A/N: More Fai for everyone! ^_^

Enjoy!

Syaoran felt like crying for help when he noticed the way Fai's body grew limp; his breath coming in such shallow, ragged gasps it was a wonder how the man was even able to get any oxygen in his blood at all. His condition had steadily worsened ever since he had been thrown in this small chamber. From the flushed pallor of his sickeningly pale skin, Syaoran knew that the man had a high fever and if something was not done to bring down his temperature, he would die for sure. As though to answer his silent pleas, the door to the outer chamber opened and Syaoran heard the dreadful clack of the silver-haired woman's high heeled boots. She slid open the lock to Fai's tiny cell and for a brief moment, Syaoran considered crushing her heart right where she stood. In the bright fluorescent light cast by the tube fitted into the roof of the tiny chamber, he noticed the dark gloves that adorned her hands, one of which held the device that she had used to scan Fai's condition a few days back.

"We're not going to let you die so easily, mage." She murmured softly, kneeling beside him as her hand trailed the line of his jaw. "You're too interesting a specimen. No one has resisted the drug so far. I'm quite curious to find out what it is about your magic that sets you apart from the others of your kind."

Her brow furrowed in confusion as she took in the reading from the scanner.

"Maybe we were a bit too hard on you." she said as she climbed to her feet, leaving the chamber for a while returning with her two cronies in tow. Wordlessly the brutes bent down and picked him up, one of them taking hold of his arms while the other caught hold of his thighs. Fai moaned in pain but it was frighteningly soft, almost like a whine buried somewhere inside his throat.

He was dying.

Syaoran followed behind them as they proceeded down several twisting hallways. He vaguely wondered what it was with evil lairs and twisting pathways, but quickly managed to get his straying mind to focus on the present events. They stopped outside a room with a brightly polished silver door. The woman pressed her hand against a panel built into it and it beeped once before hissing and sliding out of the way as soon as she removed her hand. Billows of cool mist curled outwards as the air escaped the room. Hurriedly, Syaoran stepped inside just as the door began to slide to a close. It was still quite troublesome for him to get through closed doors in this place, despite him being a spirit. It was almost like the metal made him briefly turn solid, even if he stayed invisible to these hunters. A long, horizontal tank, roughly three feet by six feet in size and almost three feet in height stood off to one side. It was filled with a pale blue translucent liquid that seemed to be the source of the curling white mist. At a nod from the woman, the brutes moved Fai to the tank and dumped him inside, though one of them caught hold of his hair and dragged his head out of the thick, viscous liquid before he could drown. The woman grabbed a clear white pipe from one of the worktables and inserted it into the side of the tank. Rolling up the sleeve of her shirt, she pulled the pipe through the other side and proceeded to place it in Fai's slightly parted mouth.

Syaoran could hear the other man choke and gag as the plastic was shoved down his throat, but he could only stand by helplessly and watch the woman work. From what she had said, it seemed like they were going to do something to help him. Even if it was hurting him now, it would keep him alive for a few more days. Satisfied with her work, the woman stepped away and Syaoran noticed that the rest of Fai's mouth and nose were covered by an oval disk of sorts, probably meant to keep the liquid from entering his windpipe and ultimately drowning him.

The man let go of Fai's hair and he sank to the bottom of the tank. The woman pressed a series of buttons on a flat panel next to the tank and tiny black pipes, not unlike the ones that made up the woman's gloves, appeared from the bottom of the tank, attaching to various spots on the blonde's body. At the press of another button, the lid of the tank slid into place as the air was completely sucked out as it filled with the liquid. Fai's form was a hazy blur of pale flesh by now, though he noticed thick black straps holding him to the bottom of the tank. He wasn't sure when they had appeared and bound the magician, but it must have been with the black pipes. At the woman's signal, the brutes left the chamber, leaving her alone with the blonde and Syaoran.

