A/N: Dang, I am on a roll! Here's the definition of "bouleversement" from : Bouleversement booh-uh-vers-mahn –noun French. An overturning; convulsion; turmoil.
Enjoy!
Bouleversement
"By the way, I wanted to ask you… What were you doing with the prince last time you visited me?" Fai asked. "Don't tell me you two are friends."
"Well, actually…" Yuui paused awkwardly. "You see, I got this plan to… to trick him into falling in love with me so that I could ask him to release you…"
Fai was silent for a moment. "Is it working?"
"…Well, yes…" Yuui replied, bowing his head in shame.
"But?" Fai prompted.
"I…I'm such a disgusting person…" Yuui choked, his voice cracking slightly in his emotional distress.
Fai looked sadly up at him through the bars, knowing that his brother was trying desperately not to cry. He wanted to take his hand comfortingly but he couldn't reach from where he was.
"What happened, Yuui?" he asked quietly.
"I… actually… I l-let myself…"
"You fell in love with him for real, didn't you?" Fai said. He put a hand to his own chest, feeling his heart breaking over his twin's dilemma.
Yuui let out a shaky sigh, wiping his eyes on his sleeve. "I mean… it…it's bad enough that I… even dragged s-someone innocent like h-him… into this mess… But to be s-so careless and stupid… as to actually fall in love with him…"
"You didn't mean to hurt anyone, Yuui," Fai whispered consolingly. "You just wanted to help me."
"But this will hurt him!" Yuui protested. "What I meant to do… d-doesn't even matter… That doesn't make…what I did any b-better…"
Fai hung his head, not sure how to reply to that. It was true, after all; there was no denying it.
"Why does everything I touch… always end up b-breaking?" Yuui breathed, lowering his head into his hands.
Before Fai could even begin to come up with an answer to that question, their conversation was interrupted by a startled shout. Yuui whipped around to see where the noise was coming from and swore he felt his heart stop when he saw Kurogane roll out from behind a nearby tree to avoid the scything claws of three towering demons. The prince struggled with his boot for a moment and then Yuui saw him draw a shining dagger from it. Kurogane's delay cost him; though he managed to dodge the worst of the following blow, Yuui saw one of the demon's claws rake across his chest.
"Kurogane!!" Yuui shouted, dashing forward to come to the prince's aid.
His sudden appearance managed to stun the demons long enough for Kurogane to stab one of them in the stomach. The demon let out a bloodcurdling scream, vanishing suddenly. Yuui allowed his two-foot-long vampire nails to shoot out from his fingertips. Kurogane lunged at a second demon, but this time it was ready for him. It leapt easily over his head, landing behind him so that it had access to his unprotected back. The second demon advanced menacingly from the side, its gaping mouth exposing razor-sharp teeth that were dripping with venomous saliva. Yuui arrived just in time to block what could easily have been a fatal swipe at Kurogane's back from the first demon, catching its claws with his own.
Yuui was too small and skinny to be able to hold the demon's arm back, but luckily his other hand was free to attack and he drove his nails deep into the beast's chest. There was a second shrill noise as that demon vanished just as its first companion had. Yuui could hear Kurogane breathing hard behind him and whirled around to face the final monster. The prince and the demon seemed to be engaged in a staring match, each waiting for the other to strike. Yuui slashed at it but it sidestepped his attack and launched itself at Kurogane. The two of them collided.
When Yuui was able to work out what the result of that collision had been, he drew a sharp breath. Kurogane's dagger had been thrust deep into the demon's eye, rendering him the victor. However, although the prince had won he did not manage to escape injury entirely. There was a long, thin cut all the way across his neck and Yuui could see quite a lot of blood. He could smell that blood, too, very acutely. Without his mind's consent, Yuui's vampire instincts took over and he immediately swooped down on Kurogane, licking the cut across his neck hungrily. It seemed that for the moment, Kurogane was too shocked and horrified by this to be able to react the way he normally would have.
Yuui let out a hot breath against Kurogane's skin, his tongue poking out from between his lips again to lap at the thick red liquid that leaked from the prince's wound. As he drank, his claws retracted so that he was able to put his hands on either side of Kurogane's face. Vampire saliva, having healing properties, began to close the prince's wound, stemming the flow of blood from his neck. Yuui was about to move to the injuries across Kurogane's chest when the dark-haired boy shoved him away forcefully.
