I wish you had followed me into that place
The sound of water was the only thing that filled his ears. It lapped weakly against the shore and whatever the waves surrounded.
Zhenjin lifted his head up slowly, his vision was still blurry but even that mattered little in this thick haze of ash that made breathing more difficult by the minute. Water droplets trickled from his helmet and the side of his face back into the waves.
His helmet fell with a splash.
'I'm alive?' He closed his eyes for a moment, hoping with his head out of the water he could think more clearly, he could focus on the water, even if it shifted and trembled, reminding him the beast was still out there winning the war for his father. 'I have to get up…I have to…'
He could hear the fast whir and zip of arrows still flying from their hwacha in the distance, the flames shined through upward and downward into screams of agony as they echoed in these dark lands.
"What was….that blue color?" He regretted speaking up considering how hoarse he sounded and he started to cough and double over as he walked through a river filled with ash and grief.
The prince had no clue where he was going, he just walked and listened to the water as everything else flowed and went on without him, bodies floated and were even bumped by his unsteady stride and he stopped to look down at the remains of an old house. The dragon's flames flashed like a lightning storm in the distance, its steps booming with the power of thunder causing the water to unsettle.
Zhenjin was in the middle of a storm.
His paw stayed upon his sigil of unity for whatever imaginary comfort it held as he walked without end. He didn't dare touch whatever was jabbed in his shoulder, lessons from years ago with Gan gave him the piece of mind to leave it be so he wouldn't bleed out. 'But it still hurts…'
In more ways than one.
He wanted to feel hatred and anger at Yuelen, but he found himself feeling hollow amongst his surroundings. 'This is what I wanted. So desperately. And she showed me what it was truly like…'
As his mother said; It was to be conquered or to be the conqueror.
The flames flashed again in the distance, cascading over the waters before him, alighting it with shades of orange and yellow in contrast to the unclear river below. He moved his foot mindlessly to cause a ripple over it as it started again.
Zhenjin turned and blinked a few times to clear his vision into the large ash cloud surrounding him, attempting to gauge his surroundings but it was a fruitless endeavor. He'd have to walk without clear sight and that was the end of that thought as he looked into a blurry cloud of fire as he stumbled on forward.
He grabbed a hold of many stakes, broken pieces of wood, and slab stones torn from their homes to save his balance, from tumbling into the water again. He didn't think of anyone or anything. He couldn't or it would overwhelm him.
The buildings of Xiangyang no longer stood tall, each piece of their structure was lost and burned away with the attack, it crumbled under his sight. The young prince worried for a few brief moments that he was surrounded by only the dead, and had been counted as so himself until he saw a lone figure sitting up near a slab of stone. A past statue maybe?
He stumbled quickly toward them, splashing and scattering water wildly in his desperate need to speak to someone and ask for help or directions! "Hello!?" Zhenjin called out as he tripped on something beneath the waters and crashed into the dry ground with a harsh gasp.
He ended up dragging himself to the figure, silent as they may be, they were sitting up from what he could tell. Maybe they were struggling to hear as he was.
He hoped.
Zhenjin gazed up to see another tiger, their helmet tipping over their forehead covering their eyes as arrows protruded from multiple parts of their body, staining whatever that platform was in the past.
His breath quivered as his brown eyes looked away from that body, he couldn't even bring himself to figure out if it was one of their own or the enemy. Did it matter? Zhenjin could feel tears prickling at the side of his eyes as he continued to breathe faster and yet it felt painful to do at the same time. His body was constantly contradicting itself at this moment. Even with his lavish armor and weaponry.
It didn't protect his soul.
"Gan…" He weakly called out for his mentor as he dragged one of his legs out of the water. "Mother…" It kept going on his short list of people to call out for. There was one name he wanted to call out to but hesitated even as his claws scraped against the pebble ridden ground in desperation.
The prince opened his mouth yet not a word left it as his body grew weary of trying.
Something akin to a shimmering resound caught his attention.
It repeated over and over again as if it was moving. It rang with a gentle chime.
He lifted his head up to see a ripple, not in the water but in the air. Gold rings scattered across the river towards him. Zhenjin couldn't help but lift his head toward those small lights that consumed this gray atmosphere.
The Prince attempted to reach out for them, but his vision grew blurry again for a brief moment and when he opened his eyes he was blinded by a light.
And the face of a dragon-
He recoiled back, despite pain shooting up his back as he scrambled to move away from the light, he paused when it moved to reveal the face of a tiger.
Zhenjin blinked as they stared at one another for a while, before him was Tigress, clad in a more traditional garb than before with colors of white, red, and black along with gold along its ends. And the most eye-catching was the lantern with a dragon painted across its round exterior.
"Zhengui!?" He moved to push himself up off of the ground but managed to lose his balance yet, he never tore his eyes away from the other, and as expected. She still stared at him with the same expression. "Ho-How? I thought you were-"
The prince was only halfway to his feet, as she stood up and walked off, the sounds of chimes and ripples of bright gold and yellow following her beneath her shoes.
