The Bright End of Nowhere: Part Five

oOo

Fai's head hurt and he could feel blood dripping down his cheek. He swallowed a groan as he dragged himself into a sitting position, one hand going to his head.

Pain shot through his injured hand and his eyes flashed open. He was sitting in the center of a pile of bones and machinery, all covered with layers of sticky black fluid and dried blood. High walls loomed above him and he could only barely see the orange sky high above. The air smelled heavily of smoke and Fai found it hard to breathe.

"I've been waiting for you." The voice came from behind him and Fai turned slowly to face it. The pile of debris behind him was shifting and moving, fusing together from bits and pieces, scraps of metal becoming arms, thick wires twisting into fingers, cables becoming hair that fell back from a smooth metal face. A pair of wide eyes opened and stared up at Fai as the mouth twisted into an eerie echo of a smile. "Where have you been? I've been looking for you everywhere since those people took you away from me. You've come to help me, right?"

Fai didn't answer, unable to meet the figure's gaze. Little Brother pushed forward through the mess of the pit, its body seeming to emerge straight from the ground and moving through the debris as easily as a fish through water.

"We spoke, remember?" Little Brother's hand reached out to touch Fai's cheek, the fingers cold as death. "While you were with me." The fingers trailed down to touch the old bandages on Fai's arm, slicing through them with only a touch and revealing three deep scars in the flesh. "I'm so happy to see you again. You've brought him to me, right?"

"No," Fai said softly. "You're wrong. That's not why we're here."

"But why else would you be here?" Little Brother cocked its head in a robotic imitation of curiosity. "You know what we have to do. Why else would you bring him so far, if you didn't want me to take care of things for you?"

"You don't need to do that," Fai said sharply. "It won't—it won't-"

It won't grant your wish, and he couldn't bring himself to say it.

It won't grant your wish or mine. But if even that won't grant my wish, what can? That is the only thing I'm here for. That's the only reason I'm still allowed to be here and alive right now.

"It has to," Little Brother said calmly, wrapping its arms gently around Fai as it leaned in close. "You understand how I feel, right? You're all alone too. Your most important thing was taken away, and you'll do anything to get it back. Right?"

"I…" Fai swallowed hard. "I will find a way. You don't have to do this for me."

"But this is what has to be done, isn't it?" Little Brother stepped back, spreading its arms wide. "See what I've made for you? This tower, this pit…I made myself into this for you. This is the memory that lives most clearly in your mind, isn't it?" Little Brother smiled again. "I saw it. I ate it, and that was how I knew we were the same. I made this place just for you. We'll do what needs to be done, and then that man will appear again and let me have a wish too. Don't worry about the others. The princess is above, and the other one too. I'm holding them safe by my heart, so no one can touch them. All we need to do is take care of him and everything will be in place."

"You don't-" Fai started again and Little Brother held up a finger to silence him.

"Look." It pointed off into the distance, towards the very bottom of the pit. "Here he comes."

Kurogane came into view, climbing a long stretch of cable to the bottom of the pit. He didn't even seem to see Fai and Little Brother perched along the far side.

"I'm using my lights to keep us out of sight," Little Brother said. "Isn't it fun? We can see him, but he doesn't even know we're here. His sword is in poor shape and even the ground he's standing on is part of me." Little Brother smiled and Fai felt cables suddenly curling over his arms and legs, holding him in place. "Now…let's kill him."

The ground beneath them began to move. Fai felt himself being lifted upwards by the cables wrapped around him as the creatures of the pit began to stir. Burnt and damaged husks that had once been reapers, missing legs or wings or sometimes even their heads, rising up from the pit and moving stiffly towards where Kurogane stood. Fai opened his mouth to say something, to give a warning, but his voice wouldn't come. Little Brother was leaning over his shoulder, eyes glowing brightly in the darkness.

Kurogane seemed to have noticed the danger approaching him and he turned with sword in hand to meet the monsters approaching him, sword flashing brightly and severing the first reaper to approach him in two. It fell to the ground in pieces and then the two separated halves began to force themselves up again, moving once more to attack.

"All my consciousness is focused on this place now," Little Brother whispered in Fai's ear. The cables were sliding over Fai's arms and legs as if alive. Three sharp needles dangled from the end of the one nearest to his arm. "I can make all of these move, even if all their processing units are destroyed. Everything here is me. He can't escape, ever. If he tries to climb back up, I'll strangle him with that cable."

