the crossing.

"How can you get her back?" Souma continued to insist along with Kurogane and Amaterasu.

"It isn't me; it's my husband, Saiga…his Hand of Power. He has the Hand of Seeking. If he seeks for something that's lost, he will usually find it."

"But how can a man who wears a blindfold all the time find anything?" Kurogane asked irritably.

"It's why he wears the blindfold. Regular vision interferes with his power. He works better when he can't actually see."

"If he can find Tomoyo-chan…why couldn't he have just found Fai-kun and Yuui-chan from the start?" Souma queried.

"Theirs is a much more deeply laid enchantment. It would take more power than even he has to break through it. Tomoyo-hime's enchantment isn't as deeply laid, though. At least…I don't think it is," he continued to explain as he searched for his husband's mind with his own.

"You don't think?" Kurogane clarified.

"If the Dark Court was planning to take the princess, they would have done it much sooner. Her dream-seeing abilities were known to them. They could have taken her any time she entered dreams…but they didn't. It would have been the perfect way to lure Yuui-hime into the sleep of death, but they didn't take her until after Yuui-hime had succumbed. Therefore, it could have only been a last minute defense to prevent Tomoyo-hime from rescuing her. If I'm right about that, then Saiga ought to be able to seek her mind…wherever it may be."

"Then…do what you have to," Amaterasu finally said, her gaze drifting toward the curtained bed where her daughter lay. "I want her back."

Saiga? Do you hear me?

I hear you, cupcake. Tell me you've got something for me to work with. The other lords are getting really restless over here.

No news, but there is something that you can do. Go to Yuui-hime's chambers. Sakura-sama should be there by now. She'll bring you through to this side. I believe…if you use your power…you might be able to find Tomoyo-hime.

You…really think it's all right to try something like that? I've never tried to search dreams. Should we risk getting their hopes up for nothing?

The humans are flagging, my love. We all are. From where I'm standing, this is the only option. Either we find the Nihon princess…or all is lost.

And when you say something like that, I know we're in trouble. I'll give it a try.

Thank you.

It wasn't long at all before the mirror was shimmering and Sakura was materializing in the room with Saiga, Yukito, and Chi in tow.

"I know you told us to remain in Faerie, Kakei-sama," Yukito began before anyone else could say anything. "But I thought…in the hope that Tomoyo-hime can be found…and Yuui-chan woken up…we thought we might be of some help when her labor continues. We left the children with Chitose-san and we can go right back once things have settled here…only please let us remain for this."

Kakei just nodded. At this point, he would take any help that anyone was willing to give. Something had to happen and it had to happen soon.

"What do you want me to do?" Saiga asked as Kakei led him over to the bed where the princesses lay.

"Just meditate," Kakei explained as he sat his husband down on the bed cross-legged. "Like you would any other time you use your power. Reach out. Let the hidden speak to you. I'm almost certain you can find Tomoyo-hime's mind and bring it back to us. She wants to come back. All she needs is a route. You can give her that route." With that, the ancient faerie pressed a brief, loving kiss to his husband's lips and withdrew, leaving him alone to work.

Please let this work was the single desperate prayer in everyone's heart as Saiga's magic began to fill the room.

XxX

"What can I do? What can I do? What can I do?!" she asked herself over and over again.

More and more often Yuui found herself awake in her nightmares. She knew just where she was and what was happening to her. Perhaps it was because she had known what was happening to her upon entering? Whatever the reason, it now made her wonder what Fai was experiencing. They'd known nothing of their curse when he'd been taken. What was he feeling now? Was he losing his mind? Did he think…that he was dead? Dead and in Hell…as he'd told Kurogane? Sometimes she could feel him…trapped…afraid…

suffocating. She could hear him screaming…and feel him burning. She knew she was only experiencing a fraction of what Kurogane and her brother had suffered over the last months…and now she was trapped in a place where she couldn't even offer comfort.

Why had Tomoyo not come for her yet? Was something preventing her? Was she in danger? Had the kiss…not worked? No! That couldn't be it! Something was holding her back. She knew it!