Her steps almost sounded similar to water.
"Wait!" He stumbled calling out to Tigress as she walked in the air with a pep in her step he hadn't seen before. As the light of the lantern even when his vision faltered kept him on a path toward her.
Every now and then, she would turn and stop, merely staring at him whilst she held the lantern with her long sleeves, waiting for him to follow. Never leaving him behind.
The two walked in that manner for a while, he would move as fast as he could before stopping, and despite being far ahead of him, he would always see those ripples lead back to him as she waited for him.
The buildings grew smaller, turning to ashes and mere rubble showing nothing but a sea of smoke and ash before two small figures as they walked along this murky path, a burning flash of light cascaded over them both, causing them to pause and witness the enormous size of what the dragon warrior had become in a mere shadow. It towered over them in a way that reminded him of the palace but somehow more frightful.
Tigress turned away quickly when the flames died down, her own lantern flickering and he couldn't really blame her.
Zhenjin merely kept quiet, catching the hint that she couldn't speak or didn't want to, again; he couldn't blame her. What could they talk about as they attacked a part of her home country? Should he apologize for his sister's actions against her? There was too much to ask and so little time.
He stepped over a wooden plank, no doubt an old piece of a balcony for a house that he could lean on for the moment as he witnessed her intake the area around them. Even here, she looked out of place.
A light within the darkness.
Every part of her seemed separated from reality, no part of her outfit seemed to shift with the winds, not even the ruffles at the bottom of her shirt or the long sleeves she touted. Only the lantern seemed to play by the world's rules.
Her amber eyes looked back at him, waiting.
He simply nodded and forced himself to continue on, off the porch, and past a decoration of some sort in a language he did not understand.
The prince rubbed at his head, trying to stop himself from rubbing his eyes but it was no use. They were already messed up, everything on his body was, and he couldn't do anything about it on his own. He stopped abruptly at that. 'They left me…Did they even check to see if I was dead?'
The pain in his shoulder began to throb again, it came and went as he got used to it. Even the parts of his body that ached were slowly becoming a normalcy to him but it still didn't change the fact, it hurt.
Another arrow zipped past them both into the distance, hitting another already downed soldier.
"I don't think I can hope for tomorrow, Zhengui…" He surprised himself with his own words and voice. It was no longer as proud or loud as when he patrolled the fields of Khanbaliq. It was subdued and tiring. "You won't see your friends because of my sister, and I might not see my family again because of her actions toward me…I don't even know why you're helping me."
He did know but also he didn't understand.
Zhenjin could feel his resolve slipping and his head had already lowered in defeat. "I ruined your beautiful home."
The chimes rung slowly toward him, as small steps. He'd already sunk to his knees for another break, and he knew she would not answer him.
She waited for him, as always, and hung around until he was ready to head wherever she was leading him. Tigress held that lantern over his head with unmatched patience, as the only light in his vicinity among a dull watery battlefield, as those gold waves beneath her shoes never ceased to wash over his shoulders.
In a moment, they continued. He had no choice.
Past discarded swords, broken bows, and scorched weaponry lay a patch of dirt surrounded by everything they'd seen a dozen times over. Yet, Tigress dashed for something in the distance, only giving him scant glances back to see if he was still following her.
He was with some difficulty, he had to move aside wood and be mindful of his steps in this area as another flash of light cast over them and he was too scared to look up at the looming shadow of the beast in the distance this time!
Tigress held her lantern over something small in the mess of the field and he couldn't tell what it was until he was side by side with the Chinese master again.
His eyes cast down to a small sprout, among the masses of soldiers long lost, along with their weaponry and the homes of workers and civilians.
In this cloud of depression, life still stood in the face of uncertainty.
Zhenjin did allow his tears to stream down his face, not of sadness but of shock as he merely slumped down and sat beside that sprout, he didn't even know what it would grow into much less survive this day. "Even in death, you cast a light of hope for people such as I…" For the first time, he did really look at Master Tigress, as she held that red lantern before him in her white outfit as she slowly faded.
In response to her soft smile, he called her something he knew she hadn't heard all those weeks ago. "You weird hero."
Her form faded from bottom to top into what he could only describe as small glittering stars straight back into the sky, almost seeming to refuse to die down until they had to at a certain height in the air, one by one until only ripples of her light remained.
"Prince Zhenjin!?"
Zhenjin didn't even move from his spot as he heard frantic voices and movement heading his way, merely waiting and watching that small sprout exist.
It was the last time he saw her and he felt content with that thought for once as a guard helped him up.
But I know we'll be here tomorrow night for sure, laughing even if I'm not honest
The arrowhead lay covered under a cloth at his side, watching as his blood slowly stained it.
The guards and soldiers who had found him were on patrol during their advance to chase after the Imperial forces that had fled after the battle and happened upon him.
With what he heard, he hadn't said much after being escorted back to the palace and patched up in a nearby tent. He could still hear the dragon, but somehow it was hushed. Its storm seemed to come to a close in Xiangyang.
