Title: The Orphan
Rating: PG
Warnings: Some violence; Sakura/Syaoran, blink-and-you'll-miss-it reference to Kuro/Fai.
Summary: While traveling from world to world in search of feathers, they come upon one world that seems strangely quiet and empty. When Syaoran is diverted from the search from feathers by a fascinating archaelogical discovery, he finds out too late that there are some things that should be left sleeping.
Author's Notes: This was written as a gift fic for Bottan, for her birthday (only a few MONTHS late, sorry about that! orz) Her request was for Syaoran to get himself into trouble, and then for the others to protect him and get him out again. I hope this is something like what you wanted, Bottan!

The next world they came to was empty, a gently decaying ruin of grey stone with vines working their way through cracks in the walls and grass coming up through the slate flagstones of the road. There were no people here, although evidence of people long gone lay everywhere; in the walls and road, broken-down furniture and crumbled tools and toys.

There were no people here and no visible enemies, but Kurogane still dropped into a wary crouch as the traveling magic dispersed, hand on his sword hilt as he scanned the shadows for threats. Sakura grabbed at Syaoran for balance, and he clasped her hands briefly, smiling at her in reassurance before he too turned his attention to their surroundings.

"What happened to all the people?" Sakura whispered, dismayed. "It's so lonely..."

"Whatever happened, it was long ago," Kurogane said, straightening up slightly. "No bodies."

"Saa... it doesn't look like anybody's here," Fai said, blithely repeating the obvious. "This is a problem. Who do we ask for directions?"

Syaoran pulled back the covering of his bag, in which Mokona was riding, and lifted her up to the rest of the group. "Mokona, what do you think?"

The little white creature poked out of his bag, and twitched her ears here and there, almost like antennae. "Mokona does sense a feather," she said, rather doubtfully, "but it's very weak."

"So we'll have to walk a long way to get there, huh?" Kurogane growled. "Can you at least tell which direction it's coming from?"

"Err, it's not that it's far away," the white creature temporized. "Probably it's actually very close by. It's just that it feels weak... Mokona isn't sure why."

"Well, let's start searching around here first," Fai said cheerfully, "and see if we can turn up some leads. If we can't find anything, we can look elsewhere for this world's inhabitants."

"Split up to cover more ground, but stay within shouting distance of each other just in case," Kurogane ordered. "Try to keep one of the others within sight at all times. We don't want anyone to get lost or stranded."

Syaoran nodded, and the four travelers moved off in different directions, searching for some sign or hint of the feather.

The building they'd landed in didn't actually seem to be a house; it was too large and too open, more like an amphitheater with multiple levels, the upper floors now caved in to show a gray sky overhead. Syaoran's boots crunched over gravel and through low, rustling plants; as he followed the curving ramp around and downwards, plunging him into a cooler shadow, the short plants gave way to a dimly phosphorescent green moss.

As he came around the curve, Syaoran suddenly came face to face with the looming facade of a silent stone idol. It seemed to be built into the wall behind it, with part of it protruding forward; it was a stylized version of the torso and upper body of a man, although taller than even Kurogane. Fascinated, Syaoran walked towards it, his eyes moving to take in the bank of intricately carved, alien symbols that surrounded it on the wall.

He moved close enough to brush some of the moss aside, get a closer look. The glyphs were like no language system he'd ever encountered while traveling with his father; but obviously meaningful, not random. Syaoran was enchanted, and wished briefly that they could stay another week in this world, so that he could sample different examples of this text and try to work out some of the meanings by context.

Some things, of course, required no text to interpret the context; this was obviously a man-made creation, and one of some great importance given the elaborate surroundings. He turned his attention to the statue itself; it had a head of sorts, although not carved to human detail. The eyes were only round orbs, the lower half of the face a blank sheet. Underneath the forked, pointed chin, however, a carved double line ran down the column of the throat to converge on a spot on the chest, where there was a round indentation. Gold and silver inlay glimmered in the indentation, which was precisely chiseled, as though waiting for something to be inserted.

Syaoran felt himself suddenly, inexplicably moved to pity - not so much for the ghostly, absent builders of this place, but for the mournful presence of the silent stone statue before him. Civilizations came and went, leaving only their artifacts behind to remember them; how terrible it was, that whatever had happened here long ago, that even that record should be vandalized. He sighed sadly, feeling his hands itch with the need to do some restoration work on the piece. If only his father had been here to see this!

