Stolen CH11 - Quote EDITED
There are probably a million and one mistakes, but I promised myself that I couldn't sleep until it was posted, and it's now 3am.
Chapter Title - Quote
Rating - M
Words - 2521
Pairings - KuroYuui, KuroFai, Sortof YuuiFay AshuraYuui... but not really. ^___^;;
Only one chapter left~
Stolen
Chapter Eleven - Quote
Quote, you are my soul, unquote.
- - - - -
Fay easily knocked the staff from Yuui’s hands, the force of the blow sending the blonde to his knees. He felt the cold blade press at his neck again.
He looked up slowly, into the dead eyes of his dead brother, praying that death come swiftly to him too.
- - - - -
Fay paused, completely still. Yuui’s heart gave a spark of hope. He knew that Ashura, though bloodthirsty, didn’t prey on the emotional pain of others. So why was Fay hesitating?
Perhaps Fay, his Fay, was still in there?
What if… he could still be saved?
“Fay…” he murmured, proud that he was able to keep his voice steady, watching blue eyes identical to his for any signs of recognition. A flicker.
He licked his lips, “You don’t want to do this, Fay…”
Another flicker; the blade lowered a fraction.
Yuui continued, egged on by the positive response, “You know who I am, don’t you? You’re still in there… aren’t you?”
Fay suddenly thrust the blade forward and Yuui reflexively rolled backwards, kicking the Halberd from his twin’s hands as he went. The ice instantly shattered into a thousand shimmering pieces, the magic holding it together no longer being supplied. Fay didn’t even blink and drew another one from thin air, charging again for Yuui, who after another acrobatic scuffle managed to disarm Fay again.
“Mage!” Kurogane barked from across the room, “You can’t keep this up forever, you have to-“
“He’s right, my pet,” Ashura purred, sat upon his throne, amusement twinkling in his eyes, “How long can you keep this up?”
Yuui didn’t make any signal to say he had heard either of them, still dodging every swipe of his brother’s blade, a light sheen of sweat gathering on his forehead.
Kurogane couldn’t take his frustration anymore and unleashed a fierce attack at the heartless twin, which both blondes easily dodged. The ninja knew that Yuui would have given him the dirtiest, unbelieving look had he been able to take his eyes from his opponent.
“You can’t win like this, idiot!” Kurogane yelled, feeling suddenly like he was training the kid again and not telling a grown man something he already knew, “There’s only one way we can move on to kill that bastard,” he nodded at Ashura, confident that the blonde would notice the jerk of his head even though he wasn’t looking in his direction, “You know that. You have to cut down your oppo--” he quickly ducked a sharpened spear of ice.
‘Stop now,’ said a smooth voice that Kurogane was sure only he could hear, ‘This is one lesson that Yuui will have to learn on his own.’
Kurogane looked up at the powerful king, met with an expression as solemn as his own.
X o X o X
“Kuro-chaaaaaan! I’m not going to break by just going to get a drink!”
“I didn’t say that, I just said you should rest!” Kurogane argued, trying to hold Fai back without aggravating his shoulder.
Fai pouted, “I’ve been resting for hours!”
“Exactly! A couple more won’t hurt you!”
Fai huffed and flopped back onto the mattress with Kurogane, leaving them with a pregnant silence.
“Why are you acting like this?” Fai suddenly blurted, “I cut my shoulder; I didn’t have a stroke!”
Kurogane stayed silent, half trying to come up with an answer that would satisfy the blonde, half wanting to tell him the truth. He looked up after a while and Fai was still staring at him expectantly. He pulled the blonde closer to him, despite the awkward position his other arm was now in, and was gentle and affectionate in brushing Fai’s fringe from his forehead, an unreadable look in his eyes.
Fai’s lips parted, as if he was about to say something, but Kurogane interrupted him with a soft, slow, sensual kiss, his rough fingertips playing with the strands of hair that had been cut to their usual length.
“I love you,” Kurogane breathed when they parted, foreheads pressed together. He could feel Fai’s brows furrow; it was unusual for the stoic man to say it so much. Kurogane continued before the blonde could question him, “I don’t think I could lose you again.”
Fai smiled and pecked his nose, replying with “I love you too, Kuro-sweet.”
