A/N: Sorry it has been a while. This chapter is dedicated to one of my new author friends for giving me inspiration once again. You know who you are, and many thanks, this chapter is for you. Enjoy all !
Zhao Yun and Fan Luhua gasped as the smoke pained their lungs, they began to head swiftly into the palace where the smoke rose from. Fan Luhua ran quickly head of Zhao Yun where the corridors were full of light puffy smoke, she went to open the doors but they were jammed. Zhao Yun pushed Luhua out the way and kicked open the fiery doors to see the others in the room climb out of the windows. Fan Luhua sighed and ran back out of the castle again to where they met up once again.
" What the hell is going on !?" Fan Luhua called out at the top of her voice, coughing and spluttering slightly from where the smoke has begun to intoxicate her poor lungs. Sun Ce breathed gently as he was crouched over, his hands on his knees breathing, he looked up to Lu Xun menacingly. Lu Xun released a slight chuckle and then gulped quickly, a drop of sweat ran down his cool head, dropping down to the edge of his chin. Fan Luhua growled slightly as she stormed ahead and grabbed him by his throat, pushing her fingernails deeper and deeper into his neck, hoping she would make him bleed.
"What did you do !?" she yelled into his eardrum with such a screech. Lu Xun was unable to speak as his airway was being cut of, and quickly. Zhou Yu tapped Luhua on the shoulder and cleared his throat.
" You might find that Lu Xun was planning a fire attack, but when he was aiming his arrow for the board, he shot the curtain instead..." he chuckled lightly before backing up. Luhua closed her eyes to think for a second. She opened them, chuckling slightly before letting him go. He coughed and spluttered before gaining air once again to his lungs.
" I do apologize..." she whispered softly in his ear so no-one would hear, as she held her hand out to help him up. He nodded lightly before placing his hand within her own. She gripped tightly and pulled him up from the wet soggy ground. Sun Ce chuckled lightly, but looked around to realize someone was missing.
" Where is Yun Shai...anyone see him ?" he called out. He looked around to see the expression on the faces of each and every single person only to realize that none of them knew where he was. He could still be in the building, he could of got out but be elsewhere, no-one knows where he went. Fan Luhua thought to herself lightly: " Where has he gone now..." she thought to herself in concern of his whereabouts.
Yun Shai sat on the hill where the break of dawn appeared over the hilltop. He sat there twiddling an item in his hand, a ring, a wedding ring. He appeared down on the silver circle in which he held in his soft warm hands carefully, treasuring it all he can. He thought to himself, on how many memories these ring held. He closed his eyes gentle, remembering all he could. A memory sparked off the thought of the ring in his hand, one memory being when he first met the love of his life, how beautiful she was when he first laid eyes on her, her hair waving in the wind, her smile being hidden under her hands when she giggled. She was all he could ever ask for, she was perfect. But another memory came back, one which snapped Yun Shai back into his senses. He thoughts about when he left for war, and came back. He lost his wife to another man, the rage, the person he once was lived no longer. He opened his eyes and sighed
" Why is this world a cruel place..." he thought to himself lightly. He snapped his head around to see Lu Xun heading his way. He quickly slipped his ring away out of sight. He cleared his throat and stood up tall, and proud.
" Yun Shai, we were worried about you. Are you alright ?" Lu Xun called towards the tall strong soldier. Yun Shai nodded his head in approval.
"I am fine my lord, where is everybody ?" he questioned to Lu Xun.
" Everybody is in the courtyard, waiting for you" Lu Xun spoke out softly. Although Lu Xun knew Yun Shai well. He placed a gentle hand on his wide muscular bulging shoulder, squeezing gently in
" You were thinking of Her. I know..." He whispered out. Yun Shai tipped his head to the ground lightly, but then rose it quickly, and walked away swiftly and quickly as he no longer wanted to feel these emotions. He stopped and took the ring out. He look at it carefully. He sighed and dropped it to the ground before walking off. Lu Xun came along and sighed. He picked up the ring from the cold wet grass and stared at it. The water droplets shining off the ring. He sighed as he knew Yun Shai might want the ring back one day, so he placed the ring away and out of sight, safe and hidden.
Yun Shai stormed towards the group of people standing within the cold smoky court yard. He looked ahead to see the palace smoking lightly as smoke poured out of the windows. It began to calm down a little as the fire dispersed in time. Yun Shai's eyes widened.
" What the hell happened here ?!" Yun Shai called out. The people around him, covered in smoke looked down and giggled slightly as they all looked towards Lu Xun laughing revealing their bright white teeth.
" Well...Lu Xun accidentally set the room on fire when practising for a fire attack..." Sun Ce sniggered slightly as he held his hand up to mouth to hide his smile. Yun Shai chuckled lightly.
