#KUROGANE IS THE BIGGEST AND STRONGEST OF THEM ALL

[completeoveranalysis]

[17]

This is the intentional reversal of every other time Syaoran has had to fight someone and Sakura had to stay behind and rest. 

Guess how much I adore this version better? BECAUSE IT’S A LOT. 

GUYS

BRB CRYING HAPPY TEARS FOREVER

[noinchan]

Day 7 - 100

Happy Birthday @psychologistofscience !! Hope you have a wonderful birthday and also that this story isn’t too bad XD Last one will be for free day, and I will try to make it fluffy to pay you back for this one XD Never listen to sad music while writing. I am so sorry. I also have to use tags I have never used before here.

Days passed too alike each other for the mage by now. Nothing really happened to make a day different, and that was a good thing. It meant the days of wars and troubles were over. Now there was peace, and no more worries about if those he loved would come back from war.

After their travels ended, Fay moved together with Kurogane back to his country, where they eventually settled in Suwa, Kurogane wanting to protect the legacy his parents had left him. Kurogane took over as the Lord of Suwa, and Fay became the new priest to protect it. He didn’t have the same powers as the usual priestesses had, but his strong magic made up for all he lacked in local magic.

Their first years passed in peace, and just the daily challenge of getting used to living together as husbands and learning how to take control of a while province. Fay learnt the language gradually, and were able to start communicating better with everyone, and Kurogane eventually realized he didn’t have to copy his father in everything, and found his own way of ruling.

Then came years of nothing but bliss. To Fay those times were still the warmest memories he had. Before the war, and after he had been able to make himself at home in his new world. Then they tried another challenge together, as they adopted a young orphaned girl. It was really hard in the start, but it eventually turned out perfect. Later they even adopted twin baby boys that had been left in the forest. Fay and Kurogane were happy, and they had everything they could have ever dreamed of.

Then came decades of war.

It seemed like there had already been a lot of unrest the time Kurogane had been gone, as many Lords wanted to make Suwa a part of their own lands. It had stood a long time without any Lord, but Tomoyo had kept it under her protection, saying it would stand there until Kurogane took it back or died. Once he took over as Lord, there wasn’t really much they could do, but they kept finding other things to complain about, as they all wanted more power, and valued each chance to speak against Tomoyo or her sister.

Once Kurogane returned of course they had said he was too young and impulsive to rule, something Kurogane easily had proved them wrong from day one, as he had more than matured over his long journey. Having Fay by his side did of course also help, as he had one of the strongest wizards with him. No one could deny him his Suwa, and over time he proved he deserved it as well. Suwa in no time became the strongest province and smaller provinces joined with Suwa to gain protection, as Kurogane and Fay would always do their best to help everyone.

Yet, after 30 years of bliss, it was cruelly ended.

Troupes from the greedier provinces waged an attack against the Shirasagi Castle, claiming they had been wronged and would use the empress’ own sister as a hostage. From there it escalated into war. Sadly, with more victims than Fay would have liked.

The first to fall had been the empress herself, Sōma falling next failing to save her. Tomoyo had barely been able to escape thanks to their sacrifices, being able to regroup and rally the forces that were faithful to the late empress, and many that had sworn to help the new lord of Suwa, that had protected them from dangers for over 30 years.

The war continued for the next 20 years. Fay feeling his heart almost break in two each time he had to watch his husband and their children go off to fight, knowing he couldn’t leave himself. He protected the borders from demons. Even if those they fought were humans, they could not forget about the biggest dangers. One demon getting through was enough to eradicate Suwa in just some hours. After the attack on the castle, and Tomoyo having to flee, demons had crossed through and ruined more than the attackers had been able to.

So, Fay waited and prayed. Keeping up to the point of exhaustion as he was afraid he would fail and those he loved dead. He would only rest when Kurogane returned, as he knew he would easily protect Suwa while he rested. They were a team. When the other was there, the other could rest and know they had their back.

Even when Kurogane grew older, Fay never doubted his powers. He felt like Kurogane just grew stronger with the years, and they never had any sort of issues with the fact one of them aged and the other didn’t. Both treasured the fact that they were together no matter what. Even in war their children grew older, and eventually found love as well, and during the final years of the war, the proud parents also got to become grandparents. First one of their sons found a wife and married, being blessed with a daughter not long after. Fay remembering fondly the first summer they babysat her, as the toddler were eagerly running away from her laughing grandfather, who enjoyed the calm between being a general. Fay already started spoiling the little girl, that would always fall asleep on her ‘grandma’s’ lap after a long chance.

Then their daughter also got a child, just before the war ended. A little precious son, that had been born too early, barely surviving the night as there was chaos. Sure they would lose the war, the other warlords had aimed an attack directly at Suwa in silence. If they cut down the priest, the demons would destroy it all for them.

It had not gone as they planned though. Far from it. When the battle was over, they had all been eradicated by magic so strong no one in Nihon had ever seen its equal.

With that the war was over, and now 20 years later, there was more grandchildren and there was even a chance of great grandchildren someday soon.

