Disclaimer: I do not own Dynasty Warriors or its characters. But some of the characters here, I do. No one better kill me for this…

Notes: Hehe, I forgot to explain a few details. For the benefit of those who do not know what cosplay is, it is a term that was coined whenever one is doing a "costume play". Meaning imitating your favorite character, wearing a costume and the likes, which is really popular nowadays, especially in Japan. Now, enjoy!

Chapter 2

It was a normal day for the Little Conqueror. He had just built a strong foundation for the kingdom by his recent victory at conquering the lands of Wu. He was aboard his flagship along with his childhood friend and sworn brother Zhou Yu, and his younger sibling Sun Quan. He went out on a whim to survey the land that he possessed and possibly, in Zhou Yu's case, plan a failsafe strategy in an event of a siege or invasion.

"Whew! Isn't this great guys? Fresh air, the sun, the sea, the land…makes me want to do something wild!"

"Ce, calm down…we are not here to have…fun. We should carefully analyze the new territory that we have acquired in order to—"

"I know, I know! Geez, you'd better relax man! You don't want any wrinkles on that pretty face of yours, do you?"

Before Zhou Yu could answer, Sun Quan interrupted, "Brother! Zhou Yu is right…we are in the middle of an intense power struggle for the land! One false move and…"

Sun Ce looked at him disbelievingly. "Who taught you to be so serious! Tell me and I'll slap my tonfa square on their faces! They're denying you of you're youth! Look, you're my younger brother and you look WAY older than me! Lighten up, or else you'd lose your boyish charm and the chance with the ladies!"

Sun Quan looked at him, not quite sure what to feel. Sun Ce slapped him on the back.

"See! You can't even identify a joke even if it was dancing, singing, getting drunk in your face !"

Zhou Yu sighed and smiled helplessly. "Ce…"

"I know, I know…" Sun Ce said as he stretched. "It's just that it's a beautiful day…It's a shame that we don't get to enjoy it"

"Then why don't we land in one of the towns and go around once we finish? You may never know what you'll see in the farms and the market!" Sun Quan suggested.

"Quan, that's a superb idea! Alright, let's finish this fast and then it's off to the towns!"

Zhou Yu and Sun Quan quickly exchanged relieved glances, for they finally found a way to make the Little Conqueror work.

Zhou Yu went up the stairs to the upper part of the ship in order to analyze a map of the newly acquired land on a table, shortly followed by Sun Quan, who started to supply him with suggestions.

Sun Ce, meanwhile, stayed at the front part of the ship, looking at the land and letting his mind wander. He failed to hear the sudden warning of the soldier on the crow's nest as something suddenly—

--BAHGUM!

His world was suddenly black.

Hearing the call of the soldier, Zhou Yu and Sun Quan looked up just in time to see something big hit Sun Ce in the back squarely, at full force. It sent him flying to the front most part of the ship, his body sliding on the rough, wooden floor, hitting his head on the walls of the ship.

"CE!" "BROTHER!" they called simultaneously as they dashed towards him, checking him of any severe injuries. Fortunately, no bleeding was present. Sun Quan ordered for a doctor and when Sun Ce was placed inside, Zhou Yu walked towards whatever it is that sent Sun Ce to the land of dreams.

The soldiers, from the moment it hit the ground, have surrounded it and trained their weapons on it the entire time.

Zhou Yu went inside the circle and was not able to suppress his surprise. The one that caused Sun Ce to probably have an aching head and body in the morning was a person. A person with short hair like a boy's, a strange looking attire, pants that are as short as Xiao Qiao's, and a pair of the most unusual shoes that he has ever seen. He also had what it looks like a little bag with him.

"Zhou Yu, the doctor said Brother's going to be fine…" He looked at the strange person.

"What is it? Or rather…who is it?"

"My guess is as good as yours my lord…but we must take him inside to be checked…and guarded well. We might never know if this is one of our enemies' spies…or…"

"…Or something much more" Quan finished grimly.

