Let's see, how long's it taken me to update this time? Eight months? lol Well, as usual, my bad... Just got distracted by college stuff, exams and what not. I know I've missed alot since the last update, like New Year's and this fic's 4th birthday, but what the heck. At least I'm finally back! And wow, have I missed all my loyal, faithful readers... lol. But one thing I noticed while reading all your reviews was that apparently, the last chapter led most of you to believe that Sun Ce was dead. Well, all I have to say to that is...

SUN CE IS NOT DEAD, PEOPLE! I APOLOGIZE FOR MAKING IT SEEM SO, SINCE SO MANY PEOPLE ASSUMED IT, BUT THAT HASN'T HAPPENED YET! SO PLEASE, IF YOU THOUGHT CE WAS DEAD... DON'T. HE ISN'T.

Whew... just NEEDED to clear that out for you. I'm sorry if I wrote the last chapter too graphically... I could kick myself right about now. I see how it sounds like he actually died. Please forgive me:P. But thanks for all the awesome reviews anyway! I'm glad I got such a big batch of them for such an awful chapter which killed me to write. So, for all you devoted fans of this story in which Sun Ce is NOT dead, here's Chapter 29.

Enjoy!


All was dark. All was still. All was silent.

All was silent, save for the beating of Da Qiao's heart as she stood by her terrace, not even seeing the moon she was facing. Her eyes were wide and unblinking, yet they took in nothing. She didn't know how long she'd lain at the place where Sun Ce had fallen. She didn't know when her tearful ladies had arrived and somehow managed to escort her, only half-conscious, back to her chambers. She didn't know why she merely stood by the shut glass doors of the balcony, gazing at stars she could not see. And she didn't care. If there was anything, anything on her mind, it was the one thing, the one thought, the one possibility that had the power to destroy her and everything she was. It had been with great difficulty that she'd ordered her maids to leave her hours ago. All she knew was that she wanted to suffer in isolation, and in silence.

Yet she also knew that she couldn't bear her loneliness. She couldn't bear standing here, not knowing what was going on in the Royal Physician's chambers, not being able to constantly stay by Ce's side.

Without realizing her actions, Da slowly began turning her palms upward. At the sight of her horribly scarlet hands, her breath caught in her throat. Blood. Ce's blood, pasted all over her arms and neck, all down her front. Ce's blood was on her hands- Ce's blood was on her hands, in every sense of the thought! If anything happened- anything- Da knew who was to blame. She knew who the murderer would be.

Myself!

With a strangled cry, Da fell to her knees and dissolved into violent sobs once more- the deepest, darkest tears she had ever shed. She could not compose herself, and nor did she want to. For it was while finally succumbing to the year of grief she'd been avoiding for so long that Da admitted to herself what she'd kept hidden from the world at last.

She loved Sun Ce- had always loved him! She felt no surprise nor regret on realizing it now. She had already known- she had always known what Ce was to her and what she felt for him. Her life had made little sense before she'd met him and now, after a year of being apart, she had found nothing, nothing to fill the void in her heart that had been emptied of Ce.

But now he was dying!

Raising her beautiful, tear-filled eyes to the heavens, she laced her fingers together and prayed, for the first time in her young life, that she could die, too. If Ce was no longer in the world, she could not live. Oh, the dark years of emptiness stretching before her! She couldn't pass them- she couldn't! She could not go on with her life without knowing that somewhere, no matter how far away from herself, Ce was going on with his.

And now, as she knelt before the stars, she was enveloped in sorrow and fear. She had never stopped loving Ce, but now he would never know. He would leave this world without realizing her feelings for him. Oh, what a fool she had been to imagine she could go on shielding her true self- the woman she had always been- from him! What a fool she was to keep bringing up a barrier between the two of them whenever they had been together! To even assume that by marrying Cao Cao, she would be able to protect him and all who were dear to her! And now she had to pay for her folly as though for a sin.

If only it had been she who'd been struck by that arrow!

The arrow...

Da sat up bolt upright. The arrow! Where had it even come from? Guards were stationed all along the borders of Xu Chang Palace, they would have sounded an alarm at once at any sign of an ambush. The only way that Ce could have been shot without any other commotion was if the arrow had come from the soldiers within the Palace itself. The men who had swarmed around Ce after he'd fallen had attributed that arrow to one of their drunken comrades who'd gotten carried away, and was now undergoing a cruel, heavy flogging for his reckless actions.

