Story Title: Chains of Crystal
Chapter Title: Waking
Romance: Fubuki x Otogi
Timeline: Effectively AU season 1 of GX.
Asuka rushed over to check on her brother almost before his body actually hit the ground. Manjoume joined her a second or two later. "I think he's all right," she said. Even as she held him, Darkness's outfit spun away back into the shadows, replaced by what Fubuki had worn before. The mask remained where it was for a heartbeat, then hints of shadows swirled around it, and it transformed into a card bearing only a representation of a mask.
Manjoume picked it up, wincing at the feel of it in his hands, and started to tear it. This thing was the cause of their problems, he felt, and getting rid of it would only be a good thing.
"Wait," Otogi's voice was weak and a little shaky, but when Manjoume looked at him, his eyes were open and clear. "Don't do that."
"Why not? It would mean Darkness can't ever come back." Asuka said. "Right?"
The djinn shook his head a little. "Maybe. Maybe not. I don't know enough about what Yuusuke was doing to say for sure. But I'd rather not take the chance it might hurt Fubuki as well if you did that." He winced a little as he levered himself to his feet and started to brush off the dirt from where he himself had hit the ground.
"Are you all right?" Manjoume asked, frowning some. "Why'd you pass out, anyway?"
Otogi snorted and motioned a little towards Fubuki. "Because when you beat Darkness, it banished him into that card. Magically speaking, I'm linked to the spirit of whoever has that crystal, and he had it. If something happens to their spirit while they have it, it affects me, to an extent." He stretched, his joints popping briefly as he did, then reached to take the card from Manjoume, who didn't protest this time. "But I'll be fine."
He came closer to Fubuki, then dropped down beside him on one knee to take his hand. Manjoume was not surprised to see Otogi's glorious green eyes shimmering with emotion. "Wake up soon," he whispered softly. "We've got a lot to talk about."
There was no sign of acknowledgment from Fubuki at all, and Otogi reached to gather him up. Asuka shook her head a little before he could, though. "We'll get him back inside. I think he might need to go to the infirmary first. But you should rest a little yourself too."
The djinn smiled just a touch. "You're probably right." He didn't mention that he could have brought both Fubuki and himself back to his room in a twinkling of an eye. For one thing, he wasn't positive if he could. He hadn't used much of his power, but what he had done had been intense, and he still had a lot to fix. "You take him there. I'll be along soon."
Asuka, Manjoume, Juudai, Ryou, and Misawa all converged to carry Fubuki back up to the Obelisk Blue building. The crowd of students parted as they came through and stared after them once they'd passed, awe in every motion and muttered word. Otogi stifled the weak little laugh he wanted to laugh, then looked at the card in his hand.
He could still feel Darkness's spirit there, and it sickened him. Was Fubuki never going to be free of the monster now? There was no way to tell. Yuusuke. He hadn't known the other student the way Fubuki had, but maybe it would be better if no one talked about it that much anymore. That would require a large scale mind control, and while that was within his power, it wasn't going to be something he did.
After all, there were other things to do at the moment. He put the card away, and determined to talk about it with Fubuki when he got the chance. For now, it would be kept out of sight and out of reach of everyone.
He glanced up at the still exploding volcano, with the rising edge of lava about to tip over the side. Soothing it back down was difficult, but he managed to get it done. By the time he did, and by the time he'd finished repairing all the other damage that had occurred on the island from Darkness's little power display, he was drenched in sweat and could scarcely put one foot in front of the other.
Can I do it? He estimated how much power he had left and how much it would take to get him to where Fubuki was. There was no way that he'd go anywhere else, no matter what anyone else thought. He needed Fubuki, in a way that he couldn't put into words other than that. And more than needed him, he wanted to be with him, to be sure that he was all right, to feel his arms around him, and to have his own around Fubuki.
Finally, he decided it didn't matter if he thought he could or not. He'd do it anyway. Besides, with the crystal back in Fubuki's possession, it wasn't as difficult as it could have been. He simply relaxed and let himself be pulled back to it.
Seeing the crystal walls of his prison around him again sent a chill down his spine, even knowing that he could get out whenever he wanted. Fubuki had made that very clear within those first few days. Otogi had permanent permission to come and go from the crystal as he pleased. Neither Yuusuke nor Darkness had bothered to negate that permission, if they'd even known it had existed.
He closed his eyes for a moment, trying to catch his breath. Even doing it like that had taken a large slice of what little strength he had left now. He wondered if he'd ever be free of this enslavement. What Darkness had said about how to do it hovered in the back of his mind. Someone of the darkness by birth, but who denied it by choice. It felt as if he should know who it was, or the type of person at least, but nothing and no one came to mind.
For all I know it's someone who hasn't even been born yet. Or who lives back in that world. That would be just his luck. There was someone who could free him, but they didn't even live in the same universe as he did anymore.
For a moment, he could feel the crushing weight of the invisible chains that tied him to slavery and the crystal all around him. Forever bound to someone else's will, even if that someone was as wonderful as Fubuki, was not something he looked forward to. There had to be another way…
There is. And I'll find it, somehow. He was not going to stop searching for a way. Yuusuke had had a lot of books to research in. Maybe there'd be something in there, if he got the chance to look.
