Author's Note: I look forward to your angry emails. Oh, I guess I should throw out a trigger warning for some torture and emotional abuse. It's not the worst torture I've ever written, but...well, you'll see. You've been warned.
Silver mist had settled on the haunted mountains as the day drew to a close, only slightly masking the steady crunch of combat books in the volcanic sand and the hellish detritus littering the forest floor. Xinyi had warned Olivia to not let so much as a single, deathly pale pine needle scratch her skin lest it poison her, so she walked rigidly through thickets and groves, as careful as she'd ever been not to disturb the environment around her. It was no easy task; the jagged pass shrank to a narrow path barely wide enough for the two of them to walk in single file but nothing more, and the deadly trees and brambles reached for her with gnarled, thorny fingers anxious to tear her flesh. Every part of her ached as well, from her road-weary feet to her tense back to her throbbing brain. The cobalt collar and their relentless march up the mountain drained every shred of energy from her soul. But still, Xinyi wouldn't let her stop.
At twilight, rain began to sprinkle on Olivia's head, lightly at first but quickly becoming a steady downpour. It was not refreshing like ordinary rain. Icy cold, yes, but each droplet sizzled on her skin like a thousand stinging bees. And it permeated her clothes so that its gnashing teeth could bite even her protected skin. The Lin Kuei Elite grimaced as she hiked, and she began to struggle not to fall as the dirt beneath her feet became a slippery, primordial muck.
"This is impossible!" she yelled at Xinyi after she collapsed onto all fours in the mud. It was his fault, she thought as she scowled at him. He had staggered first and accidentally yanked her leash hard enough to drag her down completely. "Take that goddamn thing off of me already."
"Absolutely not," he shot back as he curled his hand around her elbow and lifted her up.
Something snapped inside of her then as he said it, and now he'd given her a prime opportunity to punish him for it. With a ferocious roar, she swung her other arm around and drilled her clenched fist into his cheek with all the force she could muster. Xinyi was clearly not expecting that, and with a pained and bewildered yelp, he toppled backwards into the mud. Accidentally, he dropped the leash, a point not lost on Olivia, who bolted down the hill with it trailing behind her like a tail. So he couldn't jump on it to stop her, she reached around behind her and gathered it into her hands.
But Xinyi had already recovered from her attack and was sprinting after her. He furiously threw an ice ball - not at her but ahead of her - and it rapidly spread over the ground. The resultant sheet of ice was too close for Olivia to avoid, and when she ran across it, her feet flew up over her head. For a long moment, she was airborne, but soon she hurtled to the earth again like an asteroid and crashed on her hiking pack. Instantly, her lungs deflated. Shocked, scared, she clawed at her chest, struggling to breathe again, but only managed to inhale a few awkward gasps through a mouth pursed into a perfect circle like a fish.
By then, Xinyi had tackled her and together, they rolled several yards down the slope before sliding to a stop in a puddle of mud. With an angry grunt, he ripped the leash from her before he pinned her by her throat to the ground, choking her while controlling her body as well. Though the falling rain burned her eyes, the Elite saw that the prince's eye socket was already swollen shut and shaded an ugly purple. But when she looked up into his open eye, she saw it painted black with rage, and when he snarled and leaned even harder on her throat, she felt genuinely frightened. Olivia futilely, awkwardly beat at his body with her fists to no avail, and even writhed beneath him to buck him off, but it was no use. At that moment, he was in complete and unwavering control.
"Oh, I'm so disappointed in you, Olivia," Xinyi began, panting from the chase. "I warned you what would happen if you resisted me further." As he said it, a long kori knife sprang from his palm until it was as large and as intimidating as a machete.
When the young Cryomancer saw it, she burst into terrified tears. "No, please, Xinyi," she barked like a seal, struggling to speak. "I'm sorry," she rasped. "I won't do it again!"
"Yes, you will," he coldly argued, and deep down, she knew that he was right. He stroked the side of her face. "You never stopped resisting Reiko either, and so it's obvious this is a pattern with you. And I've observed in my journeys that the best way to stamp out rebellion is to make an example of you. A harsh example."
With that, he slowly lowered his blade to her ear, and when she frantically tried to whip her head around to stop him, he simply leaned on her forehead with his other arm and steadied her. Now, she couldn't move at all, and she whimpered in fear as she anticipated the blade cutting into her. A sick feeling washed over her, like a lump of lead had been plopped into her stomach. Tears continued to pour from her eyes, mingling with the rain to scald her cheeks.
"Please no, please no, please no," she babbled over and over again through choked sobs.
The first cut startled her more than it hurt, and Olivia arched her back in surprise at the cold chill and stinging pain, only grimacing in mild discomfort. But then the knife punctured the cartilage near the top of her ear and began sawing up and down. Somewhere far away, she heard a sudden scream, then she vaguely realized it was coming from her, and everything came out of her. The sky listened. The Elder Gods didn't. Blood, hot and sticky, gushed from the wound and onto her white hair, staining it red. Drowning in her own tears, she howled from the bottom of her lungs while Xinyi took his time with her, slowly cutting through. Every one of his motions was precise and deliberate, and she felt every swipe of the blade, but could do nothing to make him stop.
