A/N: So I had my final year project proposal defense today and I promised myself that I'd update if it went well. Right now I'm on cloud nine because it went really well. So here's a celebrationary update for you all. (I know that's not a word but what the heck. I made it up just for this occasion. ;) )

Enjoy!

Feeling thirstier than he had in ages, he struggled to open his eyes. The room he occupied was dimly lit, the roof- being the only thing he could see due to the fact that he was laying on a flat surface- was made out of large irregularly cut stones. The air smelled a little damp and musty, the way air always smells in underground places. His breath hitched in his throat, eyes darting wildly around him. He was back there. Underground. No light. No air. They had put him back again. Was this the king's way of fulfilling his sadistic promises? Bile began to rise in his throat prompting him to turn to the side of his bed and hack weakly even though there was nothing in his stomach to expel.

"-there. Easy." Someone was rubbing his back in circles, the fingers somewhat cold as they seemed to rob his body of its heat through the thin material of the bandages, "Relax. Take deep breaths. Easy now. It's okay."

Still struggling to bring his breathing under control, he weakly looked around before turning his attention back to the person hovering around him. A pair of concerned amber eyes met his gaze and for the first time in a long time, he found a small urge within himself to relax. The room was empty save for the woman beside him. A soothing warm cold flowed through his body from the spot where the woman's fingers touched his back and he found it easier to draw each successive breath. Something told him that he was safe here.

"Who… Who are you?" he rasped, his eyes darting around the room once more before settling on her face.

"My name is Masooma." The woman said with a small smile. "And we have actually met before you know."

"I'm sorry but I-" harsh coughs racked his body as he doubled over once again. The woman pressed an earthen mug to his lips the minute the fit eased up a little. Like a man on the brink of death, he drained the mug in only two gulps. "I don't remember having met you before."

"I'd have been more surprised if you did remember me." she replied with a shake of her head. "How are you feeling?" seeing his questioning look, she added, "I'm a healer."

"Where…" he gulped heavily, "Where am I?"

"Some place safe." She replied airily as the woman turned her attention towards untying a knot on one of the bandages that were wrapped around his torso. Her long hair fell across the side of her face as she leaned over him slightly, her long fingers working nimbly. She had very short nails, he noticed idly as he watched her, the ends almost appeared to have been chewed to the quick. "Don't worry." She flashed him another smile, "No one will be able to harm you here."

"Am I alone?" he whispered hesitantly, wondering where the cruel princess and his former companions might be.

The woman met his gaze with sad eyes and he felt his heart sink.

"No Syaoran." She finally answered. "But there's no one here that would hurt you." she added as she finished unwrapping the bandages. A deep frown adorned her pale face as she stared at the numerous scars, burns and stitches that littered his chest. "Those sadistic bastards." She hissed venomously as she quickly turned away from him and marched over to a wooden cabinet. Muttering rather obscenely under her breath, she rummaged inside for half a minute before turning around to face him with a gentle smile. "I was actually drawing up a bath for you when you woke up," she told him as she walked over and placed the items she had retrieved from the closet on the table beside his bed. They were four, white plastic bottles with caps of varying colors. "We need to clean your wounds again before I bandage them." With that, she pulled over a wheelchair to his bedside and looked at him expectantly. "Once you're clean and bandaged I'll get you some broth to eat." The smile slid of her face, replaced by a frown as she observed him closely. "What's wrong?"

"I can't move my legs anymore…" he breathed, on the edge of hysterics as he stared at his legs before glancing all around the room like a caged animal, "They…They paralyzed me so I wouldn't run… They'll take me back there… I can't move and they'll take me back there…"

"Syaoran, look at me." She ordered gently as she took his face in her hands and turned him to face her. His eyes were wide with terror, pupils dilated as his gaze kept on darting everywhere, "calm down." She said as she sent another soothing spell into his body. She internally frowned as the spell weakened the deeper it went. Not stopping, she let more of her magic flow into the spell, "No one can come in here but me."

Like a little child being soothed from a nightmare, his hopeful gaze fixed on her. Smiling gently she pressed her fingers against his temple, casting another spell, watching him closely as small strands of her magic penetrate his mind as she began to assess his mental state. The diagnostic spell only worked when the victim was awake and she knew that in order to avoid something that might unknowingly shatter what little trust her magic had allowed her to gain from the boy, she decided that right then would be the best time to find out what she was dealing with. His eyes glazed over as a side-effect of the spell as she let her magic do its work. Five minutes later, she drew back with an exhausted sigh, noticing that the boy had slipped back into a trance. Pushing his greasy hair out of his face, she climbed to her feet, carefully picking up his pliant body from the bed and settling it on the wheelchair. Even though he was only a few years younger than her, probably seventeen or eighteen, he still felt frighteningly light in her arms. His head lolled about his shoulders as she made her way to the small bath attached to the room. Steam wafted from the filled tub, some of the water spilling over the brim as she lowered him into the water. She positioned him so that he wouldn't slip underwater as she went to retrieve the disinfectant and the washing solutions from the room. As an added measure, she cast a small spell to hold his body in place. She found him in the same position as when she had left, when she returned a couple of minutes later with some fresh clothes of his that Mokona had been holding on to.