But…what could it be? What could keep Tomoyo from coming to her?

"You know that she'll come to you when she can…just as Kurogane-kun will go to Fai-kun when he can," a voice suddenly whispered in her ear. "No matter how long she has to struggle, she'll come. All you need to do is wait for her."

"You're dead," Yuui whispered achingly as she turned to face Lady Kotori Monou. "What are you doing here?"

"Even the dying dream," she responded serenely. "This is the dream at the moment of my death."

"But…you died two months ago."

"You should know that time means very little in dreams," she said with a smile.

"Oh, Kotori-san!" Yuui finally allowed herself to sob as she fell into the faerie's embrace. "Was it my fault? Clow-sama? Fai? Syaoran-san? Himawari? What happened to Fuuma-san and Kamui-san? Did you die…because of me?"

"I've always known how I was going to die," Kotori explained soothingly as she stroked her hair "It was what I wanted…my decision…no one else's…and maybe…because it was me…Kamui-san and my nii-san will not have to die. But what happened to us certainly wasn't your fault. Either Fuuma or Kamui-san would have become the inheritor of the Sakurazukamori's will no matter what anyone said or did. Yuuko-san was always going to kill Clow-san. By trying to dodge her fate, she brought it on them. Your tou-san knew the risks of going into battle. Every soldier does. It was the same with Himawari-san. She knew what the risks were when she took on the task of being your guardian. She wasn't trying to be a hero. She knew that you would be sad…but she did what she thought was right. Nothing was ever your fault, dear Yuui-chan. You only have the misfortune to be an inheritor of the blood of Clow Reed. That line is a heavy thing. He paid a high price to lay his tou-san's tortured soul to rest."

"And Fai…my otouto?"

"The two of you made your choice back then. You didn't know what was going to come of it. How could you have? There's no point in assigning blame in any of this."

"What do you mean we couldn't have known? Of course we could have! I could have seen it in my dreams!" the distraught princess protested vehemently.

"It isn't a perfect art, Yuui-chan. We dreamseers see what we will, and nothing else. You should be grateful that you can't see every avenue of possibility, as I could. That is the route that leads to madness."

"But what good is this power if I can't even use it to save the people I love?!"

"You don't think your Tomoyo-chan asks herself that question every morning? You don't think I did when I was much younger? You have this power. No amount of doubting it is going to make it otherwise."

"But…what can I do to help?"

"You can dream with me for a moment."

Yuui was about to ask Kotori what she meant, but when she looked up to ask her, the meaning became clear. Rather than the dark void of her mind, the two of them were standing in a bedchamber. Several windows revealed the light of early morning, the warm light revealing a scene of utmost tenderness.

A much younger Sakura was lying on a large bed. A pale, silken sheet covered her body from the waist down, but above that she was naked, her swollen breasts bared to the two infants cradled against her stomach. The twin children suckled greedily, their mother's body giving them the love and sustenance that they needed.

Fai…and Yuui…brother and sister…prince and princess…

"Kaa-san…Otouto…" she whispered, no longer certain if her tears were from joy or sadness.

The young queen gazed adoringly down at her babies as they nursed, looking as if she might burst into tears of joy at any moment. It was plain to be seen that every moment was a miracle for her…when one baby kicked out a pudgy leg…when one of them gripped the skin of her breast a little tighter in a tiny fist, telling her just how much the child needed her. For one wild moment, Yuui thought she could almost remember. She wanted to remember…being so close to the mother who bore her…so close to her brother once more…

You'll be in my heart.

Yes, you'll be in my heart.

From this day on,

Now and forever more.

You'll be in my heart

No matter what they say.

You'll be here in my heart

Always.

"That song…came from her," Yuui murmured, almost in disbelief, as she listened to Sakura sing. Himawari had sung that same song to her and Fai ever since they were very small. Sakura must have given it to her to sing to them…so that some part of her might still remain with them.

