Tsubasa Chronicle Fan Fiction ❯ Tsubasa: Revolutions ❯ The Return ( Chapter 15 )
[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]
By: galenhiril 
Anime/Manga: Tsubasa Chronicle Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Angst / Romance / Fantasy / Adventure | Type: Shounen-ai | Uploaded On: 07.22.2008 | Pages: 7 | Words: 4.2K | Visits: 211 | Status: Completed
Anime/Manga: Tsubasa Chronicle Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Angst / Romance / Fantasy / Adventure | Type: Shounen-ai | Uploaded On: 07.22.2008 | Pages: 7 | Words: 4.2K | Visits: 211 | Status: Completed
He looks as though he either wants to punch me in the face or ask me what is going on as the light of the sun spills over the edge of the world. Quite frankly, I’m kind of expecting both.
I’ve never seen anything quite like this: as what I can best describe as a ripple of light makes it’s way toward us, engulfing everything in its wake; I’m reminded of an expanding circle in a pond just disrupted or a tsunami of golden warmth all in one instant.
He keeps hold of me with one hand as he rolls himself off of me and onto the cobblestone. He remains crouched on his knees, hovering above me but braces himself for the worst.
I suppose he has no idea that I have no intention of moving right now.
“What the hell was that!?” he demands with a yell, pulling me upwards and practically into his face with a single, forceful yank the moment he realizes he is still in one piece.
“I don’t know,” I smile. I’m lying. And he knows full well I’m lying. And I don’t care.
“You’re pretty calm for someone who doesn’t know anything,” he snarls. “What was that!? A trick of yours?”
“No,” I shrug. My eye catches a flicker of blue bouncing on his chest amidst folds of black silk but before I can reach out for it, before I can steal it away, the ground begins to tremble.
“Get up!” he bellows, yanking me to my feet as he jumps to his own. “You’re coming with me.”
His grip tightens as I am hauled along behind him. I doubt he has any more of a plan than I do, but I might agree that staying put doesn’t seem like that good of an idea.
It feels as though the entire world is moving beneath our feet; shifting, stretching, crawling out of the way to make room for something else.
I wasn’t sure how this would work. How everything would play out. For a thousand years, there has been another world living along side this one in perfect opposition. Those banished from the other side simply disappeared one day, and so those of the other side simply moved on as though they were never there. A thousand years, an entirely new city of Dynn has been created and at sunrise this very day, they have been forced back together.
We are but inches from the fountain in the center of the courtyard, a corner of the brickwork must have broken while Sarûs was chasing after me and blowing fire; water is running everywhere now, spilling over the crumbled bits of the fountain’s edge. But really, that isn’t what has drawn my attention…
In the center, as though it had always been that way, a large, golden statue of a slender woman holding an axe and seven stars circling above her head has appeared. The gold looks a bit dull, her features worn down by the years of sun and wind. She looks as though she has been standing there in the centre of the fountain as long as the fountain itself, even though I’m quite aware she has not been.
At least not in the Dynn I’ve come to know.
Sarûs’s face looks more concerned than confused now; his eyes locked on the statue of the woman rather give-off an expression of recognition.
“What trick is this?” he looks from me to the statue. “Do you think this is some idea of a joke?”
“No,” I shake my head and shrug again. “Pretty lady though. I wonder who she is.”
He doesn’t respond, which I was rather expecting, and pulls me along again as he continues past the fountain and towards the trees lining the pathway to the front gates. There are more trees here now than there were a moment ago and the gates are overgrown with vines of tiny orange-coloured flowers.
I just saw them a moment ago, and I know they did not look like that.
The entire world around us seems to have shifted into a mix of the hard, clean elegance of the Dynn we knew and the and rich, vibrant beauty of a completely different world. The ground still trembles under our feet, but not quite as violently as the vaguely-remembered halves of the world combine into a strange mixture of the two; one stubbornly refusing to give in while the other seems to politely make itself known.
We both watch in bewilderment until an eruption of screams and shouts come pouring from the palace. Quite likely double the amount of people come spilling fourth, many in clothing quite different from others around them.
