Cold Blooded

No

Saya looked from Chongyun's cowering figure to Three's sadistic grin. Knowing that she had no other choice, she followed when Three beckoned for her. He took her down a hallway to an office with a desk in the center and a mix of screens and messy notes all across the walls. Three sat atop the desk and motioned for Saya to sit in the chair in front of him.

Saya sat and was annoyed with how comfortable the chair was. Chongyun didn't have so much as a threadbare blanket in his cell, yet this monster sat in the lap of luxury.

"So..." Three drawled as he picked up a few papers and flipped through them. "I think that at this point we have both come to the conclusion that Yin's behavior is rather animalistic in this form."

"That's not his name." Saya snapped, refusing to acknowledge the other things he had said. Three wasn't wrong. Chongyun definitely seemed to have been reduced to the mind of an animal, but Saya didn't want to agree upon anything this monster had to say,

"Yes, well," Three continued to flip through his papers and didn;t even glance up at Saya. "Chongyun has the reactions that, let's say, a dog would have. He listens to me, his master, because of fear. However, he listens to you as well. He didn't need to be trained to follow you as he was to follow me. He listens to you, because he trusts you."

Three set the papers in his lap and looked right into Saya's eyes. She shivered and tried to scoot away. She had never been so close to him before. She hadn't realized it was possible for someone's eyes to look so real, but also, so... empty.

"I want you to use your influence over Chongyun to my benefit." Three continued after a beat.

"What? Why would I ever?" Saya was so shocked at the suggestion she didn't even know what to say.

"'Why?' Such a great question. I have three reasons." Three picked up a few different papers and began to flip through them. "First of all, I could give you anything that you ever wanted. I could place the entire world at your feet. You could live in luxury for the rest of your life and never have to worry about needing anything ever again."

"I would rather starve," Saya hissed. She crossed her arms over her chest and glared at Three. He didn't seem surprised in the least.

"I thought as much." Three picked up two files from his desk. "These are my other two reasons."

Three offered the files to Saya and she reluctantly reached up to grab it. She flipped open the first one and found messy notes and pictures of Chongyun in multiple different stages of the past few weeks. There were pictures of him tearing people to pieces with his bare hands right besides pictures of him curled in on himself asleep looking only seventeen or sixteen. There were some of him as they injected more serum into him, the pain and anguish on his face clear as day.

Saya looked up at Three in confusion, but he only nodded to the other file. Saya dropped it as soon as she opened it. It fell to the floor and a cascade of photos and maps slid across the floor. They were pictures of Gisei. Some showed him smiling as he wrote letters that Saya knew had been sent to her, while others showed him razor focused on something in the distance, gun in hand. The one photo that sat atop all of the others and had hit Saya the hardest was one of Gisei in Inazuma.

He sat alone in a tree in Chinju Forest. He held his head in one hand and his other fist banged against the branch in front of him. His gun was strapped to his back and the shimmer of tears were painted along the sides of his face. The image was disturbing on its own, but what really shook Saya was what was in the background. Laying on the ground, broken and bloody, where people Saya had seen passing in the streets. She didn't know their names, but now she wished more than anything that she did.

"What- What did you do to him?" Saya hated the tremor in her voice, but she couldn't even take her eyes off the picture. "Why would you make him do that?"

"I didn't do anything to him," Three whispered. "He did it all by himself. He really is the perfect soldier. A dead good shot and with enough compassion still beating in his heart that can be used against him."

"No, Gisei... He would never..."

"Yes, he would. To protect you."

Saya looked up at Three and knew that he was right. Gisei had given up everything and risked all that he had time and time again for her. Gisei was always protecting her, and now he had hurt himself and others to do it.

"What is all of this? What does this have to do with me, Chongyun, and you?" Saya asked, her voice hardly louder than a whisper.

"Well, you see..." Three bent down and picked up Gisei's file. "Chongyun could take double the dosage of the yin energy he currently is and he would survive. It would be excruciatingly painful, even more than it already is, but he would survive. Gisei, however, I could break. He's too useful to discard entirely at the moment, but I could send him off on mission after mission. I could make him kill the people that he had known and the strangers that he'll regret not knowing. I can do it to him again and again and again. He's strong, but we all have a breaking point."

"You... why?" Saya couldn't manage anything else. Her mind was a whirlwind of fear, pressure, and memories.

"Ah, yes. The "why" again." Three rose to his feet and lifted Saya's head so that she was forced to look into his empty eyes. "Because this is what I want. There is no other "why." You will do what I want, or they will suffer."

"N-no." The word was so quiet Saya hardly even believed she had said it.

"Excuse me," Anger and surprise flashed across Three's face. He had laid out this meeting and knew what to expect from Saya, turns out he didn't expect this.

"No," Saya said again. Her voice began to gain strength and she rose to her feet. "So many more people will suffer so much more if I do as you say, so all I have to say to a monster like you is no."

"Hm," Three ran a hand through his hair. "Interesting." Three snapped his fingers and two fatui agents rushed inside. "Take her back with Yin," Three waved dismissively towards Saya and turned away from her. "And tomorrow, I would like you to double the dosage for the experiment. I also think it would be a good idea to send a squad through Kondu village as soon as possible."

Upon hearing the name of Saya's hometown, her resolve snapped. "No, wait!" Saya began to kick and pull against her retainers. "Three, stop!"

"Hmmm," Three looked over his shoulder at her and tapped his chin as if he were thinking about it. A grin split across his face and a single word slipped out from between his teeth. "No."