Fai didn't even have the chance to rest up in a cell when he arrived at the castle. The sun was already setting and with things moving this quickly, there was the possibility that he could be executed at dawn for his crime. That certainly didn't sit well with him. He was brought before the king, forced to kneel and surrounded by six armed guards with two more at the king's sides.

The king held up the staff that he had used to deliver the magical jolts to Fai when he had been contained by the powers of the feather. The lovely jeweled end had been shattered and Fai was almost certain he could see the tip of the other feather half secured inside. The king dismissed the guards to stand outside his door, leaving just the two at his sides. They appeared to be rather sleazy-looking. Probably two of the few that actually knew of the king's wrongdoings, hence why they were allowed to remain in the room. They moved to secure Fai by the shoulders and the king stood and approached the blonde, still on his knees.

"How did you break my spell?" The king demanded.

"That was not your spell." Fai simply responded, earning himself a painful strike to the face with the broken staff. The blonde tasted blood on his tongue and probed the broken cheek. He made a mental note not to do that again.

"Where is the feather?" The king demanded once more, expecting an answer.

"Returned to its original owner." Fai replied, and surprisingly enough, he didn't receive a beating for it. The king pondered this.

"That girl. The one that so resembles the sketches of the goddess." The king growled and looked down at Fai. He placed the staff against Fai's temple and used it to tilt Fai's head to the side to look him over. "You're not struggling." He observed.

That wasn't the kind of comment Fai had expected. He simply stared back at the king, somewhat confused.

"Under those bindings, others struggle to keep their consciousness, but you remain conscious effortlessly. How could someone so young have surpassed my magical powers that I spent my whole life developing? You're a follower of that wretched princess Tomoyo, aren't you? She hired you to defeat me! I won't give up the throne! Not to you and not to her!"

Fai's eyes saddened as he looked up at the man, dulling for a moment to display a distant painful memory. He told himself it wasn't his fault. The king had clearly lost his mind long before he had arrived. A paranoid man who lived in fear that one day there would be powers greater than his to take away his throne. Fai couldn't help but feel sorry for him on some level. This time, it had nothing to do with twins…

"D-don't look at me like that!" He yelled and struck Fai with the staff once more. The force sent Fai to the ground and out of the grip of the two guards. "I am not to be pitied! Because it is I that has won this time! I have defeated her most powerful magician! There is nothing that child can do now!"

The guards really didn't know what to do. The prisoner was loose but the king had lost his mind. They wondered if it wouldn't be safer to just take their chances with the spellcaster and run. The king was clearly unfit to give orders now.

"T-take him to the repentance room immediately! He'll be executed in the morning!" The king bellowed but the guards didn't budge. Both men turned tail and ran, just barely managing not to stumble over Fai as they did so.

The magician quickly rolled to his feet and began attempting to slip a wrist free of the restraints as the king came at him swinging the staff wildly. The blonde skillfully dodged the strikes but could do nothing to retaliate or actually block without his hands. For a moment, he'd wished he'd studied Syaoran's moves more closely, though he was sure he didn't have nearly enough power in his kicks to pull them off cleanly.

***

Kurogane tugged at one of the bandages with an annoyed growl. It was too tight. Damn nurse didn't know what the hell she was talking about. He wasn't bleeding that badly. He tugged on it again.

"Kuro-wanwan is being a bad puppy and chewing on his wounds! Fai-mommy will be upset if Kuro-daddy chews through his bandage!" Mokona chirped since Fai wasn't here to say it. "He'll say, "Now, Kuro-daddy, you're setting a bad example for the children! Behave yourself!"." Mokona imitated Fai's voice.

Kurogane glared at the meat bun but didn't tug on his bandages further. The stupid little Manjuu was right. Fai would chide him for struggling with his bandages, especially since Fai knew degree of the injuries preventing Kurogane from passing them off as just little scratches. Not to mention he was sure the idiot still felt guilty for them.

The ninja felt eyes on him and glanced over. Tomoyo-hime and Shogo were tagging along once again. The princess's sightless eyes were trained on him yet he could tell they didn't see him. He couldn't help but feel a surge of anger towards the man that cursed her to such a fate. Even if she wasn't his Tomoyo-hime, she was still Tomoyo.