“Did you do this?!” Sarûs yanks at me again, grabbing my other arm this time as he forces me to face him.
“No,” I offer a smile and another shrug but I can tell from the look on his face that he doesn’t believe me.
Not that I can blame him. I probably wouldn’t believe me either.
“Where is the feather? Did you use it to do this? What did you do Magician!? What is going on?” he punctuates each thought with a violent shake as questions dart from his mouth. But my focus remains only on the blue vial glittering in the soft violet light of the sunrise.
“Lord Sarûs! Lord Sarûs! What is going on!?” people shout as they run straight towards us.
He glares; first a me, and then whips himself about to face them all, and in a terrible, powerful voice the words, “Leave me be!” sear into my mind.
Not one of them takes another step forward and I catch the flicker of his intense, serpent eyes as he turns to me again.
He takes one long, deep breath to calm himself and then a malicious grin spreads across his face. One hand drops my arm and rises to his chest to clasp around the vial. “I will ask you one more time,” his voice is calm and low now, and his face is so close I can feel his breath on my cheek. “What is going on? You will tell me. Now. Or I will tear that palace down with my bear hands until I find your friend. I will give him back his pathetic excuse for a soul and then, I will force him to watch me do terrible things to you until you no longer satisfy me or I decide to let you die. Only after that, I will eat him for dinner.”
“I don’t think Kurogane would stand much for being eaten,” I shrug, acting as unaffected by his threat as possible. The problem with Sarûs is that I don’t doubt he’ll do it. If given the chance, he will, and the reality of that thought makes my stomach turn.
“Then spare him the worry of it all, Fai,” he says darkly into my ear. “Tell me…”
“Sarûs!” a voice interrupts him. I can see his emerald eyes flicker with anger again, hints of the monster within him flare up before he turns his head around to snap at them.
But his voice catches in his throat.
His grip on my arm; lessened.
Still a distance off, standing on the top of the marble steps leading into the palace, a slender young main stands. His inky black hair blowing in the wind, his black overcoat billowing behind him; everyone who fled the mysteriously re-arranging palace stares in awe of him, but I, alone, breathe in deeply with a slight sense of calm.
I’ve never been happier to see that face; even if Sarûs does happen to share one that looks identical.
“Leave him alone,” Monagan warns.
“You sent him to me, he’s mine to do with how I choose,” Sarûs argues, his grip on my arm returning.
“He’s got nothing to do with this,” he only shakes his head. “Let him go.”
Sarûs obviously doesn’t believe him; probably because it isn’t entirely true.
“He’s got everything to do with it! Don’t try and play me for a fool!” his voice is so loud and piercing and hurts my ears as he shouts at the young man who is nearly a perfect mirror of himself. “You sent him to retrieve the feather for you, so you could have an advantage!”
“You’re wrong, Sarûs. I never sent him. He came on his own accord.”
“For you!”
His fingers dig into my arm so deeply I flinch with pain. But he doesn’t even notice.
Monagan only shakes his head and makes his way down the steps slowly, one graceful step at a time. In another world, he would make a fine vampire.
“Let him go, Sarûs,” he says softly as soon as his feet touch the grass.
The world seems to have stopped trembling now; a still hush has settled over everything and I can feel hundreds of eyes staring on, wondering just what is about to happen. I’m far more concerned however, with the curiosity of weather or not Sakura-chan and Syaoran-kun are about to follow after Monagan-sama anytime soon.
But no one seems to have even taken a breath in the last few moments. Not a single blade of grass has moved while the two of them just stare at each other. Monagan with his calm, handsome face and intensely blue eyes; Sarûs confused and searching to find an explanation.
I can’t expect any better distraction than this. I may not get another chance for Sarûs to be preoccupied with another thought other than trying to kill me again, so I see no reason not to try; I’ve got a free hand right now, after all.
“I’ve been wanting to see you,” Monagan says, almost sadly just as I begin to move my hand.
“Like hell you have,” Sarûs growls, letting me go completely and shoving me out of his way.
“You think I’m lying,” he laughs bitterly.