But somehow, Da strained her memory to recall exactly what she'd been able to retain what she'd seen through her haze of emotions. A drunken soldier, just happening to shoot an arrow directly into Ce's heart? Impossible! Nobody could aim as well as that while intoxicated. That story was nothing more than a sham. But what had she to prove it? To prove that this had been an inside job?

Suddenly, it came to her in a flash.

All the men who'd carried Ce away for treatment had been in uniform. But only one of them had still had a quiver of arrows on his back.

Blood rushed to Da's face and pounded in her ears. Slowly, she rose to her feet, heat emanating from her body, a new emotion surging through her. Her fists were clenched by her sides and her mouth compressed, as though she could not contain her fury. Yes, it all made sense now. She now understood full well what had truly transpired on that terrace.

And she knew exactly who was responsible for it all. She also knew why.

Da spun around to begin her next move, with murder in her eyes and vengeance filling her heart.


"Are you certain, Zhou Yu?"

Sun Jian surveyed his surrogate son with an eye that was not half as concerned and incredulous as he truly was.

"I am, Father," came the steady reply. Zhou Yu's stare at the man whom he'd accepted years ago as his father was calm and sure. "Lu Xun will complete my assignment. There isn't much left to be done, anyhow. Meanwhile, I just want to visit Ce before he leaves Xu Chang."

"But waking up one morning and just happening to wish to visit your brother! Yu, I wish you would reconsider this. I do not believe this visit to be necessary."

The older man heaved himself out of his throne and descended the stairs to gaze out the window. A long pause went by during which Yu stood respectfully silent, before Sun Jian shook his head.

"No. Your work is simply too critical for you to abandon it at such a crucial stage. I will not allow to risk your future, my son."

Yu took a slight breath. It was imperative that he obtained his father's approval for this journey.

"I've been thinking of going for days now. It's just that I never saw fit to put my task on hold, as you say. But that was before. Now I'm confident that Xun can take care of the rest of my work. And in order for one to be able to wake up from anything, one requires to be in a state of sleep to begin with, Dad."

At those last words, Sun Jian finally tore his gaze away from the scenery and towards Yu. Yes, the boy looked as deprived of rest as any of the previous strategists Wu had in the making. Perhaps more, as he'd always been of a studious nature. Now, as he approached Yu, he could see the dark shadows below his eyes which had been printed into his face weeks ago, and the pallid hue his skin had taken on.

Sun Jian sighed and momentarily shut his eyes.

"My dear boy," he said, shaking his head. "What have you been doing to yourself? Neglecting to care for your basic needs is unlike your."

Yu merely stood with his beautiful brown eyes lowered to the ground and continued to hold his peace.

Sun Jian seemed to have made his decision during the past few seconds.

"Very well. I can see that you need a break from your trials. And come to think of it, you have always deserved to go along with Ce. I simply never offered you the chance because I knew you would decline it due to your assignment. However, now that you have things under control, you may go."

A smile broke across Yu's face for the first time that day. And for a moment, all his weariness vanished, and he looked freshly handsome, like his usual self.

"Thank you, Father," he said heartily.

Sun Jian gave a grudging smile himself.

"Not at all, my son," he said gruffly. Then, raising his voice, he continued, "But Yu, I don't want you galloping off to Wei at this very moment! You need plenty of rest and nourishment before you being your journey. I can't have Lord Cao Cao imagine I've sent him a half-dead son of mine in the place of a live one! You leave first thing tomorrow after breakfast, is that clear?"

Now Yu was laughing along with his father, relishing the moment. This was it! He was allowed to go! So what if he had to wait? Ce would make sure there was enough time for them to get things done.

"Sure, Dad," he declared between laughs. "I'll go start relaxing in a-"

A sudden, deafening bang echoed throughout the throne room, filling both men with alarm. Yu instinctively reached to his side for his sword, realizing too late that it was not there.

He cursed as he whipped around. If he let anything happen to his father-!

But when he saw what had caused the noise, he relaxed.

