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Description
-This is the former pirate Gan Ning, my lord.

It was under a cloudy sky and near the ocean, when the famous general Gan Ning was captured by the Wu army after the battle of Xia Kou and brought into Sun Quan's tent. The ex-pirate was in bad shape, he suffered of multiples fractures do to a certain general who had a great joy to hit him with his fists at first than his nunchaku to calm down the cocky man. Somehow, while the torture went on for what seemed to be hours, nobody interfered. The pirate deserved what he got, but all he did was laughing at his attacker. Even with blood in his mouth and a black eye, he had laugh at the angry young man.

The injured officer didn't tell who was the author of this aggressive act was and he just smiled while answering to Sun Quan's question. For the captured rebel, it was only a warning from his beater working under Sun Quan's ranks, but Gan Ning wasn't expecting the sympathy of Sun Quan neither his pity. The generals and majors talked over each others on the fate of the former pirate.

-He's too dangerous! We must execute him!

-No! Killing such a warrior could be a waste.

-He butchered my entire troop! Do you think will let him alive after what he has done?

The dispute went like so for two good, long minutes. In the commotion, the four men who hasn't rose their voices into the debate were the mighty Lord Sun Quan, his silent bodyguard Zhou Tai, the captured former pirate Gan Ning and the nunchaku fighter Ling Tong. The dispute submitted when Sun Quand raised his hand, demanding silence and discipline from the disputing warriors and strategists. He had come to a conclusion.

-He could be a great asset to our army. He knows how to fight and has experience in battles. Killing him will be a waste. He shall serve the Wu's army.

Nobody immediately talked back to Sun Quan. The words of their lord were powerful as the raging fire of his soul. The pirate didn't reply to the sudden recruitment and only shrugged. However, one general rose up from the rest and exclaimed:

-You are wrong, my lord!

Every eye in the tent turned toward the opposing general. Even Zhou Tai's only eye starred at the averse of the particular general. It was Ling Tong. His opposition was both expected from Sun Quan and Gan Ning. He had a clear motivation for his argument. His father was killed by the man kneeling before his lord. Vengeance turned him into a wrathful, young fighter seeking only the death of the captured and restraint man before his lord. Though, Sun Quan had other plans for both Ling Tong and Gan Ning. Like the sunrise, Sun Quan stood up and sauntered toward Ling Tong. The entire tent was haunted by silence; it could have been possible to hear a fly buzzing around them all, if it wasn't for the weather. When the ruler was near enough of his opposing general, he gave him a stare which Ling Tong eyes slightly moved down in shame.

-Ling Tong. If you have a problem with my decision, take your leave.

With those words, he walked out of the tent with Zhou Tai at his side. The strategists and officers only exchanged worried stares and quietly whispered to each others ears. After a minute, Ling Tong decamped from the tent filled with troubled men.

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Where the stares would not reach him and the soldiers would just walk away from him, Ling Tong was back-to-back to a wooden wall. He wasn't the sort of guy to stay in place or doing nothing. However, he had a hard time believing that the man who killed his father was going to be his ally. The simple word was despicable to the young general. To get out of this nightmare named reality, he closed his eyes and let his memories flow into him. His mind was driven back at the time when he was training with his late father. Back then, he wasn't an expert with the nunchaku. They were hard to control and he remembered the first time he hit himself on the forehead with the defensive weapon. With a kind smile, his father helped him stood up and showed his mistakes.

-Nunchaku isn't an offensive weapon like a sword or a spear, my son. You have to use them to protect yourself and those you care from danger.

Surprisingly enough, Ling Tong's father, Ling Cao, wasn't a patient man with his troops, but he could stay a whole day with his son during his practice sessions. Even with the biggest mistakes were made by the son, his father thought him everything he knew about the nunchaku. But something was bothering him.

One night, at the end of supper, his father raised a strange, yet understandable question.

-Ling Tong, it has been now five months that you have practice with nunchaku. Yet, you haven't touched a sword for a long time, now. Can I know why?

The warm supper ended in a cold atmosphere, between Ling Tong and the man who starred at him. The young man didn't reply.

- Ling Tong, I ask you this because; you need to know who to use a sword or something that can cut through the armor of a soldier. Nunchaku isn't good against every opponent you will encounter, you need a blade.