Wave after wave of nausea washed over her, but she couldn't vomit if she wanted to. Sheets of flaring agony shot through her body, from her ear to her toes. Olivia tried beating his ribs with her fists, but still they accomplished nothing. So her tears and her screams continued, dragging out for eternity and beyond, lasting longer than her poor little voice could. Finally, though, there was one last swipe of the blade and she felt a chunk of cartilage flop into her hair. Only then did Xinyi stop.
She was sobbing so hard she'd made herself hyperventilate, but as the Prince pushed himself up and straddled her waist, he sneered at her and said, "You should thank me, Lady Olivia. I only took the tip of your ear, not the whole thing." When she continued to cry and refused to answer him, his face contorted in rage and he shook her hard. "Say it!" he spat. "Show me your gratitude for my mercy!"
The young Cryomancer hiccuped and trembled, but finally she croaked, "Thank you." Her voice was hardly more than a whisper drowned by the noise of the rain. She looked up at him deliriously, her mind woozy from the pain and the adrenaline. She was going into shock, her mother's voice reminded her from somewhere far away. "Thank you for not taking my whole ear," she quivered a moment later, still sniffling.
Xinyi smiled cruelly at her before he leaned over and planted a kiss on her forehead. "You're learning quickly," he praised her. "I trust that you will no longer try to escape?"
"No," she whimpered, her hoarse voice cracking. "I'll behave."
Daddy, she silently cried for him, praying that wherever he was, he'd heard her and he was on his way to rescue her. But that was silly, she knew. He was with Reiko, his slave, and he would not be coming for her anytime soon, if ever. It didn't stop her from calling for him, though, even though nothing answered her but the wind and the rain and her bloody stump of an ear screaming songs of pain through her head.
"Good," Xinyi hissed. "But know this, Olivia. This was my last warning. I will take your whole ear if there are any further insurrections."
"I swear, I'm done," she vowed, almost pleading with him to believe her.
"Good girl," he said as he patted her head and then planted a kiss on her lips. "I knew you would understand. Now get up," he commanded as he climbed off her body.
Olivia's body shivered uncontrollably from the adrenaline dump and now the shock, and tremors affecting every limb of her body made it difficult to stand. But somehow she forced herself to. Everything hurt now, but the rain continued to aggravate it all further as it nipped at her skin and trickled its acidic rivulets into the fresh wound, burning her like hydrogen peroxide. The heavy sheets washed her bit of ear from her hair, and she watched it fall into the mud like a triangular flap of rubber. The thought yanked a new round of tears from her gut. Humiliated by them, by her defeat, she buried her face in her hands and sobbed.
"Start walking," Xinyi ordered her as he flicked his leash and she continued to cry into her hands. "We're nearly to the summit. We'll make camp there for the night."
There seemed a strange stillness over everything as she forced herself to take a breath and stop bawling like a toddler; but as Olivia listened she heard as if from somewhere close by in the mist and the rain the howling of many wolves. But the familiar song dissolved into eerie cackles and laughter. A moment later, another cry elsewhere answered the first, and then two more after that. Immediately, the hairs on the back of her neck stood to attention, and she looked to Xinyi in alarm as a heavy sense of dread settled on her heart.
The Prince's eyes gleamed, and he said, "'Listen to them - the children of the night. What music they make!' Seeing the terrified expression in her face, he added, "Lady Olivia, they're called crocotta, and they prowl about these mountains in search of fresh prey. I believe that your screaming attracted their attention."
The young Cryomancer's heart began pounding in terror at his declaration. "Please, Xinyi, take this collar off me so I can defend myself if they attack us," she begged, even folding her hands in front of her as if in prayer.
He scoffed in amusement. "Do you take me for a fool?" he retorted as he shook his head no. "You will kill me and not them. You have not been adequately broken in yet. No, Olivia, I will protect you."
"Please," she tried again. "It'll be easier-"
"I said no," he growled, his voice suddenly baritone, and now she saw him flash his blood-stained kori knife as a not-so-subtle reminder.
Olivia frowned but dropped the issue; he would never cave in to her, even though she was vulnerable right now without her powers. A part of her imagined he liked her this way. When she silenced herself, he smiled at her acquiescence, pleased by her sudden obedience. Then he looked up the mountain trail, and she followed his gaze.
"Let's go," he told her.
"Yes, Xinyi," she quietly murmured as she led the way once more. His leash felt tighter than ever.
It was dark by the time the slope began to flatten beneath her feet, and the road widened and grew straight. The rain had long since turned to blowing snow, and she mused that it was odd to encounter it in a place like Netherrealm, even on the top of a high mountain peak. She knew that Hell had multiple levels and ecosystems the same as all the other Realms, but her brain could not quite shake the classic depiction of it as an inferno. She almost wished for hellfire right now because her hands had gone numb, even though she'd yanked them into her jacket sleeves and tucked them into her armpits for warmth. As a Cryomancer, she tolerated extreme cold better than most, but she was not immune to it, and even she could die from hypothermia. As the pounding snow beat on her face with icy wings, she vaguely wondered if her vulnerability to the cold was because of 500 years of plain human blood mingling with Jae's line, or if even purebred Cryomancers were vulnerable as well. She hoped the latter was true and if it was, she hoped she could find a way to tie him to a tree and let him freeze to death slowly. The bitter wind was brutal, and she mused that the only reason she was still standing was because of her birthright. But, she reasoned, she couldn't keep this up forever.
