A/N: So as anyone who follows the story knows, sometime before the events of the 2000 tournament, Ron betrayed the Hizoku, killing a bunch and burning the main village. This did have quite an effect on Duo Lon, sending him on a mission after his father to kill him. It basically ostracizing him from his clan(he was considered the son of a traitor), as well as childhood friends, and his brothers even went missing, their status unknown.

I wanted to explore the direct aftermath. Now he knows Shen; in the game itself, in the 2003 story, it was shown that he, Shen, and Ash knew before the '03 tournament even started(Ash even knew them well enough to want to enter them without telling them.) We know he met Ash when he was on some assassination jobs, trying to find his father, so Ash was met sometime between the late NESTS saga and before 2003.

They never told us when he met Shen, but I had decided he had known him longer-since Duo Lon was about 18. They seem to be quite pals in game, after all.

So, with them having known(In this 'verse, they met in Forbidden Knowledge, and became closer buddies in Dusk before Dawn), I decided to have Shen in his life when this all actually happened-since the time between those two tournaments was not much, perhaps a year and a half or so. As for timelines-since SNK plays it fast and loose with it, I like to think there's roughly a year-ish in between arcs(SNK just sorta uses comic book time), so I had Shen and Duo Lon both one year younger here than they are from their first game appearance.

Anyhow, hope you all enjoy my take on this! I tried to stick with the source material as much, but also branch off from it since SNK doesn't give us a whole lot. So, again, filling in the blanks.

It had been a bit over a week since the horrid incident that would change Duo Lon's life forever, though the young assassin couldn't really tell if it had been days, weeks, months…or even years.

He was too numb. He was already a man who all but killed most of his strong emotions, but now, he was truly numb.

Back in Shanghai, he had blankly dropped his things at the small apartment that he rented for the times he stayed there. Not knowing what to do, he just started to wander the city in a bit of a daze, his mind replaying things over and over again; a terrible movie that kept getting rewound in his brain.

"We can no longer trust you, nor anyone in your family. Just go, 'prince.'"

"You being here is not helping. Please…just…just go."

"Too much like your father with those powers. You're likely to snap just like he did."

"He already murdered those caretakers years ago. Give him time, the powers will drive him mad, too."

"The Hizoku should have never started messing with the dead. A mistake made three hundred years ago that is being felt now."

"Begone, jiangshi."

At first, Duo Lon couldn't believe his eyes when he arrived at the smoldering village. Any villages of the Hizoku-there were several scattered about-were rarely found. In the event one was…the clan members would make quick work of anyone.

What happened was a slaughter. Burned and gutted buildings, dead villagers. It all apparently happened two days before he arrived.

"What in the hells happened here?" he remembered asking. He was numb; unable to really process anything at this moment.

"Your father, Ron. He...he went mad."

He couldn't believe it. Ron was strict, but kind to the clan. He upheld the edicts…and had taught his sons to do the same. He had sent Duo Lon to exterminate potential traitors before, and anyone who would harm the clan. He remembered his father's words to him once.

"I know you will never let enemies of the clan, nor traitors, survive."

"Never," Duo Lon had answered back.

To hear that he went mad enough to do this was utterly unfeasible.

"Was…did the underworld get him?" he recalled asking someone who seemed to be wandering around in a daze of their own.

"He was muttering about power. How he had a taste and how it had to be done for him to proceed. When they tried to stop him, he began killing them."

"This can't be," he had answered-feeling almost numb.

"It is. Get it through your head. I watched him overtake one of the guards and make him rot from the inside out," the man hissed. "Now let me bury my dead." He spat at his feet.

None of it made sense to the young man. He wandered around, looking at the bodies. Some had escaped; others were not even there when it happened-the ones out on training, like his brothers, thankfully, and he had heard his two elder ones had taken off already. But of the ones who remained, many were dead.

Some had been dying, which he had granted mercy to. Two of these spit at him as he did so, calling him a traitor.

