Every part of his being ached, his chest and lungs were on fire, his blood was almost boiling inside his veins while everything else seemed like it had been turned to ice. He couldn't breathe, couldn't feel his limbs, couldn't see anything, even when he opened his eyes to their widest extent. Worst of all, he couldn't hear anything, either. He shot up, or at least attempted to. His body was too weak. Even in the state that he was in, his senses were still surprisingly sharp enough for him to notice that someone was in the same vicinity as him. The last thing he could recall before having passed out was nothing but pain, raw agony consuming him in its entirety, though he could not remember the cause for his pain. He must have been able to move enough to injure whoever it was that was near him because the next moment he smelled blood. The scent made his insides churn for a fraction of a second before his senses dulled out and he was lost in oblivion once more.

-0-

He sat up with a groan, the pounding in his head was slowly subsiding with every passing second.

"Were you trying to get yourself killed?" he heard the Oracle hiss from somewhere to his right. The lighting of the room was dull, but to his sensitive eyes it was almost blindingly white. He turned around to look at the man who stood half-concealed by the shadows in one corner of the room. His mind flashed back to the hunched over figure in the midst of that bright, pulsing light for a brief moment. "You're lucky I found you when I did, or you would have been dead by now."

"What are you on about?" he growled, his throat burning and itching even as he spoke the words. He was parched. What the heck had happened to him? He remembered having the urge to find the Oracle, rushing into the catacombs without pausing to even grab a torch. He had found the man in one of the underground caverns, having sensed him… no. It had been his magic. He had somehow sensed the Oracle's magic down there. Even now, he could feel the agitated ripples of power flowing off of the man.

"The magic in the catacombs is powerful and ancient," the Oracle replied coldly, "It messes with the heads of those who go there. Only the Guardians are safe from the effects of the essence and you foolishly ran down there and almost died in the process."

Kurogane could tell the man was leaving something out of that explanation.

"The essence?" He repeated, ignoring the itch that burnt at the base of his throat, "so that was it…" It had been magic. That stupid power controlling him enough to make him go down there without even realizing he wasn't doing it off his own volition…oh, how he hated being controlled like that. Before he could start cursing about the magic floating around freely in the very air of this underground city, something that the blind man had said stuck out to him. "You said only Guardians can go down there without being harmed. Then what were you doing down there? You're not a Guardian anymore."

"M-Me?" the Oracle stammered for a moment before gaining control of his emotions, "Why the heck had you gone down there? You could have died!" he almost yelled, taking a step towards the sitting ninja, the light throwing his face into sharp relief. It could have been just a trick of the light, but to Kurogane, the normally-composed man seemed almost scared. "The essence is alive, in a sense, and it does not take well to intruders."

"I wouldn't have died," he growled back in irritation, "Your damn essence called me there. It wouldn't have done that just to kill me."

"What?" the other breathed in disbelief.

"You were up to something down there, weren't you?" he said, narrowing his eyes as he finally climbed to his feet, "Something dangerous that you didn't want anyone else knowing about. But that thing, it sensed what you were about to do and called me there to stop you."

"I don't know what you are talking about." He rushed out, hurriedly stepping towards the double doors that led outside. Sometime after he had passed out, Nixon must have brought him back to the room he had been occupying the last time he had stayed in this world. He could recall the fire raging through his veins, funnily enough making him think of the physical embodiment of anger and rage. The pain of claws ripping through his heart, the force of invisible hammers pounding against his skull…

"You think you will lose her once it's all over," Kurogane said as realization dawned upon him. The Oracle's back stiffened at those words just as he paused over the threshold, one foot still inside the room and the other outside. "And you know you won't be able to face that. That's why you've been acting like this towards the witch. But it wasn't enough for you, so you decided to try and get rid of what you feel for her. Lock it all away in order to escape the pain."

"I was doing nothing." The blind man hissed venomously, a cold shiver racing down Kurogane's spine at the frostiness of his tone before the other was gone. It took him a minute to gather his thoughts enough to follow after the fleeing man but by the time he stepped out into the corridor, he was long gone. Pondering over why he knew all those things in the first place, he tried to sort through the foreign emotions that had coursed through his body after he had passed out. There was longing for that witch and pain of the knowledge that she could never belong to him, but that did not even begin to describe the emotions that had assaulted him in those brief moments. Anger, sorrow, rage, guilt, hatred… pretty much almost every negative emotion in the book had assaulted him back there. He felt a light flicker of magic somewhere close by, distracting him from his thoughts and almost subconscious pursuit of the blind man.

