Clogged Sinuses = Not Fun
I've been fighting a sinus infection off and on this week. Blargh. So, I'll post this and go sleep or something.
Title: Family: Ch. 2 [continuation of Ch. 1]
Inspiration/Music: "Nocturne in G Minor" by Chopin; "Out Here All Night" by Damone
Rating: PG/PG-13
Spoilers: If you haven't read 120-129ish
Summary: While working on a map, Sakura and Fai's day is cruelly interrupted.
Important: As before, set in the future, AU on Cuban Missile Crisis, working on assumption Fai's native language is at least extremely similar to Russian.
EDIT: The ending of the chapter has been rewritten. Apologies again to those who read it before the change.
“Fai-san?” a voice from the mage’s side broke him from his thoughts.
Sakura was watching him, her eyes piqued with curiosity and concern. With the small crowd that developed around them, the blonde guessed that he’d been lost in thought for longer than he normally should. Fai smiled gently at the younger.
“I’m sorry, Sakura-chan,” he explained with a shrug, “I must have been thinking a little too hard.”
The princess laughed lightly at this and together the two moved through the mass of people.
“Do you have the paper?” the mage inquired, pulling out the pen and inkwell he’d stolen a few days ago, in an effort to save and potentially make money.
The brunette stared at him solemnly for a few moments when she saw the stolen items, before speaking up, “Fai-san, you’re going to give those back right?”
The mage’s smile fell some at the question before he replied, a little less than resolutely, “Why of course. What made you think I wouldn’t?”
Frowning a little longer, the princess made up her mind to believe his words at least for now and drew the folded square of paper from underneath her mantle, placing it tenderly in the blonde’s outstretched hand. Fai’s smile broadened slightly, holding more relief than happiness, but Sakura smiled back nonetheless. The two sat down under and outcropping, shielding them slightly from the wind that was beginning to pick up a little. The older unfolded the stained, browning paper and laid it across his lap, smoothing the delicate surface with the same care Sakura had given her apple the night before.
“We took about 100 paces West,” the mage wondered aloud, his finger tracing the lines that had been drawn the last time he and Sakura had gone out to work on their map. “That takes us almost to the Square.”
The blonde unscrewed the cap from the inkwell and dipped the pen gracefully for only moment, as if only allowing the instrument to take only a taste of the dark fluid inside. Sakura gazed at the man as his hand skated across the page, drawing in lines where they were needed, names of places they’d seen (or so she assumed, she couldn’t understand a single thing he was writing), and true to Fai’s word, when the blonde placed their current position on the map, it was indeed close to a large square once again labeled with the strange characters Fai used.
“What does that say?” Sakura asked, pointing to the large characters to the side of the square’s area.
“Oh,” the blonde said quietly, “Those are the remains of the Kremlin.”
When the princess cocked her head to the side slightly, he filled her in, “Syaoran and I read a little about it in those history books Kurogane found.”
The fact that the ninja had, in honest, ‘found’ the books had startled the boy much more than Fai cared to remember. On one of the days when Syaoran ventured with Kurogane to the Square, a building on their way had finally collapsed, after years of being held aloft by a single pillar. Being the curious doggy he was, Fai remembered the tale with a smile, Kurogane investigated and found entire shelves of books just lying in the remains, unwanted. So, the ninja had taken the liberty of wanting a few.
“The Kremlin is, or rather was, a fortress in the center of Moscow, the city we’re in,” Fai explained to the princess, who was watching him still sketching on the wrinkled paper. “In ancient times, the whole city used to fit inside its walls. Moscow obviously grew, but the Kremlin stayed the center of political activity until 1962.”
Sakura immediately knew why Syaoran was so riveted by history.
“What happened then?” she asked, excited to find out what exactly had happened to the great fortress.
The blonde stopped the pen and sighed, “We don’t know. The book Syaoran and I were reading yesterday stops at October 28. I read a little further this morning, you remember? It just said that ‘nuclear war has come; the Cold War is now a hot one.’ ”
“Oh,” the princess replied with a pout. “And you don’t know what that means?”
The mage shook his head before continuing, “But I’m sure Syaoran will figure that out today in the market today; he is curious enough to ask someone.”
“So that is what this says,” the younger stated with a smile, pointing to the letters within the square. “ ‘The market,’ right?”
“Actually, that says ‘Red Square.’ It’s the official name.”
“Ohhh.”
A comfortable silence settled over the two of them as Fai finished the portion of the map. The mage handed the now folded map back to the princess and placed the pen and inkwell in a pocket on the outside of his coat. It was then that a screech shredded the silence so completely, that the blonde could see the princess visibly shudder. A punctuated set of screams filled the air after and a woman turned the corner several feet from them.