He was feeling every emotion, it felt like, at one time. Confusion, anger, sadness.

When the people shunned him-saying he was a risk-he felt loneliness that he had never felt before in his life, even when training alone in the mountains or forests. Even when he had lost control before-the incidents with the cemetery caretakers, and the other villagers-they never turned their backs on him.

Not like now. Some were sympathetic; but even then, he could see the distrust.

He couldn't blame them. If the tree was foul, the apples likely would be too. The best thing he realized he could do at that moment was not to help bury any dead…but to leave.

Before he did, however, he decided to at least go check on what was left of his home; perhaps some of his belongings were still around. Or some hints.

Seeing a body on the floor, he had stopped in his tracks at the door. He was only able to utter a single word, his voice low and almost choking, feeling emotions that he didn't think he'd ever feel:

"Mother?"

Gathering what belongings he had left at the village-he did not keep much, as most of his things were at his small Shanghai apartment these days-he left that night, starting his search.

A few hours away on foot, he traveled through the forest and foothills, looking for signs of the traitor-he could not even think of him as his father right now. He had felt a level of rage toward the man that he could barely comprehend, but yet, he had no idea of how to focus it. Elders, women, children...even his wife, Duo Lon's mother. He had nothing on his mind but hunting him down like a dog and executing him with his own hands, along with anyone who willingly associated with him. His darkening mind was even figuring out how to draw it out. He would not make it clean. Not after what he did.

He had eventually come across an old training cabin. The Hizoku often did not stick to the same places often. Small cabins would be littered about the wilderness, where young trainees and their masters would stay for some days, before moving on. He had stayed in many in his years. This one was still furnished; simply, with a bed, a table, a chair, and a fireplace-though due to it being in the middle of summer, it would not be needed unless he had to cook. It was near a river, so he could bathe.

He quickly squashed the memory he had of playing a strategy game with Ron one night at one of these, not long after he started to recover from his injuries going after a traitor himself.

Making his sort of base there, he stayed for several days, covering as much ground as he could. He knew this area like the back of his hand; the Hizoku had the uncanny ability to discern areas and distances, remembering cities and everything else quickly, for finding targets and escape routes.

All he could do was search. He stayed nearly a week…nothing. He covered insane amounts of ground per day, as his endurance was extreme, but nothing. Not even other villagers, who may well have gone into hiding by then. Only an occasional bit of wildlife. He kept himself going on said wildlife and some plants around, slept little, and went out again.

He would even try to contact the death realm, but nothing was gleaned. In his mindset, he did not stay too long. Things could get very bad. It became an obsession; he searched and searched, but still, there was nothing. It was like the man had fallen off of the face of the earth. He had hoped not-though he'd follow him into the hells if need be, just to kill him again.

Giving up his initial search after a week-there was no trace of the man at all, even by tracking via every means he knew-he had decided to go back to Shanghai to sleep in a proper bed, and also to make plans to continue looking in earnest. He thought, perhaps, getting away from the area-which he was now convinced his father was nowhere near-would help him be able to clear his mind and focus on how to move forward.

And now, he found himself wandering the city, the temperature close to ninety degrees, even though the sun was setting. Even the breeze was stagnant. He wore his more casual outfit-a sleeveless qipao, black trousers, and his boots, with his hair in its usual long braid, heavy weights dangling at the end of it. He was wandering aimlessly, not even knowing what he would be doing. He had flown in the night before, and had basically done nothing but eat a couple of meat buns in the morning.

The young man had never felt so lost. Trying to grapple with emotions that he was never really taught how to grapple with.

His mobile phone buzzed. Grabbing it and flipping it open, he noticed a message.

"When are ya back?" Shen had asked him.

"I am here now," he wrote.

"Meet me at the usual place?" he asked.

Sighing, Duo Lon thought for a moment, deciding that perhaps a few drinks might go down alright, though he was not sure he felt like talking about anything yet.