Fay gives a warm smile as he leans back against the sliding door on the porch, enjoying the warm breeze as he looks up at the setting sun, a cup of sake in his hand as he raises it to the sunset. He was probably getting silly on his older days, his sons kept saying he was probably going to go senile soon. He kept telling them there wasn’t really a history of people growing senile where he was from though, but they didn’t seem to believe him. He knew they were only worried he was getting a little funny though. They kept wanting to come over all the time to make him spend time with the kids. They probably knew something was up. They were smart kids.

“I heard the progression will pass here tonight.” Fay turns as he hears a familiar voice, smiling as he pours a cup for his guest as well. The barely older Tomoyo accepting it as she sits down beside him, both of them silent as they watch the daylight bleed away. “It is a scary Parade. Full of demons and other dangerous things, but even the power of a priest or priestess won’t stop them from passing. It is the one night the dead can roam the earth, wherever the parade of a hundred demons pass.”

“I think I heard something about it once.” Fay whispers, as he avoids her gaze, drinking the last of his cup. “It hasn’t passed since I moved here, so I can’t say much about it. It is only each hundred year is it?”

Tomoyo shakes her head defeated over his stubbornness. “Watanuki told me to tell you one last time he would accept a refund if you changed your mind.”

A soft laughter from the gentle mage, as he shakes his head. “I won’t change my mind. I have prepared for this for over 10 years now. My son is an even stronger priest than I can be, and there is no war, so all my children and grandchildren can grow up safe. I feel like I can rest now.”

Tomoyo bites her lips, wanting to say something that would magically make him change his mind, but she knew there was nothing she could say to change his mind. The only one that could have made him go one was already gone.

After all, Kurogane had died the last day of the war at the attack on Suwa. Realizing demons were able to break through the barrier, Kurogane had run to the hurt Fay, that had gotten stabbed. Fearing his past being repeated, he had protected his family without any regards to his own safety. By the time Fay came to again, Kurogane were barely breathing. Overcome with grief, the moment Kurogane had said his last words to him, the powerful wizard had used his powers to crush the remnants of the enemy and the demons that had started coming through the barriers.

He had lost his soul mate that day, and were still feeling like he would find him again. It just didn’t feel possible that Kurogane wouldn’t be there with him anymore. A world without Kurogane was a contradiction to him that had seen Kurogane as his world.

“Have you said goodbye to your children?” Tomoyo whispers, trying to guilt him into changing his mind, as the last traces of the sunset started fading over the mountains in the distance, a tune seeming supernatural coming from the forests around them, as everyone in Suwa had locked up their homes for the night.

This was the time of the parade of a hundred demons. It was a party for demons and supernatural creatures to rise up and party through all of Nihon. They would start in one part, and just move through the entire world. Fay had heard about it the year after he lost Kurogane. And how it was just a few decades away. Rumors had said that many people had gotten lost with the parade because they had seen their dead loved ones, and left the world of the living behind.

Fay had made his peace with the world. He had lived a long life, a much longer one than most people. He didn’t see it as ending his life. He just saw it as dying of the old age he would never physically reach.

“I have left messages to them all, they will all split what their father left them, but they have always known they will share it all equal. Takemi will take over my duties, and I think Sora wants to keep ruling in her father’s stead, she has done and amazing job with it so far, and I think Tsukiko is just happy helping both of them.” Fay chuckles gently, as he was blessed with kids that were able to share. He felt like they had gotten a lot of good characteristics from their father.

“What did you ask Watanuki for?”

“Something so grave the only price I could pay was my own mortality.” He gives a weak smile now, as the sun were already gone, a bright blood moon lighting up the skies to show it was the demon’s night. “To make sure a soul enters the demon parade, if just for one night.”

“Are you even sure it is going to…” Tomoyo starts, a last desperate plea, as she felt like Kurogane would have wanted her to take care of Fay for him. She was the only one that might outlast him after all. But her plea is cut short, as the parade were upon them. A festive yet eerie sight, as demons, ghosts and other vile creatures’ floats through the forest ahead of them, bright lights from spirit fires in all different colors, long shadows reaching them as neither of them really took notice of the parade at all, but the tall man that had appeared in the opening to the forest ahead of them. The years of war gone from his face as the harsh decades had washed away, seeming the same age he had when they had been younger together.

A warm smile on his face, as he looks at the gentle blonde, that were feeling tears well up. No, he didn’t see this as tossing his life away. Kurogane had been his life, so he just wanted to spend the last moments of it with the man that had given his sad existence meaning.

“Fay!” A last plea from Tomoyo, that had been taken off guard by seeing the phantom of her old bodyguard, just in time to grab Fay’s hand as he had been about to run to him, but she looks shocked as she felt his hand in her own, but he still ran to his husband, her touch or words unable to reach him anymore.

A tight embrace, the long-lost lovers not wanting to let the other go ever again, the smiling Kurogane brushing the weeping Fay’s cheeks loving as he brushes the tears off his cheek, before they kiss hard. Just breaking apart to laugh gently as they rest their foreheads together, finally together again. Forever.

The progression of demons and ghosts soon pass, the crying Tomoyo watching as her dear friends fades together in the warm summer night breeze. Feeling the cold hand in her own still, as Fay sat rested against the sliding door still, almost looking like he was just sleeping, a warm smile on his lips, as he in the end had no regrets in life.