Cold Blooded

Changes

warning: just a tiny bit of blood today

Zandik started screaming before Chingyun was awake enough to understand it. The puppet boy had always looked unhinged and on the verge of... something, but he had never been so blatantly angry before.

"What did you see?" Three yelled. "I know you were in there and I know that you saw stuff, now tell me what you saw!"

Chongyun heard the words, but they wouldn't fit together right in his mind. Everything hurts and the world was so bright and loud. "Wha..." Chongyun managed to croak, but his throat was hoarse and felt like he had just swallowed a flaming flower whole.

"Ugh, useless," Zandik shook his head and stormed out of the room. A trial of curses streaming out behind him.

Chongyun lay where he was until the pain in his head shrunk to a subtle throbbing. He managed to sit up and cross his legs beneath him. He ran a hand through his hair and held his head steady.

The cold cut at him more than it ever had before and his back ached. He reached his hand up to rub the back of his neck, but froze when he made contact.

A single quiet cry escaped from his lips as his trembling hands traced the ring of metal embedded in his neck. Slowly, Chongyun managed to trace five more identical rings all down his back. Six in total, all pulsing with uncontrollable pain.

They weren't just rings, at the center was a small divot that led to more metal. He didn't know what they were or what they were meant to do. The confusion might be due to the ringing in his head and the pain throbbing through his body, but he knew inside that whatever Three had planned would not go well.

After a few moments of staring at the room around him, Chongyun realized he was back in his normal circular room. He pushed himself to his feet and stumbled over to his small pile of belongings. He fell to his knees and threw his hands around until he found the thin shirt that he had worn all that time ago on the Karlin. It did barely anything to fend off the cold, but it made him feel less vulnerable and exposed.

He managed to haul himself into his cot and slipped his vision with Xingqiu's tassel into his hands. He held it tight against his chest and slowly drowned into a pitch black sleep.

-<>-

Chongyun woke the next day to Three's voice booming from all around the room. The boy was nowhere in sight, but clearly, he could see Chongyun.

"Are you ready for the new setup today?!" Three's voice crowed. His anger from last night was replaced with an eerie excitement. "Take your shirt off, hop into our lovely little chair, and we'll get started!"

Chongyun rubbed at his eyes and his eyes focused on the chair in the middle of the room. It didn't look any different from normal, but still carried all of its promises of pain and cold. Chongyun followed orders, removing his shirt and stumbled towards the chair, the pain in his back a numb reminder of what would soon come.

Three and Chongyun had done this day after day. Wake up, sit down, insert serum, pain, Three leaves, repeat tomorrow. Over and over like a broken record. Today would be different than before, anything could happen now.

Chongyun sat in the chair and rested his sore back against the freezing metal. It stung at first but managed to numb the pain a little more. Three giggled from wherever he hid, watching. The hairs on Chongyun's arms raised at the sound. Something was definitely wrong.

A moment later, two cuffs slid out from the chair and wrapped around Chongyun's wrists. Chongyun began to frantically try to free himself, but it was all useless. The shackles didn't budge and the chair was welded to the floor. He had never tried to run away or reject anything before, what was different about today.

Everything.

"After today..." Three sighed wistfully, completely unconcerned with Chingyun's struggles. "After today, nothing will ever be the same."

Slowly and menacingly, six long tubes with thick needles at their ends lowered from the roof. Each tube was filled with the glowing swirling serum. At the control of someone, most likely Three, the tubes lined up behind Chongyun. The metal backing of the chair slid down, exposing Chongyun's back.

Three giggled one final time and the tubes stabbed into Chongyun's back. Each needle injected into the circles that had been embedded into his back. Chongyun cried out in pain and pulled against his bonds. Everything he had ever counted as pain before was nothing now. He had never known suffering until that moment.

The pain ripped through his entire being, the serum froze its way through his veins and clouded his mind. The howls of defeat and final curses of the gods screamed through Chongyun's mind. Everything was so loud and painful and bright. It needed to stop. Chongyun needed to stop it.

He threw himself at his bonds with new vigor. His wrists began to bleed, but he barely felt it. He yelled and screamed and pulled, but nothing worked.

Then it stopped. The mind numbing pain dissipated, but a dull throb remained. The bonds released him and Chongyun collapsed to the floor. He tried to calm his ragged breathing and quiet his heartbeat in his ears. A moment later, Chongyun's eyes closed and after that day, nothing was ever the same.

~author's note~

Sorry it's  late, but ta-da it's here! Thank you for reading!

chapter art posted by @mrs_yu_pi