"I'll be there soon." Closing the phone, he wiped some of the sweat from his brow and started making his way toward the seedy bar which he knew Shen frequented.

As he poured the second shot of baijiu down his throat, Shen looked at his friend, who was way too quiet…even for him.

"What is up, man? You don't seem like yourself."

Duo Lon shook his head, motioning another shot over. "I suppose I have a lot on my mind."

"You? A lot on your mind?" Shen blinked, nonplussed. "You wanna-"

"Nothing to discuss."

Looking at him with his eyebrow raised, he nonetheless let it go, ordering another drink for himself. He glanced at him though, not used to seeing his friend like this. Duo Lon could be distant, but things didn't bother him.

Another hour passed, Duo Lon's silence with the exception of a couple of answered questions now almost unnerving the brawler. It was now dark, and Shen knew that something had to be horribly wrong. He was used to his friend being a bit strange; quiet, distant-sometimes more than others. He knew what he did, even though he still didn't know the entire story, and probably never would.

But there was something bizarre, almost, on how he was acting tonight. Barely speaking at all, he often simply stared into space, giving him a polite nod or a few words.

"I'm gonna go over in the corner to see if someone there wants to take me up on somethin," he grinned. "Maybe you'll see me win." He cracked his knuckles. "Or have to kick someone's ass."

Grabbing his drink, the assassin nodded, heading over and leaning by the wall.

As usual, his friend would join in the guys who were into some gambling games-usually of highly dubious legality, but given this place was one of the seedier bars, no one much cared what went on, so long as they weren't getting inspected.

Duo Lon simply watched a game begin, the tiles being set out as a game began; it didn't take long for Shen to notice that one of the men was cheating. This was not uncommon, of course, when money was involved in illicit gambling.

"Hey, asshole," he said. "Don't think I didn't see that."

"And?" the guy asked.

Duo Lon sort of only heard this; it was typical for a scrap to break out with Shen at these places. He usually did not bother taking part, letting Shen have his fun. If he did get involved, he would usually catch a man's hand and fling him into a wall, excusing himself from the fight as Shen did most of it. Useless fights did not interest him, much to Shen's chagrin. He would always tell him just how much ass he could kick, and wonder why he didn't use it in other ways.

"Put it back," Shen growled, slamming down the rest of his shot.

"I don't think I will," he sneered. "Your turn."

Shen started to stand, when the man next to him-obviously one of the guy's friends-backhanded Shen across the side of the head and grabbed his arm as the other man planted his hands in front of him and stood. He then grabbed his bottle and broke it on the edge of the table.

Nothing came of this, however; before anyone knew what was happening, the man who had first struck Shen had been knocked off to the side, and the other-who had held the bottle, was swept to the floor. Before he had been able to even budge, Duo Lon's large boot slammed into his face once, causing a nasty, cracking sound to emit from the breaking bones and blood to spew from his nose and mouth, both of which were most definitely visibly damaged; he then slammed his heel down onto the man's neck. He glared down at him, seemingly daring him to move. Shen recognized the look in Duo Lon's eyes from that of the night he saved him in the warehouse-it was one of murder.

The other two men scrambled, staring.

"H…hey!" one yelled. "He can't breathe!"

Shen shook his head, confused. "W…wha?" He looked at Duo Lon, and back to the man on the floor. As someone who usually loved bar fights, street fights, ring fights, and any sort of fights-way too much sometimes-his gut was telling him there was something terribly wrong.

On the floor, the man had already started to turn an alarming shade of red as his smashed nose and mouth continued to pour blood. The assassin pressed down; he could kill him in about five different ways right now, Shen knew. He almost seemed to be milling them over-it was like seeing the broken bottle in the man's hand-something that could, if used carelessly, be lethal-had tripped something in the assassin's head, and he was now in some sort of killing mode. Truth be told, he could have easily killed him in the first blow-Shen knew how powerful the man was, and if he had truly wanted to, he'd have busted his head open-but perhaps there had been something small holding him back.

