Alone Tonight
By Hayai Akurei
Disclaimer: All characters copyright CLAMP. They are geniuses.
There was a body this time.
I could only stare, disbelieving that he was forever gone from our lives. I saw the princess run to his side, Syaoran with her.
There was blood everywhere. Broken bits of glass and pottery littered the floor, the tiles covered in dust. Windows were broken, the doors busted in.
A battle, my mind told me. There was a battle here.
Sakura was screaming, yelling at him to get up as she shook his arm. Open your eyes, she said. But I knew that would never happen, no matter how hard I hoped and prayed for it to come true.
I lifted his body up in my arms, cradling his head gently. My hands shook as I caressed his face.
Just once more, I wanted to see him open his eyes and look up at me. That was all.
However, we weren't in a game this time. This wasn't Outo Country. We couldn't just press the "restart" button and begin again. Death is very real, as much as life itself. But this was one hell of a way to remind us.
I just barely heard Syaoran call my name. Slowly, I turned to look at him. He was trying to be strong, I knew. But in his eyes I could see just how much this hurt him.
He seemed shocked to see unshed tears shining in my eyes, even as he turned away. Sakura wept, burying her face in his chest as he cried silently into her hair.
Mokona drooped and I turned to face the body of the man I had come to love so much. He wasn't the easiest of people to comprehend, but somehow, we had to come to understand each other in this series of mad, mad worlds.
Clammy skin met my fingertips as I held him, holding him close to me as I sat on the cold floor. My hands fisted at my sides and I bit my lip, refusing to shed tears. Not now. Tears could wait.
Later that night, I sat in the quiet of what used to be our room. Now, it was just mine. It was too quiet. To think that it was only yesterday that we were bickering like we normally did. A few teasing nicknames, a few snarling death threats and a chase around the room.
But that was all gone now.
I petted the pillow that lay next to mine, still somewhat lumpy from where he'd slept the night before. The sheets were frighteningly cold, to no longer be warmed by his presence.
It was a long time before I convinced myself to get some sleep. But it would be a long time before I ever got any.
Lying down, I pulled the covers over myself, turning over on my side out of habit, so that I'd be able to watch him sleep.
But the silence drowned me, suffocating me with its presence and the lack of his. My resolve cracked, and I gave in. And so, alone in a cold little room on an unknown world in the middle of some godforsaken universe, I cried.
Author's Notes: So who died? Kurogane? Fai? No idea. Take your pick. I tried to make it so that it could have been either. Tell me what you think!