Hurhur, I would never kill my main character! I'm a softie romantic at heart. I believe in happy endings 3. Well here we go, final one! Thank you to everyone who has suffered through my lazy procrastination and urged me to continue! On the brightside, now I only have 2 more stories to be lazy at. BUT! With a new Dynasty Warriors game...I always get more inspired to write. Hopefully it won't be all new stories again...since there are a LOT of new characters. Hohoho...ENJOY and thank you again!
Chapter 25: Hello, again
There was a sharp noise from the side of her ear as felt as if the world had just dropped all its boulders and weights on her forehead. She moved her hand towards her eyes and opened them, the brightness stinging until there were tears. "How are you doing?" a voice suddenly said as she blinked to recognize a familiar face.
"Am I in heaven?" she said through parched lips.
"If you were in heaven and you saw me? You must have done a lot of great things in your life honey."
"Oh, then I am in hell then."
"Glad to know you still have a sense of humor." He stood back and sighed, the sounds of his bells giving off a beautiful melody in the quiet air. "Welcome back."
"Explain?"
"I would, but I think I have to go find someone right now." He winked, "Stay here, well not like you can move anywhere anyways." Xiang Wan closed her eyes again and sighed, the energy draining from her quicker and quicker. Just as she was about to drift into a deep sleep again, the door was thrown wide open as someone called her name…
-
Tong had dropped everything in his arms the minute Ning had come in to the hall, screaming like a banshee that she was awake. "My scrolls and pens!" he heard Xun sigh from behind, but none of it really mattered. He could buy him new pens if he really wanted.
"Say what?" Tong had grabbed Ning by the shirt collar, "Say it again?"
"I don't need to say it again you idiot!" "He doesn't need to say it again you idiot!" Both Ning and Xun replied at the same time. Without looking back, he rushed out of the building and towards her room. There were thousands of images flashing through his mind, as he imagined the wonderful reunion he would have with Xiang Wan. Those tireless days waiting beside her bedside had paid off, even though he was a tad upset she chose to wake up when the Pirate was on watch. Though, none of it really mattered at this moment. She was awake. She was okay.
"XIANG WAN!" he threw the doors open and looked to the bed where her eyes were closed and she lay motionless. Quickly murderous thoughts went through his mind, but he saw the small twitch in her face as one eye opened.
"You're just as loud as Ning." She muttered. "I really am in hell."
"You're okay…" Tong's demeanor suddenly changed as he took a deep breath and slowly walked towards her bed side. "You're okay…" he fell on his knees, his hand clasping onto her arm, "You're really okay." His hands gently cupped her face.
"You look…older." She whispered.
"I guess three weeks ages people." He smiled slightly.
"You have to understand I'm a little big confused right now." Tong nodded.
"You have to hear what happened later that night then…" he told her, his fingers tightly twined with hers as he retold the story of that horrible night.
-
It seemed like time had frozen. Tong could not believe his eyes as he watched the sharpness of the sword easily cut through the skin of Xiang Wan. Her pupils grew large and then suddenly dimmed as she fell back into his arms. Her hair sprawled all over her face. It felt like someone had suddenly stolen his voice from him, as his throat contracted and he could not even find the courage to make a sound, a scream, a cry. Instead he watched as she felt heavy in his arms, and watched as her world was slowly dimming. "Look what you made me do." Fong sighed, he pulled the sword out, forcing her to jerk up and fall back like a handkerchief. Tong looked up at the older general, her blood dripping freshly from the tip of his sword. Suddenly there was a large explosive like sound outside as both Fong and Tong were thrown off guard.
"General!" a soldier shouted outside the room, "The Wu army has arrived! We're surrounded!"
"The Wu army?" Fong panicked, "Where are our reinforcements?"
"I'm not sure, they're co…aarrgh." There were the sounds of blade cutting flesh as the door was thrown wide open because of the weight of the now deceased soldier.
