A/N: Broken has just crossed the 200 review mark people! This chapter is dedicated especially to 'Winged Wolfie Chibi' since they happen to be the 200th reviewer and to everyone else who's stuck by my irregular updates and 'makes-you-wanna-kill-the-author' cliffhangers. Thanks guys. Go ahead and enjoy the update now.

"… Nixon," Masooma called out meekly as she stood by the door to the Oracle's room, "are you still mad at me?"

The man said nothing in response.

"I know about that promise you made to Fai," she admitted after a while, "and I know… that you're more angry with yourself for not being able to stop me from doing it than with me for actually going through with it… but," her voice grew stronger as she took a deep breath before continuing, "why can't you idiots understand, I'm not a child. I am perfectly capable of making my own decisions."

"So you made the deal just to prove that you've grown up?" Nixon spat as he appeared at the door, his sightless eyes staring down at her blankly. He looked livid but she knew better than to let his anger intimidate her. Unconsciously, she still ended up taking a step back though.

"Nixon, I didn't do it for that reason," Masooma bristled in response, refusing to let it show how much it was affecting her, "and you know it."

"… knowing why you did it doesn't change the fact that I broke my promise."

"Damn it! I have had it with you two with your stupid promises. I'm not a helpless little girl Nixon. I knew what I was doing and I know how to take care of myself."

"Take care of yourself?" he repeated, giving out a harsh bark-like laugh, "Just like you did back in Metropolis? I could see how wonderfully you had accomplished that when I found your bleeding body back in that cell… Shit." The oracle's eyes widened when he realized just what it was that he had said. "Oh shit…. Masooma, I swear I didn't-"

Slap!

"I never thought that you of all people would…" Masooma hissed as she lowered her hand, her eyes welling up with tears as she stared at the man before her.

"Masooma, I-" he tried to talk but she talked over him.

"You know what? I don't care anymore." Taking in a shuddering breath, she tried to reign in her emotions. She was not going to cry in front of him. "I'm not going to explain myself to you so you can think whatever you want." She whirled around and started walking away as fast as she could without having to run.

"Masooma, wait!" hearing his footsteps follow her down the narrow corridor, she quickly started calling a transportation spell, her body dissolving into wisps of smoke even as she ran. She fell to the ground once she emerged on the other end of the portal, unable to hold back her tears anymore. Not caring that she was in the middle of a decrepit, dying forest of leaveless tress, she began to cry, her body shuddering with the effort to keep her voice down.

-0-

Nixon punched the wall next to him just as the last wisps of the Masooma's magic faded away into thin air, feeling like the biggest idiot in the world. He had let his mouth run off ahead of him in his anger. He should have just kept quiet. At least that way, he wouldn't have made the situation worse for her than it already was. Just knowing what price she was supposed to pay for her wish, it must have been taking its toll on her already. And then he just had to go and mention that.

He knew she would need some time to come to terms with what she had agreed to a few days back. She had probably come to him in hopes of getting some reassurance. And what had he done? He had gone and opened his big mouth. He could sense her flickering aura at the edge of the forest that covered and concealed the entrance to the city from the hunters. She had come a long way from what she had been back when they had arrived in this world and just like she had claimed, she really could take care of herself now. But the state she was in… she might just let the hunters capture her to spite him… or to help Fai in some other stupid, self-sacrificing plan. Why couldn't she have just waited until the other arrived? The toll she had taken was completely unnecessary.

Deep down though, Nixon knew that last part was completely untrue. And that was probably what upset him the most. After all, he had come to Fai in hopes of saving her from this very pain, back in Celes, when he had asked for the blond to tell the girl to leave that world with him. Being the Oracle made him immune to curses and outward threats of his home-world but Masooma had had no such protection. Because of her close relationship with Fai, he had known for a fact that in order to provoke Fai into killing him, Ashura would have gone after her and would have undoubtedly taken her life in an attempt to rid the blond of his curse and save his people from the monster that the king had become. Knowing what the future held for them all had they chosen to stay in Celes, Nixon had chosen the most harmless way out at that moment and that had been to escape Celes altogether with the girl that was fated to die at the hands of the well-meaning ruler.

Despite being the all seeing Oracle, even he was not allowed to tell the entirety of the future events to anyone and so he had told Fai in the best way possible, withholding information that he knew would affect the future too greatly. The blond had understood that of course and conceded to let the Oracle take her away, but not before making the blind man promise her happiness and safety until the time they met again. Perhaps some subconscious part of the blond magician had had an inkling about the fate that awaited him for there was no way for him to meet up with them unless he left Celes behind for good to traverse the multiverses.

