Author's Note: Short chapter, sorry ¬¬ But here it is anyway! Thanks for your support guys. I also just realised that I'm an idiot and had been spelling 'reins' as 'reigns' all the way up until now -facepalm- I'll edit it later, maybe.
XIV.
It took them about seven days on horseback to get to a relatively large town called Xi'an. On the way, the three had rested at Shijiazhuang and spent the night there, well guarded and respected. It was one of the closest towns to Beijing, and it's here that Xiao suggested looking in Xi'an first, though her theory, in Hwoarang's opinion, was strange.
What would a key be doing on a mountain? he thinks to himself.
Xiaoyu believes that the key is on Hua Shan, a large mountain near Xi'an. She's never been there but she just has a 'really strong gut feeling' and also thinks that her 'people will tell me how to get there, I'm a princess after all!'. Her theory is that when the keys were scattered, however long ago, they were placed in places that were really hard to get to, so only the strongest and most determined could get there. She thinks that Hua Shan is a good place to start.
And so they're climbing up the mountain. Xiaoyu is humming a Chinese song to herself, a smile still on her youthful, bright face. She also constantly looks over her shoulder, monitoring their three horses, making sure that they haven't run away or been released. Jin is silent and determined to not fall down. Whilst not deathly afraid of heights, he prefers to avoid them as much as he can. He's coping by not looking back or down, and only moving up.
Hwoarang is thinking on the information that he had been given in the Emperor's hall. It's consumed his mind. He wonders how and why the man had such time to see all of the world's prophecies. He also wonders why he is suddenly the servant of not only Korea, not only of China, but now the world, because by going on this journey, well…
His focus is suddenly broken. Holding onto the rocks from where he is, he watches the Japanese Prince ascend higher, and as he does, he furrows his eyebrows, "Hey Kazama, since when did your pants glow? Or a small part of them anyway. I think it's the key, Jinrei might be right about them being like a tracking device."
Both Jin and Xiaoyu stop and look, but it is the wrong move for the former. He suddenly becomes dizzy and clings to the cliff side. Hurriedly snapping his head back up, he looks to the blue sky, and its here he realises that the progress made so far was more than he had anticipated. Butterflies are floating around in his stomach, and he felt weak just from seeing how high up he is.
"Wait…" Hwoarang grins, "Don't tell me…" he climbs up higher, now exactly beside the frozen samurai, "You're afraid of heights."
He nods stiffly, his fingers aching from clinging to the rock so tightly, "Just a little."
He pauses. The Blood Talon had not been expecting the admission. Xiao is oblivious to what is going on below her, and she just keeps climbing. She's further oblivious to the Korean's current perving. His eyes drift from her behind to Hua Shan's horizon, and an idea forms. He takes another step up and looks back down at Jin, "Hey, come on. Keep up with me and you'll be up there in no time. Your feet will be on solid ground and it'll all be okay."
He nods again, however the manoeuvre is not as stiff as it had been. Exhaling sharply, he starts to climb. His head is by the other man's ribcage, and he hears soft encouragements. He smiles at this, it's a side he hasn't seen before. Since they started out on their journey, Jin felt himself growing closer and closer to him, to the point where, on his part anyway, he perceives them as friends. He's pretty sure that it's not the same on his end, but he assumes it is because he has a longer way to go in terms of trust and opening up. Maybe one day they'll be best friends and treat each other like brothers.
His unintentional pondering has him speed up, to the point where he is now two body length's ahead of Hwoarang. He grabs a tree branch to pull himself up more, and hears him call out, "There you go! Not much further now!"
As Jin ascends, the man who is spurring him starts to reflect on the decision he made in Shijiazhuang. Before drifting off to sleep, he decided that he was going to be a little more open and friendly around Jin. He deserves that much from him after all, considering what they had been through so far and what was to come. Not only that, but the Prince helped him help his homeland, and he risks being killed for treason should he return to Japan… all because he's fighting for what he believes in.
The least he could do is not be so much of a burden.
Xiaoyu is already at the top, breathing in as much air as she could. She says, "The air is so thin up here…"
"We're on a mountain, sweetheart," Hwoarang calls back sarcastically and playfully, "Of course it would be."