Something that Shen was not used to. One of the men moved forward to try to push him off, but Shen shoved him away, into his other friend, almost silently telling them to get the hell away. The brawler, still confused as hell at the moment about what was going on, went over to shake Duo Lon.

"You-you're killing him," he said. "C'mon, let him go."

"He drew a lethal weapon," he said coldly.

"Man, it was just a bottle! I've fought bastards with bottles before. C'mon, I…man the fights are fun, but…"

Shaking his head after a few more moments-the man on the floor now purple-he seemingly snapped out of whatever he was in, stepping off of him. As soon as it began, he turned and walked out, leaving the bloodied man on the floor, gasping roughly for air as some others finally moved forward to get him somewhere. Given they were in the back, not much alarm had even been taken, as there was another, louder, argument happening in another corner of the place, and these places tended to leave anything but actual murder to the clientele.

Shen, now absolutely more baffled than he'd been in ages, simply ran out to chase his friend.

"Duo Lon!" he yelled, running after him, catching quickly up to him. The assassin simply walked away at a swift pace, staring straight ahead.

"Duo Lon, c'mon! The fuck is going on?" Shen asked, as he walked next to him down the dark street.

"Nothing, Shen," he said, his voice flat.

"Don't give me nothing," the brawler grumbled, grabbing his shoulder and forcibly turning him around.

The younger man finally stopped, looking at his friend. Shen noticed his eyes looked almost dead compared to what he was used to. While the man was a master of the neutral, emotionless expression, there was something very off about him tonight. It was nothing supernatural or weird, but he knew the man was sitting on something big.

"I…apologize. I suppose I lost a bit of control in there."

"You? Lose control? When the fuck do you ever lose control? Are you gonna tell me what the hell's going on?"

The assassin said nothing, simply looking off to the side. He had no idea of how to…talk about his feelings or anything of that nature. After about a minute of silence, Shen continued.

"Holy shit! It's just…I never saw you act like that before. You'll fling a guy or two aside…but you leave. You nearly killed that guy, Duo Lon. I mean-look, I know what you do to real bastards, and I'll kick guys asses up and down the bar and the street, but…he wasn't some Triad or hired gun or son of a bitch trying to garrote me. He was just a dumb, cheating drunk deserving of a couple punches to the face, man. He didn't deserve to almost die. What the hell is up?"

Duo Lon finally looked at him as they turned a corner, sighing.

"My village. It was burned. My own father turned traitor to the clan." He said it as bluntly as possible.

"Wait…what?" Shen blinked, confused.

"My father is a traitor."

"I…know you were a part of some clan of…somethin', but…what…the hell?"

"The man went mad," he said plainly. "That…was all there was to it. He burned the main village. It's all but gone. The elders, the women and children. Even a few of the fighting clan members who had been left behind. The previous leaders."

"J…jesus. Like…h…how many?" He couldn't quite find the words. "I..."

"His own wife. Our mother." He looked coldly at him, flexing his hand open and closed.

Shen gulped. He had not seen Duo Lon this...lost, or enraged, before in his life. Getting hit with this news was confusing, though not as confused as his friend had to be.

"Good...god," was all he could utter. "I...sorry doesn't..." he trailed off.

"The only ones left," the assassin continued, "Were a few who insisted on staying to bury the dead. I suppose other small training outposts have survivors, and there were a couple of other, smaller villages. But I don't know. I was not able to find any on my searches."

"What...about y-your brothers?"

"My youngest brothers were off training. The ones closer to my age, doing things elsewhere. I do not know where any are. I have not seen any in some time…I think the last time I saw them was a year ago, at least. I heard the eldest two and the one younger than me went off to hunt him, as well."

"Why…would your father do that?"

"I...don't know," he said quietly. "They called me the traitor's son, and asked me to leave when I tried to help." He sighed deeply. "So I left."

