The home felt empty, his bed felt empty, his mind felt uneasy, his chest in pain from a heartache. Xiang lay in the double bed of his home that the Emperor had given him and...Mei...him and Mei...

Xiang had nightmares ever since that day, all of them about Mei. Once he dreamt of a young Mei, looking down into a blood filled lake, her neck was slit and blood was running down her chest. Her eyes were red and the child looked up at mature Xiang. Xiang asked if she was Mei, she smiled in an evil way and Xiang knew she was not Mei, but the demon inside.

Her eyes crimson red, she looked deep into Xiang and said with a deep male, demon voice,

"Xiang...she's dead now" and laughing manically.

Another dream Xiang had was with mature Mei. He was in the town square at the dead of night and Mei was standing in front of him, her back to him at first. Xiang outstretched his hand,

"Mei?" He said worriedly, Mei's head shot up rapidly, so rapidly it was abnormal. Suddenly Mei turned around, there were wounds all over her from where the whip had actually cut her, there were tears in her eyes and she was looking right at Xiang. A pained look upon her face, her heart in shatters, her trust sucked away. She smiled slightly but was reminded of his betrayal of her and a sad pale face replaced it, she outstretched her hand and Xiang was about to take it, to comfort her but Mei said.

"X-Xiang...it...it wasn't me.." She wailed, it pained Xiang to see her cry so much but by the time he was about to reply the dream ended.

So Xiang was sat there in his bed, leaving the space where Mei would be empty, her absence was frightening and abnormal to Xiang. He sat up in the bed, ruffling his hair and looked over at Mei's necklace. He got up from the bed and walked over to it, he gently picked it up and examined it, it was a very old locket, maybe belonging to her mother, it looked like generations had used it. He looked inside it and found two Chinese readings one for 'Xiang' and one for 'Demon'. Xiang swiftly closed it and promised something to himself, a mental message.

"I cant believe she did this for much longer, my Mei wouldn't do that...my Mei isn't here...Mei, I will come for you..."

Xiang slipped on the necklace to keep it with him and to keep her with him.

He was wrong about her and he didn't know if she would forgive him or not..

...

Francesca had only just woken up from her slumber to find Arthur knocking at her bedroom door, she looked over and said, "Come in, Arthur"

The man entered and smiled at his wife, he sat down on the edge of her bed and held her hand, "Morning Francesca..."

"Arthur? What's wrong?"

"I just...don't like you talking to Mei. Please stop"

"What, why?!"

"She's poisoning your mind, Francesca. It isn't good for my son"

Francesca became red in the face, she opened her mouth but nothing came out. Arthur raised an eyebrow,

"Francesca? What's wrong? Are you sick?"

She looked at him straight in the face and said, "Arthur...I checked with the doctors and they sense that the child is a girl...not a boy.."

Arthur was still for a few moments, then he looked down and and stood from the bed. Francesca felt like he wasn't okay and asked if he was, Arthur came back into the bedroom with his sword and looked at her dead in the eye.

"A-Arthur! What are you doing?!"

"I will not behead you...it's that girl...she has contaminated you...so she must die!"

Arthur raced down the staircase, down to the prisons below, Francesca immediately got up in her nightgown and ran after him, cradling her stomach in one hand as she ran after him.

"Arthur! Please don't kill her! Please!"

But Arthur was ignorant, his eyes were fuming with rage and any noise was merely blocked out. He opened the secure metal door to the prisons and saw Mei imprisoned in the end cell, with her in his sights, Mei looked at him also and could tell he was going to do something rash, Mei backed herself up against the cold wall as Arthur stormed up to the locked cell. He grasped the door and swiftly tore it off out of brute strength even though it had been bolted shut.

Mei backed herself up, panicking and breathing heavily. Arthur outstretched his hand and grabbed her jet black hair, without even caring he dragged her out of the cell. Mei winced in pain as he grabbed her hair in a bunch that hurt so much, her head was pushed onto the ground. Mei looked up, blood trickling down her forehead.

