Sorry for the very long wait! Chapter six is up now and it's a long chapter.
I capture the castle
Chapter VI
XX
The men were arguing, dealing with their 'adult matters' in loud, angry voices and rough gestures. Occasionally, one of them would pull out a large scroll from the cabinet, unroll it and point at something indistinct before tossing it aside. The other would then respond with another scroll and an even louder voice.
He watched the two argue relentlessly. The first man, taller than the second, with long, wavy raven locks shook his head as the smaller man in ice blue robes stabbed his finger at the parchment. Tired by their argument, he stood up and walked out of the audience chamber. Neither of the adults noticed his absence.
The maids stopped and bowed as he passed but he paid them no more attention than the adults had done to him. Whenever the two of them fought, the entire castle felt the weight of the tension and the hallways were filled with flitting servants afraid to make more than a squeak.
He turned away in disgust. The closeted walls of the castle were suffocating him, the dark stones obscured his thought, he was angry and the timid behaviour of the servants only irked him even more.
Making his way outside, the bitter air bit him with frosty fangs. He recoiled against the sudden transition from the warm interior of the castle to the chilly open space.
The world was painted in white. The snow below and the sky above were the same colourless shade and the houses spiralling below his feet were strokes of a pen against paper. He gazed below him at the commoners living on the ground, close to the earth and snow. Above them, the castle dominated the town with its shadow and the weaving staircases ran spider webs across the sky.
He kicked a loose rock from the steps and watched it plummet to the ground. They were indeed high above the ground, so high the bids did not reach his ears and the sounds of life from the town below could not quite be heard.
There was one voice though, a voice humming tunelessly. He turned in search of its source and found a boy sitting on the staircase across from him, swinging his legs over the side.
"You're Ashura-ouji, aren't you?" the boy twirled a flower between his delicate fingers
Ashura gazed at the boy without reply. The child seemed to be his age, though with magic running through one's veins a person's looks were always deceptive. The boy smiled at him with a friendly readiness that caught Ashura's full attention.
"I'm currently in training. Fai D Flowright but you can just call me Fai," the blond boy introduced himself, meeting Ashura's gaze with a pair of startling blue eyes.
Ashura shifted uncomfortably, unused to being addressed with such unabashed openness "Pleasure," he grunted then fine-tunes his attention to the object in the boy's hands "Where did you get that flower from?"
"Do you like it?" Fai glanced at the fragile petals as if only just realising what it was. "Ashura-ouji can have it if he wants, there are plenty more around," he thrust it across the gap of air between their two staircases.
Ashura accepted it with the tentativeness of one handling an unstable explosive. "Where did you get it?" He asked, askance.
Fai giggled, bringing a hand to his mouth to hide his smile. "It's a secret…but if Ashura-ouji want to know then I guess that I have to tell you."
He cupped a handful of snow in his palms. Whispering sweet nothings to the stained snow, it melted in his pale hand, reshaping itself into a blue rose.
"Pretty isn't it?" he offered the second flower to his prince.
Ashura now stared openly at this boy, this trainee wizard. Never before had he been talked to in such a manner. Fai slipped between formal and informal language as if politeness was an afterthought; his eyes met his unchangingly but without fear. Blond hair and blue eyes was not uncommon colouring but Fai's hair seemed just a little paler than hay, more like the snow upon the first of the day's light, and his eyes just a little bluer, a little richer than topaz.
Then Ashura realised.
"Wait! You can't turn snow into flowers!"
It was a rule. Objects were made up of elements and an equal amount of those elements were needed to change one thing into another. Snow was ice and flowers were earth. Where was the balance? Where did the earth element needed to make the flower come from?
"But I just did. I'm good at this sort of thing…transformation," Fai began idly plucking petals, tossing them to the wind where, somewhere below, a young peasant girl would find each sapphire petal.
"Then," Ashura shifted as close as possible, "then could you make food? Is it possible to make food out of rocks and snow?"
For the first time, Fai's smile faded. "I could," he nodded, "but there would be no point."
"What are you talking about? Ceres is always short of food!"