“Someone please!” the terrified woman shrieked hysterically as she barreled down the street.
The blonde quickly rose to his feet and motioned for Sakura to stay where she was. Said woman looked back to find her pursuer turn the corner as she had only seconds before. With a sudden realization, Fai’s eyes sought the man following the terrified woman and when she passed, the mage stepped out into the street. The pursuer, who was considerably stockier than the blonde, collided with Fai, not expecting his entrance into the chase.
“Fai!” the thinner of the two crumpled men in the street heard his name being called as he grabbed the thick black coat of the man who was attempting to wrestle off him.
“Let me go you pig!” the stockier and, as Fai now noticed, mustached man shouted angrily.
Before the blonde could say anything, a hard right hook left stars in his eyes, but his hand continued its death grip on the bottom of the fur-lined coat. The brightly colored dots that speckled his vision kept his eye from registering much as he pulled on the coat, but his ears caught the distinct cock of a gun.
“Let. Go.”
Fai didn’t have time to release the coat for, at the sound of heavy boots, the bigger man dragged the mage to his knees, the head rush replacing the bright dots with a black fog.
“Freeze this instant!” came shouts from all around the blonde, and he was thoroughly confused until a frozen gun barrel shoved itself into the skin of his right temple.
Attempting to move his head groggily away from the chilling sensation, the blonde glanced to his left to find that nearly twenty men in dark navy coats encircling both him and the man who seized the mage’s hair roughly and pushed the gun back into its previous place. Fai felt the strap of his eye patch sliding slightly with the force of the barrel.
“I’ll kill ‘im!” his captor bellowed, squirming under the watch of the local militia, whose weapons were trained on him.
“Fai!” the blonde heard Sakura’s voice, but couldn’t find her through the thick-coated mass of men.
“Put the weapon down,” came the calm voice of a shorthaired man who cautiously made his way towards the pair in the center of circle of officers.
Unable to identify the man, Fai labeled him as ‘Mr. Negotiator’ and figured that the man holding him should also have an appropriate name. While thinking of such a title, Mr. Negotiator drew closer to the captor, wary of the hostage, who seemed to be daydreaming slightly.
“What’s your name?” Mr. Negotiator asked, sliding his Luger back into its holster.
“Don’t play your games,” the stocky man shot back, moving slowly away, his gun hand firmly pressing the revolver into his captive’s head.
Fai then realized the perfect name: ‘Mr. No-Games.” The blonde however frowned when Mr. No-Games pulled him farther from Mr. Negotiator.
“Maybe he can help you,” the mage suggested weakly, the rough arm around his neck allowing not much more than a ragged whisper.
Mr. No-Games snarled viciously and turned all his attention to his captive, his fury fuelled by the tone of the easily thinner man.
“I’ll end you!” the stockier of the pair shouted, his finger pulling the taut trigger.
There was a cacophonous smatter of gunfire, but all Fai could feel was the edge of the bullet that tore at his temple.
And then there was a brief silence before a sob erupted from outside the circle of the militia. Sakura ran forward from her place, horrified by what she saw: a prostrate Fai, blood tinting the snow around his head, a bigger man, with seven bullets in his heart and two through his head, and the navy-coated men, one standing in front of the others sorrow spread across his face.
“Fai!” she whimpered, coming to a low kneel at her friend’s side.
She pulled the blonde’s upper chest into her lap, bringing his head to the cradle of her arms. Blood covered a majority of the right side of the mage’s face, and the princess feared for the worst.
“---kura?” Fai sputtered slightly, his right eyelid sliding open to reveal the blue within.
“F-Fai,” the girl now sobbed with relief.
She wiped at her face, smearing the tears away but leaving a smudge of blood behind. Smiling slightly, the blonde murmured, bringing his hand up to her face, “You’re bleeding…?”
Sakura held Fai’s hand to her face, gripping it tightly at his question, tears rolling over the pale skin and down his wrist before dropping to the snow.
“No, Fai-san,” she replied with her own sad smile, watching as Fai’s exhaustion caught up with him and his eye slid shut.
“Excuse me,” a strong voice spoke out from the crowd; the woman who’d been chased stepped through the thick-coated men.
The princess’s gaze moved from her friend to the woman, and frowned slightly; something about the woman seemed off, she dressed as one of the poorest but carried herself as nobles Sakura had seen in other countries. Said woman glanced down at her now dead pursuer and shuddered before turning to look at Sakura.