Shen shook his head. "But…you didn't do anything."

"To them, I am complicit." The two walked down the alleyway some more until they reached a chain-link fence that had a heavy chain connecting the two, separating the two sides. "I have never strayed from the path." He grabbed one of the steel poles of the fence, shaking it.

"We can go around," Shen said.

"I am complicit, despite never straying from the path." The assassin's voice grew more intense. "Just three months ago, I saw my father for tea. We discussed matters of the clan." He shook the poles again, staring blankly at the other side of the fence. "I have exterminated enemies on his request, including one or two traitors. I'll never forget the one night...one poisoned me before I became completely immune. I wasn't quite seventeen. I was driven mad...innocents died by my hand because of it." He looked at Shen. "He praised me, though. He knew it wasn't my fault."

"I…goddamn, Duo Lon. I…"

Suddenly, he yanked, the chain snapping in a sudden fury that startled even Shen. He knew that Duo Lon had some…abilities, including being able to exert bizarre amounts of strength. Ripping the fence from its hinges, he threw it against the wall, before slamming his fist into it. His normally calm eyes sparked with a fury that the brawler had never witnessed from the otherwise completely unflappable man. In the bar, when he had nearly crushed the man's neck, he was still calm; he looked terrifying, but he was calm. He had never seen him enraged.

Shen could say nothing while Duo Lon continued, punching the wall again, causing it to chip away. Throwing a vicious straight kick, pieces of the old concrete crumbled under his boot.

"I followed everything," he snarled, striking the wall again and again. "Every edict. Every lesson. I gave up any life and humanity I may have had the chance to experience. I was fourteen when I killed a man. A year later, I killed a boy the same age for witnessing me. A serving boy who brought me my tea not even a week before that. He did nothing but see me. The day before, he served me tea as I was scouting the place. That night, I was wiping his blood off on my clothing." He stared at Shen, his eyes nearly ablaze. "And I wasn't bothered."

He had now turned his fury onto the wall and the gate, causing destruction that actually started to shock the brawler standing across from him. He was friends with the young assassin for about a year and a half now, the two having bonded, and shared some secrets-some, of course, remained, and would always remain.

Duo Lon did not confess everything, but he was in such a fury at the moment that he was certainly getting a few things out. Blood began to smear on the walls from his hands striking it, though the concrete gave well before they did, judging by the dents. His boots left craters in the same wall as he seemed to pour a bizarre level of rage into it.

Shen just let him go. He never much had a family; and he knew what it felt like to be backstabbed by fellow underworld dwellers. That, unfortunately, went with the territory. But he could not fathom what it felt like to be betrayed by one's own father-especially in a bizarre situation like his.

He jumped when the man snarled again, though, having caused a fair bit of destruction in the alleyway. Feeling like at this point he would have to be the one to step in-this was very much not in the boisterous, out of control brawler's wheelhouse-he moved forward to put a reassuring hand on the man's shoulder.

"Hey," he said. "I…"

Duo Lon turned and swung, his fist connecting with the man's face, sending him tumbling back against the wall in such a way that the brawler saw stars for a split moment. Feeling the coppery taste of blood in his mouth, he shook his head, looking up at the enraged man.

"Ow," he exclaimed, staring up at him. There was no anger in his voice, however…also very much not like him after getting hit.

He was concerned, surprised, and baffled, but he was not angry.

Suddenly, the assassin stepped back, realizing what he had done. He first looked down at his bloodied fist, and then over to the destroyed fence and the mangled wall. Holding out his hand a moment, he shook his head.

"I…Shen…"

"Don't," he said, suddenly, putting his fists on the ground and pushing himself to his feet, spitting blood from his mouth from the sudden blow. Somehow, the assassin had withheld the same force he had been using on the wall. "No hard feelings. Wasn't your fault. I know…this…ain't you."