The man, Shogo, that they'd met before in different worlds, was guiding Tomoyo by her hand carefully while holding Sakura in his other arm. Syaoran was busy tending to his own wounds as they headed back to the castle. Something was nagging at the little brunette. How quickly would they deal with Fai's magic using? What if they didn't make it on time? They could still retrieve the rest of the feather but they would still be missing a member of their party. And Sakura… The princess had tried so hard to save him. She would be devastated. They had to save him.

"Think you two can handle all the castle guards on your own?" Shogo asked skeptically, helping Tomoyo dodge a fallen limb.

"Keh! You take care of your job and we'll do ours." Kurogane replied cockily.

***

Fai was at a minor disadvantage. He was faster and stronger but he was bound and weakened. The king was wailing madly at him with the broken staff. The blonde kept trying to jerk a hand free of a cuff with no luck as he ran and dodged. One swipe narrowly missed skimming his chest with a jagged end of the rod causing Fai to fall back through a door. He caught his balance and continued down the stairs quickly with the king in tow bellowing things about never escaping.

Unable to reduce speed, Fai turned around quickly so his shoulder took the brunt of his stop against the nearest solid vertical object. He collided with a clank against a wall made of strong bars.

"A jail cell?" He turned and peaked through the bars using the little light that flooded the room thanks to the open door. He noticed several empty cells lining the whole wall. Several skeletons could be found and a corpse—no! The body was alive! His eyes adjusted to the darkness and he realized there was a female staring towards him. She looked extremely startled by all the noise and had begun crying. In this light that was all he could tell at the moment.

"Nigette!" A female voice shrieked.

Fai's eyes saddened and he scanned the dark room for something to pry the door open with, not that he could really use something if he found it. Though the light was dim, he could tell immediately that this woman didn't have the use of her eyes. This was likely where they kept the sightseers and if his suspicions were correct, he knew who this young woman was. He just needed a better look at her.

"Stand to the back of the cell." Fai ordered quickly and soot in front of the door.

The girl looked terrified for a moment but nodded and quickly moved to the back of the cell as Fai had instructed and waited with her hands on the walls so she knew where she was.

"When you hear a loud crash, I want you to run towards my voice with all your might, hands outstretched. Don't worry. Just act." He said softly and she nodded.

Fai turned to face the stairs as he heard the king running towards him. The magician held his ground until the very last moment as the staff came down to strike. He stumbled quickly out of the way and the powerful object came down onto the old rusty metal, knocking the lock off the door.

"Now!" Fai called to her and she did as told, running at full force towards the door as the king fell out of the way. With her hands stretched out in front of her, she shoved the door open and kept on running until she collided with Fai who had acted as a barrier between her and the wall.

Using his shoulder to guide her, Fai lead her back upstairs quickly. The girl had clasped her hands around Fai's upper arm securely, terrified to be left alone. She frowned slightly. "You're bound?" She asked, realizing Fai's hands seemed bolted in place.

Fai ignored her question for the moment and pressed her up against another wall in the corner of the large throne room. It was just behind a large elaborate display case making it somewhat sheltered.

"I want you to stay here. If anyone tries to grab you, fight them off with all your strength." Fai instructed and she nodded again. "Shogo-san will be here soon, I promise."

The girl's eyes widened and she pressed closer into the corner, sliding down to sit. "Thank you…" She said softly to Fai before she heard him run off.

***

They could see the castle by now and had also noticed that there were no guards. People seemed to be fleeing the castle, as a matter of fact. Kurogane suspected Fai might be involved in this and picked up his speed leaving Syaoran to struggle to keep up with him. Shogo could do nothing but keep going at his original pace. The ninja stopped one of the guards, knocking him flat on his face.

"Oi, what's happening in there?" He demanded in a rushed tone.

The guard spluttered and struggled but finally gave up and just answered. "Th-the king has lost his mind! He's gone insane!"

Kurogane left the man lying on the ground. He needed to get to Fai before the king tore him up. Fai was the only one who could drive someone insane that quickly.

"Mekkyon! I feel the power of the feather!" Mokona called to Kurogane from Syaoran's shoulder.

***

Fai yelped as a little stumble over the bunched up rug on the floor allowed the king to land an attack to his left shoulder, jagged edges breaking the skin, and sending him completely to the floor. He sprawled there for a moment, slightly dazed, as the king rebounded for another strike to finish Fai off. The mage bent both knees and kicked at the man's chest as hard as he could, planting both heels firmly into his ribs. It stopped the man's advances immediately but also angered him further. Just before he could retaliate to Fai's counter, a small body plowed into him from the side, knocking him down.