“It doesn’t really matter what I think, Monagan. It never has. You and I both know I’m nothing more than another obstacle for you to overcome before you are the entire world’s damn hero!” his words are bitter and choked. “Why should anything you want, anything you say, make any difference to me?”
Monagan’s eyes fall to his feet with those words. By his reaction, I’d say Sarûs struck a nerve. I’ve seen that same look in his eyes many times in my life, almost every time I look in the mirror; the look of someone so lost there is little hope anyone will ever find them again.
“So what are you waiting for?” Sarûs taunts. “You’ve come this far, why are you still standing there? Don’t you want your great victory, Monagan?!” He spreads his arms wide in the air, taunting the blue-eyed prince with a open, easy target.
The vial bounces lightly on his chest.
I can’t risk taking it forcefully from him now. I had every intention of trying to grab it and yank it off his neck by hand, but I fear that will only instigate another fight, and I have a feeling Monagan is trying to prevent one at the moment – or at the very least, postpone one.
I try moving as little as possible so not to draw attention to myself. A touch more magic again. A wave of my fingers and the clasp is undone; the vial tumbles silently to the ground, unnoticed by anyone but myself. How I’m going to get it without him noticing now, is something I haven’t planned yet.
“I’m not here to fight you,” Monagan insists. “I just wanted to see you is all.”
Sarûs shrugs and shakes his head, “Forgive me for not embracing you with open arms,” his voice is dripping with distain.
“I wasn’t expecting you to,” Monagan only gives a small shake of his head. “Can we go somewhere to talk? I promise, I’ll explain everything.”
“I can get answers myself,” Sarûs growls in defense. I have a hunch that line was in reference to me.
“I know you can, but Fai-san will not be able to tell you everything you need to know,” and apparently Monagan thought that as well. “Please, just talk to me for a minute. If it’s a fight you want so badly, then I shall give you one. But only if we can talk.”
Sarûs’s eyes narrow in obvious contemplation of the proposition.
“He’s got my feather,” Sarûs shakes his head and looked at me.
“That shouldn’t matter,” Monagan only shrugs. “I don’t have one. It’ll only make us evenly matched once more.”
One corner of Sarûs’s mouth threatens a pleased smirk before he glares at me again. “So you say.”
Again Monagan persists, asking Sarûs to come away with him. Three more times he asks before Sarûs rather reluctantly agrees.
I have a strange feeling Monagan is about the only person Sarûs might ever consider listening to. A rather odd conclusion, yes, I know, but rivals or not, they certainly seem to understand one another better than I ever could.
I’m a bit dumbfounded that I am simply left to stand here as they walk away.
I have no idea where they plan to go, but the crowds gathered around the courtyard simply clear out of the way to let them pass.
No one says a single world.
I take only one deep breath to calm myself before walking towards the place Sarûs had been standing.
There it is, at my feet, glittering brilliantly in the morning light as though a tiny star fell from the sky.
The vial is smooth, and warm to the touch. For a moment, I cannot help but stare at it in awe. The glass that contains it is perfectly clear letting every bit of light through while allowing me to view the contents within. Something between water and smoke, it swirls slowly, calmly before my eyes and it is all I can do to keep myself from crying.
It is the most beautiful thing I have ever seen.
But it is not mine to keep.
It is time I return it to where it belongs. Hopefully before the children run across my path, which I imagine is only a matter of time now.
I’m practically running through the hallways.
The interior of the palace looks nothing like what I remember. But there are familiarities just as well. At least there are doors and hallways still in the places they should be. All I can do now is hope they are still inside the same room I left them in.
“Kimi-chan? Kia-chan?” I lean against the door and knock. “Are you there?”
No answer comes, but I can hear movement.
“Kimi-chan?” I knock again.
“Fai-chan? Is that you?” barely a whisper comes through.
“Yes, its me. Are you all alright?”
“We’re fine. Is it safe to let you in?”
“Safe enough,” I nod, which I’m not sure why. She can’t see me nod through a door, after all.
I feel a small surge from the other side before the handle turns and soon I am looking down at lavender eyes and curly pigtails.