The silence was telling, only the hot wind scattering trash around the alleyway punctuated the men's breathing. Sweat ran down them, and the air almost felt more stifling for the next several minutes. Blood ran from Shen's nose, as well, which he wiped off with the back of his hand.

Duo Lon shook his head, looking a bit stunned at the state he found himself in.

"How? Why?" he asked Shen, suddenly looking more like a man who had just turned twenty than the usual stoic, calm assassin the rowdy man knew. The one who broke up a fight by catching his fist, and then saved his life, dropping several men dead, bandaging him up afterward. While Shen had always been that stray, never having much of anything to really stick to, he was sort of trying to find the words to say to someone who had just lost almost everything they had known, and all because of the actions of a once-trusted family member…his own father.

"I...don't know, man."

"Why did he do this?" he asked again, opening and closing his hands, looking at the wreckage around him. "He killed them. The elders. The guards. Children. Our own mother. And then he put it to the torch." He grit his teeth again, kicking hard at a chunk of concrete on the ground, shattering it, before slamming his fist into the wall again behind him. "So few left. They…thought I…supported him. I…would never…"

Shen, having no clue on how to handle a situation like this, stepped forward to put a hand on the man's shoulder, spitting out more blood.

"Whatever the reason…it…he…fuck, man, I dunno what to say here. I'm sorry." He pulled his friend forward, as he would after one of their stupid barfights when he'd sling an arm around him drunkenly.

This time, he supported the man the best he could with it. He brought his head against his shoulder, patting it reassuringly.

"My life…has been death," he said, his voice almost getting thick. It was the first time Shen had heard any sort of emotion like this from Duo Lon; at most, he'd get some dry humor. "I don't care about that," he said. "No plans to atone. I am what I am. It…is what it is. But…I cannot let him live." His voice turned to a snarl at the end.

Shen knew he was speaking of his father. He just kept his arm there, letting him talk.

"So many others were dead. Parents of childhood friends. A few of my own childhood friends, who had made it back to the village after training as guards." He clenched his fist again, smacking the wall hard from the side, causing yet more to crack off. "I had to mercy kill four people. Not that I hadn't had to do that before," he snarled, "But to clean up my…father's…mess?" He kicked the wall in front of him again. "They were my clan," he snarled, throwing a kick at the pipe against the wall, breaking more of it loose. "My family. My mother." He glared at Shen, his red eyes slightly bloodshot at this point, which was something the man couldn't have even imagined he could do, let alone be witness to it. His next words were almost snarled. "The night we met, I had killed an acquaintance out of necessity not a few months before that. That is how strictly I followed it all." He stared at him with now-bloodshot eyes. "Do I feel guilt? No. He made his choice. They turned me into this, and then my own family takes it away. At least...who used to be my family. That man is no longer my relative."

Shen had kept his arm around him as he did all of this, until his breathing calmed down.

"I…can't bring 'em back, man," he tried to say, completely out of his league. "But…look. I'm here, alright? You saved my ass that one night. I ain't gonna leave you here like this." He started to pull him away from the wall; this time, the man relented, leaving the wreckage behind him.

"Damnit," he hissed, as they reached the end of the alley. He leaned against Shen's shoulder, shaking his head. He felt emotions that he never thought he had before. Anger-no, rage- the closest thing he felt was when he struck back against that first traitor who injured him, and even then, it was more of a calm, measured anger. Sadness; he felt some of that when he had lost his mother to illness, but he had handled that incredibly well, but he didn't know one could be this sad.

He even felt guilt due to punching his friend, who he saw didn't even seem to mind his split lip or bloody nose.

"Here, I think I know someplace we can go. Might help. I…dunno."

The assassin nodded, following him as he started to slowly walk off, leaving the trashed and broken spot in the alley behind them, the remnants of the first rage-fueled outburst Duo Lon ever had.

"Want some more?" Shen held out the bottle of baijiu to his friend, who sat on the edge of the pier, his legs hanging over.

