The Dragon Prince

Er Taizi

It was dark.

Syaoran stepped through carefully, heart thundering in his chest. He could not see anything, much less whether the prince was even there.

" Xiaolang!"

The familiar voice, edged with strain, resonated in the dark cell loudly, before being followed by the sound of chains.

They chained him up. Syaoran thought, feeling ill as he stepped back, frightened. Just how dangerous is he, now?

" Xiaolang!" This time, the prince's voice cracked, as if he was about to break.

Syaoran's heart pounded furiously in his chest as he lifted the light, illuminating the rusty stone walls.

Behind the iron bars, the Dragon Prince was clad in duller robes than Syaoran had ever seen him in. His left wrist was chained to the wall. It was the only part that was chained, but it was bad enough. He looked intently at the child when he stepped through again, but his tone was more subdued. He saw, the child knew, that Syaoran was not going to go away. Not if he came back. " Xiaolang."

Syaoran looked him over before replying. The prince looked pale and haggard. He was not dusty or dirty or injured in any way, but lines of stress crossed his eyes and his posture was more vulnerable than Syaoran could ever envision. What had transpired over the last year had clearly taken a toll on the deity. In those eyes, the noble wisdom was replaced with desperation, and now, silent, the prince's lips were pressed into a thin, grim line.

Syaoran held his gaze steadily for a while, but something made him braver, somehow, when before he had nearly been panicking with dread.

" Er Taizi." He said quietly.

Syaoran could not have known how beautiful his voice sounded to the prince. The dragon fell to his knees, the chains clattering. Startled, Syaoran barely managed to hold himself in place instead of leaping back in alarm. The chains prevented the prince from moving closer to the bars of the cell, but he reached out with his free hand to Syaoran in a voiceless plea.

Finding courage, somehow, Syaoran stepped closer to the bars. This person, this deity, had tried to kill him. He really should not endanger himself like this. But this was his friend, he knew. The same friend who, in his darkest, loneliest moments, had been there for him, had taken him out to the splendors of the open sea, the vastness of the skies, all so that a smile would grace his lips after a hard day. If the prince truly wished to kill him, Syaoran's life had already been his.

But the prince did not want to kill him. He took Syaoran's hands tightly, but squeezed, painful though it was, out of love and grief.

" Never thought I'd see you again." Er Taizi said softly. " You've grown."

" I'm eleven years old." Syaoran said softly, not pulling back, but trying not to wince, or do anything to betray his nervousness.

" Yes, yes, I know." Said the prince. " You are well?" He asked, looking up with shining eyes.

Syaoran originally had wanted to simply nod, but then he remembered being attacked. Saying it out loud felt awkward though, especially as the prince was so obviously distraught. " I have recovered, mostly." He said neutrally.

The prince's grip tightened. " I didn't do it." He said, almost crazed. " You must remember. You wouldn't have come if you don't remember. But it was long ago, for you, anyway, and you were young. But I loved you. I still do. I would never hurt you. Please believe me."

Syaoran was not sure what he wanted to hear, but he was stunned either way. " If you weren't the one, then who was it?"

" I…" The prince was speechless for a moment. " It was the Third Eastern Prince."

" Why would he do it?" Syaoran asked.

" I didn't do it." The prince's grip tightened.

Syaoran looked at him for a while.

" Why would the Third Eastern Prince do it?" Syaoran asked quietly.

" Because he thinks I killed his beloved." The prince said after a pause. " In fact he was the one that struck the killing blow, but he plans on getting revenge on me!"

Syaoran did not really need to know the details at the moment. " How?" He asked. " These are gods. How is he fooling everyone?"

" He stole my blood." The prince threw up his hands, his fingers stiff and cold and his face contorted in agony. " He had everything thought out." He then blinked, his expression smoothing out so it was once again stony. " I swear," He said at last, " I would never harm you, ever."