He took a few more breaths, then turned his attention outward, seeking that link that bound him to Fubuki. The slavery wasn't something he enjoyed, but the connection to Fubuki was one he thought he could live with. He transformed into smoke and poured out of the crystal, reforming near him. Everyone else was still there, and he looked as if he were just very deeply asleep.
"How is he?" he murmured, even as he whipped up a seat for himself and sat down, his fingers wrapping around Fubuki's.
"The nurse says he'll be fine. He just needs to get some rest." Asuka said. He nodded, not taking his eyes away from Fubuki's face for so much as a second. "Is there anything you need?"
"No," Otogi shook his head some. What he needed was Fubuki back, and they couldn't give that to him. Only time could.
Perhaps sensing some of that, Manjoume started to herd everyone else out of the infirmary room. "Let them have some privacy!" he all but hissed. "Come on! Let's go!"
As the door closed behind them, Otogi turned his full attention towards the sleeping Fubuki. He wanted to do something so badly that it hurt, but he didn't know what he could do. Healing physical injuries was child's play for him, but this wasn't something physical. This was all wrapped up in the mind, and a little in shadow magic. Or maybe a lot in it. He couldn't be sure.
There was nothing he could do but sit there and be ready when Fubuki did wake up. He watched Fubuki quietly, thinking of all that had happened in the last few weeks. He'd never dreamed that it would come to this when he'd first poured out of the crystal, in raw fury that Darkness had even dared to imprison him and ready to unleash all of his anger at the first available target.
Only that target had become the object of more than his anger. Those warm eyes, that ready smile, the cheer that never faded, no matter what…all of those had wrapped their way into his heart, and held no signs of fading. The spell created a link between himself and his master, whether he liked it or not, but experience was beginning to show that this link had very little to do with emotions on either end of it. He certainly hadn't felt like this about Yuusuke or Darkness!
So this was real. He brushed his fingers across Fubuki's palm and whispered, "I love you." He knew it had to be silly. He was a djinn. Fubuki was a human. Their lifespans were immeasurably different, and that was only one of the barriers. But it made no difference. He said it again, and again. With every time he said it, everything that his brain said should get in the way mattered less and less.
Otogi stopped paying attention to the time. What did time matter, when they were together, even if only one of them was awake right now? He knew he was talking, but he didn't really listen to what he was saying. He told stories about some of the adventures that he and his friends had had before he'd been caught and sealed. He talked about how much he loved Fubuki, and how much he wanted him to wake up so they could talk about that together. He didn't care if anyone else heard him, though as the day crept by, he was certain some people had wandered in and out. His recitation hadn't stopped in the least.
When he couldn't put it off any longer, he made himself some food and ate, but didn't leave Fubuki's side. There were times when he had to, but he kept those to the bare minimum. He even slept in that chair, shifting it briefly to a cot that would fit beside Fubuki's bed.
How long he stayed like that, he couldn't have told. Later, Manjoume said Fubuki had been out for almost eighteen hours, and Otogi had been by him for virtually the entire time. Otogi was willing to believe that. He was a little tired, but not as much as he could have been if he were human. Djinn did have much more stamina than humans, in many different ways. He looked forward to exploring those ways with Fubuki, in time.
Otogi had held Fubuki's hand so long that he almost didn't notice when it began to move a little. When the realization sank into his mind, the djinn jerked briefly, eyes flying all the way open from where they'd barely been half-open before. He'd been mumbling something about one of Jounouchi's old enemies, Hirutani, and how they'd finally convinced him that Jounouchi wasn't going to be a part of his gang, and had just reached the interesting part with the bullwhip and the lightning rod.
"Wish…I could've been there to see that," Fubuki slowly whispered as his eyes opened. Otogi stared at him, hardly believing what he had heard. Not the words themselves, since that was pure Fubuki, but just the fact that Fubuki had said anything in the first place. Eighteen hours wasn't so long, but part of him had feared in the deep depths of his mind that he'd never hear him speak again.
"You're awake," Otogi whispered. "You're really awake."
Fubuki smiled a little, and his fingers tightened more around Otogi's. "Didn't think I'd leave you, did you?" He hesitated a little, a hint or two of shadows of memory in his eyes. "I'm sorry, Otogi. I shouldn't have listened to him. To either of them."
"It's all right." Otogi shook his head some and squeezed back. "You're not the only person in the world who has made mistakes, you know. In any world." He found a grin inside and tried it on. It felt pretty good. "Trust me."
Fubuki smiled back, and the shadows began to fade almost at once. "Always." He looked almost hesitant for a second, then asked, "Otogi, I could hear you…a lot of the time just now. I just couldn't say anything back. You said…"
Otogi nodded a little. The words hadn't been said between them before, but he meant them with every bit of his heart. "I love you."
For a heartbeat Fubuki just sat there, a foolish grin on his face. Then he leaned forward, put one hand behind Otogi's head and pulled him closer the best that he could. The kiss was soft and warm and full of all the passion and love possible between the two of them. When they parted, Fubuki murmured it quietly, but with no less intensity than Otogi himself had said it. "I love you, too."