But at least her ear had stopped bleeding.
Xinyi recognized that Olivia was fading fast, so he pulled her leash to stop her and then lifted the small pack from her shoulders before removing his own. Inside the bigger one was a little brazier, not large enough to warm a significant area, but large enough to warm the inside of an igloo. He built a fire inside of it and then built the igloo around it before shoving her inside and escaping the storm. It was already growing warm, for which she was thankful. While she held her hands to the fire to defrost them, he fished a mallet, a stake, and chains from her pack, and he began pounding the stake and her leash into the ground to secure her. She barely paid him any mind - she quietly gazed at the smoke rising through the tiny chimney. She said a sad prayer in her heart and imagined the smoke carrying it off to the Elder Gods.
Hopeless tears sprang to her eyes once again.
"Give me your hands, Olivia," Xinyi ordered her, and she slowly gazed at him to see what he meant to do. He held a set of cobalt cuffs with a short chain tethered to the middle in his hands.
For a fleeting moment, she hesitated and thought of resisting. But what would be the point? She was so drained right now that he'd easily overpower her again, and this time he would take her whole ear as retribution for her transgressions. Grudgingly, then, she obeyed him and held her hands out to him, baring her wrists for easy access. The Prince shackled them, and then her ankles, and attached both tethers to the stake in the ground so she couldn't escape or attack him in the night.
Once more, Xinyi smiled in approval, though she did not see it as she was looking in shame at her hands. He said, "It is so much better for us both when you're not fighting me, Milady," he softly spoke. He curled his finger beneath her chin and forced her to look at him. "You know, Olivia, this journey does not have to be a terrible one. We could use this as an opportunity to really discover one another. Would you like that? Please tell me you'd like that, Olivia."
Eat shit and die, she thought. But what she demurely said instead was, "Yes, Xinyi, I would."
He grinned once more before he kissed her cheek and then her lips. "Let me spread out our bedrolls, and then I will cook our evening meal. I'm sure you're quite hungry by now."
The young Cryomancer nodded, amazed at the numbness and indifference she now felt inside. Exhaustion and the still-throbbing pain in her red-hot ear had sapped her will to resist him. It wasn't that she didn't want to fight - on the contrary, now more than ever, she was determined to escape - it was that for now, Xinyi had utterly consolidated his power over her, and he knew it too. So all she could really do right now was play his little game and act like his obedient, well-mannered princess. It just made it easier to keep up the despicable charade if she didn't allow herself to feel anything at all.
"There, much better," he told her when he'd finished spreading the thick fur skins around the floor of the igloo. "And now, I-" He was abruptly cut off by the sound of rocks shifting outside.
"What was that?" Olivia whispered as she uneasily stared down the passage to the entrance. Xinyi had only fastened a loose flap of leather to the end to keep out the wind, but it was no kind of door. Crocotta weighed heavily on her mind.
"Shhh," the Prince quietly shushed her. "I will go see."
She watched him leave, and then abruptly realized just how vulnerable she was now. If one of those things - whatever they were - decided to come in to get her, she was staked to the ground and unable to get loose, and would prove to be an easy meal if it was carnivorous like she believed. Her heart suddenly pounding again, she grunted as she twisted in her cuffs, struggling to rip her hands through. When she realized it was no use - Xinyi had tightened them too much - she fumbled for the stake and fought to pry it from the ground. Again, it was anchored in a little too well, but she kept fighting with it anyway as strained grunts escaped her.
And then Olivia realized it wasn't an animal outside, but a person. She stopped straining against her chains long enough to listen to the noise of fighting that suddenly erupted outside. Two voices grunting - one Xinyi's and another whose owner she couldn't make out. Crashing. Shouting. An occasional curse word. The wind howling through the night, drowning anything else of consequence out. And then...relative silence. She panicked for a moment, certain she was now alone, chained to the ground with no way to escape. But then, a figure found his way into the tunnel and crawled into the igloo proper. When he emerged, she immediately recognized Prince Jiayi.
Her heart leapt into her throat right away, and she yelped as she thrashed to squirm away from him. But the chains tethering her to the ground only gave her so much room to move, and the icy walls hindered her as well, so it wasn't particularly hard for him to close the distance. He quickly thrust out his hand and yanked her from her knees onto her bottom, and still she resisted, trying to scoot backwards to escape. Frantic, nearly incoherent grunts left her as she yelled for him to get away.
"Olivia, calm down!" he barked as he now gripped his hands behind her head and steadied her. "I'm not here to hurt you. I'm here to get this cobalt collar off you." She didn't believe him and struggled to get loose, but he held her fast. "Hold still," he firmly commanded her, his rich blue eyes now meeting hers.
