Disclaimer; I don't own Tsubasa. And for those who care, I don't update abnormally fast. Everyone else just updates abnormally slow (j/k). Anyway, enjoy.

The Writer's Tale

Their reactions were instantaneous.

"Congratulations!"

"Who's the mom?"

"Shit."

"Awwww, I'm a daddy!"

"Fai-daddy!"

"Alright, everyone shut up!"

Everyone fell silent, everyone smiling brightly except for Kurogane, who scowled and narrowed his eyes at the author before dropping into the chair beside Fai's bed.

Shit. He's got a daughter, which means he's got a fucking girlfriend, which means… fuck, I never even had a chance.

"Kurogane-sama? Are you okay?"

The ninja glared at Makayla, who shrank back slightly.

"I'm fine," he snapped. "Now either tell us what the fuck is going on or I'm leaving."

The other Fai smiled cheerfully.

"Nice to meet you, Kuro-rin," he greeted. The swordsman growled.

"Don't call me that," he snapped. "My name's Kurogane."

The other mage smiled.

"But of course," he replied. "Kurogane-san, then."

The swordsman nodded, not really paying attention.

"Um… Dad, this is… actually, you already know them all, technically," Makayla said, smiling slightly. "Sakura-chan, Syaoran-kun, Mokona - oh, you don't know him, do you? That's him right there, on Fai's head-" she pointed at them as she said their names - "and then the two you know best of all, Fai, and Kurogane-sama."

The other Fai smiled at them all in turn.

"Pleased to make our acquaintances," he said brightly. "My name's Fye, spelled F-Y-E, for anyone who cares."

Kurogane growled. They were exactly the same - same name, same attitude, same fake ass smiles. Fye and Fai turned toward him, both smiling.

"Something wrong, Kurogane-san?"

"What's wrong, Kuro-tan?"

Makayla let out a strangled laugh, and the ninja glared at her.

"Shut up, all of you," he growled, scowling at the mage and his alternate. Makayla smiled.

"Kurogane-sama, no point getting all defensive and closed off before we start," she scolded playfully. "And Dad, stop smiling or else I'll tell on you when we go to visit Jason and Father."

Kurogane looked at her sharply. Did she just say…?

"Okay, starting from the beginning," the writer sighed as she sat on the unoccupied bed beside Fai. "First of all, my parents are both male. They used a surrogate when they decided to have kids."

"What's a surrogate?" Syaoran asked from where he stood by Fai. The ninja was curious, too - they didn't have such a thing in Nihon. Makayla flushed.

"Um… look it up," she said after a moment. "Now, they used a surrogate because by the laws of nature a man cannot carry a child. So they went to this special hospital where you donate… um, actually, you know what? I'll skip ahead a ways, this is way too embarrassing - Dad, say a word and I'll leave you here."

Fye, who had opened his mouth to address them, closed it. Apparently Makayla's other dad was important enough to him to listen to her.

"Anyway, after I was born, my parents had to give up some… baby making materials to our surrogate, because that was the agreement, she'd carry me and they'd let her have a kid to keep. So a few years later, when her and her husband failed to conceive, she came to collect on that debt, and nine months later the devil child was born," she went on, a note of bitterness was apparent in her voice at the end. "Evron…

"He was a cute kid!" Fye said suddenly, smiling brightly. "Him and Aya, they were inseparable."

"Aya?" Sakura repeated. "That's a pretty name."

"It was her nickname," Makayla said, staring down at the floor. "Her full name was Ayana… it means 'beautiful blossom'."

She fell silent.

"Yeah, they were best friends, those two," Fye mused, smiling softly. "Evron, the short tempered, lazy, reckless blonde, and Aya, the level headed, responsible, open minded brunette. They made quite a team."

Silence reigned for a moment.

"Well who the hell is she?" Kurogane finally snapped. Makayla looked up and smiled at him.

"She was Evron's twin sister," she said quietly, still smiling. The ninja raised an eyebrow.

"Was?" he repeated. "What happened to her?"

"Anyway, we grew up pretty well, all things considered," the author went on with her tale, ignoring him. "Best friends - wherever one of us was they knew how the others were. Aya wanted to be a children's book author, and I was in school to become a director. You know we wanted to travel the world, and Evron wanted to go with us. I promised them a part in my first movie. It was going to be about two angels who were cast from heaven, and in the end they return as heroes. Clichéd, I know, but we were so excited about it. I met my screenwriter at a high school reunion for my dad's graduating class. Kaylee's younger brother. Jason… Sakura-san and Syaoran-sensei's son."

The two teenagers tensed noticeably and moved apart. Kurogane rolled his eyes.

"We were in our final year of high school, and working on our movie, when we were married. Then a year later Seth was born. Aya and Evron were in their second year of high school at the time. Aya was seeing someone named… Michael, I think, and Evron was with a really sweet child, Ella, her name was. She was Aya's best friend, next to Evron."

"They made really cute couples," Fye spoke up, giving his daughter a hug. " Especially Kayla and Jason."

"Dad!" the twenty-one year old cried indignantly. "I didn't make a cute couple with anyone!"

The man pouted.

"Anyway, on mine and Jason's last night in Raisu, we all decided to go to a nearby mall," Makayla went on, flushing slightly. "Father paid for everyone - me, Jason, Ella, Aya, Evron, Michael, Daidoji-san-"

"What?" Kurogane leapt to his feet. "Daidoji?"

Makayla nodded.

"Tomoyo-san," she muttered before continuing, "Sakura-san and Syaoran-sensei were there, too. We all got on the bus that would take us there. About half a dozen others were there, too. We were… happy."

