In another life,
Maybe we'd be the same
Bound by fate
Sealed in red
But in this
I'm nothing but a pawn
In a game with you
I'm willingly gone

The words wrote and rewrote themselves in his mind as he fell, letting them wander around in his head, rattling, even as water dipped past every crevice of him, drowning him. He ignored the blur of water against his back, pounding against his chest as the music blared louder. Not that he could hear them through the buzz of water, that seeped into his ears as he moved down, ignoring the little stings of pain that shot through him, crimson marbling in swirling water, the scars on his skin like roots of trees crawling across the floor. They are nothing but lines now, he thought. Nothing but a stark reminder of each and every fight he'd had, each and every sin he'd committed.

A memory of everything that had gone wrong.

He'd gone wrong.

And he hated every mark, every blemish, scar. The urge to claw them out shook him sometimes, but all he wanted was to destroy. His less than perfect body. His scars. His mind.

Everything except for one scar.

He still remembered the first one, the brunt of metal against skin, in place of ancient oak, stinging. The racous laughter of the 'friends' that surrounded him, the sheer disapproval from the elders. The frowns, maybe. But all he clung onto was a smile. He remembered biting back the tears, swallowing the lump in his throat. I won't cry, he thought. Not for wanting. Not for this.

Because he's worth it.

The memory of a little boy in tears, calling out his name echoed through his mind, and he could swear for a moment he saw a slice of silver, of crimson red, of the blood that'd pooled beneath, even as iron seared his skin. A tiny hand clung onto his robes, the other threading their way through his, before the world exploded into crimson and azure shades.

"A-Zhan," a familiar voice whispered, "I'll find you again."

That was the last thing he heard before the world went into swirling black, back into tainted dreams.

Halfway across the country, laughter reverberated off the walls, even as groans could be heard. The silhouette chuckled darkly, even as the other was shoved roughly into a wall. A splitting crack could be heard, along with a strangled gurgle. "Will...not...speak,"

Dark chuckles escaped pale lips, as silver chains glittered dimly in the dark. The smell of Lotus overfilled the room, tantalizing and musky, like something sinister lay in wait, looking for a way to pounce. Numbly, something thudded against a head, the heel of their boots driven into an already cracked skull. "We've ways of wearing people out, you know? There's no assurance you'll come back in one piece."

The man below spat, letting the taste of iron stain his tongue. "I'd rather die than tell you," he spat out.

"What's the worst you can do anyways?"

At that, silver eyes darkened, turning palladium. A terse smile crossed the Lotus's face, fingers moving to grab around a familiar holster. You don't want to know, he thought, before throwing up a talisman, and setting it aflame. Almost immediately, the figure beneath him started writhing, boils starting to appear up pale skin, overflowing with pus. Gashes appeared and disappeared on his skin, too, leaving the figure shaking in a pool of devious oil, as dark as night.

But the smell of Jasmine hit before anything else did, alerting him to the presence of the menace behind him.

"Really now, Bullet? I thought you knew better than that." A shrill voice called out. Tip, tap. Tip, tap. Tip, tap.

Falsely painted lips twisted into a wicked knot, pieces of grime and blood trickling down the side of the young man's forehead. Grey eyes widened in surprise as footsteps thudded across the room, silent safe for the swish of satin. "You don't treat guests like this,"

" We do it quickly and roughly." A piston clicked into place. Shit. Wei Wuxian moved swiftly to duck it, while keeping his foot on the hostage's head. The man beneath his feet groaned at the pressure, hands trailing towards the bulge in his pockets, that Wei Wuxian could have sworn wasn't there earlier. Before he knew it, another gun clicked into place, aimed directly at his heart. Purple robes stopped in their tracks, silken laughter filling the room, weaving a spell across it. What the...that's not supposed to- but Wei Wuxian supposed he should have expected this, sooner or later. The mistress of the Yu Clan didn't earn her name for no reason."You didn't really think I'd leave you here, did you?"

Yes. No. Maybe. Maybe he'd hoped, that for once, she'd let him do things his way instead of forcing her own on him just to make sure he'd fail. For once, maybe. He thought.

Maybe.

"There's no reason for you to be alone," she drawled. "It's a pity that all good things must come to an end, isn't it? And all bad things too I suppose. Drop the gun."

Wei Wuxian's grip on the gun tightened. Yu Ziyuan's nostrils flared up slightly, her eyes burning holes through her "son".

"Put. It. Down." She snarled, " Don't make me repeat myself, Bullet, you know exactly where this goes."

Her voice softened at the end, but Yu Ziyuan was anything but soft. She was made out of steel, but eventually, even steel would crumble. Still, Wei Wuxian let the gun clatter to the ground, the familiar motif he'd engraved on it grinning up at him, as if mocking him. It wasn't as if he'd needed the gun, anyway. He could deal with her alone.

