Author's Notes: Eheheh...been meaning to post the rest of this and got lazy and forgot. Whoopsie.
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"We'll leave the horses here." Kurogane reined his horse to a stop. Up ahead he could see a tall, thin structure sticking out of the ground. It was a lamp post made of silver, a straight thin piece of metal with symbols carved all around it. Blue jewels adorned the top around the lamp, but the light was out and it looked as though it had not been lit for some time. The lamppost itself had the appearance of being once a proud and magnificent artifact that had been long neglected and the once-shining silver had grown scratched and dull.
"Kurogane-san?" Sakura looked at him curiously. "Do you know where we are?"
"This is the silver lamp!" Mokona spoke up from its warm hiding spot inside the hood of her cloak. "This marks the path to King Ashura's castle."
"But there isn't a path," Sakura protested. "The one we were following disappeared days ago."
"There used to be one," Mokona told her. "It's covered by snow."
"But if it's a path to the castle, shouldn't the road be cleared by tracks?" Sakura pressed. "Even in the winter the path to the manor house was always clear because of all the people and caravans that came to see my brother. And that woman bandit said that they sent messengers to the king. I'm sure they weren't the only town who did that if things are so bad, shouldn't that have cleared the road?"
"This isn't a natural snow, Lady," Kurogane spoke up. "This entire place gives me a bad feeling." Like that stupid blond idiot, he thought grimly, very aware of the black feather he had tucked safely into his belt. The other he had secretly placed inside Sakura's cloak when she'd taken it off to use as a blanket the night before. It was easier than explaining everything to her. Easier than thinking of Fai, dying forever in the moonlight.
"Are you sure we should leave the horses?" Sakura asked, even as she prepared to dismount.
"I don't like doing it, but I think we should," Kurogane said. He glanced at Mokona. "White thing. How far are we from the castle?"
"Not far, even on foot," the white creature replied. "And Mokona is Mokona."
"Whatever," Kurogane said, removing his pack from the horse's back. He looked over at Sakura, who was struggling slightly with hers. "Are you going to be able to carry that?"
"I'll be fine," Sakura said with a shaky smile. "It's not very heavy, really. And….and anyway, Syaoran-kun's present is in here." She bit her lip nervously, and Kurogane decided to let the subject drop.
"Let's go."
"Will the horses be okay?" Sakura wondered as she hurried to keep up with Kurogane's long strides.
"We shouldn't be gone long," Kurogane said. "They can take care of themselves until then."
Sakura nodded slowly. She shivered a little as a cold wind blew past and pulled her cloak tighter around her shoulders. Mokona snuggled close against her.
As they walked past the silver lamp, Kurogane felt something move in the air. A strange prickling feeling ran down his spine and he shook his head as if to clear it. He looked over at Sakura and saw her shudder visibly as she stepped forward. Sakura paused for a moment and looked back at the lamp, then turned to Kurogane.
"Did you feel that?" she asked in a hushed tone.
"Ignore it," Kurogane said. "And stop looking back. If you're determined to do this, you have to look forward."
Sakura lowered her eyes for just a moment before nodding resolutely.
"Right. Let's go, then."
They walked in silence for a while, and Kurogane found himself glancing cautiously at the trees as they passed. It was far too quiet. There was definitely something wrong.
He thought of Fai standing rigid and cold in the moonlight and of two black feathers clutched in white hands.
"Kurogane-san!" Sakura's hushed cry attracted his attention. The girl pointed to one of the snow-covered trees nearby.
Two birds sat in the tree branches, frozen and unmoving, one with its wings partially stretched out as if about to fly. Neither one moved, and their eyes stared ahead unblinking, but they didn't appear to be dead.
"What's wrong with them?" Sakura wondered softly.
"Magic," Mokona breathed, and Kurogane glanced sharply towards it.
"Did it just affect the animals?" Sakura asked it. "Is that why it's so quiet?"
"Mokona doesn't know." The creature sounded uncertain and sad.
"We'll see eventually," Kurogane said. "Keep walking."
It wasn't long before they saw a figure up ahead, standing like a statue in the middle of the road. Kurogane heard Sakura's breath hitch as they approached.
It was a man, dressed in the same voluminous cloak and face-covering hood as the bandits they had met on the road earlier. The man's pose suggested someone walking against a strong wind, and there was a rolled piece of parchment clutched tight at his side. Like the birds, he neither blinked nor breathed, but did not give us the impression of someone dead. Despite the snow that partially covered his body, what little visible skin he had was rough and tan, and there was no trace of blue around it. He didn't look frozen to death at all, despite his motionless stance.
"Is he…he's not dead, is he?" Sakura said, a slight tremor in her voice. "Kurogane-san?"
