A/N: Whaaaat? An early chapter from me?
I made the executive decision to cut this chapter in half, mostly because it tells the story better that way. The halves are short, but I will post the first one today and the second tomorrow. Those of you who have been keeping up with this tale know that I love drama, and my favorite thing in the world is a cliffhanger. Be warned XD!
He lay quite still, eyes staring at the ceiling in a life-less way. Only the sight of his chest rising and falling signaled that he was, in fact, alive. He gave no acknowledgements when Tigress and Liang entered his room.
"Brother?" Liang called softly. Ni Chang's head moved slightly at the call of his brother's voice. Despite looking ill, with a split lip and a bruise across his cheek, his eyes sparked a bit when Liang sat next to him on the bed. "How are you feeling?"
"As well as to be expected." Ni Chang replied hoarsely.
"You remember Tigress?" Liang asked, gesturing to her. She remained just inside the door, not wanting to get too close in fear of disturbing him. Ni Chang nodded. "She's here to find out what happened."
"Sit, please." Liang urged to Tigress, so she came and sat in a chair next to the bed. He looked at her, as if wanting her to say something first.
"Ni Chang, do you remember anything? About going missing?" She asked softly.
He looked back at the ceiling and for a moment, she thought he wasn't going to answer. "I wasn't kidnapped." He replied softly. "Not at first."
"What do you mean?" Liang frowned.
"She was beautiful." Ni Chang let out a soul-less laugh, more a huff of air than anything. Tigress' eyebrows knitted together in confusion. "She told me we could be happy. I trusted her. When she asked to go to Mongolia, I believed her. I wanted to." When he was done with his ramble, his head turned to look at her once more. "I don't remember anything after Xiongxang. I just remember running." His voice grew soft. His eyes returned to that ceiling.
"Brother, who was this?"
"I trusted her." He mumbled. "She was my snowflake and I trusted her." He began sobbing then, huge tears flowing down his cheeks. "My snowflake."
"Tigress, we should go." Liang stood and planted a soft kiss on his brother's forehead. He took her hand and pulled her out of the room before Ni Chang could start feeling any worse, and start speaking any more gibberish.
Once they were in the hallway, she let out a breath. "Has he been like that since he returned?"
"Yes." Liang sighed. "Ti, I didn't want to tell you about this in a letter, but he was in pretty bad condition. I mean he had broken ribs, bruises. He looked like he was was like he were a wild animal."
"What is going on?" She muttered, more to herself than him. She saw him shrug out of the corner of her eye, but the gears in her head were turning wildly.
"How did it go?" asked a voice. Po was coming down the hallway, Viper following behind.
"Not very well. We barely got anything out of him." Liang shrugged. He leaned against the wall in a very un-royal-like way.
"He kept talking about this girl who lured him to Mongolia. Kept saying 'My snowflake'." Tigress frowned.
"Wait, what?" Viper asked, not having heard the last part.
"He kept calling her 'My Snowflake'." Tigress shrugged, but she stood upright when she saw the gears in Viper's head turning. "Viper?"
"Snow." Viper's shoulder's fell. "Xué is the word for snow." The four of them looked to one another in differing stages of shock. "He was in love with the Mongolian Empress."
A/N: MUAHAHAHAAAAA