If you'll recall, in the last chapter Cao Cao dropped into Wu to kidnap the Two Qiaos, but only got Xiao Qiao, so upon arrival at Chi Bi, Shang Xiang and Ling Tong are on rescue duty. (Normally I would have Zhou Yu do this, but Shang Xiang is the main character and I need to give her as much air time as possible. :D) This chapter's completely free-minded, so let's see how it turns out...
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I watched quietly as battle preperations carried on, watching the infantry line up in battle formations and stock up on rations. Aside from some people trying bravely to strike up conversation, the general feeling of the area was that of a funeral about to take place.
Which was, in a way, true. Every man (and woman, in my case) serving today was well aware that this may well be our last day of life.
Of course, we all tried not to think too much about that. I didn't give a damn what happened to me; I wasn't leaving this battle without my best friend Xiao Qiao.
"Shang Xiang!"
I tore my awe-stuck eyes from the massive Wei ships lining the horizon to see Tong calling me.
"Hey. What's going on? We ready to move out?" I asked.
"Yeah. This isn't looking good; Pang Tong didn't chain the ships together yet, and we don't have any time to spare. We're gonna have to go on foot if we're gonna find Xiao," Tong said, looking serious. Although he'd never admit it to anyone, he was obviously worried sick about Xiao Qiao and what Cao Cao might be doing to her. (That, and the fact that it was written all over his face.)
Ce had told me earlier that Da was so worried about Xiao that it might affect the health of her baby, my unborn niece or nephew, which only increased the worry and the pressure on everyone, no matter what the cost was.
"Alright then, we don't have any time to lose," I said. "Get your weapons and let's go."
Quan caught us while we were leaving. "Shang Xiang, Ling Tong, good luck," he said. "Cao Cao's wronged us all by taking Xiao Qiao. Get her back safe and sound, before Zhou Yu loses it. He's already barely able to concentrate on the battle preparations."
"We'll get her, Lord Sun Quan," Tong said quietly. "I'm not leaving without her."
"Don't worry, Quan, and tell Zhou Yu not to worry," I said. "We won't let her down."
Quan nodded. "Alright. Get moving, and Zhou Yu told me to inform you that one of the enemy spies we've captured says Xiao Qiao is in one of the heavily guarded Wei bases. Unfortunately, that base is located in the middle of Cao Cao's fleet. Hurry, and don't be seen!"
Tong and I nodded. "Good. Now go!" Quan ordered. "Head for the northern area!"
We headed off and I glanced over at my best friend. His usual playful "Woooo, let's go kick some ass, 'cause we're at WAR!!" face was nowhere to be seen, which meant this was going to be a very long mission.
"Keep your eyes opened," I said. "Cao Cao's probably got ambushes everywhere..."
Tong nodded but didn't speak. I sighed.
Minutes, maybe hours passed, and we kept going. No soldiers had accompanied us, since it would look highly suspicious for a gigantic army to be headed toward Cao Cao's main camp.
"SHANG XIANG!! GET DOWN!!" Tong suddenly screamed. I snapped out of my thoughts just in time to have Tong pull me to the ground. I heard a few arrows go whizzing past our heads
"GET THEM!!" From what little I could see from lying on the ground, I could tell we'd just been ambushed by a group of archers.
"Come on! Get up!" Tong said, as we both scrambled back up on our feet. "Let's kill them!" I yelled, raising my weapons.
"Can't! No time! GO!!" Tong yelled, and pushed me ahead of him. Normally I would never take orders from Tong, especially not stupid orders like RUN LIKE A COWARD, but this sure wasn't the time for angry confrontations. We ran. Like wimps.
If you've been reading this long story from its beginning to now, you know Tong and I aren't famous for being fast runners. We can both run, quite far, but when you've got several archers following you, firing arrows at random intervals, you'd be suprised at how fast we were going.
"Why won't these stupid archers go away!?" I said angrily, as we ran across the moonlit countryside. It was dark, it was hot, and-- for the seventh time today, Tong grabbed me, this time by my arm, and yanked me to the side of the field, into a bunch of uncomfortable thorny plants.
The archers were blind, apparently, since our plunge into the bushes wasn't what you would call graceful, but lucky for us, they went away, yelling something about us being cowards. "YOU BASTARDS!! SAY THAT TO MY-- MPPPH!!" Tong put his sweaty hand over my mouth and pulled me back down to the ground.
"Shhhhh!!" he hissed.
The archers didn't hear me, and luckily enough for us, went away. Tong and I both turned around let out sighs of relief, just when we realized about seven hundred thorns were piercing our skin. Ouch.
