Next chapter on the 17th of October.
Fai comes to with a headache, dizziness, a hand in his hair, between ears that should not be there, and that man standing above him, tan arm in front of Fai's face, palm turned up.
He knocks it away from the hand holding the knife, sits up as quickly as he can, swallowing against the spike of nausea which runs through him.
"How dare you?" He spits, closing his eyes for a moment, the sound of blood rushing only worsening the scratching feeling at the back of his throat, the hunger which curls in his body like some kind of horrid monster.
"I think you should leave." That man says, looking beyond Fai to the boy who he knows stands behind him by sound, the girl sat by his head.
They both do as he says, Syaoran supporting Sakura's laboured walking, Mokona glancing at him worriedly from where the small creature clings to the princess' shoulder.
None of them says a word and Fai watches them leave, that flimsy door closing behind them with a soft click.
For a moment Fai stares at it, feeling a mixture of betrayal and gratefulness. Then his gaze shifts to the other man, arms crossed over his chest now, leaning back against the wall.
His red eyes are sharp and they are both quiet.
Fai will not speak first but he cannot look away.
"The kids are worried about you." He says eventually, voice low but clear.
It's a low blow but Fai just grits his teeth, looks away, down at the corner of the bed where the sheet is barely tucked in now.
He says nothing.
"You're going to hurt them if you keep treating yourself like this." That man says.
Fai can't respond, can't look at him.
He doesn't want that but he can't avoid it.
He licks his lips, swallows again.
"And?" Fai says, as if he doesn't care, as if the idea of upsetting them doesn't take away his breath and make him feel sick to his stomach.
There's another awkward moment which stretches out between them.
"I know you don't want that." There is something softer then, soothing almost, in the man's voice and Fai can't help but hate it even as his throat betrays him and he buries his face in his hands and covers his sobs with laughter which doesn't sound real even to himself.
"And since when has it mattered what I want?" Fai asks, not wanting to look at that man, knowing he's crying and how awful it must look but forcing himself to anyway, to make Kurogane see what he's done to him.
"Since you decided that I would be better off alive and had me changed into this?" The mage spits, standing from the bed on limbs which feel steady only from his burning anger.
Kurogane says nothing.
The silence is deafening.
And then;
"Yes."