There was a chip in the side of the socket, a jagged line of damage that narrowed to the left side of the breast. It looked as though something had struck at the stone torso with great force; perhaps that had knocked aside the missing piece? On a sudden impulse, Syaoran hunted through the poorly lit stone chamber, eyes straining - at last he found it, a dull gleam of metal hidden in the shadows of a distant corner. It was a short cylinder with a rounded top, as big around as his hand, and unexpectedly heavy; he almost staggered with the weight of it as he picked it up. He examined it, somewhat perplexed; rather than a gem, it seemed to be made of metal itself, with a multitude of tiny lines inscribed on each of its surfaces. The intricacy of the work made its value obvious; but what did it signify?

"Syaoran?" The princess's light voice called down to him from above. "Have you found anything? Fai-san said there's nothing on the upper levels, just more rocks, and Kurogane has found the way out of here. We're going to keep looking elsewhere."

"I'm coming back up. Just a minute," Syaoran called back, and walked back over to the idol. He hesitated for a moment, not sure of which orientation was the correct one; but the raised channels and engraved lines only seemed to fit in one way, and he pushed the seal into place on the titan's chest with a solid, satisfying click.

Red light appeared around the socket where he'd pushed the amulet home, spreading rapidly outwards to illuminate a series of geometric lines over the surface of the idol. They dodged and bent at right angles symmetrically on either side, until running together in a final, almost blinding burst of red light on the center line. A single red orb flared to life, like an opening eye, almost ten feet off the ground. The lines of red light combined to form features very different from where they had appeared on the lifeless stone, outlining the visage of a creature not even intended to be human.

The light dimmed, then brightened, and the glass orb turned in its socket to focus down on Syaoran. Red light bloomed on his face, then blinked, as though with recognition. Then, with a crunching crack and hideous shriek of stone, the wall began to move.

"What the hell is that?" Kurogane's voice yelled from the gallery above; Syaoran backed hastily away up the ramp, too mesmerized and terrified to take his eyes off the thing. Scraping and thumping footsteps sounded from above and behind him, and he found himself abruptly backing into Kurogane's solid, black-clad form. The ninja looked past him to the the idol - thing - whatever it was, that was painfully and inexorably breaking free of the wall that had, apparently, confined it. He swore with such pure invective that Syaoran couldn't understand him; Mokona, apparently, either didn't know how or didn't care to translate.

Mokona itself popped out of Kurogane's mantle, where she'd been riding, eyes blinking open with a distinctive BOINK sound. "That's it!" she cried. "That thing has Sakura-chan's feather! It's much much stronger now!"

"Oh, does it now?" Kurogane growled, and reached to unsheathe Souhi.

The creature pushed its way free of the wall, and now Syaoran realized that it wasn't a creature at all; at least, not like animals or men. It was more like a machine, full of whirring gears and steel shifting levels, but a machine that could move itself and walk, with long tense multi-jointed limbs that ended in razor-sharp flanges. Red light shone here and there from cracks in the machine's sides, and from the single orb at the front of the machine's bobbing, blank-featured head. The red light made tracks on the walls as it swivelled and searched, before landing on Syaoran's face and fixing there. The machine lurched forward, scraping against the stone, and one deadly metal limb flailed in his direction. Syaoran was barely able to dodge it; it left a deep groove in the concrete wall.

"Looks like it's you that it wants," Kurogane observed, tightening his grip on his sword. "Stay back, kid. Let me take care of this."

"But Kurogane-san - " Syaoran objected, but Kurogane ignored him, deliberately moving to block Syaoran's way as he raised his sword to attack.

Sparks flew as Kurogane hacked at the machine. More red light begin to shine through the cracks as pieces of the metal surface were chipped away, and the machine flinched back. Clumsily, always a beat or two behind, it tried to dodge away from Kurogane's strokes, trying to bring up its metal limbs to block the savage blows.

"Syaoran-kun? Kurogane-kun? Is something wrong?" Sakura's face appeared framed against the sky above the ramp, her expression anxious.

"Princess, stay back!" Syaoran called out, and hurried up the ramp to try to push her away. "There's some kind of monster down there - it has your feather. Kurogane-san is fighting it now -"

A horrific metal screech sounded from below, and Syaoran turned around. The machine had drastically improved the speed of its movements, and was now blocking every swing with lightning-fast reflexes. Even as Syaoran watched it began to retaliate, metal limbs flashing forward in sharp arcs that Kurogane had to parry or block. Kurogane was on the defensive, backing slowly away across the floor, an outraged expression on his face. "This stupid pile of scrap - !" he exclaimed.