"Yes," he said, holding his hand out.

"I know this don't affect you like it does me," he said, handing it to him. "But it might take the edge off."

The young assassin shrugged, taking a long pull of the bottle. He figured he might even be able to feel something. "It works."

The two had gone to one of the piers across town, which was desolate at the moment. The breeze was a welcome break to the stifling heat. Shen had tossed his shirt off to the side, while Duo Lon still wore his, though it was sleeveless, and the qipao's sides were open. It wasn't like weather affected him much either way.

Shen lit a cigarette, noticing the assassin didn't have his pipe. He offered him one, which he took; getting it lit, he blew a stream of smoke out. He didn't like the taste as much as his favorite pipe tobacco, but tonight, he really didn't care.

Scratching his hair-still feeling out of his league-he sat next to him to look out over the water.

"What are you gonna do?" he asked simply.

Duo Lon looked out over the waters; on the other side, the lights of Shanghai reflected in the water far on the other side. Sitting from here, it almost looked like a futuristic, cyberpunk-like monstrosity of a city from the other side, even late at night, it was lit up like people were still out and about, which they were.

"Find him and kill him," he said simply. "That man is no longer my father."

"No idea at all where he is?"

He shook his head. "The night it happened-after I…left, I looked high and low for an entire day around every inch of countryside in the province. I covered all of our hiding places, known and unknown. Nothing. It was like he completely disappeared. No trace. I even tried to sense him in other ways."

"Damn," was all the brawler could think to say, taking another drink of the stiff alcohol, though leaving more of it to his friend.

"So I will look. Whatever I have to do. However long it takes. He will die by my hand, just like the others he sent me to exterminate."

"Lemme…know if I can do anything."

"If you hear something, let me know. Not that I think you will…Ron will stay out of sight if he wants to."

Shen could only nod, watching him swig more of the stiff alcohol, seemingly not even phased. He took another drag of the cigarette.

"Leaving tonight?"

Duo Lon just shook his head, looking out over the water. "Probably not. No use. Need to get my head together first to be able to even start. Will be doing a lot of traveling, though, and I will need funds for that."

Shen knew exactly what he meant. "Do what you have to."

"I will. No matter how long it takes. I cannot rebuild the clan with him still alive. Some of the remnants do not trust me, and our numbers are few."

"Gonna find the rest of your family?"

"I will try. I believe I know where my younger half-sister is, at least, and two of my brothers."

"...Big family?"

"Ten of us. I am the third eldest."

Shen blinked. "Wow."

Duo Lon took another deep drink from the bottle; Shen did start to once again wonder just what he went through in terms of training. Any normal man would have been blackout drunk at least from the amount he had thrown back, yet he seemed to simply be, at most, buzzed enough to speak a little more than usual. Rubbing his tattooed arm-he had added more eerie, undead and death-like designs to both of them over the past couple of years-he stared at the red pip of the cigarette in his hand.

"You probably cannot help with this," he said finally, "But you can let me know if you hear something."

The other man nodded. This one was his fight, he knew.

After some more silence, Shen heard the other man's stomach rumble. Looking up at him-pretty tipsy himself, by now, though he had gone lighter than he could have-he snorted.

"Don't think I ever heard that from you."

"Besides some meat buns this morning, I have eaten perhaps a few fowl and two hares that I had caught while searching the wilderness for the past days, along with a few handfuls of vegetation. I can go for some time without sustenance."

The brawler blinked. "You want somethin'?"

Tipping the bottle of clear liquid into the light, he swirled around what was left before drinking off the rest of it, looking at it in his hand afterward. He started to dig his razor-sharp, hardened nails into it-nails that could cut glass, and this bottle was no different. They slid right inside. He then squeezed it-before Shen could protest-and it shattered. He dropped the rest of the glass into the bay, his hand seemingly unharmed from this.

"Perhaps it would be a good idea," he said. His stomach rumbled again.

