atomherrerin

They stepped out into a different room this time, the strangest room Fai had ever seen. He saw the bright white beam of his flashlight reflected against metal every where he turned it. It seemed like the entire room was filled to the brim with a giant imposing metal monster that was closing in on them. Fai looked over at Kurogane, who was slipping from his arms, his feet going out from under him, his face twisted in pain. Fai helped him down onto the floor.

“We’ve…we’ve been here before.” Kurogane said with vague recognition. “There’s a door.” He looked down to the floor.

Fai shined his light down through the grate. Below there was another level with a door leading out, but beneath that there was nothing, just a big void of concrete going down forever. Fai stared down in horror for a moment before remembering what he had been looking for. “Yeah, there’s a door down here.”

Fai looked back over at Kurogane. He looked like he would cry if he were anyone else. “Kuro?” Fai reached his hand up and put it over Kurogane’s hand resting on the grate. Kurogane looked back at him with the most exhausted expression ever. “You ok?”

“I… I feel like shit.” He simply said and pulled the map out of his coat and handed it to Fai before laying his head back down on the ground. “How do we get to the offices?”

Fai studied the map but couldn’t help looking down at the man in front of him. Kurogane was the strongest person he had ever known. Fai had spent his life embracing deception but not even he could say he didn’t respect the man, admire him; want him even. To see Kurogane so defeated killed Fai inside. Fai’s nurturing instincts were far too strong for his own good. His act was swiftly dropping and he was letting his true self show, but he couldn’t help it. He knelt down in front of Kurogane, taking the ninjas face in his hands. Kurogane stared blankly back at him. Fai shifted his hand up to Kurogane’s forehead, which was covered in cold damp sweat. He felt chilled all over despite the warm air around them. Fai took his coat off and lay it down over Kurogane. Kurogane shivered around the instant warmth and pulled the coat closer. Fai put his hand back on Kurogane’s cheek.

“Ok, I’m gonna go scout out a way out of here and maybe see if I can’t find the office. You just stay here and rest.” Fai said.

“But…” Kurogane started to protest, but Fai cut him off.

“Don’t worry, the second I find a safe path I’ll come back.

Kurogane gave a reluctant nod. “Fai, be careful.” He said in his most concerned tone.

“I will.” Fai gave him a little smile and turned to descend the metal stairs. He saw with dismay that the tall, heavy double door in front of him was locked shut with a length of thick chain. “Shit,” he murmured and tried to think clearly. He hadn’t been through the teleport nearly as much as Kurogane but his head was already starting to hurt, making it hard to concentrate. He looked up at the double doors and back down at his map. The only way to tell where he was at was to get outside and have a look around. What would I do if I was thinking straight, Fai thought to himself. I would think about the other way to open doors. He smiled, seeing that the door hinges were on the inside facing him. He walked over to a set or metal drawers and rummaged through them. He was going to need something to gain some leverage. He found a screwdriver and knelt down to one of the hinges. He shoved the flat end down in between the head of the hinge-pin and slowly worked it out of place, pulling it up and out of from the rest of the door.

The second it came out, the hinge disconnected and it the door swung open so quickly Fai had to jump away to avoid it hitting him. He ducked down slipped through the door, into the warm night air. He heard the rhythmic sound of the ocean coming from behind them. It was pitch black except for the stars that shown overhead. Fai pulled the flashlight out from his pocket and scanned the immediate vicinity. He was standing in a sandy, grassy field that was overgrown with weeds and littered with rubble. He was standing on a little porch with broken steps going down from it, into the field. He held up the map. “Ok we just came out of the accelerator room thing,” he said aloud and shone the light out and saw a big concrete cylinder running from one end of the building he had just come out of off far to the left. “And straight ahead should be the office and the feather,” and he started off in that direction.

It was warm but it was still very dark and that fact alone sent a chill down Fai’s spine. He hadn’t even been in that lab for very long, but it was incredibly creepy and a bit disturbing. But now that he was out in the open night, he felt even more vulnerable. Fai wasn’t scared of the dark, but he was scared of what he couldn’t see, and with the limited view from the flashlight right now he couldn’t see much at all. He kept shining the flashlight all around him, looking behind him and turning back again. He wasn’t even sure what he was looking for, but he knew he was far from comfortable in this unfamiliar darkness.

Coming into view was a two story brick building. It didn’t look at intimidating as the other buildings they had been in, but as he approached he saw a problem. The entrance to the building was on an elevated patio and short flight of stairs that would have led up to it where missing, leaving only the metal railing behind.