Olivia's heart pounded wildly in her chest now, threatening to seize up completely, and she trembled, flinching, crying again, but she stopped fighting at last when she recognized the futility of it. To her surprise, cold hands gently cupped her cheeks and began to massage them to soothe her. Unexpectedly, she found herself relaxing slightly under Jiayi's touch, and in a moment, his hands drifted down to the collar around her neck.
"Hold still," he repeated, his voice softer and calmer this time.
Cryogenic energy roiled through his fingers and in seconds, the cobalt went ice cold while the faint sound of cracking and popping touched her ears. He jerked his fingers ever so slightly, and the brittle metal snapped. Quickly, he ripped the other pieces off Olivia's neck and then held them up for her to see.
"I curse the Seidan who invented these collars," he said, his lip curled into a disgusted sneer as he crushed the metal in his hands. "There is nothing more cruel than to deprive a Cryomancer of his or her powers. It is like clipping a bird's wings." He shook his head in exasperation and threw the cobalt pieces to the side before he went about freezing the other chains as well.
She swallowed hard, her body trembling uncontrollably, her frightened tears slipping down her cheeks. "Where is Xinyi?" she demanded to know, her voice smaller than she would've liked. She gazed at the Crown Prince warily. Perhaps the brothers were partners in this, and they were trying to trick her yet again by lulling her into a false sense of security.
"I confronted him outside," Jiayi explained as he finished freeing her and then stripped off the outermost robe of his hanfu, which was embroidered with intricate dragons, before casually tossing it onto the furs stretched over the ground. "I tried to take him prisoner, but he escaped and ran off into the storm." As he spoke, she now noticed his split knuckles and a gash running through his scalp from his temple to his ear, his blood drying his short hair into spikes, lending truth to his story. "He may still be close, though," he continued, now crouching on one knee and warming his hands at the brazier. "I'll stand guard in case he tries to come back."
"I have to go find my team," she said, looking at him as if she expected him to keep her prisoner. She was still shaking in fear, even as she wiped her face dry. "I have to go to Seido."
Jiayi sighed and said, "You're free to go if you like. I won't stop you." Then he cast his sight down the tunnel to the flap of leather holding back the wind outside. "But I encourage you not to go out there. The storm is setting in now and it is very dangerous. The path down the mountains looks quite treacherous, and is probably too icy to travel right now. Xinyi is somewhere out there as well, and I don't want to have to save you from him again." He gazed back at her pointedly.
"You didn't have to save me this time," she indignantly replied, her fear suddenly forgotten, and that earned a smile from him. "I'm not just some damsel in distress."
"Of course not," he smirked. His voice was soft and low. He looked back to the brazier.
"I would've found a way to get free eventually," she argued. She sounded as if she was trying harder to convince herself than him. "I've done it before."
He raised his eyebrow and cocked his head at her once more. "Exactly how many times have you been taken hostage, Olivia?" he pointedly asked her, still gently grinning.
She frowned. "Just twice," she replied, and she crossed her arms. "But it was Reiko both times, and I got away from him."
"Erron Black saved you the first time, and you seduced Reiko the second time," he retorted. "Were you planning on seducing my brother as well to trick him into giving you the key?"
It was like a slap in the face. "I don't even know why I'm entertaining this conversation," she hissed. She began crawling towards the tunnel to leave, but as she passed Jiayi, he silently shot his hand out - never even looking behind him - and grabbed her by the ankle to stop her.
"Is the prospect of staying safe and warm in here with me really worse than risking life and limb out there in the storm?" he asked her sharply, still never taking his eyes off the brazier.
"If staying here with you means listening to you make fun of me until the storm passes, then yes," she growled. "I'll take my chances out there. I've had a really shitty week and I'm not in the mood for your jokes."
"Don't let your foolish pride cause you to suffer," he replied. "I apologize for rescuing you from my brother." Finally, he swiveled his head around to look at her, and mirth twinkled in his blue eyes. He was amused by his own joke. "Please don't leave. I rather enjoy your company."
Olivia's eyes widened in surprise. "Oh, yeah, right," she scoffed.
"You doubt my word?"
"Of course I do," she said. "Your whole family is jacked up. And every time I've been around you, you've told me to stay away from Xinyi and acted like I wasn't good enough for him. I-"
"I did not tell you to stay away from Xinyi because you weren't worthy of him," he abruptly interrupted her. "I told you to stay away from him because he wasn't worthy of you. And obviously, I was right."
Olivia recoiled and frowned in confusion. "I don't understand."
Jiayi wistfully smiled and then offered his hand to her to take. Hesitantly, she looked at it and then cautiously took it, and he promptly pulled her to his side. "Olivia, your ear," he now said as he suddenly noticed her amputation. His expression was so full of concern and genuine sympathy that - in spite of her best efforts not to cry again - she suddenly burst into tears and sobbed into her palms once more. The Crown Prince cautiously slid closer to her and very gently side-squeezed her to console her. "Did my brother do this to you?" he quietly asked her.
"Yes," she cried, her voice cracking pitifully as she tried to wrestle back control over her emotions.
Jiayi loudly sighed. "It is just one more crime he will answer for," he vowed. Then he squeezed her again. "Let me tend to your wounds, Olivia."
She snapped her head around and looked up at him suspiciously. "I'm fine," she told him, and then wiped her face dry.