"What's going on? Those - those look like Kurogane-san's moves, somehow..." Sakura said, bewildered.

"It's..." Syaoran said, as he slowly tried to grasp the abrupt reversal of momentum. "It's learning from him..."

Kurogane leapt backwards to open some space, and set his stance, sweeping his blade forward in a roar of fire. "Hama ryu-ou jin!" he called, as the blast ripped across the metal monster.

It stuttered backwards, scraping across the rock floor - but out of the maelstrom of flame, one metal limb snapped forward and closed around the blade of the katana with a snap. Kurogane's expression of set fury abruptly changed to surprise, as it dragged him forward with immense strength, lifting him off his feet. He was forced to let go of the hilt of the sword or be whipped around like a rag doll, bashed into walls. As it was, the momentum of the swinging arm flung him a dozen feet through the air; he controlled his landing with a roll and came up on his feet next to Sakura and Syaoran on the ramp.

A light pattering of footsteps preceeded Fai's arrival, from where he'd been searching outside the building. "Kuro-puu? Children? What's all this noise about?"

The machine turned with a horrific creak, metal limbs flashing out to the side. In one pincer-like hand it held Souhi; and as they watched in horror, a familiar white light flared inside the red, and three other limbs began to morph and mutate, until they too ended in sword-shaped blades. Once again, the red light swiveled around until it fixed on Syaoran's face, and the machine began to lurch forward.

"Crap," Kurogane muttered, and then his strong hands seized Sakura and Syaoran's arms. "Run!"

They turned and ran, a surprised Fai joining them. They all pelted out of the building as fast as they could, the crashing sounds of the machine fading somewhat behind them.

"What exactly did you do,little puppy?" Fai's voice came from his other side.

"I don't know!" Syaoran yelped, trying to restrain the panicked hysteria that wanted to overtake him. "All I did was, was, there was a piece that was broken off, and I put it back in place. And then it came to life!"

"Idiot!" Kurogane snapped, cuffing Syaoran soundly across the back of the head. "Didn't you learn anything from that Piffle world? If something has the equivalent of a big, red blinking button saying 'DO NOT PUSH,' then don't push it!"

"It's funny that Kuro-pun should be the one to say that," Fai said thoughtfully, "because as I recall it, wasn't he the one who pushed that button and caused all that trouble in the first place?"

Kurogane's color darkened, and he growled, "Exactly who pushed what is not the issue here! The problem is, we've got to figure out how to get the feather back from that - thing! Swords are no good against it, that's for sure!"

Fai laughed. "To think that we'd ever hear Kuro-pun say that! I wish I had a piece of paper and a pen to write this down, that Kuro-warrior said -"

"Shut up!"

"Don't worry Fai! Mokona will record the date and time and remember Kuro-pun's words exactly!"

"Shut up!"

They stopped for a moment, winded, in a broad deserted square, a four-way intersection of the grey flagstone roads. A creaking, crashing sound came from behind them. Syaoran glanced behind them, and saw a cloud of dust rising from where the machine had knocked down a wall in its pursuit.

"It's getting faster," Fai observed, and quickly glanced round their party, "and we're getting tired. We can't just run from it forever."

"Hide - in here," Kurogane ordered them, pushing the gasping Sakura and the chagrined Syaoran into a sheltered enclave, out of sight.

"This is all my fault," Syaoran said, feeling wretched. "I - I did something stupid, and now all of you are in danger. I should go back and fight it myself..."

"No chance in hell," Kurogane said, at the same time Fai chimed in with "Don't be silly, Syaoran-kun!"

"But I -"

"That thing is after you most of all," Kurogane said pointedly. "Sending you to walk right into it would be worse than stupid."

Fai grinned at him, and tousled a hand through his hair. "Besides, what kind of parents would we be if we just let anyone target our son?"

"Fai-san..." Syaoran whispered, his eyes prickling. He nodded vigorously, not trusting his unsteady voice.

Fai rose gracefully from his crouch, and looked around the little rock enclave. "I have an idea. You three stay here - I'm going to lead it off."

"Be careful, mage," Kurogane growled, gruffness masking concern; Fai gave him a cheery grin and a wink.

"Don't worry about me. Just take care of the children like a good daddy, okay?" Fai laughed, ruffled Syaoran's hair, and was gone.