It was only Sun Shang Xiang, who had slammed the chamber doors open with unnecessary force as she entered the room. There was no danger after all... Or wasn't there?

Shang Xiang stood stock-still, her hazel eyes wide and blank, her face milk-white. In her hand she clenched something brittle very tightly... a roll of parchment?

"Shang Xiang?" Yu said cautiously. "What's the matter? What happened?"

She stumbled into the room with numb legs, and would have fallen to the ground if Yu hadn't lunged forward and caught her in his arms just in time.

"What?" he almost yelled, his head spinning as he quickly scanned her face and form for any injuries. "What happened?"

Yu had never seen Shang Xiang like this before. Behind him, Sun Jian stood rooted to the spot with shock, speechless.

Tears were starting in her eyes as she held out a crumpled letter in her shaking hand towards Yu.

"Ce!" she finally blurted out, at the same moment that her tears sprang from her eyes. Then she covered her face with her hands and gave in to deep, loud sobs.

Before Yu could take the letter from her however, Sun Jian's hand shot out from nowhere and snatched it from his daughter.

His golden eyes raced down the scroll like flames. And then he turned it over, as if he was sure there was more to whatever he had read. When he found nothing, he raised his eyes to Yu's face blankly, his expression not unlike his daughter's had been.

"What does it say?" Yu pressed urgently, still supporting the wailing Shang Xiang.

It all happened very suddenly after that: Sun Jian's body contorted horribly; he let the letter fall from his grasp and grabbed at his side, doubling over with agony.

"DAD!" Yu bellowed, releasing Shang Xiang and rushing forward now to his father.

This time both of them fell to their knees, Yu struggling to help him up without hurting him. Shang Xiang shrieked and joined him at once in his efforts, and the sentries who stood guard at Sun Jian's throne now hurried to their fallen lord, one of them hurtling out of the room to sound the alarm, which soon resounded throughout the entire palace.

In no time at all, the throne room was crowded with people, who swarmed around Sun Jian, fearful and concerned.

Yu was dimly aware of Sun Quan's horrified face, Gan Ning's voice, half-cursing, half-reassuring as he frantically tried to comfort Shang Xiang, and Huang Gai's attempts to clear the area as he supported his father, his heart pounding in his ears, trying to make sense of what had happened to him.

Sun Jian's heart was not weak; he was one of the sturdiest men Yu had ever known. How, then, had he so easily succumbed to such a violent stroke over some news, when his daughter had managed to collect herself from it in minutes?

Sun Jian's eyes frantically took in all those around him, before finally finding Yu's face and settling onto it.

He forced his hand to clasp his son's shoulder before looking into his eyes.

"Go," he rasped, his eyes clapped onto Yu's with a strangely hard, blazing fury. "Go to him. Now."


The doors slammed open, and Da stormed into the room, her features twisted with rage.

Cao Cao stood alone by his own terrace. Turning around, he beheld his fiancee in his chambers and smiled coolly. As Da had expected, there was no surprise on his face at perceiving her. He barely even noted her bloodstained garments or disheveled hair.

"Ah, there you are, my dear," he said calmly. "I was expecting this visit. Do have a seat and tell me why you have decided to grace my bedroom chambers at this hour."

Da's voice was constricted in her anger as she attempted to match his light tone.

"I haven't come to have a seat with you. You know exactly why I'm here."

Her clenched fists were shaking so hard, they trembled her entire body.

"Do I?" he asked lazily. "So it does have something to do with your... indecent appearance?"

"Shut up," Da whispered, taking a step closer. "You aren't fooling anyone."

Cao Cao's eyebrows raised disapprovingly.

"I did not expect such rudeness on your part, Da Qiao. I suggest you abandon it at once. It befits you poorly, my de-"

"Stop calling me that!" she screamed. She was beyond livid. "I know you were behind what happened tonight. I know you were!"

Cao Cao laughed softly, nonchalantly.

"'Behind what happened tonight'? Are you referring to Master Sun Ce's unfortunate mishap?"

"Mishap, my foot," Da hissed. "It was planned. Planned to the last second, and by you!"

The Wei Emperor laughed even louder and clapped his powerful hands together.

"Ah, Da Qiao, you are truly extraordinary. I admit, I did not bank on even you working out the truth so quickly. I am blessed to have you, blessed indeed."

