I'm just throwing this for the heck of it. This is an old story by the name of Bloody Mary that I took away a long time ago. The only difference is that I changed the protocol and it will be composed of the story of three girls but separate.

We have Li Hua, Niu (Sam) and Mary Jen. The stories will be written in the same order and all of the stories will connect with one another, with a weak connection between Li Hua's story and Mary Jen's. All of the stories will run in an specific order and some events may be related but will not be seen in the same point of view as one another. The stories may have inconclusive endings.

Be warned: some details may be changed to accommodate the characters or the plot into the timeline.

Also be warned there will be the next pairings: xOCx (no official mention of the pairing(s)), ZY/XQ, SC/DQ, Lady Wu/SJ/Wu Guotai. As you can see Li Hua's story will occur partly in Wu.

Final warning: there will be adult themes like - rape, abuse against women, lots of angst and maybe an unhappy ending.

And to make this official: Disclaimer - I do not own character's in this story besides any background character and my official OCs (Li Hua, Niu (Sam) and Mary Jen.

As a final side note, words with a number at the end of it will appear with a definition at the end of the chapter.


Bloody Mary: The Essence


Chapter 1: When One Questions Her Origin


It had been many days since he had seen her, and also too many months since he had touched her. But more sadly it had been many years since she had been sent away.

She was a beautiful woman, a woman comparable to the beautiful Diao Chan, but she was also taken. She was taken and it was his fault, her suffering being engrained into his mind as he imagined the pain she must have gone through for all the past years. A pain that on her behalf would double as her body had to act, against her heart and mind. But all was done for duty and not out of love. The hope for survival was more than what one could have ever imagined.

Zhou Yu walked around the palace a few days after she had been given away to lord Cao Cao. Her pain was the same pain that he would forever share with the distance. It was the pain that no one understood, the pain that came from a broken heart. And not even his beautiful wife could pacify the regrets that would accumulate over the years, until said regret consumed him.

Xiao Qiao wasn't happy. Even her bubbling personality seemed to drop as she tried to connect with her stranded husband. Her unfruitful marriage was part of her unhappiness. Her husband was stranded in a way only a man suffering could have been. And their marriage was deteriorating. Xiao knew that something had to be done soon. She knew of the results she imagined but had no route determined to take control over her and his happiness, their marriage dying like a wilting flower.

It was from afar in one of Wu's main base that she observed her husband. The man walked with a firm footstep, each step an indicator of health and virility. But no man could disguise forever his suffering, because as his wife, Xiao knew better than anyone of the façade he carried around. Their shared bed having been abandoned by him during the long nights she stayed awake staring at the ceiling, their union seemingly forced. Long gone were the days of their shared nights.

"Xiao?" a voice asked from behind the petite woman, a voice she recognized from her elder sister Da. Xiao was about to turn around but was paused by the hand of her elder sister, she now stood beside her.

"Have I lost him?" Xiao asked the air as her eyes swelled with tears, her unhappy marriage becoming a base for her sadness. Far away but at her sight, her husband could be seen walking in no known direction, his back towards her as if he sensed her eyes trained on him.

"Give him time sister, a man can love all the women he desires. It is our duty as wife's to accept that sometimes, a concubine or a mistress may be more favored by him." Da Qiao said to her younger sister, the woman wisely knowing the duties of her kind. But she had no real competition. The past wife of Lord Sun Ce had passed away shortly before his wedding to her while she gave birth to his second child.

"But she was none of that to him." Xiao pouted knowing the situation her sister had at hand, a newborn that was not hers becoming part of the young woman's responsibilities. "He didn't even got to bed her," Xiao finished as she wondered how the interaction between the would have been concubine and her husband have been back in their days. Back in the days when Xiao was not part of Zhou Yu's life.

"Yes," Da began, her hand brushing a few strands of hair from her sister's face. "But when he married you, he promised you his loyalty as a husband. He is such a good husband to you that he even got to the point of sending her away." The older sister finished as she stared into the big eyes that made the younger Qiao attractive to the male kind.

"But why was she so important?" she wondered out loud, her mind going once more towards her fixation as she studied once more the composure of her husband. His back was still to her, his movements being planned as he if he knew that Xiao Qiao was observing him. Still he made no hint of recognition towards his wife.

"Sometimes to understand an actual event, you must study was happened prior to it." Da said as she fixed her eyes away from her sister and to the handsome man that could have had any woman of his dreams.

"That's something Zhou Yu would say." Xiao said quietly as she observed her husband meeting with her brother in law. Sun Ce was acting all exited, meanwhile Zhou Yu spoke to his best friend with a calm demeanor. "Do you think Sun Ce could tell me their story?" Xiao wondered as she noted a few similarities.

"I believe I have someone better for that." Da answered quietly as she and her sister saluted their husbands from afar, the younger sister moving slower than usual. "She was Lady Wu's maid, she must know the full story behind her."

"But she's not a very inviting person," Xiao told Da as both women had their eyes fixated on their husbands, both which were walking slowly in their direction. "Plus she's too busy overviewing the people's need." She finished as she recalled upon the duties of Lady Wu.

"Not that Lady Wu, more like… Wu Guotai, her sister." Da finished as the men came up to both females. Sun Ce gifting his wife with a kiss on the lips, meanwhile Zhou Yu put his arms around Xiao and gently kissed her head.

"So what are you two ladies up to?"

Four days had passed since Xiao knew of Wu Guotai. The woman gently accepted her visit, when the elder brothers of Shang Xiang distracted the young child and her younger brother, Lang. The room where both women were meeting was silent. A small table separated them both meanwhile the elder woman prepared a cup of tea for the early morning in which she met the wife of Zhou Yu.

Tipping the tea slightly the woman filled first a cup, once she finished filling two cups; she placed the china upon the table and sat down. "What can I help you with darling?" Wu Guotai asked the young woman as she accommodated her full figure into a more confortable position.

Xiao took and deep breath and without beating around the bush she asked, "who is Li Hua?"


(1) Wu Guotai - is the fictitious sister to Lady Wu wife of Sun Jian. She appeared in book Romance of The Three Kingdoms (RTTK)

(2) Sun Lang - fictitious son of Wu Guotai and Sun Jian, along with Sun Shang Xiang both are half brothers to Sun Ce and Sun Quan (RTTK)

Thank you for reading.

Edited: 10.20.2014
Edited: 02.25.2015