He raised an eyebrow. "What did I tell you about not letting your foolish pride cause you to suffer?" he softly asked as the corners of his mouth turned up in the faintest smile. Tenderly, he dabbed a stray tear from her cheek with his thumb.
"It's not pride," she quietly retorted. "I've just had more than enough of your family to last a lifetime."
He bit his lip and nodded. "I suppose we've earned that," he conceded. "But I can tell that you're in great pain and your ear is starting to get infected. I can help you, Olivia. I swear to you, on all that I hold dear, that I will not hurt you." Then, as an afterthought, he said, "Not intentionally, anyway. Your ear looks quite inflamed and swollen. Touching it might hurt a little."
Olivia couldn't help but laugh at his rambling confession, mainly because his expression was so earnest. She chuffed and shook her head in disbelief. "All right, hot shot," she reluctantly replied, sniffling, "you win."
He nodded and then hooked his finger around a lock of her bloodied hair and carefully pushed it over her shoulder. He then pinched the occasional flyaways and smoothed them into the hair tucked behind her ear. For some strange reason, the young Lin Kuei Elite found herself enjoying the feeling of his hands in her hair, and as she thought about it, goosebumps erupted on her skin. If he noticed, however, he said nothing as he finished his work.
"Before I clean the wound and apply medicine," he began as he looked at her, "I am going to numb the affected area with ice to ease your discomfort."
"Understood," she said, admiring the way he told her what he planned to do before he did it, just like a doctor. She cocked her ear towards him and held perfectly still while he pressed an ice ball he'd just created to the bloody stump.
It stung like hell at first, but then gradually began to numb like he'd said as the frigid cold permeated the damaged tissues. She finally began to relax as he rubbed the ice along the exposed flesh, and as it melted and dripped down her ear, blood began to wash away and soak her shoulder.
"I am sorry Xinyi did this to you," Jiayi now apologized as he worked. "I know it means little to you, but words cannot express just how sorry I am. If there is something you want in recompense, name it and it shall be yours."
"I want his head," she growled, suddenly angry once again as she thought of the angel-faced weasel.
The Crown Prince sighed heavily and said, "So be it."
Olivia immediately realized what she'd just asked of him, and suddenly felt ashamed of herself for asking him to execute his own brother on her behalf. She swallowed hard and quickly said, "I'm sorry, Jiayi. I didn't mean that." Yes, you did, she argued with herself.
He thoughtfully hummed to himself before he wiped his hands and then used a cloth from the pouch on his belt to clean the blood and grime from her wound. He worked with purpose, Olivia observed, his hands steady and swift. Skillfully, he debrided the injury, only causing her little pain. When he was done cleaning the amputation, he fished a tiny vial of salve from his pouch and went to work gingerly dabbing it on her ear.
"You remind me of my mom," she sadly blurted out, her voice soft.
Jiayi faintly smiled at that and said, "Oh? Why is that?"
"Because she's good at fixing people up too."
"I am hardly as skilled at healing as a Hydromancer, Olivia," he replied. "But I do appreciate the sentiment since only minutes ago, you were ready to rip off my face."
Olivia rolled her eyes. "I mean it, Jiayi," she retorted. "My mom doesn't always use her powers to heal people. And the way you're working right now reminds me of her when she does things the old-fashioned way."
The Crown Prince smiled at her as he finished up his task, and then he put his medicine bottle away. "That is high praise," he gently said as he now wiped the excess salve on her split knuckle. "Thank you." He looked at her with kind eyes before he pulled a rebellious strand of hair from the ointment. "You need to keep your ear as clean and dry as you can."
She nodded. "I'll try," she promised. Then she looked at her split knuckle. "What did you just put on me?" she asked.
"Seidan medicine," he told her. "It is called chrysogenum, and it fights bacterial infections."
She looked at him in surprise. "You know about bacteria?" she incredulously asked him.
He scoffed and shook his head. "I am not an idiot, Olivia," he smirked.
"No, that's not what I meant," she stammered. "I just...I didn't think any Outworlder knew about microbes."
"I studied in Seido," he reminded her. "For many years. I learned much."
She frowned and bit her lip, and all she could think to say was, "Oh." After a long, awkward silence, she looked at him again and said, "You were starting to tell me why Xinyi wasn't worthy of me and why you kept trying to scare me off." She looked at him expectantly, urging him to continue with his story.
Jiayi winced and then sighed. "Yes, well, I've suspected for a while now where his allegiances were," he told her. "Of course, he denied his treason, but I know my brother. I raised him. I knew that whatever he wanted with you, his reasons were not pure and that he was dangerous to you."
She looked up at him and met his somber gaze. "So you mean that, all this time, you were trying to protect me from him?" she quietly asked. Her voice threatened to break at that, and she wasn't quite sure why.
"Yes," he answered.
"Then why didn't you just say so?" she demanded to know. "Why didn't you tell us this in the beginning? Why keep it a secret? Maybe he wouldn't have dragged me up this mountain. Maybe my father wouldn't have-" She trailed off, thinking about the Grandmaster, about how he might not have been taken by Blood Magik if Jiayi had just been honest with her. She blinked back tears and then dabbed her eyes in embarrassment.