Kurogane ducked his head on the pretence of kissing Fai’s neck. He didn’t think he could handle the blonde seeing his expression.
The silence was now comfortable and ever so slightly intimate. Kurogane could hear the reassuring beat of Fai’s heart, only a little slower than usual - though that could be attributed to the lack of movement - against his ear, and he could feel it when his cheek rested lightly on the pulse point.
He remembered what the other Fay said… about how in the first fifteen hours there would be no signs whatsoever of the poison, and so he should make Fai sleep as much as possible to gather strength… for the next three hours would be the hardest of his life. His heart would slow down and his windpipes would tighten slightly. He would sweat and throw up and his head would hurt from dehydration, and thus he would be irritable and emotionally unstable. The last four hours after that, Fai would slip in and out of consciousness.
If he reached this stage, it was unlikely that any cure would save him.
X o X o X
Yuui cursed as the wind was knocked out of him and he was suddenly bent double, but he quickly managed to unbalance Fay and get far enough away to be able to take a breath. He could feel himself tiring, which in turn made him wonder how much time they had left. Unfortunately, it had taken about ten hours for them to get to Ruval, and then there was the time that it took for him to make the magical barriers let them through and then the actual transportation of himself and the ninja into the castle. It all added up, and Yuui really had no more time to waste on this fight. He needed to push on.
But Kurogane was still immobile, and he himself was covered in cuts and bruises, which were not only causing him to loose more blood than he was comfortable with but also he was starting to slow down with exhaustion. Pushing on wasn’t really an option at this stage, but he really had no choice, and it was obvious Fay wasn’t going to let him get to Ashura.
That left one option. And Yuui didn’t like it at all.
As soon as he had that thought, the world shot past him and suddenly stopped as hard pain exploded in his back and he crumpled to the floor. His head was swimming and he could barely see straight when he struggled to his feet again, in time to roll away from the sharp blade of the halberd that had followed him. Bracing himself on the wall behind him, Yuui’s sight came back to see…
…Nothing.
But where was-… In the air!
His arms flew up to shield his face instinctively and his legs were taken from beneath him. He used the momentum from his fall to send his twin onto his knees too and the scuffle moved to the floor, hands and knees substituting for real weapons as they rolled around, constantly gaining and subsequently losing control of the fight. It was only when Yuui managed to strike Fay in the stomach and pin his wrists at the same time that he gained the upper hand.
They were like that for some seconds, neither struggling, harsh panting filling the room. Yuui’s heart suddenly filled with fear and nausea as he felt three pairs of eyes on him, all expecting him to do the same thing.
He swallowed loudly and drew a thin sword from the air, his mind not filled with images of him and his brother, of the other Fai, but filled with the disbelief of what he was about to do.
He settled the sharp edge of the blade against the identical neck and gave a single, meaningful, apologetic look into his twin’s eyes, before clamping his own shut and drawing his arm back, quick and strong.
He stared, almost emotionlessly, as blood poured from Fay’s slender, pale neck, as his life ended. He watched as the two lifeless blue eyes died again and rolled back. He saw the edges of Fay’s mouth curl into a smile.
He made his twin die.
X o X o X
“I’m dying, aren’t I?” Fai rasped weakly.
Kurogane froze.
Hours had passed, and Fai was constantly passing between throwing up, sweating and shaking and then lying almost comatose, with his eyes clamped tightly shut and his breathing loud and shallow.
Kurogane felt stupidly helpless, all he could do was mop the blonde’s forehead, rub his back and make sure he didn’t choke on his own vomit, even though Fai had brought up so much that there was really nothing left in his stomach. He still hadn’t told Fai the truth; he thought the man wouldn’t really wonder why this was happening, but just wish that it would stop.
He felt a clammy, cold hand lay atop his. Kurogane thought it was strange that Fai was the one in so much pain, yet he was the one that needed the comfort.
“It’s okay; I figured as much. Explains why you were acting so weird earlier…” Fai murmured, his clouded blue eyes seeing nothing.
Kurogane tried to swallow. He wanted to say something, anything! He tried to swallow around the thick lump in his throat but he couldn’t and he just couldn’t get the words out and damn it just wasn’t fair!