Kurogane-san! Syaoran called out, relief evidently showing up on his face as the spirit raced towards him. I'm so glad I found you. Sakura-hime sent me to look for you over an hour ago. You were gone for so long and we were so worried and-

"Kid," he interrupted the apparition's rambling, "what is it?"

It's Fai-san, the boy said, biting his lip in a manner that almost reminded him of the princess. Since when did the kid start picking up on the girl's habits? He woke up.

Any lingering thoughts he had about going after the Oracle flew out of his head upon hearing that, as he followed the boy back to the room where they had decided on keeping the blond. The sight that met his eyes when he entered the room had not been what expected to see, though.

The mage was lying still on the bed, in the same position he had been when he had left, though there was quite a lot of blood staining the bandages wrapped around his torso. The previously-filled basin of water was in pieces on the floor, the spilt water almost having dried up by now. The princess was hunched over the blond, near his head, fresh blood staining her clothes and this time, he could tell not all of it belonged to the mage. Wisp-like tendrils of magic flowed through the air around the princess, a soft mix of pink and gold enveloping her form even after the girl straightened up and turned around to face him. Looking close, he could almost detect the hint of a pale blue enveloping the magician's body. He frowned in confusion, wondering what was wrong with his vision, before he took a second look at the princess's face. There, on the right side of her face, starting from just below her eye till the end of her chin, were three slashes, almost like claws had swiped at her face. Similar cuts ran down the length of her arms and through parts of her torn clothes, he could see the marks on her stomach.

The blood had clotted by now, parts of the golden glow concentrating on each and every wounded site, accelerating the healing process a little.

"Kurogane-san."The girl's soft voice made him look back at her face. The slashes looked like they would leave scars.

"I was with the Oracle." He replied gruffly, eyeing the wounds on her body and silently prompting the girl to provide an explanation on why she was hurt in that manner. She had been just fine when he had left.

"Fai-san woke up an hour ago." She replied, hurriedly looking away so that the wounded side of her face was concealed from his line of sight. "Syaoran-san was with him at the time. He says Fai-san couldn't really hear him when he called his name, nor could he see him. He came to wake me up but by the time I got here, Fai-san was having a panic attack. I tried to calm him down but he… attacked me. He didn't know it was me, though," she added hurriedly, "I mean, how could he have known he was safe when he couldn't see or hear anything? I asked Syaoran-san to go find you. Fai-san showed no sign of calming down, he had his claws out but they were not big enough to do much harm. His vampire half must have been too exhausted to keep it going for long, so I cast a spell to put him back to sleep."

"Are you okay?"he asked the princess, concern clearly coloring his tone as he took a step towards her.

"I-I'm fine."Her voice cracked a little but he chose not to comment on that. "It's not like he knew he was hurting me." Kurogane knew it wasn't just the mage that she referring to then. "I don't think the damage is permanent. To Fai-san's vision and hearing, I mean. But it would be best to keep Fai-san sedated until the damage to his eyes is repaired, at the very least. He ripped out his stitches, so he'll need more blood than I thought and I'm worried that that would affect your own health if we were try to speed up his recovery time. I will have to check with Masooma-san and see if they have anything to help you with that."

The ninja noticed that the girl had almost made it a habit. Rambling off explanations the way she was, just to distract herself from having to face reality for a little while. Or maybe it was her way of dealing with everything. Kurogane watched as a tendril of gold mixed with the pink and snaked down her arm before seeping into the wounds there. "I don't think she knows about the mage being a vampire." He muttered distractedly, feeling unease as he realized that it wasn't just the two of them that he could sense with those colors. Behind him, even though he could not see it, he could almost imagine the dark green surrounding the kid.

"She doesn't?" Sakura looked up in surprise and the pink glow shifted a little in color, "Why not?"

"No idea," he grunted, sensing a shade of violet walking down the hallways on the lower level. "Ask the mage when he wakes up." Thinking back to the distinct shade of grey that had been guiding him to the Oracle in the catacombs, he tried to locate the blind man but he must have been outside his range, for he found him nowhere. He'd have to track down that idiot later on. Something told him the Oracle would not be attempting that particular spell again in the near future, but it was best to confront him about what was going on in his head before he ended up hurting more than just himself. It was just his luck to end up being surrounded by idiots hell-bent on self destruction.