She rolls her eyes and gets on her knees, waving Jin up. She grabs a forearm with both of her smaller hands, and pulls him up. Jin is obviously pleased to be back on stable ground, if simply lying there and relishing the feel of the earth beneath his body is anything to go by. He eventually stands up and sees a small stone structure, like a shrine. He looks past his current position and sees stairs snaking up the mountain, "Why did we just climb up the cliff side if there's a set of stone stairs just there?"
Xiaoyu also looks, "…Wow. I didn't even notice."
Hwoarang's now standing beside them, rubbing his sore arms, "Well, we're going down those stairs when we leave," he turns to Jin, "Get the key out of your pocket. It's glowing brighter than it was before, and its transition between glowing and… not glowing was getting shorter and shorter the more you went up the mountain."
Jin fishes out the key and holds it in his hand. He starts to walk towards the building, watching as the key brightens and dims at a much faster rate than he had anticipated. Judging by the speed, he assumes that the second key is quite close by. Now all he needs to do is find out exactly where it is and then it's all good. Then they can go back down the stairs, return to Emperor Jinrei and have the two keys destroyed. But really, what about the other four keys then? Shouldn't he keep them and use them to find the others, then bring them all back? That makes a lot more sense…
He sees something glowing on the floor of the building. He knows it's the second key.
Running towards it, he shouts something to Hwoarang and Xiaoyu, and picks it up, inspecting it. They watch as the keys stop glowing, now along side one another. Smiling to himself, the samurai looks to the other two, "Well that wasn't so hard… It looks like your theory was correct, Xiaoyu. Thank you for your suggestion and thank you for your help."
She smiles and scratches her cheek, "You're welcome, Jin. Now let's get back to Beijing."
As they start to descend the stairs, Hwoarang smiles. He looks to the Japanese youth and whispers in his ear, "She likes youuu."
"No she doesn't," he replies smoothly, "She's just friendly."
Shrugging, he speaks again, "Don't look over the side of the stairs."
Despite being told not to, Jin still does, and he hurriedly speeds down Hua Shan's stairs, looking straight at the ground. The Korean laughs.
Jin feels uneasy.
Their return to Beijing is the same as it had been when they first arrived and departed – full of vibrant smiles and beautiful colours. But the air feels different, and he isn't quite sure why. The air feels sombre and dreary, despite such lively faces and colours. A lot of the people are gazing at Xiaoyu in a new type of light, as though… sympathetic, expectant and even wary. But for what? He doesn't know, but that feeling of restlessness swirls around in the pit of his stomach. It's very, very strong. He feels nauseous.
Considering the way Hwoarang is clutching Baek's reins, he knows that he feels the same. He glances at the man from the corner of his eye, before refocusing on the path before him. He begins to inhale and exhale at even paces and with even strength. Usually before a large battle, he would use this technique to try and relax himself, and dispel whatever nervousness he may or may not have been feeling. It's not working as well as it used to.
And like before, Xiaoyu leaps off of her horse and hands the reins to the nearest guard. The face of the guard, though, as opposed to being shielded and emotionless, is tinged with sadness. Jin and Hwoarang follow suit, giving their reins and thanking them with a small bow or wave, before jogging to catch up with the perceptibly pleased princess.
They walk down the long corridor as they had done two weeks ago, and its here that he notices that Xiaoyu is now also uneasy. She places one hand on one of the doors, and instead of throwing it open like she did beforehand, she inches it open slowly, peeking in through the crack to make sure that Jinrei isn't sleeping. He's always in a bad mood if woken up whilst sleeping.
Her eyes widen. She throws open the door and runs in, seeing Lei, Feng and Panda hunch over a crumpled form on the ground. Now she's standing over the scene. She hears Jin enter and gasp, and Hwoarang enter and curse behind her. She doesn't pay attention to anything around her, because her eyes and her world now have one focal point. Her stomach twists and she breathes in, not believing what she's seeing.
She's choking on her tears. Xiaoyu drops to her knees and places a hand on the bloody space, tracing the outline around his throat. There's still blood cascading down, and it occurs to her that the attack has been recent. The red stains his skin, and the white garments that he's wearing, and usually wears on a day to day basis. With an anguished howl, she buries her face into the chest of the murdered man, "Grandpa!"
Emperor Jinrei Wang of China is dead.