![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
damalurbackupTITLE: The Execution of All Things, Pt. 7
CHARACTERS: Kurogane/Fai
NOTES: See part the first.
SUMMARY: Fai is dead. A world is ending. Kurogane copes about as well as you'd expect.
Act 7.
7.1 | the story of that night, part ii
In dusk's dying light, on the eve before they march to die, they make love for the last time. Fai's hands are cold and clutching; he pays undue attention to the hollow of Kurogane's neck, to the underside of his wrist, where the blood is loud and near the skin.
Kurogane's hands are rough; he's never learned to be gentle in this act, even with a woman, and he's used to manhandling Fai. Fai doesn't seem to mind, though. The vampire chants nonsense in Kurogane's ear, and Kurogane responds with growls and moans, and together their voices weave a wordless counterpoint as they writhe and shudder against each other.
There's desperation in the act; but how could there not be desperation, when in the morning they'll dress for battle? There's desperation, yes, but also a kind of poignant beauty, an inevitability. It would have come to this anyway, Fai's fingers whisper against Kurogane's chest. Sooner or later, Kurogane's lips agree against Fai's neck. The act could have been impersonal, but it isn't, because it's Fai and it's Kurogane. To each other they are never indifferent.
In dusk's dying light, on the eve before they march to die, they make love for the first time.
7.2 | the witch of the east
Fai tears his eyes away from the sickly yellow sky only with difficulty. There's something fascinating about the way the sun has darkened to a deep red, the way it's swollen to seven or ten times its normal size until it dominates the sky. He finally manages, though, and tugs Kurogane along towards the house. Their hands are still joined.
The tall buildings that once fenced Yuuko's shop have long since fallen to earthquake, but her house is as tidy as ever. Fai leads the way up the porch steps and slides open the door. Inside, prone on the floor and audibly gasping, is the witch herself.
Fai huffs, as if a sudden blow knocked all the air from his lungs, and rushes to kneel at her side. "Yuuko-san," he murmurs. "Lady Witch."
Her eyes crack open one at a time: first the left, and then the right. They focus on Fai for one, two, three seconds, and then every muscle in her body goes rigid, her back contorts in an impossible arch, a low keening cry screeches from the back of her throat -
And she collapses back into Fai's arms.
"What's wrong with her?" Kurogane asks, one hand on the hilt of his sword. There's no monster he can fight here, though, no foe he can slay.
Fai looks at him with dry, deep eyes. "She's dying," he says evenly. "She's dying from holding the gates open, and I can't - " He cuts off when Yuuko grasps at his front; she pulls herself upright and coughs just once. Fai can hear her lungs rattle.
"I am dying," she says, and there's something still of that familiar wry knowing in her voice. "I am dying, so you must listen." She hacks again, sick and wet. "Kyle Rondart - "
"I know," Fai says softly. "We saw him - "
"No. It wasn't supposed to end like this," she says. "By the promised day there were no Seals left to fight at the side of Kamui. He despaired, and the Angels won. Rondart - Rondart's meddling. He's targeting the twelve worlds. Your Nihon, Kurogane, is next."
"Why?" Fai says, and now damp tears cling to his lashes. "What can we do?"
The witch leans close and brushes her lips to his ear. "Stop him," she whispers. "Stop him. There are those who will help you. Sakura has just taken the last group of refugees elsewhere, and Watanuki will help too; I've sent him away, but he's my successor. He will help."
"And," she whispers, "you can watch this dimension die. Bear witness for me; I have loved this land, and this city."
"Yes, Yuuko-san," Fai says, and brushes a tender hand over her face. "Whatever you wish."
She smiles thinly. "You're a good man, Fai D. Fluorite, and a good wizard." She shudders again, a death-rattle shaking her body, and Fai's eyes meet Kurogane's and lock: grief, and acknowledgment, and simple understanding pass between them
Finally the witch quiets, and the only sound is her gasp for breath. One long, manicured finger twitches against his leg, and Fai leans close.