"Stop it," Fai managed to choke out. One of the cables slid under his chin, around his neck, cold like ice. "I don't want this."

"Of course you do." Little Brother rose higher out of the ground, moving itself in front of him so their eyes could meet. "Just like me. You're all alone, just like me. Someone was close to you, so close. Just like my mother and all my brothers. We were all cushioned together in the same deep dream, just as you and your brother were the only two in that place. Even if I couldn't touch my precious people, I knew they were always there, with me. And then all the people of this country took them away." The cable around his neck tightened slightly. "I'll never forgive them. Never. I can't feel any of the others anymore. They've all been destroyed, every one of them. But I wasn't. I'm still here." Little Brother gave Fai another smile and the cable around his neck fell away. "Just like you. But you were taken out of that place, right? That person offered you a choice."

"You don't know what you're doing," Fai said. The smoke in the air was growing noticeably thicker and he was starting to feel lightheaded. "It's not….I didn't even know what I was doing then. I do now. Even if you kill him, it won't change anything. It won't bring them back."

"But even you don't believe that, right?" Little Brother said. "What do you plan to do, if not kill him yourself? You want that wish granted, don't you? I've been in your head. It's the thing you want most of all, isn't it?"

"I…." Fai had no answer to give. If he said the words out loud he would only be drowned under the weight of them.

"Wasn't it in your mind?" Little Brother continued. "If it will grant your wish, you'll kill with your bare hands, right? We'll defy logic together, you and I. We'll kill him and bring back our most important people. Just like you promised."

There was nothing Fai could say to that, no reply he could give. Kurogane was only a spot in the distance, fighting his way through the monsters that kept moving even as his sword sliced them apart. Even with the distance between them Fai could see that Kurogane was bleeding and that the movements of his sword were slightly slower than normal.

Kurogane was still fighting, looking for him, and there was nothing Fai could say.

If he said it, that would be the end of everything. He had to believe that there was a way for that wish to be granted, no matter the cost. It was the only thing he was living for now. If he said it, everything would be done.

And if he said nothing, Kurogane would die.

"This won't fix anything." Fai forced the words out. "You have to stop this."

"This is all for the sake of our wish," Little Brother said, cables stroking his arm, the needles drawing blood. "With this, we'll fix everything."

The sword in Kurogane's hand was growing dimmer and he could barely be seen beyond the press of reapers. Fai felt a heavy weight in his chest and closed his eyes.

"No," he said softly. "No, I don't think it will."

He jerked his arm backwards and let the needles sink deeply into his skin.

—a high cold tower and a pit of corpses—

—"Choose. You or the other."—

—A girl's voice. "No matter how much I want to be with her, I will never see my mother again!"—

—Syaoran looking up at him, hair dripping wet and eyes serious. "You can smile. You can be happy. No one will blame you for that, Syaoran-kun."—

—"The clone that I have prepared"-

—A small cafe in the middle of a country of cherry blossoms and Sakura smiling at him, hands covered in flour—

—"You will go on a journey with the princess of the desert kingdom"—

—Kurogane, fighting at his back as rain poured down around them—

—Kurogane staring down at him, scabbard pointed towards him like a weapon. "It's not that you didn't die. It's that you won't die."—

—"Because I too have been waiting. For the one who would take me along."-

—Yama, a night sky and a tent smelling heavily of medicine. Kurogane lying on a pallet, covered in sweat, blood-soaked bandages wrapped around his shoulder where the enemy's poison arrow went through. A dark night, and only Fai still awake. No one would realize, if Kurogane died during the night, if that death was from the poison or a pillow pressed over his face.—

—"If you should meet that boy….he's the witch's pawn. He will be a hindrance not only to mine…but to your wish as well."—

—That long dark night in Yama, watching Kurogane sleep. Fai's eyes close, and he knows.—

—"If that child from Japan becomes an obstacle…remove him too."—

—I can't do it. Even for the sake of this wish, I can't do it.—

—"Why should you be hesitating over killing someone else?"—

—Why?—

—"If someone wants to take away the ones I want to protect, I'll kill them too."—

—Kurogane, always there at his back, at his side. Sakura's unfailing smile, Syaoran's unwavering eyes. Mokona on his shoulder, laughing.—

—I will find another way. There must be another way.—

—"Even if I must kill with my bare hands."—

—There must be another way. I will find another way. Because—

—because—

—because no matter what, I cannot, I will not—

—that is the one person I can't ever lose—

—because—

—even for the sake of this wish, this most important wish—

—I cannot kill that person.

