Title: Night Watch
Prompt: The Watcher on the Walls
Rating: PG (PG13?)
Warnings: None

I realised, EVENTUALLY, that I couldn’t do my original story justice in time for today. *headdesk* Unfortunately I only actually admitted that yesterday because I'm an idiot! Despite days of going THIS IS NOT GOING TO WORK at myself! This is, therefore, short – and hopefully sweet? I hope you enjoy it somewhat anyway. ^^; (Fortunately I'd been thinking about other possible fics all month...)

(I apologise for the italics. And for everything else. orz)


oOo
When Mokona’s transportation spell had them appearing in the sky of a new world, they always found one of two landings waiting: spiky, or wet.

This world went with wet. Very wet.

Fai managed to twist so he entered the lake in an almost-graceful dive, somewhat spoiled by the way his long coat dragged at the water and tried to tangle about his legs; he still did better than Kurogane’s backwards flop and Syaoran’s startled flailing – though Kurogane did manage to both curl protectively about Mokona and time his splash to hit Fai just as he resurfaced. Mokona bounced out of Kurogane’s hands as he went under, landing on Syaoran’s head as the boy spluttered and flailed himself upright.

“Dammit, Manjuu!” Kurogane hissed, as he roared up out of the water – he reached for Mokona, who bounced away with a whoop, landing on top of Fai’s head.

“But doggies are meant to like playing in the water!” Mokona called back. She was still mostly dry, of course – one of the special techniques plainly involved ‘dropping other people in trouble without landing in it oneself’.

Fai was treading water lazily; the lake was calm, and there didn’t seem to be anything threatening them. He reached up with one dripping hand to pat Mokona, who squeaked but stayed where she was – probably wise, given Kurogane floating grumpily beside Syaoran, and the shore a fair distance away in the other direction. “Now, now, Mokona. Kuro-wan doesn’t like most surprises, remember?” Kurogane’s glare turned on him, and Fai couldn’t help smiling brighter. “Only very special ones which are just for a mummy and daddy-“

Syaoran rubbed damp hands over his face as Kurogane shot forwards, both of them red-faced. Fai set off for shore in a rush. He started off a good few metres ahead of Kurogane, Mokona cheering ‘race! Race!’ from her perch on the back of his head, but he could feel the disturbance in the water as Kurogane got closer – and Fai couldn’t stop laughing, which rather slowed him down. But just as his ankle was grabbed, he spotted a group of people coming out of the trees, on the edge of the lake, and stopped suddenly enough Kurogane had to let go or risk colliding with him.

“Saw us falling?” Kurogane suggested, and Fai nodded. They had come out of the trees looking straight out at their landing site. The trees were dotted with blossom, white and pink, and the first green leaf-buds: they would have been able to see through that canopy, while their own dark brown uniforms blended in to the colour of the trunks. They were all armed – but none of them were reaching for their weapons, not even the bowmen.

One woman, her uniform distinguished by a red sash, came to the edge of the water and cupped her hands about her mouth. “Hey! Are you okay?” She called, and some of the tension faded from Kurogane’s motions as he kept himself afloat.

“Just damp, thank you!” Fai called back, waving.

By the time they reached the shore – Kurogane just far enough ahead that Fai wouldn’t be in the way if he had to move in a hurry, and Fai keeping between the patrol and Syaoran – the girl had ordered one of the others to start a fire, another to find flasks which were offered to them as they splashed out of the water. Fai rather thought he was going to like this land.

“I’m ChunHyang, Captain of the Citadel guard.” Said the young woman with the red sash, bowing her head to them.

Fai blinked, and then grinned. They’d met with a few different versions of ChunHyang before, all Syaoran’s age or younger, but he could see those girls echoed in the face in front of them. “Pleased to meet you! I’m Fai, this is Syaoran, the little one is Mokona, and the big grumpy one is-“

“I’m Kurogane. My thanks.” Kurogane cut in.