Once safely away from the others, Fai had no trouble locating the machine from the increasing roar of noise it left in its wake. He glanced around and located a diagonally crumbled patch of wall; with a swift running start, he jumped onto the makeshift ramp and from there onto the roofs.

The machine spotted him quickly; he saw the red orb that served as its eyes swivel, and the light flared briefly as it fixed on his face. The machine seemed to hesitate for several moments, sweeping the beam here and there across the ruins as though seeking some other target; but Kurogane and the children were well hidden. He hopped closer, making as inviting a target of himself as he could; finally with a grinding roar, the machine changed direction and began to follow him.

He led the monster off on a merry chase across the city, jumping from rooftop to rooftop. He had to manage his balance carefully; stone was stone, but much of the mortar had crumbled over time, leaving the stones to topple unsteadily away from each other; and everything was coated with the same slippery, damp green moss.

At last, having swung around in a broad circle to approach their starting point from the different direction, Fai jumped down from the rooftops, took a sharp right turn, and sprinted for the building he had spotted earlier. It was a low factory building of some kind; the hard stone yard around him, littered with still and quiet machines and huge metal canisters, was bordered by a steep bare slope that fell off into a deep ditch, ovbiously some sort of waterway long since gone dry. As he'd hoped, the machine tried to turn more sharply to cut across his path; not being able to see over the rooftops, it didn't see the culvert between them until it came to it, and after a moment's hesitation it lurched down the steep slope to try to cut across it.

That was what he'd been waiting for. Fai went to the metal canisters lining the slope, rusted and corroded and exuding a strong reek of oil that reminded him of the mechanics' bays in Piffle, gone stale and old. The metal turned out to be thin - barely a skin - and he jumped back as a wave of heavy, dark liquid came bursting out of the vats to flood over the rock and into the ditch.

The machine jerked and shuddered as it tried to claw its way up the slick, oily slope, but its metal appendages could find no purchase, and its great weight dragged it back to the floor of the ditch again, coating itself even further in the pool of oil. Fai let out a little breath of relief. As he'd hoped, the machine was too heavy to make it up the steep, slippery grade.

A high-pitched, mechanical whine sounded from the interior of the machine, like some steam valve had opened; as before, white light flared in the center of the glowing orb, and the form of the machine began to morph and change. This time, the leg-appendages of the machine folded into the body and rounded, thickened, until they resembled a set of long, rough treads on either side of the machine, notched and segmented like a caterpillar. With another whine and a lurch, the machine set those treads to the earth and began to haul itself slowly, but steadily, up the oily slope.

"Hyuu," Fai made a noise that was almost - but not quite - a whistle, observing the machine's progress. "It really does learn."

His hands went to the pocket of his vest, and he took out the small, folded paper packet that he'd picked up in the last world. Opening it, he tore off one of the flimsy metal sticks and struck a spark, the match flaring into fire in his hands. After a quick glance to make sure that he was not standing in a puddle of his own doom, he tossed the flaring stick of wood into the lake of oil below.

A wave of fire roared up, as the flame quickly caught and spread over the cascade of oily liquid below them. Fai crouched on the lip of the culvert, arms folded over his knees as he watched the rapidly growing sheet of flame lick upwards from the bare rock, sending waves of heat against his face. The machine, half-mired in the pool of oil as it was, could not get out of the way in time, and within seconds it had been engulfed in a blinding ball of flame.

"Fai-san!" Fai looked up to see the others coming across the deserted yard towards him, attracted by the noise and light of the bonfire. His smile faded, though, as expressions of shock and horror blossomed on their faces. Hearing a menacing whine behind him, he turned.

The machine, still streaming fire from its carapace and belching a heavy cloud of black smoke, shuddered and began to lurch into motion once more, grinding its way up the slope. Fai yelped in consternation and retreated from the edge of the ditch, sprinting across the vacant yard to join the others, reversing their momentum. As the machine crested the lip of the culvert, a fountain of burning black oil sprayed from its crown to mix with the cloud of smoke above, coming down in a stinging, infernal rain.

"Oh, great!" Kurogane shouted sarcastically, over the noise of the inferno. "Now it's coming after us, it's invulnerable, and it's on fire! Great work, wizard!"

"It's funny that Kuro-pyro should be the one to say that," Fai snapped in return, "since the way I remember it, that one time in Outo, wasn't it him who set fire to that oni when we were -"

"Exactly who set fire to what is not the point here!" Kurogane said hurriedly. "Anyway, we'd better find some shelter."