Sighing, the Oracle retired to his room, his thought drifting over the events of the past few days as he walked over to his small bed in the corner of the room. Starting with how he had helped Syaoran's spirit inside Fai's mind, he went over Fai's vampire side's reaction to the spirit's presence within his mind. Convincing the over-protective creature that he meant no harm was something Syaoran had to do on his own. While he had been busy guiding the spirit in the blonde's mind, Masooma had sneaked down to the cave containing the essence and secretly contacted the shop owner and made her wish. Soon after that, Tsubasa had jumped out of the window of the room he was being kept in at Clow and tried to commit suicide. It was a good thing that all priests and priestesses at Clow were required to master the art of healing before taking up their positions. Otherwise things might have just gone to hell. Unfortunately though, the reckless move on the boy's part had cost him the mobility of his lower body. He knew that Sakura thought there was still hope for the boy's complete recovery, as far as his physical health was concerned, Nixon was a bit doubtful. Tsubasa's health would be out of her hands the minute they arrived in this world. He might be crippled for life depending on how things headed out once they got here.

The shock of discovering his lack of ability to move, had frightened Tsubasa greatly. So much that he had ended up pushing the princess to commit suicide in hopes of proving her innocence to him. Not that the boy had thought that, of course. He had been convinced she would kill him and free him from further torment. He had called the princess's soul to the dream world once again just so he could talk to her. He had made no attempts to hide his disappointment when he had spoke with the girl but he did feel a bit bad about having to behave so harshly with her. After all, seeing the one you love more than your own life, mistrust you so much… it hurt and he knew that from experience. It takes time for that trust to build up again.

Although… he might just have shattered that trust with the one person he cared about. Shaking his head, he quickly forced that line of thought out of his mind. Dwelling on what had happened with Masooma would not do either of them any good.

He had told Sakura that they had two more days to get to this world if they wanted to help Fai. He just hoped his efforts to help the blond survive would be enough until then, because time flowed differently in both worlds. What was merely a week in Clow had been equal to a month in Magihidusi.

-0-

Syaoran woke up with a groan, blinking his eyes several times as he took in his dank surroundings. He was back in the dungeon. Looking down, he found neither the blood, nor the gaping holes that had been caused by Fai's vampire side impaling him with icicles. He wasn't sure whether he had succeeded in convincing the blond that he meant to help him but he was sure he had done all he could have. The rest was up to the motionless man lying on the ground in a shivering mess. He couldn't believe he had missed all those signs when his son had been trapped here. But then again, he had been watching the events unfold from Tsubasa's eyes once he had regained awareness of their surroundings. And quite a lot of time had passed until then. The drugs that had been continuously pumped into the brunette's bloodstream had not helped the situation any. He could only hope that what had happened to him in his captivity would not end up affecting his son for the rest of his life. Knowing how much his wife's other self loved his son; he knew that Tsubasa was in good hands. And he just had to help Fai cope until the others came for him. They'd be okay once they were out of here.

-0-

Fai became aware of the excruciating pain his hands as his consciousness returned. Blearily opening his eyes, he looked around. He was lying on the ground, the stench of blood, sweat and something else saturating the air around him. It was dark yet his eyes could pick up even the smallest of cracks in the dark stones that were used to build his cage. Unlike the last cell where there had been a small window to let in a bit of fresh air this room was completely closed off. And from the smell of rot and decay, most probably underground as well. He wondered if it was because he had killed two guards and almost made it back to Magihidusi from his last location. They must have changed his location when they had captured him again. There was a strange veil over some of his memories. He could tell that a lot of time passed but he could not really recall what had happened in that time. All he knew was that it had not been good. He could recall being confused, in pain and extremely scared and betrayed but what those events had been that had led to the feelings escaped him. It was almost like he had been trapped inside his own head for all that time and someone had only just recently set him free.

"Fai-san?" the familiar voice gave him a start. Sitting up abruptly and getting a rather bad attack of vertigo, his glowing catlike eyes finally settled on the almost invisible apparition in a corner of the cell.

"Syaoran-kun?"

"Uh…. How do you feel, Fai-san?" the brunette asked almost hesitantly.

"What are you doing here, Syaoran-kun?" He asked, fear gripping his heart at the thought of having been too late to save the boy. There was no other way he would still be here. Did he die and end up getting stuck here as a ghost? "W-Weren't you supposed to be in Clow?"

"Does this mean you don't remember what happened?"

"You didn't die, did you?"

"No, Tsubasa is still alive. He's at Clow."

"So then you're… are you a hallucination?" Fai furrowed his brow, bits and pieces of his memory coming back to him.

"Uh… not exactly."

Fai grunted as a flash of a familiar face glowering above him surfaced in his mind. The face was twisted in anger and hatred, an indescribable pain akin to a hand crushing his heart shooting through his body, his breath coming in shallow, rapid pants.

"-i-san? Fai-san?"

"…You tried to kill me." He panted, blinking the memory away as he stared at the apparition with mistrust and a hint of anger and fear.

"It was a misunderstanding."

"You tried to kill me because of a misunderstanding?"

"I can explain."

"Explain why you tried to kill me?" the blond repeated incredulously as his eyes darted around the dark room for means of an escape, "I risked my life to save you and you tried to kill me!"

