A/N: Alrighty people! An update for you all. But I'm just gonna put a quick note here. Its summer time and people are generally enjoying their summer vacations at this time of the year but I'm taking a couple of summer courses that are being offered at my university this year. And one of them is a programming course that demands a lot of my time. Plus I've decided to start on a few other extra-curricular activities, helping out with organizing a few events here and there so I really can't find any time to write these days. Which is why the next update might take a while. Same goes for all my other ongoing fics.
Anywho… Enjoy!
Syaoran watched apathetically as the mage thrashed on the floor beneath him, his body wracked with seizures as he slipped in and out of consciousness. Noticing that the other seemed to be having a heart attack from his ministrations, Syaoran retracted his hand, watching in grim satisfaction as the blond gasped for air.
I'll make it a lot worse for you, Fai-san, he spat the name like poison if you don't send me back to my son.
The blonde's only response was a wheeze as he shuddered.
Suddenly the door to the cell burst open and a woman that appeared somewhat familiar to Syaoran strode in looking extremely pissed off.
"Damn it! I thought I told you idiots not to overdose him." She growled at the man that had entered behind her, as her narrowed, flint colored eyes took in the sight of the magician. Waving some sort of metallic device over him she cursed, "His vitals are dropping." Throwing the device she had used to observe his condition, to the man beside her, she dug through her clothes, retracting a pair of thin black gloves that consisted of a mesh of glowing wires. Putting them on, she crouched down next to him. "Keep track of his condition." She barked at the man as the she placed over the blonde's bare chest. Thin, almost invisible wires protruded from the gloves, sinking into Fai's bruised flesh, a pale blue glow moving from the spots where they touched his flesh to the wires in the gloves. The gloves hummed softly before beginning to glow a pale green shade. Strangely enough, it reminded Syaoran of the aura Sakura had used to heal Tsubasa when he was being tortured.
Dismissing the thought, he watched on, curiosity getting the best of him. What was this woman doing?
"What's his state?" she asked distractedly as her hands moved lower, towards Fai's stomach. Syaoran gasped in surprise as he saw pale, unblemished skin where only a short while ago, there had been a sick collage of motley green and dark purple.
"He's stabilizing." The man answered as he consulted the device in his hands. "I still don't understand why you're so insistent on keeping this one alive, though."
"Of course not." She responded in a condescending manner, refusing to elaborate any further.
"Well?" the man demanded.
"Well what?" she responded lightly though Syaoran could tell she knew perfectly well what the man was taking about.
"Why are you so interested in Blondie here?"
"Have you ever paid attention to the names he speaks?"
"…"
"I thought not," she chuckled, moving her hands away from his torso. Syaoran watched in fascination as the wires retracted from the unmarred skin, once more attaching to the blonde's flesh when she placed her hands above his swollen ankle.
"Masooma." She said after a while, "does that name sound familiar to you?"
"Isn't that the name of that virgin?" the man leered, "The one that Bauld had his way with?"
"Men." The woman snorted in half disgust, half amusement, "that's all your heads can remember, isn't it? Recall anything else?"
"… Oh, I remember now. She's also the chick he almost cut up afterwards, isn't she? So she couldn't breed more magical spawn."
"Idiot, she's also one of the current guardians of the essence." She spat, shaking her head, "This Blondie knows two of them."
"The other one being?" he asked, scratching his head thoughtfully.
"The Magi's fabled Oracle."
"I thought the story about that blind guardian was just a myth."
"It's not," she shook her head with a laugh, "That little wolf kid, the one that we had before this one, Bauld confirmed about those two guardians from him before he broke."
"I see. So if we break Blondie here," the man said, roughly kicking the unconscious mage in the ribs to turn him over, "we break their strongest line of defense."
"Can't you keep your feet to yourself for a while?" the woman glowered, removing her hand from Fai's ankle to press over his chest. She felt around for any broken or misplaced ribs, climbing to her feet when she found none. "But yes. That is the basic idea." She added dryly, moving towards the door to the cell, "too bad you gits let them break that kid out of here. He was fun to mess with. Not that he would have survived for long with the state you idiots had left him in."
Syaoran could only stand there, frozen in horror as he heard their voices recede, that woman's words ringing in his ears as his eyes remained glued to the motionless form on the grimy floor.
-0-
It was night, the city that had previously been bustling with life, now silent, the occasional guard rounding the corners in the streets below as Fai quietly made his way to the top of the pyramid shaped building. After assuring his companions that he was fine, Fai had made his way to the room assigned to him to sleep in. Once sure of the fact that his companions and best friend had all left, Fai decided to use a bit of magic to trace the one person he wanted to talk to. As silent as a wraith, he had made his way out the tiny window and up to the roof. Sure he needed to call on his magic every now and then to make the climb easier for him, but he knew no one would dare disturb him for a while. Being the close friend of a revered living legend had its advantages after all.
"I should have known you'd follow me up here." she said softly, her back facing him as she gazed out at the crisscrossing streets stretched out below them as far as the eye could see.
"You should know by know that I'd follow you anywhere." He answered, settling down beside her, letting his legs dangle off the roof. A strong updraft played with his hair, whipping them about his face as he peered over the edge. "You always did prefer high places whenever you were in a mood to brood." He said in a casual tone, expecting her usual indignant cry of 'I do not brood!' but was disappointed when the girl beside him remained silent.