Rolling up her sleeves, she uncapped the bottle of disinfected and set about her task. Once she had cleansed all his injuries and washed his hair, she decided he needed to have a haircut before she brought him out of his daze. The drug the hunters had been using on him had been designed to not only make him mistrust and fear all those around him, it had also tampered with his memory. As he was now, he had no memory of why he had been travelling with his companions to Metropolis or what had led to his capture. Her heart clenched in fear for Fai. It had been two and a half months now. What havoc would the drug have wrecked on his mind? From what she had gathered from Sakura, the drug had made Syaoran see her, Kurogane and Fai in place of the actual hunters. Who would Fai be seeing as his tormentors? His travelling companions or… her? If they… No! She had to have faith. She couldn't give up hope. When they brought him back, would he be just as afraid of her as Syaoran was of Sakura?

Taking in a deep breath, she steadied herself and began gathering her courage. She had made a wish to Watanuki to free Nixon from his Guardian Pact so that he could go along with Kurogane to rescue Fai. It was only after the arrival of the dimension travelers in Magihidusi that she had discovered about Princess Sakura's decision to accompany the red-eyed warrior. Staying behind to take care of and physically heal Syaoran was only part of her price. The reason why Nixon had gotten so upset over her making that wish had been because of the second half of her price. She also had to work and heal his mind as best as she could. The Shaman's magic was no joking matter and to break a pact that strong, the price had to be equally high. Watanuki had of course warned her of what that would entail but she had been dead-set on making her wish. In the end, Watanuki had no choice but to comply since he was in the end, a granter of wishes. It was his job to warn the wisher of the consequences of their wish and the payment of their price and then if they still wanted it, grant the wish.

"Are you sure you want to do this, Masooma-san?"

"Yes, I'm quite sure. I might have been worried if I had not studied the healing arts but as it is…" she trailed off.

"You do know what healing his mind would entail." The boy pointed out with a small frown, "Are you willing to put yourself through that when I am quite certain you haven't fully recovered from your own ordeal?"

"… It's not like I have that much of a choice in this matter, Watanuki-san." The use of the honorific with his name was not missed by the boy. "I'll deal with my own issues when the time comes."

Putting back all the broken pieces of Syaoran's mind would be a rather difficult and painful process for both him and herself but Masooma knew she had to do it to save Fai. Even if in the end, she would only be further ensnared into the pact with that manipulative Shaman once Nixon was free and she was the only guardian left, she knew that for the man she loved more than life itself, she would do it in a heartbeat. Thinking about Nixon made her remember what had happened four days back when she had been summoned to Nixon's chambers from the middle of her fight with the hunters. She did not regret any of the things she had said to him that day but… thinking about his confession and his kiss… it made her feel ashamed of herself. Nixon wasn't the type of person to act on half formed thoughts or feelings so she knew there was no way what he had done had been because of a sudden impulse. She remembered a time when he had jokingly revealed that he had harbored a crush on her a long time back. Of course he had reassured her that he had let go of his feelings once she had gotten together with Fai but what if… what if he had been harboring those feelings for her all this time? It hit her with the force of a raging Celesian bullhorn as her mind conjured his actions over the past years.

How could she have been so blind to everything? All those little gestures he made towards her. Despite having been separated for so long, she had only ever thought of Fai, holding the blond to his promise of finding her again. And because she had waited for him to find her, she had never even considered the possibility of the blind man as something more than a dear friend. He must have known though, because that was the only reason she could think for him not having acted on his feelings before. She had been avoiding him completely since that day but how much longer could she hide from him? She still did not think of him as anything more than a brother she never had but he had helped her and given up so much for her. Hiding and avoiding him would be unfair towards him. After all, he had only done that to make her stop. She had been the one to push him to the limits of his tolerance. She owed it to him to at the very least speak to him once. But maybe… she'd speak to him when things had cooled down a bit. She still couldn't bring herself to face him just yet.

Silently, she wrapped the bandages around Syaoran's wounds and dressed him in his clothes- a pair of brown cargo pants and a khaki button down shirt. Cut to its proper length and cleansed of all the dirt and blood and grease, his hair now stuck up at odd angles, just like it had when he had first arrived at Magihidusi, though just like the rest of him his hair was now weak and brittle. Masooma did not miss how the brunette seemed to almost disappear in his clothes, his body dangerously thin and fragile from almost being starved to death. She knew he would need a lot of physical therapy to regain the strength in his limbs. She sighed as she climbed to her feet and covered him up with a blanket. A pang of remorse attacked her heart as she took in the sight he presented. Even though Sakura had yet to mention it, Masooma could tell from her initial diagnosis of the boy that her healing magic had not been working completely on him. Two weeks should have had been more than enough to heal his broken bones completely, yet there were still hairline cracks, the rest of his wounds ought to have been nothing but faint scars yet there were some that still bled a little. The princess was an accomplished healer, after all acquiring the post of High Priestess was no joke, but it was not Sakura's lack of experience in regards to healing or a weakness in her magic, heck she could tell Sakura's magic was just as powerful as Fai's and that was saying something.