The young man only glared up to his father's eyes. He remained silent for a moment, before he could answer.

-I don't need a blade.

He then took his leave.

Night fell, the night's sky was clear from clouds. The future general couldn't find sleep. Why his father asked such a question in the middle of nowhere? He tried to not think about it and closed his eyes.

Later the same night, he woke up. He heard a strange sound coming from the room to his left. He got up, changed himself and walked toward his father's bedroom. When he was near enough, he could here the sound of bells. He frowned and opened the door violently.

The bedroom was clean, but the bed itself wasn't. It was crimson red and the sheets were covering the red taint under them. A bloody hand was coming out of the bed's sheet and Ling Tong could hear faint breathes under the sheet. However, he didn't move. He couldn't move. At the end of the bed, there was someone. Someone he didn't know, a stranger, with the same color has the bed over his face and the scimitar he hold in his hand. He was wearing bells to his waits and on his belt. In the moonlight, his face showed indifference, almost has the assassin was bored of his kill. He moved his eyes to his left to see the terrified young man. He was about his age, maybe a bit younger, but the killer didn't care. He smiled at the terrorized young man and raised his scimitar.

-Fight or leave.

His tone had a lightness and easiness tune to it. He wasn't disturbed, like the silent young man. However he didn't seem happy to kill his target. He repeated the question to the son. In response, the young man stepped back and ran toward the corridor. He couldn't fight, he didn't fight, and he didn't have a sword or his nunchaku on him. He was scared, scared to die, scared of the pain by a blade slashing his flesh, scared of feeling the cold embrace of death. He yelled out for help and when the guards arrived at the floor, the assassin already took his leave by the same window he took to get inside.

The next morning, the guards took away the body of Ling Cao, had covered his mangled body, roped it and walked away from the house with Ling Tong near of the body until he was buried underground. When they arrived at the graveyard, the priest and most of the villagers were present. The ceremony was long and heavy, Ling Tong felt like it was taking forever for the priest to finish one word and an eternity to complete a sentence. While the priest dragged on with his speech, Ling Tong's eyes continued to look toward the three soldiers digging the hole where his father will rest in peace. When the ceremony was over, the villagers walked slowly away, some gave their forgiveness to the parentless son before they moved on, the women were crying and the men were starring at the ground, the priest was not too far with the soldiers and was speaking to them. Ling Tong was standing near of the deceased body of his father, yet something terrifying was lurking in his mind. What does he look like? What is the face of a dead man? Since he will have to take the place of his father soon enough, he had to see death. He sauntered to the wrapped-up body in white sheet and ropes; he loosed one of them and with a trembling hand he removed the sheet covering his face. Until a strong gust of wind blew away for the most part of the sheet and revealed the demoniacal work of the assassin. The torso of the man had some stabs that the flesh was coming out of the body. His chest was mangled, ripped to shred. It wasn't the work of a man; it was the one of a devil.

Maybe by fear or maybe he was terrorized, he screamed alerting the soldiers and the priest. The emotion was so strong, his chest was about to burst out by rage and sorrow. He screamed again, as he tried to understand the situation before him. He was sick, he was tired, he was afraid, they restraint him, telling him to not look at the horror. Yet, even if one of the soldiers closed his eyes and put his hand on his mouth, Ling Tong remembered and in exhaustion, he let himself falling. His legs couldn't support him and his whole body was light, however he remained conscious, unable to let himself fall into darkness.

His eyes opened up. His heart was bumping into his chest and he was taking deep breath to remain calm. After a moment, he shocked his head to submit the memory and decide to do a small walk around the camp to clear his head from the horrible visions of the past.

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One year has passed since the recruitment of Gan Ning among the Wu army. To the dislike of Ling Tong, he was stuck with his father's killer, but he was also companied by the strategist Lu Meng. Since the former pirate had become a general, Ling Tong hasn't been able to avenge the gruesome death of his father. If he does, he will be banished from the Wu army or possibly killed for treachery. Either ways, he didn't want to end up like that.