She opens the door only wide enough for me to slip inside before promptly closing it behind me.
They are all here, just like I had left them. And the room seems to have undergone very little physical changes; a few new paintings on the wall and a desk I don’t remember seeing before. But generally, things are all the same.
“What is going on?” Kia asks with curious, concerned violet eye. “We thought we heard a dragon…”
“You did,” I smile. “Sarûs and I had a little matter to discuss. Things will be fine soon though, I would almost guarantee it.”
The twin girls look at me and then at each other for a moment, but neither of them say anything. I imagine they are just trying to decide whether or not to believe me.
Kurogane is sitting on the edge of the bed. I doubt he even noticed I have returned.
I can feel the vial in my hand pulsing softly, like a faintly beating heart.
“I have something for you, Kuro-chi,” I tell him, planting my feet directly in front of him.
I don’t know what else to do other than give it to him. I extent my hand slowly, expecting something to happen any moment.
Nothing does until the vial is mere centimeters from touching his chest.
I’ve seen this happen many times before. Usually though, it involves a sparkling white and pink feather and our darling little princess. But this time it is Kurogane’s eyes that flicker to life just long enough for him to topple over backwards.
I’m sure he’s sleeping now.
Sakura always falls asleep after regaining bits and pieces of her soul back, I imagine getting it all back at once is rather taxing.
The girls behind me gasp.
“Is he ok?” one asks. I hadn’t realized how similar their voices sound, and I’m not facing them to see which one of them spoke.
“He is going to be just fine.”
“What is going to happen now?”
“We are going to wait for a moment, and then we are going to go see if we can’t find Monagan-sama.”
“Monagan?!” they both exclaim.
“It is alright,” I assure them with a nod. “I assure you, he is very kind.”
“You know him?” Kimi-chan is the one to ask.
“Yes, I know him. He is here now. That shaking you felt a while ago, that was you feeling this world and the other world merging back together. He and Sarûs are having a talk as we speak.”
“We should go now,” I hear one say to the other. But my attention is not on them any longer.
There are a few soft pillows at the head of the bed. I grab one and slide it beneath his head. It is a relief to see the colour back in his skin. The slight furrow of his brow as he lays there in restless sleep.
I wonder how long he will stay like this.
I wonder what he will remember when he wakes up.
“They won’t know where to look if we leave now. We can run all the way to Ádiea! Come on Kimi lets go! I want to go now! I don’t want to stay here another minute!”
There is a stretch of silence before I hear so much as another breath.
“Fai-chan?”
“It will be alright if you go now, Kimi-chan. You don’t need to stay here because of me.”
“They will be able to get in if I leave,” Kimi argues.
“That is alright,” I nod. “Your sister is right. If you leave now while everyone is confused, Sarûs will not be able to find you.”
“He can find us is we still have this,” says Kia and in her hand is a glittering white feather warm with Sakura’s beautiful light. “I don’t want him to have it and I know you will give it back to the girl it belongs to.”
I smile at her, “How did you know it belongs to a girl?”
“A beautiful witch told me once in a dream I had. She said that I should guard her feather like Sarûs said until the day Monagan returned. She said I would know what to do then,” she says with a blush, placing the feather on the bed next to Kurogane. “I think she was talking about you. You… know who this feather belongs to, don’t you Fai-chan?”
I cannot help but smile. Yuuko sure has a way of watching over us, even when we forget. “Yes, she is someone very dear to me and this feather is very important to her.”
“The witch also said I should give you this,” she pauses for a moment and plucks a few strands of hair from her head. She looks at her sister and nods, beaconing she do the same.
Locks of hair from the twin dragons…
I smile to them once more. “You should go now before things settle back down.”
“It was good to meet you, Fai-chan,” Kimi says with a smile. “I hope I will meet more good people like you.”
Kia grabs at her sister’s hand an practically drags her out the door. I can hear their footsteps echoing through the hallway for a little while before I am left in silence again.
I place the hair gently in my pocket and pick up the feather as well.
It has been quite a while since I have actually held one in my own hands.
I wonder where Sakura and Syaoran are right now.
