When they had buried my body back in Nihon, I had witnessed the strength of the mage's resolve to find my killers. Even though he had become desperate in the following six months, his determination had not wavered in the slightest bit.
Then, that bitch kidnapped Syaoran, and still he persisted. He searched on relentlessly, using everything he had at his disposal till he was forced to stop due to exhaustion. I had seen him pass out on that leather couch as he had forced himself to break through the protective wards that witch had placed to keep him from finding her location.
I knew he had lost someone precious to her before; if his mumbled apologies during those times when he fell asleep or passed out were any indication. I also knew that he was willing to do anything, give up anything at all to prevent that fate from befalling on Syaoran as well. He wanted to keep the boy safe. I knew that.
But just because you want something doesn't mean you can accomplish it. I wanted to be there for them, to be that father-head figure of the family that we all had become. But I was dead. No matter how much I wanted it to be, I could never stay with them forever. It was like the mage said; I had to move on sooner or later.
But the kid?
Oh God…
I had rushed inside that dark cell, right behind the princess as the mage had engaged that bitch's apprentice to buy Sakura some time. I was there when the jade-eyed girl had freed Syaoran from his binds and rested his head on her lap. I was watching, whispering gentle words of encouragement to the kid, hoping that he would be able to hear me as the princess was weeping and begging for him to recognize her.
I was still by his side, urging him not to let go as the princess was pouring her magic into his body to heal him. Thanks to whatever that bitch had put in him, it took some time before the healing powers of Sakura's magic kicked in, but surely they were working since I could sense his broken spirit mend itself, little by little. A small flicker of hope had sparkled in the princess's eyes when the kid had finally given her a response, no matter how small.
Even though seconds later she discovered that he had not recognized her. What exactly had that bitch done to him during the time I had been with the mage and Sakura? The princess still tried to revive him, though there was no improvement in the kid's condition. If anything, it worsened. I felt Akira's dark magic overpowering Sakura's pure energy in his body, mutating it to something foul and deadly which reversed all the progress that had been made so far and some more. The smoldering embers of rage in my heart were once again set ablaze when I realized how this new power was killing the kid.
"It's your magic!" I had yelled uselessly, hoping that perhaps her ghost-sensing powers would get a miraculous boost and she would be able to hear me and then maybe the kid could be saved.
But I was wrong. It wasn't my place to hope.
The kid died in her arms, mere seconds before the mage arrived. The magician tried to deny the truth that Syaoran's soul was no longer in his body. I sensed his spirit leave but I didn't feel it reappear in a ghostly, earthen-bound form.
The kid…
He was truly gone…
I snarled in anger and pounced on the witch as soon as this reality registered in my mind. Beside me, I watched the mage do the same. However while Fai's blows were skillfully deflected or blocked, none of my attacks ever managed to even so much as touch her, all of my ghostly appendages passing right through her. Oh God, how I wanted to be able to borrow a little of the mage's magic at that time, just so I could rip that bitch apart, limb from limb in the most painful way possible.
Why the f**k did I have to be like this? Why couldn't I have been like a normal ghost? With the ability to make myself tangible when I needed to be at the very least?
The mage was exchanging blows with that crazy bitch, while I was uselessly trying to pound her into the ground. I was good for nothing. I couldn't do anything. I couldn't help them save the kid and now? Now… I couldn't even kill the one who had dared to hurt him enough to end his life. Couldn't even friggin' touch that bitch let alone eradicate her.
These thought buzzed around in my mind as Fai and Akira fought ruthlessly. I had never before seen Fai fight like this and apparently neither had that bitch. Magic crackled wildly in the air as attacks, magical and physical alike destroyed the building around us. As the ceiling gave way in one corner of the room, my attention snapped back on the princess who was still clutching on to Syaoran's body as though he would vanish the instant she let go.
A loud crash and a startled cry from Fai made me look back in his direction only to find him on the ground, a long bleeding gash across most of his upper body and while it wasn't anything life-threatening alone, the injury could cost the idiot his life by slowing his reactions. He struggled to pick himself off of the ground but so far wasn't having much success.
"Come on you idiot! Get up!" I yelled once again, forgetting that I would not be heard as Akira advanced on him with her blades drawn, poised and ready to strike.
"I'm so sorry," I heard the princess whisper softly behind me, making me once again turn around to observe her small figure which was reaching out for the kid's sword. She stood up after gently resting my apprentice's original's head on the ground and stepping around him to face the witch.
Akira stopped in her advance towards the mage as she turned around to regard the princess.
Sakura's bloodshot eyes were no longer shedding any tears; instead, I witnessed the flame of determination burning in the depth of her jade orbs as she stared at the witch. A small wind was picking up around her small frame, whipping her caramel-colored locks about her face.
