Cold Blooded

Yin

 It had been a long time since that day, the day when everything changed. He had given up long ago, guessing how much time had passed. Everyday began with the tang of blood in his mouth, and every night ended with pain. His hair had grown longer and he knew he had grown taller, but he had no way of seeing himself in this room. There was the cool metal of that chair, but everything in its reflection was warped.

"Yin!" Three bounced into the room with a small package in his hands.

Yin. That was the only name he knew anymore. He had another one, he was sure of it. It was a name that his friends had called him once. He had friends and a life before this place, right?

His memories of that life had become foggy with the pain. It couldn't have been that long, had it? Hetried to recall the faces of those friends, but none of it made sense. The harder he tried to remember the more fragmented and blurred the memories became. There was that one boy... with the dark blue hair...

"Yin!" Three snapped his fingers, pulling Yin from his thoughts. "I have a special surprise for you!"

Chongyun tilted his head slightly and looked at the boy. His eyes slowly drifted to the package in Three's hands.

"As today is our 5 year anniversary of you coming here, I feel it is only right that I give you a little gift and a small heads up for tomorrow."

5 years?!?! It seemed like such a long time, but also not nearly long enough. This small round room seemed like the only world Yin had ever known, but that wasn't right.

"Anyways, this is for you," Three tossed the small package to him. Yin caught it, but stumbled backwards with the unexpected weight. He actually dropped the package on the floor. Yin bent down and grabbed it. Slowly, he unwrapped the crumpled brown paper.

Inside were two black metal cuffs. They were heavy and dragged Yin's hands down when he tried to lift them up.

"So these are for tomorrow," Three said, tapping the two cuffs in Yin's hands. "I'm inviting some of my frien- er, colleagues to come see all of the progress we have made. I heard that you already know one of them pretty well."

Someone he knew... Yin scratched the back of his head. Could this person help him find who he was before all this?

"And guess what, Yin!" Three grabbed the cuffs from Yin's hands. "We won't be needing that chair tomorrow! You'll never have to sit there ever again. We also will be skipping your treatment for today. We're right on the cusp of equalling out the energies within you. As of tomorrow, your yang energy will finally be dominated."

A chill slid down Yin's back. Years ago he would have been full of naive hope, but all he felt now was fear. Tomorrow... Tomorrow would not be the great success that he had come here searching for.

-<>-

"Good morning, Yin!" Three's voice boomed from above. Yin was not in his normal room. It was similar, but the desk around the edges were gone and so was the looming chair. There were four large doors that sunk back into the walls a bit. Chongyun woke in the middle of the room on a slightly raised platform.

Watching from a balcony high above was a small crowd. Some of the people were in a uniform that he vaguely remembered. A girl with green hair and a purple hood, stood particularly close to the edge and stared right at him. There was something very familiar about her, but Yin couldn't place what that feeling was. He looked around more searching for Three, or maybe the person that he was supposed to know.

His eyes landed on a man with ginger hair and a blood red mask perched on his head. He wore a heavy winter coat now, but Yin remembered him.

"Mr. Childe?"

~author's note~

I am so, so, so sorry for not posting yesterday. My first final was then and I probably failed, anyways here is this chapter. Thanks for reading!

chapter art was created by me throwing random words into AI and I just decided I liked this one :)