Pain shot through him as the needles roughly tore themselves from Fai's arms and the world was drowned by Little Brother's angered scream.

oOo

The ground shook and Sakura barely managed to keep her footing, falling back against the wall. Immediately Syaoran was at her side.

"What was that?" Sakura wondered, steadying herself. The entire room seemed to be swaying, as if the structure they were trapped inside was suspended on a giant swing.

"I don't know," Syaoran said worriedly, eyes scanning the walls. Following his gaze, Sakura could see noticeable cracks spreading across several of the glowing windows. "If we could only find a way out…"

Sakura opened her mouth to reply when suddenly the room shook again, this time hard enough to throw both her and Syaoran to their knees. One of the windows just to Syaoran's right shattered into pieces and warm air rushed into the room. Syaoran risked peering out through the empty frame.

Below them there was nothing but darkness.

"We can't climb down," Syaoran said as Sakura helped pull him back inside.

"There has to be another way out," Sakura said. "I'm sure that bird was leading me here for a reason."

"Sakura!" Something small and white suddenly appeared out of nowhere, leaping into her arms. "Syaoran!"

"Moko-chan!" Sakura cried out in surprise, holding the white creature close.

"Mokona, how did you get here?" Syaoran asked.

"Mokona followed a tunnel on the map and came out from above." Mokona pointed upwards. Just above them there was a small opening in the roof.

"You have a map?" Syaoran said, surprised.

"Fai gave it to Mokona." Mokona pulled out the map and held it out for Syaoran to see. On the screen was an image of the tower, but it was strangely fuzzy and kept blinking in and out of existence.

"You found Fai-san and Kurogane-san?" Sakura said urgently. "Are they all right?"

"Fai got pulled into the pit," Mokona said. "Kurogane went after him and sent Mokona to find the feather above."

"A feather!" Syaoran and Sakura exchanged glances.

"There's a feather here, Moko-chan?"

"Mokona can feel it," Mokona said, nodding. "The people of this country said that the thing controlling this tower shouldn't be able to move without a power source, but the one it was using before shouldn't be working. Fai had Mokona and Kurogane come here because he thought it had to be the work of the feather."

The room shook again and another window shattered into pieces, this one directly above Sakura. Syaoran threw himself over her and Mokona, glass shards raining down onto his back.

"What's going on?" Sakura said over the gust of wind that blew inside. "Syaoran-kun, you're hurt!"

"I'm fine," Syaoran said, pulling a piece of glass from his shoulder with a wince. "There must be something going on outside. There's something strange about this tower. When we landed here it looked different, more like a citadel, and the inside was filled with rooms and hallways. But when it started to change form it became completely hollow, except for this place."

"When I was following the bird," Sakura said thoughtfully, "I noticed that sometimes we'd seem to be heading for a dead end and then suddenly there would be a pathway there."

"Somehow this building is changing itself," Syaoran said. "Mokona, what sort of thing is in control of the tower?"

"Fai said it was called 'Little Brother,'" Mokona said. "He said the people of this country built a big computer called Mother and then put a Little Brother in each city."

"A computer…" Syaoran repeated. "Did they show you what it looked like?"

"No. Fai only showed Mokona and Kurogane a picture of a big citadel. He said that was the only picture all this country's people had of it."

"So the computer is in this tower?" Sakura said.

"No," Syaoran said slowly as realization dawned. "I think…I think this tower is the computer. Somehow it's able to change its form to whatever it wants to be. The feather must be hidden somewhere inside the tower itself, somewhere connected to the rest of the tower where it can send power to everything around it."

"The bird said it was taking me into its 'heart,'" Sakura spoke up.

"That must be where we are now," Syaoran said. "It doesn't make sense that the rest of the tower would be hollow except for this place. It must be some kind of….protective cocoon, created to make its heart difficult to reach. The feather must be hidden somewhere in the middle of these tunnels. Mokona. You can feel it, right?"

