CHAPTER TWENTY SIX

I don't know how long I was out, but I came to when I felt a hand lightly grab my shoulder and shake me back and forth gently.

"Hey."

I figured maybe I was dillusional, because it sounded like my voice.

""We've given you enough time, you need to get up."

I remembered the real Syaoran. That made a lot more sense. Slowly, I forced my eyes open.

"I'm glad you're alive. Not OK, but alive, at least." The real Syaoran had a slight smile on his face. I forced myself upright, but as I did, my hand shot to the wound through my heart. It still ached, and I could feel there were bandages around it.

"That's going to be a scar for the rest of your life...which, now I think about it, could be a pretty long time."

"...Last I checked, it was about to end." My voice came out as a low croak, as if it had gone unused for a while.

"You've got Kamui to thank for your comeback."

I blinked, uncomprehending.

"You're a vampire, now, Syaoran."

"Is...Is that what was happening?" I asked, cocking my head lightly.

"Yes. And I see the seal on your eye broke."

"Ming took it."

"I'm glad you finally know who Ming is," he said sarcastically.

"Do you?" I asked him.

"Not really, but thinking over it, I don't really want to know anymore."

I attempted to get up, then glanced down at my stabbed through leg. It wasn't reacting. It was a worrying, sickly purple color.

"My leg's not working," I muttered. "Just great." Of course, this was sarcasm.

Syaoran held out his hand, and grabbed my wrist. I struggled to get my balance as I was pulled to my feet, and then I looked at my missing arm . Then at my leg. My hand moved over my right eye. It was gone.

"...I'm just a giant cripple vampire," I finally sighed.

"...I should've asked you before agreeing to your end of the price, but there was no time." He turned around, and I struggled to keep up with him, though he wasn't moving all that fast.

"What do you mean?" I asked, limping clumsily on my disabled right leg.

"To switch your world and change your fate, I agreed that you'd take the suffering of your comrades."

I cocked my head. "Meaning?"

"That the injuries you've received were supposed to go to Kurogane, Fai, and Sakura."

My right hand gripped the stump where my left arm had been. "...Who was going to lose their arm?"

"Kurogane."

"Their leg?"

"Sakura."

"Their eye?"

"Fai. Actually, you were going to eat his eye. Do me a favour and don't do a technicolor yawn."

"Sure, irritate the cripple, why don't you. And eat his eye...? Why the hell would I do that? Not only is he my friend, but eyes have never exactly been something that particularly sounded appetizing." I felt myself feeling a little nautious.

"...I could just give you via magic what I saw of the future from Yuuko. But...I don't think you're ready."

With those words, I staggered and fell to my knees.

"No," I agreed, lying back down. I hadn't gone far at all and I was exhausted. Dying, losing a soul, and coming back had weakened me immensely.

"I'll go get Fai," Syaoran offered, darting off.

I felt myself being picked up off the ground, and I felt myself placed lightly back down soon after. My eyes opened, and for the first time, I took a moment to analyze the environment. It was a long flat plain, covered by short grass, a small forest to one side, and a river to another. It was peaceful and quiet, and I was glad for that. The sky was covered by clouds, providing some sort of shade from the sun, which I appreciated.

"Syaoran, are you OK?" Fai asked. I glanced over at him. He appeared to be pretty miserable. I didn't respond.

"He's weak," Syaoran filled in for me. "But I think he'll recover."

"I'm sorry," Fai whispered, looking away. "I'm such a hypocrite...back in the town with the sisters, I told you that you would likely get killed if I wasn't around, then I tried to commit suicide and told you that you could handle it yourself, and then I ran you through with a sword." There were tears in his eyes. I had a feeling this wasn't the first time he had gotten upset over this.

"It's not your fault," I assured him, my voice still sort of raspy. "Your curse said you had to, and it's broken now. I'm not angry, so you don't need to get worked up."

"It's easier for you to say," he retorted. That sounded fairly familiar, because I knew I'd said it quite a bit, like when I was upset over being a clone, and when I told Kurogane I couldn't let go of Sakura. So, I responded the same way they'd responded to me.

"I'm sure it is."

Mokona hopped into the clearing and stopped by my side. It spit out the aventurine crystal and put it in my hand. I closed my fingers around it. The aura of the moss-green stone still comforted me.

"Kamui and Subaru are gone, I assume?" I asked.

"Yes. They waited about a day for you to wake up, then left."

"How long-" I began.

"A week."

I shot upright. "W-What!?"

I got dizzy and fell backwards again.

"Yes, but we have no more goals to shoot for, so it's not a big deal. Besides, you died, so I figured you would need the time."

"Don't you have to go from world to world?" I asked. He shook his head.

"Ashura's dead. I don't have to anymore. You've rescued the other Syaoran. What else is there to do?"

"Kill Fei-Wang Reed before he uses more innocent bystanders for his own personal gain," the other Syaoran retorted instantly. It seemed like something he'd thought through quite a bit.