Fai's eyes widened as he saw the young girl use herself to topple the man. Long light blue-green hair curtained past Fai's vision before pooling on the ground as she landed. Her sightless amber eyes closed tightly in fear of what was to come now that she'd acted. She hadn't considered the consequences of her actions, or perhaps she didn't care what they were so long as she saved her savior and struck a blow at her captor. Either way, Fai had to admit that not only was her timing impeccable, but her ability to target sound was dead on.

The magician rolled to the side then scrambled to his feet and waited for the woman to do the same, allowing her to cling to his uninjured arm. They both ran to the door, Fai leading the way as the woman did her absolute best to run blind and trust him. Only meters from the doors and Fai saw them begin to open. His heart skipped a beat as blue eyes met crimson and he knew everything was over now.

"Kuro-m—…" Still at a dead run, Fai's eyes slid closed and he and the young woman fell into Kurogane's arms. The ninja caught the blonde and held him tightly, righting the girl and breaking her death hold on Fai's arm. He was confused to see her with Fai but assumed the Magician would explain everything when he woke.

"Primera!?" Shogo's voice cried as he temporarily abandoned Sakura and Tomoyo to rush to the young woman's side. He nearly tackled her and held her tightly in his arms, both shedding tears of joy to be able to hold eachother again.

Syaoran was, once again, holding Sakura in his arms and standing by Tomoyo's side, though the dark haired princess didn't remain there for long. Her eyes drifted to Fai's hands bound behind his back and noticed something.

"Kurogane, his right hand…" She said and motioned to the unconscious mage in his arms. The ninja's hand slid down Fai's arm until it found the hand balled into a tight fist. It took a bit of force to pry his fingers open but when he did, the ninja located the other half of the feather. His eyes softened before widening and turning back to Tomoyo.

"How did you—?"

"My sight has returned." Tomoyo replied with a sweet smile. "With the king's magic nullified, the curse no longer exists on the sightseers."

"Nullified?" Primera asked, breaking up the happy hugs with Shogo. "Does that mean… I killed him?" She asked with terror in her still sightless eyes. She'd never killed anyone before… never even considered it and somehow she'd done it by accident.

With Fai slung over one shoulder, Kurogane walked over and handed the half a feather to Syaoran silently. Obediently, the boy brought the feather to Sakura and watched as it entered the princess's body. She could sleep soundly now and recover her lost memory. He held her close then looked up at Kurogane who was trying to inspect the magician's wounds without drawing attention to himself.

There were a few small cuts, a deep gash in his shoulder that worried Kurogane to some degree, and bloody red abrasions on Fai's wrists that could only have been caused by struggling to slip free of the wretched magical handcuffs. Without the magical seal, it was very simple for Kurogane to pry them open and free the magician's wrists. He tossed the useless metal aside.

"Despite all of that he still managed to retrieve Sakura's feather." Syaoran said softly and caught Kurogane's attention.

"He'll live." Kurogane said gruffly and shrugged. "He'll probably even feel the annoying need to apologize for something when he wakes up."

"Primera-chan, why don't your eyes work now?" Mokona piped up from Sakura's side. The Manjuu looked concerned despite having very few detailed features.

"It's because… my Primera-chan lost her sight in an accident, before the curse. Because she is like this… they thought she was a sightseer and arrested her falsely." Shogo explained and held her closer. Mokona frowned, not liking that answer.

"Yuuko—!" Mokona's summoning cry was cut short by the dark haired Tomoyo-hime.

"I've already spoken to Yuuko-san, Mokona-chan, and we've made an arrangement. There is nothing for you to worry about." Tomoyo said with a smile.

Kurogane eyed her suspiciously. He really guessed it shouldn't surprise him that this Tomoyo knew the Witch as well. He just didn't like being left out of the loop so much, not that it could be helped in situations like this. He didn't blame her, but that didn't mean it didn't frustrate him to some degree. However, the fact that she had made an arrangement with the Witch worried him slightly.

"What kind of arrangement?" Kurogane asked with a light glare.

The princess just smiled back at him knowingly, but refusing to tell him anything. It seemed to anger him more. The smile reminded him of the idiot mage. Out of reflex, he scanned the area for the mage's face to fix him with a nice annoyed glare but, after failing in his search, he recalled that he was holding the unconscious idiot in his arms.