To his relief he saw a big door on the ground level of to the side. He ran and assessed the door. “How the hell are you supposed to get into this?” He yelled to the air. “It doesn’t have a door knob!” Fai was trying to pry at the metal plate with his long fingers.

Fai pulled at it but it won’t budge. He frantically tried to think of a way to open the door. Kuro’s sword might be able to pry it open. He thought with hope. He turned and headed back to the little room he had left Kurogane in.

As he reached the spot where he had left the ninja, he heard the disturbing sound of vomiting up ahead. He ran over and found Kurogane on his knees, bracing himself against the wall and heaving. Fai rushed over to him and Kurogane looked up at him, gasping for breath and shaking.

Fai helped him sit upright and pushed his hair out of his face, “Kuro are you ok?” Fai said in a panic. Kurogane was still trying to catch his breath and recover.

“I think… I think I feel a bit better now.” He leaned his head back and tried to breathe normally.

“Ok.” Fai was highly unconvinced. “Well I think I’ve found the office, we should wait a few minutes.”

“No, I’m ok now.” Kurogane protested and tried to stand up. Fai had to rush to catch him as he began to fall. He put Kurogane’s arm around him. Kurogane looked over at Fai as if to say sorry, but Fai shook his head to silence him before he could apologize. They started off down the stairs.

They slowly walked across the field and toward the office building. They approached the door and Fai explained their problem. “There is a door on the ground level but it doesn’t have a doorknob. Just a metal plate.”

“Oh, it’s one of those.” Kurogane recognized it as the same type of door they had encountered in the room with all the water. He pulled his sword out again and handed it to Fai, “I’m sorry but this requires energy, so you will have to do this one. Sorry.” Fai took the sword and looked back at Kurogane in confusion.

“What do I do?”

“Just shove the blade in between the metal plate and the wall. Now pull it away from the wall.”

Fai did as instructed and after a few moments the door came free and swung open violently, a sea of books and concrete rubble falling out. Fai was caught up in the avalanche and fell to the ground, emerging after a moment covered in books and dirt, coughing. Kurogane had dodged the door just in time but ended up on the ground covered in papers as well. They picked themselves up and waded through the door into a small room.

The ceiling and most of the walls had collapsed in and they had to pick their way along the rubble to where the entrance would have been. It was in the room above them but they could see the shattered glass doors from where they stood.

“Shit, that must have been the lobby.” Fai said in disappointment, “and now it’s…. all over the floor.” He looked at the cement rubble beneath their feet. “And the feather.” He looked around frantically. In the room was nothing but broken glass and crumbling cement.

“Damn it, it has to be here somewhere!” Kurogane looked around frantically. “It’s supposed to be in the lobby. It’s supposed to be here.” Fai could hear Kurogane’s voice picking up like he was going to panic.

“Kuro…” Fai said quietly.

“It’s supposed to be here, it has to be here!” Kurogane put his hands in his hair in frustration and looked desperately up at Fai.

“Kurogane, let’s just sit down and rest for a few minutes, think about things, figure this out.” Fai said trying to calm Kurogane down.

“But the kids, the longer we take the more chances there are of … of I don’t know … something blowing up I guess.” Kurogane’s ability to maintain thought wasn’t faring too well under the given circumstances. He slumped against the wall and slid down to sit on the floor, holding his head in his hands.

“If you pass out and I have to carry you back we’ll be even slower, so it’s worth taking a minute to rest.”

Fai sat down next to him and put his arm around Kurogane’s shoulders. Kurogane absentmindedly leaned into him. “God you are warm,” Kurogane muttered.

“You’re still really chilled,” Fai said, and absentmindedly put his hand up to run it though Kurogane’s hair.

After a few moments Kurogane’s head bobbed forward as if he had dozed off. Fai chuckled, “You can lay down if you want.” He told Kurogane. He could see Kurogane contemplating the offer for a moment before shrugging, as if giving in to how tired he was and how warm and comfy Fai lap seemed. He let his head slide down into Fai’s lap and sighed. If he stayed like this much longer he knew he would fall asleep.

