What Kind of Man

1. The Desert, part two

Fai and Kurogane walked in silence across the wide, dry plane. The setting sun bathed the world in a warm golden glow, deepening the ochre of the earth and rocks to a vivid red. All around them the land was dotted with boulders large and small, and steep clusters of rock rose from the sand, as if they were flung there by some mischievous, colossal child. Fai's eye searched for a bit of green, but all he saw were clumps of grey and blue grass growing out of cracks in the stone, and small scaly creatures flitting across the rocks.

Fai watched the other man out of the corner of his eye, as he marched steadily slightly ahead of him.

Kurogane's hair, once cropped short, had grown out, and the bangs were getting in his eyes even as they were held back by his face-framing visor. He twisted his long black cloak up, tucking it out of the way on one side, and it billowed asymmetrically in the hot wind, revealing a tan, hard shoulder and muscular back. As usual, he wore loose black slacks and a light armour that left him plenty of room for movement. Slender plates covered his lower chest and abdomen, and fanned out over his left shoulder, and as always, he wore them over bare skin — save for some thin cotton bandages. Fai grimaced, thinking of the deep scars he had seen on that body, hidden now by those metal plates. He'd have liked to heal them for him, but, considering what it would require, it was bound to complicate things far beyond his self-imposed neutrality...

Fai's own fair skin remained smooth and soft, cool to the touch, and as they walked he held out one slender wrist and stared at it, as if seeing it for the first time. While he was always fair, he noticed that his skin had acquired a glow which, he knew, was the effect of his transformation. His injuries, tokens of their long journey, had healed over seamlessly, thanks to the regenerating powers of Kamui's blood. He looked back at the other man. Kurogane was of such a powerful build and his face was so stubbornly set that he made the impression of a man older than he really was. But, Fai thought, assuming time flows in more or less a similar fashion on the different worlds they came from, he must be about twenty five or so, give or take a few years. An age of unrepentant idealism... Fai wasn't sure if he ever had the luxury of such an age.

How strange is this thing we call time, anyway. As with most mages, Fai's own life span had been extended significantly by his power, and he hardly knew now how old he really was. Certainly, he lost track of the years he spent in that tower, before King Ashura had found him... But even after that, he had lived for some four-score years, at least. Now vampire blood coursed in his veins and he might live a very, very long time indeed. This thought did not please him in the slightest.

We better find the others soon, he thought. For whatever reason, this place made his skin crawl.

The sun was setting somewhere beyond the red mountains towering in the distance. The city at its foothills sank into deeper and deeper shadows as they approached, but at some point they noticed it stopped getting closer. At first, it seemed just like one of those tricks of the mind in a desert, an optical illusion. They walked on, but the landscape was oddly still. They moved in space, but the city no longer rose up to meet them with every step. Only the setting sun was an indication of time passing. Soon, Fai realized, it will be dark.

"What the hell is wrong with this place?!" Kurogane finally exclaimed in exasperation, the first words out of his mouth since their last exchange.

"It sure is farther than it seemed," Fai offered. He was worried about the others. The princess especially, though she had proved herself to be tougher than she looked, back in Tokyo. Back then, Fai thought he was really going to kill the others for letting her go alone on Yūko's insane errand. Yet, though he hated to admit it, they had been right in the end. The princess was strong, and they had to believe in her, so she may also come to know her own strength. The price she paid, it was hers to pay, it was her fight to fight... Still, after what had happened, Fai wanted to shield her from unnecessary pain. They both had lost so much, but, he thought, maybe there was hope, yet, for Sakura.

"It's not getting closer," growled Kurogane, looking at the city in the distance, his jaw set. "I've been watching the landscape. It was fine before, but now, it's as if walking is getting us nowhere. Everything hardly moves!" He suddenly broke into a run. Fai followed suit. They raced, as if pursued by hounds. After a few minutes they had to slow down — it was becoming increasingly clear they were making just about as much progress.

"Is this some kind of magic? How is this possible??!" howled Kurogane, skidding to a stop. They certainly did run, and they felt no resistance; but their destination remained where it was. It was as if they and the rest of the landscape moved on different planes. The sun sunk ever lower — so time was passing, even if space was warped. In the long purple shadows the air was getting notably cooler, as if a current of fresh, icy breath was being mixed into the hot wind.

Fai tried to focus, feeling out for the resonance of magic, but there was nothing he could call 'spellwork' here. Hesitantly, he whistled a melodious little tune, but the tendrils of the incantation had died on the air, as if shrivelled up. He had never seen anything like it.

"I don't think this is magic," he said, finally. "But there's some kind of anti-magic barrier here, I think. I wonder if the others managed to end up on the other side of it... Let's walk in the other direction, I want to test something."

They turned their backs on the city and walked for a few minutes. The crag was slowly shifting south-west to their left side, as one would normally expect. They stopped again.

"Damn!" swore Kurogane, his hands flexing into fists. "What in the hell is this?!"

"I don't think we're very welcome in this city," Fai said dryly. In all their travels they've not encountered such a phenomenon. "You could try continuing alone, you know," he continued, casually. "There's a chance I am the reason we aren't making progress, being a magician and all."

Kurogane gave him another heavy, stubborn look. "We will find a way," he said.

"We might not have another option, for now," said Fai. "If the others are there, they might not be able to get out — the princess and Syaoran, and Mokona of course, they all have magic." He watched the other man work his jaw for a few moments, his dark red eyes narrowed.

"We don't know if that will even work," said Kurogane, finally.

"Try it," Fai said, leaning against a nearby large boulder. "I'll wait here for a bit. Let's just test this out."

Reluctantly, Kurogane nodded and walked off towards the city by himself, then jogged for a distance. He was visibly and easily getting further away, and when he turned around, he seemed to realize this too. Then he trotted back.

As Fai suspected, Kurogane on his own had no trouble moving about, but some invisible, unfathomable barrier prevented Fai from getting much closer to the city. It was extremely unusual, and it made him feel suspended in mid-air. He wondered if it was something to do with the bending or twisting of time, and how it was possible that the barrier itself was not, as far as he could tell, magical in nature.

"You should go on," he told Kurogane as the other man drew close again, "Find the others, and find the feather, so we can get off this world. I'll wait here."

Kurogane looked at him for some time, both his eyes boring into his remaining one. Fai knew that the conversation they had in Tokyo, the last one before it all fell apart, wasn't over. But perhaps if he kept neutral, and didn't get close again, he could avoid it. He wanted to avoid it forever.

Kurogane was just about to say something as a loud hissing sound come from the shadows of nearby rocks. Something was moving in those shadows, but not venturing further, at least for now. The sun had dipped behind the mountains, and light was ebbing quickly. Both of them sensed then that this place was about to get a lot livelier.

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A/N

Read on to find out what happens next! Update coming Friday. And as always, I'd love to know what you thought.