Guan Suo awoke in a state of absolute pain and cold. His mind was numb, and what conscious observation he had in him confirmed that the rest of his body was as well. His head throbbed with the force of a stampede, and it took him tremendous effort just to blink his eyes open.

Immediately, a searing pain shot through his system, and the world his vision perceived began to spin dizzyingly. With a groan, he shut his eyes and raised a stiff hand to rub the pain out of his face.

Wet? Why were his hands wet?

Forcing himself to sit up, Guan Suo took in his surroundings very carefully. A river raged heavily at his feet, rapids spattering themselves against the boulders. The water was inky black, a reflection of the cloudless night sky that shimmered like a great onyx blanket above his head. His clothes were soaked, doused in ice-cold water. A gash had opened at his arm, and the blood that had flowed earlier had seemingly dried up, a disgusting stain of red on his skin. Everywhere else was purplish with bruises, decorated with tiny cuts. What surface was not injured was definitely covered in mud.

Guan Suo shook his head and, slowly, hauled himself upright. He looked up at the moon, a sliver of pearl in the vastness of the night. In doing so, his heart sank, turning as cold as the water that rushed by him.

Father.

He was gone. The great warrior Guan Yu, the Blue Dragon, the inspiration of the Shu Army on the field of battle, the feared God of War, had sacrificed himself, stood fearlessly in the face of death and had fought until the last breath of his life left him. And for what? For a useless excuse for an officer, for a disappointment of a son. The guilt hung on Guan Suo like a two-ton weight on his heart.

Father died because of me.

And what would he do now? How could he come home? How could he face Guan Ping, to whom he had promised the safe return of their father? How could he even look at Lord Zhang Fei, who had lost the sworn brother he had loved for so many years? How could he face Lord Liu Bei, to whom he owed his allegiance, to whom Guan Yu had so faithfully offered his service? How could he be a part of the Shu Army now, if he was the reason for the demise of the commander of their army, their motivation for fighting?

Guan Suo struggled with the persistent urge to cast himself into the river and drown. But a small part of him reminded him of what he needed to do. It was his duty now, to himself and to Shu, to avenge the untimely death of his father. A surge of anger towards the Wu army restarted the dead energy that coursed sluggishly through him. He felt vibrant – and furious.

He could not take all the blame – the Wu army had robbed him of his father, had robbed Lord Liu Bei of a brother, had robbed the soldiers of a War God. And it was his obligation now to destroy the Wu Army, to ensure they understood what they had taken from him. The lives of their commanders would be just about enough to avenge the loss of another so great.

Bloodthirstiness does not become you, my son.

His father's words rang clearly through his head, crashing against the thought of rage. Immediately, he felt drained again – his father would not want him to act rashly on his behalf. Such a feat of anger would be dishonorable, even to avenge family. And Guan Yu would not be pleased. He would not have soldiers dying in the name of vengeance – even if it was for him.

No, Guan Suo would wait. He would wait for the opportunity to prove himself, and at the same time, to even the score on his father's death. But for now, he would have to return home and face the disgrace – and perhaps the wrath of his brother. But it was a price to pay – one that he deserved fully.

Guan Suo collected himself, thinking he could scale the shallow cliff wall just as long as it was sturdy. He dreaded doing so – going home alone, lost and quite muddled – but he had no other choice. Steeling his fear, he clutched the face of the wall and heaved himself upwards.

It was then that he heard a bloodcurdling shriek pierce the night air.

"Let me out right now! Don't make me hurt you, because I will!"

Oh, gods. Of all the guards, why did it have to be him? There was a multitude, a surplus, even, of sturdy, burly and unyielding guards in the Wu army. Any other man on the battalion could have easily watched over this fort. They might have even considered it some sort of honor, or what have you. They could have been sitting here, dreaming up a promotion of sorts.

So, why him? Why did he have to suffer the incessant ranting of a shrill teenage girl – well, she was really more like an overgrown child – while the others were able to return to the main camp? Why? Why? Why?

Kill me now, he begged the universe. All he wanted was peace and quiet, to return to camp and have the rest that he deserved.

All he got was a walking, talking mouth with the attitude of a cranky, pregnant baboon. Perhaps it was an over exaggeration – she was, after all, a young woman trapped inside an inescapable square, locked in the complex with only him for company. Still, it certainly didn't give her the right to verbally gnaw his head off with the sharp tongue not unlike a drunk sailor's. And, besides, it was really all her fault. If she hadn't come gambling in like a deranged rabbit, she wouldn't have gotten into this mess. Clearly, she'd picked the wrong fight, and it was of her own doing that she was now a prisoner of Wu.

"Hey, you cretin! I know you can hear me out there, so listen up – let me out right now or I'll beat you up so bad I'll send you running back home, crying to your mother! Now, open this gate and face me like a real man!"

Then again, his patience could only go so far to defend her motives. Already he was feeling whatever small amount of pity for her trickling slowly out, replaced with an intensely growing sense of exasperation.

Just as he thought he might actually strangle himself, his ears picked up the approaching sound of footsteps. A fellow guard, clad in red and holding a small banner emblazoned with the Wu insignia ran towards him. Stiffly, they saluted each other.

