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burningdarkfireTitle: Masquerade - Ball
Series: TRC
Pairing: KuroFai
Rating: PG - 13
Length: about 3000 words, chapter 3 (3/5)
Note: Based on Stephen King's The Shining. Written for Halloween Contest at kuroxfai_pop.
Series: TRC
Pairing: KuroFai
Rating: PG - 13
Length: about 3000 words, chapter 3 (3/5)
Note: Based on Stephen King's The Shining. Written for Halloween Contest at kuroxfai_pop.
Masquerade
Part III. Ball
Part III. Ball
"You won't ever escape … Yuui."
"No," Yuui shivered, trying to tear his eyes away from his brother's rotting corpse. "Don't say that. I'll get out and I'll save you, Fai! I promise!"
The decomposing face twisted into a sneer. "I'm still waiting, dear brother. You're just running away right now, running away from Celes and running away from me. You never planned on keeping your promise!"
"No!" Yuui cried out, reaching forward to grab Fai's hand in his own. The flesh crumbled to dust as soon as he touched it, and he stared down at the now revealed bone in horror. "Fai?"
"Don't you see what you've done?" Fai whispered, leaning forward so that his face almost touched Yuui's. Yuui could smell the stench of death and decay on him, and wondered why Chii wasn't here and how his brother had come to be like this, when he had been fine every other time they had meet in dreams. "Don't you see what you've made me, with your broken promise?" He waved his skeleton hand in Yuui's face.
"NO!" Yuui's voice became shriller. "I'll keep my promise, I swear it! I'll do anything to prove it to you! Anything! I won't let you fade away, Fai!"
"Anything?" Fai asked, and his dead eyes gleamed.
Yuui hugged himself miserably. "Anything. Anything to fix what I've done."
"Good. There's one thing I want you to do for me …"
"What is it?"
"Kill … Kurogane."
-
"Wake up!"
Fai opened his eyes and bolted upright with a gasp. He collided with a solid body, who grunted in pain.
"Oi, mage. What's wrong with you?" Kurogane took his shoulders and they rearranged themselves so that they weren't tangled together.
"Sorry," Fai said, too dazed to say anything else.
"A nightmare?" Kurogane questioned, an unidentifiable look on his face. "This makes it every night so far this week."
Fai shook his head slowly. "I-I don't know. I don't remember." He bit his lip worriedly. What had happened in the dream? All he remembered was that he was with Fai again, and Fai had asked something of him … "Sorry for hitting you," he said, for lack of anything else to say. He was aware of Kurogane's eyes boring into him. "You can go back to sleep now."
He started as Kurogane stood, causing a squeak to rise from the mattress. The ninja turned on the light and gave Fai a long look, crossing his arms. Fai's eyes darted to the shadows lingering at his feet and he couldn't help the slight whimper that escaped as one of them moved.
"Cut the crap, mage." Fai raised his eyes slowly to look at Kurogane. "I know something's wrong. You can't get through a day anymore without jumping at every little sound, you're always having nightmares, and you're just not here anymore. The kids are worried, and the whole thing with the meat bun was bad enough without you being out of it too. What's going on?"
Fai swallowed thickly as the image of Mokona's inert body rose in his mind. No matter what they did, the small white creature just wouldn't wake up, but it wasn't dead. They could all see the faint rise and fall of her chest, and Kurogane had pointed out several times that if Mokona really had died, no doubt the witch would have contacted them. It was the tiny bit of hope that they clung onto to.
"I don't know," he whispered. "I don't know." Again, a little bit louder. "I don't know!"
He turned his face away from Kurogane and fought the tears that were threatening to rise. It was all a ruse, wasn't it? Wasn't the ninja the one that Reed had warned him against in the very beginning? He was the one in the way of Fai's, of Yuui's wish. Why was he asking all these questions?
"Hey." The mattress sank a bit as the ninja sat down and reached out to awkwardly pat the blond's arm. "Don't cry."