-0-

Syaoran woke up from what probably had to be one of the most restful sleeps he could remember, despite being as injured as he was, he felt refreshed and wired, ready to face a new day. The fact that he had had no dreams whatsoever was quite a major factor for this newfound restfulness. Carefully pushing his body into a sitting position, he cautiously looked around the room only to note that he was thankfully alone. Taking the time to actually observe his surroundings, Syaoran noticed that unlike the first time when he had woken up here and thought the place to be a replica of those dungeons, it was actually a whole lot nicer. The walls, though made out of blocks of stones were a light sandy brown and the ceiling had some sort of hieroglyphic mural built into it. He also took note of several small ringlets of runes that were carved into some of the stone blocks, the etchings a startling white in contrast to the yellowness of the stones.

The bed he was occupying was an old wooden thing with a headboard that creaked a little when he pushed his back against it and the quilt that was covering the lower half of his body smelt a little like must and mildew, like it had not been aired out in ages. The air itself held a bit of that damp quality to itself that you would notice only in underground caverns and such. His bed was pushed up against the wall at one side of the room with two doors and a small window built into the walls that were to his right and at the opposing end of the foot of his bed. The window opened up to a view that made him double take, he had been quite sure there had been no open grassy fields filled with white lilies when he was being brought back to the room by that witch. The sun shined rather pleasantly right beyond the window with a clear blue sky. The sight it presented contrasted sharply with the stale smell that reached his nose confusing him greatly as to where he was. Wishing that he could somehow get close enough to take a better look at the view outside, his gaze fell on the tiny circular runes scratched into the stones surrounding the window and though he had never seen a display like this before, he figured it had to be some sort of magical illusion. There was a wooden cabinet pushed up against the wall in between the space of the two doorways, a simple runic carving on the panel that concealed its content from view. He wondered if perhaps the carvings were somehow magical in nature but the thought did not last long enough inside his head for him to form a solid opinion on it. . The wheelchair that Masooma had used to take him around the city was currently folded and leaning against the wall that was behind him a little ways away from the bedside table that was placed near the headboard, to the right side of the bed, seeing as the left side was pretty much pushed against the wall. The room was quite sparse apart from that.

"You're awake," Masooma announced, her voice carrying none of the tiredness that showed on her face as she entered the room through the doorway that was on the right of the cabinet, farther away from his bed. A delicious aroma wafted right in with her, masking the musky smell of the air with its salty goodness and making his stomach churn in hunger. A loud rumble echoed in the silence that followed her words causing the witch to laugh a little and making him lower his head with an embarrassed blush. The laugh, Syaoran noticed distantly, had a pretty lilt to it, painfully reminding him of the way she used to laugh before things had gone to hell for him. "And from the sounds of it, quite hungry to boot. It's a good thing I brought you some broth." She smiled kindly at him as the mattress dipped under her weight when she took seat on the bed near the place where his knees were supposed to be. "Eat up," she ordered him not unkindly as she pushed a bowl filled with some sort of semi-thick brown liquid with tiny chunks of white floating around in it. "I need to check the state of your wounds once you're done eating."

He looked at the bowl in his hands with poorly masked suspicion for a little while before the witch heaved a sigh, picking up the spoon from the tray and filling it with some of the liquid. Bringing it to her own lips she spoke, "I didn't poison it, I swear." There was a teasing glint to her gaze as she placed the spoon back in the bowl and offered him a smile. Syaoran waited for almost a minute, waiting to see if she would drop dead where she sat before nodding slightly and taking hold of the spoon himself. The liquid felt a little salty and somewhat tangy in his mouth but it wasn't unpleasant. He was hurriedly filling up another spoon and swallowing it without caring if the liquid scalded his mouth. He hadn't realized how hungry he truly was.

"Whoa, slow down," Masooma said in mock alarm. His eyes watered as the liquid burnt his throat a little while going down but he ignored her request, quickly bringing another spoonful of the broth to his lips. She put her hand on his arm, making him look up from the delicious meal. "I'm not going to snatch it away from you." She assured him in a gentle tone, "Take your time with it or you'll make yourself sick."