"No," Kurogane said, nodding his head in agreement. "He's not." His voice was certain, but even he wasn't sure how he knew. "I think we know what happened to those messengers that woman mentioned."
"I don't understand," Sakura said. "What happened to him?"
"Was it magic?" Kurogane looked over at Mokona. "That's what you said before."
"Time magic," Mokona said. Its voice was uncharacteristically serious. "His time is stopped."
"Like the birds," Kurogane said. "Is that what we felt when we passed that lamp?"
"Mokona feels a very strong magic here," the white creature confirmed. "Mokona felt it when we passed that place."
"If the spell started there, how did he get so far?" Sakura asked. "And why are we okay?"
"Mokona isn't sure," the white creature told her. "But Yuuko-san once said that some spells can be gradual and you can fight against them before they take you."
"So he fought the spell this far and then it got him?" Kurogane looked dubious.
"He does look like he was fighting against something, doesn't he?" Sakura spoke up. "Like he was walking against something strong. But he didn't reach the castle." She looked worried. "Is it going to get us too?"
"If it was, we'd feel it already," Kurogane said dismissively.
"Maybe something's protecting us?" Sakura mused. "Moko-chan, is that something you can do?"
"No, Mokona doesn't have that power," the creature replied, shaking its head.
"Who cares what it is?" Kurogane said. "We should keep moving. Is this the right way, white pork bun?"
"This is," Mokona agreed. "The path is covered, but this is the right way."
"Then that's all I care about." Kurogane placed a hand on the hilt of his sword. "Stop staring at him and let's go."
"But…" Sakura hung back for moment. "Should we really leave him like this?"
"We can't do anything for him now," Kurogane said. "I'm not dragging him along with us."
"But if we took him back to where the lamp is, maybe he'd be all right." Sakura still seemed reluctant to leave the frozen figure.
"And then maybe this spell or whatever the hell it is would get us when we came back him and you'll never be able to save the kid," Kurogane said. "Whatever's wrong with this place, the castle will be where we'll find out what it is. So come on."
"R-right." Sakura nodded. With one last worried look at the frozen man, she hurried after Kurogane.
As they got further down the unseen road, they began to pass more and more figures suffering from the same frozen malady. Animals could be seen along the sides of the road, more birds frozen in mid-flight, rabbits stilled as they ran from wolves that could no longer catch them, even a small deer paused as it reached over to pull some bark off a tree. Worse than the animals were the people. Some were clearly messengers, while others looked to be warriors or even refugees. All had the same posture of someone fighting against a strong wind.
By the time they were able to see the castle in the distance, a huge dark structure surrounded by high gray clouds and thick walls of ice, the frozen people had changed. Now they all stood like giant porcelain figurines, frozen in the most normal of acts – greeting a friend, bending down to pick a long-since dead flower, carrying baskets of fruit home for a meal. Their expressions were untroubled, as if they had been hit by the spell before they even had time to realize it.
"And the animals and the birds that lived in the kingdom of snow were frozen, and this land became a timeless land," Sakura murmured as they passed a pair of children walking hand and hand down the road.
"What was that?" Kurogane asked sharply.
"I think I know this story," Sakura said. "I think I've heard this somewhere before. I can't remember it now, but I'm sure I know this."
"That's not much help, Lady," Kurogane said.
"I know," Sakura replied. "But still. Moko-chan, does it sound familiar to you?"
"You should know, shouldn't you?" Kurogane said suddenly. "White thing. You know what's going on here. You traveled with that idiot."
"Mokona doesn't remember," the white creature said. "Mokona remembers traveling with Fai, and being Fai's cat. But Mokona doesn't remember anything else."
"Useless," Kurogane snorted.
"Mokona is being very helpful! Mokona led the way!"
"You've been very helpful, Moko-chan," Sakura said encouragingly. Kurogane grunted and turned away from them both.
Kurogane slowed their pace as they got closer to the castle, keeping an eye out for any sign of impending ambush or guards. However, there appeared to be no one anywhere nearby. It was as if there was nobody even aware of their presence, despite their close proximity to the castle. Kurogane listened for the telltale sound of fluttering wings or a crow's cry, but heard nothing. The land was as dead as it had been since they first passed the silver lamp.
"This doesn't seem right." Sakura's voice was hushed and she pulled her cloak tighter around her shoulders, shivering in the cold. "There's no one here, either." She bit her lip. "Do—do you think this happened to Syaoran-kun, too? The thing that froze all those people?"
"We won't know until we find him," Kurogane said, evading the real answer. It only made him think of Fai in the moonlight again, and he gritted his teeth against the thought.
Soon they found themselves standing at the foot of what had once surely been a magnificent staircase that led upwards to the castle door. The structure, like most everything else they had passed, seemed to be suffering from a long period of disuse, crumbling in place and covered in snow.