“Mokona says thank you too!” Mokona declared, and there were only the faintest of double-takes at the little creature holding onto one of the flasks. Fai strongly suspected the liquid inside was alcoholic, from the way she was keeping it; he was offered one a moment later, and took a sip – and, yes. Alcoholic, and sweet, and warm: there must be a spell on the flask to keep the heat in, because the metal itself was only one thin layer, and the air was cold enough to be unpleasantly chilling on the side of Fai faced away from the fire.

(He ignored the glare Kurogane was aiming at him for taking a drink from strangers. It was as quick a way as any to prove if these people were enemies or not, and he had no doubt that Kurogane could get them out of danger if necessary. There were a high proportion of archers in the group, and more than a few spears – they were armed for hunting, not for war. ChunHyang’s twin swords were likely to be the only real danger, and Fai would bet on Kurogane whoever the opponent.)

“It’s good!” He declared, and handed the flask back. “What is it? And may I ask what this Citadel is?”

“I – thank you. It’s plum wine, my-“ She flushed, her words stumbling for a second. “The castellan makes it for us to take on patrols. It’s a good restorative, especially when we find people who have been lost for a while–“

“He makes it for ChunHyang, because she told him it was the best thing after her mother’s medicines.” One of the patrol called out, with a laugh, and she hissed at them to shut up before she continued, face flushed.

“But didn’t you mean to arrive at the Citadel? I thought you must be another group whose transportation spell was broken by the land here. There’s nothing else to see in this land, just the wandering marshes and the Citadel.” She blinked at them, and Fai shrugged easily.

“We’re travellers on a journey to see the world – our transport does some strange things sometimes. Would we be able to stay in your Citadel for a while?”

“We can pay.” Syaoran added, stepping forwards.

ChunHyang shook her head. “You can come stay as long as you want, but you won’t pay for it. Not with coins, anyway. But if you can work, the Castellan will find something for you to do.”

“I’m sure we can be of some use.” Fai said, smiling brightly.

“Well, you can come back with us – you’ll have to, anyway, the paths changed last night. Any maps you’ve got will be out of date.” She said, but before they could ask for an explanation she was staring at their damp clothing. “Can you dry yourselves off, or do you want one of us to cast the spell? That shouldn’t go wrong, but Hikaru’s very good with heat, if you’d rather let someone else. Or if you aren’t mages, of course.”

The girl who had lit the fire waved a hand at them, with a smile, and Fai tried not to be too startled by the way the last sentence had been an obvious afterthought. No matter how may worlds they travelled to where magic was common-place, he still wasn’t really used to it being so normal.

He thought, wistfully, that he really might like it here.

oOo

The walk through the forest was long enough for ChunHyang and her patrol to explain a little more. The Citadel – a vast walled city, with seven high towers which were visible before they had even left the woods – was the one fixed point at the centre of a land where magic flowed so strongly that the geography of the place was constantly changing. Marsh and field and wood all shifted without warning, and without any pattern people had been able to understand to date; but the land was rich in food, if you could find where your fields had wandered to. More than that, it was so rich in magic that hundreds of mages came here to study all kinds of magic, not just the land itself.

“There’s a new theory, though. Someone found a set of old books locked away in one of the basement rooms no one had been in for centuries – the underground rooms sometimes move too, you see, though they aren’t as bad as outside. But they think these books say that the land didn’t used to move like this – that someone did something, caused it. There’s a team working with the Librarian to try to find out more. If any of you are good with languages…” ChunHyang suggested, and Syaoran was volunteering himself a moment later. Fai glanced at Kurogane, and grinned at the resigned look there – they were definitely staying in the Citadel now.

There were other projects too; the mages of the Citadel had spells measuring and watching the entire land to record and map all the changes, finding lost people and finding paths for the Patrols, who took supplies out to the farmers who stayed in their fields or with their animals instead of having to hunt for them each day. But the research into the why behind all the wavering landscape sounded more interesting than just watching it happen.

That was how Fai and Syaoran were introduced to the Castellan, MongRyong, as help for the research project – by Hikaru, ChunHyang having vanished before they reached him, much to her abandoned patrol’s amusement.