Oh…Kaa-san…

"You can become a woman to make her proud," Kotori answered her initial question as the dream faded. "You can live a life that will give meaning to the sacrifices Sakura-san, Himawari-san, Syaoran-san, and Clow-san have made. Become the queen that you were born to be. Love Tomoyo-chan with all your heart. Raise your daughter in love. Just…be happy. That was all any of us ever wanted for the two of you. You've already paid so much for our mistakes. Just live. That's how you can help," she said, softly beginning to sing as she allowed Yuui to cry into her chest.

Lightning crashes, a new mother cries.

Her placenta falls to the floor.

The angel opens her eyes.

The confusion sets in

Before the doctor can even close the door.

Lightning crashes, an old mother dies.

Her intentions fall to the floor.

The angel closes her eyes.

The confusion that was hers

Belongs now to the baby down the hall.

Oh, now feel it, comin' back again,

Like a roll of thunder chasing the wind,

Forces pullin' from the center of the earth again.

I can feel it.

XxX

Tomoyo-hime…please forgive me…

Tomoyo blinked, breaking her staring contest with Seishiro. For a moment, she could have sworn that she'd heard Chang Ang's voice.

"Something wrong, Princess?" the dark prince asked, another smile lighting his face. She didn't even dignify him with an answer. A more interesting question would be was something not wrong.

Princess?! Princess Tomoyo?! Where are you? Can you hear me?

That one truly got the princess to start. This voice was loud and unmistakable in her head. It was Saiga…Kakei's husband…the one who wore the blindfold.

I…Saiga-san? Is that you?

Tomoyo?

With that, the young woman felt a strong hand grip her own. Turning away from Seishiro and gazing behind her, she saw him…the blindfolded faerie. He looked haggard and drained, but it was still him.

"How…how did you-"

"That's just my power, Hime," he responded as he dropped to his knees beside her, his breathing ragged.

"Heh, took you long enough," Seishiro noted languidly, drawing their attention to him. He gave Saiga a knowing leer. "Your little prince is broken, isn't he?"

"What? What are you talking about?" Tomoyo demanded, suddenly fearful. "What is he talking about?!" she asked Saiga.

The only acknowledgment Saiga made of her outburst was to grip her hand a little tighter. "Let her go," he ordered calmly.

"Mm…all right."

Had Saiga's eyes been visible, he might have been blinking in confusion. "That…that's it? You're just…giving her to me?"

"Of course," he responded, slowly getting to his feet and coming toward them. "There's no reason to keep her here any longer. It's been long enough."

"Then why even keep me here at all? Wasn't it to keep me from Yuui?" Tomoyo asked as she and Saiga also climbed to their feet.

"That was an extremely nice perk, but no. It wasn't the reason. I've enjoyed our talks, Tomoyo-chan. I'll be seeing you again before too long." Saying so, he took her chin in his hand and pressed a brief but intense kiss to her lips. Before she could pull away, he then pressed his mouth against her ear. "But until then, give Subaru-kun my love."

When Seishiro released her and the illusion shattered around them, Tomoyo suddenly felt as if she could breathe again, not even having realized she had stopped. She opened her eyes and the first thing she felt was a warm hand holding hers. She glanced down to the foot of the bed and saw Saiga sitting there, clutching her hand tightly in his. Even outside of the illusion he looked exhausted, but he still managed to crack a small smirk for her.

"Finally found you."

Tomoyo only had enough time to see Kakei throw himself at his husband before she was swimming in embraces of her own.

"Oh, Tomoyo-chan!" Souma cried as she pressed a kiss to her cheek. "We were so worried about you!"

"It's all right, Souma-chan. I'm fine," she said softly as she patted Souma's back, still somewhat bewildered. It took her a moment longer to identify the second person who held her, as he didn't speak. Her brother's embrace was…tentative at best. Somehow, he'd managed to get even worse in the time that she'd been gone. "Nii-sama? Nii-sama, what's wrong? What happened?"

Kurogane didn't respond. For several long minutes, he just held her. Then he whispered to her, "I'm sorry," before releasing her and backing away. There was much unsaid with him…much that needed saying. She could feel it. Whatever it was, it was poisoning him. She knew they would have to talk.

