Into the Array C15
Hey Bts-army, thanks for the review. Thank you all for the reviews.
I'm kind of building up for something that I will hopefully see to it.
Sadly to say I kind of forget some part I might want to put in in the past so I am like reading back to recall my memories. And god damn it, I still regret the amount of siblings TT.
The sky is blood red. Shades of darker red forms the cloud. The smell of decaying flesh is sickening. Its overpowering stench announce the unburied dead form countless mound all around the 9th prince as the oppressive heat mercilessly surround him. Every breath he drew grew heavier and heavier, fouler and fouler until it seems to condense into a palpable mass that could be seen, felt and if Yao would, cut it with a knife.
He can taste the blood and dead behind the back of his throat. It fills his whole mouth and he remember that it was the only thing he could ever taste for days on end.
"Drink it all up! Every single one of you." Yao found himself shouting. "Drink it!" he said again, pushing the head of a soldier into the bowl he was holding.
The young soldier cried.
"General! " the young soldier bawled. "B-but.. he saved us. How could we just.. just.."
Yao stared at him before quietly replying: "I don't care. My orders are simple, drink every single last drop of the soup in your bowl." It was at that moment that Yao becomes painfully aware that he no longer knows how to cry.
He strokes the head of the soldier.
White bone soup? He will drink anything, eat anything if it means staying alive.
I'll make sure every single one of you rascal will get back home alive, Yao find himself saying.
"You are a murderer!"
"You're a demon."
"You're just a child with no mother."
"Who said that?" Yao turned around asking angrily.
Wang Yao find himself staring at the Empress he was forced to call Mother, berating a little boy. The pavilion overlooks a big, beautiful pond beside the imperial garden, all the children in the palace loves to play here. There is no other child in sight other than that little boy. He was on the verge of crying.
His previously worn armour and helmet is now gone, the blood the rotting flesh the battlefield, they are all gone. Instead, Wang Yao is wearing his usual attire in the palace, one that he wore when he was younger.
"And now you are going to act like one without any manners. Goodness, look at you." The Empress spat out, hands moving out and twist the boy's cheek. "Such a dirty creature. I wonder if that lowly maid mother of yours ever taught you to be clean."
Out of pain, the boy swats the Empress's hands away. This infuriates her and she gesture him to her ladies in waiting beside here. Upon instruction, they all go in one by one to slap and pinch the boy.
"Stop it!" Yao shouted out sternly.
The boy's indignant eyes filled with angry tears looked towards the 9th prince, the Empress's vindictive eyes glance over as well, it was quickly replaced by snobbish looking ones.
"Look who do we have here, another rude one that doesn't have a mother too." She laughed.
Wang Yao smiled and bowed down. "The 9th prince pay his respect to Mother."
"Are you here to stand up for your fellow motherless brother?" She sneered.
A bomb seems to tick off inside of Wang Yao at the Empress's repeated innuendo that they have absolutely no backings in this large palace filled with politics. Wang Yao look up at the Empress and said with a smile: "I believe Mother is not so insecure about her position as an Empress to resort to bullying Cheng Chang for thrills. There are countless things you can do in here."
The Empress's face changed, in a huff, she retorted: "Imprudent child. I will have to talk to your Father about this and see to it that an appropriate punishment will be mete out to you and this brat here!"
"So be it." Yao merely answered.
As soon as they are alone, Wang Yao rushed to the boy with his head in his knee.
"Are you okay?" He asked, arms around the little thing.
The boy looks up at him and pounce on Yao, hugging him around the neck tightly. "Not a talker, are we? "Yao smiled, soothing him by stroking his back. "Look at me." Yao said, pulling the boy away from him.
Cheng Chang stares back blankly at him. No longer a little boy.
Yao is confused. Cheng Chang took the moment when he is confused to lean in and kissed him on the lips.
"What are you doing!?" Yao pushed him away in shock.
"I love you."
"A-Are you crazy."
"Yes.. Only for you…" Cheng Chang plead, eyes imploring for any possible acceptance.
"I.. I can't.. We can't" Yao shake his head, moving away from him.
"Why?" Cheng Chang asked, hands clutching Yao's shoulder tightly. "Why?" he asked again and again, head leaning on Yao's chest, shattered.