“And what can you do?” He asked Kurogane, gaze catching on the calloused hands. “…We could always use more hands in the patrols, if that would suit you-“

“You have a Guard on the walls, here, don’t you?” Kurogane nodded up at the roof. Fai had seen them too, as they came in, figures pacing the tops of the towers, watching. It seemed rather redundant, when they had so many spells and patrols keeping an eye on things already. “I’ll join them.”

“Ah, you don’t want to be separated from your companions, then? Understandable.” MongRyong said, cheerfully. “You’ll have to share rooms, I’m afraid. We only sleep people in the fifth floor and above – nothing above ground level usually moves, not in the Citadel itself, but you can never be too careful. Plus we lost one of the dining halls last month, so we’re keeping people higher than usual for a while. Hey, Hikaru – could you go get Ryuuou? He doesn’t have a roommate at the moment. If you could share with him,” he told Syaoran, who had brightened at the name – and sure enough, it looked like the same person they’d known before coming along the corridor. “And for the rest of you…”

Fai reached out and wrapped his arms about Kurogane’s neck, ignoring the growl it got him. “I think it would be best if we shared a room.” He told MongRyong, very seriously. “Otherwise, we’ll just disturb Kuro-chi’s roommate, and I wouldn’t want that.” He draped himself over Kurogane’s side – and Kurogane, for all his grumbling, neither pushed him away nor contradicted him. Fai wriggled a little closer, pushing his luck – it had been more than a week since they’d had any time alone with each other, and the chance for a room of their own was dancing in front of him; he wasn’t fool enough to let it slip away.

MongRyong stared at them for a second, then burst out laughing. “No, we couldn’t have that.” He said, and flicked through his notebook. “…Okay. There’s a room on the floor above Ryuuou’s which you can have, in tower three.” He looked at Kurogane, still grinning. “It means you’ll have to take turns at night patrol for your tower, though. Sorry about that.”

“It won’t be a problem.” Kurogane grumbled, but his hand was resting against the small of Fai’s back as he said it, and it stayed there all the way up to their room.

oOo

Kurogane had to go to be introduced to the other Patrol members, and Fai was headed for the library, but they had a room. Fai made very sure to tell Mokona she was staying with Syaoran while they were here.

(And then he shoved the two beds together.)

oOo

The moment he walked into the library, Fai stopped and stared.

It wasn’t the size of the room which impressed him, though it easily rivalled the great hall in Ceres. It wasn’t the amount of books, though that was just as impressive as the room itself. Fai didn’t light up at the written word in the way Syaoran did, though he liked books well enough.

These books were alive.

Some flew overhead, covers flapping like wings – others scuttled across the floor like papery crabs, or bounced like Mokona. There were books gripping the edges of the shelves between rustling leaves and climbing about, others were resting against each other in groups with an almost visible glow of contentment, like nothing so much as a purring cat. Covers flashed bright colours, greens and reds and blues; pages fluttered, embossed titles gleamed – and the room was full of people on ladders trying to coax the volume they wanted out of the rafters, or crouched down by the shelves offering up a bribe. One boy was holding out a pressed flower to a book which had the same plant engraved on its spine.

It was utter chaos, completely different to the usual reverent hush, and even the people yelling as their quarry hid from them looked …happy.

When Fai looked down, Syaoran’s eyes were wide, his mouth open. Fai grinned at him. He could barely imagine Kurogane’s reaction to this… and he was going to make sure Kurogane saw it, as soon as he could.

“What do you think?” The librarian asked, with a reserved smile. “I know some of our visitors find our library – disturbing.”

Another girl, hovering close behind the desk, huffed. “She means they take one look and run back out into the swamp. The patrols had to go looking for our last temps.”

The Librarian ignored her with an ease which spoke of long association. “They think books should be chained up, or the life drawn out of them, but I couldn’t bear working somewhere like that. I want my books to be happy. And happy books mean happy readers.”