Fai pressed his lips firmly together and tried to breathe through his nose, but all of a sudden the air seemed too thick and too full of Kurogane – the earthy scent he always had around him, that Fai usually found reassuring but right now it was choking him and he couldn't breathe –
"HEY!" Fai barely heard Kurogane shouting in alarm as he fought through the cloud that was surrounding him, pressing in on all sides, and for a moment the empty air beside his arms felt like the beating of hundreds of wings, all light to the touch but enough that he cried out, his arms moving of their own accord and then he was drowning, drowning in the drone of the insects as they surrounded him –
Fai slowly realized that Kurogane was holding his shoulders tightly and shaking him. His lips were moving, and Fai tried to concentrate on them, but his ears didn't seem to be working and no sound was penetrating through his mind.
The longer he sat there numbly, the slower Kurogane's lips moved and the lighter the weight on his shoulders became.
"It's okay," Kurogane concluded gruffly, and Fai twitched at the sound of his voice. "Just … I don't know. We need to find the feather, but if there's something really wrong, we need to leave. Whatever it is …"
"T-thank you," Fai whispered, although he hadn't heard any of the comforting things he supposed he was meant to hear. "Kuro …"
"What is it?" The ninja asked, his hands slipping away from Fai. He looked away awkwardly and spoke to the wall instead. "I know I'm really the worst at comforting people … I … She – Tomoyo-hime – used to always tease me about it."
This little bit of information, a small glimpse into Kurogane's past life, was enough to snap Fai back into the present. He forced a weary smile, dimly aware that they were getting harder and harder to hold each time.
"Thank you, Kuro-rin," he said softly, not without meaning. "I really am sorry. I don't know what's gotten into me these days …"
"There's something not right about this place," Kurogane murmured darkly, glaring around at the room as if he hoped to locate the source of his troubles right away and pound some sense into it. "We still haven't found the feather, and we've been here for nearly two months. The kid's been reading through all the stuff in the basement, and some of the things done in here … it's not normal."
"Don't say that!" Fai nearly shouted, then caught himself. Syaoran and Sakura would still be sleeping at this time, Syaoran holding the princess's hand even though her nightmares had stopped long ago. "It … I mean," Fai paused, confused. "They might hear you. The kids."
Kurogane gave him a look that told him he had done something strange again.
"How's Syaoran-kun doing with all the research?" Fai asked hurriedly, trying to divert the ninja's attention from himself. "Is he any closer to finding the feather?"
Kurogane answered, his voice low, "You asked the exact same thing at dinner, and the kid hasn't done any more work since. He spent the evening with the princess. You know that; you mentioned how cute they were to me."
Fai fell silent, rattled. Why didn't he remember that?
"I think I'll go back to sleep," he said uncertainly, lying down again in bed. Tears threatened again, and as Kurogane got up to go back to his side of the room, Fai tugged on his arm. "Can you stay?"
"I'm already just on the other bed," Kurogane grunted, looking down at Fai. "I moved in here a month ago. You remember that, right? When you came to my room and started screaming nonsense?"
Fai nodded slowly. He did remember making a fuss about it, teasing and poking Kurogane until he had given in and settled down on the other bed in his room with a huff. "I remember." More quietly, he added, "It wasn't nonsense."
"It sounded like it." Kurogane strode back to the doorway and closed the light. "Don't go insane on us now, mage. We still have another three months to go."
"Wait," Fai whispered, biting on his lip. "Please. Stay."
Kurogane's dark figure sighed and walked back over to his bed. Fai shifted over and the ninja joined him under the covers, much like the days when they landed in a world where they could only afford or obtain two beds and they had been forced to share.
Fai felt comforted by the memories of all the happier days, and he snuggled into Kurogane's chest and inhaled the soothing scent. He murmured sleepily, "Goodnight, Kuro-puu."
Kurogane snorted. He draped an arm cautiously over Fai and held him there. "Go to sleep, idiot."
A small smile passed onto Fai's lips and he pressed a hand against Kurogane's ribcage, aware of the heartbeat thrumming underneath his hand.
There's one thing I want you to do for me, Yuui …
… Kill him!
Fai's hand tightened on Kurogane's shirt.
-
Fai opened his eyes again to find himself pinned against the bed with Kurogane leaning over him, holding him down. He struggled, confused and disoriented, but the ninja was much stronger.
"What are you doing?" He cried out, trying to ease the weight threatening to crush him.
Kurogane stared down at him. "Are you back? Is it you again?"