"It's sad…" Sakura said quietly. "There's something sad about this place." She shivered slightly.
"Mokona can feel it, too," the white creature said.
"It's like no one has been here in the longest time," Sakura said. She held Mokona close. "It feels so lonely here."
Kurogane didn't reply to either of them. Pulling out his sword, he carefully began to ascend the steps. Sakura hung back for a moment, eyes closed as if listening hard for something, before giving a deep sigh and hurrying after him.
By the time they reached the castle doors Sakura was visibly out of breath and her hands were white around the straps of her pack. Kurogane, however, showed no signs of weariness as he stared at the closed gates. Something caught his eye and he leaned over to see a pair of men standing frozen on either side of the doors, both almost hidden by the snow.
"Guards," Kurogane noted. He walked over to one and brushed some of the snow away. The man's expression was surprised, and he appeared to have been in the midst of turning around to run inside when he'd been frozen. One hand rested unmoving on the hilt of a sword that had been only half-drawn, and the steel blade was scratched and rusted.
"Do you think everyone here is frozen?" Sakura wondered quietly. "Is that why everything looks so abandoned here?"
"Not everyone," Kurogane said grimly. "That guy who took the kid wasn't frozen. And that blond idiot."
"Fai-san…" Sakura murmured. "I hope he's all right. Do you think he's here too, with Syaoran-kun?"
Kurogane didn't reply, but the tight grip he had on his sword made the answer clear. Without another word he strode forward to the castle gates. They creaked loudly as he opened them, and Sakura winced at the sound.
"Are you coming?" Kurogane stood in the doorway and looked back at Sakura, who was still looking at the frozen guards. She nodded and hurried after him.
They walked in silence through a long, winding hall, their footsteps echoing along the high walls. The only light was from the windows above, a dim gray light filtered through clouds. The hallway and walls were silvery-blue ice and covered in a thin but noticeable layer of dust. Occasionally they would pass a door or winding stairway, but still Kurogane kept walking forward. Everything around them was silent and dead, and even their breathing seemed too loud in the stillness. Here and there they could see the silhouettes of frozen people, half-hidden by the shadows, and Kurogane walked quickly by without looking at them.
At last the hallway split into five winding paths, and Kurogane stopped walking.
"Which way should we go?" Sakura wondered aloud. Kurogane didn't answer for a moment, thinking.
"White thing," he said at last. "That stupid blond…he used you to sense those whatever-they-were, shards. Can you still tell where they are?"
"Mokona can." The white creature was quiet for a moment, as if concentrating. After a moment, its eyes opened and it pointed down the far hall. "Mokona senses something that way."
"Then that's where the kid is." Kurogane readjusted his grip on his sword. "Can you tell anything else? Is there anything else here?"
"There's a very strong power, too," Mokona replied after another thoughtful pause. "Two powers. Down that way." It pointed to the middle fork.
"The idiot and the king," Kurogane said. He smirked. "Perfect."
"Kurogane-san?" Sakura said curiously as he walked towards the middle fork.
"Take the white thing and find the kid," Kurogane said without looking back. "I'll deal with the rest. Find him and get out of here."
"But it might be dangerous. This was my idea, I should--" Sakura started to protest.
"You can't fight, right?" Kurogane said. "You're here to save the kid. Do what you came here to do, and I'll do what I'm here for."
"But what if--"
"It was my idea to come here," Kurogane cut her off again. "If I didn't want to be here, I'd have let you go alone. I want to have a talk with that blond fool and his king. You've got something important of your own to do, right? So leave this to me. You find the kid and save him, and then get out of here. I'll catch up to you when I'm finished."
"Kurogane-san…" Sakura nodded. "Be careful."
She turned and hurried down the far path, Mokona clutched in her arms.
Kurogane listened until he couldn't hear the echoes of her footsteps anymore, and then strode purposefully forward into the darkened hall.
The hall went on for what seemed like ages, twisting and turning at seemingly random intervals, and with every turn Kurogane found himself getting increasingly more irritated. Of course the idiot would live in a place like this, all hidden passages and never-ending twisted halls. Sakura, at least, had Mokona to guide her, so she would be all right. Kurogane, on the other hand, was beginning to believe that he might be here forever, following the same halls into eternity.
A wisp of cold wind blew by him and then Kurogane found himself blinking in the sudden brightness as the darkened hall gave way to a brightly lit circular room. Unlike the rest of the crumbling and worn castle, this room was bright and clean, almost lived in, though when he looked closer Kurogane could see cracks in the floor and along the walls. A wide staircase stood opposite from the door, leading to a balcony above.
At the top of the staircase stood King Ashura and Fai.