"We are brothers." Yao mumbled.
"But you willingly drank and ate me on the battlefield." The 11th prince whispered, grip on Yao's shoulder trembling.
"I-I didn't… That's not you.. That's.. another soldier.. It's.. It's not you." Yao retaliated.
"Does it matter!?" Cheng Chang's head rise to face Yao again. Except this time, it's not a face staring back anymore. "You're a slut just like your mother. You should let us eat you willingly."
Wang Yao pushed the figure away from him and stood up. He is surrounded by darkness; a single black figure stands in front of him. A sudden intense fear overwhelms him, as the black figure near. Yao step back a few steps and found himself with another black figure behind him.
"What is going on?" Yao muttered looking around, distraught. "What do you guys want?" he shouted at the nearing figures.
He springs to his fighting stance, but the figure behind snake its arms underneath the 9th prince and held him with unprecedent strength, it held him tight as Yao struggled to get free. The black figure from the front bare his clothes, touching his skin in a crude and inappropriate manner.
"What are you doing! I am the 9th prince! I DEMAND YOU TO STOP AT THIS INSTANCE!" he cried out in horror. Everything is dark, it makes Wang Yao's other senses so much more sensitive, he can feel more and more hands and fingers, touching, rubbing, poking his body. The sweat and the breath, it scares him.
"Look at him, isn't he cute?" a voice whispered out of the blue.
"The 9th prince? More like a princess for fucking." Another voice sneered out in the dark.
"Look at this beautiful and smooth body. Such a pretty thing." Then another cooed. Wang Yao is confused, and disgusted, he can feel wet, blunt tips brushing against his body and poking his cheeks. He can't move at all.
"Cheng Chang.. Help me.." Yao mumbled breathlessly. "Cheng Chang!" He shouted again. "Sister Huan… Sister Huan, please please please don't leave me alone. Somebody… save me please." he whines pitifully.
"Wang Yao.. Wang Yao!" he heard a voice calling out to him.
He opens his eyes wide again. His vision hover between blur and clear, he found the worried face looking back at him reassuring. The grip on his shoulder is no longer fear inducing, but his heart beat is not calming down from the deep breath he is desperately taking.
"Are you okay?" the voice said again. "What happened?" it asked again.
"It's just a nightmare." Yao mumbled, trying to reassure himself, still reeling in from the fear. "But I am so scared." He sat up, holding his splitting head.
"I am so scared." He said again, to the person in front of him.
"Don't be.. I am here"
"I am so scared Ivan. They are coming to get me." Wang Yao muttered.
Ivan is at loss over what to do. The 9th prince in front of him is distraught over a nightmare, what did he dream of? People say that dreams are always a reflection of the state of your mind and heart. But that doesn't matter. Not now.
"You will be okay." Ivan finally said, wrapping his arms around Wang Yao. "They won't get you. I promise."
"You promise?"
"Yes, I promise."
Yao hung onto him tightly. Desperately. The smooth silk he wore clung onto his burning sweat slick skin, his long hair stuck messily over his neck like black ugly tendrils trying to consume this white pale body of his.
"DON'T LEAVE ME!" he growled, when Ivan tried to pry him apart. Although all Ivan wanted was to clean him up, perhaps with some damp cloth or water. The desperation in the 9th prince demand is enough to stop Ivan in his track.
It was not long before the prince in Ivan's embrace drifted off again, whether he fell asleep or pass out, Ivan do not know. All he can feel is Yao's clawed grip slowly loosen up, but he never let go.
Ivan did not let go as promised as well.
The dim moonlight outside cast a shadow over the man standing just outside the slightly ajar door. The 11th prince look inside the room with bitterness, and if he would admit it: Jealousy. Clenched fist forms a crescent shape wounds on his palm, Ivan is not the only one who notice that Yao have dismissed all his servants. Cheng Chang have noticed it long ago, and he knows so much more than Ivan.
Cheng Chang knows that his 9th brother would get nightmares if he tries to sleep through a fever, he knows that it's the only time when Yao would literally beg for him to sleep with him. He wanted to be there for Yao when he wakes up from his nightmare and right this instance, he wanted to barge in and tear them apart so badly.
But that would expose him, wouldn't it?