"What are you talking about?"
Kurogane gave him a long, measured look. Fai squirmed a little under the pressure, but Kurogane soon let go and back away. "You don't remember anything from today?"
Fai stared at him uncomprehendingly. "The last thing I remember is falling asleep beside you." He was aware of the faint heat that flooded his cheeks as he said so, his shame and embarrassment at the weak display he had put on last night. "What time is it?"
"Nearly seven in the evening," Kurogane replied gruffly. "You just tried stabbing Sakura with a kitchen knife because you thought she was whining too much about Mokona."
Fai had to remind himself to breathe as he took in the news. "That … that wasn't me. I didn't do it. I wouldn't do something like that!" He reached out for Kurogane, desperately needing the other man to believe him.
"I know," Kurogane said abruptly, grabbing hold of Fai's wrists before his hands made contact. "But you did. Something happened, and you did."
"No," Fai shivered, backing up and trying to tug away from Kurogane. "This is all a dream. This is just a nightmare. If I go back to sleep right now, I'll open my eyes again and I'll still be in bed and nothing will have happened."
"No!" Kurogane said firmly, tightening his grip on Fai. "This is real. I don't know what you dream about, but whatever it is, that's what's not real. That's what makes you wake up every night, either screaming or sweating like you've been chased all over this place."
"Let go!" Fai screamed, wrenching his hands away and holding them to his chest. "You're not Kuro-tan! My Kuro-tan would never accuse me of stabbing Sakura-chan! I wouldn't! I didn't!"
"I'm not saying you did! I didn't say anything like that!" Kurogane shouted back, hands now clenched at his side. "This is what I've been trying to say all along! There's something wrong with this place, something that's changing you!"
"I would never stab anyone! I would never kill anyone!" Fai shrieked, backing up as far away from Kurogane as he could. "Don't accuse me of anything! You don't know what happened to me in my past! You can't possibly understand! Just leave me alone!"
Fai froze suddenly as the shadows lifted themselves silently up from the floor and walls and hovered over Kurogane's shoulder. They covered his entire body until the only thing remaining was his eyes, burning red and staring right at Fai.
Then the shadows reached for him.
-
This time, Fai was nowhere in sight as Yuui found himself in the tower. With a wretched sob, he stumbled towards the tower and nearly fell down the stairs in his haste to find his twin. The staircase no longer pushed him back; rather, it seemed to pull him down into its depths.
Blinded by tears, Yuui slowly made his way towards the hotel lobby that existed in this hallway. He gradually became aware of the light chatter that filled the air and he brushed aside his tears to look ahead. The double doors he was making his way towards were already open, and the noise was floating out of it to him.
Confused, he quickened his pace. He peered through the doorway to see the lobby full of people, the majority of which held a dainty glass in their hand. The smell of alcohol lingered in the air and everyone, from the men with gray hair to the women with no wrinkles on their faces, held a mask up to their face.
"Yuui!" Fai appeared before him. "You're just in time for the party."
Yuui looked at him, confused. His brother no longer wore the rags of the tower. His hair had been cut, and was now pulled back into a ponytail that fell only to his shoulders. He had grown, from a tortured young child to someone that Yuui sometimes saw in the mirror, when he was dreaming – no, when he was awake. He was wearing an expensive looking suit, so different from the prisoner's robes he had worn before.
"Fai?" He asked hesitantly.
His brother chuckled and draped an arm across his shoulders. "Who else would it be? Come in, come in! We're celebrating a great success today."
"What happened?" Yuui asked, but he got no answer. Instead, Fai dragged him in, dodging around gleaming masks. He was taken to the couches in front of the fireplace, yet again. The three dolls were still there. They were all dressed now for the occasion, roughly sewn clothes pulled onto their bodies. "What's going on?"
"You'll need a mask, of course," Fai said, surveying him in front of the fire. "We'll have to do something about the clothes." He snapped his fingers, and a butler appeared out of nowhere with a clothes identical to Fai's. "See, if you wear this, we'll be exactly like each other again. We can be together again."
Yuui nodded and ducked behind the screen strategically placed a few feet to his left to change. At first, he assumed the clothes were meant for his body as he had been while he was in the tower, both in dreams and in reality, but to his surprise he realized that he was in the body that he occupied while he was with the dolls' mirrors. The suit slide on easily and fit perfectly, as it should.