"If the dream does not end..." murmurs Yuuko.
"If the dream does not end," Fai repeats, and waits for her to finish -
But she never does.
So dies the Witch of Dimensions.
7.3 | funeral rites
Fai bows his head and touches his forehead to hers; she is utterly quiet, her luminous eyes still open, and he clutches at her for a long moment. Then ever-so-gently, he stretches her body out on the floor, folds her hands, and straightens her hair. Kurogane rustles, then disappears into the shop, only to return with a stack of ornate squares of cloth. He stretches one flat on the ground beside her body, and then scoops the witch up and lifts her onto the fabric.
Even in death her hair is thick and luxurious; her face is composed, a hint of mischief to her mouth and a touch of sad knowledge in the lines around her eyes. Fai tucks another of the cloth squares over her, and then Kurogane kneels on the other side and together they wrap her body. Fai makes sure to fold her pipe into the layers.
When they are finished, Fai lifts her with one hand under her knees and another behind her back. Kurogane opens the door for him, and when they are outside Fai fixes his gaze at the ground and murmurs a low chant. The ground erupts and hangs suspended in the air; Fai kneels, settles the body in the grave, and murmurs another chant. The hovering dirt rains back down, and Yuuko is buried.
Fai stands and takes four careful steps back. Kurogane hesitates, then sets a hand on Fai's shoulder. As they watch, a butterfly lands on the fresh dirt of her grave, a great ornate thing with rainbow wings.
"The last butterfly in the world," Fai says. "She liked butterflies."
"Yes," says Kurogane.
"She died as she lived: thinking only of others."
"There is no better legacy," says Kurogane, and draws Fai back to the house.
7.4 | despair
The dark is generous, and it is patient, and it always wins.
It always wins because it is everywhere.
It is in the wood that burns in your hearth, and in the kettle on the fire; it is under your chair and under your table and under the sheets on your bed. Walk in the midday sun and the dark is with you, attached to the soles of your feet.
The brightest light casts the darkest shadow.
- Matthew Stover
7.5 | this is the way the world ends
Together they sit on the witch's porch and watch night fall on the world.
Sometimes they are silent. They sit together, hands not-quite touching, or they sit alone, strangers who just happen to be physically near, and they don't talk. Fai thinks about the people he's known in Japan, and the lives he has and has not saved. Kurogane thinks about Fai's eyes as the witch died, and about the threat to his own home world.
Sometimes they talk. Fai explains the Seals and the Angels and the Promised Day; he muses about Sakura, teases Kurogane, and mourns Yuuko. Kurogane reasons aloud, ponderously linking Rondart to the burning of Shirasagi Castle.
They talk about Fai's death. Kurogane apologizes in his blunt way; Fai accepts. "You saved me once, and you killed me once," he says. "That's even, right Kuro-wan? But don't," he says, suddenly fierce, "don't ever presume to do either again."
Kurogane gives Fai a long sideways look and says eventually, "Fine. Just don't try to die again."
"You wouldn't let me, even if you did promise," Fai answers. Kurogane knows he's right.
The red sun is enormous, consuming an entire slice of the sky, and all the more foreign for how large it looms. They watch it until it sinks nearly to the horizon, and after some minutes Fai says, "In Celes, King Ashura's library was filled with books from a hundred different worlds."
Kurogane grunts and shifts.
"There's a line, from a novel I read," Fai continues. "It's stayed with me ever since."
"What's the line?"
"'Eventually,'" quotes Fai, "'even stars burn out.'"
7.6 | battle
They're both surprised when the dimension gate flashes and Rondart himself walks through. The doctor is carrying Sakura, a Sakura familiar to Fai but not to Kurogane. This Sakura is older than Kurogane remembers, and she's cradling a star-topped wand with one limp hand against the visible rise-and-fall of her chest.
