Character

Of Syaoran's group of allies, Fay is the most enigmatic. He appears to be happy-go-lucky and good-natured, and acts very carefree. He often teases Kurogane, calling the latter ridiculous nicknames. However, Fay has been shown to be as perceptive and skilled a fighter as Kurogane. He also appears to carry a deep emotional burden, and values his own life very little. In battle, Fay doesn't bother to fight very hard for his life, and will only do so if someone he cares for is in danger. Though he hides his unhappiness well, Kurogane is able to sense the disguise. When he confronts him about it, Fay usually gives very dark and enigmatic answers. His past is a profound motivating factor for his actions and is something Fay cannot seem to overcome; instead he masks it all with a smile.

Fay is emotionally distant, refusing to allow anyone to become too close to him. Despite this, Kurogane has noted that the mage has become attached to Syaoran and Sakura. Fay's behavior changes significantly after he becomes a vampire and is forced to regularly drink Kurogane's blood to survive. Fay becomes much colder and very solemn around everyone but Sakura, and begins addressing Kurogane by his real name. However, after the events in Celes, Fay seems to have gone back to the way he was at the beginning of the series, as he once again addresses Kurogane with strange nicknames, and he seems to give a real smile.^[1]

Fay worries about his companions and would go as far as breaking his own personal vows to ensure their safety. Kurogane confronts Fay about this, and states that Fay should figure out what he's doing with his present and future, because his past has nothing to do with either Kurogane or their younger companions.

Background

Fay is first shown sealing away King Ashura of Celes country at the bottom of a pool. He transforms his creation Chii^[2] (originally from Chobits) into a net-like shield, instructing her to alert him if King Ashura should awake. He then uses his magic to transport himself through dimensions, to the shop of the Dimension Witch, Yūko Ichihara.^[3]

Out of his traveling companions, Fay's motives for joining the group are the least clear. He is the only one to arrive at Yūko's shop purposefully, by use of his own means. His wish is to never return to Celes country, but as the price for this would have been too great, he travels worlds with the group instead. He fears King Ashura’s awakening, believing King Ashura would chase him through different worlds.

Celes and Leval Castle

In the beginning of the series, Fay is revealed to have come from the country of Celes. Little is known about his world except it seems to be a magical based country. Two of Sakura's feathers had fallen into the Celes world, and with that feather's power he was able to create Chii. He also imprisoned Ashura in a deep slumber, which Chii guarded until Ashura's awakening.

It is cited that Ashura resides in Leval Castle, a floating castle with wings. Celes country is covered in what appears to be an eternal blizzard

History

When Fay's past is finally revealed, it is shown that "Fay" was born with a twin named Yuui.^[5] In Valeria Country, the birth of the second prince's son was highly anticipated. Twins, however, were considered a bad omen. Shortly after their birth, the second prince died, and their mother committed suicide out of guilt, blaming herself for giving birth to them. Along with other misfortunes, the country's crops did not grow, and the water became tainted. In addition, the twins, when combined, bore powerful magic that rivaled that of the current king; when they grew up, they would have possessed power surpassing that of the king.

Loathing the twins, but fearing that even greater misfortune would arise from killing them, the king decided that the only way to stop the "curse" of the twins was for them to be unhappy. He gave them an ultimatum: have one kill the other or have them both locked up separately in a place where magic is ineffective and time does not flow. Since both refused to kill the other, they were thrown into a tower residing in a deep valley where the bodies of sinners were thrown. Fay was imprisoned atop the tower, and Yuui was confined at the base of the tower. Both were condemned to stay there "until the world's destruction."

However, despite the twins' unhappiness, the number of dead "sinners" dumped into the base of the tower began to grow. While Fay looked on from above, Yuui tried endlessly to climb up the prison so both Fay and himself could escape, even using dead bodies as a ladder, but the wall was too high for him to scale. As time passed by, the king of Valeria himself became insane; he executed every person in the country until only he, Yuui, and Fay were left before jumping into the valley himself and committing suicide in front of a horrified Yuui. He then reminded Yuui that their birth was the reason for the country's misfortune, and that Fay and Yuui would now "pay for that sin" by being the only people alive in Valeria.