Smiling softly, he nodded, jumping to his feet. Duo Lon stood, looking out over the water again before turning and bumping into one of the small poles sunk into the ground near the edge of the landing that came to his thighs. Irritated by this, he wound back, kicking the thing twice and essentially ripping it from the ground in the process.

Jumping back, Shen put his hands up. "Whoa. Look. If you want, I can take you somewhere to get some of that out. Underground place. Lotsa bastards down there for you to pound on who probably deserve a good thrashin'."

Duo Lon looked at him for a moment, before looking down at the ruined pole in front of him. For the first time in the past week, he snorted laughter one time.

"I'm not sure it's a good idea if I turn this on people."

Remembering the bloodied face and the near death of the guy in the bar tonight, Shen indeed had second thoughts. "Yeaaah. Maybe you're right. Don't want to uhh…shut 'em down or anything. Heh."

Duo Lon turned toward him, shaking his head.

"I'll think about this later, I suppose. If I have not seen him by now, then he has likely left the country."

"Yeah. C'mon. I'll get you somethin'. Wherever you want." He slung his arm around the man's shoulder again, pulling him toward him in a comforting manner. "Just eat, sleep, whatever. If you change your mind and can manage to not kill anyone in the ring, I'll bring you to the place to let off steam." Letting him go, he handed him another cigarette, lighting the two of them as the pair wandered through the city.

Duo Lon was mostly silent, mentally trying to navigate what would be a slightly different life, but steeling himself for his new goal.

To silence the man who had once been his father forever.

A/N: I decided, in the end, to leave the betrayal itself sort of vague, through Duo Lon's POV in a faint retelling of the aftermath rather than actually on the scene; sometimes you get those 'It's not what you know, it's what you don't' times.

I wanted to update this story with the knew knowledge learned from Ureshino, from his blog. When I found out Ron killed the old heads of the sects, as well as his own wife, this made things THAT much worse, I think.

As calm and collected as Duo Lon is, I somehow got it in my head that this was one of those times where their whole dynamic was reversed, in a sense, where Duo Lon was the one who absolutely lost his shit and Shen had to be the guy to try to console him, which he has no idea how to do. I imagine it's not easy trying to figure out what to say to a person whose own father just caused him to lose almost everything he had known his whole life, including his own mother.

He was a little out of character, but things were-very, very, raw. It's perhaps like he almost lost control of himself for a short bit; he has a lot of power with frightening connections, and this was a guy not in his right mind. I'd like to think after this night he doubled up his ways of keeping himself calm.

"He would need funds for that." So in his actual backstory, he met Ash while "Partaking in several assassination jobs to get closer to Ron." I imagine this had two purposes; one, to perhaps find people connecting. Two…to pay his way. This is a man who probably mostly has skills pertaining to this. His introduction story has him killing a man at a party(though this was probably before the betrayal.) It's probably how he funds his hunt.

Duo Lon's ability power-wise is pretty vague in the universe. We know Ron basically keeps running FROM him while surrounding himself with people, and he is capable of some pretty good feats from team stories. Some damaged architecture is probably well within his capability knowing what we know about him. He even apparently, from what some Ureshino lore had suggested, did some mind-controlling on *Lin*, and he still keeps away from his son. Just what he's capable of, I don't know.

Being able to memorize city layouts and such was actually mentioned in a team story, as well.

Shen's attitude toward fights-in the team stories, he kicks guys asses, but he never kills anyone. I made that part of his character-he doesn't kill people, he just will whip their asses left and right. He's been known to forgive slights after kicking someone's ass. Even some Triads who tried to kill him in a team story, he only beat them bloody. So I could see him actually getting a bit weird if his normally calm friend almost kills a drunk in a bar.

Anyhow, yeah. This one itched at my mind, and I had to write it. I hope it was as fun to read as it was for me to write! (Ehm, 'fun.' Poor guy.)