"I could turn it into food and it would look like food, probably taste like food too, it'd fill you up and make you content but there would be no point in eating it," the wizard-in-training shook his head. "There would be none of the nutrients, none of the goodness in real food. It would be like eating flavoured air."
Ashura slumped back, releasing the breath he did not know he had been holding. Just as he thought that he had found the answer, it had been cruelly dashed before his eyes. Of course, he told himself bitterly; if it were that simple, the court magicians would have done so by now.
"My father was arguing with the Grand wizard. It's always about food and the harvest," he muttered.
"Then, when you become king, all you have to do is make sure that the people have enough food. You'll be a good king!" Fai grinned.
Ashura almost jumped, taken aback by the boy's optimism and zeal. "Stop!" he could not fight the blush, "you'll jinx it!"
"It's true!" Fai insisted. He was edging so close that Ashura was afraid the boy would forget the open space between their staircases and fall to the earth. "I want Ashura-ouji to be the best king in the world!"
XX
"Idiot," Ashura breathed. "I told you that you would jinx it."
He slammed his fist against a crumbling pillar, wishing he were capable of turning back the time. Everything was so different and he had no idea how to fix things. He wanted his kingdom back, he wanted the castle back in its full glory; he wanted his people back and the life that he knew. Everything was gone now and it was that man's entire fault.
He made his way back to the pool where he had awoken. There was nothing left now. Only the now crumbling castle and the man whom had betrayed him were all that was left.
The man that had betrayed him stood on the other side of the pool's water, out of the light that filtered from the holes in the ceiling as if afraid to be touched by the light. The man that had betrayed him, with hair just a little paler than hay and eyes just a little richer than topaz, stood wearing a sad smile.
"Ashura-ou?"
Ashura smiled. There he was - the man that was responsible for everything.
XX
"The feather?" Syaoran's eyes widened. Even in the darkness Fai could see the boy's face grow light with happiness of locating it then darken at the prospect of fighting Ashura.
Syaoran glanced at him as if to ask 'is it okay?' Would Fai be okay? In truth, the mage had no idea if he would ever be okay but he smiled nevertheless.
"So…why did you wait to tell us this?" a sudden looming presence hovered over his shoulder.
"Kuro-tan!" Fai almost jumped but he managed to gather himself in time to mask his shock with a defensive smile. "Weren't you sleeping?" he asked weakly.
Kurogane ran an irritated hand through his dark hair. "I was until I heard you get up and leave. So, why did you wait to tell us about such an important thing?"
Fai turned away. "I don't want to betray Ashura-ou again. I thought, when he saw the current situation, he would give it up."
"You already sealed him away for a hundred years, it's pretty damn late to beg for forgiveness now, don't you think?" Kurogane asked, completely deadpan and Fai tried to hide the hurt by turning his back on the taller man.
"With the feather, Ashura-ou's power will have increased. He has not used it yet because there was no need but if we attack him straight on, he won't hesitate to use it."
"Then…" Syaoran began but there was no need to continue. All three of them knew what had to be done.
Fai stepped back, letting the shadows claim most of his face whilst the puppy duo discussed the best course of action.
This was for the best, he told himself. This was for the best, just as sealing Ashura away had been 'for the best.'
XX
Now the mage steadied his resolve. This was the only way, he told himself. No time for regrets. This was the only way. Breaking out his trademark fake smile, his slowly approached his volatile king.
"It's my fault," he spoke in a near whisper. "It's because I wished for you to become the best king in the world. It's because you met me. If I had just let you be…"
Fai shook his head, holding out his hand as if asking for Ashura to take it, though that would have been like asking for his hand to be cut off and there was a pool of clear water separating the two.
"Please give me the feather."
"Excuse me?" Ashura's face contorted with amusement and contempt.
"The feather, it belongs to Sakura-chan," Fai reiterated. For once there was no attempt to hide behind his smile. His face was stony.
"I need this feather," Ashura growled, holding his cloak closer to his body.
Fai looked particularly strained; his smile came back to him, a small, wistful smile. "Ashura-ou, is there any point in - "
"Of course there is!" Ashura snapped with sudden vehemence. After all this time, Fai was still going against him, still protesting against his dream. He glanced around the room, remembering the point that they had stopped at the night before. "Where are your comrades? Don't they want to hear our lovely story?" he asked.