Eventually, Fei Wong Reed appeared from another world, and offered them a chance to escape; the catch was, however, that only one of them would be able to, and they had to choose which one. Fay chose to save Yuui, resulting in Fay being thrown from the tower to his death. Fei Wong then tampered with Yuui's memory to make him think that Yuui had chosen to save himself at the cost of his brother's life, allowing Fei Wong to use Yuui's guilt in order to turn him into his servant. In order to bring his twin back to life, Yuui allowed Fei Wong to bestow two curses upon him; one curse was erased from his memory because Fei Wong felt that Yuui "had no need" to remember it. Fei Wong then told Yuui that someone would come to take him from the valley, and that to fulfill his wish of bringing Fay back to life, he would have to go on a journey with "a princess" (Sakura) and "a clone" (Syaoran) from another dimension, protecting the princess until she returns to her home country, and to kill any obstacles along the way, including "the witch's pawn" (Kurogane). Fei Wong also told Yuui that he would find a magical feather (Sakura's feather) in the country that he would soon be taken to, and that he should put that feather into Fay's body to prevent it from rotting. He also told him that he should begin his journey when he finds a second feather, which he should give to Sakura upon meeting to prevent her from dying early. Fei then leaves, reminding Yuui that he is his "pawn" until his wish and both of his curses are fulfilled.

Later, true to Fei's prediction, King Ashura came to Valeria from another world in order to retrieve Yuui and took him to his own country, Celes. When Ashura asked what Yuui's name was, Yuui said it was "Fay" in an attempt to erase himself, and therefore his "sins". Ashura later gave Fay the last name "Flourite", the name of a precious talisman mineral, and he eventually earned the title 'D', given to the highest magician in Celes. And thus, Yuui became the protagonist "Fay D. Flourite". He found his two feathers while helping villagers during an avalanche, and decided to use one to create a person in his mother's image who would watch over his brother's body even if he was not there, leading to the creation of Chii. Soon after meeting Ashura, he vowed that he would do whatever it took to bring his brother back to life, no matter whose life he had to steal in the process.

As time went by, Ashura became a father figure to Fay, tutoring him in magic and comforting him whenever he felt unable to overcome his dark past. When Fay discovered that he was unable to learn healing magic, and could only learn "magic that kills people", Ashura told him that his smile was magic in itself, because it too held the ability to heal others. Fay would later relay the same words to Sakura when she felt unable to be of use to Syaoran. In exchange for everything that he had done for him, Ashura asked Fay to promise that he would eliminate anyone who threatened Celes.

Knowing about Fay's first curse, and not being able to break it, Ashura traced a magical seal on his body in the form of a Phoenix tattoo, which suppressed his powers from growing any further. When Fay protested, knowing that the curse would be more difficult to fulfill if his powers continued growing, Ashura told him that Fay's first curse would break after it was fulfilled once, and he wanted to be the one that Fay would kill. Ashura then erased what he'd told him from Fay's memory.

Several years after Fay made his promise to Ashura, a mysterious and deadly monster began to attack and kill Celes's innocent civilians. Fay swore to defeat the beast, but found out that Ashura was the monster after he killed every single person in his castle and all the civilians had fled to other countries. Remembering how the King of Valeria had gone mad and executed everyone in the country, Fay at first blamed himself for what happened to Ashura, thinking that "the curse of the twins" was what had caused Ashura to kill. Then, Ashura told him that the more people he kills, the stronger his magic becomes, and he always knew that he'd someday become a murderer, even though he wasn't sure why. Fay realized that Ashura had brought him under his care for the sole purpose of killing him when he reached this state. Unable to bring himself to kill the first person who'd ever shown him kindness, Fay cast a spell on Ashura which put him into a deep sleep, but since no magic spell was permanent, the king would eventually awaken. In a desperate attempt to avoid having to face Ashura when he woke, Fay then used his magic to teleport himself to the Dimensional Witch, where he began his journey through different worlds with Syaoran, Sakura, Kurogane, and Mokona.

Story

At the beginning of the series, Fay vows that he would not use his magic again without the tattoo on his back, but breaks the vow when he creates a shield in Rekord Country around the group in order to save them. In the Tokyo arc, he again uses his magic to try and reseal, in vain, the living heart of Clone Syaoran. The clone then proceeds to eat Fay's left eye, which contained half of Fay's magic, saying he needed Fay's powers in order to get Sakura's feathers for himself. Brought to the brink of death from the shock of losing one eye, Fay resists attempts to save himself, reasoning that the clone would be unstoppable with his powers, but that the magic would perish if Fay dies.

Fay's request to die is ignored by Kurogane, who saves him by following Yūko's advice. Fay is then fed Kamui's blood and turns into a vampire, one with accelerated healing abilities but who needs to consume blood to survive. Because it is Kurogane's wish and not Fay's that he should live, Kurogane from then on has to take responsibility for Fay's life: the blood Fay received was mixed with Kurogane's blood, so that Fay can only feed from him. Fay now has to drink Kurogane's blood on a regular basis in order to survive; he literally needs to depend on the ninja to live. After these events, Fay stops addressing Kurogane by silly nicknames and begins to use his full name in order to distance himself. Fay confesses to Yūko that he had not realized how close the two of them have become, and that, if he forgives him for saving his life, they would be even closer.