"You should just let me, Kurosama," Yuui said, his voice soft though his heart screamed with anguish. He tried desperately not to notice the tears that were collecting in both his and Kurogane's eyes. "It'll heal your cuts and keep them from getting infected."
The prince lowered his gaze reluctantly, signaling his permission for Yuui to heal him. Yuui pushed him down gently on his back and lifted Kurogane's shirt to allow himself access to the wounds. He didn't lick the excess blood away from Kurogane's chest. Instead he mopped it up with his sleeve with the intention of letting Fai suck it from the cloth and provide the sustenance he so desperately needed. It was a real shame that in his haste and worry Yuui failed to notice that he too had been injured and that his own blood mingled with Kurogane's on his sleeve once the fabric touched against his arm.
Once he had cleaned the extra blood away, Yuui lowered his mouth to Kurogane's chest and began to seal the wounds with his tongue. He trembled terribly as he did this, knowing that as soon as he finished, he would have no choice but to answer any question that Kurogane was undoubtedly going to throw at him. He owed the prince that much after having inadvertently broken his heart the way he had. Yuui tried to give himself some hope by thinking that maybe Kurogane hadn't heard his conversation with Fai. Even as he told himself this, he knew that it was false; he seriously doubted that those tears in Kurogane's eyes were caused by something as superficial as these wounds. The way he looked at him with such betrayal proved it.
But the healing process could not go on forever and eventually Yuui finished, drawing away from the prince slowly. He bowed his head in shame, allowing Kurogane time to wipe his eyes hurriedly without Yuui seeing. Both of them were shaking, though for different reasons. Yuui's trembling was caused by fear of what Kurogane would say to him once he finally found the words to confront him. He wanted to take Kurogane into his arms, and kiss his lips over and over again as he begged for forgiveness. Given the recent events, however, Yuui seriously doubted that the prince would take kindly to this so he restrained himself.
Kurogane's trembling was caused mainly by anger, though there was certainly shock and disgust and agony mingled there as well. He had loved Fai…no, Yuui… He had loved Yuui deeply, genuinely, and Yuui had said that he loved him just as much in return. Kurogane had had silly, almost laughable dreams that someday, when the two of them were a bit older, perhaps they might… Kurogane buried these dreams now. There was no hope of a happily ever after for them as a couple anymore. When Kurogane finally managed to find his voice, it was a strangled one that betrayed the heartbreak he felt. He cleared his throat and tried again.
"You…You lying bastard!! You s-stupid lying piece of shit!!" Kurogane shouted, his hands balling into shaking fists. "You s-said you loved… And I…I believed you!!"
"I do love you, Kurochan," Yuui insisted, tears rolling down his cheeks. "I do…"
Kurogane grabbed him roughly by his collar; it took every ounce of self control he possessed not to punch that stupid blond in the face.
"Don't you d-dare keep on lying!!" he snarled, wiping his eyes again fiercely on his sleeve. "And d-don't you dare address me so c-casually!!"
"It's true, K-Kurogane sama…" Yuui whispered, looking up at him pleadingly. "I do love you."
Kurogane, completely repulsed, threw his ex-lover away from him and hurriedly turned his back on him. "G-get away from me," he hissed dangerously. "If I ever see that f-fucking face of yours around here again… I'll… I'll kill you."
Yuui watched hopelessly as Kurogane ran back toward the palace, leaving him forever. The blond had to bite his lip so hard to keep himself from sobbing that he could taste his own blood in his mouth. It took all his resolve to drag his trembling frame back over to Fai's barred cell window and remove his jacket so that he could leave it with his twin.
"Here… y-you need blood," he said distantly.
Fai snatched it and sucked on it hungrily. Yuui slowly backed away from the window.
"You'll be back, won't you?" Fai called after him timidly.
"…Yes…" Yuui replied. "I just… I'll be back…later."
"I'm so sorry, Yuui," Fai said earnestly. "I really am."
Yuui didn't know how to reply to that, so he didn't say anything.
