"Xi Chen!" Ye An yelled in surprise. Prince Adlai's stool scraped on the gazebo's rough stone floor as he startled to a stand.

But Xi Chen couldn't hear any of that. There was only the rushing noise of tidal waves in his ears as his amber eyes locked into Sze Chang's dark eyes. "I will rip you." He seethed with his face just inches from Sze Chang. "Piece. By. Piece. Just like what you did to Ah Lin."

Sze Chang's eyes flickered at the mention of Ah Lin's name. As if.. As if he felt remorseful. Xi Chen faltered but regained his grip. "No. Do not.. How dare you? You have no right to be regretful. Not after what you did. Not after causing Ah Lin to.." Xi Chen's lungs felt as if they were filled with lead as it hit Xi Chen once again that Ah Lin was truly gone. That the one person he had come to love as his own brother was no longer walking this realm. He tried to hold it in but tears swelled at the edge of his eyes. This was the first time he cried over Ah Lin's death. Xi Chen blinked the tears away. One of them catching the glint of the rising sun as they fell to the ground. But the raging whirlpool of feelings that was trapped in his chest was far from being eased. Instead, it morphed into a livid monster. 

With his grip still tight on Sze Chang's collars, Xi Chen pulled the fist of his other hand close to himself before pivoting it towards Sze Chang's cheek. Red splattered in an arc. Ye An shrieked and started to run towards them but was stopped by Prince Adlai. Sze Chang's eyes were wide as he held his bleeding nose. Without even allowing Sze Chang to process his injuries, Xi Chen let go of the man's collars and started pummeling into him in full force. 

There was no reason nor rhyme in the way that Xi Chen was throwing his punches. It was all brute strength and primal rage. After the initial shock, Sze Chang quickly recovered and took up a defensive stance. He roughly wiped away the blood dribbling down his face with one of his sleeves and slid a few paces back to keep a distance between the both of them. Sze Chang's hand swiftly reached into his sleeves to pull his hand fan out just in time to block another punch from Xi Chen. With a snap of his wrist, Sze Chang slapped away Xi Chen's arm with the spine of the closed hand fan.  

Xi Chen clenched his jaw at the sharp pain. Watching from the sideline, Ye An had never seen such anger etched on Xi Chen's face. His expression was now closer to a white tiger's snarl than the mellow expression that Ye An was used to seeing during their peaceful stay here. Xi Chen jabbed another blow towards the other side of Sze Chang. The attempt was sloppy and messy from his emotions that the latter was able to dodge gracefully with half a turn of his body. Because of the failed contact, Xi Chen staggered and Sze Chang took this chance to clip him on the back with the rivet of the hand fan, the jade piece hanging of the tassels swaying freely as he effectively switched sides with Xi Chen.

Both of them turned around to face each other again. Sze Chang finally spoke since Xi Chen's first punch. "I admit that I deserve that. For what happened to.. Ah Lin." His eyes darkened. "But it doesn't mean that I won't go down without a fight. You have a debt to collect. But I have a debt to collect as well. A debt that was long overdue. This is for Enkh." As he finished his sentence, Sze Chang sprinted towards Xi Chen and swung his hand fan open, bringing it down from the side of Xi Chen's neck to his chest in an abrupt motion. The succession of Sze Chang's movement was so rapid that the skin on the side of Xi Chen's neck split open. The only reason that the cut didn't extend to his chest was because of the thick layers of Xi Chen's clothes.

Ye An gasped and Prince Adlai's restrictive arms around her tightened.

Xi Chen wavered. The cut prickled but he knew from experience that it wasn't deep enough to be life-threatening. That pain from the cut was only a speck in the inferno of his thoughts. He always knew that this day will come since he had killed that Northerner years ago. But he thought he alone would be the target of Sze Chang's retaliation. "Did you take Ah Lin's life because you're looking to take revenge on me? Because I killed your Northern lover?" His whispered voice cracked. If it was true, Xi Chen didn't think he could live with himself. He would have no one else to blame for Ah Lin's death other than himself. Something inside him shriveled at the thought.

Sze Chang's steady stance faltered. His eyes scrunched up in disbelief. "What? No! I lov-" He stopped himself mid-sentence. His face betrayed the presence of a hundred daggers running through his heart as he made his confession. "I loved him."

That's when Xi Chen snapped. Tendrils of of red lining his eyes as he reached out to slam Sze Chang to the ground. "Liar! Do not sully Ah Lin's memory by saying horseshit like you loved him. Had you loved him, you wouldn't even think of hurting a hair on his head!"

The hand fan fell from Sze Chang's hand and clattered across the ground as he fought back and slugged a punch at Xi Chen, drawing blood from him immediately. "Do not say that I didn't mean what I said!" Another punch landed on Xi Chen during their scuffle. "I loved him! I still love him! Just as much as I loved Enkh. No! Maybe even more!" Sze Chang relentlessly hit Xi Chen with blow after blow which split the latter's cheek open.  "And I regretted my choices every single day since the day he died! Do you know how it feels like to only realize that you love someone as you're watching them die?! Do you?! Do you know how I wished that it was me who was ripped to shreds instead while watching his eyes lose its spark?? DO YOU?!!" Sze Chang's ardent burst ended with a roar of a broken man before he collapsed beside Xi Chen.

Xi Chen had stopped his attempts at striking Sze Chang with his punches a while ago, his hostile demeanor was gone like a deflated lantern as he heaved heavy breaths. He straightened his clothes and pressed a sleeve on the wound on his neck to stop the bleeding as he watched Sze Chang. He realized mid-fight that the man had started crying, the tears and mucus mixed with each other. Xi Chen was finally able to comprehend that Sze Chang was indeed being truthful. Sze Chang was in love with Ah Lin. This wasn't a scheming man, this was a man with a shattered heart of his own making. But- "I'll never forgive you. Not in a million years."

"Then don't." Lying on the ground, Sze Chang scoffed at himself, his body a mere shell that had lost all of its earlier fight. "I'm not sure if I'll ever forgive myself either."

Sensing that the fight was petering out, Prince Adlai finally released Ye An. She walked towards Sze Chang and crouched by him to pick up the fallen hand fan. She adjusted her grip and read the words written on it. "This.."

"It's the prize of the hunt from a few months ago." Sze Chang swallowed before quietly adding, "It was the first gift I've gotten after leaving the temple."

"Without feelings of respect, what is there to distinguish men from beasts?" Ye An muttered those words. It was one of her favorite quotes, but to actually put that into action at this very moment seemed like a monumental task.

Prince Adlai cleared his throat as he helped Sze Chang up. "I know my vouch probably means next to nothing. But Sze Chang is nothing if not honest. We had been putting together a resistance effort of sorts to fight against General Shao. But the situation is taking a turn for the worst. General Shao is now plundering and pillaging the homes of anyone who goes against him. Even innocent people who was merely suspected of being in the resistance and this includes women, children, and underprivileged citizens. The capital has turned into a bloodied war zone and we need your help. The people needs your help."

Ye An thinned her lips before motioning them to return to their seats. Xi Chen and Sze Chang chose to sit furthest from each other.

"Speak." Ye An ordered Sze Chang with her back ramrod-straight, using the years of etiquette lessons as her armor.

Sze Chang held himself still despite the urge to fidget underneath the stares from Ye An and Xi Chen. "Your bodies were never found so I'd hope that I would find both of you here."

Ye An's voice was curt and efficient when she said, "Cut the chitchat. Tell me what's going on in the capital."

+* Thanks for reading! Please vote, comment, and follow if you like the story!*+

Writer's note: Again, bloodthirsty XC is hot hehe