Something flickered across the wizard's face. It blossomed across his face for less than a second before dying just as quickly yet Ashura saw it. What was it? He had seen that expression somewhere before.
"Ashura-ou," Fai began to walk towards him.
Ashura drew back. That was where he had seen it! That same look, the same pathetic smile, those same eyes of impossible blue, crystallised regret. Fai wore that same expression just before betraying him.
It would happen again. Again and again, his never-ending betrayal reflected in the eternity his eyes.
"I want Ashura-ouji to be the best king in the world!"
"I'm sorry, Ashura-ou, you left me no choice."
XX
Ashura spun around, raising his hand before him. The warm fire of magic flowing through his veins began to race, rushing to his call as the sword bore down on him. The blade collided with his shield, throwing sparks into the air. The sudden force of the two opposing forces blasted them back in a burst of smoke.
From the fading tendrils, Ashura rose, his eyes blazing with the heat of anger and hatred. Again, he had been betrayed again.
Across the chamber, the boy - Ashura had no clue of his name - approached him slowly, the sword that had almost struck him lying in his gloved hand.
"Please, if you have Sakura-hime's feather, please return it!" he cried. Though he asked politely, his eyes betrayed him, they told the king how desperate the boy was, how determined he was to retrieve the feather and yet, when he had been attacked, Ashura felt no murderous intent in the boy's swing.
It was funny. It was almost too funny. So Fai had somehow managed to get the boy into the castle unnoticed and set up such a small, pathetic trap before he arrived. He laughed. It was just too funny; of course he would laugh. He would laugh when he beat the boy too and he would laugh when he punished his faithless wizard.
"Please, just hand over the feather!" the boy tried again.
Ashura refused to dignify such an idiotic request with an answer. If the boy wanted the feather, he was welcome to try and take it. He touched a slab of fallen ceiling and it transformed into a long, if crude staff in his hands.
A blast of magic left Ashura's staff. The boy met it with the Hein's fiery blade, slicing it in two as he charged. Ashura rose his staff as the boy's sword slashed at his chest. The boy was talented, he would admit, but inexperienced. Ashura waited to an opening to appear before he pushed out with another wave of magic. Raising his staff, he went for the opening he saw, already seeing the blood that he would shed.
His staff met the cold steel of another sword. He leapt away from the wipe that would surely have decapitated him, leaving him room to calculate this knew aggressor.
The man was taller and heavier than the boy was; his stance spoke of years of experience. Kurogane, he thought he once heard the boy call the man.
"This seriously pisses me off!" the ninja growled, raising his sword.
Ashura bore into him, pushing Kurogane backwards. They shot through several stone walls, all the while exchanging furious blows.
Fai and the boy ran after them, following the trail of destruction left by the two battling men.
They continued to spar in the darkness of another chamber. Only the illuminating beam of Ashura's magic cast any light upon the room. Steel echoed against the stones, screeching as Kurogane's sword collided with Ashura's staff.
The blade of Hein burst into flames and Syaoran prepared himself to aid Kurogane when the chamber began to shake. It rumbled and growled, loosening flecks of stone from the cavernous ceiling.
Everyone stopped and listened.
Ashura-ou leapt away from the battle to spark of ball of blue flames. It hovered above his palm before multiplying into several smaller flames, which moved to surround the perimeter of the chamber.
The blue light glowed with eerie iridescence and a large pair of sightless eyes was reflected in their glow.
XX
"Here you go," Kaede slid a bowl of hot soup towards Sakura. "Don't trouble yourself with our worries, I'm sure that things will return to normal soon."
Sakura graciously accepted the offering of steaming, unidentifiable lumps of brown drifting in a pea green sea. "How…how long has this epidemic lasted?"
Kaede pushed her glasses to the bridge of her nose. Smiling when there was absolutely nothing to smile about seemed to be a habit given to all those that were born in Ceres.
"A long time," she replied, "but it's fine, I - "
"Kaede-san!" Sakura caught her as she fell. The young woman coughed and swayed in her arms.