Kurogane took a deep breath and let it out slowly, trying to regain his composure as he wiped the water from his face. His parents had made it painfully clear before the banquette had started that he was not allowed to skip out on the proceedings early. In spite of the nasty shock he had just suffered, he really had no choice but to go back into the main dining hall and at least sit through the remainder of the ball at one of the tables.
Not wanting anyone to see that he had recently come extremely close to crying (he had always managed to wipe his eyes before any tears actually fell and that, in his mind, meant that he had not actually cried), he had gone to the fountain to wash his face in hopes that this would make it less obvious. But as he gazed at his reflection in the water's surface, he was pretty sure that his eyes were still red around the rims. He took another deep breath, forcing himself to avoid any and all thoughts about Yuui and what had just happened.
This was far easier said than done; he still couldn't believe what he had just witnessed. Maybe this was all just a bad dream. Perhaps none of it had really happened and in a few minutes he would wake up and find Fai (yes, his name would still be Fai if this turned out to be a dream) snuggled warmly against his chest, fast asleep in his arms. And when Fai woke up, Kurogane would kiss him and tell him about the extremely weird dream he had just had. Then Fai would smile sweetly at him and say something like "Don't be silly, Kurochuu; you know I would never do anything like that to you! I love you!" And Kurogane would look deep into his sparkling blue eyes and know that this was true and he would push him down on the bed and kiss him again.
Another flash of pain shot through his heart as he longed for these things. That pain, if nothing else, proved that this was real. Fai did not really love him. His name wasn't Fai. He was some kind of bloodthirsty creature, a vampire. And even when Kurogane had seen all these things, even though Fai…Yuui, he corrected himself again… Even though Yuui knew he had seen all those things, he had still looked him right in the eye and lied straight to his face yet again the cruelest lie of them all: "I do love you". The prince felt the lump in his throat rising again and he swallowed hard, trying to force it and the accompanying tears back down. He splashed another handful of water on his face.
Sitting out here by himself and brooding over what had happened was not doing a damn thing for him; Kurogane forced himself to his feet and dragged himself reluctantly back into the main dining hall. To his great relief, it was mostly dark when he got there; this was, after all, a ball and that called for a romantic atmosphere. The prince made his way back to the high table, sticking close to the wall to avoid bumping into the any of the sickening number of happy couples that were busy dancing and gazing sappily into each other's eyes. Kurogane pulled out his chair and plunked down in it, staring at the tablecloth so that he wouldn't have to look at all those stupid lovers.
He was so distracted that it took him a good five minutes or so to realize that he was not alone at the table. Kurogane started when he saw someone whom he hadn't noticed before move slightly in the chair next to him. He turned towards the uninvited guest to get a better look. It was a woman, tall and slender, her extremely long dark hair gathered at the back of her head in an elegantly messy bun, pinned up by jeweled butterfly clips. She was smiling slyly at him and Kurogane could feel her clever eyes analyzing him. He didn't like it, so he slapped a scowl on his face and met her gaze evenly.
"Who the hell are you?" the prince growled.
"Hmm, so you're Kurogane?" she asked, looking amused. "You're a sour child, aren't you? Not that I didn't already know, but it's still funny."
"Hey, I asked you a question!" he snapped. "I could have you thrown out for insulting me, you know!"
"You sure are cute, though," the woman continued fondly, reaching out and touching his cheek. "I can see why he likes you… And in just a few years, you'll have grown into an absolutely stunning man." She sighed dreamily. "He'll be gorgeous by then, too, of course. The two of you will make a beautiful couple."
Kurogane swatted her hand away, glaring. "What the hell are you babbling about?! And don't touch me, dammit! I'm not in the mood to be screwed with!"
"I'm talking about Yuui," she said, a little more seriously now.
Kurogane felt another sudden jolt of pain in his heart at the mention of Yuui's name and quickly looked away. "Look, I don't know who the hell you think you are, but I don't wanna hear anything about that lying bastard. We're not together anymore, so you can just forget about your weird fantasy."
"It's not a fantasy," the woman assured him. "It's your future. The two of you were meant for each other, you know. What is meant to be will always work out in the end."
