-F-A-I-L-U-R-E-
-K.U.R.O.G.A.N.E-
He has failed.
He could put on a brave face and act like nothing had happened….but he couldn't, because things had changed and things had happened and he had failedfailedfailed so, so, horribly.
He hadn't been strong enough. His strength, his pride, hadn't been enough, because the kid was gone and the princess was empty and the mage was broken. And for once the white thing had shut up because it too was hurting.
Because he hadn't been strong enough. Too weak….he had been weak and he had failed. Their world had come to a crashing halt and things had happened that couldn't ever unhappen and it was scary and it was frightening and it was painful.
They had died.
All of them were dead.
The princess - no, not the princess, because Sakura smiled and laughed and sparkled and made everything right again - no longer smiled, and the sun seemed to have set and never risen again because her sparkling radiance and happiness had been hidden by a cloud that would never go away because she had died.
The mage - no, not the mage, because Fai called him those annoying nicknames and laughed and cheered them up when they were down and was slowly, slowly coming out of his shell - smiled, but his mask had cracked and his happy-go-lucky façade was no longer so convincing; the jokes and the happiness and the nicknames stopped because he had died.
The kid - but no, not the kid, because their Syaoran wasn't this Syaoran because Syaoran was kind and caring and helped them and changed them - blamed himself. He hated himself for arriving and he hated himself for being late and he hated himself simply because he was and he existed. And if this was all he did for others, if he only killed them and hurt them then maybe he shouldn't exist at all. He hated himself with more hate than one person should have and because of it he had died.
And he himself - but he wasn't himself, because Kurogane wouldn't care so much about a stupid kid that had changed into something he never wanted to see in his worst nightmares and he was strong and uncaring and he always was victorious - had failedsososohorribly and he hadn't changed anything. He was left with guilt and failure and he too had died.
And the happiness had vanished and there was only darkness and pain and guilt and remorse and self loathing because he had failed and she had been hurt and he had been unmasked and he had arrived too late and the kid….not the one who had fought them and hurt them and looked at them with those cold, dark, emotionless eyes because that wasn't Syaoran, and their Syaoran had been lost.
And the one that failed, the one that hadn't been strong enough, saw the pain and the heartbreak. He saw that she was fading and he was dying and the other was gone and when he was alone and the others were each alone some place dying……his cold, indifferent façade crashed and he hated himself because he wasn't strong enough and he had failed.