Da's eyes widened, and her breath caught in her throat. She could hardly believe her ears. She had known she had assumed correctly, but never had she dreamed that Cao Cao would confess to his doing. Her mouth fell half-open with shock.

Cao Cao looked satisfied, as though this was the reaction he'd both expected and wanted.

"Why, whatever is the matter, Da Qiao?" he asked, almost sneering. "Is this not what you wanted? For me to tell you that you had guessed right? Well, I have. You know now what had happened to Lord Sun Ce during the banquet tonight."

With great difficulty, Da pulled herself together.

"No," she said, glaring at him. "I wanted to know why you would ever dare hurt him."

For a moment, something like fury flashed across Cao Cao's face. But he managed to immediately smooth his features once again.

"Why?" he repeated. "I imagined you were a bright girl, Da Qiao. If you could figure out my involvement in his injury so easily, surely you know the answer to that."

Fear stole over Da once more, and she realized that she had always known the answer, only she had never wanted to think of it... think of the possibility that the only man she hated had discovered her secret...

"Do you take me for a fool, Da Qiao?" he demanded suddenly. His voice was growing softer, indicating danger.

"I... I don't know what you mean," Da murmured, trying not to let him scare her.

"Do you think me blind? Dim? Ignorant enough to dismiss your reactions to his face, his voice, his name?"

His voice thundered at his last words. But somehow, Da managed to hold her own.

His anger building up within him, Cao Cao stepped forward, eclipsing Da in his shadow.

"No," he whispered, his dark eyes deadly. "You could not have thought me so weak, Da Qiao. I did not become Emperor by turning a blind eye to all the interactions that took place around me. I have seen, Da Qiao, the moment of longing in your eyes that everybody else missed when you looked at him. I noticed how you lowered your gaze when he spoke to you, shifted your face when he looked at you. You have hidden your feelings beautifully, Da Qiao, from him and from the rest of the world. But you never had a prayer of hiding them from me."

Da Qiao stared at him in silence as he spoke, and it was all she could do to keep her breathing regular. So he had guessed her secret... Oh, the unfairness of it all! After all she had suffered to protect Ce, after everything she had sacrificed, to make sure anything like tonight did not happen!

"But I am not unreasonable, Da Qiao," he went on. "Although the truth is obvious to me, I will give you a chance to refute it. Deny your feelings for him, and we all can go back to our lives as though tonight had never happened. He can leave as soon as he heals, back to Wu, unbothered by any of this, and you can fulfill your destiny of becoming my wife."

How many times would Da be offered this chance? She had been asked to do almost exactly the same thing a year ago, first by the Emperor of Wu, and now of Wei. First it had been offered as a request to be pardoned. Now it was almost a warning for what might happen if she did not accept. But Da knew that however different the circumstances, what she had answered then and what she would answer now would not change.

"I will not deny it. I will never refute the truth."

Another spasm of fury crossed Cao Cao's face, and this time, he didn't subdue it quickly enough.

"You could have made everything so easy," he hissed lowly. "So much easier for yourself. Yet you choose to suffer. Very well. I see that I shall have to take other measures to make you understand."

The fear was slowly ebbing out of Da, to be replaced with new, fresh ferocity at his words.

"So that's your plan? Just because of how I feel, you're going to kill him?" she shouted.

To her surprise, Cao Cao suddenly looked offended.

"Kill him? Why, Da Qiao, you insult me! Me, murder an esteemed guest in my own home? My lovely lady. Surely you know I am incapable of such a dastardly deed."

Da could hardly believe her ears.

"But you've tried to do just that! You told me as much! How dare you deny it now?"

Cao Cao was shaking his head, his eyes shut, and infuriating smile on his face.

"Oh, Da Qiao, have you not grasped my meaning at all, then? I may have ordered my archers to attack young Lord Sun Ce the moment I spotted you two together on that terrace, but I gave them explicit instructions. That poisoned arrow may have severely wounded him, even to the point of death. But it could not have killed him. I entreated them to make sure they missed his heart."

"Missed his heart," Da repeated numbly.