They set up camp for the battle in He Fei. The earth level always changed and the mountains, cliffs and rocks were a natural part of the environment alongside with patch of grass, a small coast and a lake. However, what the nature didn't bring naturally was the bickering between Ling Tong and Gan Ning. Not too far from them, Sun Quan and Lu Meng were watching them; they were only going to react if the situation was going out of hand. Lu Meng's thumb and index were stroking smoothly the end of his eyes, ashamed of the behavior of his two subordinates.

-They are still fighting?

-As usual…

The two generals were always arguing over anything and everything. However, their fight never went physically violent and they always calmed down after Lu Meng pointed out their childish manners. The old strategist was tired of their continuous conflicts, even if the reasons were serious for at least one of the two. Since Ling Tong couldn't kill the ex-pirate, he used man's second greatest weapon; his mouth. He was using it without trouble, the nunchaku fighter was familiarized with debates and taking a position was now easy for him. Gan Ning's mentality was always rebellious, but he kept his loyalty to the Wu army. It was the perfect opposition for Ling Tong's sharp words. Furthermore, Gan Ning never reminded the fact that he was beat by his hateful ally the day they met and seemed to have forgot about it. It wasn't the case for Ling Tong though, since he still held a strong grudge against the ex-pirate. At a certain point, Lu Meng decided to end the argument between the two.

-Stop it, both of you! You act like child in front of our lord.

They both stopped when Lu Meng's voice was heard. They were so engaged into their confrontation, that none of the two warriors saw Sun Quan. Ling Tong's eyes went down in shame, while Gan Ning crossed his arms and smirked, probably thinking he won this round against his rival. Lu Meng sighed and collected his ideas. His job was simple yet hard; making sure that Ling Tong or Gan Ning wouldn't go for each others throat. Easier said than done, he had thought the first time he saw the heated hate between the two generals. When Sun Quan moved away from their sight with a major, Lu Meng explained the situation.

-The task gave at hand is an easy one. You two must kill the general Yue Jin. He's a talented warrior, so I request for the both of you to cooperate on this one. You cannot kill Yue Jin alone; he's too strong and he certainly as a trap up his sleeve. Is that clear?

The two opposing generals only starred at each others eyes. Lu Meng repeated his question.

-Is. That. Clear?

They both nodded without quitting each other eyes.

-Working again with him? Is that guy nuts?

-Great, another cooperation mission. I have to babysit whiny baby, again.

In a deadly silence, both generals walked away side by side with the starring duel still going on. Lu Meng didn't know what to do anymore. They had to understand that working together was the key of their success, but the hatred of Ling Tong and the stubbornness of Gan Ning weren't helping them at all. He shocked his head and moved toward his tent to clean his weapon before the fight.

The battle started with the battle cries and the loudness of the men's roars. All the ground was beginning to turn red and the bodies were accumulating on the ground, but two horses were passing through the fights, occasionally killing an enemy with a clean punch on their cranium or by slashing their throat.

-Damn it, how many of those guys there is?

Ling Tong didn't reply and continued to go forward on his horse. A scout had informed them the presence of their target near the ally army's supply base. If the supply was going to be taking down, they will lose the battle. They ran toward an opening between a cliff and a mountain, it was a shortcut perhaps already took by the enemy. However, they weren't alone and problems were coming quicker than they thought. A rain of arrows was falling down from the sky. In the confusion from the origin of this attack, Gan Ning's horse was struck down by one of the deadly ammo. Gan Ning jumped down from it and landed perfectly. When the former pirate was standing on his feet unhurt, he could see his ''ally'' running into the opening, without looking back at his dismounted friend.

-Great…

The rebellious general was pissed off, but he was more irritated when he saw a large group of enemy soldiers running toward him. He equipped his chain and sickle attached together. When he was ready, he charged toward the group of soldiers while his bells were jingling to make them understand their mistake.

Meanwhile, Ling Tong was headed toward the supply base. He was showing a half-smile on his face. He was glad that Gan Ning was behind him. He could show his strength to his lord and be free of the hotheaded general once the battle down. Plus, there was nobody to contradict him if anyone would ask the fate of his hated ally. He exited the opening in one piece with his horse still alive. The supply base was overrun by the army of Wei. Quickly, Ling Tong smashed through the ranks and attacked any Wei soldiers in his range. They tried to stab him, but the agile general evaded at the same time he was breaking the jaws and the bones of his enemies. When the group of soldiers was out of commission, he walked into the base nunchaku ready.