"Kid, bring the supplies over here so we can patch him up before we leave. Don't want him bleeding to death before we get him to the clinic." Kurogane said then lowered Fai back to the ground gently. He huffed at himself. It felt unfair to call the blonde an idiot when he was unable to prove him right. That thought proved to further annoy him because he should be able to call the idiot an idiot in his mind whenever he damn well felt like it because they were his thoughts.

Syaoran interrupted Kurogane's angry thoughts before he started cursing himself in his own mind, by handing him a roll of bandages. The dark haired ninja did a very quick patch job, cleaning up the wound to the best of his limited abilities with such limited supplies then wrapped the shoulder in gauze tightly so the bleeding was more controlled. Now, if anyone deserved a good tight bandage and a nice long scolding it was this guy!

"Ok, let's head back." Kurogane said huffily as he handed the supplies back to Syaoran and gathered the blonde back into his arms.

***

Fai's blue eyes slid open slowly, blinked shut a few times before opening again and remaining open. He lifted a hand to shield the unadjusted orbs from the bright light of the open window and noticed clean crisp white bandages wrapped around his wrist. He lifted the other and noticed the same on that wrist as well. His shoulder ached as well as his head, but he wasn't quite sure why and there was a weight on his chest. That last bit worried him slightly. He started to sit up and felt the weight give way. When his eyes moved down to view the cause of this mysterious weight he saw Kurogane's arm laying lightly across his chest. The ninja's forehead was rested against the forearm, sleeping soundly with a sleeping white fluff ball curled up against the top of his head.

The blonde smiled and tried to rest his head back down but before it hit the pillow, he caught a flash of crimson. Shortly after, the weight vanished and he found himself looking up at Kurogane who acted like he'd been awake this whole time, sitting straight. Mokona shifted and awoke with a happy coo.

"Fai-san's awake!" The Manjuu chirped happily

Fai smiled playfully at the red eyed ninja. "Kuro-sama was worried about me!" He cooed happily and sat up only to be shoved back down and fixed with a stern glare.

"Che! Like hell I was!" Kurogane snarled.

"Kuro-myuu made the doctor's sedate Fai-san!" Mokona giggled happily. "He said, "Damn mage will just try to say he's fine if he wakes up before the doctors get here."." Mokona tattled and rolled around on Fai's chest.

Fai laughed and hugged Mokona, thanking it for telling him what mean old daddy did then directed his blue gaze back to the ninja who already looked pissed off and he hadn't even been awake five minutes.

"Hnn~! And what did the doctors say, Kuro-pon?" Fai asked slyly.

"That you were severely injured but didn't require the aid of healing magic to recover." Kurogane growled angrily, annoyed that Fai was being so jovial about this. He couldn't stand that the blonde didn't even seem to care that he'd been so badly injured.

"Gomen ne, Kuro-sama." Fai said softly, tuning out Mokona's nonsensical chattering. Noticing Kurogane's expression of flustered confusion, the blonde elaborated, "for making you worry." The ninja mumbled something that could have been consoling words but didn't quite make it over the noise as Sakura popped up over the other side of Fai's bed with a bright smile and a tray of food.

"I brought Kurogane-san and Fai-san lunch!" She said chipperly. "Tomoyo-hime showed me how to make these things and they taste really good!" She set the tray down next to Fai's bed and handed Kurogane and Fai each a bowl of pastries.

"Arigatou, Sakura-chan!" Fai chirped with a cat-like smile on his face and munched on one of the pastries. Mokona sucked up a few from Kurogane's bowl, causing the ninja to begin throwing things at the Manjuu who cutely dodged each soaring object. Both Fai and Sakura watched with giggles.

Fai looked up as Shogo lead the light bluish haired female to his bed. Her hand gently felt around until it grasped Fai's and she smiled brightly. In return, Fai gave her hand a soft squeeze.

"I wanted to thank you for saving me from my prison." Primera said happily and pulled Shogo closer with her other arm. "I'd been down there for so long I truly thought I wouldn't escape. The guard kept demanding I tell him my visions by order of the king but I had none to tell so he told me I would rot down there until I revealed them. I wish I could see your face so I could remember you as the one who saved me but I'm afraid I can't even do you that much…" Her voice turned sad.

Fai opened his mouth to consol her but Mokona's communicator flashed into view with Yuuko's face displayed. She appeared to be looking off towards the doorway. In the doorway stood Tomoyo, who smiled happily at the scene then nodded to Yuuko.

"I'm ready, Yuuko-san." The princess said and Yuuko nodded.