Kurogane was silent. He didn't see how this woman could possibly know the first thing about him and Yuui considering that he was fairly sure that he had never met her before in his life, but she spoke with such certainty that he almost found himself believing her.
"I'm Yuuko, by the way," she said finally. "I'm the witch who allowed Yuui and Fai to escape safely from their home country when it was taken over. I'm also the one who turned them both into vampires."
Kurogane's eyes widened in stunned disbelief. "What?!"
"It was necessary in order to keep them both alive, or else they would have died shortly after birth," Yuuko replied easily.
The prince stared at her, hardly able to comprehend what she was saying. It seemed ludicrous, impossible, and yet he found himself unable to dismiss it as fantasy.
"I grant wishes," she informed him smoothly. "Any wish you could possibly envision can be realized for the right price. As you might imagine, my services are quite popular."
Kurogane looked back down at the tablecloth, frowning in thought. Any wish he could possibly envision…
"You have a wish, don't you?" Yuuko asked knowingly, a slight smile returning to her lips. "This is your chance. What will you do?"
The prince clamped his eyes shut, his mind racing. I don't have a wish, he told himself forcefully. I don't want anything to do with that dumbass ever again!
"Refusing to acknowledge your wish will do you no good," Yuuko interrupted shrewdly. "You will only end up regretting it more in the end."
Kurogane opened his eyes when he felt her touch his cheek again.
"He really does love you," she told him quietly. "He loves you more than life itself, and he didn't lie to you because he wanted to make you cry. Since everyone he has ever loved always ends up being hurt, he thought he could protect you by not letting you love him for who he really was. As I said, you were meant for each other; you two had no option but to fall in love. Knowing this, what is your decision?"
He gritted his teeth. As angry as Kurogane was with Yuui for lying to him, as much as it hurt him when he thought about what the blond had done to him, he realized that he still loved Yuui deeply. The prince sighed reluctantly. He just knew he was going to kick himself for this later.
"I've got a wish," he admitted.
Yuui got to his feet, drying his tears one last time. He decided that he wasn't going to sit around and cry anymore; he already regretted too many things that he hadn't done in his life and he was not about to allow letting Kurogane get away from him be added to the list. Yuui was going to find the prince, make him sit down and listen to his story, tell him everything that he had been hiding and beg him for forgiveness. Hadn't Kurogane just promised to always forgive him, no matter what? Yuui was going to put that promise to the test. Still, even though he knew that this was what he wanted, even though he was absolutely sure, Yuui couldn't help trembling as he made his way back to the palace.
Fei Wong Reed was getting extremely annoyed. He had been at this damn ball for three hours already and there was still no sign of those stupid boys. If Kyle had been wrong about seeing them here, he was going to get a severe spanking when they got home. The woman he was dancing with kept giggling and batting her eyes at him and running her finger along his sideburns playfully. She wasn't especially good-looking so Fei Wong decided that he wasn't really interested. He knew that he was one seriously sexy hunk of man and that he could have any woman he desired, so why should he put up with any less than the best? There was no reason for it, no reason at all.
The moment the song had finished, he bowed slightly to his partner and vanished into the crowd to find a new, more attractive one. The next song had just begun when a small figure running up toward the high table caught his eye. Upon closer examination, Fei Wong swore he felt his heart skip a beat. There was one of the twins! At last! The blond was ghostly pale, one of his sleeves ripped slightly and covered in blood and was calling out to Suwa's crown prince desperately.
Fei Wong's lips curled into an evil smile. The boy was wounded already and obviously completely distracted, not to mention that he and the prince of Suwa would soon be right next to each other, making it very easy to kill them both in one swoop; he couldn't ask for a better opportunity than this. Fei Wong reached inside his robes, his hand resting confidently on the hilt of his concealed sword. He managed to catch Kyle's eye and signaled that he had located one of their targets. Let the slaughter begin.
"So when is this wish going to come true, then?" Kurogane asked Yuuko shortly.
"Goodness, you're impatient, aren't you?" Yuuko laughed. "Don't worry, Kurogane; Yuui is already on his way. Now, about our payment…"
She paused as she cast thoughtful eye over him. "Give me the jacket," she demanded, holding out her hand.
Kurogane frowned at her. "What do you want this thing for? It's got blood on it and has a big rip across the front."