"I'm okay, just a little tired"
"You should rest!" she insisted.
"The castle," Kaede straightened herself, using the back of a chair as a cane. "Do you see why it is cursed? The castle is dark with sin and blood. Even the stones are moaning."
Sakura glanced at the crumbling castle. When she had first seen it, it looked beautiful, its spiky wing-
like projections glittering with immortal brilliance. In the light of the day, it only loomed ominously over them, casting a long shadow over the town. The darkness of the stones were impossible to tell but instead of moaning they seemed to be calling, calling to her in a tiny, curious voice.
"Sakura-chan?" Kaede cast her a quizzical glance.
"I hear a voice," she murmured, "calling me."
Without knowing why, her legs suddenly began to move, her arms threw the door open and she flew across the freshly fallen snow. She felt Mokona grab a hold of her hood but she did not stop, even whilst Kaede called after her she kept running. It was calling to her.
XX
"Kuro-chan, stop!" Fai pleaded but the ninja was beyond all reasoning.
"What is it?" Syaoran breathed.
"Ashura-ou, why is this thing here?" Fai stabbed his finger at the creature whilst he tried to deter the ninja's sudden, frenzied attacks.
Ashura ran a tired hand through his raven hair. " I put it to sleep, saving it for an emergency, but it seems it has now awakened," he shrugged, as if the giant demon was a common, castle pet.
"Th - this thing!" Kurogane cried as he unleashed an assault of furious attacks upon the creature's body. His heart was pounding. Had it been beating quite as fast back then? He had fought this kind of creature before, this creature that looked exactly the same.
"Kurogane-san!" Syaoran cried as the ninja jumped away from its snapping mouth only to return to his barrage of attacks.
"Kurogane!" Fai had given up the inane nicknames, his expression panicked.
"This thing!" he roared.
Why did it have to look the same? It was almost identical. If only it had different fangs, if only its hide was a different colour, then he would not have to feel so disgusted, then he would not have to feel such necessity to kill it. If only it did not look like that demon that held his father's sword in its mouth along with...along with…
The creature opened its mouth, amassing a terrible ball of energy. It formed quickly in its mouth, too quickly to move. Kurogane only twisted in time to see it leaving the creature, heading straight towards him.
He felt something collide with his body, something smaller than him. A white blur? It pushed him aside, free of the deathly blast.
It was not until he heard Syaoran's panicked cry of "Fai-san!" that he managed to comprehend the entirety of what had happened.
XX
Sakura reached the chamber where Fai's king had first awakened. It seemed more ruined than before; the pillars were slashed and there were traces of scorch marks on the stone floor.
Warily, she approached the pool, staring at her own reflection in the crystal waters. Mokona remained oddly silent as she watched her underwater twin stare at her with equally wide, green eyes.
"The voice…" she murmured.
"Mokona doesn't sense anything," the manjuu whispered.
Sakura nodded and walked around the pool. She had heard something, she was sure of it. A ghost, perhaps. Perhaps it was a spirit of a wizard with earthly attachments to the castle. Something had called her to the ruined chamber.
"Chi?"
There it was again. A gentle, innocent voice, tentatively calling to her like a child that wanted her mother's attention.
Sakura scanned the chamber. The crumbling remnants of the ceiling were scattered haphazardly across the floor, the pool glittered under the light and the walls were scarred with cracks and crevices. She looked down at the dusty floor, also cracked and scarred. In the corner, the strange net-like thing that had been removed from over the water lay in a sorry heap.
She moved towards it almost instinctively. It drew her towards it as helpless as a moth before a flame.
"Were you the one calling me?"
"Chi," the voice came again, only closer and tinted with happiness. "Chi can't move so Chi needs a favour."
Crouching besides the thing, Sakura ran her hand across the hard ridges. "I'm sorry, I don't know how to turn you back," she apologised; though she was unsure of how she knew that the thing had another form.
"That's okay. Chi will ask for a favour."
Oops, it seems I have entered theterritory of the strange and unbelievable. I hope that this chapter was worth the long wait. Unfortunately, there may be another long wait before the next. Sorry.