"Mokona, I'm sending you something. I would like you to give it to Tomoyo." Yuuko spoke in a calm silky voice.

"Un!" Mokona nodded and soon popped out an elegant mirror. The Manjuu caught it and handed it to the dark haired princess.

"Just look into that mirror and your wish will be granted. Hand the mirror to Primera and the wish will be complete." Yuuko explained.

Tomoyo nodded and stared into the mirror. Her eyes dulled and the mirror began to glow. A bright seal of an eye flashed across the mirror for a moment before the glow faded and the mirror looked normal again. Tomoyo's vision was once again reduced to nothing and she smiled, holding out the mirror towards Shogo and Primera.

"Primera, stare directly into the mirror. I know that you can't see it, but that doesn't matter." Yuuko instructed. Shogo held the mirror up for Primera and she did as told. A thin blue beam shot from the glass, broke off into a 'Y' shape and pierced through both of Primera's amber eyes. They seemed to gain some depth and glowed for a moment before seeming normal. The glass of the mirror shattered and disintegrated into the air harmlessly.

Primera's eyes darted from Yuuko's image to Fai's face to Shogo's face then around the room to each and every one of them before settling onto Tomoyo. "I-I can see…!" She hugged Shogo tightly and kissed him on the cheek happily then rushed to Tomoyo and hugged her as well. "Thank you, Tomoyo-hime! Thank you!"

"Oi." Kurogane butted in as the girl bounced up and down with Tomoyo. "What was the price?" He asked, though he was sure he already knew the answer.

"My sight." She replied simply.

"Which one?" Kurogane asked carefully.

Tomoyo's eyes widened slightly before her expression fell. She hadn't expected him to be this intuitive. "You are correct, Kurogane-san, in that I have lost my visions as well but that doesn't have anything to do with this wish."

Primera looked saddened that Tomoyo had to give up her sight for this wish. "How can I take our princess's sight like this?" She asked sadly.

"I don't need my sight to rule as princess of this country. I have many trustworthy people by my side to be my eyes." Tomoyo replied.

"So, you will take your place as princess and ruler?" Fai asked curiously.

She nodded and smiled brightly.

Kurogane wasn't surprised that she was a princess in this country as well. It seemed to be the running trend from world to world that Tomoyo occupied. She was always some form of authority. That was Tomoyo, after all.

The ninja decided to snatch a pastry from one of the platters and shortly after found himself fighting for it against the white manjuu. "TEME! Give that back!" He snarled and chased it. Tomoyo giggled softly as she heard the chaos. Primera and Shogo smiled happily and chatted with Syaoran.

Sakura took the chance to sneak back to Fai's side with a smile. "Fai-san…?" She started to ask a question then hesitated.

"Yes, Sakura-chan?" Fai asked sweetly, trying to encourage her to ask. He sat up on his elbows and wiggled himself into a full sitting position.

"When you were… controlled by my feather, I could hear your voice trying to call to me but I couldn't hear what you were saying. Not until that last moment, could I understand you. I've always been able to hear voices of things that couldn't speak, but I've never heard something like that… They've always been clear to me. Was that…?"

Fai smiled and put a hand on her shoulder. "I think… you could probably hear me because it was your feather within my body giving us a connection stronger than before. With my soul trapped in that barrier, I was unable to talk to any of you. You are able to hear the strong feelings of things that cannot communicate. Your feather allowed my strong feelings to slip through just enough for you to hear my voice. It wasn't until I panicked that you could hear me clearly." Fai explained. "If you hadn't been there, things would have been much worse. That leaves me in your debt, Sakura-chan. Thank you." He smiled sweetly at the young princess.

"In my debt…? No." Sakura said with a little embarrassed blush. She felt oddly happy being able to help. That feeling alone was enough of a repayment. She hated feeling useless and knowing that only she could have saved Fai in that situation made her feel special.

In the background Kurogane yelled a jumble of angry words at the meat bun as it swallowed his pastry whole then hopped into the air, beginning to glow. Hopping into the air made it easy to outmaneuver the ninja who tripped over a table and landed on top of Syaoran.

Fai smiled. "Looks like it's time to go." He said and held Sakura's hand happily.

Mokona's wings sprouted, glowing magnificently. The small group in the room smiled and waved to eachother, apart from Kurogane and Syaoran, who were still face-planted on the ground.

"Sayonara." Tomoyo said softly and the group disappeared in the bright light.

~END~