“The others are looking for a cure…” he managed to grind out, his voice wavering so much that he didn’t care anymore, “I don’t know when they’ll be-“… he froze in horror, staring at the clock, then snapped his head back towards Fai.
He hadn’t moved.
It had been just a little more than eighteen hours.
Kurogane’s heart beat painfully harder, as he realised that Fai might never wake up again.
X o X o X
Tears slid down Yuui’s blood, dirt and sweat stained cheeks as his fingers released their grip on his dead twin’s wrists.
He wanted to curl in on himself and die; wanted to sob and scream and shudder until he had no strength left to mourn.
That was twice. Twice he had killed his own brother, his own flesh, just for his own selfish goals.
He thought suddenly of the other Fai. The happy Fai. He took in a shuddering breath and his eyes hardened as he stood, flicking the thick, warm blood from his ice sword. He stared Ashura down, not going in for the kill but waiting confidently.
There was nothing left that Ashura could harm him with.
The ice king stood from his throne and swept down the steps, his cloak billowing elegantly behind him. Yuui watched his every move cautiously; analysing and calculating his king’s actions.
Finally, Ashura stood before him, not three feet away. Yuui held the sword defensively, his muscles tensed and ready for him to leap into, or away from, action.
‘What have you learned on your journeys, my Yuui?’ Ashura asked into Yuui’s mind, his voice warm and gentle. The question stumped him, but he was wary enough to not give Ashura any openings. He had come this far; he wasn’t going to lose now through an amateur mistake.
‘…Nobody can resurrect life. Not even gods.’ Yuui thought after a while, ‘We should hold onto life for as long as we can; it is the only chance we get.’
Ashura suddenly descended to a knee, his cloaks rustling being the only noise in minutes, leaving the other two bewildered.
The king smiled up at his pupil, his friend, his son, with kind, tired eyes. “Then I have nothing left to teach you.” He bared his neck and nodded once at Yuui.
Yuui smiled in thanks and finally fulfilled his king’s wish.
The blade glistened silver and crimson as Yuui drew it across Ashura’s windpipe in one swift motion and thick blood spurted out, staining both Ashura’s and Yuui’s previously white clothing and dripping down onto the icy floor.
Ashura fell forward and Yuui sprang to the side, feeling so sick and nauseated with what he had done. The sword fell from his hand and shattered like glass, a thousand and one pieces of sharp ice glaring at him. He felt himself start to shake, drew his quivering arms around himself and gasped a breath, his lungs closing in on him. He struggled to breathe for a few seconds and his vision was white again and he felt it, felt the bile rising in his throat and he was really going to be sick and he felt himself sway on the spot and then…
He was pulled against something else, something warm and familiar. A single sob escaped his lips and soon he was crying into the ninja’s cape, completely broken and lost.
X o X o X
Using all the magic he had left, Yuui transported them as far as he could without passing out, but they were still a few miles from the house where the others were.
They just hoped they weren’t too late.
Yuui clutched Ashura’s crown to him, not caring that the sharp points where digging into his skin uncomfortably, his other hand clasped tightly in Kurogane’s, almost as a lifeline, for he was sure that without the ninja there he would not only get overpowered by the snowstorm, but that he would lose whatever shred of sanity he had left.
They crashed into the eerily silent house and as soon as Kurogane let go of him he stumbled and sank to the floor, weak and vulnerable.
Sakura and Syaoran said nothing as Kurogane took Yuui to get cleaned up, instead finishing the deal with Yuuko and getting a tiny phial of antidote in return for the bloodstained crown.
As the bright pink liquid was forced between Fai’s chapped, dry lips, everybody but the PE teacher was wondering how someone who looked so dead could still have a beating heart. They watched and waited with baited, silent breath, none of them moving or blinking for fear that if they took their eyes off the blonde for a second than his soul would pass on unnoticed to the other side.
They waited, and waited, and waited.
Eventually, Sakura excused herself to make dinner. Then, one by one, they all left the room, too tired and devastated to say anything to the other Kurogane, who was still holding a cold, dead hand and staring determinedly at his dying love, waiting, wishing for him to just open his eyes and smile that infuriating smile.