Yuui stepped out, happy to see that they were exactly identical once more. Fai let out a happy cry and Yuui did a shy spin for him, showing off how perfectly it fit.
"We have no need for him anymore," Fai whispered slyly and he plucked the mask from the Kurogane doll, before ripping its head off and tossing both pieces into the fire. The fire roared up and ate it greedily. Yuui watched in a fascinated kind of horror, and when something bumped against his shoe, he looked down.
He picked up the marbles that had been Kurogane's red eyes and rolled them around in his hand for a moment, before letting them drop again. Fai was right, as long as there was the two of them, they didn't need anyone else.
Fai moved on to the next doll, the Syaoran look-alike. He also tore this one into two bits before allowing the flames to lick hungrily at its newest prey. When Fai got to Sakura, Yuui saw with a jolt that there was a knife, right where her heart would have been (was that me - did I do that), and he looked at it curiously.
"Here." Fai held out Kurogane's mask to him. It was elegant and black, with feathers that adorned the top just like the one Fai was twirling around in his own hand. "Take this, and we can go in and enjoy with everyone else."
There was a sudden swell in music and Yuui turned his head. The doors to the ballroom had opened and the guests were all flooding through them, a hush falling over them as they were subdued by the enchantment of the decorations within.
"Quickly, or we'll get left behind," Fai said, smiling. "We can go in together and make an entrance. What do you say?"
Yuui nodded mutely and took the mask from Fai. They raised their arms in unison and covered their faces. Fai held out his arm and Yuui took it, and they walked into the ballroom, indiscernible from each other, with the dolls long forgotten behind them.
-
A/N - Phew, almost there. Despite the fact that this was supposed to sort of follow the format of a play like the original novel, I failed at placing the climax in the third part and it's in the fourth instead XD Hope you guys enjoy and get a little creeped out. =D
DouWata makes their return in the next chapter =DI lied about them not coming back >.<
"No," Yuui shivered, trying to tear his eyes away from his brother's rotting corpse. "Don't say that. I'll get out and I'll save you, Fai! I promise!"
The decomposing face twisted into a sneer. "I'm still waiting, dear brother. You're just running away right now, running away from Celes and running away from me. You never planned on keeping your promise!"
"No!" Yuui cried out, reaching forward to grab Fai's hand in his own. The flesh crumbled to dust as soon as he touched it, and he stared down at the now revealed bone in horror. "Fai?"
"Don't you see what you've done?" Fai whispered, leaning forward so that his face almost touched Yuui's. Yuui could smell the stench of death and decay on him, and wondered why Chii wasn't here and how his brother had come to be like this, when he had been fine every other time they had meet in dreams. "Don't you see what you've made me, with your broken promise?" He waved his skeleton hand in Yuui's face.
"NO!" Yuui's voice became shriller. "I'll keep my promise, I swear it! I'll do anything to prove it to you! Anything! I won't let you fade away, Fai!"
"Anything?" Fai asked, and his dead eyes gleamed.
Yuui hugged himself miserably. "Anything. Anything to fix what I've done."
"Good. There's one thing I want you to do for me …"
"What is it?"
"Kill … Kurogane."
-
"Wake up!"
Fai opened his eyes and bolted upright with a gasp. He collided with a solid body, who grunted in pain.
"Oi, mage. What's wrong with you?" Kurogane took his shoulders and they rearranged themselves so that they weren't tangled together.
"Sorry," Fai said, too dazed to say anything else.
"A nightmare?" Kurogane questioned, an unidentifiable look on his face. "This makes it every night so far this week."
Fai shook his head slowly. "I-I don't know. I don't remember." He bit his lip worriedly. What had happened in the dream? All he remembered was that he was with Fai again, and Fai had asked something of him … "Sorry for hitting you," he said, for lack of anything else to say. He was aware of Kurogane's eyes boring into him. "You can go back to sleep now."
He started as Kurogane stood, causing a squeak to rise from the mattress. The ninja turned on the light and gave Fai a long look, crossing his arms. Fai's eyes darted to the shadows lingering at his feet and he couldn't help the slight whimper that escaped as one of them moved.