"Would you rather give me something more valuable?" Yuuko asked, arching a slender eyebrow at him.
"No," Kurogane snorted.
"Then shut up and fork it over," she grinned, holding out her hand again.
Clicking his tongue indignantly, Kurogane removed his fancy dress-jacket and handed it to her.
"Kurogane sama!" a voice shouted.
Kurogane started as he saw Yuui racing towards him.
"Ah, perfect timing!" Yuuko chirped, clapping her hands. "Things are about to get a tad messy, so I'll be on my way now, if you don't mind. Good luck, Kurogane."
And then she was gone, as suddenly as she had appeared. Kurogane didn't really care; he was too busy getting up from his chair to meet Yuui, though he waited for the blond to come to him. Yuui threw himself at Kurogane so forcefully that he knocked the prince off his feet.
"Kurogane sama, please," Yuui begged, hugging Kurogane almost painfully tight. "Please listen to me! At least let me explain everything before you decided to hate me forever!"
Kurogane hugged him back just as tightly, nuzzling his face into Yuui's golden hair. "Don't call me that, idiot," he snarled. "And I don't hate you."
Yuui pulled away slightly so that he could look at the prince in shock. "Wh-what?"
"I said I don't hate you," Kurogane repeated, blushing slightly. "And if you call me Kurogane sama one more time, I'll kick your ass."
Yuui smiled, pressing his lips joyfully against Kurogane's. "I love you, Kuronta," he breathed. Kurogane didn't reply; he just silenced him with another kiss. Then the two recently united lovers were startled rudely from their sweet reunion by a sudden glint of steel.
They were kissing now. Could they possibly make it any easier than this, Fei Wong wondered triumphantly as he rushed towards them, pulling out his sword. With their mouths pressed together like that, he could have them both beheaded with one good swipe of his blade. As he closed the final feet between him and the young couple, he drew his sword up behind his shoulder, ready to make the fatal blow.
Mere seconds before he fully reached them, he began to swing, but to his utter shock, someone else's sword blocked his, making a resounding clang as the two blades clashed. Fei Wong blinked in astonishment when he found himself suddenly staring into the furious blood-red eyes of the king of Suwa. He wasn't staring for long, though; Kurogane's father took advantage of his shock to kick him hard in the stomach, sending him flying back into one of the nearby dancing couples.
When the crowd realized that a fight was starting, everyone began screaming and running for the exits. Suwa's guards, meanwhile, were trying to force their way through the panicking crowd so that they could intercept the attacker. It was utter chaos. Kurogane's father shoved people aside as he approached the momentarily incapacitated Fei Wong. He sensed Kyle behind him just in time to dodge the servant's attack, though one of the guests was less lucky. He shouted in pain and surprise as the blade was thrust through his side and fell to the ground, writhing and bleeding.
Fei Wong was on his feet again by this time, calling his own entourage of guards into action. They didn't bother trying to push people aside; they merely cut down anyone who happened to get in their way, paving their path with the blood of innocents. Suwa's wave of guards collided with Fei Wong's with a chorus of battle cries and steel against steel. Kurogane grabbed Yuui's arm, scrambling aside just in time to miss being hit by the defeated body of one of Fei Wong's soldiers. As soon as the enemy had fallen, Kurogane darted forward and snatched up the sword that the soldier had dropped, eager to join the fray.
Yuui, however, was paralyzed with horror. He was here; the traitorous advisor from Celes who had killed his parents and taken over the throne! Although Yuui was shocked to see him there, he knew instantly that this was not a coincidence; Fei Wong had come for him. He gasped as he saw a score of guards hack each other into submission, some of them Suwa's, some of them Fei Wong's. All of them were dying because of him. In selfishly trying to escape his homeland and coming here to hide, he had brought destruction once again to so many innocent people. Yuui was sure his heart was shattering.
He was jerked out of his abhorrence by a magically magnified female voice, chanting a spell over the shrieks of sheer hatred and the refrain of final moments being met. Yuui looked across the room to see Kurogane's mother surrounded by a gentle glow, her lips moving as she recited ancient magical words. The glow around her formed into small individual balls of light which then elongated into ethereal arrows. They struck down Fei Wong's guards mercilessly.