Syaoran was wordless, tracking the flight of a set of dictionaries as they passed overhead. “I think,” said Fai, “that we are going to enjoy working here very much indeed.”

The Librarian’s smile curled into something real, matching his own.

oOo

Fai got back to the bedroom close to dusk, and flopped bonelessly across the bed with a groan of exhaustion. The Librarian hadn’t gone easy on them, even after the morning trekking through woods and then a section of bog where they were testing a safe path the mages had found by walking it – Fai had spent the afternoon chasing books and learning how to talk them into favouring him with their secrets, until eventually being allowed near the books they were going to be translating. He looked up when Kurogane came out of the tiny wardrobe-alcove, and pouted – Kurogane was wearing the same dark brown uniform that the Patrol had been, heavy woollen trousers and a quilted jacket.

“Night watch.” Kurogane said, as he strapped on the accompanying swordbelt – though he made an indescribable expression at the sword which hung from it. But even Fai had managed to pick up that the tower patrol carried weapons only as decoration, and as practice to feel comfortable with them in the field. Their duty was to watch, and to notify the mages and the Castellan of any changes or lost patrols they spotted – as well as keeping an eye on the shape of the Citadel. “I’ll be back at dawn.”

Fai pouted, but he was too tired to do anything more than wave as Kurogane walked to the door. Helping Mokona teach the encyclopaedias to play tag probably hadn’t been wise… but it had been entertaining…

And dawn would be a good hour before breakfast. If he slept now, he wouldn’t need to sleep then. “Wake me up when you get back.” He said, muffled by the bedsheets, already half asleep.

oOo

Fai was woken up the next morning by Kurogane shaking his shoulder roughly – fully dressed for breakfast, the room behind him filling with sunlight. He could hear the dining bell ringing lower in the castle, calling people down to eat.

Flopping onto his back, Fai flung an arm over his face in as dramatic a reaction as he could manage while drowsy and well-rested. “That is not the light of dawn!”

Kurogane snorted. “You looked like you needed the rest.” He said. “Ryuuou told me about the books here; you spent all afternoon running about with the manjuu like a pair of idiots, didn’t you.” Fai pouted again at the lost chance to take Kurogane to the library before anyone warned him, and then yelped as a shirt was tossed over his face. “Come on, get up, we’ll be late for breakfast.”

“If Kuro-sama had just woken me up when he got back, we’d be on time.” Fai murmured, sing-song.

Kurogane rolled his eyes, and turned away. “No we wouldn’t.” He muttered, almost too quiet for Fai to hear.

oOo

When Fai got back that evening, Kurogane was walking out, uniform already on. “What, again?” Fai asked, startled. “But you were being introduced to the rest of the guard all afternoon, Ryuuou was telling Syaoran all about the maps they make you learn – have you even slept yet?”

“It’s fine. I’ll sleep tomorrow.” Kurogane said.

He was almost out of the door before Fai remembered. “And wake me up when you get back!” He called, loud enough that the entire corridor must have heard it. Kurogane stalked away, not looking around – but Fai could see the back of his ears were flushed.

(And then he went and set up a few very small spells across the doorway to make sure he would wake up, whether Kurogane woke him or not.)

oOo

Fai could hear the breakfast bell ringing before he even lifted his head from the pillows, sunlight slanting across his back. He moaned, and buried himself under the covers.

“Get a move on. Syaoran will be waiting.” Kurogane told him, and there was a thump as Fai’s clothes hit the bed.

oOo

When he walked in for the third evening in a row to find the bed empty and Kurogane about to walk out, Fai’s frustration could have been bottled and used as an explosive.

It still didn’t stop Kurogane. “Is this a conspiracy?” Fai wailed, flinging his arms out – and blocking the doorway. “We have a room! Why are we never in it at the same time?”

Kurogane snorted. “Shut up and get some sleep, idiot.” He said, and made to pass Fai – but Fai refused to move.

“It’s a conspiracy! Kuro-sama doesn’t like me anymore!” Fai waved his arms about – and Kurogane dragged him all the way out of the doorway so he could shut it.