He could imagine himself crumbling in the past, but the mask came almost effortlessly now, just as the one she wore did. The expression of love veiling her disgust like a bride's veil, the anger and the horror. The other three never seemed to notice, though. That side of her was reserved for him. Especially for him. And with Yu Ziyuan, anything special was typically trouble spelled in capital letters.

"I'm going to make a deal with you, Wei Wuxian. I want you to leave my family alone. I don't care where you are, or where you go, as long as you get the hell out of my house. By tonight. I don't care what cock and bull story you've to make up for your siblings, but I need you to get the fuck out of there by tonight. And I mean it."

Wei Wuxian paused to look down at his fingers, picking at his fingernails as if there were no gun pointed to his head. The idiot beneath his feet started moving again, but he simply kicked down, savouring the sound of bone crushing beneath him, blood seeping into his boots. Finally, he looked up "And what do I get in return?"

Yu Ziyuan lowered the gun for a fraction of a second."What do you mean what do you get in return? You get your life in return! That should be more than enough for you, country scum."

Silver eyes narrowed, and it was easy to see the origin behind his name. "That's not enough for me," he said evenly, " And we both know it. Why don't you kill me now, then? And let's see how you answer to them."

Somehow, he made it out without his voice trembling. I don't want to die today. I can't leave them. Not like this. He prayed that she couldn't see through him now, unlike she'd done before. Still, he made sure his eyes were steady, forcing himself into a standstill. With the Purple Spider as the assailant, next to everything was up to a coin toss. The only thing he was banking on was her children.

She paused for a moment as if to think. "Three million," she offered, "take it or leave it."

"Five," he countered, "that's less than anything I'd be making if I joined Uncle Jiang."

At that, her grip on the gun seemed to tighten, rage starting to feel her features, even as her hair billowed behind her. "Don't bring him into this," she snarled. "You don't deserve him."

At this, the boy held at gunpoint began to chuckle, sending shivers down her spine. And it was at this moment that she knew she'd messed up.

"Who are you, then? To tell me who I do and do not deserve?" His voice dripped in contempt, and for a moment Yu Ziyuan could have sworn she saw something of Cangse Sanren in his place, the shadow of the fierce woman she'd once admired, and later grew to spurn. Maybe it was the lilt of his eyes, that guardedness of his jaw. "You might be the one with the gun, Ziyuan. But don't you dare forget what you stole from me. You're the one who wants me gone. And that'll come at a price."

Somehow, he stepped closer, and Yu Ziyuan wasn't sure how to put into words exactly what had changed. He seemed more predatory somehow, his gait calculated and brisk. His eyes posed a silver challenge, and for the first time in her life, Yu Ziyuan felt something outside of her usual rage. It was unsettling, the bubbling feeling in her stomach, that settled against her skin, her head beginning to pound, to swirl, just as the what-ifs did. The glow of crimson kissed against her skin like a broken promise, leaving a trail of ash behind. 

Maybe it was the way his eyes darkened, the way his lips seemed to lose their will to smile. The way his hair, once put up in a ponytail, was now tied up in a single, long plait, full of hairpins that she knew were disguised as weapons. She had nothing much against him, even with the gun in her hand, and she knew it.

She just didn't think he did, too.

"I don't have time for your games, mother. I've named my price. And I want something back." Wei Wuxian's voice ripped with cloying sweetness, but the look in his eyes was anything but if the ball of crimson between his fingers were anything to go by. Along with the tape recorder in his hand, revealed by the sleeve of his leather jacket. Amethyst eyes went wide seeing them, and Yu Ziyuan felt her knees go numb.

"Name it," she whispered.

"Don't you know it by now? I want my family's legacy back."

"That..." she swallowed, letting the gun drop down as he pulled closer the crimson ball swirling even more vigorously, aimed at her head.

"Talk to me, Yu Ziyuan. Look at me when I'm talking." She could feel her head snapping up to meet his eyes, even if she didn't want to. He could have put his fingers beneath her chin and forced her face up, just as she'd done to him so many years ago. Then again, he didn't need to. His words were more than enough. "You're going to return to me my family's legacy. If you want me gone, I don't care how the hell you get it, you will return it back to me, or there'll be consequences. Understood?"

A numb nod.

"Good. Now, everything we've said today has been recorded, so if you don't want anything to slip...You'd better keep up to the end of your promise. I'll meet you in the office tomorrow."

Yu Ziyuan uttered,"You better be gone by today."

The Bullet rolled his eyes, huffing as she spoke. "Oh, believe me, I will be."

"But this won't be the last you see of me."

With one last vicious kick to the idiot's head, Wei Wuxian sent him scattering across the room, not flinching even as acid splashed against him, melting away his clothes. 

Then he sauntered out, leaving the last mistress of Yu to crumble on her own. 

He was free. 

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A/N: 2014 words, first chapter up! I hope you guys have enjoyed this chapter, feel free to tell me what you think of it!