Fay's outward behavior becomes much colder in the following volumes. He drops his joking and happy-go-lucky demeanor, and smiles less. His interactions with the rest of the group becomes very distant and formal. The exception to this is Sakura, whose behavior (at the time) is as dark as his. Fay grows close to her in their mutual suffering and pledges his unquestioning loyalty to the princess. When Sakura informs him of her wish, he promises to help her without informing the others and without asking for more details.

At the end of the tournament in the Infinity arc, it is revealed that Fay had a curse placed on him: he would kill anyone with magical abilities that surpassed his own. Seemingly possessed, Fay stabs Sakura after she receives two additional feathers; one from Chii, and another from a robot resembling Freya from Chobits. Yūko states that the additional feathers increased Sakura's magic, thereby surpassing Fay's halved magic. Sakura foresaw this in a vision, however, and made a wish to Yūko to prevent herself from dying: her body is taken to Celes and her soul to a dream world.

It is later revealed that Fay has lied to the group on several occasions. He lied about the whereabouts of two of the feathers; the first one, which he seemingly removed from Syaoran's clothing in Volume 1, was actually with him from Celes. The other one was the one he'd used to make Chii, which he pretended to know nothing about. After this revelation, he resolves to return to Celes in order to save Sakura's body, but a price had to be paid for the four of them to go to a specific country. Fay offers up everything that could be seen with his right eye in order to return to Celes, meaning that he would go blind (the actual price was the eye itself, as it contained his magic. However, taking it would have caused his death and Yūko cannot, under any circumstances, be the direct cause of a death). Hearing this, Kurogane hits him over the head, and everyone agrees to offer up a fourth of the price by handing over their tournament money. Fei Wong Reed, who is secretly watching the group, then states that Fay was supposed to have stabbed Syaoran (after the latter regains his original powers), but Sakura foresaw this and created a situation to activate Fay's curse before that happened. He also reveals that, even though Fay's first curse is now broken, he has yet another curse which only works in Celes.

Later, Ashura uses his magic to show Syaoran, Kurogane, and Mokona visions of Fay's tragic past. This causes Kurogane to unsheathe his sword and attack Ashura and Fay. Though Fay is horrified that his comrades now know the extent of his secrets and betrayal, he decides to fight back with magic to protect Ashura, and also due to his vow not to die before he saves his brother. The two engage in a fierce battle that devastates the room around them. In the mayhem, Kurogane damages the body of Fay's twin, and in that moment of weakness, manages to overpower Fay. Kurogane then turns on Ashura, demanding to know why he showed them Fay's memories. The king responds by saying that he only wanted Fay to "grant his wish" and kill him. Ashura then launches vicious spells against Fay, Kurogane, Syaoran, Mokona, and a defenseless Sakura's body in order to force Fay's hand. In the chaos that follows, one of the massive ice stagamites that he conjured pierces Kurogane in his right side. Fay becomes angry and attacks Ashura, retrieving Sakura's body and placing her with Syaoran for protection. Fay then finally decides to overcome his kindness and kill Ashura for the sake of both their wishes. The two fight, but Fay's lack of a will to live and the loss of his eye prevents him from fighting at full strength. Ashura overpowers him, and tries to kill Syaoran and Sakura in order to draw out his true power. However, Kurogane had survived Ashura's earlier attack thanks to Tomoyo's protective seal. He intercepts the attack and stabs Ashura with his sword, killing the king. The feather in Fay's brother's body then shows Fay the true reason for his death. It returns to Sakura's body and the corpse disintegrates, finally at rest. Mokona then begins transporting the group to the next world, while Fei Wong Rei watches on and states that Fay's second curse has been activated.

It is revealed that the second curse causes Fay's magic to create a form of cage, trapping the inhabitants in Celes. After he uses this large amount of magic, Fay declares that his magic does not get stronger the more he uses it -- in fact, the more he uses magic, the closer he is to death. With everyone trapped inside the small sphere and unable to transport to another world, Fay attempts to use the last of his magic to transport Sakura, Syaoran, Kurogane and Mokona. His intention is to sacrifice himself to save everyone else. However, due to his halved magic, Fay is only able to transport Sakura, Syaoran, and Mokona. A tired Mokona explains to Syaoran that the earring (a magic tool created by Yūko) he wears could be used as a mechanism to escape. Mokona also explains that the other Mokona told him of this in a dream. Syaoran takes it and light emerges as it creates a hole in the Celes sphere where Fay and Kurogane are trapped. However, the curse uses the magician casting the spell as the spells anchor-meaning Fay (the one casting the spell) cannot leave. As Fay had used up all his magic in evacuating the others, Kurogane is able to exchange the magic Fay had placed in his left arm for Fay. Kurogane does this by cutting off his left arm and leaving it behind in the sphere before grabbing Fay and escaping.

