Alright, this is it! This is chapter 26, technically the final chapter...if it was more of a realistic ending I guess. But I'd never want that...so I have an epilogue after!! So I hope you enjoy both, and I'm sorry for my sloppy updates.
Chapter 26: Believe
Zhuge Liang rose his hand in the air and released the wooden plaque in his hand. The eyes of everyone in the area followed the object to the ground and watched it rattle back and forth. Suddenly all eyes were on the prisoner, his head bent down low, his mouth mumbling soft words. The executioner picked up the two planks on Ling Tong's back and threw them onto the ground. "It's time." He grumbled, picking up the heavy broad sword. He raised it high in the air and with both hands prepared to strike down when a quick figure darted past him and onto the prisoner.
"Stop!" the voice screamed, jumping on top of the prisoner and embracing him, "You must stop!" The executioner dropped his sword from behind in shock, as did everyone who was watching.
"Yue Ting?" Zhuge Liang got up from his seat, "What are you doing here?"
Tong looked behind his shoulder to see Yue Ting's face pressing onto his back, the warmth of her body and hands wrapping around him. It felt good being held like this. "Yue Ting…" he breathed heavily, "Why did you come?"
"I told you, I'm not letting you die so easily." She replied in tears. The two of them ignored the commotion that rose around them. Yue Ting turned around and stared face to face with her shocked uncle and a distraught Jiang Wei. "Please, don't hurt him." Yue Ting begged her Uncle, "I will do whatever you want, just please, don't hurt him."
"I…" Zhuge Liang was left speechless. He looked around the garden they were in and addressed the situation. "Please," he turned to everyone, "Leave the four of us."
"But Master Zhuge!" people protested.
"Leave at once." Liang's voice changed, making it more of a command than a request. Quickly everyone in the area picked up their tails and made a rush for it. When it was only the four of them, Liang knelt down to his niece. "Yue Ting…you're all scratched and injured. Let go of him and come to me."
"I'm not doing anything until you promise me his safety." She cradled Tong closer to her. The blood scratches getting all over his white garments.
"Yue Ting…" he sighed, "Tell me what this is all about."
"Uncle…" Yue Ting opened her mouth to explain but was intercepted by Jiang Wei.
"Do you know how dishonorable this is for Master Ling?" He said, making it seem like it was her fault. Yue Ting glared quickly at his direction.
"It is more dishonorable for a man to die for actions he did not commit."
"What?" Liang fanned himself, it was getting too much. "I want an explanation." Both parties began to spew different accounts. Liang put his hand in the air and silenced his niece and disciple, "Yue Ting, you talk."
---
So Yue Ting began her long tale, saying things that none of the three men would ever think possible of her. She expressed her feelings of doubt and sadness after all those years as the Phoenix. She told her uncle of how even though she brought happiness to a city, she was still invoking pain to others. "Whenever I kill one bad person, I tend to forget that they are a parent, a child, a friend. When I realize it, I don't know what to think anymore." Yue Ting explained about the difference she felt in Wu. The warmth, the jokes, the barriers she didn't need to keep around them. "It was like having a Ping with whomever I talked to." Then she began talking about Tong. The way Tong changed her, allowed her to view situations in different ways. Allowed her to by herself, "I'm not going to let him die because of me." She finished her story with a puzzled Zhuge Liang.
"So he knows, of your identity."
"And he wants to protect it-"
"Silence Bo Yue." He looked back at Yue Ting. "Wu is now our enemy, even if I let him go, you will not-"
"I know." She interrupted him, caressing Tong's face with her hands, "But I don't want him to die for me."
"Yue Ting…" Tong whispered. He had kept quiet the entire time, knowing that as a prisoner it was not his place to talk.
"Very well." Liang crossed his arms, "You are to send Master Ling back to his friends, then I want you to report straight back to me. You are going to have much to explain to Lord Liu."
"Thank you, thank you!" Yue Ting screamed before realizing his words, "How did you know of his friends?"
"How can you expect me not to know any of this?" Liang shook his head, "I wanted to see what you would choose, Yue Ting. Your happiness has always been the thought of your Aunt and me." He turned to Wei, "I'm a little disappointed in you. But I know you all did this for my nieces well-being." Finally he turned to Tong, "You are a good man. I never had intent of killing you." He said to him, "Master Zhou and I had struck a deal, I am sorry for using you as a test for my niece."
"I…" Tong was speechless, the tactics of Zhuge Liang were surely strange but effective in the same way. "Thank you." Was all he managed to say.
"Let us go, Bo Yue." Liang turned around and stalked off. Wei looked at the two of them and knew he had been beat.
"You are truly a competitor." He said to Tong, using a key to unlock his chains. "I will see you soon Yue Ting."
--
With only the two of them left in the gardens, Yue Ting threw her arms around Tong's neck and sobbed heavily. "I'm so sorry." She cried, "I'm so sorry."
"What are you sorry for?"
"For my family being insane." She tried to crack a joke, but found more tears swelling down her face.
"You saved my life, you have nothing to be sorry for." He rested his head upon hers, "Thank you."
They slowly struggled up towards the hill where Xun and Ning were waiting for their arrival. Both had purposely taken longer than normal, enjoying the time they had left together, knowing it won't be long. "Yue Ting…" Tong turned around and faced her as they were heading up the hill. "Leave with me."
"What?"
"We'll leave Wu and Liu Bei, we'll start a new life, we can be together, we can…." Yue Ting put her finger on his lips, silencing him.
"How could you leave your country? Your friends and family? I could never ask for that."
"But…how can…I don't want to lose you. I vowed to protect you, but how can I if we're…"
"You're rambling." She laughed. Tong knew it was true, he was tired mentally and physically. Yue Ting's eye glazed behind him and she let out a soft sigh.
"You and I are both the same, we must be loyal to our kin before ourselves." She raised her hand and waved. Tong turned around only to be tackled in a hug from a very happy Xun.
"You're okay! You're really okay!" Xun screamed, "Thank the heavens! Thank the heavens!"
"Bo Yan…" Tong looked up to see Ning not far behind with a beautiful horse in tow.
"Good to see you alive." The pirate teased.
"These are the people who you should be fighting for, these are the people you should protect." Yue Ting held onto his hand and gave it a tight squeeze. "Thank you, Tong." She looked over to Ning and Xun who looked at her with soft eyes. "It was the best time of my life, to meet all of you."
"What are you saying?" Tong looked confused as Xun and Ning both grabbed one of his arms, "What's happening?" He watched Yue Ting walk over to the horse and get on.
"Thank you." She said again, tears flowing uncontrollably on her face. "I'll miss you all." She gave the horse a good kick, and it galloped away.
"Yue Ting!!" Tong screamed, "Why are you holding me back? Yue Ting!" he kept screaming, until the horse disappeared from his eyes.
"I'm sorry Gong Ji," Xun said sadly, "It was what we promised Yue Ting in exchange for your rescue."
"You'll get through it." Ning mumbled, "She believes in you."
--
Yue Ting didn't know how far she was riding with the horse, or how long. All she knew that she couldn't see properly with her tears blurring her vision every time she wiped it clean. Soon, she found Red Hare stopping near a pond, hinting that he was tired from the journey. She jumped off the horse and stared into the beautiful lake in front of her. The sun was just about to set, and the glimmer of its rays reflected off the blue waters. She took a seat on a patch of grass and buried her head into her knees. It was going to be trouble once she returned to Shu. It was going to be so messy that she wasn't even sure of her own fate. "This might be the end." She picked up a pebble and threw it towards the lake. "But it was all worth it."