Fai’s eyes did not open. His heart stopped beating.
They were too late.
So yeah. Don't kill me?
Chapter Title - Quote
Rating - M
Words - 2521
Pairings - KuroYuui, KuroFai, Sortof YuuiFay AshuraYuui... but not really. ^___^;;
Only one chapter left~
Stolen
Chapter Eleven - Quote
Quote, you are my soul, unquote.
- - - - -
Fay easily knocked the staff from Yuui’s hands, the force of the blow sending the blonde to his knees. He felt the cold blade press at his neck again.
He looked up slowly, into the dead eyes of his dead brother, praying that death come swiftly to him too.
- - - - -
Fay paused, completely still. Yuui’s heart gave a spark of hope. He knew that Ashura, though bloodthirsty, didn’t prey on the emotional pain of others. So why was Fay hesitating?
Perhaps Fay, his Fay, was still in there?
What if… he could still be saved?
“Fay…” he murmured, proud that he was able to keep his voice steady, watching blue eyes identical to his for any signs of recognition. A flicker.
He licked his lips, “You don’t want to do this, Fay…”
Another flicker; the blade lowered a fraction.
Yuui continued, egged on by the positive response, “You know who I am, don’t you? You’re still in there… aren’t you?”
Fay suddenly thrust the blade forward and Yuui reflexively rolled backwards, kicking the Halberd from his twin’s hands as he went. The ice instantly shattered into a thousand shimmering pieces, the magic holding it together no longer being supplied. Fay didn’t even blink and drew another one from thin air, charging again for Yuui, who after another acrobatic scuffle managed to disarm Fay again.
“Mage!” Kurogane barked from across the room, “You can’t keep this up forever, you have to-“
“He’s right, my pet,” Ashura purred, sat upon his throne, amusement twinkling in his eyes, “How long can you keep this up?”
Yuui didn’t make any signal to say he had heard either of them, still dodging every swipe of his brother’s blade, a light sheen of sweat gathering on his forehead.
Kurogane couldn’t take his frustration anymore and unleashed a fierce attack at the heartless twin, which both blondes easily dodged. The ninja knew that Yuui would have given him the dirtiest, unbelieving look had he been able to take his eyes from his opponent.
“You can’t win like this, idiot!” Kurogane yelled, feeling suddenly like he was training the kid again and not telling a grown man something he already knew, “There’s only one way we can move on to kill that bastard,” he nodded at Ashura, confident that the blonde would notice the jerk of his head even though he wasn’t looking in his direction, “You know that. You have to cut down your oppo--” he quickly ducked a sharpened spear of ice.
‘Stop now,’ said a smooth voice that Kurogane was sure only he could hear, ‘This is one lesson that Yuui will have to learn on his own.’
Kurogane looked up at the powerful king, met with an expression as solemn as his own.
X o X o X
“Kuro-chaaaaaan! I’m not going to break by just going to get a drink!”
“I didn’t say that, I just said you should rest!” Kurogane argued, trying to hold Fai back without aggravating his shoulder.
Fai pouted, “I’ve been resting for hours!”
“Exactly! A couple more won’t hurt you!”
Fai huffed and flopped back onto the mattress with Kurogane, leaving them with a pregnant silence.
“Why are you acting like this?” Fai suddenly blurted, “I cut my shoulder; I didn’t have a stroke!”
Kurogane stayed silent, half trying to come up with an answer that would satisfy the blonde, half wanting to tell him the truth. He looked up after a while and Fai was still staring at him expectantly. He pulled the blonde closer to him, despite the awkward position his other arm was now in, and was gentle and affectionate in brushing Fai’s fringe from his forehead, an unreadable look in his eyes.
Fai’s lips parted, as if he was about to say something, but Kurogane interrupted him with a soft, slow, sensual kiss, his rough fingertips playing with the strands of hair that had been cut to their usual length.
“I love you,” Kurogane breathed when they parted, foreheads pressed together. He could feel Fai’s brows furrow; it was unusual for the stoic man to say it so much. Kurogane continued before the blonde could question him, “I don’t think I could lose you again.”
Fai smiled and pecked his nose, replying with “I love you too, Kuro-sweet.”