Fai glanced back at him. "I don't want to go back to that world he's hiding in."

"He'll have to come after us at some point," Syaoran reasoned. "We're not pulling off his goals anymore, so he'll probably try to have his henchmen kill us, and when that doesn't work, he'll have to do it himself." He ground his teeth together. "I'm not afraid to take his life, after what he's done to me and the ones I care about."

"Where's Sakura?" I asked suddenly. The two looked at one another. A small fear crept through me, and I wondered if she'd left along with Kurogane while I was unconcious. It faded when Syaoran shook his head, stood up, and said "I'll go get her."

"Come on, sit up," Fai urged, grabbing my shoulder and lifting me upwards into a sitting position. He glanced at my leg.

"Doesn't work," I grunted.

"...I'm sorry."

"It's not a big deal. According to Syaoran, I've finished paying the price for my own soul anyway, so it was going to happen no matter what." My eyes fell shut slightly. "Apparently, you were supposed to lose your eye. I was supposed to eat it."

"..." The look on his face, in any other circumstance, would've been priceless, but I was a bit braindead, so I didn't laugh.

"Who'd that be worse for?" He asked.

"I don't know, I didn't get the whole story. I have a feeling it'd be worse for you."

That's when Sakura came running in.

I struggled to my feet, but I ultimately fell over when Sakura caught me in a tacklehug.

"I'm so glad you're OK! I didn't want you to leave Fai on his own," She said.

"...But I would've joined you."

"Fai needs you more than I do. Maybe even more than you need him. It only seems like it's the other way around," she whispered, inaudible to Fai.

"I doubt it," I muttered, sitting back up.

"...Actually, if I'm right, you'll need Fai's blood to live from now on." She glanced up at him, and he nodded.

"It can't just be anyone's...?" I asked, uncertain. She shook her head.

"You can only drink Fai's blood."

I blinked, then accepted the fact without further question. Drinking only Fai's blood beat bloodthirsty rampages.

"Anyway, are you feeling better?"

"...Pfargtl," I said bluntly. She laughed.

"Weak. And braindead, it sounds like," Syaoran laughed.

"We're going to need to find a way to tell the two of you apart," Sakura murmured.

I felt something flicker in my eye, though I wasn't sure what it was.

"Syaoran, are you hungry?" Sakura asked. I flinched. The answer was yes, but it wasn't the answer I wanted to give.

"N-No," I lied.

"...I'm having a hard time believing that, you being out for a whole week," Fai said. I looked at my feet. He took out the dagger, and cut his wrist.

"I---I don't--" I began.

"The blood will flow whether you drink it or not," Kurogane's gruff voice said. I cringed.

"I really don't want to," I whimpered. "Especially with everyone watching. Besides, sucking the blood out of someone's arm is gross. Can't you just put it in a jar, or bottle, or something other then drinking it from your arm?"

My embarassment made the other Syaoran snigger.

Fai seemed a bit more content with the idea, however. "You'll still need water, I'd assume, so we can't empty out the bottle Amber gave us..."

"Mokona can get an empty bottle from black Mokona," Mokona suggested. "After all, it's just an empty bottle. Mokona doubts you'll need to give anything else in return, since empty bottles aren't worth...anything, really."

I shrugged. "Whatever works. If you want, you can head to the river and look for a shiny rock in case Yuuko decides that she wants something for it." I rolled my eyes. Then I fell silent. "Yuuko..." I recalled how Ming had said she had died but come back, and other than me, was the only one who ever had.

"Something wrong?" Fai asked.

"I'll explain later," I assured him.

Mokona jumped to the river, and came back with a bottle of water. "It worked!" It squeaked.

Fai nodded and took the bottle. "No one drank from that, right?" I asked.

"Nope, it's unused."

"...Why is Yuuko always prepared for this sort of thing??" I asked, shaking my head in confusion.

"...She wasn't. Mokona asked and Yuuko had Watanuki look for it."

"Watanuki..." The real Syaoran muttered, looking distant.

"Poor Watanuki," I said bluntly.

I didn't watch Fai fill the bottle with his own blood, for obvious reasons. He threw the bottle to me when he was done. I didn't really have the stomach to drink it right that second, otherwise, I had a feeling I'd...insert your way to say throw up here, if you will.

I lied back down. "I don't like feeling this weak..."

"You might have to get used to it. You're supposed to be dead, kid, so being back and weak isn't going to go away so quickly."

I knew Kurogane was right. Perhaps that's why I felt a little depressed. And I was thinking through the other Syaoran's goal, too. He had a point. Fei-Wang Reed had used all of us to try and achieve his needs to bring back the dead. Who's to say he wouldn't try again, or, even worse, go after others?

My eyes fell shut. I never liked staying in one spot for long, but this time, I knew I'd be disappointed.