The next embrace came from her mother. As Tomoyo hugged back, Amaterasu began to explain things to her. "You've been gone about a week. Things…things have only been getting worse. Saiga-san was gone an entire day looking for you. Syaoran-Ou and Himawari-san both died that day…and Chang Ang died yesterday."

"So it was him that I heard," she murmured, quietly accepting the old priest's passing. When her mother finally released her, Tomoyo felt something soft push against her hand. She glanced down to see Larg nudging her.

"Tomoyo will wake Yuui up now?" the tiny creature asked her, its face infinitely sad.

Taking a deep breath, Tomoyo finally turned to her right, seeing what she'd known she would see ever since waking. Yuui lay beside her, pale as ice and still as death. Even though she knew she was meant to fix it…tears still pricked in her eyes to see her love like this. Slowly, she got to her knees beside Yuui and took one cold hand in hers, pressing a tender kiss to the skin.

"You've been waiting. You've been in pain," she whispered sadly, only for Yuui. "I'm sorry I couldn't come to you sooner."

Though terror that her kiss would not be enough still swirled in her heart, the fear that something else would come and take Yuui away from her again was even stronger, and it compelled her forward through her fear. She bent forward over Yuui and pressed a loving kiss to her frozen lips.

For a long moment, the room was dead silent, and Tomoyo could practically hear the hammer of her heartbeat pounding in her ears. But then…the hand she held gripped hers in return, and just as Tomoyo had done, Yuui drew a deep breath upon waking, exhaling it as the color returned to her face. Her blue eyes fluttered open and slowly adjusted to take in the sight of Tomoyo above her. "Tomoyo? Is that you?" she called softly.

Tomoyo couldn't manage to stop the few tears that escaped as she threw her arms around Yuui and buried her face in her chest. "You came back! You came back!" she cried over and over again.

Yuui hugged her back weakly. "This…this is real," she murmured, still not quite getting her head around it. However, Tomoyo released her just in time to see her eyes widen in anguish as memory rushed through her. "What have I done?" she whispered in shock, self-loathing coloring her words as tears pricked at her eyes. Syaoran…and Himawari…were both dead…because of her.

"No," Tomoyo whispered back, taking her in her arms and helping her to sit up. "Don't blame yourself. It wasn't anyone's fault."

"But I…Syaoran…Tou-san…I could have been faster…healed him-"

"No, Yuui-hime," Kakei interrupted from his place at the end of the bed with Saiga. "There wasn't anything you could have done. An ordinary blade to the stomach would have killed him. He was run through with Assassin's Hand. A human couldn't even survive a tiny nick from that blade. There is no one who can heal an injury done to a mortal with Assassin's Hand."

Yuui heard his words, but she knew that she would never truly be able to accept them. As far as she was concerned, her hands were stained with Himawari and Syaoran's blood…and she would never be free of it.

Unfortunately, the reunion was cut short when a cry of pain split the air. Yuui went limp in Tomoyo's arms as a contraction seized her body, wracking her with pain. No one really needed to hear it when Kakei announced, "The baby's coming."

The elder faerie quickly snapped into action. "Sakura-sama, I need you to take Yuui-sama and Tomoyo-hime to the Labyrinth. Subaru-kun and Yukito-kun will go with you. When you arrive there, Subaru will create another mirror in order to allow you a way back through."

"Couldn't Soel and Larg take care of teleporting in this world? We're not traveling dimensions," Souma noted as Tomoyo and Saiga helped Yuui to her feet.

"No one can teleport into or out of the Sacred Labyrinth. Its presence cannot be felt in the mind when one is outside of it. In order to reach a place, one must be able to sense it. If you can't feel where you're going, you could wind up trapped in limbo…as energy. Clow gave the Mokona special abilities, but even they are bound by this law. It seems that only Sakura-sama is not. She needs only a mirror. The battle outside of the entrance to the Labyrinth is still going on and I'd been hoping that Sakura-sama's new Hand would also apply to it. However, if it does work, she'll need another mirror in order to get back."

"I'm ready," Sakura announced, already in position before the mirror. "But I…I've never been to the Labyrinth. I don't know what it looks like."

