RTYY 312 - Nothing More Precious

"Bah! No fun at all!" HuaQin grunted, making her way towards her horse, apparently losing interest in the events taking place.

MaoHan walked towards the prison cart and squinted threateningly, a threat ZaiWin now knew to be completely empty.

"Come and get him!" he commanded, unlocking his prison cell, his words forcing him to comply, as if he needed that! Just another demonstration of power, ZaiWin was more than aware, forcing himself to move as calmly as possible, not wanting to give him the pleasure of seeing his order be swiftly obeyed.

Ah, he was definitely going to kill him!, he thought, exiting the cart and stretching his aching back. The collar around his neck made his skin itchy in places he couldn't reach. And the mere fact that someone who wasn't even a royal dared order him around pissed him off more than words could tell! And yet he forced all that out of his mind. Snow. Snow was the only thing that mattered right now. That and not losing control over that untameable, restless fire.

Making his way to the burning circle, he simply crossed it, as if the dark flames were mere illusions, leaving a surprised expression on the faces of those around him. Of course he could still feel the dark flames' deadly cold touch. But, no matter how rebellious they might be, unlike his other daitai, these would never turn against him.

The same could not be said about the rest of the world, though, he thought, making sure the dancing flames didn't follow him as he approached Snow. No matter how much the boy might mean to him, no matter if there was a bond between them that would probably kill him if Snow were to die, his fire wouldn't care about any of that. Once brought into existence it lived for the sole purpose of expanding and consuming everything on its path. And so ZaiWin knew it would equally devour Snow, the same way it would devour a tree or an animal.

Kneeling down, he gently touched the boy's face. Warm. Which meant that, as he'd expected, his Celestial markings were in trouble. Without a thought, ZaiWin buried his fingers in his soft hair, and felt immediately more relaxed and balanced.

Nine days. It had been nine days since he'd last touched him. Nine days since he'd left him all alone in that bedroom. And although he had been doing his best to keep an unfazed, unconcerned appearance, the stress and anxiety that had pilled up inside him had started to take its toll, slowly driving him insane. Now he could finally breathe, he thought, the irritating tension he had unknowingly accumulated simply flying away.

Carefully pulling him by one arm, ZaiWin cradled Snow against his chest and picked him up. Had he lost weight again?, he wondered, rising to his feet. Somehow he felt lighter, his head falling comfortably against his chest. Well, he hadn't had a proper meal since they'd left Seven Waters. Those bastards apparently couldn't care less about the fact that he couldn't eat meat, which meant he had been basically feeding himself on fruits, mushrooms, and roots he found in the woods every time they stopped.

Making sure he raised Snow high enough so that the flames couldn't touch him, ZaiWin carried him out of the dark circle and, without a word, made his way back to the prison cart.

The two children that traveled with him inside the cart were both glued to the bars, watching him with wide eyes as if they were looking at some amazing being. Amazing indeed, ZaiWin grunted inwardly. So amazing that, once more, he had failed to keep what was his safe from harm.

Sitting Snow on the cart, he bent his back to get inside, before carefully pulling him into his arms again, scooting all the way to the back of the cart where he normally sat.

Sitting Snow between his legs, ZaiWin pulled Snow's legs over his own and wrapped his arms around him. Placing a protective hand over his head, he made sure the boy leaned comfortably and effortless against his chest.

Snow mumbled something unintelligibly, and then snuggled softly against him as if searching for a more comfortable position. Taking a deep breath, his body finally relaxed.

Holding his unnaturally warm hand, ZaiWin pressed it against his own chest, leaning his cheek against the top of the boy's head. Closing his eyes, he too took a deep breath.

He had been furious at him!, for leaving him in that inn without as much as a single word. For willingly exchanging his company for that of those people. He had been even more furious, thinking about the mess that idiot had gotten them into, placing him in that humiliating situation. He knew Snow hadn't meant for any of that to happen. But still! Why hadn't he trusted him enough to tell him what was going on? It had made him really sad, being openly shown how little Snow actually trusted him, even after all they'd been through. And it had hurt a lot, when he had finally understood what was going on, what had happened, that Snow had even felt the need to go as far as drugging him because apparently he wasn't trustworthy enough to share his problems and difficulties.

And yet, all that was gone now. All the anger, all the outrage, all the sadness, all the doubts. There was nothing more precious, more important, than simply holding him in his arms like that. Than making sure he was alright. Than the knowledge that things were finally as they should be again. The existence of the person now tightly held in his arms was such an overwhelming miracle that, unless he was allowed to hold him like that from time to time, ZaiWin would inevitably start doubting the fact that he actually existed, and that he somehow belonged to him. And nothing was worse and darker than silent, unanswered doubts.

Only when he finally had Snow securely enclosed in his arms, did ZaiWin order the fire to extinguish itself. As always, it fought back, obviously rebelling against the idea of what was supposed to be an eternal fire having to practically kill itself. But ZaiWin didn't waver, his silent command absolute, and the flames finally died out.

Taking a deep breath, he forced himself to relax and focus. Once again it was actually in his favor that that bastard kept suppressing his energy. His markings were inevitably starving for it, willing to take whatever he might throw their way. Also, he didn't incur the risk of accumulating too much dark energy, which was always harmful to his body.

Carefully reaching out through the link they shared, ZaiWin slowly started to absorb the dark energy that was tainting Snow's body. On the other hand, depleted as he was, he had to be very careful to take only the dark energy and not devour all of Snow's energy. Unlike other people's markings, who could only be replenished by energy similar to their intrinsic nature, his markings couldn't care less. All energy was food to them, because any energy he might absorb was immediately corrupted the moment it entered his body, becoming a perfect fit to his markings' twisted nature.

"Are we really going to allow this?!" he still heard that brat, RyuXin, complain, and one of the women simply sighed.

"Forget … it. … And … stop … throwing … a … tantrum. … You're … such … a … baby …"

"Besides, I don't want us to be late," MaoHan added. "InnArg doesn't like to be kept waiting. And we've lost more than enough time as it is."

"We can always give YunZen some medicine so that he can recover a bit faster," HuaQin suggested.

"Do it, then," MaoHan decided. "The faster we reach our destination the better."

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Aww, ZaiWin is so nya, with his Snow back in his arms. This silly man really has it bad. Just wait until Snow realizes just how much power he already has over him lol 😁

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