I have the feather. The hairs for my payment to Yuuko, even though I was anticipating on having to get it from someone else entirely… and most importantly, I have Kurogane back. We can leave as soon as we are all reunited again.
I don’t mean to jump, but the sound actually startles me.
A soft, grumble. The shifting of fabric.
Crimson eyes flutter open and lock right on me almost immediately.
My heart leaps into my throat…
“Where am… what the hell just happened?”
I’ve never seen anything quite like this: as what I can best describe as a ripple of light makes it’s way toward us, engulfing everything in its wake; I’m reminded of an expanding circle in a pond just disrupted or a tsunami of golden warmth all in one instant.
He keeps hold of me with one hand as he rolls himself off of me and onto the cobblestone. He remains crouched on his knees, hovering above me but braces himself for the worst.
I suppose he has no idea that I have no intention of moving right now.
“What the hell was that!?” he demands with a yell, pulling me upwards and practically into his face with a single, forceful yank the moment he realizes he is still in one piece.
“I don’t know,” I smile. I’m lying. And he knows full well I’m lying. And I don’t care.
“You’re pretty calm for someone who doesn’t know anything,” he snarls. “What was that!? A trick of yours?”
“No,” I shrug. My eye catches a flicker of blue bouncing on his chest amidst folds of black silk but before I can reach out for it, before I can steal it away, the ground begins to tremble.
“Get up!” he bellows, yanking me to my feet as he jumps to his own. “You’re coming with me.”
His grip tightens as I am hauled along behind him. I doubt he has any more of a plan than I do, but I might agree that staying put doesn’t seem like that good of an idea.
It feels as though the entire world is moving beneath our feet; shifting, stretching, crawling out of the way to make room for something else.
I wasn’t sure how this would work. How everything would play out. For a thousand years, there has been another world living along side this one in perfect opposition. Those banished from the other side simply disappeared one day, and so those of the other side simply moved on as though they were never there. A thousand years, an entirely new city of Dynn has been created and at sunrise this very day, they have been forced back together.
We are but inches from the fountain in the center of the courtyard, a corner of the brickwork must have broken while Sarûs was chasing after me and blowing fire; water is running everywhere now, spilling over the crumbled bits of the fountain’s edge. But really, that isn’t what has drawn my attention…
In the center, as though it had always been that way, a large, golden statue of a slender woman holding an axe and seven stars circling above her head has appeared. The gold looks a bit dull, her features worn down by the years of sun and wind. She looks as though she has been standing there in the centre of the fountain as long as the fountain itself, even though I’m quite aware she has not been.
At least not in the Dynn I’ve come to know.
Sarûs’s face looks more concerned than confused now; his eyes locked on the statue of the woman rather give-off an expression of recognition.
“What trick is this?” he looks from me to the statue. “Do you think this is some idea of a joke?”
“No,” I shake my head and shrug again. “Pretty lady though. I wonder who she is.”
He doesn’t respond, which I was rather expecting, and pulls me along again as he continues past the fountain and towards the trees lining the pathway to the front gates. There are more trees here now than there were a moment ago and the gates are overgrown with vines of tiny orange-coloured flowers.
I just saw them a moment ago, and I know they did not look like that.
The entire world around us seems to have shifted into a mix of the hard, clean elegance of the Dynn we knew and the and rich, vibrant beauty of a completely different world. The ground still trembles under our feet, but not quite as violently as the vaguely-remembered halves of the world combine into a strange mixture of the two; one stubbornly refusing to give in while the other seems to politely make itself known.
We both watch in bewilderment until an eruption of screams and shouts come pouring from the palace. Quite likely double the amount of people come spilling fourth, many in clothing quite different from others around them.
“Did you do this?!” Sarûs yanks at me again, grabbing my other arm this time as he forces me to face him.
“No,” I offer a smile and another shrug but I can tell from the look on his face that he doesn’t believe me.
Not that I can blame him. I probably wouldn’t believe me either.
“Where is the feather? Did you use it to do this? What did you do Magician!? What is going on?” he punctuates each thought with a violent shake as questions dart from his mouth. But my focus remains only on the blue vial glittering in the soft violet light of the sunrise.