Watanuki quickly stepped forward and placed his hand on the mirror, summoning up an image of the Labyrinth, specifically the Sacred Circle. No one noticed it, but Kurogane started slightly at the sight of the place where he'd first lain with Fai.

"I'll go with you now, as well. Once Subaru-kun's got the mirror ready, you'll need to take a messenger through to Faerie. You'll be able to come back to Yuui-sama once it's done," he assured her before she could protest having to leave Yuui, "but you're the only one who can do this. The other lords need to know."

Sakura nodded her understanding, holding out her arms for her passengers to grab hold of. Yuui took her right hand and Tomoyo placed her hand on her forearm just above Yuui's. Subaru placed a hand on her right shoulder and Yukito her left. Kakei placed his hand on her upper left arm, channeling some of his own power into her to make certain that she would have enough energy to make the trip with so many passengers. Once everyone was ready, the queen focused her power on the place reflected in the mirror, willing herself across the distance. Then she placed her left hand on the glass…and passed right through. This time, she only swooned slightly upon arriving at the destination. Yukito supported her as Kakei picked Yuui up and carried her into the magic circle. Subaru quickly went about the task of conjuring up another mirror. Tomoyo stood at the edge of the circle, ready to help if she was needed.

Kakei laid Yuui down in the circle, unceremoniously parting her legs and lifting her slip for her when another contraction seized her body. No one protested the treatment. They all knew that every moment counted now. Quickly examining her progress, Kakei's eyes opened wide in surprise.

"It's no wonder you're hurting, Yuui-sama. I suppose your body's trying to make up for lost time. You're at eight centimeters."

Yukito's head snapped up at that. "What?! There's no way she could have progressed so far that fast!" Looking down at Sakura, she nodded to him.

"I'm fine. Go to her. She needs you."

Yukito quickly moved into the circle to have a look at Yuui. Of course, he found that Kakei spoke nothing but the truth.

"Don't underestimate a fey child," was his response.

"But…what will it do to her?" Yukito asked nervously.

"We don't know that," Kakei responded quietly. "It…may be too much for her body."

"Why can't you use spells again?"

"This is how Yuui-sama proves her worth to her people. If she cannot bear this child, then she is unfit to be queen."

"But…what if she can't take it?" Yukito asked, his gaze shifting nervously from Tomoyo to Sakura.

"Whether the princess dies in childbirth…or this child is somehow not born, the result is the same. If she fails to produce an heir, and Seishiro succeeds…he will kill her, and it will be well within his rights. There is no other moment but this one."

"Don't say that," Tomoyo finally broke in, coming into the circle and kneeling beside Yuui's head. "She's not going to die. Neither of them will," she insisted, gently lifting up Yuui's head and cradling it in her lap, stroking her hair and being careful not to jostle her too much. "How are you feeling, Yuui?"

"It…it hurts, Tomoyo," she moaned weakly. "It feels like I'm tearing open."

"You'll be all right," Tomoyo reassured her. "You're strong. You can do this."

Yuui was no longer quite as certain. At first, the pain had been a tolerable, gradual thing, but now, after the sudden spring to full dilation, her body already felt ravaged. Already feeling her daughter begin her decent through the birth canal, Yuui remembered Sakura's promise that she would beg for death before it was over…remembered stories she'd heard of the women who'd died giving birth to their children. Did she really have the strength for this? Would she last long enough to see her little girl's sweet face?

Sakura was about to step in herself, but it was that moment that Subaru chose to inform her that the mirror was ready.

"Please, don't-" she started to protest.

"Don't argue, Sakura-sama," Kakei shot right back. "We need you to do this. No one else can."

Finally nodding Sakura quickly stepped into the circle, knelt beside Tomoyo and Yuui, and gave her daughter a reassuring kiss on the forehead. "I'm coming right back. I promise." Then she was gone.

The process didn't get any easier. In human births, the baby typically took several hours to negotiate the passage out of the womb, blocked as it was by bone, muscle, and the like, but her baby wasn't working around those obstacles. She wasn't fragile like a human baby. She was breaking right through them…and Yuui could feel every painful snap. Had she been anyone else, Kakei and Subaru could have done something to slow the process, but there was nothing they could do to ease her pain. They had to let it happen.