Yuui shook his head, trying to pull himself out of his daze. He had brought this war here and he had no right to just sit and watch other people fight it for him. His vampire nails shot out from his fingertips once again and he threw himself into battle. Even though Yuui knew that these guards of Fei Wong's had chosen to ally themselves with the evil king, that it had been their own decision to come here to kill and destroy, he still felt a thrill of sheer terror as he drove his saber-like claws into one of their backs. He had just killed someone with his own bare hands. He, Yuui Flowrite, was now officially a murderer.
"FATHER!!" Kurogane screamed harshly. "FATHER, NO!!"
Yuui knew even before he saw what had happened. Suwa's king had been surrounded by Fei Wong and his men, and though he was a highly skilled swordsman, he had been overcome by their sheer numbers. The king's body fell, dead before it had even hit the ground. There was a shout of victory from Fei Wong's army, mingled with Kurogane's furious, half-crazed screams.
"YOU PIECE OF SHIT MOTHER-FUCKING BASTARD!! YOU'LL PAY FOR THAT!!"
Yuui forced his way closer to Kurogane, his hands shaking and covered in enemy blood which mixed with his own from the numerous gashes he had received during the fight. Thanks to the vampire blood that flowed through his veins, those gashes were already beginning to heal themselves. Tears spilled down Yuui's cheeks on behalf of the prince's loss, mingled with the self-loathing he felt for bringing Fei Wong to the palace in the first place and the guilt he felt as he was forced to gore another evil soldier.
He could see tears on Kurogane's cheeks as well as he fiercely slashed away at Fei Wong who was managing to defend himself, though Kurogane's skill combined with the strength of his righteous wrath forced him to keep backing up. The queen's magical arrows continued to strike down Fei Wong's men with terrifying accuracy, meaning that there were hardly any extras available to come to their king's aid. It was just Fei Wong against Kurogane, and even from where Yuui was standing, he could see the fear in the evil king's eyes. But Yuui could also see that Fei Wong was leading their fight worryingly close to the queen, and he was pretty sure that this was no accident.
Desperate to help Kurogane and keep the queen out of harm's way, Yuui slashed another of Fei Wong's guards and leapt over the clusters of dead and bleeding bodies that littered the floor. Kurogane swung his sword again and again, blind fury in his scarlet eyes. Since the prince was young and spry Fei Wong was no spring chicken it was really taking it out of him to keep blocking Kurogane's attacks.
Finally, the king found his back pressed against the wall and Kurogane managed to sink his blade deep into the older man's shoulder. Fei Wong screamed in agony. He was going to die, and both he and the prince knew it. Desperate for some way out, his eyes fell on the queen whose magic was still steadily picking off his men. She was a mere foot and a half away from him… Kurogane brought raised his sword, ready to deal the vengeance he had promised, his eyes gleaming manically. Fei Wong dropped his sword, his recently freed hand clutching the queen's kimono desperately.
"Kurogane, the queen!!" Yuui shrieked, his eyes wide with terror.
It was too late; Kurogane was already thrusting his sword forward, aiming for Fei Wong's heart. The prince's mind and body didn't have time to react when the king suddenly jerked Kurogane's mother in front of him, intending to use her as a shield.
"No!!" Yuui screamed.
Kurogane's blade sunk deep into his mother's body, and she made an odd sort of strangled gasp, the glow of magic suddenly vanishing from her eyes. Although Fei Wong had pulled Kurogane's mother in front of him to protect himself, Kurogane had put so much force into his swing that even this didn't save him. The sword went right through her body and into his. Fei Wong and the queen fell, both of them dead instantly.
A/N: Oh man, I am bad. Did you see that coming? I hope it surprised you, but it probably didn't too much. How was that action scene, by the way? I'm not used to writing action so I hope it turned out. I think I'll be wrapping this up in one more chapter. Although tragedy will strike Kurogane and Yuui (I still have trouble writing Yuui instead of Fai) one last time, there will be a fairly happy ending, I promise. I bet you can probably guess what the final tragedy will be since I alluded to it in this chapter… Anyway, I love all of your reviews sooooo much so I'd really appreciate it if you'd leave one!