"Cut the crap, mage." Fai raised his eyes slowly to look at Kurogane. "I know something's wrong. You can't get through a day anymore without jumping at every little sound, you're always having nightmares, and you're just not here anymore. The kids are worried, and the whole thing with the meat bun was bad enough without you being out of it too. What's going on?"
Fai swallowed thickly as the image of Mokona's inert body rose in his mind. No matter what they did, the small white creature just wouldn't wake up, but it wasn't dead. They could all see the faint rise and fall of her chest, and Kurogane had pointed out several times that if Mokona really had died, no doubt the witch would have contacted them. It was the tiny bit of hope that they clung onto to.
"I don't know," he whispered. "I don't know." Again, a little bit louder. "I don't know!"
He turned his face away from Kurogane and fought the tears that were threatening to rise. It was all a ruse, wasn't it? Wasn't the ninja the one that Reed had warned him against in the very beginning? He was the one in the way of Fai's, of Yuui's wish. Why was he asking all these questions?
"Hey." The mattress sank a bit as the ninja sat down and reached out to awkwardly pat the blond's arm. "Don't cry."
Fai pressed his lips firmly together and tried to breathe through his nose, but all of a sudden the air seemed too thick and too full of Kurogane – the earthy scent he always had around him, that Fai usually found reassuring but right now it was choking him and he couldn't breathe –
"HEY!" Fai barely heard Kurogane shouting in alarm as he fought through the cloud that was surrounding him, pressing in on all sides, and for a moment the empty air beside his arms felt like the beating of hundreds of wings, all light to the touch but enough that he cried out, his arms moving of their own accord and then he was drowning, drowning in the drone of the insects as they surrounded him –
Fai slowly realized that Kurogane was holding his shoulders tightly and shaking him. His lips were moving, and Fai tried to concentrate on them, but his ears didn't seem to be working and no sound was penetrating through his mind.
The longer he sat there numbly, the slower Kurogane's lips moved and the lighter the weight on his shoulders became.
"It's okay," Kurogane concluded gruffly, and Fai twitched at the sound of his voice. "Just … I don't know. We need to find the feather, but if there's something really wrong, we need to leave. Whatever it is …"
"T-thank you," Fai whispered, although he hadn't heard any of the comforting things he supposed he was meant to hear. "Kuro …"
"What is it?" The ninja asked, his hands slipping away from Fai. He looked away awkwardly and spoke to the wall instead. "I know I'm really the worst at comforting people … I … She – Tomoyo-hime – used to always tease me about it."
This little bit of information, a small glimpse into Kurogane's past life, was enough to snap Fai back into the present. He forced a weary smile, dimly aware that they were getting harder and harder to hold each time.
"Thank you, Kuro-rin," he said softly, not without meaning. "I really am sorry. I don't know what's gotten into me these days …"
"There's something not right about this place," Kurogane murmured darkly, glaring around at the room as if he hoped to locate the source of his troubles right away and pound some sense into it. "We still haven't found the feather, and we've been here for nearly two months. The kid's been reading through all the stuff in the basement, and some of the things done in here … it's not normal."
"Don't say that!" Fai nearly shouted, then caught himself. Syaoran and Sakura would still be sleeping at this time, Syaoran holding the princess's hand even though her nightmares had stopped long ago. "It … I mean," Fai paused, confused. "They might hear you. The kids."
Kurogane gave him a look that told him he had done something strange again.
"How's Syaoran-kun doing with all the research?" Fai asked hurriedly, trying to divert the ninja's attention from himself. "Is he any closer to finding the feather?"
Kurogane answered, his voice low, "You asked the exact same thing at dinner, and the kid hasn't done any more work since. He spent the evening with the princess. You know that; you mentioned how cute they were to me."
Fai fell silent, rattled. Why didn't he remember that?
"I think I'll go back to sleep," he said uncertainly, lying down again in bed. Tears threatened again, and as Kurogane got up to go back to his side of the room, Fai tugged on his arm. "Can you stay?"
"I'm already just on the other bed," Kurogane grunted, looking down at Fai. "I moved in here a month ago. You remember that, right? When you came to my room and started screaming nonsense?"