"Right," Mokona said. It paused, looking around for a moment before pointing. "I think…that way."

"All right." Syaoran got to his feet and gave Sakura an encouraging smile. "Let's go. We need to find that feather."

oOo

"Liar!" Little Brother's voice was thick with rage and suddenly the coils wrapped around Fai's body loosened and he fell heavily to the ground, landing hard in the middle of a pile of debris. Dimly he was aware that the press of monsters surrounding Kurogane in the distance had begun to move in a slow, weaving fashion, as if their power was being sapped. The debris below Little Brother's feet was beginning to writhe and shake, as if moved by some great swell of anger from beneath.

It can only focus its will on so many things at once, Fai realized. In this state, it can't control all those other monsters at the same time.

"How could you?" Little Brother loomed over him, eyes glowing a burning orange to match the sky above. Sharp metal spikes were rippling along its arms, driving down into the ground inches from Fai's head. "Don't you understand? It's your wish too! How can you give it up so easily?"

"I'm not giving it up," Fai said. His voice sounded hoarse in his own ears and his throat felt choked by the smoke settling in the air. "But I can't kill him."

"You promised!" Even with the entire tower shaking with Little Brother's anger its voice still sounded like a petulant child's. Fai felt a laugh bubbling up in his throat.

"I know," Fai said, reaching his good hand up to touch Little Brother's face. The metal felt hard and cold against his fingers. "But I can't kill him. Even for the sake of this wish."

"It won't stay this way, you know." Little Brother's hands were moving now, wrapping around his throat. Cables and bits of wire crept along its arms. "I've been in your head. I saw. The pit and the tower, the child who fell from above. The promise you made. I saw them. I felt it. You were just like me. You had someone precious, and they went away. Even with all those other memories — worthless, stupid memories, of a journey that's all a lie, all a lie and you know it, you know it — you still always have that place foremost in your mind. That's why I ate it, and I saw."

Its grip tightened and spots danced in front of Fai's eyes, but he couldn't move, couldn't do anything but stare up into the twisted metal face and artificial eyes that burned with something more than artificial fire.

"Stupid human sentiment," Little Brother hissed and for a moment the child's voice was gone, replaced by nothing more than a hollow metal echo. "It won't change anything. It won't. They'll find out what you're hiding and then you'll have to choose, and you won't choose the right thing, won't choose the right wish." Little Brother's face twisted into a smile. "But I will. I'll kill that person right here, and kill you too. Then I'll take the princess and that clone and I'll do what you couldn't. I'll get my mother back and all my brothers. Even if I have to take every part of myself and change it and twist it and destroy it, I'll still succeed. I'll have that wish granted. I won't be weak and I won't lie. I will see my wish granted."

Its grip tightened, fingers digging into the flesh at Fai's throat, and even as everything grew dim Fai couldn't stop himself from smiling.

Bright light flashed in front of his eyes and then Little Brother's grip weakened as the metal body broke apart into pieces and fell into a pile of charred scrap at Fai's feet. Fai gave a shuddering gasp and dragged himself into a sitting position as Kurogane moved to stand beside him, the sword he'd used to cut Little Brother in two still held tightly in one blood-stained hand.

"Good timing, Kuro-rin," Fai managed to choke out, smile still shaky on his face.

"What the hell was that?" Kurogane asked, poking at the remains of Little Brother with the tip of the light sword. His eyes were calm and cold as he stared down at Fai. "What is going on here?"

"How would I know?" Fai said with forced cheer, shrugging. His legs felt shaky and he didn't dare try to stand.

"Don't give me that crap," Kurogane snapped. "Your arms are bleeding. Why was it after you?"

"It was made to take away bad dreams, Kuro-sama," Fai said softly, staring down at the bloody scratches that ran down his arm. "I suppose it's just that I had some very bad ones, that's all."

He could feel Kurogane staring down at him in silence, and Fai couldn't bring himself to look up.

The ground beneath them suddenly shifted sharply, nearly throwing Kurogane off his feet. Fai scrambled for a handhold as the scraps of metal and debris beneath him fell away abruptly and it was only Kurogane's rough hand on his arm pulling him backwards that kept him from falling into the darkness that had suddenly opened up below him.