Arthur wrapped his hand around her neck, keeping her to the floor, squeezing very hard on her wind pipe. Mei choked, scratching her hands on his arm, wanting him to let go. She was trying to get a word out but was losing breath.

Arthur poised his word and was about to strike her in the stomach when he heard the distressed voice of his wife, "ARTHUR!"

He looked up to see Francesca, mad but distressed at the same time. She walked up to Arthur and pushed him away, forceful for a woman of her time. She kept pushing him,

"What the hell do you think you're doing?!"

She pushed him further.

"SHE did not poison my womb and turn this child into a female!"

She pushed him harder, he was getting more mad.

"OUR child is a girl! MEI is innocent"

She pushed.

"I SWEAR TO HELL IF YOU DO NOT LISTEN TO ME AND SPARE THIS GIRL I WILL NEVER BIRTH YOUR HEIR"

She pushed him harder for the last time. The rage inside Arthur heightened off the charts and he grasped his sword and thrusted it into his wife until it stopped.

He looked up at his wife, she looked distraught, in pain and broken. Tears were falling from her face and Arthur came to the realisation of what he had done, he murdered his wife and their only child.

Francesca smiled weakly, life draining from her body, she raised her weak hand to Arthur's cheek, smudging blood on his skin and she whispered,

"I loved you...once..."

With that, Francesca's body fell to the floor into a corpse. A horrible stab wound in her stomach, bleeding too much blood for a normal human, there were two people bleeding after all.

Arthur wasn't going to cry over an arranged marriage, he had told her that he loved her, but he only had to. She loved him, for real, not for an alliance.

Arthur looked up and Mei who was distraught at the murder of her only friend in the kingdom, Arthur suddenly had an idea and smiled in an evil way. He dropped his sword and went towards Mei, she looked up at him panicked until he grabbed her neck and slammed her into the wall. He looked into her eyes, as did Mei.

"You'll do..." He said, Mei looked at him in confusion, Arthur pressed up against Mei and smiled. Mei caught on and tried to wiggle out of his way but Arthur was strong.

"No...don't!" Mei shouted at him, "Please...I-" she was silenced with his lips against hers, it was hardly gentle, more forceful. Mei didn't like it and tried to move away but she was up against a wall and couldn't do much.

When he pulled away, Mei wanted to cry, she was going to be his sex slave, she knew it. Arthur turned to one side and shouted for the guards,

"Guards!" Two hench guards appeared, "Take her to my room, strip her, wash her and prepare her for tonight. Oh and...burn the corpse"

...

Xiang was packing all of his clothes to go out that night, he shoved a blanket into a bag when a feeling came over him like a wave, a wave of fear...he remembered that sometimes he could sense how Mei was feeling. Their emotions were connected by their relationship..
He could feel her fear, her vulnerability...her memories replaying in his head.
He could hear the echoes of her screams in his head, 'No! Don't! Please!'

Xiang was panicking, Mei was in trouble, little snippets of her old memories of molestation were playing in Xiang's head and he was unable to stop it. For several minutes, the overwhelming thoughts were too much and resulted in him falling to the ground, a migraine forming from the thoughts.

He came back up to his feet and took a deep breath, preparing himself for the journey ahead. He strapped his bag to his bare body and walked out of the home, the locket dangling on his collarbone.

He stroked the locket thoughtfully, thinking of Mei, gracing the intricate patterns covering the oval shaped necklace. He looked over at the bedside cabinet, on the surface there was a small painting of Mei done by a street artist. It looked exactly like Mei and she was smiling, lovely soft black hair trailing past her shoulders and her beautiful eyes.

Xiang picked up the picture and looked at it, he tucked it in his back between his bottoms and his skin and kept it there. He was going to the kingdom she was being held captive, he had to at least say sorry and hope...that she would forgive him.