“My name is Ana,” she stated robustly. “Thank you.”
The woman bowed , her dark brown bob of hair spilling in front of her face for a few moments. With a blush creeping into her face, Sakura quickly dipped her torso in acknowledgement, careful not to stir the man cradled in her arms.
“Her husband is a doctor,” Mr. Negotiator interrupted, glancing between the girl and the woman. “He could help your friend.”
Ana scowled briefly before quickly covering the grimace with a poisonous smile.
“Why of course,” the woman continued, her eyes condemning Mr. Negotiator to a painful and slow death.
Sakura shook her head, very sure she didn’t want Fai to go with the woman anywhere. The princess glanced down at the mage in her arms, the blood on his face drying a dark brown. Plus, as the princess noticed, the deep channeled out area on the blonde’s temple had already scabbed over and showing signs of healing, but how could she tell Ana that he was a vampire and could heal decently quickly.
“We would be able to feed him,” Mr. Negotiator blurted, having taken note of the thin and almost gaunt appearance of the pair in front of him.
“Viktor!” Ana hissed to the police officer, before turning to the girl with the same sickeningly sweet smile, “We could feed him, but we don’t have enough room for two guests.”
The princess felt her heartstrings pull. Of course Fai needed food, but not that kind. However, knowing the mage, he would most likely sneak the food into his coat someway and bring it back to them. The mere thought of an actual meal made the girl’s stomach growl.
“I’ll go,” she heard the blonde murmur, which startled her slightly; she guiltily realized that she’d thought him unconscious.
Fai attempted to sit up and, with the help of the princess, fulfilled his goal, although leaning lightly on Sakura. The blonde took a couple moments to regain his equilibrium before he repeated, “I’ll go… but will someone escort my sister to her brothers in the market. Please.”
Sakura immediately opened her mouth to protest; she didn’t trust this woman.
“Alek,” Viktor commanded before the princess could interrupt. “Please escort…”
“Sakura,” she admitted defeat as a thin man whose coat was lightly decorated with various medals and colored bars stepped up to Viktor’s side.
“Please escort Miss Sakura to the Square,” the officer continued, “And Ana, if you would help me with Mr…”
“Fai,” the blonde murmured distractedly, watching as Sakura cautiously took Alek’s arm while glancing over her shoulder at the mage, fearful for him.
“Yes, let us get Mr. Fai some medical attention.”
Title: Family: Ch. 2 [continuation of Ch. 1]
Inspiration/Music: "Nocturne in G Minor" by Chopin; "Out Here All Night" by Damone
Rating: PG/PG-13
Spoilers: If you haven't read 120-129ish
Summary: While working on a map, Sakura and Fai's day is cruelly interrupted.
Important: As before, set in the future, AU on Cuban Missile Crisis, working on assumption Fai's native language is at least extremely similar to Russian.
EDIT: The ending of the chapter has been rewritten. Apologies again to those who read it before the change.
“Fai-san?” a voice from the mage’s side broke him from his thoughts.
Sakura was watching him, her eyes piqued with curiosity and concern. With the small crowd that developed around them, the blonde guessed that he’d been lost in thought for longer than he normally should. Fai smiled gently at the younger.
“I’m sorry, Sakura-chan,” he explained with a shrug, “I must have been thinking a little too hard.”
The princess laughed lightly at this and together the two moved through the mass of people.
“Do you have the paper?” the mage inquired, pulling out the pen and inkwell he’d stolen a few days ago, in an effort to save and potentially make money.
The brunette stared at him solemnly for a few moments when she saw the stolen items, before speaking up, “Fai-san, you’re going to give those back right?”
The mage’s smile fell some at the question before he replied, a little less than resolutely, “Why of course. What made you think I wouldn’t?”
Frowning a little longer, the princess made up her mind to believe his words at least for now and drew the folded square of paper from underneath her mantle, placing it tenderly in the blonde’s outstretched hand. Fai’s smile broadened slightly, holding more relief than happiness, but Sakura smiled back nonetheless. The two sat down under and outcropping, shielding them slightly from the wind that was beginning to pick up a little. The older unfolded the stained, browning paper and laid it across his lap, smoothing the delicate surface with the same care Sakura had given her apple the night before.
“We took about 100 paces West,” the mage wondered aloud, his finger tracing the lines that had been drawn the last time he and Sakura had gone out to work on their map. “That takes us almost to the Square.”