Fai looked wildly around them. Although the roof of the factory building behind had crumbled to time, the walls were made of much stronger and sturdier materials than the other buildings of this decaying city. "In here, quickly!" He urged the children inside, with Kurogane following behind to guard their retreat. They ducked in through a rusted-out metal doorway, barely wide enough to admit them and far too small for the machine; although it slammed against the walls and tried to thrust its metal-bladed limbs through the portal anyway, flailing wildly in Syaoran's direction as it heaved its weight against the walls. But although chips of rock shivered their way onto the floor, the walls held; the machine retreated sullenly and began to grind its way around the building's perimeter, seeking another way in.

"I think we have a good idea what happened to all this world's other people," Fai said, somewhat breathlessly. "They were destroyed by their own creation."

"Why is it after Syaoran-kun, anyway?" Sakura fretted. "What did he ever do to it?"

"Well, besides waking it up in the first place, that is," Kurogane added.

"I'm sorry!" Syaoran said miserably. "I just felt... sorry for it, that's all. I didn't know this would happen!"

"It's not your fault," Sakura reassured him firmly, although Kurogane muttered in the background. "You couldn't have known."

"Well, he was the one who woke it up," Fai reasoned. "His was the first face it saw when it came out of slumber. Perhaps it's... imprinted on him somehow."

"Imprinted? Like a baby bird?" Sakura was struck by the comparison. "You mean, it thinks Syaoran-kun is its parent?"

"Don't get confused, Princess," Kurogane said grimly. "It's not a pet, or a baby. It's a killing machine."

"But in some ways, it is like a child," Sakura said slowly. "It learns by watching its parent - or the people around it. If all it knows how to do is hurt and kill... then that's all anyone has ever shown it."

Their conversation was interrupted by a high, ominous whistling sound from behind them. They glanced behind them to see a blazing fireball traveling in a high arc towards them, centered directly on Syaoran's position. Fai grabbed the boy around the waist and pulled him quickly out of the line of fire, while the others, not so close to the target, moved hastily out of the strike zone. The fireball exploded on the damp mossy rock, sending burning debris skittering in all directions before it went out.

A descant of whistling noises heralded the approach of more firebombs, more than one this time. Kurogane muttered a curse, tore off his cloak, and wrapped his hands with it in order to protect them. As the second and third fireballs neared them he raised his fabric-wrapped hands and deflected them off to the side, wincing when a little bit of burning debris grazed his face. Another volley of fireballs followed on, and Kurogane yelled over his shoulder, "Another plan would be nice right about now!"

"We could leave," Fai suggested quietly. "Mokona?"

The white creature popped up her head. "Mokona can transport everybody," she agreed. "But if we leave now..."

"We can't!" Syaoran cried. "That thing still has the Princess' feather! If we leave now, we'll never get it back!"

"Then Sakura-chan should be the one to say -" Fai turned towards the girl, then started to find she was no longer by her side. "Sakura-chan?"

The ginger-haired girl had wriggled out from behind their shelter, scrambled down the intervening slope, and was walking steadily across the open ground towards the machine, while fireballs arced through the air over her head. "What are you DOING?" Kurogane yelled, batting yet another fireball away.

Fai lunged towards the wall, then stopped with his hands braced atop it, eyes narrowing. "She's not attacking it," he murmured.

"Of course she's not! She wouldn't even know how! Why aren't you going after her?" Giving the mage a deeply irritated look, Kurogane threw down his now singed and tattered cloak and began to scramble over the wall himself.

Fai caught him by the arm, holding him in place. "No - watch," he said. "She's not attacking it. And... it's not attacking her."

Indeed, the machine had halted in its progress, its lethal weapon-limbs quivering in uncertainty as it tracked her progress suspiciously. It seemed uncertain how to respond to this new approach, moving this way and that without effect.

Sakura raised her face to the machine; her words floated faintly back to them. "It's all right," they heard her say quietly. "It's not your fault. You never wanted to hurt anyone, did you? You were just doing what you were told. It's all right now - you don't have to fight anyone any more."

The machine reared back, parts clicking nervously as it backed away, but the princess never faltered in her steady approach. She was right up to it now, within the circle of those deadly appendages, but Sakura never faltered; she reached up and put her hands on the still-warm, singed and scratched surface of its carapace, and rested her cheek against it. "It's all over," she murmured. "They're all gone, and you don't have to be alone any more."

Slowly, the machine relaxed from its attack-readiness state, its weapons lowering. As the other three watched, transfixed, Sakura calmly reached up, took hold of the metal seal in the monster's chest, and lifted it free.