" I know," Syaoran reached out, and the prince stared at his hand stupidly for a moment. The dragon then looked up and stared at Syaoran. " I know. You're my best friend. You were what made me who I am. Besides, even if you wanted to kill me, I wouldn't object. My life was yours anyway."

The prince reached out, not taking his hand at first, and Syaoran realized he was crying. The prince he took Syaoran's hand, then lowered his head, squeezing it intensely, but Syaoran was no longer afraid.

" Don't say that." Said the prince. " If anything, my life was yours."

" We need to get you out of here." Syaoran whispered. " How do I get you out of here?"

The prince's head snapped up. " Don't." He warned, his fingers tightening around Syaoran's, though for a different reason now. " You'll get in trouble. Don't try to break me out."

" Well I need to do something." Syaoran hissed, frustrated. " You're innocent!"

The prince looked at him with watery eyes. " You're the only one that believes that." He said despondently.

" Well, we're going to change that."

The prince let out a laugh, but his eyes were full of endearment as he looked at the boy. " Syaoran, I have been dealing with these people for thousands of years. You are only eleven. If I am in this position, there is nothing you can do to change this."

" No." Syaoran squeezed his fingers back. " I can. Because I am eleven years old and I'm human and I was supposedly attacked by you. They'll listen to me."

The prince shook his head. " They're wise to that trick. Don't do it. You'll bring more trouble onto yourself. It's not worth it."

" Oh shut up!" Syaoran flung the prince's hand away, shouting loudly now. " You have no idea what it did to me, you leaving! You have no idea what you meant to me! You were the only person I had! The only person I had! If it weren't for you I'd be some bumbling wimp who by now is probably still in Hong Kong, locked away all the time so no one would know that the Li clan had someone like me. So don't you dare tell me what's worth it!"

He was crying, hot streaks of angry tears now, somehow not mixing with the seawater around him, and he heaved, not to sob, but to relieve the rage building in his chest.

" I won't let this happen to you." Syaoran promised with determination. " Tell me what happened. From the beginning."

The prince's breath caught for a second, and he sighed. " It's a long story."

" Well, I'm not going anywhere."

Syaoran even sat down, prepared for a lengthy stay.

The prince smiled a little. Yes, this child could be stubborn at times. Very well. He owed the boy that much.

" The Third Eastern Prince and I were never best of friends. We were never enemies before, but we were not close." He sighed. " Several years ago he met the sea nymph, Lina, and I guess they fell in love. I could not care less."

Syaoran did not respond. The only indication that he was listening was his familiar, intense gaze. Somehow it was comforting, knowing that some things have not changed.

Like his faith in me. He felt a little ill at that. He had basically abandoned the boy; not of his own choosing, but all the same. Still, the child…he had so readily believed in him.

Surely though, the boy had prevailed. His whole demeanor spoke of confidence, something that had not been there six years ago. There was that mature grace—Xiaolang will, indeed, become a great being. If he has not already.

" Go on." Syaoran prompted.

" I don't even remember her name." He shook his head. " I did not even know what she had looked like. It had been a stressful day, she posed as a servant girl and got me intoxicated and…" His face began to burn. Eleven years is very young.

" What happened?" Syaoran asked, not understanding.

The prince shook his head. " The Third Eastern Prince thought she was having an affair with me." He replied. " So he confronted me about it. She set me up." There, that would glide the story over nicely without tainting the young mind. " She actually did not love him. Was in love with the Water Scorpion, who had some mysterious grudge of his own with the Third Prince."

He glanced at Syaoran to see a long-suffering look on the child's face. " Did you expect this matter to be simple?"

" Iie." Syaoran replied unhappily. " But it all sounds retarded. How can gods have such—"

" They weren't gods." The dragon sighed. " They were lesser beings. Demons, if you will. The nymph was a water serpent. The Water Scorpion, well. But the Water Scorpion happened to be one of the lieutenants in my father's army of sea scorpions. He was very powerful, for his kind, anyway. I am not sure what his intention was. I had killed him when I learned that he was the one to set the Third Prince up." He sighed. " But that was later. The Third Prince confronted me, tempers rose, the Water Serpent got in the middle and he accidentally killed her."