As both of them were inside this time, Fai didn’t complain.

“It’s not a conspiracy. Don’t be any more of an idiot than usual.”

“But there is a reason you’re going out every night? Aren’t you meant to be taking turns with people?”

Kurogane looked away from him, crossing his arms. “It’s – the kid, okay? Not Syaoran, the other one – he got hurt on patrol a week ago, that’s why he’s on the wall patrol. The healers told him not to get too cold, but he kept taking his turn at nights anyway, so he isn’t getting better like he should, and our – Syaoran told me. Besides, it’s only three days. And…” His voice dropped lower, and by now he was definitely not looking at Fai. “You’re looking better.”

“I’m – huh?”

“After that thing with the dragon, three weeks ago. You were getting tired too easily, and now you aren’t.”

“…Oh.” Fai blinked at him.

Kurogane seized the moment. “So I’ll see you for breakfast.” He said, and got himself out the door.

Fai followed him to stick his head out and yell “wake me up! I mean it!” after him, without any real hope of being listened to.

He carefully set twice as many spells about the door as the night before.

oOo

“Are you certain he’s injured?” Fai asked, suspiciously, as they sat down to breakfast next morning – Kurogane had not only avoided setting off any of the traps, but had left them there for Fai to fall into when he got out of bed. The clanging of a dozen ghostly bells had certainly woken Fai up, but it hadn’t improved his mood. Not least because Kurogane was yawning widely, but still dressed to go study his maps again.

Kurogane just nodded across to where Syaoran was following Ryuuou about with a worried look on his face, herding him towards a chair while Ryuuou, oblivious, kept on talking.

Fai slumped in his seat. There was no arguing with that.

oOo

The next night, though, Kurogane was already trying not to yawn as he fumbled the swordbelt into place, and Fai almost slammed the door.

“No! You need to sleep as much as anyone else does!” Fai hissed, storming across and trying to undo that belt.

Kurogane grabbed his hands and pulled them away. “I’m fine! I got some sleep this afternoon.”

“Not enough. Stop that – why do they even need a patrol on the walls? They have spells watching the entire land! It isn’t like there’s any danger – this sword isn’t even sharp! Even if Ryuuou shouldn’t be up there, I don’t see why you should be!”

“It doesn’t matter about the spells.” Kurogane said, catching Fai by the shoulders and looking at him, steadily. “That’s not the point. They don’t watch the Citadel anyway, but – there are Patrols out in the dark, every night, as the land shifts. We stand witness for the patrols. To watch for them – to honour them. So they know that someone is waiting. That’s what the Guard promises to do.”

There was a pause, before Fai nodded sharply. “Then I’ll do it.” he declared, pushing Kurogane back towards the bed. “Kuro-sama needs his sleep.” Kurogane’s bewilderment let him get away with it, until his legs hit the mattress – and then he grabbed Fai’s hands, stubbornly failing to sit down.

“You, on guard duty? You’ll be bored out of your mind.” He said, and Fai was about to smile at the care in that thought when it continued. “And when you’re bored, you cause chaos. I remember you and guard duty.”

Ah. Back when they had been serving Ashura. …Okay, so he’d livened things up a few times when they were on patrol, but still- “I couldn’t understand what anyone was saying, for months. It was very boring. But this is just one night. Don’t you trust me, Kuro-sama?” He said, softly, leaning closer. His hands slid from Kurogane’s shoulders to his chest, slowly, and Kurogane’s finger’s flexed on Fai’s wrists but didn’t stop him. “…I promise I’ll be good.”

“It’s your definition of good I don’t trust.” Kurogane muttered, but he was breathing just a little faster than usual.

Fai pressed closer still, tilting his head up. “Good enough that I’ll earn a reward tomorrow morning.” He said, against Kurogane’s mouth, and then he was swaying back as Kurogane’s lips pressed against his, mouth hot, tongue slick. Fai had been waiting for this for days – and it was over far, far too soon, Kurogane pulling back with a smirk on his lips as Fai swayed towards him again.