I think the only thing that kept us from screaming in pain was the fact that a very dirty, very battered, very bloody, and a very scared Xiao Qiao in the flesh was staring at us, wide-eyed, with her arms wrapped around her legs.
"Uhh... Tong?" I said.
"Yes, I see her too," Tong said quite calmly.
Xiao didn't speak either, instead just looked at us, with that same terrified, wide-eyed stare. Tong and I exchanged glances and both got up, screaming in agony in our minds as we left half of our flesh behind, attached to the thorns. Tong got to Xiao first.
"Xiao!? What happened to you?" Tong asked, hugging the terrified girl. Xiao just whimpered and started crying, burying her face in Tong's shoulders. "T-Tongiee!!" she wailed. "It was terrible!! Cao Cao wouldn't stop touching me!!"
A look of pure malice spread across Tong's face. He was shaking with fury. "He... he didn't... he didn't..."
"He didn't do that, but he tried, I wouldn't let him get close enough," Xiao whimpered. "I kicked him in the face and he got really angry!! But I ran away before he could get up and chase me!"
"THAT BASTARD RAPED YOU!! I SWEAR TO GOD I'M GOING TO TEAR HIS $# HEAD OFF AND SHOVE IT DOWN HIS #$#$#$#$ING THROAT!! I'M--" I clamped my hand over Tong's mouth, trying to calm him down before he exploded with fury. He was glowing red with rage.
"Tong, calm down!!" I ordered, and turned to Xiao. "Xiao, he DIDN'T rape you?"
"N-no," Xiao said, still looking scared. Tong's eyes were so narrowed they didn't even look like eyes, just horizontal lines where his eyes used to be. "T-Tongie, please calm down... I'm OK..." Xiao pleaded.
"You don't LOOK okay," Tong growled. "And I'm still going to castarate that dirty bastard, so help me--"
"OK, OK, we heard you. Xiao, we've gotta get you back to the Main Camp. We've got some clothes you can wear, so you don't have to wear that torn getup." I turned to Tong, still looking enraged. "Tong, you're gonna have to carry her, alright? She's too scared to walk.
Tong nodded and picked Xiao up effortlessly. "C'mon," he said. A big smile spread across Xiao's face and she hugged her cousin. "I love you, Tongie," she said, tears rolling down her cheeks. "You're the best."
Tong didn't reply, since he wasn't much of a fan of being sentimental (unless it was me, of course) but Xiao seemed to be pleased with his lack of an answer. His reaction to Cao Cao's near assault on her had been enough to show her, AND anyone in a mile radius who'd heard him screaming, know how he REALLY felt.
(AN: Ok, in this, they're cousins, so this isn't any Qiao x Ling Tong action, or any incest crap)
"Let's get you back to the camp, there's a LOT of concerned people who want to see you," I said, feeling happy again. "We've gotta get a message to Da, too, she's worried sick..."
Upon arrival at the Main Camp, a couple of the soldiers saw Tong holding Xiao, and ran screaming into the camp "LADY XIAO'S BACK!! LADY XIAO'S BACK!!"
Honestly, you really never know how much you miss something unless it's been taken from you, Xiao Qiao being a perfect example. Zhou Yu came up to us to thank us for finding Xiao, obviously trying to keep his cool, but lost it, hugged us both, AND even kissed Tong on his cheek. (Tong looked disgusted.) He then danced off, singing a joyful hymn in a loud, off-key tune.
"I've never seen him so happy," I said to Tong, who was disgustedly wiping his face of Zhou Yu saliva.
"Yuck! And hopefully he never gets this happy again!" he complained.
"You're back to normal," I said, laughing.
"Hey, you know me. I don't like being pissed off," Tong said.
"Hey, guys! Good job getting what's-her-face back!!" Ning yelled from the other side of the camp, pounding his fist into the air as a show of congratulations. I waved back, while Tong growled under his breath.
Xiao came out a few minutes later, cleaner and dressed in her usual DW5 outfit, (once again, lazy author doesn't feel like describing this) and was greeted by the entire Wu army, including her estactic husband, who hugged and kissed her in front of everyone.
When Zhou Yu finally let go of her, Xiao giggled and waved back at the Wu forces. "Thanks, everyone! I didn't know I'd be missed so much!" she said, laughing.
"Only Xiao could escape from Cao Cao's clutches and laugh about it," I said.
"Hey, she survived Dong Zhuo, didn't she?" Tong said.
Quan apparently slapped some sense back into Zhou Yu, who was back to his normal, boring, blander-than-dry-bread self in moments. "Everyone, remember, there's a war going on," he said in his dull monotone.