"Why did I suspect as much...?" he whispered to Lord Sun Ce. All the warriors began to laugh. All but one. Fan Luhua. She stood far in the distance away from the group where she stood alone, listening to the laughter and the conversation happening. She thought of how she used to be like that with her family before they died. She heard all the different sounds, different tones of laughter from each individual warrior, how each laughed in their own way, each individual facial expression. One in particular, when Lu Xun laughed, she saw something that resembled something that was like her brother once. She curled her fist up slightly with a tear gently forming in the corner of her eye and walked off in anger and pain. For an angel like her had fallen into darkness.
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Fan Luhua looked into the horizon where she thought long and hard about her family. She looked down at her hands, how cold and pale they were. She clenched them as she remembers holding the bloody hand of her dying brother, how she could not hold on forever, and how she could not hold onto the hands of her mother and father. She did not have any time to mourn over the horrible and cruel death of her family. As she stood there in the middle of the field, the grass began to sway lightly from side to side as the breeze from the wind forced it to sway. She closed her light eyes and stood there, listening to the light whistle of the wind. She took her arms out and threw them backwards, opening her arms. She stood there, arms wide open, feeling the nature of the area, alone and not to be disturbed.
As she stood there, listening to the nature of the area. She opened her eyes to realize how calm she felt. How calm she felt about what she had to do. The wind began to get stronger and stronger, until the wind done something incredible. One in which Zhao Yun had the pleasure of witnessing. He stood from a distance, watching and studying how she would act on her own. As the wind got stronger, it blew nearly all the blossom flowers off the tree above her. The blossom petals began to split off the flower one by one as the flowers rained onto Luhua. However the wind was strong and powerful, it began to blow in a particular direction, so the petals on the floor began to rise upwards in an anticlockwise direction around Fan Luhua. She opened her eyes and began to laugh lightly as her hair began to flick upwards with the wind and the flowers. She closed her eyes as she felt the petals brush past her body as it continued to rise. Zhao Yun's eyes widened a little as she walked closer towards her. As her arms were still held out and her eyes were closed, Luhua began turning around slowly as she felt as if this moment, she had the slightest bit of freedom left to enjoy before her mission takes place. Zhao Yun looked at the beauty of her. Saw how each petal would lightly brush past her light pale cheek. How soft it might of felt. He walked in closer to see her, saw how beautiful she looked as she felt the nature around her. She opened her eyes to see Zhao Yun staring at her. Her mouth was slightly open as she saw him, she sighed. As she sighed, the wind began to die down,so the rosy soft petal fell back to the autumn ground again. She stared at him as he continued to walk over towards her, except with a faster pace.
" Z-Zhao Yun ?" she stuttered lightly from her cold pale lips. Zhao Yun walked right up to her, his body almost touching hers. He wrapped his hands around her waist and pulled her in closer. She gasped lightly as she looked into his deep caring eyes.
" What are you-..." she spoke out however she was cut off by Zhao Yun's lips gently touching hers. She puled back lightly as she looked into his eyes again.
" Why did you do that ?" she questioned him. He sighed, tilting his head down slightly in shame.
" I wanted to pick up where we left off..." he whispered lightly, but loud enough for Fan Luhua to hear. She sighed and chuckled lightly.
" I know how you feel, you don't need to prove it..." she whispered as she gently slipped herself out of his arms. Zhao Yun showed an expression of concern. Luhua's eyes began to fill up with tears gently.
" If I am to succeed this mission, I cannot be with you" she whispered softly. A single tear ran down her face. Zhao Yun stuttered slightly as he could not speak.
" My mission could kill me and it most likely will. And I cannot bear to break your heart even more if my life was to be lost. And this mission, I take it alone...I truly am sorry" she sobbed lightly to him before running away. She stormed off the hill. Before she properly went away, she wiped her eyes of the tears and turned back to look at Zhao Yun. His caring eyes staring deeply into hers. She could not bear it any more. She walked back up the hill and fell into his arms. She lifted her gentle head up and kissed him passionately. He could only respond by holding her tightly and kissing her back. He let go and looked at her. He wiped the tear from her soft gentle cheek.
" I know you are afraid. But you do not need to be afraid of upsetting or losing me. I will always be here" he whispered softly into her ear. She sighed as she hugged him tightly. He pulled her up and stood her still, holding her shoulders lightly so she stood in place. He wiped the tear off her soft rosy cheek, he smiled and sighed at her.
" Come on, we have a war to win" he whispered. She nodded lightly as her senses kicked back in, she was still the assassin everyone knew her for, just she now had a bit more humanity within her. She walked with Zhao Yun back to the palace where everyone waited to discuss battle plans, to attack Dong Zhuo.
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Fan Luhua and Zhao Yun arrived at the courtyard where the palace grounds where smoking lightly as the raging fire had died down. They stood with the group of warriors outside the palace where the discussion took place, the discussion on how to take down the forces outside Dong Zhuo's palace.