The blonde unscrewed the cap from the inkwell and dipped the pen gracefully for only moment, as if only allowing the instrument to take only a taste of the dark fluid inside. Sakura gazed at the man as his hand skated across the page, drawing in lines where they were needed, names of places they’d seen (or so she assumed, she couldn’t understand a single thing he was writing), and true to Fai’s word, when the blonde placed their current position on the map, it was indeed close to a large square once again labeled with the strange characters Fai used.
“What does that say?” Sakura asked, pointing to the large characters to the side of the square’s area.
“Oh,” the blonde said quietly, “Those are the remains of the Kremlin.”
When the princess cocked her head to the side slightly, he filled her in, “Syaoran and I read a little about it in those history books Kurogane found.”
The fact that the ninja had, in honest, ‘found’ the books had startled the boy much more than Fai cared to remember. On one of the days when Syaoran ventured with Kurogane to the Square, a building on their way had finally collapsed, after years of being held aloft by a single pillar. Being the curious doggy he was, Fai remembered the tale with a smile, Kurogane investigated and found entire shelves of books just lying in the remains, unwanted. So, the ninja had taken the liberty of wanting a few.
“The Kremlin is, or rather was, a fortress in the center of Moscow, the city we’re in,” Fai explained to the princess, who was watching him still sketching on the wrinkled paper. “In ancient times, the whole city used to fit inside its walls. Moscow obviously grew, but the Kremlin stayed the center of political activity until 1962.”
Sakura immediately knew why Syaoran was so riveted by history.
“What happened then?” she asked, excited to find out what exactly had happened to the great fortress.
The blonde stopped the pen and sighed, “We don’t know. The book Syaoran and I were reading yesterday stops at October 28. I read a little further this morning, you remember? It just said that ‘nuclear war has come; the Cold War is now a hot one.’ ”
“Oh,” the princess replied with a pout. “And you don’t know what that means?”
The mage shook his head before continuing, “But I’m sure Syaoran will figure that out today in the market today; he is curious enough to ask someone.”
“So that is what this says,” the younger stated with a smile, pointing to the letters within the square. “ ‘The market,’ right?”
“Actually, that says ‘Red Square.’ It’s the official name.”
“Ohhh.”
A comfortable silence settled over the two of them as Fai finished the portion of the map. The mage handed the now folded map back to the princess and placed the pen and inkwell in a pocket on the outside of his coat. It was then that a screech shredded the silence so completely, that the blonde could see the princess visibly shudder. A punctuated set of screams filled the air after and a woman turned the corner several feet from them.
“Someone please!” the terrified woman shrieked hysterically as she barreled down the street.
The blonde quickly rose to his feet and motioned for Sakura to stay where she was. Said woman looked back to find her pursuer turn the corner as she had only seconds before. With a sudden realization, Fai’s eyes sought the man following the terrified woman and when she passed, the mage stepped out into the street. The pursuer, who was considerably stockier than the blonde, collided with Fai, not expecting his entrance into the chase.
“Fai!” the thinner of the two crumpled men in the street heard his name being called as he grabbed the thick black coat of the man who was attempting to wrestle off him.
“Let me go you pig!” the stockier and, as Fai now noticed, mustached man shouted angrily.
Before the blonde could say anything, a hard right hook left stars in his eyes, but his hand continued its death grip on the bottom of the fur-lined coat. The brightly colored dots that speckled his vision kept his eye from registering much as he pulled on the coat, but his ears caught the distinct cock of a gun.
“Let. Go.”
Fai didn’t have time to release the coat for, at the sound of heavy boots, the bigger man dragged the mage to his knees, the head rush replacing the bright dots with a black fog.
“Freeze this instant!” came shouts from all around the blonde, and he was thoroughly confused until a frozen gun barrel shoved itself into the skin of his right temple.
Attempting to move his head groggily away from the chilling sensation, the blonde glanced to his left to find that nearly twenty men in dark navy coats encircling both him and the man who seized the mage’s hair roughly and pushed the gun back into its previous place. Fai felt the strap of his eye patch sliding slightly with the force of the barrel.
“I’ll kill ‘im!” his captor bellowed, squirming under the watch of the local militia, whose weapons were trained on him.
“Fai!” the blonde heard Sakura’s voice, but couldn’t find her through the thick-coated mass of men.
“Put the weapon down,” came the calm voice of a shorthaired man who cautiously made his way towards the pair in the center of circle of officers.
Unable to identify the man, Fai labeled him as ‘Mr. Negotiator’ and figured that the man holding him should also have an appropriate name. While thinking of such a title, Mr. Negotiator drew closer to the captor, wary of the hostage, who seemed to be daydreaming slightly.
“What’s your name?” Mr. Negotiator asked, sliding his Luger back into its holster.