"The strategy is as follows: Pang Tong is currently in the middle of chaining the ships together. When he completes his task, Ling Tong, Sun Shang Xiang, and their forces will go and take out the bridge in the Southwest area."
"Why do we ALWAYS have to do everything?" Tong complained, back to being his whiny self once more. "We're not the only two generals in this army, ya know!"
"Well, Gan Ning could accompany Shang Xiang, instead of yourself," Zhou Yu said, smirking.
"What are we waiting for! We've got a bridge to take out!" Tong yelled, his mood changing faster than lighting.
"That's the spirit! Once the bridges have been taken out, as quickly as you can, you two, we'll have to hold the Wei forces off until Zhuge Liang can summon the Northeastern Wind. Gan Ning, Cheng Pu, and Taishi Ci will defend the altar until the wind prayer is successful."
"Aw, man! I hate defense duty!" Ning complained.
"Calm down, Gan Ning, once the wind is summoned you can go kill people. Once the wind blows, Huang Gai will begin his advances from the enemy side towards the docks. In fact, Gan Ning, change of plans. Head for the middle bridge and take out every enemy officer in the area. There's roughly a thousand men, including generals, stationed there," Zhou Yu said.
"YES!! WOO HOO!! I GET TO KICK SOME WEI ASS!! YEAH!! ALRIGHT!!" Gan Ning screamed, dancing around and waving his sword like a lasso. Noticing everyone staring at him, he cleared his throat and said, "Uh, I mean, it'll be a hard duty but I'll do it somehow, my Lord," he said, saluting Zhou Yu.
Tong let out a cough with sounded suspiciously like the words "Bullshit". I elbowed him in the side to make him shut up.
"So once Huang Gai launches the fire attack, the entire area will be engulfed with gigantic, beautiful, orange flames. These fires will be visible for miles! Nothing but fires, burning down Cao Cao's fleet to rubble! Hot, searing flames as far as the eye can see! These fires shall burn Cao Cao's ambition into ashes! ASHES!!" Zhou Yu screamed, his pyromania gleam visible in his eyes.
All was silent for a minute, until Xiao said, "Umm, Zhouie? You're being all crazy again!"
The army snorted, laughing at their master strategist's pet name. Zhou Yu looked highly embarrassed and said, "Oh, shut the hell up, all of you!! You don't know how it feels to be loved!! Anyways, you all know your positions-- NOW GO!"
The entire army cheered, then the troops began to disperse into their individual units. Tong and I turned to leave to take out the bridges, when we heard Xiao ask Zhou Yu, "Hey, Zhouie, where's my position?"
Zhou Yu sounded shocked. "Xiao, you're not fighting! After what happened earlier, the last thing I'd have thought you wanted would be..."
"To kick the living shit out of Cao Cao!" Xiao said happily, as if discussing flowers or rainbows. "Zhouie, what he did to me was so mean I want him to die so that never happens to anybody else! I want to make sure he dies!"
"No denying you've been hanging around with Shang Xiang," Zhou Yu grumbled. "Alright, you can fight alongside me. But don't leave my side for any reason!"
"You got it!" Xiao said, beaming at him.
They're so happy together, I thought to myself. Ning'd never act like that around me... then again, Xiao's easily pleased. Why can't there be any guys like that in Wu?
My thoughts were interrupted by an arm wrapping around my neck, choking the life out of me AND scaring the poop out of me at the same time.
"Haha! Gotcha!" Tong laughed, letting me go so I could breathe again.
Enraged, I promptly punched him upside the head, and he yelped and grabbed his jaw, where I punched him.
"OW! Some people can't take a joke!" Tong said, sounding annoyed. "Now my jaw's dislocated!"
"Serves you right!" I said. "You know I HATE IT when you do that!"
What was I saying about Wu lacking in the guy department?
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Woohoo. I was gonna slice this chapter in half, leave you at the part when Shang Xiang and Tong find Xiao, but decided, aw, hell, it'll mean more work for me in the long run, sooo... enjoy your longer chapter ;) I'll have the rest posted sometime this weekend... but ol' Chi Bi's gonna heat up in the next chapter, and Shang Xiang fights against one of the most dangerous Wei characters there is. :) Points to whoever guesses correctly. :D
SHAMELESS ADVERTISING: A'ght, I've got something to say on a completely unrelated note. Anybody like Soul Calibur? Then go read my Soul Calibur fics too!! They're under the Jenizaki account, just head over to the Soul Calibur section and I'll be around somewhere. Thanks mucho if you do :)
And the editing thing for sucks major donkey butt, so my apologies if the formatting is all screwed up. I'm a grammar nazi, so I'm not the one screwing stuff up. :D I think. Hmm.