As her labor continued, Yuui vaguely heard other voice somewhere above her…voices that hadn't been there before: Watanuki…Doumeki…Chi…Souma…Kamui…Sai… Kujaku…was that Kurogane? So many…and they all passed in and out of her limited awareness. She heard Sakura return. The only things that remained constant in the sea of pain were Tomoyo at her head and Kakei at her feet.

Fai…she found herself thinking at one point…Fai should be here…and Himawari…and Syaoran…and Fuuma…and Kotori. They should all be here.

As the pain-filled minutes wore on, things just seemed to get more and more surreal. Yuui was no longer certain if she was hearing what people were saying…or what they were thinking.

These damn fools…we've got to do something…she's dying…it's killing her…there's nothing we can do…maybe if he can just save the baby…if he says anything like that again, I swear I'll kill him…you're strong, Yuui, so very strong. You can do this…if he she dies, he'll never forgive me…

Please, don't take her away from me.

Yuui looked up at Tomoyo. She knew she hadn't said that aloud. Was Tomoyo afraid?

"The baby's crowning, Tomoyo-hime. Come and see," Kakei's voice came to her from somewhere below.

"Hold her, Sakura-sama," Tomoyo requested, not wanting to leave Yuui unsupported. Yuui was vaguely aware of the shift, but she was a bit more preoccupied with the pain between her legs. It wouldn't stop…never stopped…never let up even a little bit. It only got worse.

"I see her, Yuui!" she heard Tomoyo cry out in exultation. "She's almost here. You can do this. Just a little bit more."

In coaxing her wasted body to push just a little bit more, Yuui was struck by another wave of pain. She sobbed in agony, tears running down her face as her body trembled with pain. "No more! No more!" she cried pitifully. "I can't take it! I just want to die! Let me die!"

"No, Yuui! No!" Tomoyo insisted vehemently, squeezing her hand tightly in hers. "Don't give up now! You're so close. You've almost got a daughter."

"You mustn't die now, Yuui-chan," Sakura's voice came down to her from overhead. "You promised me that you wouldn't. You have to live."

Yuui tried to look up at Sakura, but when she finally managed to turn her gaze, it wasn't Sakura she was looking at. It was Kotori.

"Did…did I die already?"

Kotori shook her head, smiling encouragingly. She didn't see her lips move, but she thought she could hear her song in her head.

Lightning crashes, a new mother cries.

This moment she's been waiting for.

The angel opens her eyes,

Pale blue-colored eyes.

Presents the circle,

Puts the glory out to hide, hide.

Oh, now feel it comin' back again,

Like a roll of thunder chasing the wind.

Forces pullin' from the center of the earth again.

I can feel it. I can feel it.

Quite suddenly, she did feel it. Her senses were brought crashing back to painful clarity as her body gave one last push. She screamed out her agony one last time, her body giving one final tear and a fountain of scarlet blood, bringing her daughter in its wake.

Yuui collapsed against Sakura, barely breathing as her child's shrill cries filled her ears. She couldn't quite make her body move, but that was all right. At last, at last…her daughter…after months of heartache, she was finally here. But…would she be able to see her?

"Subaru, you've got to do something! Do it now! She's dying! She's bleeding to death!" she heard Tomoyo crying.

Don't…don't cry, Tomoyo.

"Don't die, baby," she heard Sakura crying, as well. "You can't die now."

"Where…where is…my daughter? My baby?" she asked them weakly. They'd taken her away and she wanted her back. "Let me hold her. Let me hold her just once."

"Don't talk like that," Subaru told her tensely. A moment later, she felt the flare of his power rush through her body, its warmth bringing healing in its wake. For a moment, she just lay still, savoring the fact of the air in her lungs and the absence of the pain from the last few hours. However, it didn't take long for her to start asking again. With her child gone from her, she felt the absence keenly, and her breasts burned, aching to give suck to her baby.