"I won't let you harm anyone else." Her resolve clearly permeated her tone.
The witch let out a derisive laugh before she narrowed her eyes.
"You think a little girl like you can stop me when your precious friends could not?"
Fai was breathing heavily, trying to climb back to his feet on shaky legs. Sakura cast a glance in his direction before looking back at the witch.
"It's not a question of if I can, witch.' She answered in a surprisingly calm tone, the power radiating off her being was something I had encountered only once before, back in the ruins of Clow, during our fight with that bastard, Fei Wong.
"So confident of your abilities," the woman chuckled as she took up a stance, "Let me shatter that faith." She said with a smirk as her dark heavy cloud of magic began to thicken. She twirled the broadswords around her, the dark magic following their path, condensing into thick, pitch black ribbons of shimmering liquidy gas.
The princess's jaw clenched as her own eyes narrowed slightly, the energy around her alive with anticipation. In less than a fraction of a second the witch whipped her blades in Sakura's direction, shooting ribbons of her impure aura at the princess.
A silver barrier erected itself before the jade-eyed girl, protecting her from the attack, letting the magic rebound and hit the stone wall behind the witch.
"What?!" the witch shrieked, her eyes widening in indignation.
"I'm not a helpless little girl anymore," Sakura spoke calmly, her tone soft and barely audible in comparison to the Akira's screams.
"I will destroy you!" the bitch screeched as she rushed at the princess who was ready for the incoming assault. She skillfully blocked the twin blades, kicking out with her leg to throw Akira away.
"I won't let you." The princess answered calmly as the wind howled and raged all around her. The ground shook beneath my feet as the two clashed their swords once again, the witch screaming in blind fury as Sakura blocked and parried her thrusts.
"Sakura-chan." Fai whispered as he finally managed to stand up; closing his eyes, he took a deep breath, I could feel the released magic as an azure aura surrounding his body when he exhaled. His vampire claws had long since retracted but the gold cat-like slitted eyes of his returned when he opened them. He reached down and picked up Ginryuu once again.
Bits and pieces of broken stones rose from the rubble in his wake as he began moving towards the fighting duo. He readied his sword and charged at the witch, the silver blade flashing brilliantly as it sliced the air, sailing straight for her head. But the witch sensed him coming at the last moment, successfully dodging the attack.
"Eager to join the fight, aren't we Mage?" Akira taunted as she jumped away from the two.
"Eager to finish you." Fai spat as he dashed forward, swinging the sword once more.
"Oh?" that bitch laughed maniacally. "Really now? But wouldn't you like to know how I broke your precious Syaoran? How I shattered him to the very core so that after losing all hope of being rescued by the two of you, he begged me to kill him and end his miserable existence? How he didn't even fight back when I stripped him of his magic?"
"Sakura-chan," the mage whispered gently, looking over at the slightly shaking girl who had her head facing the ground, eyes hidden behind her long messy bangs. The wind still raged around her.
"By the way Princess," the witch spoke the word like it was poison on her tongue, "do you even know whose fault all this mess truly is?"
The mage stiffened, his face suddenly drained of all color.
"Oh my," Akira looked at the idiot in mock surprise, "don't tell me you haven't told her High Mage." This aroused my curiosity just as much as it did Sakura's. The bitch was connected to the mage's past. I had managed to deduce this much quite a long time ago; however what this connection was, that I had no idea. Well, I knew he had lost someone to her before but I didn't know the whole story.
"Oh, this is simply unbelievable!" the bitch exclaimed as her dark eyes glittered with malicious glee. "The mighty Fai D Flourite, High Mage of Ashura-ou's royal court, never told his precious princess about how he got his own beloved apprentice killed? Ah! This is priceless." She cackled while the mage stood there as though he were a statue carved out of marble.
"It's actually quite similar to how he got your boyfriend killed." She continued nonchalantly.
"Shut up." A low inhuman growl emanated from the mage's throat.
"My my. I seem to have touched a nerve."
"Shut up you bitch!" the blond idiot rushed at the witch, slashing at her as I saw his claws elongate slightly once again.
"Oye princess, don't just stand there. Move! Help the mage!" I yelled, trying to get the girl's attention. The wind surrounding her had died down. She still had not moved from her place but her head snapped up not an instant later.
"Kurogane-san?" she stared in my direction in disbelief.
"Now is not the time to gawk at me kid." I told her, "The idiot is gonna need your help."
"I-I know." She nodded, her grip tightening on the hilt of the sword in her hand once again.
"Then don't just stand there." I growled impatiently as I heard the idiot snarl, causing me to focus my attention back on the fighting pair. "I'll kill you! You took them away from me! All of them. I'll kill you!"
