Fai was nervous about his companions leaving his side, to be left alone with a man he feared, though he told himself that this wasn't his Ashura-ou. He decided to look him in the eye during this little meeting, if his eyes were to obey.

But Ashura didn't do anything harmful. He acted helpful towards Fai. He filled his stomach with excellent fruits and delicacies, as well as provided him with entertaining conversations, and a pleasurable place to sleep. So comfortable in fact, that he didn't stir so much as a twitch in his sleep.

The light woke him up. His blue eyes reflected the golden ceiling fan whirring through the morning. He stretched his arms out and yawned. He was refreshed. He blinked until his vision came back and he saw the giant room before him. It took him awhile to remember his friends weren't there with him! All he saw was a sleeping Mokona next to him. 'Oh!' That's right. Mokona had stayed with him through his evening with Ashura.

It was strange for Fai to tell himself that he had a pretty good time with Ashura. He seemed to be a kind man. Once again, he had to remind himself that it wasn't the Ashura that he feared. At least he believed so. Sometimes being told he looked familiar disturbed him.

"You look just a little bit like one of my old slaves…"

Fai remembered Ashura telling him that when they sat downtogether for a dinner meal last night. The meal had consisted of rice, vegetables, and assorted meats. Ashura had told him that his friends were getting a meal of their own, and that he just wanted to talk to Fai.

"He was a lot different than you. He was a troubled young man. He was dull colored. He ended up committing suicide even though I offered him such a wonderful life here, even if he had to work."

Fai remembered that after Ashura had said that, he was silent for awhile, humming something.

"The only thing that interests me is…his name was Fai as well."

That part troubled Fai. He didn't know how to answer that when Ashura told him. He wasn't sure whether he should have told him about how they changed dimensions. Luckily, Ashura told him he could take his time answering any of these questions.

--

Fai, after waking up Mokona and carrying the creature on his shoulder he opened his white washed door and stepped into the giant hallway. A servant was near by.

"Excuse me!" Fai urged for his attention and smiled. The servant walked over to him, will not much change in emotion.

"Do you know where my friends are?" Fai decided to give it a shot, he didn't know if a servant would really know where they are.

"Come." The servant beckoned him to follow. And the two of them walked down a disgusting amount of stairs into a dark hall. There were jail cells all around. After a few empty cells passed by, Fai began to get nervous. Finally they stopped, and the servant pointed at the cell that had 3 figures held inside it. Mokona gasped. Fai breathed.

Kurogane snorted from inside the cell. He was in the far corner, sitting there just grinning. Syaoran and Sakura were together on the other side of the small cell, and they were sleeping.

Fai clutched the bars with his hands as he stared in the cell bewildered. "Kuro-pon…why…why are you in here?" His voice shook.

Kurogane laughed so sarcastically that it hurt Fai. "And what are you doing out there?"

Fai stood taken aback. He had no idea this happened. "I…I didn't know you…Ashura wanted to talk to me…and then he sent me to bed…he told me you guys did the same…"

Kurogane snorted again. "Liar. That Ashura." He said nothing more as he played with his fingers. After awhile he looked up at the blonde. "We came down here as soon as we left you guys."

Fai's head rested on the bars looking at Kurogane with such sadness, that even Kurogane was choked by it. But the wizard continued to say nothing.

"If you're not going to say anything, come." The servant pulled on Fai's shirt. Fai gave Kurogane one last look and then let himself be dragged on.

For the rest of the late morning, Fai looked for Ashura. After looking here and there, and below and above, he finally found the king sitting on a chair looking at a bunch of playing cards, like he was playing with an invisible player, or a ghost. He looked at Fai with a smirk that made the blonde wince. He had forgotten overnight that this man looked just like his enemy.

"You're awake, my dear." Ashura's voice slithered. He was so eerie and mysterious. But gentleness was one of his features too.

"I…I have a question I thought I should ask you before I did anything stupid." Fai started to doubt that gentleness, and Ashura could see it in his voice.

"Ah…my Fai. Do you," He walked over to Fai and embraced his bright face within his strong hands. "have any faults at all?" He tipped Fai's head back, as the wizard's eyes stared with distrust, but he did not move.

"I…I'm not your Fai." He felt Ashura's knuckles resting warmly on his throat as his voice jittered. In his mind he was plucking his faults one by one out from deep inside of him. He was an actor, a liar. And this 'Ashura' was starting to pull it out of him mouth like he could take out illnesses. He moved his head down, expected Ashura's hands to keep his chin up. They only continued to hold on in a bland fashion to his white skin. "My friends….why are they locked up?"

Ashura only smiled. "They are going to be slaves of course." He acted like this wasn't that big of an extent. That made Fai a little bit angry.

"What?" His eyes became fearful, not matter how hard he tried to stop it. Ashura was pulling everything out of him with his stare.

"It's alright, dearest." Ashura reassuringly hugged Fai. "Anyone can see you don't belong with them. Anyone could see they don't care about you. All they care about are the feathers."

Tears shot up to Fai's eyes. He wanted to toss Ashura out of the way, and kill him. But something there told him that maybe he was right. They were only doing this for the feathers. "Wait. How do you know about the feathers?"