"That is correct," Cao Cao smiled. "Most narrowly, of course. But they accomplished the difficult task, and the wound did not receive the chance to reach fatality. I saw to it that my royal physicians began tending to him at once. Why, even as we speak, he is being treated with all the care that is due to an Emperor. Not a single stone is left unturned in our endeavors to revive and relax him. A messenger has already been sent to his family, notifying them of the unfortunate incident. I have also received word that his condition is improving steadily. And you call me a murderer!"

Blood was rushing to Da's face and heart as she absorbed his words, nearly bursting with relief. Ce's condition was improving! He was getting all the care he needed. He wasn't in danger anymore! He was going to live! She was going to live...

She struggled to keep her face impassive.

"But you still hurt him," she said. "And for what? Why would you just cause him pain like that, instead of just killing him and getting it over with? Why did you tell them to miss his heart in the first place?"

Anger was returning to Da, spreading through her form. She didn't bother to control it.

"It is obvious," Cao Cao whispered, unfazed. "I did not do it to hurt him. I did it to get through to you."

Da blinked, not comprehending.

"This is a warning to you, Lady Da Qiao of Jiang Dong. A warning, to show you what I am prepared to do to keep you in the palm of my hand. Fortunately for him, the young man's feelings for you are still unclear to me. That contributes to why I do not wish him to suffer further. But if I am ever visited by the notion that he reciprocates yours, I will see to it that he does, even if it does incur the wrath of the house of Sun and spell danger for my kingdom."

He considered her horrified face for a moment.

"And you may also take it as a punishment, if you had ever been planning to deceive me."

Da hated him more than she ever had at his words. How dare he assume she would endanger Ce like that!

"And if I do accept my fate. Will he be free to go?"

She asked the question through clenched teeth.

Cao Cao spread his arms as though her question solved everything.

"Why, certainly. This has nothing to do with harming him, you understand. It was never anything personal. In fact, I almost admire the young master. It is a great pity you chose to bestow your affections on one as promising as him."

"I want your word."

He shook his head dolefully.

"Ah, how mistrusting," he sighed, as though to himself. "Very well. I give you my word, Da Qiao, that as long as you keep your head down and marry me as you were bidden, Lord Sun Ce will leave this palace, healed and unscathed, and shall never be bothered by me or mine again. Unless..."

"Unless?" Da snapped at once.

Cao Cao smiled belligerently.

"Unless you change your mind," he said.

Da fists were in danger of breaking.

"Enough," she whispered. "Enough of your games, your secrets and lies. This has gone on too far. I refuse to let you play with his life!"

For the first time since she'd burst into the room, Cao Cao looked taken aback.

"Let me? And what makes you think I require your permission for my actions, Da Qiao?" he said menacingly.

Da stood her ground and lifted her head threateningly.

"You know, my lord. You know what kind of a woman my mother was, how far her capacities and power extended. My sister and I have inherited more than her looks. We also inherited her strengths. We can do what most women cannot."

Cao Cao raised his eyebrows coldly.

"Are you threatening me."

"I certainly am. I've always been more than what I seemed because of my mother. I will do anything to protect those dear to me. I may not be as powerful as you, but before she died, my mother taught me all the skills I needed for that. She had intended for it to be a family secret. But I'm glad you know of it. It saves me alot of tedious explaining."

Cao Cao said nothing but continued to stare at her impassively. His silence infuriated Da further.

"Do you hear me?" she screamed again. "I love this man, and if anything, anything happens to him, I won't rest until I make you pay for it. I won't! I can't! I'll avenge him if it's the last thing I do in my miserable life!"

She hurled the words at him, never realizing before how good they made her feel, how wonderful it felt owning up to her love for Ce. Cao Cao looked outraged at her daring. But he remained composed.

"Do you love your sister, Da Qiao?" he asked suddenly.

She blinked.

"What?"

"Your sister," he repeated impatiently. "Do you love her?"

An icy chill crept over Da. She did not like the direction this conversation was taking.

"What's she got to do with anything?"

"Oh, nothing in particular. I merely wanted to know how you would feel if I brought her here. Would you like that? You do seem rather lonely without her company, you know."

To his sadistic satisfied, Da looked more frightened than she had since she entered his room.

"You- you would never do it," she choked out.