He gave her a fraction of a nod, returning his watery gaze to the bowl in his lap that he was supporting with one hand. It had felt heavy when she had handed it to him though he doubted that was the case in reality. He was weak. Physically speaking that was. His muscles did not have the strength they once used to and so now, even a wood carved bowl felt heavier to lift than boulders. His fingers absently traced the carvings on the outer edges of the bowl as he chewed the white chunks before swallowing. Bringing the spoon to his lips once more, he looked at the woman sitting beside him through his lashes. She was watching him eat with a small smile on her face, though he could catch flashes of the pain in her eyes that he'd witnessed right after her row with the Oracle. They had not said much at that time but he had still picked up on a few things and he figured then to be as good a time as any to question her about it.

"Who was that friend of yours?" he started, finally raising his head to look her in the eye. She flinched a little, hurriedly looking away.

"His name is Nixon, he's…" she trailed off clearly seeming to debate on what exactly to tell him.

"The Oracle, I know." He said, "he told me before you woke up. I meant that other person. The one he stopped you from seeing. Who is he?"

"He's…" he waited patiently, "the person I love the most."

"What happened to him?"

"Do you remember what I showed you earlier, in sun-caves I mean?" she asked, finally turning back to look at him, her eyes searching his face for an answer. She must have gotten it because she continued without even waiting for his response. "He and another friend of mine went to rescue you from that place. They managed to get you out of there but he got caught in the process. They did to him what they did to you."

"Do you hate me?" he asked, dropping his gaze back to the bowl in his lap, watching the white chunks float around in the murky liquid, distorting the reflection of his gaunt face with sunken eyes and hollowed cheeks. Looking at his arms, he could see the way his skin clung to the bones, veins pushing through, contrasting in a startling manner against overall ghostly paleness of his flesh. If they had done to that person what they had done to him, surely she must hate him for it. So why was she being so nice to him?

"No." her fingers felt warm against his chilled arm as she slowly moved her hand to take hold of his, "I don't hate you nor do I blame you for it. You are just as much a victim as everyone else. Why would I hate you for that?"

"But your precious person was hurt because of me." He pointed out, refusing to believe her words. There was no such thing as kindness and forgiveness in this world. If Sakura, one of the most forgiving and kind people he had ever known could have such a drastic change in her personality…

"He was hurt because the bastards that had him don't have a shred of humanity in them." She replied firmly, "don't blame yourself for something that is beyond your control. Now eat up before it gets cold."

"I'm not hungry anymore," he said, pushing the half full bowl away from him. His hands trembled a little as he did so but he paid it no mind. He had lost his appetite. After having been told for so long by them that everything that had ever gone wrong was his fault, he had trouble believing this witch even when all she did was smile at him and act kind. Kindness could easily be faked. It wouldn't be long before her anger got the best of her and she changed her colors and started blaming him for everything too. It was all just a matter of time before his brief respite was over and his world would be consumed by pain once again.

A/N: The first paragraph was Fai's POV if anyone was confused. Don't worry though, he won't be blind and deaf forever. Someone asked me how many more chapters were there left a while back and I had answered with 'approximately ten, give or take a few' now, I'm not so sure. It might be more than that though I cant give a definitive number since every time I try to reign it in and wind it down towards the ending, the bunnies take over and go wild. *sighs* ah well…

Since I feel like the break gets too long between the updates, I think I should tell you guys that less time has passed in the story world than it feels like in reality. *sweatdrops* It seemed like a couple of days had already passed since Fai's rescue when I read this chapter earlier but truth be told, it's only been around sixteen hours or so. During which time, he woke up and then had to be put under by Sakura again. Kurogane got hit by Nixon's spell, passed out for a few hours and then woke up again. Syaoran was brought back to his room, slept for a while and now he's awake again…

Before you ask, yes, Sakura might end up having scars from those injuries, Kurogane can sense auras in a manner similar to Nixon's (the essence is alive in a way and it did that to assist Kuro in finding Nixon in time) . I don't think I'm leaving anything out in the explanations but if I am, ask away. ;) I hope you enjoyed the update. I'll put up the beta'd version of this chapter as soon as the awesome 'talkstoangels77' gets back to me with the proofread chapter.

Next time, Tsubasa discovers one of the mortifying downsides to being paralyzed and has a heart to heart with Masooma.

~Obsidian