Soi moaned. She was dreaming…of the past…faceless men…an old man…darkness… confusion…the house…

She suddenly opened her eyes as she awoke from a nightmare. She started hyperventilating as she sat up and tried to shake the after images of the nightmare. She held herself tightly and prayed silently that they would go away. When she opened her eyes a second time, she rubbed them again to check if she was still dreaming.

She was in a richly decorated room that smelled of flowers, incense and wood. There was silk all around, red, gold, white and orange, a bowl of fruit, a handsome looking mirror and cabinet and an elegant open window with the wind blowing gently through it while the sunlight poured gently across the floor and birds are heard chirping outside.

But, there was something wrong.

Something definitely wrong.

Everything looked so old, yet so new. Like she was in some kind of time warp.

She looked down and gasped. She was also wearing red and orange silk robes and saw that her bag and clothes were arranged and neatly placed on a chair. She jumped out of the and, not minding if anyone walked in on that particular moment, shed her robes, put her clothes on, took her bag, checked if everything was there, and went to the door.

Wherever she was, she knew that trouble would follow her if she stayed there. She wasn't really sure what happened…

Then, as if on cue, her head, arms and whole body hurt.

Damn…what happened! It felt like a demolition truck fell on her! She remembered falling..from a thousand feet. She scoffed.

Impossible…she thought. Who would fall a thousand feet and survive! That's just stupid! Or maybe I'm dead and I'm in heaven…

She felt her arms, legs and slapped herself a couple of times. It hurt. Then she went to the fruit bowl by the cabinet. She found a small knife and exposed her right wrist. It bore a number of scars…slash marks. Not paying attention to them, she added a new scar across her wrist and felt intense pain as her skin split open, yet not deep enough for it to bleed.

"Oh well…so much for that possibility…" she winced as she wrapped a piece of cloth around her wound and tightened it. That hurt like hell, which eliminated the possibility that she was dead or dreaming. She went to the door and opened it, or rather, tried to do so.

She gritted her teeth. "Don't tell me I'm a prisoner again…" She looked around for a means of escape. Her eyes instantly fell on the open window. She ran over to it and checked. She saw that she was at least four stories high…or higher from the ground. Fortunately, she saw that each floor was divided by a sloping roof which can be used as and effective foothold.

She went back to the bed and took the covers, blanket and curtains. She looked at them and sighed. "Well…it's not as if I'll be around to use them…" She retrieved the knife earlier and cut the materials into strips, tied and entwined them together, until she had about 6 pieces of long, thin, yet sturdy rope.

She placed them over her shoulder and tied the end of the first rope around the bedpost. She tied the other end with another piece of rope and slid down. When she reached the end of the rope, she risked a 4 feet jump on the roof. She tied another two ropes on the window and repeated the same process. On the last leg, seeing that she would run out of rope as the pillars were much higher than she calculated, she came up with an idea.

She rummaged through her bag and found her container of beads, as her hobby was to create accessories out of it. She tied the rope around the handle, hung upside over the pillar and swung the contraption around the pillar. She swung many times until she had the rope around the pillar and caught the other end of it. She them settled herself slid carefully down the pillar using the rope. When she reached the ground, she untied the container, placed it back in the bag, took the rope with her, and ran.

"Xiao…I don't think we should be here…" Da Qiao quietly complained.

"Relax Sis! No one will know!" Xiao Qiao said excitedly. "And besides, aren't you curious? I want to see the one who soared through the sky like a bird!"

"And crash landed straight into my absent minded brother!" Sun Shang Xiang laughingly said. "I swear, the whole world can end and all Ce would think about is how to have a wonderful time while it happens!"

Xiao giggled while Da smiled as they remembered that the first thing that Ce said that morning when he woke up was 'Hey, what about our plan of going around the towns?"

Quan, Lu Meng, Gan Ning, Ling Tong, Zhou Tai, Da, Shang Xiang, Xiao and Yu, who were all anxiously watching him at that time, either sighed in relief, laughed uncontrollably, glared at him or wanted to faint. Back there, they thought that Ce was done for considering that he received the full impact of something that crashed through the sky at a thousand feet. What mystified everyone was that the two were alive and the little Conqueror woke up only after a full day…it was as if something intervened and protected them.

"Her room should be here." Shang Xiang said, as she touched the wooden bolt that kept the door locked.