“Lord Sarûs! Lord Sarûs! What is going on!?” people shout as they run straight towards us.
He glares; first a me, and then whips himself about to face them all, and in a terrible, powerful voice the words, “Leave me be!” sear into my mind.
Not one of them takes another step forward and I catch the flicker of his intense, serpent eyes as he turns to me again.
He takes one long, deep breath to calm himself and then a malicious grin spreads across his face. One hand drops my arm and rises to his chest to clasp around the vial. “I will ask you one more time,” his voice is calm and low now, and his face is so close I can feel his breath on my cheek. “What is going on? You will tell me. Now. Or I will tear that palace down with my bear hands until I find your friend. I will give him back his pathetic excuse for a soul and then, I will force him to watch me do terrible things to you until you no longer satisfy me or I decide to let you die. Only after that, I will eat him for dinner.”
“I don’t think Kurogane would stand much for being eaten,” I shrug, acting as unaffected by his threat as possible. The problem with Sarûs is that I don’t doubt he’ll do it. If given the chance, he will, and the reality of that thought makes my stomach turn.
“Then spare him the worry of it all, Fai,” he says darkly into my ear. “Tell me…”
“Sarûs!” a voice interrupts him. I can see his emerald eyes flicker with anger again, hints of the monster within him flare up before he turns his head around to snap at them.
But his voice catches in his throat.
His grip on my arm; lessened.
Still a distance off, standing on the top of the marble steps leading into the palace, a slender young main stands. His inky black hair blowing in the wind, his black overcoat billowing behind him; everyone who fled the mysteriously re-arranging palace stares in awe of him, but I, alone, breathe in deeply with a slight sense of calm.
I’ve never been happier to see that face; even if Sarûs does happen to share one that looks identical.
“Leave him alone,” Monagan warns.
“You sent him to me, he’s mine to do with how I choose,” Sarûs argues, his grip on my arm returning.
“He’s got nothing to do with this,” he only shakes his head. “Let him go.”
Sarûs obviously doesn’t believe him; probably because it isn’t entirely true.
“He’s got everything to do with it! Don’t try and play me for a fool!” his voice is so loud and piercing and hurts my ears as he shouts at the young man who is nearly a perfect mirror of himself. “You sent him to retrieve the feather for you, so you could have an advantage!”
“You’re wrong, Sarûs. I never sent him. He came on his own accord.”
“For you!”
His fingers dig into my arm so deeply I flinch with pain. But he doesn’t even notice.
Monagan only shakes his head and makes his way down the steps slowly, one graceful step at a time. In another world, he would make a fine vampire.
“Let him go, Sarûs,” he says softly as soon as his feet touch the grass.
The world seems to have stopped trembling now; a still hush has settled over everything and I can feel hundreds of eyes staring on, wondering just what is about to happen. I’m far more concerned however, with the curiosity of weather or not Sakura-chan and Syaoran-kun are about to follow after Monagan-sama anytime soon.
But no one seems to have even taken a breath in the last few moments. Not a single blade of grass has moved while the two of them just stare at each other. Monagan with his calm, handsome face and intensely blue eyes; Sarûs confused and searching to find an explanation.
I can’t expect any better distraction than this. I may not get another chance for Sarûs to be preoccupied with another thought other than trying to kill me again, so I see no reason not to try; I’ve got a free hand right now, after all.
“I’ve been wanting to see you,” Monagan says, almost sadly just as I begin to move my hand.
“Like hell you have,” Sarûs growls, letting me go completely and shoving me out of his way.
“You think I’m lying,” he laughs bitterly.
“It doesn’t really matter what I think, Monagan. It never has. You and I both know I’m nothing more than another obstacle for you to overcome before you are the entire world’s damn hero!” his words are bitter and choked. “Why should anything you want, anything you say, make any difference to me?”
Monagan’s eyes fall to his feet with those words. By his reaction, I’d say Sarûs struck a nerve. I’ve seen that same look in his eyes many times in my life, almost every time I look in the mirror; the look of someone so lost there is little hope anyone will ever find them again.