No, the reason why she had failed to heal Syaoran completely in the two weeks he had spent at Clow was because of the fact that there was something wrong with the brunette. Or rather, something was wrong with his blood. It appeared that it seemed to resist attempts at healing his body. In her time spent at Magihidusi as the resident healer and guardian, Masooma knew of only one thing capable of cancelling out the effects of magic. Cerelium. They had injected Cerelium compounds into his blood. No doubt in attempts to negate his own magic. but as long as the compound remained in his bloodstreams, it would also fight off foreign magic to a lesser extent. Healing wounds with magic was a complicated matter. It was not just about knowing about the wound and the healing spells. Time, amount of magic, severity of the wound… it all mattered. Healing the injury to his spinal column required nothing more than a greater amount of magic on her part but in order for her to be able to heal it completely, she needed to act as fast as possible. The older the injury, the lesser the chance there was for magic to work on it. Unfortunately the Cerelium compounds inside his body complicated matters. They did not let her magic penetrate deep enough inside him for it to be effective enough to heal the wound. Only once he was flushed clean of the substance would there be any chance of her being able to heal it. sadly, the amount of time needed to completely get rid of the compound was far greater than the amount of time she could leave the wound alone before it would be rendered unhealable.

Syaoran might just end up being crippled for life.

-0-

"I take it you have been able to gather enough information to attempt a break in?" Nixon asked politely as they all ate dinner, vegetable and rabbit stew.

"We think we know where the cure is." Syaoran nodded, "We're going to see what we can find out tomorrow and then move in the day after."

"And are you sure you want to go there despite all the risks involved?" he quirked a brow, "there are alternative methods to travelling between dimensions as I'm sure you are well aware of."

"None of those methods are permanent, Nixon." Fai shook his head, "my magic is not enough to transport four people across the dimensions and Syaoran-kun begins to feel the effects of his price if he stays in one world for too long. This is the only solution we have."

Masooma who had been quietly eating dinner until then, set down her bowl rather forcefully, the liquid inside sloshing and spilling a little on the table as she stood up. She shot a glare at Nixon and Fai before turning around and rushing from the dining hall. Nixon made to get up but Fai beat him to it. "I'll go talk to her." Ignoring Syaoran's troubled gaze and Kurogane's annoyed and worried frown, he took the path the witch had taken and followed her to the top of the pyramid.

"So you're just going to leave again…"she said in a bitter tone before he had a chance to speak.

"Masooma…" he sighed, "I'm sorry but it's very complicated."

"You could just send them to someplace they can get help for your transporter." She countered, "It's not like you have to go with them."

"Nixon told you about my journey, right?" Fai questioned softly, "I care for Syaoran-kun like a little brother. Fei Wang trapped him and Watanuki-kun in a void for all eternity when he was destroyed because their mere existence is a paradox. In order to escape, they took on heavy prices. Watanuki-kun can never leave the shop until his wish has been met and Syaoran-kun cannot stop travelling until he finds a world where the spirits of mother and father can finally have bodies of their own and exist in peace."

"He wants to bring them back from the dead?"

"Not the dead." He shook his head as he came and settled down on the ledge next to her, "They are existing as memories inside Sakura-chan and Syaoran-kun. If we don't leave a world in two weeks time the price begins to destroy Syaoran-kun's body little by little. Even if I send them away without going along myself… who is to say that they will be able to cure Mokona in time? And if they can't cure Mokona and I'm not there…" he trailed off, closing his eyes.

"… I have a very bad feeling about your all going there." She admitted quietly. "Please Fai," she turned to him, "there must be some other way. I can't help but feel that something will go wrong and… I just don't want to lose you."

"Masooma," pulling her to his chest, he murmured in her hair, "have a little faith in me."

"I'll never forgive you if you let something happen to you."

He only tightened his grip in response to her statement. Unease about the upcoming break-in tugged at his own heart as well, but he knew that there was no other way and Syaoran was running out of time. He had to do this.

A/N: So… They're about to break-in into Metropolis. Masooma's fears turn into reality as things go to hell for Syaoran and co. A little teaser of what's in store for Fai next time.

"I can see now what Bauld meant about that wretched bitch. She fought back. I'd even say she fought almost as hard as you…" she paused, as though waiting for him to respond. At the garbled string of noises that erupted from his throat at that, she gave a simpering laugh, deciding to continue with her monologue, "Of course, Bauld has a way of breaking his playthings after a while."

A Note: The story seems to have taken a life of its own once more. *sighs* It's all starting to write itself and I'm afraid I might have to change the rating to M in the next couple of chapters. -_-; Just thought I oughtta warn you all in advance. It's all headed in a direction I had decided not to venture in when I started this fic, which means that there might be a death or two in the near future.