“Don’t play your games,” the stocky man shot back, moving slowly away, his gun hand firmly pressing the revolver into his captive’s head.
Fai then realized the perfect name: ‘Mr. No-Games.” The blonde however frowned when Mr. No-Games pulled him farther from Mr. Negotiator.
“Maybe he can help you,” the mage suggested weakly, the rough arm around his neck allowing not much more than a ragged whisper.
Mr. No-Games snarled viciously and turned all his attention to his captive, his fury fuelled by the tone of the easily thinner man.
“I’ll end you!” the stockier of the pair shouted, his finger pulling the taut trigger.
There was a cacophonous smatter of gunfire, but all Fai could feel was the edge of the bullet that tore at his temple.
And then there was a brief silence before a sob erupted from outside the circle of the militia. Sakura ran forward from her place, horrified by what she saw: a prostrate Fai, blood tinting the snow around his head, a bigger man, with seven bullets in his heart and two through his head, and the navy-coated men, one standing in front of the others sorrow spread across his face.
“Fai!” she whimpered, coming to a low kneel at her friend’s side.
She pulled the blonde’s upper chest into her lap, bringing his head to the cradle of her arms. Blood covered a majority of the right side of the mage’s face, and the princess feared for the worst.
“---kura?” Fai sputtered slightly, his right eyelid sliding open to reveal the blue within.
“F-Fai,” the girl now sobbed with relief.
She wiped at her face, smearing the tears away but leaving a smudge of blood behind. Smiling slightly, the blonde murmured, bringing his hand up to her face, “You’re bleeding…?”
Sakura held Fai’s hand to her face, gripping it tightly at his question, tears rolling over the pale skin and down his wrist before dropping to the snow.
“No, Fai-san,” she replied with her own sad smile, watching as Fai’s exhaustion caught up with him and his eye slid shut.
“Excuse me,” a strong voice spoke out from the crowd; the woman who’d been chased stepped through the thick-coated men.
The princess’s gaze moved from her friend to the woman, and frowned slightly; something about the woman seemed off, she dressed as one of the poorest but carried herself as nobles Sakura had seen in other countries. Said woman glanced down at her now dead pursuer and shuddered before turning to look at Sakura.
“My name is Ana,” she stated robustly. “Thank you.”
The woman bowed , her dark brown bob of hair spilling in front of her face for a few moments. With a blush creeping into her face, Sakura quickly dipped her torso in acknowledgement, careful not to stir the man cradled in her arms.
“Her husband is a doctor,” Mr. Negotiator interrupted, glancing between the girl and the woman. “He could help your friend.”
Ana scowled briefly before quickly covering the grimace with a poisonous smile.
“Why of course,” the woman continued, her eyes condemning Mr. Negotiator to a painful and slow death.
Sakura shook her head, very sure she didn’t want Fai to go with the woman anywhere. The princess glanced down at the mage in her arms, the blood on his face drying a dark brown. Plus, as the princess noticed, the deep channeled out area on the blonde’s temple had already scabbed over and showing signs of healing, but how could she tell Ana that he was a vampire and could heal decently quickly.
“We would be able to feed him,” Mr. Negotiator blurted, having taken note of the thin and almost gaunt appearance of the pair in front of him.
“Viktor!” Ana hissed to the police officer, before turning to the girl with the same sickeningly sweet smile, “We could feed him, but we don’t have enough room for two guests.”
The princess felt her heartstrings pull. Of course Fai needed food, but not that kind. However, knowing the mage, he would most likely sneak the food into his coat someway and bring it back to them. The mere thought of an actual meal made the girl’s stomach growl.
“I’ll go,” she heard the blonde murmur, which startled her slightly; she guiltily realized that she’d thought him unconscious.
Fai attempted to sit up and, with the help of the princess, fulfilled his goal, although leaning lightly on Sakura. The blonde took a couple moments to regain his equilibrium before he repeated, “I’ll go… but will someone escort my sister to her brothers in the market. Please.”
Sakura immediately opened her mouth to protest; she didn’t trust this woman.
“Alek,” Viktor commanded before the princess could interrupt. “Please escort…”
“Sakura,” she admitted defeat as a thin man whose coat was lightly decorated with various medals and colored bars stepped up to Viktor’s side.
“Please escort Miss Sakura to the Square,” the officer continued, “And Ana, if you would help me with Mr…”
“Fai,” the blonde murmured distractedly, watching as Sakura cautiously took Alek’s arm while glancing over her shoulder at the mage, fearful for him.
“Yes, let us get Mr. Fai some medical attention.”