"I did not think you would slip into shock in just a day. After all, you put up such a stubborn front the day before yesterday. Oh well." She shrugged carelessly as she slid her hands into a small slot right next to the panel with all the buttons. For a short while, nothing happened, but then the liquid inside the tank began to bubble, though frost seemed to gather on the outside of the tank. Syaoran heard a muffled sound that sounded almost like an agonized scream and when his eyes' gaze settled on the hazy form inside the tank past the gathering frost, he realized that the man was thrashing about. That is, as much as he could while being restrained inside the tank. Half a minute later, the woman withdrew her hands, panting slightly as she looked inside the tank. "You'll heal just enough to survive what we have planned for you next." She told the man inside, "I can't wait to see just what is it that makes you tick. I guess we might give you one last chance to tell us what we want to know. Although the higher ups seem to think you might be of more use to us in death."

With those words, she turned around and left, shivering slightly as she passed right through Syaoran.

"You should have just pretended, Fai-san…" he murmured softly as he slid down the wall and landed on his rump. Fear and hopelessness gripped his heart as he stared at the bubbling tank and the convulsing blond inside. "Kurogane-san, Sakura-chan…please hurry."

-0-

Tsubasa felt like he was floating in nothingness, thick, black, suffocating nothingness that swallowed up any light or sound. The cold warmth spread through his entire body, coaxing him to sink deeper, but a warm cold cut through the nothingness, bringing with it light and sound. Light that was painfully bright and sound that was excruciatingly loud. He could feel this new sensation tug him away from the nothingness, pulling him towards the light and sound. He tried to sink away, but it was unrelenting.

"Syaoran. Wake up." The sensation called out to him. Part of him wanted to ignore it and sink back into the nothingness but the sensation was insistent, its warm cold seeping deep within and pushing out the cold warmth. "Wake up, Syaoran."

I don't want to… he replied weakly.

"Why not?" the sensation questioned.

It hurts… everything hurts…

"The hurt will go away, you know."

No… I don't want to…

"Why not, Syaoran?"

It will hurt… I'm scared… they will hurt me… I don't want to hurt anymore.

"You won't hurt anymore, Syaoran."

No… I'm safe here...

"But there's nothing here."

That's why it's safe.

"It's not safe here."

Yes it is.

"No, it isn't." The sensation insisted, "The void will consume you and you won't exist anymore."

But I won't hurt anymore either… everything will end…

"You don't want everything to end, Syaoran."

Yes I do…

"No. You don't." the sensation repeated firmly.

I won't hurt anymore…

"But others will hurt if you're gone."

No one cares… No one cares if I go…

"People care, Syaoran." The warm cold spread further, tugging him farther away from the nothingness.

No! No one cares! Let me go!

"What about your father?" the sensation questioned quietly as it let go, letting him drift towards the sweet nothingness. "Doesn't he care?"

Father?

"Yes, your father. He doesn't want you to go. Would you leave him alone?"

… Father cares? He wondered, the concept of someone caring almost alien to him.

"Of course he does. He'd be very sad if you'd leave him, you know."

Father… cares…

"Come along."The warm cold spread out once again, slowly tugging him away from the dark nothingness, "We need to head back now."

Father… cares…

-0-

"You're more forthcoming with information this time," Kurogane said in a neutral tone, though his eyes carefully observed the blind Oracle. "And you don't look ready to keel over every time you speak."

"You'll have to thank Masooma for that." He nodded as he moved away, retrieving a rolled sheet of paper from one of the shelves and spread it out on the table to reveal a map of some sorts. "We have until tomorrow to come up with a plan of action. Fai doesn't have much time left."

"Still can't tell us what you see, can you though?"

"I'm still the Oracle, Kurogane," the man sighed, shaking his head with a small frown, "No amount of wishing can free me from that."

"What's wrong with you and the healer?" he asked gruffly, observing the man closely for his reactions.

"Masooma?" he questioned airily that reminded him too much of a certain blond iidiot…

"Yeah, she's avoiding you."

"We had a bit of an argument concerning the price of her wish."

"Is that why she's taking care of the kid?"

"Part of the reason." He responded evasively as his fingers traced the slightly raised lines drawn on the sheet of paper. "I take it the princess will be going along for the rescue?"

"Yeah."