"Tong, Xiang Wan!" It was Ning, his blade in his hands. He looked at the blood flowing from Xiang Wan and looked over at Fong. "I'll kill you where you stand!" he raised his blade up. There was a smirk on Fong's face as he dropped his sword and raised his hands in the air.
"I surrender."
"You monster." Ning gritted his teeth. With General Fong's service to Wu, he was in no position to kill a man if he surrendered.
"You can't touch me."
"It'd be worth not going to Wu because I killed a rat like you."
"Stop!" Tong shouted, prompting surprise from the other two men. Tong's hand released Xiang Wan's now cold arms as he picked up the other sword. "Take Xiang Wan and leave."
"You're in no shape to fight. Let me kill him right here."
"He's mine." Tong gritted through his teeth, "If you want to make up for killing my father, take her to Bo Yan now!" He rose from the ground and suddenly rammed into Fong, pinning him into a wall. Ning picked up the young girl and looked back at Tong. Without saying a word, he nodded his head and ran towards the rest of the army.
"Now, you would not break the warriors code and kill me in cold blood, would you now, son?" Fong said with an impeccable grin. "You may be the son of the great Ling Cao, but I was higher in rank than your father. You'll kill me after I surrender?"
"You're an idiot." Tong gritted his teeth and let out a horrible, disturbing laugh that changed Fong's facial expression.
"The only other person…" he looked up, the hatred burned in his eyes. "That knew that you surrendered was a pirate." He raised the sword towards Fong's throat, "And no one trusts a pirate."
Tong hobbled out of the building, his head feeling woozy from losing all the blood in his leg wound. By the time he got towards the front door, he saw the familiar faces of Zhou Yu and Sun Ce's brother, Sun Quan. "Gong Ji!" Quan had rushed over to his good friend, "I am so glad we made it in time."
"Where is General Fong?" Zhou Yu asked, Tong looked up and looked in his eyes and the strategist nodded, knowing he did not need to ask further.
"How is Xiang Wan?"
"Gan Ning and Xun took her to the nearest area with fresh water so they could clean and attend to her wounds." Yu explained, his face never changing as he spoke like always. Tong turned to Quan, it was always easy to tell by his expressions.
"She's alive." Was all he could say to him and Tong knew that was the best he could hope for. "We need to get you fixed up first."
"Her injury was deep, but we were able to stop the bleeding. Both the Prime Minister and I have checked her vitals, it's surprising that they seem quite healthy right now." Xun explained to his friend as Tong kneeled at her bedside. "It's been two days already Tong, no matter how many times I explain what we found…"
"I know she'll wake up, I just know she will."
"She's not getting any food…or water, she will eventually."
"No. I believe in her." He parted her bangs from her face, "She's my partner." Tong sighed and walked out of the room.
The events of the last few days had been hectic for everyone. Sun Quan and Zhou Yu had come up the mountain to aid them, and were more than lucky to be able to intercept Huang's army and take them out. From that, they were awarded a piece of land that bordered their own province and Jing, something that was very good for Wu. Xun had taken this chance to quickly transfer Xiang Wan from a tent to the closest home in their new city, as it would be easier to get access to medicine. To his surprise, Xun was appointed temporary Prefect by Quan, who left Ning and Tong there as retainers. Now the young man was busy trying to run a city, save his friends life and try to get Tong to get up off his butt. To make it even worse, he had no clue where Ning had run off to since the fight. "What did I ever do to deserve this?" he sighed and headed over to the main hall, "Ning?" he recognized the pirates back, "Where the heck have you been?"
"Looking for THIS!" he had a huge grin on his face as a dirty, almost broken basket crashed on their dining table.
"That's our dinner table."