-Yue Jin!

The general came out of the main tent, his clothes and armor covered in blood, spear bathing in the red liquid of the Wu soldiers. Yue Jin seemed powerful and unmistakably savage. He had the appearance of a demon or a serial killer.

-Ling Tong, I supposed?

The Wu general remained calm and smiled at his opponent.

-In the flesh.

The red and blue general walked toward the nunchaku wielder and stopped at four meters from his red adversary.

-Very well, than let's fight.

-I was going to say the same thing!

Blindly, the young fighter hit the sides of his horse with his feet and the horse charged toward his enemy. When his horse ran a single meter, an arrow passed through the animal's head. In pain, the horse stumbled and gave a pair of fake wings to Ling Tong. The poor general was so surprised by the attack that he didn't balance himself and rolled on the ground before stopping not far away from the savage general. His neck was burning and his whole head was submitting the pain from the rocky ground. His body was trying to drown the aches, but when he tried to get up his right knee gave him an electrical shock through his entire being. When he saw the damage, he almost yelled in surprise. His right leg was dark red and his knee was wrecked. His teeth clutched to his unfortunate wound.

-How sad. The great general Ling Tong falling into battle by his unluckiness.

He walked near to his wounded opponent, spear ready to strike him down. He was about a foot away from the injured general. Ling Tong could see the crimson tainted steel above his head. He closed his eyes; he couldn't run away from the savage man and had come to the conclusion of his life.

-Hey, jackass!

Suddenly, the general's head turned toward the scream and in a flash his hands were holding tight by a chain. The spear was thrown away, when the chains recklessly had pulled the general's hands toward the wielder of the weapon. A slightly wounded man was holding firmly his ground to avoid being thrashed away by the general.

-If you want to play fair, come and play with me!

In a speed almost inhuman, Gan Ning pulled out his sickle and charged toward the general. The following event awoke a strong feeling of disgust and fear in Ling Tong's heart. The ex-pirate mercilessly pushed aside the general from Ling Tong. In the push, Yue Jin fell on the rocky ground. He tried to get up, but the foot of the pirate stepped on his chest. Somehow, the scene remained a strong feeling of rage in Ling Tong's soul. With the only goal to kill the Yue Jin, Gan Ning stabbed the general in the face and removed the freshly tainted blade from his skin. The general screamed in agony, but the pirate continued. What could he do? He didn't have the time to remove the armor of Yue Jin and the only unprotected part of the body was his red face. It's a disgusting work, but someone had to do it.

During the massacre, Ling Tong's mind was confused. His vision changed between reality and the memory where he saw the mangled chest of his father. The images and sounds were confusing the poor young man who slowly fell into fear and terror. However, Gan Ning didn't know that his actions where driven his ally mad by terror.

When the general had finally drawn his last breath, the pirate removed his weapon from wound and walked toward Ling Tong who hided his face away from the former pirate.

-That guy just didn't want to give up. Plus, why on earth did you leave me behind? I almost got kill back there.

Ling Tong didn't reply, which had raised an eyebrow for Gan Ning. He came closer to his unusual quiet comrade and saw the problem. His arms were shaking and his skin was crawling, agitated by the stress and the pain of his wound. He reached out and touched Ling Tong shoulder.

-Ling Tong. Look at me, would jia?

Finally, Ling Tong awoke from his awaken nightmare. He turned his worried eyes toward the man he hated, but had saved him. Seeing his comrade was back into reality, Gan Ning checked the wrecked knee of his ally.

-With that injury, there's no way, you'll stay shut. I'll go get something, don't move.

Without doubting, the former pirate took a piece of clothe from the dead man. He rolled it up and came back to the side of his comrade.

-I know this sound weird, but if you want to live, bite in this and keep in your mouth. It's going to hurt.

Ling Tong, still shocked, looked at the piece of cloth in a ball and executed the demand of his helping comrade. Gan Ning could move to the wound. The knee wasn't broken, but displaced from its original position. Even a bit displaced could be painful for the victim and make the injured badly bleeding. He put his two hands on the extremities of the wounded knee and gave a look at the injured man.

