Choices - A Perfect Pair Prince of Tennis Fanfiction AU

Chapter 6

Summary: Zhuo Zhi and Siyang talk (again). Mystery prisoner PoV at the end!

Lu Xia lifts his spoon to his mouth and looks down at the steaming bowl of congee in front of him. 

Baiyang grunts, eating spoonful after spoonful mechanically.

"Eat up, eat up!" Xinglong says cheerfully. "The food isn't good when it's cold."

Zhuo Zhi walks in alone, sitting down at the end of the table. Xinglong ladles out congee into a bowl and sets it in front of Zhuo Zhi.

Zhuo Zhi smiles, but Lu Xia thinks it looks a bit thin at the edges.

"No thanks, Xinglong," Zhuo Zhi says wearily. He stands up again and strides out. Lu Xia hears his footsteps going down the stairs, towards the King's Chamber. 

Lu Xia stands up, too. "I'm going to go practice.

Qiao Chen looks up. "Wait for me!" he garbles through the food in his mouth.

"Swallow and say it again," Xinglong sighs, but Lu Xia's already out the door.

***

Zhuo Zhi throws his hands up in the air. "Seriously, Siyang!"

"No," Siyang says patiently, "for the last time, no."

"Don't you understand?" Zhuo Zhi says agitatedly. 

"I do understand," Siyang replies quietly. "And it's about the choices you make. I could stay here, like you want me to. Send someone else out. But how can I sit and watch my friends fall, while I stay protected behind the castle walls? I would always blame myself for their deaths. I would never forgive myself. I choose to risk my life for my comrades."

Siyang stares at Zhuo Zhi with an eerie calmness.

Zhuo Zhi had known from the moment they started arguing, it was hopeless. When they had been mere children, Zhuo Zhi had watchd Siyang risk his life time and time again for others. 

Once, Siyang had run back into a burning shack to save a child, even though he had no protection.

Once, when they were teenagers, Siyang had dove into a river to save a ten year old who'd fallen in, even though Siyang didn't know how to swim.

And, of course, Zhuo Zhi still clearly remembers the time when Siyang had marched out against Ji Jingwu's army instead of letting Dachi go.

The cost had been Siyang's arm.

"Alright," Zhuo Zhi sighs. "I know it's not use arguing with you. But like you said, it's about the choices you make. So please, Siyang, don't regret this choice."

"I won't," Siyang promises. "I won't."

***

He shivers in a cold, stone cell. 

The guards laugh and joke cruelly about him everyday when they bring him a scrap of food masquerading as a meal.

He's been a prisoner for . . . he thinks it's been three or four days. Time is hard to tell when stuck underground without a window, and he's never been good at measuring time.

He wonders when they finally decide to end him, to snuff out his breath, to slit his throat and remove him from the face of the earth. It consumes his every thought, clouding his mind like a never-ending shadow.

The guard throws him a shred of bread through the metal bars, jeering at him. He ignores the guard, and doesn't take the bread ravenously, like he had for the past days. 

Better to die of starvation on my own then in a public execution, he thinks bitterly to himself. 

"Wake up," the guard says gruffly. He unlocks the cell and reaches for him.

He laughs tonelessly. "What, the king finally decides to kill me?" His voice is rough from disuse, and he winces internally from the raw sound. 

"Get up," the guard says more forcefully, grabbing his arm and dragging him to his feet.

Chi Dayong of Yu Qing narrows his eyes. "I don't think so."

A/N: Shorter chapter today, sorry! Also that Siyang-Zhuo Zhi thing has been going on for a while- idk what to write. Anyway, I'm trying to be more productive now- so less chapters will come out. I hope you enjoyed this chapter! If you did, it would be much appreciated if you voted or commented on this! Thanks!