"It was a mistake!" the spirit cried out defensively but this seemed to set the wizard off even more.

"How can you try to kill someone by mistake?" the man hissed as his catlike eyes settled on the brunette in an unsettling gaze. He could see the apparition fidget for a while as it avoided his eyes before a determined look passed the boy's face as he looked back at him, staring him fully in the eye.

"I know you're hurt and angry at what I did Fai-san but believe me when I say this. I regret everything I did to you. I'm… also sorry that I accidentally viewed your memories in your head but," he added hastily afraid that the blond might interrupt his confession, "I did not mean to. I went there to try and help you find a way back to the surface."

"What do you mean?" he asked sharply as the loud clack of approaching footsteps echoed in the corridor outside. The apparition swore violently as his brown eyes darted towards the door before desperately looking back at Fai.

"Fai-san, please, I need you to listen to me. I swear I'll explain everything once they leave. I know I haven't done anything to earn your trust but please, just do as I say."

The blond ignored him in favor of glaring at the entrance to his cell as a familiar scent reached his nose. It was her. As soon as he realized it, a low growl began to form in his throat as his nails began to subconsciously elongate into claws. The excruciating pain of his broken fingers realigning themselves lost on his mind that was focused on one thing and one thing only.

"Fai-san please." the apparition begged him but the captive mage ignored the brunette.

He heard the loud scrape of the door being unbolted as the woman stepped inside. The door was locked behind her again though he could smell two guard stationed right outside his cell in the hallway. The woman seemed to be busy looking through some sort of list in her hand as she did not look up to meet his gaze as she walked over to him. The vampire hybrid tensed his body in preparation for an attack even though he knew he'd never be able to make it past the door in his state. But he knew he had to do something.

"Fai-san, don't! They'll just drug you again. We'll never get a chance to talk if they do that and you won't be able to find out what's going on."

It appeared as though the woman had not heard the disembodied voice like he had as she continued going through the list in her hand. Fai briefly considered attacking her regardless of the consequences but in the end, logic won out.

"You have to act really afraid of her, whimper and try to back away from her if you must. But look at her like she's your only hope of survival. She'll be expecting you to behave that way. And… you must call her by Masooma-san's name. I'll explain everything but please," the boy added desperately as the woman almost seemed done with her scanning, "just do as I say for now."

The woman tucked her file into a pocket of jacket before smiling at the blond.

"Hello Fai."

The blond seemed to shrink in on himself as his blue eyes darted all around the room, before focusing on her face. "M-Masooma?" a soft whimper erupted from his lips as the woman smiled widely, her cold silver eyes almost glittering in the relative darkness of the room.

The mask of a scared, confused wizard slipped onto his face effortlessly. No one had ever denied that the magician was a brilliant actor.

-0-

Masooma felt the cold wind bite at her wet, tear-stained cheeks as she leaned against the wooden stump of what was once no doubt a majestic tree. Her surrounding were desolate and barren, no signs of life within miles, an atmosphere of utter dejection and hopelessness saturating the cold air, reflecting her emotions almost poetically.

She had never thought that the man she had considered to be her biggest source of comfort whenever she had been distraught, would be the cause of her misery. She should have known though. It was bound to happen sooner or later. All because of some stupid promise he had made, that man was worse than an over-protective brother glaring at all male members of the opposite species if they were in so much as in her line of visibility. Of course, the Oracle had never really threatened anyone in that regard or anything or even glared at anyone for that matter- even if his sightless eyes glaring at people proved to be greatly unnerving. It was the way he treated her. At first it had just been unnecessary fussing over her whenever she hurt herself in one of her endeavors. But it had gotten worse after that had arrived in this world and she had suffered at the hands of the hunters. She knew he cared about her a lot, he'd never go to such length for just about anyone, but it was just… he always got so upset when she did something silly or unnecessary in his eyes. He considered it failure at having to protect her.

He needed to understand that she was her own woman and could efficiently make her own decisions. It wasn't like he had made some vow of protecting her from every negative thing the world had to offer. The brown-eyed girl had no idea how wrong she was about that for Nixon had indeed made such a vow to his best-friend when he had taken away her unconscious form from Celes. She had been unwilling to leave Fai behind when the idea had been proposed and it had taken both magicians to knock her out long enough for them to get her out of the palace.

Taking in a shuddering breath, Masooma watched it curl in a visible mist when she exhaled, the vapors hanging before her for a while before dissipating. She'd have to head back pretty soon but for now, she wanted nothing more than to sit there in the desolate forest and wallow in her misery.

-0-

A/N: So, was this chapter any good? If the scene with Fai and Syaoran was confusing, don't hesitate to let me know though the rest of it was pretty clear IMO, but then again, I could be wrong. Anywho, lemme know what you guys think of the update. I'm kinda excited about the next chapter though since it's got two of my favorite scenes in the whole fic so far. ;) ;)