When Kurogane awakens, Fay is briefly seen entering his room. The two stare at each other a moment, before Fay punches Kurogane in the face with his left hand. As Kurogane looks up at him in disbelief, Fay smiles and states, "That was revenge, Kuro-sama."^[6] Their relationship seems to improve from there as Fay trades the blue color of his remaining eye to Yuuko for a false arm for Kurogane.^[7] Because he lives off of Kurogane's blood, Fay does not lose sight or die by offering up the last of his magic. After the deal is made, Kurogane, Syaoran, and Fay all smile at each other.

Abilities and magic

Fay's greatest strength was his magical abilities. Unlike previous magic-using characters created by Clamp, Fay's magic is "written" out as he casts it, either by using a magical staff or his hand, rather than summoning a magic circle like Yūko Ichihara, Clow Reed, and Sakura Kinomoto. The extent of Fay's power is only alluded to throughout most of the series as he refused to use it. However, he was the strongest magician in Celes prior to its destruction, and as children, was as strong as his country's king when his magic was combined with that of his twin brother's. He is also able to fight toe-to-toe against Kurogane and Ashura. There also seems to be an emotional element to his magic; the stronger his emotions are, the more powerful his spells. In an emotional breakdown after he discovers that he stabbed (and presumably killed) Sakura, his magical energy alone destroys the surrounding area.

The source of Fay's magical powers are his blue eyes. Since his powers are directly connected to his eyeballs, a loss of vision does not lead to a loss of magic. His powers are effectively halved when the clone Syaoran gouges out his left eye and consumes it in Tokyo. Now, the clone Syaoran possesses half of Fay's magical powers. Fay's powers will disappear when he dies, regardless of who is in possession of his eyes.

In addition to magical powers, Fay is also a strong and agile fighter able to knock back multiple opponents in battle just as easily as a Syaoran and Kurogane. Since becoming a vampire, he has also gained a healing factor as well as enhanced strength and speed.

 

Types of magic

Though sworn off magic, Fay is able to sense magic passively, such as detecting barriers. For example, he detects the source of power in the castle in Hanshin, and in the Central Library of Rekord. He is also able to detect magic within people, so he knew the Syaoran he met at Yūko’s shop was a clone and that Seishiro also possessed magical powers. Fay writes off these instances of detection as ‘intuition’ and common knowledge for anyone with a basic understanding of magic.

In addition to various forms of offensive magic, Fay has aptitude with seals, having sealed Ashura under-water at the beginning of the series. Additionally, Fay is able to create protective barriers by whistling,^[9] as demonstrated in the group's escape from Rekord country. He later claims that magic using sound is not the type of magic that he typically uses.

Fay confesses that he is unable to use healing magic after Sakura is injured in Tokyo. Though he has tried to learn many times, he always forgets the spells afterwards. He is also able to teleport to dimensions on his own, though for most of the series, he pretends that he could only do so once. Fay has also used magic to magically seal Kurogane's sword Souhi into his left hand, saying that if Mokona is not around or if they are separated, he could take it out of his hand in the same fashion as the real Syaoran.

Fay's magic is powerful enough to slow his aging process; however, according to his behaviour there are no reasons to suggest that Fay is much older than he looks. He was supposed to die if he were to loose all his magic as his life itself depends on it but later he was spared from this effect due to vampire blood.

 

Magical objects

Phoenix tattoo: At the beginning of the series, Fay sports a tattoo in the shape of a phoenix across his back, which he pays to Yūko as the "most precious thing" in order to have Yūko grant his wish to travel across dimensions. It is later revealed that Ashura bestowed this tattoo onto Fay, in order to suppress his magical powers; as Fay's powers grew, the tattoo's effects would weaken (his use of magic also weakened it). The tattoo itself would completely disappear when Ashura dies.^[10]

Magic staff: Fay first traveled with an ornate, magical staff, which facilitated his spell casting. After he vows to not use magic without his tattoo, he makes a trade with Yūko: his staff in return for a method to enter the castle in Koryo Country

Curses

Fei Wong Reed had placed two curses on Fay, however, he is now free of both these curses:

• The first curse causes him to kill anyone possessing greater magical power than himself; this curse activates automatically, leaving Fay in a trance-like state and powerless to control his own actions. The curse is activated when Sakura gains two more feathers in the Infinity arc, but she saves herself by using a robot she had won to transport herself to another dimension. Since this curse can only be fulfilled once, it has now been broken.

• The memory of the second curse was erased from Fay's memory because Fei felt that he had "no need to remember it". This curse is activated when somebody other than Fay kills Ashura. Later, it is revealed that the second curse is that he would use his magic to suck up the world of Celes and trap everyone inside