Zhenjin sighed as he leaned back on the cot he'd been placed upon, he should be tired enough to sleep but instead, he found himself sitting up, alert, and very awake in the evening. 'I wonder if that was a hallucination? Or maybe that chi power…we never spoke about…'
Considering what he'd seen the Dragon Warrior accomplish alone with his chi, he was leaning toward the latter. "But Tigress said she couldn't use chi yet?"
Ding.
The prince twisted his head toward that chime sound again, it came from the entrance of the tent. As expected a golden ring rippled inside, one step at a time before fading at his feet.
"Hello?"
Zhenjin was stunned to hear a voice, a male at that after that distinct chime and show of light. The older tiger was already inside after peaking his head inside the tent's entrance, the flap draping over the top of his head before falling to the wayside.
"Yes? Was there something else the healers needed to check?" The prince spoke up after collecting himself, he'd hoped again far too soon. 'I shouldn't expect her to be at my side all the time…'
Amber eyes averted his figure for a moment until the guard also collected himself. "No, actually…but I was asked to check on you."
"But there was something else you wanted to ask me?" He inquired with a raise of his brow.
The guard nodded. "My name is Ganzorig, I was the soldier you took that bag of food from. And…" Ganzorig shifted in place before inclining his head toward the Prince. "I'm sorry but I followed you to that field when we stopped! I kept my distance and told no one of what transpired because-"
Zhenjin didn't hesitate to glare and even go so far as to look down upon the man in front of him, he may have been injured and far from the intimidating stature of his father but he wasn't a pushover to the troops. Never. "See to it, that it stays that way. Now, get to the point!" He lightly touched his bandaged shoulder.
"R-Right...I mean Yes, Jinong!" Ganzorig closed his eyes before hanging his head somehow lower before him. "The tiger you met out there, I believe she was the one who saved me before the Battle of Khanbaliq. She called herself Ti and…I wanted to know if she was alright."
'Ti? Right, the panda called her that a few times.' Zhenjin looked away with a soft sigh, his sights wandering back to the covered arrowhead. The blood had spread further.
"Ganzorig, what an interesting name…" The prince mused as he reached for the canteen at his side. The guard in question said nothing, merely watching him hold that canteen before popping it open. "May I ask why you didn't reach out to her on your own?"
"I…I wasn't aware she was a Chinese Master at the time. It came as a shock to me after the ambush. That and she wore a symbol of our home." Ganzorig made a small noise that could be mistaken for a soft laugh. "It just never occurred to me that she would be on the run…"
Zhenjin sipped on the water within it, it wasn't sweet, just plain. 'She probably had candy in her pockets. Or maybe the panda…'
"But you're right. I should have reached out to her and thanked her right there…I even told her, I wanted to treat her to some food after she gave me the last of her own." Ganzorig conceded before looking at him again.
For answers.
He could see Tigress running off with water trailing behind her steps, hoping and bracing for what tomorrow held and giving people more hope than they could give back to her.
"Ganzorig, here." Zhenjin held out the canteen toward the guard and there was a quiet pause between them that reminded him of better days when Khanbaliq still stood in all its glory.
Ganzorig did take the canteen slowly as if knowing it was Tigress' from his tone alone.
"You can thank her now by drinking that, staying alive," Zhenjin lazily leaned forward, debating on whether to get up or not yet. "And remembering her with the name she liked."
He decided to stand up.
The prince could tell Ganzorig was holding back his reaction in front of him, but some tears couldn't be held back. Especially for a young woman as kind as Tigress.
Zhenjin waved at the guard dismissively. "Just waterfall it."
Ganzorig thankfully didn't need to be told twice, he downed a gulp of water in one go with a shake of his head as if it was too cold! "Thank you!" He exclaimed as he closed the lid of the canteen almost too quickly.
The chime ran again, and it led right out of the tent. The golden waves seemed to even turn around waiting for him expectedly.
Ding. Ding.
"Yes, yes. I hear you." Zhenjin commented quietly without any regard to his company, who stared at him in confusion. "Even in death, you're so pushy." He plucked up that wooden disc in his paws, having a sinking feeling with the movement he could hear outside, it would pertain to her.
"Jinong, hold on!" Ganzorig scrambled behind him outside of the tent and wordlessly placed the canteen back into Zhenjin's outstretched paw. "Where are you going? Also-"
More guards surrounded him as he followed the lightly shimmering ripples that scattered in the air before him, always stopping and moving hastily. 'Yes, it was definitely her.'
Ganzorig whispered before Tsagaan ran up to his side as they entered the shadow of the palace. "What was her name?"
The wooden disc slid from his paw as cleanly as water to Tsagaan's waiting paws, the old servant had seemed to just accept Zhenjin's walk toward the palace or simply did not want to annoy him to the point of being brushed aside again. 'Good.'
He gave one last look at the ripples, seeming to hop up the steps of the palace ahead of him before turning toward Ganzorig. "Her name was Zhengui and you better not forget it!"
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