Cold Blooded

Notes

Oh, archons. Ajax paced along the balcony. The far end, as far away from the edge as he could get. He gripped the small package in his hand too tight and dug his fingers into his hair with his other hand. His eyes strayed to the edge of the balcony again, but he looked back down at the ground beneath him before he saw anything.

"Hey!" Someone called from down below. It was Saya. She wouldn't have called out if she had known it was him. "Hey, up there!" Saya called again, anger coursing through her words. "Whoever you are, go away. You're making Chongyun pace and he's getting agitated."

"Hey, um..." Ajax dipped his voice down lower and made it sound rough like that of an older man. "Mr. Tartaglia's little brother wanted this to be given to the experiment... I- I've just been a bit too scared to get close enough to deliver it."

"If you're scared of monsters, I wouldn't look in the mirror." Saya snapped. "Everyone in this archon-forsaken pit is a monster. Just throw the package over to me, you coward."

"Y-yes," Ajax stammered, keeping his voice low and rough. He tossed the small parcel in his hands over the edge of the balcony and to where Saya's voice had been. "I'll be going now."

Ajax ducked out of the room and into the hallway. He ran a hand through his hair and let out a slow breath. Everything that Saya had said was true even though she didn't know exactly who she had been talking to. He was a monster and a coward. He was the villian.

-<>-

Saya made her way over to where the package had fallen. It was only a small parcel wrapped in thin brown paper, but the two letters tucked beneath the wrapping was what really interested her. She flipped open one of them and couldn't help, but smile despite everything around her.

"Hey, Chongyun," Saya called. The monster spun towards her and cocked his head to the side. He slowly walked over and poked the package in Saya's hands with a claw.

"You got something from Teucer," Saya said quietly. She knew that the package had definitely already been looked through before it had been delivered to them, but it felt like it should be something for just him. A goofy smile slid over Chongyun's face as he peered over Saya's shoulder at the letter.

Saya wasn't sure if Chongyun could read in this state, so she decided to read it to him. She sat down and quietly began to read.

"Dear Chongyun, it's Teucer! I was so busy getting your good-bye present ready for you that I didn't have a chance to actually say good-bye. I really just wanted to say thank you for being the bestest buddy for the days that you stayed over. Ajax told me that Saya and you were gonna go back to your home so you can get all better from your bad sickness. I hope that you feel better soon and that you come back to visit! I want to make more snow people with you!

Good luck at home!

Teucer."

Saya stumbled over the clumsily written words and constant misspellings, but smiled softly as Chongyun stood silently beside her. There was a small drawing in the corner of the page. It was a bit hard to make out, but because of Teucer's fantastically bright colors, she could see Teucer's bright orange hair playing in the gray snow besides Chongyun's blue hair and red scarf. A stab of bittersweet pain poked at Saya as Chongyun backed away from her side. The deep contrast of Chongyun playing in the snow only weeks ago to what he was today scared Saya. There was so much wrong here.

Chongyun poked at the package part of the gift again and Saya was returned to the moment. She handed the package to Chongyun and he ripped away at the paper to find a small figure inside. It was hastily sown and all the seams were showing. It was clearly home-made and definitely by a novice. It appeared to be a lumpy brown cat with mis-matched button eyes.

A smile broke across Chongyun's face and Saya couldn't help but flinch when the lights caught against his sharp teeth. Chongyun took the small cat and placed it among his trove of little gifts.

Three would be by soon but for now, everything was alright. Not great and definitely not okay, but it was alright.

As if sensing Saya's thoughts, Three appeared high above with a laugh. He swung around on the bars and dangled his feet above them. He smiled like a maniac and called down to them. "Are you ready, Yin?"

Chongyun seemed to shrink into himself a bit whenever Three was near. You could see the fear in those broken animal eyes. There had only ever been two people that Chongyun hadn't tried to attack. Saya, because he wanted to protect her, and Three. He never raised a hand against Three even though Chongyun could easily beat him. Chongyun was terrified of him.

"Actually, before that..." Three spun around to stare at Saya. "I have a proposition to make for our lovely little cicin mage..."

"Good luck getting anything from me, puppet," Saya crossed her arms and tucked the pieces of paper into her pocket. "I wouldn't give you a jacket if you were lost in dragonspine."

"Well, that is a bit rude." Three rose to his feet. "It's a good thing that I don't need anything physical from you. I just need to talk and I think you'll find that I can be very... persuasive."

chapter art by me :)