[ Thank Yakimoii (@StrawberryTier on twitter) for this beautiful cover! ]
In an alternative universe where the shadow killers didn't get after Seven after he was stabbed by Thirteen with the Dark Ice dagger.
13 finds 7 in the broken house, holding his sword with his killer outfit in a poor shape.
Liuqi (7) "Miss Mei? Ahhh ... you ... you should go ... it's dangerous to be close to me right now ..."
13 " Shut up... come with me. My master has a secret place at four hours of walk away from here, full of medicine and other Qi-infused equipment... I'm going to heal you here."
Liuqi "You stabbed me with that dagger and now you want to heal me, I'm starting to think you don't know what you want ..."
13 "Shut up and just do what I tell you !"
Liuqi "If it is ask so nicely... but I will need some help to walk"
13 " ... whatever."
She takes him and helps him to walk, with a lot of difficulties they find the place and 7 collapses on the floor.
13 "take off your clothes"
7 "ah ! am I getting lucky ?"
13 "shut up and take off your clothes"
He starts to put off his cap and his top.
7 "ARHH ! ... ahah... Miss Mei... I think the medicine won't be enough ... you need to go ... far from me ... ahhh ..."
13 "I won't leave you Liuqi ... I will save you even if I have to attach you to heal you !"
7 "ahah ! ... ARGH ! Actually, you should AH !!! ... really do it ! ... do you have something to attach me ?"
13 "Liuqi you can't be serious ?!"
7 "ARGGGGHHH ! .... I wish ... I wasn't ..."
13 "there are some Qi sealing chains but ... "
7 " ARHHH !!! Get them! Thirteen please, I don't want to hurt you arh ! get them !"
13 "Ok! Ok ! "
She gets all the chains and starts to attach one on the floor, 7 get the other side attached on his foot then he loses control of his mind, runs on 13, she flees until her back reaches the wall, she thinks she is trapped, ready to defend her. But before beast 7 reaches her, he is stuck by the chain on his foot. Angry the beast tries to grab the sword with Qi control, but then the chain glows purple and burns him down "ARGGGGGhh !!!!" Liuqi takes the control back of his mind " ah ... you need more of this Qi sealing chains ... one is not enough ... it won't hold it back for long ... ah ! ... ahah ... quick"
Seven goes back to the center and attaches his other foot "I was sure your master was weird but this stuff is far beyond my expectation", 13 broken-hearted put Qi sealing chains on his hands too, she is too stressed to answer 7's provocation.
13 "the most powerful sealing is the collar but ... "
7 "ARHHHH ! Ha ah ah ... everything Mei! The most you can !"
13 with stress puts the Qi sealing collar on him.
7 "Miss Mei, can you please attach them firmly in different directions, I don't want this beast to be able to move a finger"
13 "Liuqi ..."
7 " Please Thirteen ... I don't want to hurt you ... I trust you..."
She does what he asked, putting his arms above his head totally stuck.
7 "ARHHHGG !!! Ahhhhh !!!"
The beast takes the control but 7 body can't move because of the chains, it tries to call the Thousand demon dagger again but the Qi sealing instantly blocks the Qi utilization with its purple glow. "ARGGGGHHHH !!!!" It stops Qi to run through Seven's body but hurt him really bad from the inside in the same time. It allows Seven to get back the control of his mind a bit.
7 "Ahah Miss Mei... funny situation isn't it ? ... arh ! ... ah ... you wouldn't take advantage of it, would you? If I wasn't in pain I would find it pretty se...Arh ! Arh ! Arhhh !"
13 "Liuqi ?!"
7 "ahhhh ... I can't hold it back any longer I'm sorry ... but I trust you Mei... ah ... ahhhh... I know you will find a way ... you promise me we will go to the beach together ahhh ... so get this thing out of me and let's move out of here ! Arhh ! Ahhh ... I trust you ... I know if someone can save me it's you ARRRRRGH ! Arhhhgggg ! Arrhhhhhhh ! Grrr ... grrr !"
13 " Liuqi ? LIUQI ?! Ahhh don't leave me ! Ah ! Ok ok ! I need to help your memories seal that demonic power before it eats your mind ! Okay ! I ... I ... I need to put something on the chains that can help your memories to emerge, an object, anything related to you !"
She desperately looks at his scissors but during the fight against the eyeless monk Seven's beast left them here and she didn't think to look at them before lifting the place. The only object she finds is the shadow killer token... She grabs it firmly in her hands and prays, praying for it to be enough for Liuqi to come back and fight the beast's influence. She attaches the totem to the collar. The beast instantly calmed down, 13 was reassured that it works. Head down, it's like Seven was sleeping, she stressed a bit, she didn't kill him?
13 "Liuqi ? Are you okay ?" she can finally hear his breath thank goodness.
13 "Liuqi ! You're an idiot ! say something!" Seven finally gets up his head, facing 13 with red glowing eyes.
13 "Liu ... Qi ?"
Point of view of Seven:
Fuck, his head hurt so much. What the hell happened?! His entire body was in pain. He tries to remember, his last memory was ... the mission. He was asked to kill, no, escorts the next Xuanwu sacred dragon beast sacrifice, a girl in white with brown hair, but after this ... all is blank, he can't remember, why?
He started to feel his body a bit better, he was definitely in pain, a bit everywhere. He tried to move but .... he was chained ?!
That was no good, did he was tortured? Why didn't they just kill him? Whoever the fool who tried to chain him, then they did a big mistake to not have directly killed him because that fool is a dead man.
He starts to open his eyes, he can see the chains around him, his legs full of wounds, and his torso too, he was topless with his killer token around his neck like a dog, okay he was definitely tortured and humiliated. He can see a woman's legs in front of him. Okay, the fool was a girl. Well, it makes no difference, she is dead. Did she speak to him ?
"Liu... Qi !" Qi ... his code name, yeah she speaks to him "you're an idiot ! say something !" Idiot ? Nobody never had ever dared talk to the killer like that. If he wasn't chained, he would have probably been amused, but right now it was about to get him off of this complex situation. He activates his killer instinct mode, his eyes go red glowing. Moving up his head full of anger, he finally confronts the look of his torturer: she wasn't happy? Strange, she looks distressed and sad, why ? Whatever, doing this to the number one best killer of the world and hoping to keep her life, she was a fool. His sword was just behind her on a table, perfect.
"Liu ... Qi ?" That "Liu", she said it again, he didn't hear it wrong, she was misspelling his code name, it intrigued him, but not enough to spare her life. Looking at her in the eyes, he starts using Qi manipulation to get his sword to him, the sword starts to move a bit but suddenly... the pain.
7 "ARHHHHHH!!!!!!"
What the hell was that?! When he uses Qi manipulation, It's like his wrists were burning from the inside, it wasn't simple chains so ... but he has to fight back, pain won't stop him.
13"LIUQI ?! What are you doing ?! Stop it, please !! You're hurting yourself !"
He didn't listen to the girl who strangely looks more in distress for him than for her. He tries again to get his sword with Qi's manipulation. The pain on his wrists was intense like he was putting his hands on lava but that didn't stop him, he went harder, the swords started to move again then his neck hurt him in intense burning pain.
7"Haaahhh!! ARHHHH! ARRRRRRRHHH!!!"
So much pain that 7 collapsed from it. All the effort he made was just enough to make fall the sword from the table. The sound of the falling sword alert 13. She turns back and finally understands that he was planning to use his sword against her, that, whatever woke up, it wasn't Liuqi...