"At first, I wasn't entirely certain Xinyi was guilty," he gently replied and then sighed. "I suspected he was, but I didn't want to believe he was capable of betraying me. And then, when I was all but convinced, I was…" He trailed off thoughtfully.
"You were what?" she asked, her own tone softening.
He looked at her intently, and hesitated. It seemed to her as if he was choking on the words. He then shook his head and looked down at his hands, which were laying neatly on his crossed legs.
"You can tell me," she urged him, amazed that she was letting him suck her into this story. "This stays between you and me."
Jiayi cleared his throat, but nodded his understanding. "The punishment for treason is very clear," he began. "If it came out what Xinyi had done, even though he is a Prince, he'd be executed immediately. I was...I was afraid to lose my brother. He has betrayed me, and he has broken my heart. But he is still my brother, and he is all the family I have left." He sadly shook his head. "But now I fear that my cowardice and failure to deal with him properly has cost you your father. I know the pain of losing a father you love. I am deeply sorry that Reiko took him from you, and that Xinyi orchestrated the means by which he could do it."
"My father is not lost to me," she quietly replied, trying to take this all in. "I am never going to stop trying to undo what Reiko did."
"Even so, I carry much guilt in my heart for my role in it." Now he covered her hand with his other one and sandwiched hers between his. "I am in your debt."
"That's not necessary. Please just tell me why Xinyi would do this," she replied.
Jiayi nodded. "During our time in Seido, he became what you might call 'radicalized.' He saw how peaceful Seido is, and how...orderly. I think its qualities helped him to feel more in control in a life that, as he sees it, is so desperately out of control."
"So how does aligning with Reiko make his life more orderly?" she asked, puzzled.
"Because Reiko undoubtedly has promised him my throne," he replied. "He wants our people to abandon the old ways and embrace a new way of life that is modeled after Seido's. But he knows I will never allow that, so the only way for him to accomplish his goals is to become the king instead of me." He inhaled deeply and looked at the brazier once again. "But what he doesn't understand is that Seido's order is an illusion. To maintain their perfect peace, they control every facet of every Seidan's life. No man, woman, or child has the freedom to choose their fate; it is decided for them when they are very young. And everything they do is done purely for the good of the state. Even little things like what clothes they can wear and what hairstyles they can have is decided for them by their government, and those who resist are arrested by the Seidan Guard and taken to a secret location for reprogramming. It is fascism veiled under the guise of protecting the greater good."
"That sounds like a dystopian nightmare," she grimaced and he nodded.
"It works for them," he said, "and I would never presume to tell another government how it should manage its people. But Cryomancers are far too independent to adapt to such a change. We've had to be. Shao Kahn would've destroyed us entirely had we not been the way that we are."
Jiayi looked at her. "I am far more progressive than Tsai Bing," he began. "Tsai Bing clings to old hatred, but I do not think even he remembers why he hates the other races - especially the Hydromancers - like he does. He is unhappy with me because I am working towards purging those prejudices from our laws.
"Xinyi, on the other hand, believes I am too conservative because I absolutely refuse to adopt Seidan policy into our own. He has pleaded his case multiple times, but, as Gods are my witness, I will never enslave my people's will and chain it to my own. The Cryomancers shall all have a voice, as long as I live."
"If he's only after your throne, Jiayi, then what does he want with me?" Olivia now asked.
"I expect his interest in you is mostly for Reiko's benefit," he answered. "He knows that you are a genuine threat to Reiko, and he wants to protect his interests in this game. If Reiko loses, Xinyi loses his chance to ascend to the throne, at least short of killing me." He stroked his chin thoughtfully. "Furthermore," he began, "if he marries you, he can ensure you're not a threat to Reiko himself. He can keep you locked in your bedchambers and only come to you as he sees fit, namely to lay with you and produce an heir."
The revelation and the realization that Jiayi was probably right shattered something inside of her that hadn't been broken before, something she decided she wanted to keep hidden within herself, maybe in place of the knot of pain and anger she had been carrying under her breastbone. Tears sprang to her eyes, but she stubbornly refused to cry.
"This news upsets you," he said almost apologetically.
She nodded but couldn't speak at first. Words were caught in her throat. Finally, though, she forced them out. "I was just so stupid," she muttered, her voice cracking, her tears now betraying her. They streaked down her face in big, heavy drops. "Why would someone like him actually be interested in me for me? I should've known I was being played."
"Someone like him?" Jiayi repeated, his face twisting in confusion. "I do not understand."
"A Cryomancer," she breathed, swallowing a hard ball of needles caught in her throat. "And a Cryomancer Prince to boot. I thought...I thought...I thought one of my own people had finally accepted me even though I wasn't pure-blooded. And he was funny and kind and-"
"He is not worthy of you, as this injury proves," Jiayi cut her off as he rested his hand on her arm before gently brushing a lock of her hair over her shoulder. He nodded at her wounded ear pointedly. "And you're wrong, you know." She looked up at him in puzzlement, and he gently smirked at her. "There are plenty of Cryomancers who accept you even though you're not pure-blooded. You just haven't met any of them yet, save for me. It is mostly the older generations who harbor hatred for the Hydromancers, not the younger generations like mine."
