Snow pursed his lips.
"Are you going to stop me?" he asked, the anger that had burned in his chest until just a moment ago completely gone now, his heart beating slower, a cold tranquility washing over his entire being. "I don't know what you think you know about me. But I will not hesitate to kill whoever dares stand in my way."
MaoHan didn't move. Didn't say a thing. But didn't erase that threatening glare from his face either.
"I … think … we … should … all … calm … down. … And … clearly … explain … to …the … child … his … present … situation," ZwaKim stated and MaoHan finally averted his gaze, clearly annoyed.
"Seventy-four. Eighty-one," he simply called out. And Snow saw the little boy and the little girl, who had been standing beside ZaiWin all this time looking almost like lifeless dolls, finally move to cross the room and go kneel at his feet.
Alarmed by their sudden behavior, Snow couldn't help step back, as the two children placed their small hands on the hard floor and bent their heads until their foreheads were glued to the cold stone.
"What's … this …?" he breathed, still in shock.
"Gifts," ZwaKim calmly replied. "Our … older … brother … really … wants … to … meet … you ... He … has … sent … these … gifts … especially, … hoping … they … would … work … as … an … incentive."
Snow looked at the children, at the way the little boy kept shivering, and felt a heavy weight constricting his chest. He felt sorry for them. He wished he could somehow help them. But he knew that there was no way he was strong enough to save everyone. His hands were too small, his arms too week to carry so many people away from that place. And he had no doubts whatsoever about who he had to choose.
"I'm sorry. But I'll have to refuse," he stated, his voice sounding strained, and for once MaoHan actually smiled.
"You can't refuse them. They're already yours. Or should I say, ours?"
Snow frowned at his arrogant statement.
"These children aren't objects. They're people! And they don't belong to anyone!"
"And that's where you're wrong. They will die if their master dies. They will die if those collars are taken from around their necks. They will die if their master tells them to die. They will even die if their master gets too far away from them. Can you still call them people? Objects! They're mere living objects and it serves them right! They both belong to families that have murdered one of us at birth! The same hands that cared for these children, that filled them with love, that gave them all the luxury they could possibly want, murdered their baby sisters at birth! The same way your family tried to murder you! It's only fair! Showing their parents how it feels to lose someone you actually care for, someone you call family."
Snow looked at the children again. Now they were both shivering.
"But these children … they haven't done anything wrong. When that happened they were either too little or not even born. Why must they pay for the mistakes of their parents?"
"They're all the same! You think they won't do the same exact thing when their time comes? Have you ever heard of anyone who has happily raised a Blessed with dark hair?"
Snow had, Snow thought. Well, not dark hair exactly, but Sand had raised him. And who knew? Maybe there were more out there. Tien'Elhar who lived happily with their families without ever realizing how different they really are. The same way he would have probably lived, if Sand hadn't been taken away from him so early in his life. That sounded really nice. He hoped it might be true. And yet, looking at MaoHan's dark eyes filled with so much hatred he knew that it was no use trying to convince him of any of that.
"So, you see, for all intents and purposes, they're already yours. We used your blood to link them to you. They are bound to you in the same way they are bound to me."
Snow's eyes widened in horror. They had used … what? How?
"We collected your blood from the sheets, in the bedroom next door," MaoHan simply declared and Snow couldn't help feeling sick to his stomach. "RimJan could easily tell which blood was yours, even after all these years." And that only made things even worse! He didn't want to imagine that little girl, touching that bloody bed, searching for traces of him. But … wait!
He felt sick just thinking about it, but the truth was that, across the years, many people had drunk his blood. And none of them had become linked to him in the way MaoHan had described. On the other hand … that had been the way they had reestablished their bond, hadn't it?, Snow wondered, glancing towards ZaiWin, who remained completely motionless, kneeling on the cold floor.
Back then Snow had wanted to kiss him, but ZaiWin had refused. Even with his life at risk, he had insisted that Snow should use his blood to heal him. And, true enough, the link had been restored. Which meant that ZaiWin had known. He had known that the bond would only be established through blood.
"I … don't … think … Snow … really … believes …. us," ZwaKim pointed out.
"No? Well, all you have to do is order one of them to die," MaoHan declared and both children flinched visibly.
Snow bit his lower lip. Did he dare take the risk and maybe get two innocent children killed? He couldn't, he immediately knew. He would be unable to live with himself if the children were to die because he had refused to heed MaoHan's scornful words. And suddenly he understood what those 'gifts' really were. Chains. They were chains to bind him and force him to do what they wanted.
MaoHan took a deep breath.
"Now that that's been clarified, let's hurry up and leave this place. Oh! But before that," he said, as if he had suddenly remembered something important, and Snow watched as YunZen handed him another of those collars. For a moment he dreaded that they may force him to wear one of those again. But then his dread immediately transformed into horror, when he saw MaoHan approach ZaiWin instead.
"What are you doing?!" he immediately demanded, and MaoHan looked up at him as if he couldn't understand the reason behind his distress.
"Putting a qinrien around your master's neck, of course. Didn't he put one around yours as well?"
Snow gaped and quickly closed his mouth. How could he possibly know that?
"We don't want him going around, yapping his mouth whenever he feels like, giving you orders you can't refuse."
Snow took a step forward, ready to do whatever it took to stop him. But then those blue eyes were glaring at him. It was the first time that ZaiWin had actually looked at him, since he had set foot inside that room. And so Snow was immediately frozen in place, glued to the floor beneath his feet. Cold, sharp hatred danced in the depths of ZaiWin's eyes, paralyzing him completely. That Snow had thought that he had become just an empty shell was now beyond ridiculous. And Snow could only hope that all that hatred wasn't all directed at him.
He wanted to apologize. He wanted to cry. He wanted to turn back time. He wanted to be lying on that bed, surrounded by his warm arms. Instead, he was standing there, facing the coldest gaze he had ever seen on ZaiWin's face. And yet, even so, he could clearly understand the silent, undeniable command inscribed in those eyes. Shut up! And so he swallowed his outraged anger and watched helplessly as the metal collar was latched around ZaiWin's elegant neck. Only when the clicking sound echoed through the room did those eyes released him from their overwhelming pressure. By then, however, Snow's heart was already breaking, the fear that ZaiWin might hate him now, that he might think that he had somehow betrayed him, devouring his insides.
Forcing himself not to cry, Snow raised his head and faced MaoHan's victorious smile.
"Fine. But I swear to all of you on my life. If any of you so much as touches a single hair on his head, if any of you hurts him in any way. I will kill you all. Every single one of you. You will all die. The same way everyone living in this house died, sixteen years ago."
MaoHan's smile immediately faded away at the sound of that open threat.
Snow sighed and looked down at the shivering children still kneeling with their foreheads glued to the ground.
"If that ever comes to happen, I hope you know that I'm very sorry I couldn't help you."
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End of Arc 12 😁