"You idiot," Kurogane grumbled, readying his sword. Fai's face was hard like stone and his one visible eye was narrowed; the other was still hidden by bandages. He had abandoned the gray crow's cloak for the more opulent blue clothes he had worn when Kurogane had first seen him atop the gates, and he held the blue staff in his hand. King Ashura, however, appeared just the same as when Kurogane had seen him in the town square, regal and cold, with pale skin untouched by time. The man's golden eyes stared down at him with no visible sign of emotion or recognition.
Kurogane tensed, waiting for either one to make a move, but Fai and the king simply stared down at him, neither moving nor speaking. Fai's eyes were turned away.
"Well, you bastard?" Kurogane called finally. "Are you going to do something?"
"You shouldn't be here," Fai said harshly in a voice Kurogane hardly recognized. "Go home, Kurogane. This isn't a place the living should be. Take Sakura-chan and leave."
"Like hell I will," Kurogane stated. "Find something else to say."
"Then there's nothing I can do." Fai seemed to collapse in on himself, leaning heavily on the blue staff. King Ashura took the blond's hand and kissed it lightly.
"Don't hurt him," Fai whispered, just as he had the night the snow fell.
King Ashura's movement was so fast that, had Kurogane's reflexes not been what they were, he would've been impaled by the king's sword. The king had flown down the stairs in an instant, while drawing the sword Kurogane hadn't even seen beneath the man's cloak. Kurogane only barely managed to deflect the attack and dodge, turning even as he did to face his attacker. King Ashura didn't seem in any way affected by the fact that his attack had just missed. He turned to face Kurogane and readied his stance. Kurogane tensed, waiting.
Though he was prepared for the next attack, Kurogane was still only barely able to deflect it, and he was thankful that he'd taken his sword from that bandit; his old sword would've been cleaved in two by the king's powerful sword strokes. Kurogane moved in for his own strike and only just missed. King Ashura was clearly a skilled fighter, and Kurogane couldn't help but smile a bit to himself. This was what he'd been looking for, a worthy opponent. In no time blood had been drawn on both sides.
The battle continued and Kurogane found himself matched stroke for stroke. He was beginning to tire only a little, but the king seemed unaffected by weariness or even battle rage; the man's face remained impassive.
That was when Kurogane noticed it, just a small step out of place as the king lunged at him. Kurogane took advantage of the mistake, angling for a hit that he hoped might prove fatal…
…and then, beyond King Ashura, atop the steps he could see Fai staring at him with one wide blue eye, shaking and terrified, somehow, somehow broken in a way Kurogane hadn't seen before.
Kurogane pulled back just slightly as he struck, drawing blood, but the wound was neither deep nor fatal. King Ashura moved away, seemingly unaffected by the pain. In one swift movement the king moved to attack again, and Kurogane cursed his own stupidity.
Letting that bastard affect my judgment, again, he thought bitterly. That had been his best chance to end things, and he hadn't been able to do it. All because of that idiot.
Kurogane managed to block the king's attacks, but it was clear that he was in trouble. King Ashura seemed to have endless reserves of strength, and his sword strokes were skilled and precise.
Kurogane dodged another sword stroke, raising his own sword in a defensive position. As he moved backwards to readjust his stance, his foot hit a crack in the floor and he stumbled just slightly, raising his sword to block the king's oncoming strike but knowing that isn't wasn't going to do any good, that he should've made the killing stroke when he had the chance and that that stupid weakness was going to get him killed. King Ashura darted forward, sword ready, clearly prepared to take advantage of the moment of weakness.
There was a loud noise from behind, and King Ashura crumpled to the ground just before he was able to deliver what would surely have been a mortal blow. Fai stood directly behind the unconscious king, his hands tightly clasped around the staff he had just used to knock the man unconscious.
"What the hell?" Kurogane lowered his sword but didn't let go of it. Fai's one visible eye was narrowed and his face was tight.
"You could have killed him," the blond said. "Why didn't you?"
"Because your idiocy is rubbing off on me," Kurogane said. "He could have killed me. Why'd you stop him?"
"You could have killed him," Fai repeated. "And you didn't. I just…I just repaid that debt."
"So what are you going to do now?" Kurogane asked. "Are you going to fight me?"
"If I have to." Fai lowered his eye. "Don't make me fight you, Kurogane."
"I'm not leaving," Kurogane said flatly. "Not without the kid." He raised his head to stare straight into Fai's visible eye. "And not without you either, you idiot."
Fai's eye widened in shock for a moment, and then he shook his head.
"I can't let you do that," the blond murmured. He raised his head, and his eye was cold and determined. "If you won't leave, Kurogane, then I'll have to make you leave. Because that's the only way to save you."
"You'll have to defeat me, then." Kurogane readied his sword. "If you can."
"You always have to be stubborn, don't you Kurogane?" Fai smiled bitterly and raised his staff. "I should never have let you get so close. I'll fix that now. I'll fix everything."