Fai nodded slowly. He did remember making a fuss about it, teasing and poking Kurogane until he had given in and settled down on the other bed in his room with a huff. "I remember." More quietly, he added, "It wasn't nonsense."
"It sounded like it." Kurogane strode back to the doorway and closed the light. "Don't go insane on us now, mage. We still have another three months to go."
"Wait," Fai whispered, biting on his lip. "Please. Stay."
Kurogane's dark figure sighed and walked back over to his bed. Fai shifted over and the ninja joined him under the covers, much like the days when they landed in a world where they could only afford or obtain two beds and they had been forced to share.
Fai felt comforted by the memories of all the happier days, and he snuggled into Kurogane's chest and inhaled the soothing scent. He murmured sleepily, "Goodnight, Kuro-puu."
Kurogane snorted. He draped an arm cautiously over Fai and held him there. "Go to sleep, idiot."
A small smile passed onto Fai's lips and he pressed a hand against Kurogane's ribcage, aware of the heartbeat thrumming underneath his hand.
There's one thing I want you to do for me, Yuui …
… Kill him!
Fai's hand tightened on Kurogane's shirt.
-
Fai opened his eyes again to find himself pinned against the bed with Kurogane leaning over him, holding him down. He struggled, confused and disoriented, but the ninja was much stronger.
"What are you doing?" He cried out, trying to ease the weight threatening to crush him.
Kurogane stared down at him. "Are you back? Is it you again?"
"What are you talking about?"
Kurogane gave him a long, measured look. Fai squirmed a little under the pressure, but Kurogane soon let go and back away. "You don't remember anything from today?"
Fai stared at him uncomprehendingly. "The last thing I remember is falling asleep beside you." He was aware of the faint heat that flooded his cheeks as he said so, his shame and embarrassment at the weak display he had put on last night. "What time is it?"
"Nearly seven in the evening," Kurogane replied gruffly. "You just tried stabbing Sakura with a kitchen knife because you thought she was whining too much about Mokona."
Fai had to remind himself to breathe as he took in the news. "That … that wasn't me. I didn't do it. I wouldn't do something like that!" He reached out for Kurogane, desperately needing the other man to believe him.
"I know," Kurogane said abruptly, grabbing hold of Fai's wrists before his hands made contact. "But you did. Something happened, and you did."
"No," Fai shivered, backing up and trying to tug away from Kurogane. "This is all a dream. This is just a nightmare. If I go back to sleep right now, I'll open my eyes again and I'll still be in bed and nothing will have happened."
"No!" Kurogane said firmly, tightening his grip on Fai. "This is real. I don't know what you dream about, but whatever it is, that's what's not real. That's what makes you wake up every night, either screaming or sweating like you've been chased all over this place."
"Let go!" Fai screamed, wrenching his hands away and holding them to his chest. "You're not Kuro-tan! My Kuro-tan would never accuse me of stabbing Sakura-chan! I wouldn't! I didn't!"
"I'm not saying you did! I didn't say anything like that!" Kurogane shouted back, hands now clenched at his side. "This is what I've been trying to say all along! There's something wrong with this place, something that's changing you!"
"I would never stab anyone! I would never kill anyone!" Fai shrieked, backing up as far away from Kurogane as he could. "Don't accuse me of anything! You don't know what happened to me in my past! You can't possibly understand! Just leave me alone!"
Fai froze suddenly as the shadows lifted themselves silently up from the floor and walls and hovered over Kurogane's shoulder. They covered his entire body until the only thing remaining was his eyes, burning red and staring right at Fai.
Then the shadows reached for him.
-
This time, Fai was nowhere in sight as Yuui found himself in the tower. With a wretched sob, he stumbled towards the tower and nearly fell down the stairs in his haste to find his twin. The staircase no longer pushed him back; rather, it seemed to pull him down into its depths.
Blinded by tears, Yuui slowly made his way towards the hotel lobby that existed in this hallway. He gradually became aware of the light chatter that filled the air and he brushed aside his tears to look ahead. The double doors he was making his way towards were already open, and the noise was floating out of it to him.
Confused, he quickened his pace. He peered through the doorway to see the lobby full of people, the majority of which held a dainty glass in their hand. The smell of alcohol lingered in the air and everyone, from the men with gray hair to the women with no wrinkles on their faces, held a mask up to their face.