"He told you about it." She said instead after a while, not posing it as a question but as a detached statement.
"…" Fai said nothing at all in response to that. Her next words made it unnecessary.
"That's why you came up here, didn't you?" she said, her tone not betraying anything. "To come see what a wonderful failure I have turned out to be."
"Masooma-"
"Had I really earned my title?" she continued, apparently not having heard her, "If I had… I should have been able to hold them off, right?" She laughed harshly, drawing her knees to her chest as she rested her chin atop them. "I was supposed to fight them till he came and we left this world. Instead… I let them capture me and drag me into that hellhole." Silence reigned between them for a short while as she stared blankly in the distance. "I'm nothing but a weakling."
"I don't believe that." He shook his head, "You're the only one who ever passed my unpassable test. No weakling could have done that." Fai nudged her shoulder lightly, before grinning widely "and for that, you're my favorite apprentice."
"More like your only apprentice." She snorted in return, attempting to make it sound like her usual retorts but failed miserably when her voice cracked at the end.
"Exactly!" Fai exclaimed, pretending not to have noticed the small break in her composure.
"Yeah," from her tone, it sounded like she had given up trying to sound normal. Her mails dug into the material of the pants she wore as she continued on in a rather spiteful tone, "but some great apprentice I turned out to be…" Fai's grin slid off his face. "I couldn't even protect myself. They were right. I'm a complete waste of useful space."
"Remember that anti-Mage group back in Celes? Can you recall the state some of the rescued victims were in at that time?" Fai said softly, turning his head to stare at her silent profile, "Nixon had taken one look at them and he had been unable to keep his food down for three whole days. Even the healers did not have the guts to go near them. And I recall a certain clumsy
witch who took charge and helped them all out when no one could even work up the courage to be near them."
"…"
"You did that." He spoke when she refused to utter a single word, "You're the furthest thing from useless imaginable, Masooma."
"You're wrong." She finally bit out, hugging her legs closer to her body, "If it wasn't for me, Nixon wouldn't be stuck in the position he is today. If he hadn't come to save me when he had, they would have-" she clamped up, clenching her eyes to spare herself from having to look at anything.
"They would have?" Fai repeated, coaxing her gently. He had a vague suspicion ever since he heard Nixon mention seeing visions of her violated body but he couldn't be sure. Those bastards couldn't have done that to her. Not to her. Not to…
"There was this hunter, Bauld, he… he used to come to the cell they were holding me in and he…" she lowered her head so it was pressing against her knees as she rocked slightly. "I-I tried to fight him off every time b-but… It was so horrible…" she gave a half hearted laugh, "The funny thing is… the rape wasn't even the worst part." Fai's breath hitched in his throat. Her voice had come out muffled but Fai had caught the words she spoke. He had to force himself to listen on though. It was evidently taking a lot from her to say those words and if he interrupted her now, she might not talk about it again. "They wanted to snuff out magic from this world. And they were willing to do whatever it took to succeed. Even if it meant, cutting out…" she broke down after that, her whole frame shaking as heartbroken sobs spilled from her lips. Having gotten a fair idea of what those hunters had had in mind Fai decided he did not need to hear anymore as he wrapped his arms around her body.
"Sshh.. Sshh.. It's okay," Fai whispered softly, hugging her close to him as one of his hands caressed the top of her head. "It's okay. You're safe now."
"They almost did it Fai," she cried, turning around to bury her face in his shirt, hot tears seeping through his clothes to burn against his chilled skin. At this height the wind bit at his exposed face with a vengeance but Fai didn't even feel it. All he could feel at the time was the shuddering, trembling form of the girl in his arms as she clung to him like he was her last lifeline. "I was so scared… if Nixon hadn't gotten there when he had…"
Gently kissing the top of her head, Fai crushed her to him, his jaw hardening in fury. They had reduced her to this. That smart, cheerful girl that he had known in Celes, the girl who had never cried, not even after she had treated those patients, because she liked to think she was strong, now she was weeping like a newborn child in his arms. Would Kurogane and Syaoran mind if they stayed here for a while? He definitely had a score to settle with those hunters.
"Don't worry, Masooma." He promised, pressing his lips against her hair once more, "everything will be alright."
The night was cold, merciless, the wind biting into her exposed skin as she sat, perched atop her favorite haunt. She had left her hair down tonight, the long, raven tresses whipping about her body, casting a dark halo around her. In the soft glow of the orb that hung near the roof of the cave, a hundred feet above her head, it made her appear like an angel of darkness, a vengeful creature with skin so pale, it appeared almost ghostlike.
A lone tear traced a well travelled path down her cheek, falling to the endless abyss down below, as she gazed at the vast expanse of the streets crisscrossing out as far as the eye could see, one leg dangling over the edge and the other folded close to her chest, supporting her arm as she rested her chin on it.
"Everything will be alright you said." Her whispered words were lost to the wind. "I'll hold you to that promise."
A/N: Not much torture here but I did try to shed some light on a few important things. Plus we had Cloney's POV too… Leave a review if you guys feel like it, k?