The child swallowed. He wanted nothing more than to embrace the boy, but the chains prevented him from edging any closer to the bars.

" What happened then?"

" He somehow got some of my blood from the fight. I guess on his robes." He shook his head. " I had plenty of his on mine, after all. Later on I learned he was posing as me, stealing stuff from our uncle's palace. At one point he killed a servant while posing as me, and used my blood to make it seem like it was my magic that did it. That, by itself, did not matter all that much, but I was getting increasingly frustrated. I did not know what to expect, at the time. I guess I played right into his plot. People started doubting me, while he behaved all quiet and properly mourning, when in fact he was trying to get me. I was always a step behind. He moved too fast. I was always left to take care of the mess somehow, and before I could move on he had struck again. I had no idea he had so much time on his hands. Someone must have been posing as him, all the while, because no one ever noticed him gone, and he was always careful to strike whenever I was not seen. I tried to make a point of always having a witness, but then he started killing them too, somehow. I would leave the room for two minutes and then when I come back the servant would be dead, and people thought I was responsible."

The child looked miserably at him. " And then he posed as you and hurt the King before coming to get me?"

The prince nodded. " I am sorry, Xiaolang."

" How did he know about me?"

The prince bit his lip. " I spoke of you. Often." He lowered his head. " I wanted to remind my family that I had someone above the sea that I care about. I was hoping my father would take the hint and allow me to visit you…before…"

" Before I die?" The boy's eyes were glistening again.

" I don't know if you understand." The prince said softly. " A hundred years passes so quickly. I was afraid that you would die for decades and I wouldn't even know. Heck, what if something killed you and you didn't even get to live that long? There wouldn't be a way for me to know. My duties would have occupied my time so thoroughly."

The child wrung his hands in distress. " So he came to get me? Does he hate you that much?"

The prince just sighed.

Syaoran rubbed his eyes in an effort to calm himself.

" How come no one noticed how obvious everything was?"

" I was always surprised. I didn't hide my surprise well."

" So?"

" They thought I was just berserk." The dragon smiled wryly.

Syaoran rubbed his eyes again. " Ugh. I can't believe this is happening."

" It'll be alright." The prince looked at him sadly. " I'm sorry you got caught up in this, Xiaolang."

" It's fine." Syaoran shook his head. " It wasn't your fault."

This reminded the prince of something the boy had said earlier.

" What did he hit you with?" The prince asked, remembering how his father had, irately, thundered that the spell he allegedly used was barbaric. Syaoran had said he recovered. It sounded like he meant he had just recovered.

" He hit me with a spell."

" What spell?"

Syaoran was silent.

Frightened now, the dragon stood. " What spell, Xiaolang?"

" It doesn't matter. I'm better now."

" Xiaolang, don't alienate me like this." The prince begged.

Syaoran paused. " He hit me with Scavenger's Mouth."

Horror flooded him. Scavenger's Mouth—was it not enough that he had tried to kill the child, but that bastard actually hit him with—

" What are they going to do with you?" Syaoran broke into his thoughts.

The prince did not answer. He just stared at Syaoran in dismay.

Syaoran understood his silence. " I won't let them."

" Xiaolang—"

But Syaoran had rushed from the room, the door swinging closed on its own accord. He turned back at that, but decided it was not important. Inside, the prince yanked furiously at the chains. " Xiaolang!" He cried out. But the child would not be able to hear him.

Scavenger's Mouth, the boy got hit with Scavenger—he actually used that spell—the dragon began pacing. What is he going to do?

" Ready to go?" The jellyfish guard asked outside. " Any longer and I would have been worried about some secret plotting." He gave Syaoran an apologetic look.

Syaoran turned to his friends, his expression stony. " Let's go."

Without a word, he started off. Sakura and Eriol exchanged a look, before wordlessly following him.