"Oh, but I would. I have been hearing reports of her increasing beauty for months now. It would be a shame for her to be in a place where no one appreciates it, would it not?"

"She... she's very young."

"Oh, come now," he snapped, impatient again. "You know as well as I do she is not. I know your father and yourself tried to make me understand something of the sort at first. But now I have reason to doubt your truthfulness. You and that young man divulged more than you intended that first night. It had been both of you Lord Sun Ce had rescued from Dong Zhuo's domain that year. Otherwise, why would he require the assistance of his friend? And why would Dong Zhuo's minions have snatched her up along with you she had not seemed old enough for him to ravish? This is childishly simple, Da Qiao. I am surprised you think that you can go on deceiving me."

"You promised!" Da yelled in desperation. "You promised my father that you would give her a couple of years more, that you wouldn't come back for her until-"

"Until she had matured," Cao Cao said loudly, drowning out her voice. "But now that I know she has always been much more mature than you give her credit for, that nullifies the years I had intended to save her for. The two of you had been promised to me since childhood, and I deem it quite fitting to have both of you wed me a few months of each other, if not together. Although," he said, frowning suddenly as if it had only just occurred to him, "Why buy her time at all? Why not have her here to give you company, if she is not as young as you say she is?"

Da remained silent, praying nothing gave her away...

Cao Cao drew closer to her again, suspicion etched on his face. Reaching out, he gripped her chin in his hand and forced her face back and looked into her eyes.

That told him all he needed to know. His black eyes glittered dangerously with this newly-found knowledge.

"I have already told you, Da Qiao," he said in a deadly whisper, "that I am not to be trifled with. I am not to be taken for a fool. I suspected from the beginning that you and Lord Sun Ce had had some sort of past history. And now it appears that the same is true of your sister! That makes it all the more necessary to send for her, does it not?"

Da shut her eyes in defeat.

"I beg of you," she whispered. "Spare her."

Cao Cao let her go and stepped back, smiling in grim satisfaction.

"That is entirely up to you."

He spoke with an air of finality, marking the end of this encounter.

Walking past her, he reached for his cloak and draped it about himself.

"I am now on my way to inquire after Lord Sun Ce's condition. Do retire to your rooms, my dear. You shall catch a chill if you remain out here for long."

And with that, he left Da Qiao behind in the darkness, wondering in her frustration how she was to put a stop to the chaos that had been unleashed.


Xiao Qiao couldn't sleep. There was too much on her mind, and too little that had been going on in her life for the past several days.

She had heard no news from her sister. Nor had her father sent her word of any future changes. For some reason, life was going back to the way it had been a month before.

Even Ce hadn't been to visit her for a while. And for some strange reason, she couldn't shake off the feeling that it was because something awful had happened.

She shook her head roughly. Useless thoughts! Da would have rebuked her. But Da hadn't written to her for so long, and Xiao was aching to hear a single word about Ce, for she hadn't mentioned him to her properly for a year now, even though the two of them were now in such close proximity to each other. She hoped Ce had finally made his move. She hoped he would be back tomorrow, telling her about it. How much longer would she have to wait?

Xiao sighed, realizing that once again, she was lonely. She'd been sitting up in bed for the longest time. Sleep was no longer welcome to her. The dreams that would take hold of her once she gave in to slumber were no comfort. They made her long for the one person her heart ached to see above all others, and she knew there was no chance of that happening anytime soon. She was no closer to seeing him tonight than any other night, and the thought nearly broke her. She fought to keep the tears from rising as she stood up and climbed out of bed, pacing about the room to calm herself.

Suddenly, she heard a faint tap on her window and froze. What was that?. She stood very still with her back to it, waiting to hear if the noise repeated itself.

Tap.

There it was again! Was it- was someone throwing a pebble?

Xiao rushed to the window, her heart pounding...


And there you have it! Who could be tapping on Xiao's window now? Any guesses? lol They're probably right since I think I'm making this really obvious. But please do remember to review. I hope you liked this chapter! And just something I'd like to point out before I go: I hope you noticed how Da mentioned her mother to Cao Cao? That's where she pretty much explains the reason why Ce and Yu would frequently notice how strong she and Xiao were for dainty girls of their stature and build. Yeah... you don't call them Warrior Girls for nothin'!