When Fai first came to Celes, Ashura was his father.

He was the first person who had ever treated Fai his age. For no matter what horrors a child had been through, the child was still just that—a child.

A small pale boy sat on the bed, his corn-silk hair cleaned of blood, and his eyes—too light to be sapphire, but to beautiful to just be plain blue—devoid of emotion. Shocked. Disbelieving.

The canopy of gauze surrounding the bed shut him out from the rest of the regal room. There was a knock on the door. Fai looked up at the noise, but for a minute, he didn't know what to do. He, then, remembered that when someone knocked, you were supposed to invite him or her in. He'd grown so used to people simply barging in with their spears in angry rants.

"Come…" Fai's hooded eyes lowered. "Come…oh…come in…" His voice was so pitifully soft, he didn't think the man outside the door could hear him. But he didn't know how to make it any louder. Someone might scold him and slap him again for causing a disturbance if it was.

The first thing that registered in Fai's line of vision were the eyes. Charcoal, but so warm—so kind…and gentle. Never had he seen such gentle eyes.

The next feature was his hair. It was everything Fai's wasn't. It wasn't flyaway and light, but dark and straight—although, it was as airy as Fai's was.

"How are we faring?" Ashura asked, smiling, his voice as careful and soft as Fai's was.

Fai looked dazedly at the man—at his king. "It hurts," he said simply, nearly a whisper.

His new king took a seat on the bed. It seemed absurd that such an intimidating being was comforting Fai—the most pathetic of all humans…if he was even a human. "I know." Fai didn't think Ashura knew at all. "I understand it hurts." Fai was sure Ashura couldn't understand. "And I'm sorry."

Fai's eyes widened at that. The first sign of life he'd shown since he'd sobbed and taken his twin's name.

He was pretty sure Ashura was sorry, even though at what, he didn't know.

"You…sorry…you don't…you don't have to…be…?" Fai tried the words out. His fazed, unfocused eyes found Ashura's clear, piercing ones.

And as shocking as it was, Fai found himself embraced by arms much larger and safer than his own. Safer than he'd ever felt. "I know I don't. But I'm sorry regardless."