Cold Blooded

The Harbor

Xinqiu made it home a little while later that night. He had probably looked drunk as he stumbled through the streets and practically fell through his door. He was too tired to care right now, anyways.

He fell into bed still fully clothed and groaned into his pillow. His head was pounding and he needed sleep, but it seemed like the world wasn't going to be that nice to him today.

Popsicle came over after a few minutes and started mewing at the side of the bed. The cat hopped onto the bed and sat on Xingqiu's back. Not having the energy to get him off, Xingqiu just left the cat there.

He and h- Chongyun... had found Popsicle when chasing down some demons and after trying and failing to find Popsicle's owner. The cat had just stayed with Xingqiu. The grey cat was all that Xingqiu really still had from his friend besides faded memories and the small stone of amber tied to his vision.

Xingqiu lay in his bed for hours until sleep finally resigned and pulled Xingqiu into its inky darkness.

-<>-

Zhoshou sighed as she watched Xingqiu leave the building. The poor boy was tearing himself up all over again.

She had worked for his family for many years, and had seen both of the young heirs grow up. Xingqiu had always been so full of life and laughter. He was a little prankster that often made more work for Zhoshou to clean up, but she never minded. She would give anything to go back to the times when she would reprimand that boy only for him to do it all over again a few days later, but in a more clever way.

Now, she had had to tell him that he needed to stop and it hurt her with every word that she had said. Zhoshou had also cared for Chongyun. He was always sweet and courteous when he came in asking for Xingqiu. She wanted to believe that maybe, just maybe, he was still out there.

"Ma'am?" Xieshu nodded towards Zhoshou and passed her a few papers. "Here are all the ships that came into port today. There is also a ship pending permission to enter the docks. It had not originally planned on docking here and needs permission for entry."

"I see," Zhoshou took the papers as Xieshu walked away. Zhoshou looked at the ship names and the numbers beside them before flipping to the last page. She let out a strangled laugh because of the bubbling mix of absurd feelings that had begun to bubble up inside of her. There was no way! How could this possibly be?

"Xieshu," Zhoshou called over her desk. "Go send word to Master Xingqiu. We have one last investigation to make."

On that last paper was the name of a single ship. It had no identifiable markings, just plain grey sails. The ship pending approval to enter was The Karlin.

-<>-

"Alright everyone!" Andrei called out to his crew as soon as the messenger reached them. "Let's get moving! We better be sitting in the harbor before the sun rises."

"Yes, sir!" The crew called back to him.

Andrei looked out towards the glowing city and watched as Chongyun waddled over. The boy looked hardly older than an infant. This whole aging backwards thing was throwing the captain for a loop. It was definitely... odd.

"You kiddos have been through quite a lot, haven't you?" Andrei picked up the small boy and placed him on his shoulders.

Chongyun giggled and patted Andrei's head with his small soft hands. Once they got to the port, there wouldn't be much that Andrei could do for those kids, but he was sure they would make it through.

They had already been through so much, what was going to stop them now?

-<>-

Three's neck snapped quickly to the side and he had to reach up and rotate it back into its proper position. He couldn't start falling apart now. This was his last chance. His last chance to prove himself.

                                                                                                                                                 You better not screw it up.

                                                        If you mess this up for us, we'll get rid of you.

                                                                                                    Why don't we just get rid of him now?

             That's a good question... Why are we still bothering with this weakling?

                                                                                                                     We should just take control..

                                                                               I would do much better in control.

                                    No, I would be the best choice!

                                                                                                                                            No, me!

                                                                    I really am the most efficient of us all, I should be incharge.

             I'm better than all of you, I should be in control!

"Shut up," Three grumbled as the voices continued to fight in his mind. "We need to get this done. Stop trying to take control. I'm the one in charge. I'm the one in control. Just stop it."

His arm reached out for something that wasn't there and Three had to shove it back down with his other hand. "This body is already falling apart." Three hissed. "If you all keep trying to take control it is going to rip itself apart before we can get Yin back. If that happens, no one will ever fix us."

The voices fell mostly silent, but Three could still hear them grumbling in the back of his mind. He looked out to sea and saw the first glimpses of the mountains of Liyue and its glowing harbor.

He would find Chongyun and bring him back to the labs. He had to bring him back and then maybe, maybe Prime would look at him the way he had those hundreds of years ago. Maybe he could get his big brother back. Maybe he could find someone that cared.

                                                            Someone did care... You saw it in her eyes on the day she left.

There it was... It had been a long time since Three had heard that particular voice, centuries actually. This was the only voice that didn't try to force its will to the front. All it ever did was wait until it was quiet enough to hear its simple advice.

                                         She cares for you and so does Yin. Despite all that you did to that boy, he is too kind to truly hate you. They can give you the things that you crave, and we both know that I'm not just talking about power.

"I-" Three shook his head. He never knew what to do when this voice spoke. He knew there was truth in the voice's words, but he also knew he wasn't strong enough to follow the things that were more a part of him then all the fighting voices. He wanted and craved something more than all the other things, but he knew what came with that. He just wasn't ready to accept that.

Three looked out again over the ship's edge, only this time he looked down at the water. He saw his distorted reflection in the water and tried to see more than what most people saw. He tried to find the boy that those few people saw. He wanted to see that boy, so bad. He didn't want to have to be the villain, the monster. And even still, as he stared at that water all he saw was the monster.

It was then that Three finally fell to the floor and looked away from his reflection. His body began to twitch and jerk out of control, but he didn't even have the energy to fight it right now. Tomorrow would demand so much more from him, so for now he just lay there in a broken mess.

~author's note~

Sorry for the late update and late note. Thank you for reading and please leave a vote and a comment if you enjoyed :)

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