A/N: I apologise now for the treatment I am gonna have to force the twins through, but it's crucial to the story! The sooner this chapter is over, the sooner...the next chapter can go up. Please don't kill me! And I'm sorry if any of the characters are OOC.
Disclaimer: Puh-lease, people...
Sying groaned, rolling over and lying on his back. He tried to open his eyes, but immediately clamped them shut against the harsh light coming from a barred window. Eventually he managed to force them open enough to get a look at his surroundings. Cautiously raising himself onto his elbows, he blinked as he took in the severe grey walls, floor, and door. Soon, he thought, I'm going to be in a lot of pain, and then I'll really regret making the effort to wake up.
He was in the process of dragging himself into a seated position, when something struck him. Hang on, wasn't I just on a ship? In fact, wasn't I just on several ships? Then how the hell did I-?
He gave an involuntary groan as the train of memory hit him just as the sledgehammer of pain paid him a visit. Did I really go marching after Cao Cao? God, I'm such an idiot. Na noticed -
Na! Is she alright? I should have paid more attention to her. She tried to tell me, but I just wanted to get the battle over. Why, why didn't I spot that it was a trap?
Sying punched the ground next to him angrily. This is all my fault. It's all my fault if we never see Wu again - if I never see Shang Xiang again.
"Oh, god..." he muttered, dropping his head into his hands. He didn't look up as the door opened, and someone stumbled in.
"Sying!"
"Na?" Sying looked up to see his sister limping towards him. "Are you okay?"
"I'll live. What about you?"
"I'll live." he replied, grinning slightly. In reality, he had a pounding headache from Cao Cao's sword hilt, a painful gash on his upper arm, and what he suspected to be several cracked ribs, but he didn't want to worry his sister any more as she carefully lowered herself down next to him, grimacing slightly.
"Where were you when I woke up?"
"Well, I woke up a couple of days ago. I reckon I was out of it for a couple of hours. When I came to, we were still on the boat, and we got here about a day ago. By my reckoning, we're in a Wei fort just the other side of the Wu territory border, which means that if we get a chance to escape, we can soon be safe. And they took me out of the room just now to try and intimidate me..." she fell silent.
Sying glanced at his twin, and saw the fear and panic that had captured her and that was holding her hostage.
"It's going to be okay, Na. As long as we stay together, we can make it." he said gently.
"But how do you know that?" Na asked, tears welling up and spilling down her face. "You weren't sitting in that room, all alone, thinking of nothing but 'is he alright?', not knowing at all what was happening to you, if you were even there, and you weren't sat there, not even sure if your twin was alive..." she started to sob loudly, curling up into a ball to fend off the world. Sying looked on helplessly, before doing the only thing he knew to do. Pulling Na into an embrace, he stroked her hair as she calmed down, as the wails became sobs, became sniffs. Even then he didn't let go, but spoke to her as she clung to him.
"I do know what it feels like. In Xia Kou, when that soldier got you... I had to keep fighting when all I could think of was you... I suppose it helped, in a way - I was so angry, I just wanted revenge for you - but after, before you woke up again; and then when the poison kicked in... I don't know how or why, but when I was at the party, I just suddenly knew that something was wrong. Something bad. It was me who discovered you were ill. Xun and Shang Xiang helped, but all I could think of was how it was my fault you got hurt in the first place. So yes, I think I know what you went through." he said quietly.
"And what about Xun and Shang Xiang? They weren't even fighting. Do you reckon they know we've been kidnapped?" asked Na in a quiet voice.
"It's been, what, 50 hours since we got captured? They'll definitely know by now."
They finally broke apart, and leaned against the wall in deep thought, wondering what their lovers were doing at that moment.
"...And that's all you're going to do? Well, I don't care about the danger! If none of you are going to do anything about it, I'll go after them myself!"
"Shang, please-"
"No, Quan! It's already been three days, and all we've done is sit around and discuss it! Well, I'm going to find them!"
The tent flap was flung back as Shang Xiang stormed from the tent, tears beginning to run down her face. Inside the tent, Xun sighed, and left after Shang. He had said next to nothing on the matter - he hadn't really needed to, Shang had said it all - but he knew he was the only other person in the tent who knew exactly what she was going through.
He wandered through the camp to the little copse at the end of it, and from there it was the work of a minute to find the tree Shang Xiang was up, now sobbing gently into her hands.