The machine shuddered, the high-pitched hum and whine of gears from inside it abruptly scaling down to slow silence, the red light dimming and flickering, then going out. The metal bulk of it slumped forward - Sakura backed hastily away, both hands still clutching the metal key, to avoid being struck by it in death.

"Princess!" Syaoran cried, and vaulted over the stone wall to run forwards; Kurogane and Fai followed behind.

As they approached, the mechanical humming concentrated near the top of the machine, from behind the glass orb that had served it for sight; a white light began to glow and spread where the red light had previously emanated, before resolving into a white feather, floating serenely down from the now-still bulk of the machine. Sakura reached up and plucked it out of the air, her eyes going wide as it shimmered andf melted into her grasp. She swayed dizzily and began to fall.

Syaoran reached her before she could hit the ground, catching her in her arms. She was not quite unconscious, eyes blinking slowly and muzzily up at him. "Princess, what were you thinking?" Syaoran cried, scolding worry for her rash actions warring with relief. "Going out all by yourself like that? You could have been hurt!"

"I... thought..." Sakura whispered, then mustered a beautiful smile towards him. "I didn't want... Syaoran-kun to be hurt, either..."

Syaoran expelled a breath on an unsteady laugh, weakly echoed by Sakura; then her body relaxed, as she slipped down into the unconsciousness that commonly followed the retrieval of a memory. Syaoran wondered what she was remembering this time; and if he had once been in that memory. Giving in to a sudden impulse, he bent over and kissed her gently on the lips.

"All right, kid, break it up," Kurogane appeared at Syaoran's side and gave him a light cuff on the side of the head. He had Souhi safely back in her sheath, having retrieved her from the dead grasp of the machine. "I know you're happy she's okay, but a post-battle high is no reason to go around kissing people!"

Fai popped his head up from the other side of the metal hulk, resting his elbows on the crest of the carapace. "It's funny that Kuro-papa should be the one to say that," he chirped, "since as Irecall, that one time in Yama after the moon battle, he was the one who kissed -"

Kurogane colored a deep, fierce red. "Exactly who kissed whom is not the issue here!" he roared. "Hey, meat-bun! That's the only feather in this world, right?"

"Nope, there aren't any others," Mokona chimed in, "although Mokona thinks that Kuro-chuu isn't in a position to call names, since in this world he turned out to be useless!"

"Hey!" Offended, Kurogane went after Mokona with both hands, but the little creature laughed and danced out of his reach, making kiss-kiss noises and singing some garbled nursery rhyme. Kuro-chuu and Fai, sittin' in a tree -while Kurogane did his best to strangle her.

"Well, that's that then," Fai said, blithely ignoring the whole by-play. "Since there isn't anyone to say good-bye to in this world, it's time to move on, wouldn't you say?"

"But, Fai-san," Syaoran said, picking up a heavy metal object from where it had fallen from Sakura's hands and holding it up, "what should we do with this?"

Fai glanced at the still, chilling hulk of the machine, the last living thing in this world. "Well... I think that without Sakura's feather, this machine would not have any power to run even if some other traveler were to come this way," he said. "Nevertheless, perhaps we should take it with us - to remember this world by, if nothing else." He met Syaoran's eyes and gave him a smile. "It seems too sad that this whole country should just be forgotten, don't you think?"

Syaoran's face melted into a smile, and he nodded. "Thank you, Fai-san," he said, and he put the little device away in his satchel.

Fai stood up and clapped his hands, starting over towards Mokona and Kurogane. "That's enough, you two, stop playing around," he called cheerfully. "We've got to set a good example for the children, and anyway, it's time to go!"

Mokona came bounding over, babbling happily, and Kurogane followed after more slowly, still shooting resentful glances at his tormenter. Fai grinned at him and grabbed his hand; and although he snorted and looked pointedly in the other direction, he returned the grip and did not look go, even when Fai dragged him over to gather all five of them together in a bear hug.

White light fountained and flared, then faded, leaving the grey world as empty and silent as before.

~end.

Author's notes: I'm not very good at describing mechanical things, sorry; since none of the travelers came from a very technologically advanced world, they don't really have the vocabulary to describe all the things they see. But the machine itself was based partially on the hunter-seeker machines from The Matrix, and partly on the Fabrication Machine from the movie 9. And its ability to morph its component parts was an effect of the feather; without that it couldn't have changed itself.