"Where is she?" she kept asking when no one answered. "I want to see her. I want my baby."

"Be patient, you," Tomoyo scolded her as she approached with a neatly wrapped bundle in her arms. "You were close to gone a moment ago. Give the rest of us some time to recover. We had to clean her first."

"Is that her?" Yuui asked impatiently, trying to see inside the small nest of blankets.

Tomoyo smiled weakly, holding out the bundle to her. "Yuui…meet your new daughter."

Yuui could hardly breathe as she took the tiny bundle in her arms. Looking inside, she saw a tiny, scrunched up face with tiny sapphire eyes squinting delicately up at her. She'd calmed down upon being diapered and wrapped in a blanket. Now she was making small burbling noises, smacking her tiny pink lips and revealing her toothless gums. Really, she just couldn't be more precious if she tried. Once again, Yuui felt tears pricking at her eyes; only this time, they were tears of joy.

"My little girl. My little girl," she cried softly. "My little Kohaku."

"Her name is Kohaku?" Kakei asked softly. Tomoyo nodded, shooing him away.

"Send word to Faerie," Kakei said to the image of Saiga in the mirror that led back the cottage. "Yuui-hime is all right. Kohaku-hime is born." Once that was done, Kakei turned back to the new mother and her child, dropping to one knee and bowing his head. "An heir is born. Hail Yuui, Queen of all Faerie."

Slowly, everyone else followed suit, dropping to one knee and bowing their heads. Murmurs of 'Hail Yuui' echoed throughout the chamber. Yuui, Tomoyo, and Sakura heard none of it. They were all too captivated by the way Kohaku opened and closed her little mouth.

"Maybe you ought to feed her," Sakura suggested with a smile, still supporting Yuui from behind.

"Yes. Yes," Yuui responded, slowly snapping herself out of her enchantment. Somewhere in the middle of it all, her slip had been removed, so her breasts were already bared. She held Kohaku near one nipple, hesitating. "So…I just…"

"Yes, just let her suckle. She knows what to do."

Yuui drew Kohaku's head up to her right nipple, offering it to her. The little girl immediately latched on, taking the nipple in her mouth and sucking hungrily. Leaning down a little, she pressed a kiss to the baby's head, tickled by the small wisps of hair already growing there. Everything about her was just so very soft. Yuui knew that she would never be able to have enough of looking.

"Tomoyo," Yuui whispered, glancing up at her fiancé. "She's really here. Our Kohaku…our daughter."

Tomoyo smiled as she watched Yuui with Kohaku. She realized that she was no longer the only girl in Yuui's life, but she was perfectly content with that. Kohaku was her daughter as well. They were all a family, and here…now…it felt as if at least part of their suffering had been vindicated. Kohaku was alive and well and Yuui had been rescued from Yuuko's curse.

However…Fai still wasn't free…and Tomoyo couldn't help but wonder how long the enemy would leave them to this moment of respite. Out of all of them, Kohaku was now the one who posed the greatest threat to their plans. Newborn or no, they would come for her…they would come at her hard and fast…and snuff out her barely begun life if they ever got the chance.

XxX

(A/N) Notes: Lullaby – A few familiar songs in this chapter, but the new one is Uncle Iroh's song from Avatar. Childbirth – I'm no expert on the mechanics of everything, so if anyone has any light to shed on the subject, feel free to do so. Kurogane – Several months ago, I realized that the only true difference between my Kurogane and TRC Kurogane is that my Kurogane has never really killed anyone…prior to this chapter, anyway. I'll definitely be playing with that more in the future. Fai – You probably don't know what to make of him at this point, but I can assure you that I know exactly what I'm doing. Have no fear.

Review Reponses: Beebs – Yup, I'm sure most of us wish we could give up sleep entirely. (shrugs) Oh, well. It's also nice to hear that my story touches you so. (Wiccan myself, in case it doesn't show, eheh.) I'm not really sure when those concepts started working themselves into the fabric of the story, but they did, and here we are.

All right, I hope that fun was had by all…and let's not do this ridiculous six months shit again.