"Just go away, will you?" she managed to get out in between sobs.
"It's me, Shang." he replied, shinning up the tree to join her.
"I'm not going to be talked out of going." she said, sniffing.
"I'm not here to talk you out of it." he said quietly as he settled down on the next branch up from the sobbing princess. "I'm here to say that if you go, I go. And I'm not letting you tell me I can't go."
Shang Xiang smiled gratefully.
"Thanks." she said quietly.
"But it will be dangerous, just the two of us going in..."
"I know, Xun, but I just can't bear to think of what might be happening to them for every minute longer we leave them there!" she wailed.
"I can't either, but we have to be sensible about this. It's no use to them if we get ourselves captured or killed trying to rescue them, is it?"
"Well then, what do you suggest we do?"
"What about the door?"
"I tried kicking it a few times, but I think it's made of steel or something..."
Sying rolled up his sleeves. His Dragon Staff had been taken when he was knocked out, but he would just have to do without it.
"Stand back, Na," he said, as he began to concentrate. The element of fire was there somewhere... all he had to do was connect with it...
"Wait, Sying!"
...He paid no attention to his sister, this needed all his concentration... the connection was almost within his reach...
"Sying!"
... He grasped it, and felt the power flooding back into his limbs - oh, how he had missed this - and redirected it all towards the door...
And woke up, flat on his back and with some minor burns, to see Na kneeling over him.
"I tried to tell you, when they took me, they told me that they had made their sourcerers put an anti-magic field on it, or something like that." she said, shakily.
Sying strugged into a seating position.
"How long was I out for this time?" he asked.
"About 10 minutes." she replied, as she helped him up. "It's no use. We're stuck in here until we get let out." Na sighed in frustration.
"Don't say that, Na! Never give up hope! We will get out of here, and we will do it alive!"
"I hope so, Sying..." she trailed off as she heard something. "They're coming back for us."
"Well, then, here's a chance to escape. If we just..."
"Wonder if that boy has woken up yet?"
"I hope so," said the younger prison guard, cracking his knuckles menacingly.
The older guard cuffed his head.
"What have I told you about doing that?" he said.
The younger man rubbed the back of his head.
"Sorry."
They reached the door they had been told to find, and the older man reached into his pocket for the keys. When the door was unlocked, the men went in.
"Now!"
The younger guard cried out as he was born down under the weight of Sying, but the older man ducked under Na's foot, and almost without thinking, brought his fist around in a big swerve that ended with Sying's head, before grabbing Na before she could try anything else. The younger guard scrambled up, and grabbed Sying before he could come back to his senses.
As they were marched down the corridor, Na struggled against the hold of the guard, desperately trying to escape from his grip, but the man was too strong, and she soon gave up.
They walked in silence through a network of corridors, before finally arriving at a room that was bare apart from a couple of chairs. The twins were forced into them, and were gagged and secured to the chairs. Then, the guards disappeared behind them. Nothing happened for a few mintes, then someone else entered.
"Well, well, what a suprise. now the both of you are awake, we can really have some fun."
The twins stared in horror as Cai Mao stood in front of them, smirking obscenely.
"I think it's time some well earned revenge was paid out..."
"Are we ready, then?"
"More or less." replied Xun as he swung himself up onto his horse. "The rest of the generals think we're in our tents, and Ling Tong and Xiao Qiao are going to cover for us. Are you ready?"
"As I ever will be." replied Shang Xiang from atop her horse.
"Then let's not waste any more time. I'm pretty certain that they're being held at the Wei fortress just the other side of our territory. If it's just for reasons of revenge, which I'm pretty certain it is, they won't bother going far, but it does mean..." he broke off, and swallowed. "Just brace yourself for what we find." he said.
Shang Xiang glanced at him for a second. The Lu Xun she saw was a very different one to the one that afternoon they had played Go in the palace gardens. This man, while still slender, with a hint of muscles, had been affected by the five days worry and stress, and now seemed much gaunter, more tired, older. There was a subtle change in his stance that suggested he was on the edge of a breakdown. While she had made sure everone in a 50 metre radius of her knew what she was feeling, Xun had withdrawn more and more, not wanting his feelings to show. Even so, Shang Xiang was glad of his presence.