" Everyone, if we are to take down Dong Zhuo, we must come up with a plan to take out the first line of defence, the yellow turbans and other forces." Lu Xun called out as he stood proud next to Sun Ce as his strategist. Fan Luhua looked around at the people's faces, they seemed confused. Fan Luhua sighed and cleared her throat slightly louder than usual. Everyone turned their heads towards her. She closed her eyes and opened them again.
"If I may, I know this place off the back on my hand, and I know the most likely place in which Dong Zhuo will send his troops to" she called out to the others, feeling quite proud of herself for knowing this information. She smirked slightly whilst trying to hide it. Lu Xun nodded
" And where would this be ?" he questioned her on the whereabouts of the army.
" They are to be found at the centre of the palace, a small amount of troops will be placed within the castle if there were to be a strike on the palace, with about 90% of the army out in the front of the castle. Only the strongest of troops will protect Dong Zhuo" she called out proudly.
" Meaning Lu Bu and Lu Lingqi will be inside protecting that tyrant" Sun Ce spoke softly towards the worried as he stepped forwards slightly.
" Not forgetting Diao Chan..." Fan Luhua whispered lightly as she thoughts to herself. How could Fan Luhua kill her friends, her family who had cared for her for so many years ? These thoughts kept running through her mind as she had to make a difficult choice, but she knew what she had to do, no stopping her even if her once friends get in her way. She cleared her throat lightly and continued to speak.
" Even if these warriors get in the way, we have to get to Dong Zhuo. He needs to be killed if there is to be peace and prosperity in the land. But we need a plan on who strikes where" she spoke out softly, trying to get to the point. Lu Xun nodded at her smiling slightly.
" So we come up with a plan then" Lu Xun chuckled lightly. Li Dian stepped forwards and cleared his throat. The room fell silent quickly and turned towards him.
" If I may my lord, the warriors of Wei would be able to deal with those front lines easily if Wu would help us" he calmly spoke out lightly. Sun Ce thought for a second then nodded.
" Our forces and your forces will help to take out those front lines in front of the palace" He spoke out with a proud voice. Wang Yi nodded.
"Yes but who is going to get past the second and third ranks ?" she questioned their plan. Fan Luhua stepped in.
"That would be me" she said not with a single stutter or sign of fear in her. Zhao Yun gasped but stepped forward lightly.
" You cannot do that alone. Myself, lady Guan Yinping and the Shu forces shall step in to take out the second and third lines" he bellowed lightly trying his best to protect her. She sighed whilst rolling her eyes.
"Fine, then me and Lu Xun shall take out the smaller group of soldiers waiting inside the castle along with Sun Ce and Li Dian, with us four, we shall take out the smaller group of stronger soldiers waiting inside the palace and get to Dong Zhuo" she yelled out whilst trying to motivate the council of warriors. Sun Ce chuckled lightly and nodded to her.
" Seems we have ourselves a plan, but who deals with Lu Bu and Lu Lingqi before we get to Dong Zhuo ?" he questioned her plan. All the warriors on the room seemed confused yet concerned about who was going to deal with such a strong warrior like him. Luhua stepped forward.
"I believe it is my place to deal with the demons. Lu Bu made me like this, I think it seems fair that I put him in his place" she spoke softly with her head place downwards trying not to look at the warriors.
"So be it" Sun Ce whispered to her lightly. Yue Jin stepped forwards lightly.
" However I deem it sensible that when we attack the front lines. The Wu forces come from straight ahead whereas the Wei forces come in from both sides for a surprise attack. Then the Shu forces come charging in from the sidelines from the forest to attack the second and third lines. That way we can get to Dong Zhuo easier and quicker" Yue Jin lightly spoke as he gave the warriors an idea.
" If Luhua goes to attack Lu Bu and his daughter, she cannot fight this alone or she will die. Lu Xun and myself shall take him on" Li Dian called out. Sun Ce nodded lightly as he chuckled to the group.
" Ladies and Gentlemen, we have ourself a plan of attack" Sun Ce chuckled. All the warriors in the room nodded at him in respect. Luhua however was eager to walk off.
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Fan Luhua hastily made her way to the peaceful fields where she began to sigh lightly.
" I have to do this, I need to kill Lu Bu and earn my peace" she kept thinking to herself as she knew this mission of hers, her final mission might just take her life. But she knew what she had to do no matter the cost.
" Luhua !" a voice called out. It was Lu Xun. He came running into the field. The Scarlett clothing caught her eye quickly as she turned around and bowed to him.
" Yes ?" she said softly with a slight tone of regret. Lu Xun bowed back to her in respect and sighed.
"We are to leave for Dong Zhuo's palace at first light, clear ?" he spoke out. She nodded.
"Yes, clear..." she kept thinking to herself. Lu Xun noticed she was being troubled by something deep in her confused and hurting mind.
"What's wrong my lady ?" he called out in a caring voice.
" Nothing, I just know what I have to do now, no matter what it costs me. I have to kill Lu Bu."