"Orders from the commander to retreat," The other man informed him. "Shu has fled back to Chengdu. We march back to Jiangdong in a day's time."

Praise the gods. He all but fell to his knees and kissed the bannerman's dusty shoes. He actually might have, if the other man had not nodded towards the locked gate.

"Who's in the complex?"

"Some crazy kid just messing around at the wrong time," the guard answered.

"Messing around?"

"Yeah, but we pinned her down and locked her up in the end. She's just screaming her head off now."

"It's a woman?" The bannerman looked skeptical. "Did they tell you what to do with her?"

"Yeah, guard her until the Rapture," the guard sighed. "Or something like that. Actually, everyone else just left me here and forgot about her. She didn't do much, but she annoyed some of the corporals."

"Well, get rid of her already. We can't take prisoners back to base, and certainly not back to Jiangdong."

"Get rid of her?" astonishment crossed his face. "You mean, get rid of her, or get rid of her?"

"Hey!" A shriek from inside interrupted angrily. "I can hear you from in here, and I'm telling you, I won't go down with a fight!"

"I mean whichever will take less time. And whichever will shut her up more."

They lapsed into a contemplative silence, after which the guard gave a somber shrug of the shoulders and unlocked the gates. The bannerman assisted him in pushing the heavy wooden doors open, to reveal a young woman covered in dust and wearing a murderous expression.

"I see you've finally decided to take up my challenge," she hissed. "Now you'll be sorry you ever locked me up in that ugly wooden box!"

It was an impressive feat of bravery, the guard had to admit. Even with all the time she'd spent howling hatred out at him, he had to admire the ferocity in her face. Still, a little teenage girl with as much upper body strength as a kitten was no match for two strong armored men, and this fact was proven by the short scuffle they had, resulting to the guard hoisting her upon his broad shoulder. Her limbs flailed out, like fishes out of water. She was scratching and kicking and beating upon his back. Good grief, he thought. Does she ever stop?

"Put me down, you big brute!" She demanded, mustering up all her strength and pounding on his armor. "Put me down!"

His patience all but spent, the guard grunted and shook her weight off his shoulder, planting her unceremoniously upon the ground. Before she could do something like spit into his eyes, he turned her around, having her face the edge of the precipice she now stood on.

That seemed to shut her up well enough.

"Look, missy, nothing personal, but we can't bring home prisoners of war. Especially not a little girl like you. So…" Was he supposed to make a farewell speech? It'd take too much time, he considered, and it would only be a matter of seconds before she gathered up the courage to struggle in his grip again. He decided it would be best to just get it over with, and go back home to Jiangdong. He steeled himself, and pried his fingers away from her arm. A release of tension in his muscles collided with her slender back, and he sent her teetering, stumbling, falling off the edge. A scream unmatched by any creature escaped her.

The last thing he felt was a dull object making painful contact with the back of his head. The guard collapsed to the floor heavily, and he saw the delicate body of the young girl disappear over the cliff before he felt his consciousness slip away.

Her name was Bao Sanniang, but he didn't have time to know that. Anyway, it didn't matter. She was dead already.

It only took a moment for Guan Suo to remind himself that he could not do the impossible. He had been blindly trying to escape, unsure of which way would lead him back to Chengdu. He thought he had finally found a familiar landscape, perhaps something he had passed by earlier on in the battle. Instead, he found himself drawn to the sound of what seemed like tortured caterwauling.

He only had a glimpse of the scene as it played out, but somehow he found himself knocking out the bannerman and running out to the edge of the cliff to bring the same fate upon the guard. Too late, however, the girl had fallen out of sight. In an act of desperation he launched his upper torso over the edge and thrust out his hand.

Now, he found himself pulling hard upon the girl's wrist, trying to save her from a certain death waiting a hundred feet below. It was no easy feat – he felt his shoulder doing all it could not to dislocate from its socket. The sound of rushing blood pounded in his ears. He couldn't hold on for much longer.

Thankfully, she found her footing – a boot against the cliff face was all he needed to hoist her up into safety again. Only when they were both safe on stable land did Guan Suo feel the need to calm his quickly beating heart. The girl was busy catching her breath as well, having narrowly avoided a long and agonizing death. Only when they had both regained their composure did they look at each other.

The locking of their gazes was charged with electricity. Neither could pull away – though it started a curious thing, they now stared hard at each other with a complex swirl of emotion. Gratitude. Shock. Happiness. Confusion.

The girl was the first to break the moment's tension.

"Thank you," she said sweetly, and Guan Suo noticed that this was the same voice crying bloody murder not fifteen minutes ago. Still, there was something remotely moving about the overflowing appreciation in her voice that Guan Suo could not help feeling slightly abashed. Perhaps it was the strain of the pulling, but his cheeks colored up a light shade of pink.

"It's no problem, Lady…" he trailed off, hoping she would supply him with a name.

"No lady, just Bao Sanniang," she giggled.

"Bao Sanniang," the name felt fresh and new, alien on his tongue.

"Can I have the name of my knight in… green armor?" Her laugh was like a peal of bells ringing in the night sky.

"My name is Guan Suo."

"Guan Suo," she repeated, and her lips formed each syllable perfectly, as though she had always known him. "Thank you for saving my life."