Fai is on his feet instantly. "Give her to me," he orders, and hold out one hand. The air above his outstretched hand pops and hisses threateningly, and then the magician's chain-and-scythe contraption drops whole into his palm. Kurogane's already moving behind him, positioning himself to snatch Sakura.
"This one?" Rondart says. "She's of no use to me." He kneels and deposits the girl on the grass; he's barely righted himself again when Fai attacks. With a flick he aims the sharp end of his staff at the other man's head, but Rondart dodges, dodges again, and magic begins to gather at his fingertips.
"So the witch found out," Rondart says, and there's that vague mocking in his voice that so infuriates Fai.
"She found out," Fai agrees, and then steps three feet to the left. Kurogane roars into the sudden void, sword drawn, and ducksdodgesthrusts -
And pierces Rondart through the shoulder.
The doctor gasps, and Kurogane pulls back for a killing blow -
"Watch out!" Fai yells. "He's going to jump dimensions!"
Kurogane snarls and lunges, and there's a sudden wind, and then Rondart is gone.
"Goddammit," he bites. Fai tilts his head, studying something only he can see, and then he nods once to himself.
"No good," the magician says. "I can't follow where he's gone - " The ground below them starts to tremor, at first minutely and then hard enough that Fai is nearly knocked off his feet. The roof of Yuuko's shop lets out a magnificent crack and then splits down the middle.
"We should go!" says Fai. Kurogane sheathes his sword and nods to the porch, but Fai's already there, gathering Sakura into his arms. The earth quakes so violently that he nearly drops to his knees at one point, but Kurogane catches him by the elbow and pulls him upright, and together they stumble through the portal, out of one land and into another.
7.7 | outro
And still they watch through the portal: they watch as the great red sun catches fire and burns to ash. They watch as the earth shudders in one last death-quake; they watch as the sea rolls up and swallows the land whole. They watch as the moon turns crimson and as, one by one, the stars streak from the sky and darken.
Cold creeps from that other world into their own, and their breath freezes before their eyes. Fai clutches Sakura closer and Kurogane unfastens his cloak and wraps it around the two of them. They can see nothing though the portal now but darkness; there's a final groaning noise, the rattle of a world collapsing, and then the far-off sound of a horn, calling souls home to rest; and all is silent.
They look into that dark rift for a long time, neither of them speaking, and finally Fai reaches out one trembling hand and pinches his fingers together.
The dimension gate closes. The witch's world is no more.
7.8 | the third life
Five minutes pass, and then ten, and still they are statues: Fai kneels on the grass, cradling an unconscious Sakura, and Kurogane stands behind him, facing the same direction. The experience is too heavy for words, but it passes. It passes, Fai blinks, Kurogane touches a hand to Ginryuu's hilt, and they both watch Sakura to make sure she breathes.
"Seeing a whole world die - " Kurogane says.
"Yes," Fai agrees, and shivers.
"I love you, you know," Kurogane says. He doesn't look at Fai; they're both staring into space, as if they can still see through to somewhere else.
"I know," Fai says.
"Kyle Rondart will be hard to hunt, and after that the Japanese refugees will need a political champion." Kurogane glances swiftly at Fai's face and away again; the magician's face is steady, poker-perfect. "I guess - " Kurogane starts again, and cuts himself off. Fai's lips twitch, but Kurogane doesn't see.
"Yes, Kuro-tan?" he says, and even through they've just witnessed something terrible, he manages an impish smile.
"You're not going to make this easy for me, are you?" growls Kurogane.
"I wouldn't be me if I did, Kuro-tan."
"Che. Then fight with me?"
"Yes," says Fai. "Always." There's just a beat, and then Fai turns his face up. "You'd better kiss me now, Kuro-tan."
Kurogane bites back a snide comment, and drops to his knees, and does just that.
7.9 | hope
The dark is generous, and it is patient, and it always wins - but in the heart of its strength lies weakness: one lone candle is enough to hold it back.
Love is more than a candle.
Love can ignite the stars.