She paused again, and Fye took the opportunity to address the ninja.

"Kurogane-san, how much of this has she told you?" he asked, still smiling. The swordsman shrugged.

"Not much," he replied. "Only that she was going to be a director. Oh, and one of the nurses mentioned an accident."

Fye nodded slowly and turned to face Fai. He looked him over once and smiled.

"There was a car bomb in one of the cars parked nearby when we stopped," he said softly, still smiling. "It went off a few seconds after we stopped."

"Sakura and Syaoran were closest," Makayla whispered, smiling at them. "And then it was Evron and Aya and Daidoji-san. And I… I was on the other side of the bus with Jason and Seth. So when the bomb went off… Father… threw himself in front of Evron and Daidoji-san, but Aya… she was thrown against the other side of the bus. Jason caught her, and I got Seth… and then fire hit the gas tank. I'm not sure what happened after that. I only remember waking up in this hospital a few days later, and my doctor told me that Jason and his parents were dead, and that my father was a goner… and that Evron was fine, because Michael and Ella… he never got over it. I don't blame him, of course, but he wasn't this way until later, much later.

"That night I received word that my father had died, and that Dad was still with him, and Seth would be allowed to come visit me soon. We were all released from the hospital a few days later.

"Dad decided to put his medical training to good use. He got a job here, and I would come in and help out every now and then. Seth was put in a temporary foster home for a few months until CPS was sure I was mentally stable, and then he was released back into my custody. But Daidoji-san… she was diagnosed with emotional trauma a few months later, and for a while the only ones allowed to see her where the hospital staff and me. Evron was stuck in a foster home. He kept in constant contact - letters, phone calls, anything he could do to talk to her. And she was getting better, she really was. Soon they decided to let him go see her."

She paused again.

"Everything went fine, at first," Fye continued for her, smiling at nothing. "She talked with him, joked with him, hugged and kissed him. She was the happiest she'd been since the accident. But then…"

"She saw his eyes," Makayla said bitterly. "She saw my father's eyes, and she was reliving the whole thing all over again. Seth wasn't even allowed to visit her after that, and that hurt him. But Evron…" she took a deep breath. "You saw him. He lost it. He felt as if she'd rejected him, and there wasn't anything we could say to make him feel better. About six months ago he got to where he is now. They tried to bring him in for emotional trauma, but every one of his doctors would check him out immediately. They were terrified of him. He'd always been good at finding people's weaknesses, but he took it to a whole new level. He'd snapped, and there was nothing we could do."

Silence filled the room. Makayla grinned at them, and he had the insane urge to reach over and hit her.

"So anyway, this is my dad," she re-introduced him. The ninja narrowed his eyes.

"Why did you tell us?" he asked, blinking. The author grinned at him.

"Because you deserve an explanation," she replied, standing. "And since I know so much about you, I thought I should tell you a little about myself."

"Makayla?" The writer turned toward Sakura and grinned at her.

"What is it, princess?" she asked, still smiling. The girl glanced at Fye before asking, "Your father… it was the Kurogane-san of this world, wasn't it?"

Makayla smiled again.

"How could you tell?" she asked. The princess flushed.

"Well… ou look a little like him… and Seth has his eyes," she replied, smiling sheepishly.

Kurogane didn't hear her. Her father… is the me of this world… and Fai is her dad? That… that means…

"Kurogane-sama." Makayla poked his forehead. "My dad wants a private word with Fai."

The ninja nodded dumbly and followed them out of the room. The Fai of this world… and the me of this world…

I have a chance. He wanted to scream it to the heavens. I HAVE A CHANCE!!

--

Fai smiled at his older alternate as he took over the seat Kurogane had been sitting in and smiled.

"You love him, don't you?" he asked, scooting closer to the bed. Fai looked away. They both knew he didn't have to answer that question. After all, they were the same person.

"What does it matter?" he muttered, eyes filling with scalding tears. "He deserves better."

"He doesn't want better," Fye smiled and turned his head back toward him. "He wants you."

The magician laughed.

"Only because he doesn't know anything about me," he muttered, turning away and staring at the ceiling. His double chuckled.

"'I'm not good enough for him. If he knew anything about me he'd run. I'm only burden to him,'" the other said slowly. "I thought the exact same thing. But when he learned everything, he still loved me. Even when he learned about the real Fye he just hugged me close and called me an idiot."

The wizard chuckled, turning away from his older alternate.

"I can't tell him… he'd hate me," he whispered. Fye sighed.

"I doubt that."

"Why?"

"He was worried about you, wasn't he?"

The mage smiled bitterly.

"Only because he's an idiot," he dropped all pretense of a smile as he turned toward his double. "What intelligent human being would love me?"

"He confessed then?" Fye said, looking bemused. "What did you do?"

"I called him a liar," the wizard chuckled. "The liar accused another of lying."

"Tell him the truth."

Fai stared at him.

"Excuse me?"

"Tell him the truth."

"No."

"Are you scared?"

The magician glanced up at the ceiling.

"Of course not," he muttered. "But he deserves so much more, and I don't want to hurt them…"

"Coward," Fye stated simply. The mage shut his eyes and nodded.

"I know," he growled. "I know! But what am I supposed to do, exactly? I'm not you!"

The alternate chuckled.

"You're stronger than I was," he replied. "When he told me I flat out punched him and ran away from home so he couldn't find me."

Fai turned toward him, eyes wide.

"What?!" he exclaimed. The other nodded.

"Just tell him," he repeated, standing and heading for the door. "You'll be better off, trust me."

A/N; Wow, that was really clichéd. Ah, well. I hope you enjoyed it anyway.

Reviews are good. They make me smile.