Two deep black holes like eyes appeared along the sides of the pit. Fai struggled to his feet, falling back against Kurogane as an enormous mouth opened up below them and suddenly the air was filled with an ear-piercing scream.

"What the hell—" Kurogane's angry curse could barely be heard over the deafening sound.

"Traitor—liar—traitor—" It was Little Brother's voice, magnified a thousand times and twisted by anger and betrayal. The pit roiled beneath them like an angry serpent as the corpses of more reapers arose from the mess. Unlike before, these were human-shaped, twice the size of Kurogane at least, with long arms made of twisted cable and wire and eyes that burned with orange fire. They seemed to appear out of every corner of the pit, climbing out from even the dark abyss of the screaming mouth. As Kurogane readied his sword, Fai noticed that the blade was flickering madly and there was some definite damage to the hilt.

"Here." Kurogane pulled something off his belt and tossed it to Fai, who caught it in his good hand. It was the gun he had left lying back in the tower.

"I think a retreat may be a better idea in this case, Kuro-sama," Fai said even as he shakily aimed the gun at one of the approaching machines.

"Retreat where?" Kurogane grumbled. "There's no way out of this damn place. We'll have to fight our way out."

"That's what I thought you'd say," Fai said with a sigh. Kurogane gave him a grim smile and Fai found himself returning it without even a moment's hesitation.

Turning so that he and Kurogane stood back to back, Fai raised the gun and fired.

oOo

The tower was shaking again and Sakura gave a small cry of surprise as Syaoran pressed himself over her and Mokona at the same moment that two more windows exploded in a burst of glass.

"That one was too close," Syaoran murmured. One of the windows that had broken this time had been just below Sakura's feet only a moment ago. Sakura pressed a worried hand against his arm, which was bleeding slightly from where a piece of glass had been embedded.

"What's going on outside?" Mokona asked worriedly.

Before Syaoran could reply the orange lights that had been illuminating their way abruptly went out and they found themselves shrouded in darkness. There was the sound of breaking glass from nearby and the room listed abruptly to the right, pressing the three of them against one wall.

"Syaoran-kun?" Sakura ventured nervously.

"It's all right," Syaoran assured her. "I don't think that window was nearby. We just have to move carefully, in case there are broken spots in the floor. Are we getting any closer, Mokona?"

"Mokona thinks so," the white creature replied. "But there's a lot of power moving all around this part of the tower, it's hard for Mokona to tell exactly where the feather is."

Something flickered along the edges of Sakura's mind and she looked up abruptly. Off in the distance she could see it: the smallest spark of glowing orange.

"There." She was standing before she even realized it, walking towards the light. Dimly she heard Syaoran and Mokona call out to her, but her feet wouldn't stop moving as she reached towards the light.

A wall slid shut behind her and suddenly she found herself standing in a brightly glowing circular room. There was no sign of any doorway though she knew that she must have come through one. All manner of buttons and switches covered the walls, which were criss-crossed with hundreds of wires of varying colors and sizes. Small bright bursts of energy seemed to be running along them, disappearing through the floor and the ceiling.

In the center of it all was a small raised platform and a glowing orb containing a single feather.

Sakura stepped towards it and something shifted by her feet. Looking down, she saw the familiar form of the mechanical bird. Its head was down and its eye was closed.

"I was in a deep, long dream," the bird said softly. "In my dream I was surrounded by four others, ones who were just like me, even though I'm different than all of them. We were all connected together like that. It was somehow sad, but still a very warm dream too. I knew that there was something about me that was different than all of them, but I didn't mind because I was just so happy that they were there. And then suddenly they were all gone. Everyone was gone." Its eye opened and stared hollowly up at her. "What did I do wrong? Why am I the last one left?"

Sakura knelt down beside the bird, pulling it into her arms.

"I'm sorry," she told it sincerely. "I think some of that is my fault. You probably weren't supposed to be like this. It's because my feather's here. I'm sorry you had to feel alone because of that."

"Where did they all go?" the bird wondered. "Why can't I bring them back? It's something anyone can wish, isn't it? All I wanted was to be with them."

"I'm sorry," Sakura said again. "I wish I could bring them back for you. You shouldn't have to feel like this."

"I wish I could just go back to sleep," the bird said. "If I can't have them back, I just want to be what I used to be again. I don't want to be awake like this, if I have to feel this way."