“Maybe. If you’re good by my definition.”

Fai shivered, hit by the realisation that he was going to be stood on the walls, all night, thinking about Kurogane’s mouth – on his, smirking, both. This was going to be torturous. And he’d volunteered himself for it.

oOo

He’d borrowed Kurogane’s uniform - it was too big, but the belt and sash held it on well enough to be functional. At least he’d had the satisfaction of seeing Kurogane crashed out and almost asleep before he’d even left the room. (The temptation to go back and steal another kiss had been strong, but Fai was still thinking of that smirk, and the promise of the morning. He wasn’t going to lose his chance so soon.) Out on the wall, the breeze was strong enough he was glad of the quilted jacket. It was nothing to Ceres, but then few worlds were – and just because he was used to the cold didn’t mean he liked it.

Ceres also had no defensive wall about its castle. Why would it have needed one? The chasm about it did well enough, and the bridges were easily defensible. They hadn’t needed to watch for any threat from outside. (The threat had been within the walls all along, after all, and walls had never been a barrier to FeiWong Reed.)

Slowly, he walked the perimeter of the tower-block, waving to the guards on the other towers when he spotted them; there were lights glimmering below, but the walkway had only the dimmest of illumination, one soft spell worked into the stone of the parapet so he could see where to place his feet. It meant that he could look out without being light-blind, and the view was astounding.

He hadn’t thought much about the land beyond the citadel, while he was chasing books. He’d known they were looking for information for a purpose, but knowing it and looking out across the land, seeing the pattern of bog and forest which he would swear had moved even since they arrived here – that drove it home.

The illumination-spell glimmered on the outside of the tower, as well; he could see it on the others too. Each was a different soft colour. Silvery blue for this tower, a soft green for the next to his right, and pale gold beyond that… the patrols must be able to see the towers for miles. Wherever they were, however much the landscape changed about them, they would always be able to orient themselves by the colours shimmering on the towers, one fixed point.

We stand witness for the patrols. To watch for them. Kurogane’s words echoed, and Fai slowly drew himself up. It might be boring, but… it wasn’t so pointless, after all.

oOo

Fai got back as the first rays of sunlight began to warm the room, and slipped into the room – only to stop as the door closed softly behind him, breath catching in his throat.

Kurogane hadn’t moved as he came in. In fact, he looked like he’d dropped onto the bed last night and not moved at all. The sheets left his shoulders bare, and the sun was painting warm skin an impossible golden, dipping into every curve of muscle… and he looked so very peaceful that Fai swore, under his breath, and stood there for at least a minute before giving in.

He yanked the uniform off, careful to stop the belt from clanking – then pulled his pyjama trousers on and slid onto the other side of the bed, closing his eyes. At least they were both in the room at the same time…

A little more than an hour later, Fai woke up to Kurogane’s hand running over his arm, the other man looking down at him. The breakfast bell was going, again, but it was hard to pay attention when Kurogane was sleep-warm and half naked beside him.

It was even harder when he was being kissed, hard enough the bed creaked under them.

“You were good.” Kurogane said, before his mouth slid down to Fai’s neck. “I’m impressed.”

“I – um.” Fai tilted his head back, hands sliding over the bare skin of Kurogane’s arms almost without thought. “I was, wasn’t I.” There were doors opening along the corridor, people’s voices audible through the wall as they went down to eat. “…Is Kuro-sama going to make us late for work?”

He probably sounded too hopeful, but Kurogane was smirking against his skin – and then he pushed up, and Fai sighed. He was getting so used to frustration at this point that it almost felt normal.

But Kurogane didn’t move away, just propped himself up over Fai, looking amused. “Didn’t you know? Today is the weekend. We aren’t going to be late for anything.”

Fai blinked, and slowly began to smile – before winding his arms about Kurogane’s neck and pulling him back down. “Good.” He said, against that smirk. “I’ve got plans for this bed which work better when you’re here.”

oOo

They almost missed lunch, too. (No one was particularly surprised.)

oOo

~the end.

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