He was caught a few times by Yao for stalking him when he was younger.
His martial arts are too strong. It's so hard to get close to him.
And this man.. Under the pretence of painting for him, got so close so easily. It's almost as if this foreigner was blatantly mocking his years of hard work. It's not fair at all, Cheng Chang found himself thinking.
He sat outside Yao's door simmering in his own resentment.
In another room, in another part of the massive palace, two ladies sat there waiting. The light grey dressing hides a sturdy physique, lower half of her face hidden by a thick veil that is equally grey. Another was dress in a sultry looking purple of myriad shades, beautiful features are adorned with an unapproachable sense of haughtiness.
The 5th princess and the 8th princess. Wang Mu and Wang Huang Huan.
"It's getting so late. What's taking that disabled man so long?" Mu huffed out in anger. "And it's so warm in here I am sweating."
"I believe we are just early, Sister Mu" Huang Huan merely replied, although she does wince at the blunt way her pretty sister just describe their 6th brother.
"Argh, if he is not coming out soon. I'll be asking Jin Xi to arrange a carriage back." Mu complains again, fanning herself with a hand-held fan violently.
At the very moment, the sound of footstep and wooden wheels rolling against the sandy pavement can be heard from a distance. It reaches closer and closer to the main hall where the two princesses are sitting and waiting. Out of the curtains came a lady in waiting pushing a man on a wheelchair dressed in Maroon, his face is thin with stubble, his lips are set in a thin straight line. Peeking out of the slit of his attire is a twisted right foot, broken by an external force and healed badly.
More than anything, the most unsettling part about this man are his eyes. They speak of vindication, so filled with grudge that if looks could kill, he would have mutilated you just to see you die slowly only to do it over and over again.
The look on Mu's face is immediate disgust, while Huang Huan looks slightly unsettled by him. Afterall, the 8th princess have work under him for some time, not that she enjoys it, but she is used to him. She took a glance over to Mu, and then to Ping, who gesture his lady in waiting to push him closer to the table.
There's fear in her eyes, flickering against the candle lights. She quickly nodded and pushed him over, and upon his second gesture, quickly scampered out of the halls. There're no smiles for his two sisters, only a face wishing to talk business.
He threw out a bunch of papers filled with words, the inks still fresh.
Mu was the first to snatch the papers, scanning through the words with a nonchalant attitude. A word or a sentence caught her attention and she repeated after it: "Treason? That sounds fine by me."
"Treason?" Huang Huan blurted out in horror, before snatching the papers from Mu. She read through the words that his 6th brother have written, eye brows drawn, and horror fills her eyes. "You can't use that against him."
"Why not?" Mu replied.
"Treason is punishable by death regardless of who you are."
Mu look on with annoyance at her sister's serious face, before brushing her concern with a "I don't care."
"He will die."
"I don't care!" Mu shouted, standing up, flipping the stool she has been sitting on prior. "He has taken everything from me. What use does a man have for such a pretty face? He is a slut just like his mother, and he must seduce and fucked his way to everything he has now!"
"But he.." Huang Huan started, she wanted to stand up for him because she knows the truth but, that bitter jealousy she has in her heart stopped her.
"But what?" Mu cried, "Have you ever lie on the bed with someone who thought you are the best thing in the world, only to have it all taken away the moment they saw your brother? Hah! Listen, its not even your sister, it's a brother. I can't even be compared to a man."
An ugly smirk pulls lightly across 6th prince's cheek.
Silence falls between the three of them, then Mu quickly followed on with a "I.. I will mourn for him if he dies." A hint of guilt flash past her face in the form of words, but it's gone just as quickly. "But at least." She continues. "He will…. never take our things away from us anymore."
Huang Huan swallowed a mouthful of indecisions. This is a road to no return. Ping place his palm on the back of her hands, and to her he tried talking with a mouth without a tongue: "T-to-are tout ah-tone." Gone are his vindictive eyes, but rather eyes that seek for her help, eyes that wanted justice for everything he has been through.
The 8th princess looked back at him and nodded. Yes, she thought. I am not alone. I am not the only one who wanted this.
Details of their plan, or more specifically, the 6th prince's plan deepen. The three siblings shall pour in their influence and whatever power they have, to start the ball rolling, and all guilt and hesitation will dissipate like the misty clouds in the purple sky.