"I can take the feather," Sakura said, getting to her feet, the bird still held tight in her arms. "I know it won't fix things, but it will let you go back to sleep again. It will have to be a long sleep and…and I don't think you'll wake up again. I'm sorry I can't do more."

"But you can make me like I was?" the bird pressed. "You can let me be like my mother and my brothers were?"

"If I take the feather," Sakura said, nodding. She slowly approached the platform. "Are you sure it's okay?"

"Yes." The bird closed its eye again. "Please. I just want to sleep."

Sakura took the last step towards the platform and reached out a hand. The feather floated over to her and disappeared inside her body.

—a burning building and ominous shadows dancing on the walls—

—a cold empty room and something large and metal sliding through the darkness—

—a hundred bad dreams and haunted memories, of people and places she had never seen—

—and at the end of it all, a high cold tower and a pit of corpses, and a child crying—

Sakura's eyes closed and she fell forward into a bright orange light.

oOo

Another reaper fell into pieces as a bolt from Fai's gun sliced through its head. It began to stir again at his feet and Fai aimed and shot again, breathing hard. His finger twitched on the trigger and there was only a hollow clicking sound.

Fai grimaced and dropped the gun, backing up further so that he was standing directly beside Kurogane. The ninja had already thrown away the broken and depleted light sword and was trying to hold off the approaching horde with only Souhi.

"I…think we may a have….little problem, Kuro-sama," Fai panted. His hand was throbbing in pain and he felt light-headed and dizzy. The air had grown gray and heavy with smoke, and Fai could smell something burning in the distance. The fire had broken through the barrier at last.

"Shut up," Kurogane growled even as he was pushed back by another machine. Fai took another step back and felt cold metal behind him. They had been pushed all the way back to the base of the tower. "Is that cable still there?"

Fai nodded, pressing his uninjured hand against it.

"Good. Climb out of here."

Fai's eyes widened for a moment in surprise and then he smiled ruefully, shaking his head.

"Not with this hand, Kuro-rin," Fai said, holding up his injured hand. It was shaking noticeably. "And besides, I couldn't possibly leave you to enjoy the company of our host by yourself, could I?"

"Hmmph." Kurogane snorted but Fai could see the slight smile on his face.

"Liars—traitors—murderers—" The entire pit shook with the force of the words and the humanoid figures approaching them seemed to grow and twist even larger. Their eyes were burning a bright orange to rival the flames in the distance. Kurogane glanced grimly back at Fai.

"I don't suppose there's anything you could do about this?" he muttered. Fai gave him a thin smile and shook his head. Kurogane gave a heavy sigh and readied his sword again. "This is such a pain."

"I'm sorry our impending deaths are such an inconvenience for you, Kuro-tan."

"What the hell is that?" Kurogane didn't even turn to look at him. "I'm not planning on dying here, and you had better not be either."

Without even waiting for a reply Kurogane strode forward to meet the oncoming attackers, placing himself between them and Fai.

Fai swallowed hard, his throat suddenly feeling dry. He pressed a hand against the cold metal wall of the tower and felt something moving. Glancing down, he saw small eyes dotting the wall, staring up at him.

This is your choice, right?

"It won't change anything. It won't. They'll find out what you're hiding, and then you'll have to choose, and you won't choose the right thing, won't choose the right wish." Little Brother's voice echoed in his head. Fai closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

He raised his one good hand and prepared to write a word in the sky.

All the lights of the tower went out and with a great groaning creak that sounded almost like a scream all the reapers facing them crashed into a heap of scrap metal, their eyes growing abruptly dark.

"What…" Kurogane whirled to look at Fai, who shook his head.

"Don't look at me, Kuro-rin." He glanced upwards. The entire tower had gone dark, lit only by the orange reflection of the approaching flames. "I think Mokona and the others must have found the feather."

Kurogane stepped over to one of the fallen reapers and pressed his sword against it warily. It remained where it had fallen, nothing more than a twisted piece of metal. He glanced upwards at the glowing flames above. The sides of the pit seemed to have grown even steeper and were now dotted with sharp hunks of metal and debris, all the remains of the hundreds of reapers that had come after them.

"We need to get out of here," Fai said urgently, covering his mouth to stifle a cough. "The fire's gotten too close. We can't stay out here much longer."