- Matthew Stover
<< | >>
CHARACTERS: Kurogane/Fai
NOTES: See part the first.
SUMMARY: Fai is dead. A world is ending. Kurogane copes about as well as you'd expect.
Act 7.
7.1 | the story of that night, part ii
In dusk's dying light, on the eve before they march to die, they make love for the last time. Fai's hands are cold and clutching; he pays undue attention to the hollow of Kurogane's neck, to the underside of his wrist, where the blood is loud and near the skin.
Kurogane's hands are rough; he's never learned to be gentle in this act, even with a woman, and he's used to manhandling Fai. Fai doesn't seem to mind, though. The vampire chants nonsense in Kurogane's ear, and Kurogane responds with growls and moans, and together their voices weave a wordless counterpoint as they writhe and shudder against each other.
There's desperation in the act; but how could there not be desperation, when in the morning they'll dress for battle? There's desperation, yes, but also a kind of poignant beauty, an inevitability. It would have come to this anyway, Fai's fingers whisper against Kurogane's chest. Sooner or later, Kurogane's lips agree against Fai's neck. The act could have been impersonal, but it isn't, because it's Fai and it's Kurogane. To each other they are never indifferent.
In dusk's dying light, on the eve before they march to die, they make love for the first time.
7.2 | the witch of the east
Fai tears his eyes away from the sickly yellow sky only with difficulty. There's something fascinating about the way the sun has darkened to a deep red, the way it's swollen to seven or ten times its normal size until it dominates the sky. He finally manages, though, and tugs Kurogane along towards the house. Their hands are still joined.
The tall buildings that once fenced Yuuko's shop have long since fallen to earthquake, but her house is as tidy as ever. Fai leads the way up the porch steps and slides open the door. Inside, prone on the floor and audibly gasping, is the witch herself.
Fai huffs, as if a sudden blow knocked all the air from his lungs, and rushes to kneel at her side. "Yuuko-san," he murmurs. "Lady Witch."
Her eyes crack open one at a time: first the left, and then the right. They focus on Fai for one, two, three seconds, and then every muscle in her body goes rigid, her back contorts in an impossible arch, a low keening cry screeches from the back of her throat -
And she collapses back into Fai's arms.
"What's wrong with her?" Kurogane asks, one hand on the hilt of his sword. There's no monster he can fight here, though, no foe he can slay.
Fai looks at him with dry, deep eyes. "She's dying," he says evenly. "She's dying from holding the gates open, and I can't - " He cuts off when Yuuko grasps at his front; she pulls herself upright and coughs just once. Fai can hear her lungs rattle.
"I am dying," she says, and there's something still of that familiar wry knowing in her voice. "I am dying, so you must listen." She hacks again, sick and wet. "Kyle Rondart - "
"I know," Fai says softly. "We saw him - "
"No. It wasn't supposed to end like this," she says. "By the promised day there were no Seals left to fight at the side of Kamui. He despaired, and the Angels won. Rondart - Rondart's meddling. He's targeting the twelve worlds. Your Nihon, Kurogane, is next."
"Why?" Fai says, and now damp tears cling to his lashes. "What can we do?"
The witch leans close and brushes her lips to his ear. "Stop him," she whispers. "Stop him. There are those who will help you. Sakura has just taken the last group of refugees elsewhere, and Watanuki will help too; I've sent him away, but he's my successor. He will help."
"And," she whispers, "you can watch this dimension die. Bear witness for me; I have loved this land, and this city."
"Yes, Yuuko-san," Fai says, and brushes a tender hand over her face. "Whatever you wish."
She smiles thinly. "You're a good man, Fai D. Fluorite, and a good wizard." She shudders again, a death-rattle shaking her body, and Fai's eyes meet Kurogane's and lock: grief, and acknowledgment, and simple understanding pass between them
Finally the witch quiets, and the only sound is her gasp for breath. One long, manicured finger twitches against his leg, and Fai leans close.