The sound of zither accompanied by the bamboo flute float in through the air and into the windows, it landed lightly onto Ivan like the petals of the flowers grown around the palace. The soft silk surrounds him like the warmth of a women's embrace, yet airy enough to feel like the green grass of south of home.
Ivan opens his eyes greeted by pink, and his first thought went to the 9th prince. He looked to his side and find him gone. Ivan sat up immediately, worried. He quickly shuffled on his shoes and towards the door, he found a person dancing by the courtyard.
Dressed in soft shades of translucent pink, the grace of each swing thrown out of the person's arms, the poise of the dancer's poses during each interval. The nimble and feminine way it shields its face with the long, flowing sleeve and bend toward Ivan.
The bashful, fluttering eyes averted Ivan's gaze and looked away, the hidden mouth seems to be hiding a demure smile.
It's the 9th prince, yet.. almost not like him.
The jade green leaves fell swirling in circles, for a moment, Ivan felt as though he was back in the paintings again. A fairy has descended from Heavens and starting dancing, bells tinkering at his ankle and wrist seeming to charm Ivan along. The poor boy almost forgotten how to breath in front of this man.
Ivan snapped out of it unwillingly and rushed to his papers. He sketches out the 9th prince's dancing form, over and over. There was never such burning, intense need to sketch out so badly, it was as though fate brought him yearning and lusting for the world only to be here at this present moment to be yearning and lusting over capturing everything about this man.
Tears started falling out of his eyes, it filled his eye rim and flooded his vision. He wiped them off quickly with his sleeves, but it was replaced immediately. He wiped them again and again, yet tears kept falling. He felt frustrated these tears won't stop, they are hindering him from looking and drawing his beloved muse.
He cried.
"Don't cry." Ivan heard a voice. He looked up and found himself looking up to the 9th prince. "Why are you crying?" his soft concern voice asked, gently stroking the back of Ivan's head.
"Yaooooo.." Ivan cried, bawling and hugging the prince and burying his head onto his chest.
"What happened?" Yao asked again.
"Yaoooo.." Ivan bawled again, dragging out his name like a little kid whining, trying to beg for something.
"Yes? What? What happened?" Yao asked, pulling him apart, cupping his teary face up towards him.
"Yao, I have realised that I have lived to meet you. I was born… just… to be here, looking at you, nothing else. Your callous beauty and unfeeling touch pierce through me again and again, embroidering my life and sewing over every measly experience I possesses. Every breath I take now, burns of you. Every thought I have now, assail of you." Ivan speaks, pouring his hearts out. He tightened his grip on Yao's clothes. "And I don't know what to do." He sobbed.
Wang Yao's eyes soften.
He leaned in and gave Ivan a kiss on the lips.
Slowly, he gave a light smile, whispering softly and a little sadly, "You will learn to regret me."
"I won't" Ivan pouted, trying for another kiss again.
Wang Yao moved away, and pinch Ivan's chubby cheeks before retorted: "You cheeky bastard."
All over at the outer gate, a pair of hands tightened its grip on a tray filled with food and medicine. The banter between the budding relationship did not go unnoticed. As again, the 11th prince, stood there, indignant. He was always late, always one step behind. He hides himself back behind the gates, away from sight, trying hard the rein in his rage.
Am I too quiet? Am I too complacent? Am I too contented at where I am? Or am I too slow and accidentally let go of any opportunity to be close to brother Yao? Why? How did this happen? Cheng Chang finds himself thinking.
Trembling fingers dropped the tray, but his mind is no longer on delivering them.
He walked away, back to his house.
"Did you hear that?" Ivan asked, head moving over to the direction of the gates.
"Yes, I did." Yao smiled. "It's my 11th brother. Cheng Chang."
Ivan turn back looking at the 9th prince. Absentmindedly, he asked "D-Do you think he saw us…?"
"He must have. Else he would have come right in." Yao replied, eyes not looking at Ivan.
There's something brewing underneath something that sounds too good to be true. There's invisible spiderwebs all around, and Ivan can feel it, that slowly and surely, he is walking right into it, entangling himself with every move he made. Twisting himself deeper into this sweet, delicious and dreamlike trap.