"Then we'll have to climb back up." Kurogane walked over and grabbed hold of the cable he had used on the climb down. He tugged on it experimentally and it abruptly came apart in his hands, one end burned straight through. Kurogane threw it to the ground in disgust.

"There's no getting back up that way," Fai murmured. Staring at the tower looming high above him he was starting to feel something dark and heavy settling in his chest, like the remains of an old memory.

"We'll go up the sides, then," Kurogane said, striding forward. Fai reached forward and grabbed his wrist without even thinking.

"Too steep." His mouth seemed to be moving without him being aware of it, and Fai wondered if this was what drowning felt like. "You can't get out that way. Nothing—nothing can get out of here."

Kurogane stared at him for a long moment and Fai dropped his hand away, eyes fixed on the ground.

"Screw that." Kurogane reached out then and grabbed Fai's wrist roughly, pulling him forward. "I'm not just standing around here to die. Come on. We're getting the hell out of here."

"But-" Fai started to pull away and Kurogane didn't budge, all but dragging him.

"Shut up," Kurogane snapped. "I told you before: no one's dying. Not here, not today, not while I'm still alive. I don't know what the hell's been up with you the whole time we've been in this damn world, but you're snapping out of it right now. If you're just going to give up, I'll kill you myself."

—because no matter what, I cannot, I will not lose that person-

Fai stared up at the sky and managed a slow shaky nod.

"Then I guess I don't have much of a choice, do I, Kuro-tan?"

"That's right." Kurogane's tone was cold but he was smiling.

They began to slowly make their way forward as the smoke in the air grew thicker with each passing moment. Fai's lungs felt like they were on fire and he pulled his cloak up high over his mouth, trying to filter some of the worst of the smoke.

There was a great rumbling noise behind them and Fai turned back to stare at the tower. It was starting to sway.

"Kuro-sama!" Fai called out a warning and then threw himself to the side as a chunk of sheet metal sliced through the ground inches away from where he had been moments before. He scrambled into a crouch, exchanging a wide-eyed glance with Kurogane.

"Now what?" Kurogane demanded, and Fai couldn't help but feel buoyed by the ninja's usual demeanor of treating life-threatening danger as just another thing created to be a bother to him.

"The tower's falling apart," Fai said, amazed at the calmness in his own voice. "We'd better move faster."

Kurogane seemed to be about to reply when an orange light flared to light above them. Something was moving towards them from above, something large and glowing brightly.

"Fai! Kurogane!" Mokona's voice carried down to them over the rumbling of the tower and Fai could only stare as the thing above came into focus: an enormous bird-shaped reaper, flying down slowly but steadily into the pit. Syaoran and Mokona sat on its back, an unconscious Sakura lying in Syaoran's lap.

"Mokona! Syaoran-kun!" Fai waved at them as the bird landed just a few feet away. "Good timing!"

"We were lucky to get out of the tower," Syaoran said breathlessly as he gingerly lifted Sakura into his arms and slid off the bird's back. Its eyes were a bright orange that seemed to be dimming with each passing moment. "We were looking for the feather when the Princess got separated from us."

"All the windows broke," Mokona added. "Syaoran and I started to fall, but then we were caught by the bird." It looked back over at the reaper, which was still standing stock-still behind them. "Sakura was already on its back, asleep."

"She must have found the feather," Fai said. "That was the only thing keeping this place working." He pressed a gentle hand against Sakura's forehead and paused, noticing something wrapped in her arms. "What's…" Fai's good hand touched her arm and suddenly Sakura's crossed arms fell open and something small fell to the ground. Fai bent down to pick it up.

It was a small mechanical bird, its single eye dull and dead.

"We need to leave," Syaoran said urgently from behind him, and Fai could feel Kurogane's gaze on his back. Gently he laid the bird back down on the ground, pulling off his black cloak and laying it over the small creature before turning to face the others with a smile.

"I think that sounds like a good idea," he said brightly. "This place isn't safe to be in any longer. Mokona?"

"Right!" Mokona leapt into the air as wings sprouted from its back.

As they began to be pulled into Mokona's mouth, Fai turned to give one last look at the crumbling tower.

There has to be another way to grant that wish. I will find another way.

Fa closed his eyes and let the world disappear behind him.