Chapter 6
Insidious Plottings
The sphere glowed blue and ominous before the man as he sat upon his throne, fingers running across his cleft chin. Beside him, laying on the ground, a familiar figure lay, watching the blood run from his mostly-severed right hand with a foggy blue eye.
"You failed to retrieve the feather," the man said, his voice soft in the large room, but carrying all the same.
The clone could say or do nothing but watch his lifeblood run from his injured hand.
Fei Wong Reed turned his head toward the young man, observing silently for a moment, watch the blood puddle expand, watch ribs expand and contract with labored breathing.
"Of course," and he turned back to the monitor, watching the group as they traversed through the sand-colored streets of Astron Country. "That boy is more powerful than you are, isn't he? Seeing as he was the one Fai was originally intended to kill; more powerful than the magician at half his magical power."
His vision flicked back to the clone laying prostrate momentarily. "And you are nothing but a pale imitation. However, I can't just leave you to die. You are too much a success, still useful to my plan. Therefore, I believe I have no choice but to save your life this time."
He stood, walked past the clone, and like a puppet on strings, something lifted the young man by his shoulders and began dragging him across the floor. They reached a large tube, Fei Wong's symbol adorning the front- the same tube the real Syaoran had been kept in for the past seven years, rebuilt after it was broken from his escape. It was once again filled with the clear liquid, bubbles rising lazily from several points.
The clone was dragged up to the side of the tube, his physical solidity flickered for a moment, and then he was inside the tube, suspended motionless, face hidden by the symbol adorning the front of the mechanism.
Fei Wong Reed stared at the boy's floating outline, eyes narrowing slightly at the resemblance it bore to the other Syaoran, the one that had escaped.
"Do not fail me again."
He turned his back on the device, and strode back for his throne room. He had several people he needed to get into contact with- the man wasn't going to reattach the clone's hand. Rather, he was going to have an entirely new one brought in; one that was stronger than before.
Maybe this time his little toy would be able to beat his real counterpart.
-
A/N: Just-a-checkin' on the bad guys. They're still there. Leave some feedback, please, as I'm rather new to this fandom. Just wanna make sure y'all are liking what you're reading so I can stick some more up.