A/N: hey all. 'Sup? I'm back with a new fic... Again. ;) Hehe. This one is also kinda Fai-centric but some of it will be told from the POV of Kurogane. Basically I'll be exploring Fai's relationship with the group and how he has changed overall through the journey, takes place after Nihon but before Clow arc. Not many spoilers will be there, I think.

I'll try to keep them in character but that all depends on how I want this to end. Anyhow I think I've started to ramble so I'll just stop and let you read on. Hope you enjoy it.

Chapter 1: (Yes it's a multi-chaptered story but a relatively short one)

How in the world had he ended up like this? The blond vampire thought in amusement as he assessed his current situation. He let out a small chuckle as he turned his head to look above him only to see his own pale skinned hand clutching onto a bent, rusty guardrail of the once grand but now completely ruined palace balcony. This particular balcony overlooked the vast seashore situated at the bottom of the rocky cliff.

The site for this castle had been, no doubt, chosen by someone with a great taste for scenic views. He could almost imagine the spectacular sight this place could have presented in the height of its grandeur. Now, however, it was no more than wreckage, abandoned by the royal family almost a century ago due to the vulnerability of this place in times of war, the castle was left to face the elements of nature giving in when no one was around to maintain it.

A small sigh escaped his lips as he felt his other arm beginning to numb slightly. Why you may ask? Well that was thanks to the fact that it was currently holding onto a certain brown haired teenager, an unconscious brown haired teenager actually.

"Syaoran-kun?" he asked hopefully, thinking that maybe the boy might have come to by now.

Nothing but silence greeted his words. The boy was still out cold. He was not sure how much longer he could hold on like this. Sure, he had his vampire strength to rely on but even those creatures had their limits. And even if by some miracle he managed to hold on infinitely, sooner or later, the guardrail would give. After all the combined weight of a vampire and a seventeen year old teenager were bound to break that rusty thing at some point.

Oh, If only he could wake the younger boy somehow. But as it was turning out, Syaoran was not returning to the land of the living any time soon. Pulling them both up was out of the question, his hold on the rusty rail was not suitable for that sort of action. He would have to think up of something else.

"Syaoran-kun, wake up." The single eyed blond called once more, even though he knew it was useless, but it never hurt to try, did it? He couldn't call out to Kurogane for help, since the ninja was not there. He was back in town, asking around the place along with Mokona. Even though Kyle had kidnapped the princess's body, they still had some feathers to look for.

One might wonder how the hell had those two landed in that situation in the first place. Well the answer was quite simple actually. The three of them had split up in order to ask around the town for information on the feather, hoping to cover more ground that way, deciding to meet back at the motel at night. Fay had heard about a ghost haunting this ruined castle from some of the townsfolk in the bar and had decided to investigate the matter. He had gotten directions from the barmaid and headed here in a rented car. Apparently, so had Syaoran because the ex-magician had sensed his presence the minute he entered the crumbling building. Fay had made his way up here only to find Syaoran losing consciousness and going over the guardrail.

The vampire had rushed for the boy, ignoring the other presence there; he would worry about that after he had caught Syaoran. Unfortunately the other presence, whoever it was had not agreed with his timely jumping in.

"Ugh…" Fay let out a small grunt as a sharp stab of pain shot through his arm holding onto Syaoran. At the same time, the guardrail groaned and bent some more, causing Fay to slip down a couple of inches or so. Kurogane was definitely going to flip if something happened to either of them. Well he could worry about that later on, right now he had to focus on maintaining his grip onto both, Syaoran and the guardrail.

"Syaoran-kun?" Fay said urgently, trying to will him into wakefulness as the numbness in his arm began to increase. If it continued at this rate, he was definitely going to lose his grip on the boy, promising him a certain death at the bottom of the cliff. He couldn't let him die, that much was for sure. The boy still had some unfinished business to attend to after all.