-That's gonna really hurt. So yell.

Swiftly, the former pirate pushed his hand in different directions. There was a loud hollow snapping sound and the muted scream of Ling Tong was drowning by the ball of clothes. When he finished, he spitted out the clothe from his mouth. The bone was reestablished to its usual place and the wound stopped bleeding, for awhile at least. He gave two miniatures taps on his comrade's good working leg.

-Okay. Now, it's time for me to take you out of here.

He managed to take his injured friend without much effort on his back; the injured general didn't replied back. They both exited the supply camp, like two survivors from the destruction of a village. At the beginning of the walk, they both remained silent. The two allies didn't know what was happening to them, they hated each other and would go for the throat of the other, so why they haven't fight yet?

-You're still holding in there?

The nunchaku wielder didn't replied immediately; he was in some sort of trance between the invading great fatigue in his body and the pain which flowed through him.

-My knee is out of service, I almost died and you saved my life, so yeah… I'll hold up.

His voice was almost absent from reality. He was recovering from the shock and the pain. The pirate cheerfully laughed to Ling Tong's comment.

-Even in that condition, you still sound like someone ready to kill me.

Then, they both fell into silence again.

-So… why did you saved me?

The pirate stopped in his steps. Ling Tong was sure that the former pirate was about to throw him to the ground, but instead he sighed and continued to walk with his comrade on his back.

- Because you're the moron who decided to run into the general's trap? Duh!

Ling Tong was amazed. His most hateful enemy saved him from a certain death, even when he left him behind to his own death. There was a contradiction with a sense of sane reasoning into all of those words, yet the proof was just below him.

-Plus, if you had died, Lu Meng would kill me for it! So now, shut up. I don't want the enemy army to find the two of us like this...

He continued to talk with his intimating and lower voice, plus his speeches were almost endless. If he was in better shape and not into this pain, Ling Tong would have replied to every comment of Gan Ning, but he didn't, on the contrary, he was listening to his rival's words. He talked about everything and anything, the weather, the war, Lu Meng's lectures his opinion on Sun Quan and so forward… In all the speeches, the injured man didn't talk back or commented. He was tired and his fatigue was growing with every minute passing by, but the voice rude and tough voice of Gan Ning was keeping him awake. After two hours of walk, without the enemy noticing them, Gan Ning arrived at an ally garrison near the main camp. From a watchtower, one of the soldiers pointed the two generals and called for the healers.

- Alright, so promised me you'll not talk about what I said to the others, alright?

No answer.

-Ling Tong?

Still no answers for the injured man. He was resting, but his breath was absent and his eyes weren't completely closed. Gan Ning's thoughts stop the moment he understood what was happening to his comrade. He looked behind him and saw a faint trail of blood from his feet to the horizon of the rocky road he took.

-Shit… Get the healers, now! We have a dying general here!

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A patched up Gan Ning and a healed, but tired, Ling Tong were facing their greatest enemy yet. It wasn't Liu Bei or Cao Cao nor Sun Quan, but the old strategist Lu Meng. He was ashamed of the attitude of both Ling Tong and Gan Ning. The selfishness of the nunchaku fighter could have kill Gan Ning and the former pirate rudeness almost killed Ling Tong by blood lost. However, he was even more disappointed by Ling Tong's attitude. The young general explained to the strategist what he did and all of this was to show his worth, but in the end he ended up as the idiot and immature child.

-I told you.

Those were the three first words of Lu Meng. Those words weight a lot on the fighter's mind and they were light as feathers to the hotheaded general.

-I warned you about Yue Jin, but you had to go your way, Ling Tong. I am really disappointed in you.

The fighter didn't say anything. His silence was rare like diamonds. Lu Meng didn't saw the need to explain why and the consequences of his selfishness if Gan Ning didn't save him. Ling Tong's head was looking at the ground, until someone raised his voice.

-Give him some slacks, old man. He just underestimated the big, bad guy. I would have done the same thing!

Ling Tong was perplexed. Did the former pirate just protect him? However, the defense of Gan Ning was taken down by Lu Meng who ordered his silence. The pirate only sighed and grinned at the strategist.