Kurogane ducked his head on the pretence of kissing Fai’s neck. He didn’t think he could handle the blonde seeing his expression.
The silence was now comfortable and ever so slightly intimate. Kurogane could hear the reassuring beat of Fai’s heart, only a little slower than usual - though that could be attributed to the lack of movement - against his ear, and he could feel it when his cheek rested lightly on the pulse point.
He remembered what the other Fay said… about how in the first fifteen hours there would be no signs whatsoever of the poison, and so he should make Fai sleep as much as possible to gather strength… for the next three hours would be the hardest of his life. His heart would slow down and his windpipes would tighten slightly. He would sweat and throw up and his head would hurt from dehydration, and thus he would be irritable and emotionally unstable. The last four hours after that, Fai would slip in and out of consciousness.
If he reached this stage, it was unlikely that any cure would save him.
X o X o X
Yuui cursed as the wind was knocked out of him and he was suddenly bent double, but he quickly managed to unbalance Fay and get far enough away to be able to take a breath. He could feel himself tiring, which in turn made him wonder how much time they had left. Unfortunately, it had taken about ten hours for them to get to Ruval, and then there was the time that it took for him to make the magical barriers let them through and then the actual transportation of himself and the ninja into the castle. It all added up, and Yuui really had no more time to waste on this fight. He needed to push on.
But Kurogane was still immobile, and he himself was covered in cuts and bruises, which were not only causing him to loose more blood than he was comfortable with but also he was starting to slow down with exhaustion. Pushing on wasn’t really an option at this stage, but he really had no choice, and it was obvious Fay wasn’t going to let him get to Ashura.
That left one option. And Yuui didn’t like it at all.
As soon as he had that thought, the world shot past him and suddenly stopped as hard pain exploded in his back and he crumpled to the floor. His head was swimming and he could barely see straight when he struggled to his feet again, in time to roll away from the sharp blade of the halberd that had followed him. Bracing himself on the wall behind him, Yuui’s sight came back to see…
…Nothing.
But where was-… In the air!
His arms flew up to shield his face instinctively and his legs were taken from beneath him. He used the momentum from his fall to send his twin onto his knees too and the scuffle moved to the floor, hands and knees substituting for real weapons as they rolled around, constantly gaining and subsequently losing control of the fight. It was only when Yuui managed to strike Fay in the stomach and pin his wrists at the same time that he gained the upper hand.
They were like that for some seconds, neither struggling, harsh panting filling the room. Yuui’s heart suddenly filled with fear and nausea as he felt three pairs of eyes on him, all expecting him to do the same thing.
He swallowed loudly and drew a thin sword from the air, his mind not filled with images of him and his brother, of the other Fai, but filled with the disbelief of what he was about to do.
He settled the sharp edge of the blade against the identical neck and gave a single, meaningful, apologetic look into his twin’s eyes, before clamping his own shut and drawing his arm back, quick and strong.
He stared, almost emotionlessly, as blood poured from Fay’s slender, pale neck, as his life ended. He watched as the two lifeless blue eyes died again and rolled back. He saw the edges of Fay’s mouth curl into a smile.
He made his twin die.
X o X o X
“I’m dying, aren’t I?” Fai rasped weakly.
Kurogane froze.
Hours had passed, and Fai was constantly passing between throwing up, sweating and shaking and then lying almost comatose, with his eyes clamped tightly shut and his breathing loud and shallow.
Kurogane felt stupidly helpless, all he could do was mop the blonde’s forehead, rub his back and make sure he didn’t choke on his own vomit, even though Fai had brought up so much that there was really nothing left in his stomach. He still hadn’t told Fai the truth; he thought the man wouldn’t really wonder why this was happening, but just wish that it would stop.
He felt a clammy, cold hand lay atop his. Kurogane thought it was strange that Fai was the one in so much pain, yet he was the one that needed the comfort.
“It’s okay; I figured as much. Explains why you were acting so weird earlier…” Fai murmured, his clouded blue eyes seeing nothing.
Kurogane tried to swallow. He wanted to say something, anything! He tried to swallow around the thick lump in his throat but he couldn’t and he just couldn’t get the words out and damn it just wasn’t fair!