They urged their horses into a gentle tot, until they were well clear of the circle of light provided by the camp, before galloping off into the dark.The land they raced over together was mostly uninhabited, people prefering to live in the bigger cities, but even so they still passed enough houses and farms for a small village to be formed.
Eventually, after nearly an hour of hard riding, a dark shape loomed up out of the far distance. The two of them began to slow down - now came the hard bit. Trotting their horses over to a well sheltered copse of trees, they slipped off them, and tied them securely to a couple of sturdy trees, before taking their weapons from their sheaths, and creeping through the shrubbery towards the large and threatening building.
By sheer luck, they managed to reach the shadow of the building without being seen, and, pressing themselves up against the wall as they listened to see if anyone had noticed them. When they were certain they were unexpected, they crept off along the side of the building, still keeping to the shadows and listening intently They came to a corner, and, peering around it, they saw the entrance, and immediately knew Xun's hunch of where the twins were was right.
Outside of the gates, two sets of weapons stood, as a visual sign of who was being held captive inside the fort. These weapons, however, had been presented with more than the usual amount of grandeur - Cao Cao was obviously delighted to have those prisoners. Even from a distance, Shang Xiang and Xun could make out that they were the Twin Wonders and the Dragon Staff. Shang Xiang glanced at Xun, and saw the same feelings she was experiencing flashing through his mind.
Creeping around the corner, but still pressing up against the building, they slipped up to the entrance, grabbing the weapons before creeping through the large double doors, and were immediately faced with a maze of corridors. The building seemed to be a lot bigger on the inside than the outside. On the basis that they had to start somewhere, they crept down a corridor to their right, all their senses painfully acute. If they could help it, they would be in, get the twins, and be gone - if they could help it, they didn't want to alert everyone on the building of them being there.
All the corridors they crept down wrere deserted. It was beginning to worry Xun, but he pushed on, anyway. Somewhere, Na and Sying were being held. He just hoped they weren't too late.
Sying awoke with a start, and lay where he was, desperately trying to work out what it was that had awoken him. He was almost about to dismiss it, when he heard a slight creak from down the other end of the corridor where they were being held. Pushing himself into a seating position, with some difficulty and grimacing at the pain, he looked over at his sister, who was lying a few feet away, with her eyes wide open.
"You heard it too?" he whispered. Na nodded in reply.
After some effort, and lots of grimacing, both the twins were upright, still listening intently to the series of small creaks that was progressing slowly towards their door. Sying crept as quickly as he dared over to the door, where a small metal grill allowed for vision, and peered into the corridor. He scanned the dark hallway, untiil he spotted who it was, and was forced to take a double-take.
"Sh - Shang Xiang? Xun? What are you doing here?" he asked, his voice tinged with delight and confusion. Na stared at the door, her mouth slightly open, as a voice she knew very well replied.
"What do you think? Getting you out of here!"
Na ran as best as she could over to the door, just in time to see Shang Xiang take a small length of wire from her pocket, and insert it into the hole. After a few tense seconds, the lock clicked, and the heavy door swung inwards, revealing the twins in all their bloody glory.
Shang Xiang gaped at them, as Xun's jaw moved subtly enough to indicate a huge amount of rage at the person responsible. Their hair was matted with blood, and there were several deep gashes showing through their torn and ragged clothes. They looked seconds from collapse.
"We're fine. Let's just get out of here." Sying said, in a slightly strained voice.
"Oh, that reminds me - you may want these." said Shang Xiang, pulling out the Dragon Staff, and throwing it to Sying, as Xun produced the Twin Wonders and handed them to Na.
"They were outside. Obviously Cao Cao wanted the world to know he had you two." Xun said.
The twins quickly inspected their weapons, before nodding to the other two, and following them out of the dreadful cell where they had been held captive for the best part of four days.
The twins limped on ahead, determined to leave. They rounded the first corner -
"Going so soon? But we were going to have so much fun..." came a voice. The two pairs backed towards each other as more and more soldiers appeared, slowly sealing off their escape route, before Cai Mao emerged from the shadows, smirking maliciously.
"We can't be having that, now..."
A/N: Yeah, I suck. But I can't be bothered writing any more. Oh, fine, I'll make an effort: Oh, deary me, they seem to be in a bit of a tight spot GIVE ME FIVE REVIEWS OR I WON'T POST THE NEXT CHAPTER. There. Think that'll do it, don't you?