I didn't know why I had become visible all of a sudden but I wasn't going to complain about it.
As Sakura joined the fray, attacking the bitch and helping the idiot, I felt something strange. For the first time since I had died, I felt pain. I gasped, looking down at myself to notice that tendrils of that bitch's magic were snaking their way across my body, wrapping themselves around my arms and legs and torso. Where ever they touched me, my skin burned in response as though someone was pouring acid on my body.
It almost felt as if it was eating away at my ghostly flesh.
A couple of seconds later, with a jolt, I realized that that was exactly what was happening.
That bitch's magic was freaking eating away my very soul.
"Fai, Fai, Fai." The witch giggled as one of the mage's attacks hit home, cutting through the flesh of her right arm. "You'll never learn."
The mage did not respond as he spun out of the way to let the princess attack but the bitch parried her blade.
"Did you ever wonder what happened to Masooma's soul?"
"Don't you dare speak her name!" enraged, he attacked once again while I remained frozen in place, watching helplessly as the magic burned deeper into my skin. Even if I wanted to, I couldn't move. Such was the nature of the spell being performed on me.
"Fine, I won't speak her name," the bitch grinned widely at him. "But let's see if you can save your ninja's soul from being erased from existence."
"What?!" shocked, the idiot whipped his head around, his eyes scanning the room before locking on me. "No…" he gasped. I wondered what he was seeing.
"Watch out!" I tried to yell, only to find that I couldn't speak. With the deranged grin still in place, the witch rushed at Fai, her blades aiming for his heart and torso but he did not sense her coming. My eyes widened in shock as I saw her blades pierce flesh, spraying blood on her face. Probably feeling something warm on his back, the mage whirled around just in time to see Sakura collapse on the ground on her knees, with blood trickling out of the side of her mouth. Akira's eyes were wide with surprise as well. Her gaze traveled down to the sword sticking out of her stomach before she fixed her sight on the fallen princess who had one blade sticking out of her shoulder and the other out of her abdomen.
"SAKURA!" we both screamed at the same time.
The princess coughed up blood as the witch retracted her blades, her dark magic pulsating, shooting sparks of that shimmering liquid like power of hers, incinerating anything it touched. A couple of those drops landed on the princess, making her cry out weakly. Akira's grin widened so much it almost looked like her face was going to split in half.
"You have a habit of letting down everyone you love," she cackled, pulling out Sakura's sword from her stomach, letting it clatter next to the princess's gasping form. "Your beloved apprentice back in Celes died screaming out for you, begging for you to save her," her voice echoed all around us, "and if you had really wanted to, you could have gotten to her in time. It's not like I didn't leave enough clues for you. Hell, she was still alive when you found her. Too bad, the High Mage never learnt how to heal someone. Seems like your inability is going to cost you another precious person." Her body dissolved into a dark mist which spread throughout the room.
"Perhaps the princess would like to see what I showed you that other night," her voice echoed all around us. "Tell me Sakura, do you want to observe your precious boyfriend's last moments in this world?" A cloud of dark magic covered the girl's face before she could respond, choking her as it obscured her face completely from view.
"What about you ninja?" she laughed right next to my ear, causing me to let out a strangled yelp as the magic cut in deep into my body. "The mighty Kurogane." She giggled. "Have you enjoyed your time in this plane?
I felt the dark tendrils split in two everywhere on my body, enveloping me completely, speeding up the process of her magic destroying my soul.
I helplessly looked at Fai, who was visibly shaking but his head was lowered towards the ground, effectively hiding his face from view.
I felt a large amount of power gather up inside of him. It welled up, concentrating as an azure aura became discernible around him. His hair flapped wildly around his face as he looked up to lock his gaze in my direction, his cerulean eyes glowing in a shade of an otherworldly blue, the cat-like slits that marked him as a vampire showing through the blue haze.
Akira stepped into my line of vision with a scowl on her face, "I will not allow you to leave this place alive, High Mage."
The blue aura dancing around Fai converged inwards while the building around us rumbled dangerously. A part of the roof crumbled and fell on the spot where Syaoran lay, though thankfully a wind-shielding spell- probably cast by Sakura- protected his body from harm. As it threatened to give way beneath the weight of the rock on top of it, a beam of bright blue shot out to help stabilize the shield, lending it the strength to fulfill its purpose even without its caster's willpower.
"Die you miserable bitch!" and with that, their swords clashed once again.
A/N: Oh no. I have done it again. Now Sakura is hurt and Kurogane's soul is about to be destroyed. Will Fai be able to save them? Or will he fail just like with Masooma and Syaoran?
Stay tuned to find out.
-Nims.
PS. Don't forget to review. ;)