"If the dream does not end..." murmurs Yuuko.
"If the dream does not end," Fai repeats, and waits for her to finish -
But she never does.
So dies the Witch of Dimensions.
7.3 | funeral rites
Fai bows his head and touches his forehead to hers; she is utterly quiet, her luminous eyes still open, and he clutches at her for a long moment. Then ever-so-gently, he stretches her body out on the floor, folds her hands, and straightens her hair. Kurogane rustles, then disappears into the shop, only to return with a stack of ornate squares of cloth. He stretches one flat on the ground beside her body, and then scoops the witch up and lifts her onto the fabric.
Even in death her hair is thick and luxurious; her face is composed, a hint of mischief to her mouth and a touch of sad knowledge in the lines around her eyes. Fai tucks another of the cloth squares over her, and then Kurogane kneels on the other side and together they wrap her body. Fai makes sure to fold her pipe into the layers.
When they are finished, Fai lifts her with one hand under her knees and another behind her back. Kurogane opens the door for him, and when they are outside Fai fixes his gaze at the ground and murmurs a low chant. The ground erupts and hangs suspended in the air; Fai kneels, settles the body in the grave, and murmurs another chant. The hovering dirt rains back down, and Yuuko is buried.
Fai stands and takes four careful steps back. Kurogane hesitates, then sets a hand on Fai's shoulder. As they watch, a butterfly lands on the fresh dirt of her grave, a great ornate thing with rainbow wings.
"The last butterfly in the world," Fai says. "She liked butterflies."
"Yes," says Kurogane.
"She died as she lived: thinking only of others."
"There is no better legacy," says Kurogane, and draws Fai back to the house.
7.4 | despair
The dark is generous, and it is patient, and it always wins.
It always wins because it is everywhere.
It is in the wood that burns in your hearth, and in the kettle on the fire; it is under your chair and under your table and under the sheets on your bed. Walk in the midday sun and the dark is with you, attached to the soles of your feet.
The brightest light casts the darkest shadow.
- Matthew Stover
7.5 | this is the way the world ends
Together they sit on the witch's porch and watch night fall on the world.
Sometimes they are silent. They sit together, hands not-quite touching, or they sit alone, strangers who just happen to be physically near, and they don't talk. Fai thinks about the people he's known in Japan, and the lives he has and has not saved. Kurogane thinks about Fai's eyes as the witch died, and about the threat to his own home world.
Sometimes they talk. Fai explains the Seals and the Angels and the Promised Day; he muses about Sakura, teases Kurogane, and mourns Yuuko. Kurogane reasons aloud, ponderously linking Rondart to the burning of Shirasagi Castle.
They talk about Fai's death. Kurogane apologizes in his blunt way; Fai accepts. "You saved me once, and you killed me once," he says. "That's even, right Kuro-wan? But don't," he says, suddenly fierce, "don't ever presume to do either again."
Kurogane gives Fai a long sideways look and says eventually, "Fine. Just don't try to die again."
"You wouldn't let me, even if you did promise," Fai answers. Kurogane knows he's right.
The red sun is enormous, consuming an entire slice of the sky, and all the more foreign for how large it looms. They watch it until it sinks nearly to the horizon, and after some minutes Fai says, "In Celes, King Ashura's library was filled with books from a hundred different worlds."
Kurogane grunts and shifts.
"There's a line, from a novel I read," Fai continues. "It's stayed with me ever since."
"What's the line?"
"'Eventually,'" quotes Fai, "'even stars burn out.'"
7.6 | battle
They're both surprised when the dimension gate flashes and Rondart himself walks through. The doctor is carrying Sakura, a Sakura familiar to Fai but not to Kurogane. This Sakura is older than Kurogane remembers, and she's cradling a star-topped wand with one limp hand against the visible rise-and-fall of her chest.
Fai is on his feet instantly. "Give her to me," he orders, and hold out one hand. The air above his outstretched hand pops and hisses threateningly, and then the magician's chain-and-scythe contraption drops whole into his palm. Kurogane's already moving behind him, positioning himself to snatch Sakura.