Maybe he could swing them up the balcony? It might work but if it failed, he was dooming them both to their deaths. Well he would wait for some more time before trying out that idea. Maybe by some dumb luck, Kurogane might have found out about the ghost story and come to investigate this place when they wouldn't have returned. Hoping that this was the case, Fay willed himself to keep on holding on.

How ironic it would be, to have come so far and die this way. Fay's thoughts drifted to his past and the journey, how he had changed from a person who hid behind masks, alone and distant from others despite the happy-go-lucky act, not caring whether he lived or died to someone who cared about others and was in turn cared and worried over by others, actually valuing his life and wanting to live.

How he had changed from that unlucky and hated twin to a person who was actually loved by someone, changed from someone who didn't matter at all to someone who actually mattered. Would Kurogane still be mad at him if he died? Even if he was no longer the person he was at the start of this journey?

The creaking and groaning of the guardrail brought him out of his train of thoughts as it bent some more, lowering them yet another few inches.

"You better get here fast Kuro-tan." He muttered as he tightened his grip onto the rail. His other arm was almost completely numb by now but due to some miracle, he was still holding onto Syaoran. Another wave of pain shot through his arm causing him to let out a strangled yell. "Hurry uuup!!!" he whined. For almost half an hour, Fay held onto the rusty rail but it was becoming more and more obvious that Kurogane was not going to show up anytime soon.

"Syaoran-kun…" Fay said in a strained voice as he tried to keep his sweaty hand from slipping. "Here… goes nothing." He said as he took in a deep breath and swung off the balcony wall, using the guardrail as his momentary leverage Fay gained some momentum in the direction that he wanted before letting go off the rail completely, said object breaking off and falling down almost a split second later. Still moving upwards due to his momentum Fay shifted Syaoran from one hand to the other and forcefully swung the boy up over the edge, the boy barely making it, lying dangerously close to the end.

Fay himself made to grab for the edge hanging onto it for dear life by the tips of his fingers. He was completely exhausted and did not have any strength left to pull himself up. All he could do now was keep on hanging like this till someone came or Syaoran woke up. This plan might even have worked if Fay's hands hadn't been so sweaty. It was only a matter of few minutes before his fingers slipped causing the vampire to fall towards the bottom like dead weight.

The only person who could have saved him then was himself but the vampire lacked the energy to do that. The only thing he was able to do was turn slightly so that he could brace his fall. That was the only thing he remembered doing as the world around him began to fade to black as the wind rushed through his hair making them flap wildly about his face as the ground rushed closer and closer to greet him…

-0-

Fay groaned in pain as he tried to open his eyes. Above him he could the stars twinkling in pitch black sky, the sounds of waves crashing on the nearby seashore was the only sound he heard. Each and part of his body was screaming in pain.

Wonder why my wounds haven't healed already? Fay thought weakly as darkness claimed him once more.

-0-

When he came to once more, Fay thought he heard someone talking nearby but was unable to determine just who exactly it was that had found him.

Fay tried to reach for the sword lying close to his side. It was actually Syaoran's which had fallen down earlier when he had been hanging off the balcony rail. Luckily he had fallen right next to it but when Fay tried to make an attempt at reaching for it, his arm protested strongly by shooting sharp stabs of pain through its entire length. It's still broken. Fay thought in dismay as he grew more aware of his surroundings.

"… can't just leave him like that." he heard a somewhat familiar voice speak close by. Fay couldn't quite place it but he somehow knew the owner of this voice. But he was also sure that the owner was not from this world but someplace else.

"Of course we can." A second voice spoke in a cold tone, "he's not our problem. We have to leave now; we can't carry around a half-dead vampire across dimensions along with us. It will just slow us down."

"But how did he get in this state?" the first voice mused thoughtfully. "He's not healing and something tells me he didn't just jump off this cliff. Did someone attack him?"

"It could be the hunter." The second voice growled, "We have to leave. Now!"

"We can't just leave him like that." protested the voice.

"We can." Said the second one in an icy-tone, "and we will."