“The others are looking for a cure…” he managed to grind out, his voice wavering so much that he didn’t care anymore, “I don’t know when they’ll be-“… he froze in horror, staring at the clock, then snapped his head back towards Fai.
He hadn’t moved.
It had been just a little more than eighteen hours.
Kurogane’s heart beat painfully harder, as he realised that Fai might never wake up again.
X o X o X
Tears slid down Yuui’s blood, dirt and sweat stained cheeks as his fingers released their grip on his dead twin’s wrists.
He wanted to curl in on himself and die; wanted to sob and scream and shudder until he had no strength left to mourn.
That was twice. Twice he had killed his own brother, his own flesh, just for his own selfish goals.
He thought suddenly of the other Fai. The happy Fai. He took in a shuddering breath and his eyes hardened as he stood, flicking the thick, warm blood from his ice sword. He stared Ashura down, not going in for the kill but waiting confidently.
There was nothing left that Ashura could harm him with.
The ice king stood from his throne and swept down the steps, his cloak billowing elegantly behind him. Yuui watched his every move cautiously; analysing and calculating his king’s actions.
Finally, Ashura stood before him, not three feet away. Yuui held the sword defensively, his muscles tensed and ready for him to leap into, or away from, action.
‘What have you learned on your journeys, my Yuui?’ Ashura asked into Yuui’s mind, his voice warm and gentle. The question stumped him, but he was wary enough to not give Ashura any openings. He had come this far; he wasn’t going to lose now through an amateur mistake.
‘…Nobody can resurrect life. Not even gods.’ Yuui thought after a while, ‘We should hold onto life for as long as we can; it is the only chance we get.’
Ashura suddenly descended to a knee, his cloaks rustling being the only noise in minutes, leaving the other two bewildered.
The king smiled up at his pupil, his friend, his son, with kind, tired eyes. “Then I have nothing left to teach you.” He bared his neck and nodded once at Yuui.
Yuui smiled in thanks and finally fulfilled his king’s wish.
The blade glistened silver and crimson as Yuui drew it across Ashura’s windpipe in one swift motion and thick blood spurted out, staining both Ashura’s and Yuui’s previously white clothing and dripping down onto the icy floor.
Ashura fell forward and Yuui sprang to the side, feeling so sick and nauseated with what he had done. The sword fell from his hand and shattered like glass, a thousand and one pieces of sharp ice glaring at him. He felt himself start to shake, drew his quivering arms around himself and gasped a breath, his lungs closing in on him. He struggled to breathe for a few seconds and his vision was white again and he felt it, felt the bile rising in his throat and he was really going to be sick and he felt himself sway on the spot and then…
He was pulled against something else, something warm and familiar. A single sob escaped his lips and soon he was crying into the ninja’s cape, completely broken and lost.
X o X o X
Using all the magic he had left, Yuui transported them as far as he could without passing out, but they were still a few miles from the house where the others were.
They just hoped they weren’t too late.
Yuui clutched Ashura’s crown to him, not caring that the sharp points where digging into his skin uncomfortably, his other hand clasped tightly in Kurogane’s, almost as a lifeline, for he was sure that without the ninja there he would not only get overpowered by the snowstorm, but that he would lose whatever shred of sanity he had left.
They crashed into the eerily silent house and as soon as Kurogane let go of him he stumbled and sank to the floor, weak and vulnerable.
Sakura and Syaoran said nothing as Kurogane took Yuui to get cleaned up, instead finishing the deal with Yuuko and getting a tiny phial of antidote in return for the bloodstained crown.
As the bright pink liquid was forced between Fai’s chapped, dry lips, everybody but the PE teacher was wondering how someone who looked so dead could still have a beating heart. They watched and waited with baited, silent breath, none of them moving or blinking for fear that if they took their eyes off the blonde for a second than his soul would pass on unnoticed to the other side.
They waited, and waited, and waited.
Eventually, Sakura excused herself to make dinner. Then, one by one, they all left the room, too tired and devastated to say anything to the other Kurogane, who was still holding a cold, dead hand and staring determinedly at his dying love, waiting, wishing for him to just open his eyes and smile that infuriating smile.
Fai’s eyes did not open. His heart stopped beating.
They were too late.
So yeah. Don't kill me?