"Yuui!" Fai appeared before him. "You're just in time for the party."
Yuui looked at him, confused. His brother no longer wore the rags of the tower. His hair had been cut, and was now pulled back into a ponytail that fell only to his shoulders. He had grown, from a tortured young child to someone that Yuui sometimes saw in the mirror, when he was dreaming – no, when he was awake. He was wearing an expensive looking suit, so different from the prisoner's robes he had worn before.
"Fai?" He asked hesitantly.
His brother chuckled and draped an arm across his shoulders. "Who else would it be? Come in, come in! We're celebrating a great success today."
"What happened?" Yuui asked, but he got no answer. Instead, Fai dragged him in, dodging around gleaming masks. He was taken to the couches in front of the fireplace, yet again. The three dolls were still there. They were all dressed now for the occasion, roughly sewn clothes pulled onto their bodies. "What's going on?"
"You'll need a mask, of course," Fai said, surveying him in front of the fire. "We'll have to do something about the clothes." He snapped his fingers, and a butler appeared out of nowhere with a clothes identical to Fai's. "See, if you wear this, we'll be exactly like each other again. We can be together again."
Yuui nodded and ducked behind the screen strategically placed a few feet to his left to change. At first, he assumed the clothes were meant for his body as he had been while he was in the tower, both in dreams and in reality, but to his surprise he realized that he was in the body that he occupied while he was with the dolls' mirrors. The suit slide on easily and fit perfectly, as it should.
Yuui stepped out, happy to see that they were exactly identical once more. Fai let out a happy cry and Yuui did a shy spin for him, showing off how perfectly it fit.
"We have no need for him anymore," Fai whispered slyly and he plucked the mask from the Kurogane doll, before ripping its head off and tossing both pieces into the fire. The fire roared up and ate it greedily. Yuui watched in a fascinated kind of horror, and when something bumped against his shoe, he looked down.
He picked up the marbles that had been Kurogane's red eyes and rolled them around in his hand for a moment, before letting them drop again. Fai was right, as long as there was the two of them, they didn't need anyone else.
Fai moved on to the next doll, the Syaoran look-alike. He also tore this one into two bits before allowing the flames to lick hungrily at its newest prey. When Fai got to Sakura, Yuui saw with a jolt that there was a knife, right where her heart would have been (was that me - did I do that), and he looked at it curiously.
"Here." Fai held out Kurogane's mask to him. It was elegant and black, with feathers that adorned the top just like the one Fai was twirling around in his own hand. "Take this, and we can go in and enjoy with everyone else."
There was a sudden swell in music and Yuui turned his head. The doors to the ballroom had opened and the guests were all flooding through them, a hush falling over them as they were subdued by the enchantment of the decorations within.
"Quickly, or we'll get left behind," Fai said, smiling. "We can go in together and make an entrance. What do you say?"
Yuui nodded mutely and took the mask from Fai. They raised their arms in unison and covered their faces. Fai held out his arm and Yuui took it, and they walked into the ballroom, indiscernible from each other, with the dolls long forgotten behind them.
-
A/N - Phew, almost there. Despite the fact that this was supposed to sort of follow the format of a play like the original novel, I failed at placing the climax in the third part and it's in the fourth instead XD Hope you guys enjoy and get a little creeped out. =D
DouWata makes their return in the next chapter =D
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Date: 2010-11-10 05:08 (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-11-14 02:15 (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-11-10 16:10 (UTC)*shudder*
Looking forward to more Dou/Wata *is shameless*
Also, how the hell are you doing this and NaNo? I'm so freaking far behind even with reading because of NaNo...*sigh*
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Date: 2010-11-14 02:17 (UTC)I just spewed out words for NaNo without really bothering about quality and I barely slept, but it was worth it? XD
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Date: 2010-11-14 02:40 (UTC)I've been spewing out words for NaNo too...I, uh...am really dreading trying to edit this monster later on! Are you registered on the site? This is me: http://www.nanowrimo.org/eng/user/677255 Friend me if you are - I need a good ass-beating XD
no subject
Date: 2010-11-15 03:39 (UTC)