"Men like Tsai Bing call me an abomination," she pouted.
"Men like Tsai Bing are fools," he countered. "Show me your powers, Olivia. Make an ice ball for me."
She recoiled at his request, but then flexed her fingers as she commanded her powers to flow into them slowly. Her hand soon glowed a frosty blue as the air above her palm swirled and tightened into a frozen gem. She looked at him expectantly, and saw that he had done the same. His was slightly bigger, but like hers, it was clear as glass and cold fog wafted from it.
"You see?" he said, now smiling. "You can make an ice ball from nothing just like me. You are a true Cryomancer."
Olivia looked up at him and smiled back before wiping the tears from her eyes. "Thank you," she whispered, and then a new thought occurred to her. "But there's still something you haven't told me yet."
He frowned and expectantly cocked his head at her. "What is that, Olivia?" he asked her.
"Where have you been this whole time?" she demanded to know, her tone accusatory once more. "Xinyi made it look like you were the traitor, and it really wasn't hard to believe because you disappeared right before Reiko attacked my home and butchered my friends and family."
"Ah, yes," he nodded and looked at the brazier, his face darkening in anger now. "I am not surprised Xinyi spun such a web of lies, but I am no traitor," he growled. Olivia glanced at his hands and saw them tightly clenching the folds of his black hanfu so tight his knuckles were turning white. He sighed loudly and then gazed at her once more.
"After you left me in that cave with your dragon egg, my brother found me and confronted me," he explained. "This time, however, he changed his tactics and pleaded with me to join Reiko like he had. I refused. Little did I know that Reiko had already followed us to Earthrealm and was there in Arctika too. His Tarkatan minions attacked me, but I used my powers to escape from them. I found myself in the heart of the island, miles from your Temple, lost in the wild. By the time I found my way back to you, he'd already massacred it, and your two great Sky Healers were taking the survivors away, to where I knew not."
"Sky Healers?" she repeated, confused.
"Forgive me if I sound ignorant," he told her. "I do not know much about Earthrealm's technology. I can only tell you they flew in the sky like birds and dragons."
"Airplanes?" she suggested, raising an eyebrow.
"If that is what you call them. I saw people helping the wounded onto them."
"Airplanes," she told him. "Courtesy of General Blade since our portal to Ft. Albany was destroyed."
"Airplanes," he repeated cautiously, as if he wasn't saying the word correctly. When Olivia nodded in reassurance, he sighed and said, "I was afraid to approach your people," he confessed. "I thought you would hold me responsible for the attack. And as it happens, I would've been right." He scowled again and looked away. "I did not know where to go or what to do, so I took shelter in the abandoned Temple when everyone was gone," he confessed. "There, I prayed for guidance from the Elder Gods, and especially from Himavat since your Temple was once his home and I thought he would be the most likely to listen."
"They obviously answered," she faintly smiled.
"Indeed," he said. "Lord Himavat did finally come to assist me but only a few hours ago and told me that it would be imperative to find you because your family wouldn't reach you in time. As soon as he told me that you were Xinyi's prisoner, I resolved to stop my brother's villainy once and for all, starting with freeing you." Once more, he rested his hand on hers and gave her a reassuring squeeze. "I hope it pleases you to know that Himavat and I rescued your dragon egg before he sent me to find you, so it is in his care now, and it is safe from harm."
Her face melted into a bright, warm smile. "Thank you," she told him as she wept once more, but this time they were tears of relief. Himavat had heard her prayers and sent someone to help her. Surprising even herself, she now gave Jiayi a hug of gratitude. He seemed surprised by it as well, and hesitated to reciprocate, but soon overcame his reservations and wrapped his arms around her and held her for a long moment. "Just...thank you," she breathed into his ear, prompting him to hold her tighter.
When at last they pulled apart, they sat there quietly for a moment before he finally spoke again. "I pray to my gods for you, you know," he told her.
Her eyes immediately went wide. "What?" she asked, startled by the revelation. "Why?"
"Why not?" he retorted. "It seems to me that you're standing in much need of prayer."
"What is that supposed to mean?" she hissed, wrinkling her nose, feeling mildly insulted. "I'm not a bad person."
"No, you misunderstand," he replied with a fresh smile as he took her hands into his once again. "Your life is difficult right now. The gods should shelter you right now, as much as they possibly can."
Olivia frowned, still bristling like a porcupine, and looked directly into his eyes. "Well, what exactly are you praying for?"
"For your safety," he told her bluntly. "For you to reunite with your father someday. For you to finally feel welcome amongst the Cryomancers. For you to gain peace of mind and heart after all that you've endured and continue to endure."
She nodded, and before she realized what she was doing, she blurted out more. "What else do you pray for?" she asked him quite boldly. Quickly, Jiayi averted his eyes and she immediately knew it was a question she shouldn't have asked. "I'm sorry," she apologized. "That's personal. I had no right to-"
"It is fine," he interrupted her. "I pray to my gods for many things. Every day without fail." He looked at her and faintly smiled again. "I ask the gods for the wisdom to lead my people justly, and for them to bless my kingdom. I pray for my parents to be at peace, and that my brother might find his way out of the darkness."