"You used the western network of tunnels to enter Metropolis the last time." his tone grew business-like, "Our patrols have reported an increase in the guard stationed in that area. Even though it's the closest to their facility, there are two other ways to get into the city undetected although once their facility is broken into, all exits to the city will be sealed, so you won't be able to escape like you did the first time. Given Syaoran's current condition, I think it's safe to assume that he will be playing no part in the rescue. So unless you plan on leaving him here in Magihidusi, I'd say changing dimensions as a means to escape is out of the question."

"We're not leaving the kid behind." He replied firmly.

"I thought not." Nixon nodded, "But Fai can't wait long enough for Syaoran to recover. Which brings us back to the problem of escape."

"Isn't there any weakness in their defense?"

"There are several, actually." The Oracle stated, "But none of which you will be in a position to exploit at that time."

"What about the network of tunnels built under their city," the red-eyed man frowned thoughtfully as he observed the map closely, "doesn't that join the tunnels we'll be using to break into that place at some point?"

"The only one that did collapsed during the stint that got Syaoran captured," he shook his head. "However, we know that magic can still be used as a means to escape. Fai's spell taught us that much."

"The princess isn't well versed in transportation magic." The warrior reasoned.

"Whoever said anything about Sakura performing the spell?" he quirked a brow lightly.

"I'm no mage and I doubt that idiot would be well enough to use any spells either."

"Ah, but you forget," Nixon grinned mischievously, "I'm well enough and powerful enough to get us all out of there."

"You're coming along?" Try as he might, Kurogane could not keep the surprise out of his tone.

"Thanks to Masooma, I'm free of my deal with the Shaman." He nodded, tracing out invisible patterns in the air before him with his fingers. It reminded Kurogane of the type of magic Fai used, which was something he had yet to witness being done by any other mage. The air shimmered slightly before something materialized with a metallic glint. The Oracle deftly plucked the objects out of the air, twirling them carelessly in his hands, "I no longer have to abide by the laws that bind all magicians of this world."

"Throwing knives?" Kurogane quirked a brow, observing the blind man's weapon of choice.

"Not just any throwing knives," he replied with a grin, flicking his hand and letting one of them fly through the air. It hit the wooden shelf with a dull thud. He flicked his hand and the knife materialized in the palm of his hand. "These babies were enchanted by the High Mage of Celes to return back to their wielder when he wills it. They were a gift from Fai for saving his ass once upon a time." Nixon said as his smile turned somber. "I ended up having to retrain myself to be able to use them after I lost my sight but they're my element of surprise. After all, no one expects a blind man to use projectiles weapons to fight, do they now?"

A/N: Fai is locked up in a tank, Tsubasa is hearing voices and Kurogane and Nixon have started working on a rescue plan. Next chapter finally sheds some light on how things went to hell the first time around for Kuro and Co and Tsubasa's healing officially begins.

Okay so I based my choice of weapons for the guardians on Fai's fighting style. Fai is a bit of a long range fighter and he's quite good with projectile weapons (such as darts and a bow and arrows) and he also uses a staff to kick ass. Masooma's fighting style is similar to Fai's since she was taught how to use her staff as an offensive weapon under his apprenticeship. As for Nixon's throwing knives, I'd say they both (Fai and Nixon) learnt to use them around the same time for a part of the test for becoming the Oracle. After Nixon loses his sight upon taking Fai's place as the Oracle, Fai gifts him the enchanted knives. Nixon is blind but he can sense the auras of his surrounding so he had to retrain himself on how to use them. But now he can kick some major ass. Of course, once he became a guardian he stopped using them because of his pact with the Shaman that prevents him from killing the hunters. But now that he is free, he's decided to use them again. My Beta says that he seemed to be more of an unarmed fighter to her but I like him with some sort of weapons. What about you guys? Think it's an appropriate choice for him?

So a few readers asked me how I imagined Masooma and her staff to look like. I ended up drawing her and Nixon last night. I've uploaded the picture on my deviantart account. Feel free to copy past the following link in your browser window (minus the spaces) and check it out, k?

http: / nimmxx. deviantart. com / art / The-Guardians-270868197 ? q=gallery % 3Animmxx & qo= 1

I had a lot of fun drawing the staff even though it's kinda simple. I might end up making a more elaborate version at some later date but for now, that's her staff. ;)