“So what are you waiting for?” Sarûs taunts. “You’ve come this far, why are you still standing there? Don’t you want your great victory, Monagan?!” He spreads his arms wide in the air, taunting the blue-eyed prince with a open, easy target.
The vial bounces lightly on his chest.
I can’t risk taking it forcefully from him now. I had every intention of trying to grab it and yank it off his neck by hand, but I fear that will only instigate another fight, and I have a feeling Monagan is trying to prevent one at the moment – or at the very least, postpone one.
I try moving as little as possible so not to draw attention to myself. A touch more magic again. A wave of my fingers and the clasp is undone; the vial tumbles silently to the ground, unnoticed by anyone but myself. How I’m going to get it without him noticing now, is something I haven’t planned yet.
“I’m not here to fight you,” Monagan insists. “I just wanted to see you is all.”
Sarûs shrugs and shakes his head, “Forgive me for not embracing you with open arms,” his voice is dripping with distain.
“I wasn’t expecting you to,” Monagan only gives a small shake of his head. “Can we go somewhere to talk? I promise, I’ll explain everything.”
“I can get answers myself,” Sarûs growls in defense. I have a hunch that line was in reference to me.
“I know you can, but Fai-san will not be able to tell you everything you need to know,” and apparently Monagan thought that as well. “Please, just talk to me for a minute. If it’s a fight you want so badly, then I shall give you one. But only if we can talk.”
Sarûs’s eyes narrow in obvious contemplation of the proposition.
“He’s got my feather,” Sarûs shakes his head and looked at me.
“That shouldn’t matter,” Monagan only shrugs. “I don’t have one. It’ll only make us evenly matched once more.”
One corner of Sarûs’s mouth threatens a pleased smirk before he glares at me again. “So you say.”
Again Monagan persists, asking Sarûs to come away with him. Three more times he asks before Sarûs rather reluctantly agrees.
I have a strange feeling Monagan is about the only person Sarûs might ever consider listening to. A rather odd conclusion, yes, I know, but rivals or not, they certainly seem to understand one another better than I ever could.
I’m a bit dumbfounded that I am simply left to stand here as they walk away.
I have no idea where they plan to go, but the crowds gathered around the courtyard simply clear out of the way to let them pass.
No one says a single world.
I take only one deep breath to calm myself before walking towards the place Sarûs had been standing.
There it is, at my feet, glittering brilliantly in the morning light as though a tiny star fell from the sky.
The vial is smooth, and warm to the touch. For a moment, I cannot help but stare at it in awe. The glass that contains it is perfectly clear letting every bit of light through while allowing me to view the contents within. Something between water and smoke, it swirls slowly, calmly before my eyes and it is all I can do to keep myself from crying.
It is the most beautiful thing I have ever seen.
But it is not mine to keep.
It is time I return it to where it belongs. Hopefully before the children run across my path, which I imagine is only a matter of time now.
I’m practically running through the hallways.
The interior of the palace looks nothing like what I remember. But there are familiarities just as well. At least there are doors and hallways still in the places they should be. All I can do now is hope they are still inside the same room I left them in.
“Kimi-chan? Kia-chan?” I lean against the door and knock. “Are you there?”
No answer comes, but I can hear movement.
“Kimi-chan?” I knock again.
“Fai-chan? Is that you?” barely a whisper comes through.
“Yes, its me. Are you all alright?”
“We’re fine. Is it safe to let you in?”
“Safe enough,” I nod, which I’m not sure why. She can’t see me nod through a door, after all.
I feel a small surge from the other side before the handle turns and soon I am looking down at lavender eyes and curly pigtails.
She opens the door only wide enough for me to slip inside before promptly closing it behind me.
They are all here, just like I had left them. And the room seems to have undergone very little physical changes; a few new paintings on the wall and a desk I don’t remember seeing before. But generally, things are all the same.
“What is going on?” Kia asks with curious, concerned violet eye. “We thought we heard a dragon…”
“You did,” I smile. “Sarûs and I had a little matter to discuss. Things will be fine soon though, I would almost guarantee it.”