She flashed a smile at him and softly chuffed. "You pray so much for everyone else, but do you ever say a prayer for yourself?" she wondered, and it prompted him to shrug.
"Very rarely," he replied. "Praying for yourself is tantamount to making a wish. It is, quite honestly, selfish." He scoffed. "I never ask for anything for myself because I know I am already very blessed to have what I do. But, gods help me, I confess that recently I've begun to say a prayer for myself - the same prayer - every day."
"And what is that?" she asked as she now leaned closer to him, anxious to hear what he said. "What do you want?"
He swallowed hard and looked at her intently, as if searching for her silent promise not to hurt him with the knowledge of his secret. He finally opened his mouth to speak, but the words were stuck in his throat, unable to come out. He then shook his head furiously and gazed into her eyes. "It is nothing," he said, but Olivia could sense the lie. "Nothing I'm ready to speak of yet, I should say." Quickly, then, he changed the subject. "I have Seidan somniferum to ease your pain," he now offered. "It will make you sleepy, but it is quite effective and I will keep watch while you rest-"
"No, I don't want it," she abruptly cut him off, her distrust of him immediately returned.
Jiayi bowed his head in understanding. "I didn't expect that you would," he told her. "But I wanted to offer it to you in the event that I was wrong."
"I appreciate the offer," she told him truthfully, "but no. It's not safe."
He shook his head. "It is safe," he argued. "But I understand why the thought of a deep sleep in the company of a stranger could make you feel unsafe." He patted her knee. "But if you change your mind, all you need do is ask." He smiled at her and then started rifling through Xinyi's pack. "Now, let us see what food there is to eat. I don't know about you, Olivia, but I am ravenous."
Author's Note: I didn't want to mention it above and risk spoiling this chapter for you, but Xinyi's behavior in this update was loosely based on my piece of shit ex who did similar things to me. He didn't cut off my ear, but he did do other despicable things, and now I still have PTSD five years later. Side note, but if you're in an abusive relationship like that, 1. Please know you're not alone; there are people who can help you, and 2. Do whatever you can do to get out of that because no one deserves to suffer. Oh, and 3. I don't care what he/she says, you didn't make them do that to you - they're fucking narcissists and are experts and twisting it so that you look like the bad guy. But you're not. And my door is always open to you if you'd like to talk to a neutral party about it.
MKDemigodZ-Warrior, maybe you'll still get your chance to see Fujin with short hair ;) And I'm sure there will be chapters ahead with Bi-han and Sareena sharing a tender moment. Just be patient, young padawan LOL
Reptaliator, well, he was trying to teach her a lesson for flirting like that in front of him, so yeah. #noregrets LOL I can honestly say I've never envisioned Fujin wearing Hawaiian shirts, but I suppose they fit his personality. I don't know why you think the comparison with Bi-han's dependence on Noob to drug addiction is odd - he's clearly growing more dependent on him but keeps deluding himself into thinking he can quit Noob anytime. And he might've been thrashed in story mode in the games, but he's always been a force to be reckoned with in my stories, only ever losing his fights when he fights his brother. I think that over the course of time, I've pretty well established he's a force to be reckoned with, with or without Noob. Even in Tales of the Lin Kuei when he was a kid, he was badass like that. So don't think of him in context of how the games present him. Think of him in my stories how I present him ;)
Obelisk of Light, thank you for the reviews you left! I appreciate that. I figured you'd absolutely hate Xinyi when you saw what he did, and I'm sure you're hating him even more now LOL I'm so glad you liked the market scene with Fujin and Morgan - you should give props to Helly too because she kept throwing out great lines for me to use in that moment. Raiden upbraiding Fujin at the meeting was just a little cherry on top for you LOL
Praxus84, well, no one can get under your skin more than your parents, right? LOL Fujin definitely gives zero fucks about giving it back as good as he got it. I'm glad you liked the part with Bi-han and Tomas as well, and I guess you'll have to see how Bi-han handles his problem from here on out. Lastly, how you feeling about Xinyi now? XD
ROCuevas, indeed it is!
DinoLord00, both Helly and Obelisk expressed their gratitude towards me for your kind words in your reviews. Thought I'd pass that along, firstly. :D Yes, the market scene between Morgan and Fujin was so fun to write, and it was definitely needed after so much heaviness. Now we're back to the heaviness, but it was a nice reprieve for a moment anyway. And I agree, it's criminal that Tomas and Bi-han don't get fleshed out more in the games, but other characters who are less interesting to me do. But that's a different rant for a different day. I recall way back in the day how in the games, they were connected like that, but NRS has moved away from that notion. I liked it a lot at the time and incorporated that into my stories, and now I finally had an excuse to bring it back up. So it's been fun for me trying to help Tomas keep Bi-han afloat. I do think that it'll be a golden opportunity to showcase Hotaru and Havik's hatred of each other, so you can definitely look forward to that. As for Xinyi, he's not as bad as Rain in some ways, and in other ways he's worse. Either way, he's definitely going to be my next character you guys love to hate ;)