-In any cases, considered yourselves lucky that you survived this. Next time, do what I say if you don't want to get kill.

The old strategist was bad at this number, but he had been worried. The two generals knew, since he remained most of the time silent and only starred at both Gan Ning and Ling Tong, before he walked out of Ling Tong's tent. The former pirate was about to make his leave, until he was stopped by his comrade.

-Why you said that to Lu Meng, Gan Ning?

The sickle warrior thought about it for a moment and turned his head toward the fighter with an arrogant face.

-I guess, in the end, I actually like you just a bit.

Ling Tong remained quiet and finally responded to the answer of Gan Ning.

-So? Those that mean we are friend? After all those yelling and bickering?

The pirate let out a warm laugh.

-I guess we can say that. Of course, if you still…

-That was in the past.

The ex-pirate was baffled. He never thought that Ling Tong would say those words. They both exchange a stare, before they let out a laugh together. Some soldiers near the tent stopped and their face's showed confusion. They were surprised to hear the laughs of the two rival generals in unison, unless if it was a joke, they would easily believe it.

-By the way, my friend, I saw you putting that extra stone during our last game of Go.

The laughs lasted for a short moment, before the bickering started again. Some things would never change in the laws of nature and friendship. Even with the small and useless bickering going on, Ling Tong felt much better than before, his body was more relaxed and his mind at ease. Maybe, he thought, maybe that was the plan of Sun Quan all along? To make him rediscovered what he had let behind a long time ago; friendship.

Description
-This is the former pirate Gan Ning, my lord.

It was under a cloudy sky and near the ocean, when the famous general Gan Ning was captured by the Wu army after the battle of Xia Kou and brought into Sun Quan's tent. The ex-pirate was in bad shape, he suffered of multiples fractures do to a certain general who had a great joy to hit him with his fists at first than his nunchaku to calm down the cocky man. Somehow, while the torture went on for what seemed to be hours, nobody interfered. The pirate deserved what he got, but all he did was laughing at his attacker. Even with blood in his mouth and a black eye, he had laugh at the angry young man.

The injured officer didn't tell who was the author of this aggressive act was and he just smiled while answering to Sun Quan's question. For the captured rebel, it was only a warning from his beater working under Sun Quan's ranks, but Gan Ning wasn't expecting the sympathy of Sun Quan neither his pity. The generals and majors talked over each others on the fate of the former pirate.

-He's too dangerous! We must execute him!

-No! Killing such a warrior could be a waste.

-He butchered my entire troop! Do you think will let him alive after what he has done?

The dispute went like so for two good, long minutes. In the commotion, the four men who hasn't rose their voices into the debate were the mighty Lord Sun Quan, his silent bodyguard Zhou Tai, the captured former pirate Gan Ning and the nunchaku fighter Ling Tong. The dispute submitted when Sun Quand raised his hand, demanding silence and discipline from the disputing warriors and strategists. He had come to a conclusion.

-He could be a great asset to our army. He knows how to fight and has experience in battles. Killing him will be a waste. He shall serve the Wu's army.

Nobody immediately talked back to Sun Quan. The words of their lord were powerful as the raging fire of his soul. The pirate didn't reply to the sudden recruitment and only shrugged. However, one general rose up from the rest and exclaimed:

-You are wrong, my lord!

Every eye in the tent turned toward the opposing general. Even Zhou Tai's only eye starred at the averse of the particular general. It was Ling Tong. His opposition was both expected from Sun Quan and Gan Ning. He had a clear motivation for his argument. His father was killed by the man kneeling before his lord. Vengeance turned him into a wrathful, young fighter seeking only the death of the captured and restraint man before his lord. Though, Sun Quan had other plans for both Ling Tong and Gan Ning. Like the sunrise, Sun Quan stood up and sauntered toward Ling Tong. The entire tent was haunted by silence; it could have been possible to hear a fly buzzing around them all, if it wasn't for the weather. When the ruler was near enough of his opposing general, he gave him a stare which Ling Tong eyes slightly moved down in shame.

-Ling Tong. If you have a problem with my decision, take your leave.