"This is going to save our young girl." He ignored his statement, "When I was on the sea, one of our men knocked his head. Never woke up, we thought he was going to die, and we were weeks away from shore." Ning was walking back and forth, his hands thrown high into the air as he was telling his epic tale. "Then Ying," he paused a little bit, "Ying that stupid brat, she told us about this herb. This magical little being." He opened the basket and dumped more dirt and weeds onto the table. "It'll be a lot of work, but if you turn it into a liquid powder, mix it with water and get them to drink it, it'll keep them nutritionally healthy and hydrated. He survived the two week trek back to shore."
"It took you two weeks to get back to shore?"
"We're not welcome in a lot of places, and that's not the POINT!" he dove his darkened hands in the basket, "This will save the young lass!"
"I don't think this has ever been proven…I mean if the great Hua Tuo…"
"The great Hua Tuo is a sissy that works for Wei." Ning growled, "This is a pirates secret recipe, what do we have to lose?"
-
"So you guys fed me grass for three weeks?" Xiang Wan cut into the story. With the help of Tong, she had sat up thanks to him being her support system. His arms wrapped around her, Tong nodded and hugged her a little closer.
"I thought the idea was complete rubbish, you can never trust a pirate."
"But you did it anyways?"
"I had no choice, there was nothing else we could do."
"And all three of you have been taking turns feeding me this…grass powder?" she made a face.
"Breakfast, lunch and dinner. I originally did them all, but eventually Bo Yan and Xing Ba kicked me out."
"Wait."
"What?"
"Who kicked you out?"
"Bo Yan and Xing Ba? Did you forget who they were?"
"You just called Gan Ning by his zi name…"
"Oh right." There was a sigh, "He's not a bad person, I mean, he ran off for a few days to collect grass for you." Xiang Wan laughed and then lurched in pain, "Are you alright?"
"These stitches must be really ugly."
"It's alright. I have a matching one." Xiang Wan blushed, happy that she was not facing Tong.
"I'm sorry."
"For what?" Tong asked.
"Everything."
"No…" he said, "It's my fault. Everything I do is based on emotions; I lose my cool so easy. With you, with Xing Ba…I'm always blinded by my own selfish needs."
"Don't say that…even though it is kind of true." He laughed.
"You know, the short span I met you and Xing Ba, I feel that I've grown up more than I have in all these years of my life."
"I guess without me in your life growing up, you just decided to stay like a spoiled brat."
"Funny." Tong shuffled a bit until he could see Xiang Wan's face. "Marry me."
"I just woke up from a 3 week old coma and you ask me this?" she said, more than surprised. "Plus, I survived a coma, I probably won't survive the punishment I'll get from Wu." She sighed, "I caused a pretty big mess."
"Don't worry, I'll make sure nothing will ever happen to you."
"I promise that too!" there was a voice outside the door.
"Xing Ba you idiot!" Xun's sigh could be heard.
"How long have you two been outside?" Tong cried as the door slowly opened and the two men stuck their heads in.
"Well, we helped feed Xiang Wan too." Xun tried to explain innocently, "If she's awake, we wanted to visit her too."
"But you all decided to be cutsie coupley on us." Ning walked straight in, "So we couldn't find an excuse to step in." he turned to Xiang Wan, "You're welcome for the green powder." She smiled in reply. "So, marriage eh?"
"You heard that?"
"Oh sweetie," Ning roared in laughter, "We heard everything."
"Our lord has appointed me official Prefect of this land for now." Xun smiled like a proud boy, "And as my first job, I would like to appoint you three to be my generals."'
"Are you even allowed to do that?" Ning raised his eyebrow, "Take three great warriors at once? Who will protect the castle?"
"Please." Tong rolled his eyes, "A monkey could do what you do, all you've done is picked herbs." Ning retorted with a glare as the two started to bicker. Xiang Wan looked over at the deflated Xun and laughed out loud; her laugh was full of energy and spirit, it was something they had not heard in a long time. Xiang Wan looked at the three men in her life and nodded before turning to Tong.
"If I get to stay here with Xun and Ning…my answer to you Gong Ji…" she closed her eyes, "Is yes."
"Remember to name your first child after me!"