A minute or two later Fai heard Kurogane’s breathing steady and knew he was asleep. He didn’t dare speak. Their relationship existed on two levels. There was the surface, like a piece of glass mirror, where they saw everything they did reflected in the eyes of others. But beneath the mirror was this vast, warm, dark ocean. There were no reflections or acts to maintain, just these warm, quiet waves washing up over him. And this other person, laying on his lap, was here with him. The same warm waves washed over him. For a split second, Fai tried to figure it out, figure out what they were and what Kurogane meant to him, meant for him. But when he did, the dull throbbing in his head turned into sharp pain and he swiftly gave up. This room was warm, Kurogane was warm and Fai’s clothes were damp from running around in the humid night. Fai was content to rest his head on the metal cabinet he was leaning against and not think for a while. That’s what this level of their relationship was for. For being true and honest and simple. And the truth was he cherished Kurogane, and honestly he didn’t care why, he simply wanted to be with him. Fai ran his fingers absentmindedly through Kurogane’s damp hair and listened to him breathe.

Fai dozed for a bit, but woke up to a few precariously placed little rocks falling down off of their perches. He looked down at Kurogane who was still sleeping, his dark skin glistening with a bit of sweat in the dark room, illuminated only by their flashlight. In his own strange way, he is incredibly beautiful. Fai thought, and leaned down and kissed him on the cheek.

Out of the corner of his eye he saw a tiny reflection from under a concrete block. He shined is flashlight over in that direction and saw a pile of shattered glass and a little white and red fluff sticking out from under the rocks.

“Kuro, Kuro wake up,”

“Mmhh…”

“Kuro, I think I see the feather.” Fai started to sit up and Kurogane’s head slid off Fai’s lap and onto the floor.

“Ah… what was that for.”

Fai walked over to where he saw the glass sitting in the middle of the room.

“Kurogane it’s the feather.” He pulled it out from under the rock and held it up for Kurogane to see.

Kurogane just stared at it in shock for a few moments and then smiled. They had done it. They had found the feather. They could go home. Kurogane tried to pick himself up as Fai tucked the feather safely away.

“So...” Kurogane was having trouble keeping thinking straight, “How do we get home?”

“Well, I guess we look for another teleport.” Fai said grimly. Kurogane gave a heavy sigh and shook his head. “But I think I have an idea,” Fai interjected. “The doors switch destinations every 5 seconds or so, right?”

Kurogane just stared at him. “I don’t know, that explanation was a million years ago and didn’t make any sense anyway.”

“Well, if that’s right,” Fai continued, “then I can just stick my head through, and if it’s not the right room I’ll pull back and wait for the teleport to change.”

“But won’t you get really sick that way?” Kurogane looked at him, concerned.

“Maybe, but it’s better than us landing in the wrong room and having to do more teleports anyway.”

“I think you have a point, but my head hurts too much to actually think,” Kurogane said. “Is there another teleport in this building?”

Fai pulled out the map and pointed back towards the way they had come from. “Yeah, there is another one a bit further into the building.”

They made their way over to a room in the far corner where they found another teleport, which they powered up.

“Are you sure this is gonna work? I mean, I don’t want to get your head chopped off or anything.” Kurogane looked at Fai in genuine concern.

“Well, I don’t know for sure, but it has to be worth a try. I’ll try to be quick, but once I’ve found the right door, we only have 5 seconds to get through, so be ready.” Fai took Kurogane by the hand and prepared to peer into the portal.

He ducked his head and right back out again. “Nope,” he said, and silently counted out the seconds before he ducked his head in again. He pulled it out with a flinch. “No again.” He sighed and continued counting. The third time Fai stuck his head in, Kurogane felt a tug on his arm and rushed through the door pushing Fai along with him.

They both fell onto the floor of the lab they had started in. Kurogane rolled off of Fai and onto the floor, looking up at the wooden rafters in relief.

The kids had curled up asleep under a desk, but had been awakened by Kurogane and Fai crashing into the room and came running over. Kurogane sat up and helped Fai to do the same. Fai looked pale and in pain, but they were back and wouldn’t have to go through those doors again.

“We found the feather.” Kurogane told the kids. Fai pulled it out his coat and handed it to Syaoran. He turned to the princess but she stopped him.

“If you give me back the feather now, I’ll pass out.” She turned to look at Kurogane and Fai. “You all have done so much to take care of me, I want to return the favor and take care of you while you are ill. Mokona, will you keep it safe?”

“You bet.” Mokona opened his mouth wide and Syaoran let the feather drop down into it. He swallowed with a “mukup” noise.

“Let’s find someplace a little more hospitable to recover.” Syaoran suggested.

“Yeah,” Fai agreed. “Everybody close together now.” He motioned the kids in. They gathered around him and Kurogane as Mokona started his magical transformation.

Kurogane still felt incredibly ill, but as his little family huddled together he was simply grateful they had made it through the horrible ordeal.

Mokona swallowed them up in one gulp and they disappeared from sight, leaving the lab behind them, empty and quiet.