"This one?" Rondart says. "She's of no use to me." He kneels and deposits the girl on the grass; he's barely righted himself again when Fai attacks. With a flick he aims the sharp end of his staff at the other man's head, but Rondart dodges, dodges again, and magic begins to gather at his fingertips.
"So the witch found out," Rondart says, and there's that vague mocking in his voice that so infuriates Fai.
"She found out," Fai agrees, and then steps three feet to the left. Kurogane roars into the sudden void, sword drawn, and ducksdodgesthrusts -
And pierces Rondart through the shoulder.
The doctor gasps, and Kurogane pulls back for a killing blow -
"Watch out!" Fai yells. "He's going to jump dimensions!"
Kurogane snarls and lunges, and there's a sudden wind, and then Rondart is gone.
"Goddammit," he bites. Fai tilts his head, studying something only he can see, and then he nods once to himself.
"No good," the magician says. "I can't follow where he's gone - " The ground below them starts to tremor, at first minutely and then hard enough that Fai is nearly knocked off his feet. The roof of Yuuko's shop lets out a magnificent crack and then splits down the middle.
"We should go!" says Fai. Kurogane sheathes his sword and nods to the porch, but Fai's already there, gathering Sakura into his arms. The earth quakes so violently that he nearly drops to his knees at one point, but Kurogane catches him by the elbow and pulls him upright, and together they stumble through the portal, out of one land and into another.
7.7 | outro
And still they watch through the portal: they watch as the great red sun catches fire and burns to ash. They watch as the earth shudders in one last death-quake; they watch as the sea rolls up and swallows the land whole. They watch as the moon turns crimson and as, one by one, the stars streak from the sky and darken.
Cold creeps from that other world into their own, and their breath freezes before their eyes. Fai clutches Sakura closer and Kurogane unfastens his cloak and wraps it around the two of them. They can see nothing though the portal now but darkness; there's a final groaning noise, the rattle of a world collapsing, and then the far-off sound of a horn, calling souls home to rest; and all is silent.
They look into that dark rift for a long time, neither of them speaking, and finally Fai reaches out one trembling hand and pinches his fingers together.
The dimension gate closes. The witch's world is no more.
7.8 | the third life
Five minutes pass, and then ten, and still they are statues: Fai kneels on the grass, cradling an unconscious Sakura, and Kurogane stands behind him, facing the same direction. The experience is too heavy for words, but it passes. It passes, Fai blinks, Kurogane touches a hand to Ginryuu's hilt, and they both watch Sakura to make sure she breathes.
"Seeing a whole world die - " Kurogane says.
"Yes," Fai agrees, and shivers.
"I love you, you know," Kurogane says. He doesn't look at Fai; they're both staring into space, as if they can still see through to somewhere else.
"I know," Fai says.
"Kyle Rondart will be hard to hunt, and after that the Japanese refugees will need a political champion." Kurogane glances swiftly at Fai's face and away again; the magician's face is steady, poker-perfect. "I guess - " Kurogane starts again, and cuts himself off. Fai's lips twitch, but Kurogane doesn't see.
"Yes, Kuro-tan?" he says, and even through they've just witnessed something terrible, he manages an impish smile.
"You're not going to make this easy for me, are you?" growls Kurogane.
"I wouldn't be me if I did, Kuro-tan."
"Che. Then fight with me?"
"Yes," says Fai. "Always." There's just a beat, and then Fai turns his face up. "You'd better kiss me now, Kuro-tan."
Kurogane bites back a snide comment, and drops to his knees, and does just that.
7.9 | hope
The dark is generous, and it is patient, and it always wins - but in the heart of its strength lies weakness: one lone candle is enough to hold it back.
Love is more than a candle.
Love can ignite the stars.
- Matthew Stover
<< | >>
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2009-02-05 04:25 am (UTC)