The twin girls look at me and then at each other for a moment, but neither of them say anything. I imagine they are just trying to decide whether or not to believe me.
Kurogane is sitting on the edge of the bed. I doubt he even noticed I have returned.
I can feel the vial in my hand pulsing softly, like a faintly beating heart.
“I have something for you, Kuro-chi,” I tell him, planting my feet directly in front of him.
I don’t know what else to do other than give it to him. I extent my hand slowly, expecting something to happen any moment.
Nothing does until the vial is mere centimeters from touching his chest.
I’ve seen this happen many times before. Usually though, it involves a sparkling white and pink feather and our darling little princess. But this time it is Kurogane’s eyes that flicker to life just long enough for him to topple over backwards.
I’m sure he’s sleeping now.
Sakura always falls asleep after regaining bits and pieces of her soul back, I imagine getting it all back at once is rather taxing.
The girls behind me gasp.
“Is he ok?” one asks. I hadn’t realized how similar their voices sound, and I’m not facing them to see which one of them spoke.
“He is going to be just fine.”
“What is going to happen now?”
“We are going to wait for a moment, and then we are going to go see if we can’t find Monagan-sama.”
“Monagan?!” they both exclaim.
“It is alright,” I assure them with a nod. “I assure you, he is very kind.”
“You know him?” Kimi-chan is the one to ask.
“Yes, I know him. He is here now. That shaking you felt a while ago, that was you feeling this world and the other world merging back together. He and Sarûs are having a talk as we speak.”
“We should go now,” I hear one say to the other. But my attention is not on them any longer.
There are a few soft pillows at the head of the bed. I grab one and slide it beneath his head. It is a relief to see the colour back in his skin. The slight furrow of his brow as he lays there in restless sleep.
I wonder how long he will stay like this.
I wonder what he will remember when he wakes up.
“They won’t know where to look if we leave now. We can run all the way to Ádiea! Come on Kimi lets go! I want to go now! I don’t want to stay here another minute!”
There is a stretch of silence before I hear so much as another breath.
“Fai-chan?”
“It will be alright if you go now, Kimi-chan. You don’t need to stay here because of me.”
“They will be able to get in if I leave,” Kimi argues.
“That is alright,” I nod. “Your sister is right. If you leave now while everyone is confused, Sarûs will not be able to find you.”
“He can find us is we still have this,” says Kia and in her hand is a glittering white feather warm with Sakura’s beautiful light. “I don’t want him to have it and I know you will give it back to the girl it belongs to.”
I smile at her, “How did you know it belongs to a girl?”
“A beautiful witch told me once in a dream I had. She said that I should guard her feather like Sarûs said until the day Monagan returned. She said I would know what to do then,” she says with a blush, placing the feather on the bed next to Kurogane. “I think she was talking about you. You… know who this feather belongs to, don’t you Fai-chan?”
I cannot help but smile. Yuuko sure has a way of watching over us, even when we forget. “Yes, she is someone very dear to me and this feather is very important to her.”
“The witch also said I should give you this,” she pauses for a moment and plucks a few strands of hair from her head. She looks at her sister and nods, beaconing she do the same.
Locks of hair from the twin dragons…
I smile to them once more. “You should go now before things settle back down.”
“It was good to meet you, Fai-chan,” Kimi says with a smile. “I hope I will meet more good people like you.”
Kia grabs at her sister’s hand an practically drags her out the door. I can hear their footsteps echoing through the hallway for a little while before I am left in silence again.
I place the hair gently in my pocket and pick up the feather as well.
It has been quite a while since I have actually held one in my own hands.
I wonder where Sakura and Syaoran are right now.
I have the feather. The hairs for my payment to Yuuko, even though I was anticipating on having to get it from someone else entirely… and most importantly, I have Kurogane back. We can leave as soon as we are all reunited again.
I don’t mean to jump, but the sound actually startles me.
A soft, grumble. The shifting of fabric.
Crimson eyes flutter open and lock right on me almost immediately.
My heart leaps into my throat…
“Where am… what the hell just happened?”