"I don't think this is such a good idea!" Da Qiao interrupted, a last attempt to persuade them. "Even they don't know what she is! No normal person can fly through the sky, or survive after falling at such a height! We don't even know if she's good or evil! Who knows what she may do to us once she wakes up!"

"Don't worry Da, I'm here aren't I? I teach my even my brother Ce the meaning of 'losing miserably' every time we engage into a duel ever since I was 6! And he's older!"

"But still…" Da continued half-heartedly. In truth, she was also curious, yet her lack of courage and fear of the unknown stopped her. "Lord Zhou Yu and Lord Sun Quan ordered everyone not to approach the room…and…." She looked around, bewildered. "Where are the soldiers that were supposed to guard the room?"

Shang Xiang smiled sheepishly and winked. "Let's just say they went for a little stroll around the bathroom, shall we?"

Xiao took care of the bolt and slowly opened the door with Shang Xiang peering closely behind. Da gulped and kept quiet, her whole body tensed as she waited for something to happen.

Suddenly, Xiao straightened and screamed, hitting Shang Xiang on the chin, sending Da who was behind her, back.

"What is it Xiao!" Da frantically said as Shang Xiang got her weapons ready and got into battle stance.

Xiao rushed into the room and saw he silk rope, robes and the bowl of fruit. "She's gone!"

"What!" Shang Xiang shouted as she ran to the window. She saw a gray figure run across the yard and disappeared around the corner. She saw a group of soldiers and screamed at the top of her lungs "WHAT ARE YOU GUYS DOING WALKING AS IF YOU'RE UNDER A FULL MOON WITH A WOMAN! THE PRISONER HAS ESCAPED! AFTER HER! THE WEIRD LOOKING GRAY BOYISH GIRL!"

The soldiers were stunned at first, then ran in pursuit.

"Ce, I really think you should rest a bit more…" Zhou Yu said.

"Nonsense, Yu! I feel much better! And besides…I want to see the one who's been called the Falling Star by everyone. I have so many questions for her! And she owes me a night out in the towns!"

"It's all about revenge…isn't it?" Sun Quan sighed.

"Of course it is! No one crashes into the Little Conqueror, ruins his party life and gets away with it! I want payback!" Sun Ce finished as he placed his weapons in their holsters and went out of the room…only to see half of the whole army in chaos and mobilizing. "Hey you!" he shouted to a shoulder who was just running down the hall. "Just what in heaven's name is going on here!"

The soldier straightened up. "Sir, Princess Sun Shang Xiang has ordered the mobilization of the half of the army as she has ordered the pursuit of the 'weird looking, gray boyish girl'! Also known as the Falling Star to some, sir!"

"What! She has escaped! But how?" Sun Quan gaped as Zhou Yu immediately took charge of the situation.

Sun Ce smiled. This is going to be fun…

"My lord! Reports say that the front gate is being guarded by Lu Meng and Zhou Tai. Meanwhile, all exits at the back are secured by Ling Tong, Gan Ning and the courtyard and the back is being taken care of by Huang Gai and Sun Xiang. Da Qiao and Xiao Qiao are checking around the castle."

"Everything is pretty much covered…but isn't it a bit of an overkill? Mobilizing half of the army and stationing our finest officers just to catch a little girl?"

"Let me tell give you a piece of advice Quan, a famous saying that has been passed through the sun family for generations…" Sun Ce replied as he walked towards the main entrance of the castle, with Zhou Yu and Sun Quan behind him.

"What is it brother?"

He waved a finger. "Never underestimate a little girl who suddenly comes out of nowhere, crashes into a sovereign from a thousand feet, still lives, wakes up after a day and escapes."

Sun Quan shut his lips together and followed him out.

TBC

Author's notes: Well, that's chapter 2! Thanks so much to Sirius123 for the first review! I'd give out a prize, but sadly I can't offer anything but my deranged, psychopathic mind. And a few laughs. Yet, as she was the first one to give a review, I will give her a special surprise…which will be seen at the next chapter. You'll see. As usual, comments, suggestions, flames, and fan mail (as if!) are welcome. Ja matta!