"No we can't" the first one spoke firmly.

"So… it was the… vampire twins… who found me." Fay managed to croak weakly as he tried to move but waves of pure agony washed over him. "S-Subaru and… Kamui, right?"

"Take it easy, Fay." Subaru said gently as he crouched down next to him, "from the looks of it, you are not in any condition to move."

"It… seems that way…" Fay let out a weak and strangled chuckle.

"What happened to you?" the vampire asked.

"Came to the… ca-stle looking for… Sakura-chan's feather… someone attacked Say-oran-kun… he was about to fall but… I caught him…" Fay said weakly as his weak body begged for him to sleep. "I… fell off the bal-cony… in the process."

"Why aren't you healing?" Kamui asked all of a sudden.

"I don't know." Fay gave a slurred reply, "I'm going to… rest for… a while."

"Okay," Subaru said, not unkindly as he happened to look down at the ex-magician only to see his visible eye role to the back of his head. This caused the vampire's heart to skip a beat as his gut clenched in fear. "Fay. Hey Fay, wake up."

"What's wrong?" Kamui asked as he looked at his worried twin.

"I think he might have a concussion." Subaru answered as he shook the blond by his shoulders causing said blond to groan weakly, "Uhh… I want to… sleep…"

"No you need to stay awake." Kamui said as he joined his brother in his attempts to wake up the blond. Subaru would be really upset if he died. Though he would never admit it out loud, but Kamui was glad that Subaru had decided to not let them leave just then. For some reason, he didn't want the vampire to die either. It was just then that his keen senses picked up shouts in the distance.

His head shot up at the sound. It just a few seconds later that he heard it again, a high pitched worried voice, "Fay! Where are you?"

"Fay-san. Are you here?" he heard a second voice call out.

"Oye mage!" he heard a third voice. So it seemed his companions had arrived as well. About time they got there. Any longer and they might have had to take Fay to someplace else, since they couldn't have stayed there for much longer. The vampire had lost a large amount of blood. He could smell it all over the place.

As he got to his feet, he saw a small beam of light wave about in the distance.

"I'll go get them." Kamui said dully as he stopped his twin from leaving.

"Mage, where the he…" Kurogane stiffened as he felt the strange yet familiar aura come closer. Instinctively his hand moved towards the hilt of his sword.

"He's over there." Kamui said in an uninterested tone as he stopped next to the ninja before turning around to lead the way. "He fell off the cliff."

"Fay!" Mokona cried out in alarm as it hopped off its perch on Syaoran's shoulder and closer to the vampire on the ground. He was currently covered in Subaru's coat in an attempt to keep the blond vampire warm.

At first glance one may have assumed that he was merely sleeping but upon closer inspection anyone could tell that the one-eyed vampire was actually injured. Badly, one may add. In the light of the flashlight that Syaoran was shining on Fay, Kurogane could easily see that one of his arms were lying at an odd angle, no doubt broken, his blond hair were also matted with half-dried blood. But those were only the injuries visible; the real damage was actually concealed by his clothes.

"Fay…" Mokona cried as it touched the unresponsive blonds face.

"Damn it mage!" Kurogane growled angrily as he lifted off the jacket covering the blond to check for any other visible injuries, "what the hell did you do this time?"

"We need to get him to a doctor, Kurogane-san." Syaoran said as he picked up his sword from the ground and sealed it back.

"There's one back in town, I spoke with him just this morning." Kurogane said as he gently picked Fay off the ground careful to support his entire body with Subaru's and Syaoran's help, "we just need to get him to the car."

Fay, of course, had long since succumbed to the darkness enveloping his entire being, thus unable to hear or feel what was taking place around him. He only knew that someone familiar had arrived before even that information was shoved to the background as his brain shut off.

A/N: so how was it? Good or bad? Will Fay survive? Knowing me, who knows? Hehehe… except for me that is.

Ok so till I post the next chapter, you people better review or else… trust me, you don't wanna know.