With those words, he walked out of the tent with Zhou Tai at his side. The strategists and officers only exchanged worried stares and quietly whispered to each others ears. After a minute, Ling Tong decamped from the tent filled with troubled men.

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Where the stares would not reach him and the soldiers would just walk away from him, Ling Tong was back-to-back to a wooden wall. He wasn't the sort of guy to stay in place or doing nothing. However, he had a hard time believing that the man who killed his father was going to be his ally. The simple word was despicable to the young general. To get out of this nightmare named reality, he closed his eyes and let his memories flow into him. His mind was driven back at the time when he was training with his late father. Back then, he wasn't an expert with the nunchaku. They were hard to control and he remembered the first time he hit himself on the forehead with the defensive weapon. With a kind smile, his father helped him stood up and showed his mistakes.

-Nunchaku isn't an offensive weapon like a sword or a spear, my son. You have to use them to protect yourself and those you care from danger.

Surprisingly enough, Ling Tong's father, Ling Cao, wasn't a patient man with his troops, but he could stay a whole day with his son during his practice sessions. Even with the biggest mistakes were made by the son, his father thought him everything he knew about the nunchaku. But something was bothering him.

One night, at the end of supper, his father raised a strange, yet understandable question.

-Ling Tong, it has been now five months that you have practice with nunchaku. Yet, you haven't touched a sword for a long time, now. Can I know why?

The warm supper ended in a cold atmosphere, between Ling Tong and the man who starred at him. The young man didn't reply.

- Ling Tong, I ask you this because; you need to know who to use a sword or something that can cut through the armor of a soldier. Nunchaku isn't good against every opponent you will encounter, you need a blade.

The young man only glared up to his father's eyes. He remained silent for a moment, before he could answer.

-I don't need a blade.

He then took his leave.

Night fell, the night's sky was clear from clouds. The future general couldn't find sleep. Why his father asked such a question in the middle of nowhere? He tried to not think about it and closed his eyes.

Later the same night, he woke up. He heard a strange sound coming from the room to his left. He got up, changed himself and walked toward his father's bedroom. When he was near enough, he could here the sound of bells. He frowned and opened the door violently.

The bedroom was clean, but the bed itself wasn't. It was crimson red and the sheets were covering the red taint under them. A bloody hand was coming out of the bed's sheet and Ling Tong could hear faint breathes under the sheet. However, he didn't move. He couldn't move. At the end of the bed, there was someone. Someone he didn't know, a stranger, with the same color has the bed over his face and the scimitar he hold in his hand. He was wearing bells to his waits and on his belt. In the moonlight, his face showed indifference, almost has the assassin was bored of his kill. He moved his eyes to his left to see the terrified young man. He was about his age, maybe a bit younger, but the killer didn't care. He smiled at the terrorized young man and raised his scimitar.

-Fight or leave.

His tone had a lightness and easiness tune to it. He wasn't disturbed, like the silent young man. However he didn't seem happy to kill his target. He repeated the question to the son. In response, the young man stepped back and ran toward the corridor. He couldn't fight, he didn't fight, and he didn't have a sword or his nunchaku on him. He was scared, scared to die, scared of the pain by a blade slashing his flesh, scared of feeling the cold embrace of death. He yelled out for help and when the guards arrived at the floor, the assassin already took his leave by the same window he took to get inside.

The next morning, the guards took away the body of Ling Cao, had covered his mangled body, roped it and walked away from the house with Ling Tong near of the body until he was buried underground. When they arrived at the graveyard, the priest and most of the villagers were present. The ceremony was long and heavy, Ling Tong felt like it was taking forever for the priest to finish one word and an eternity to complete a sentence. While the priest dragged on with his speech, Ling Tong's eyes continued to look toward the three soldiers digging the hole where his father will rest in peace. When the ceremony was over, the villagers walked slowly away, some gave their forgiveness to the parentless son before they moved on, the women were crying and the men were starring at the ground, the priest was not too far with the soldiers and was speaking to them. Ling Tong was standing near of the deceased body of his father, yet something terrifying was lurking in his mind. What does he look like? What is the face of a dead man? Since he will have to take the place of his father soon enough, he had to see death. He sauntered to the wrapped-up body in white sheet and ropes; he loosed one of them and with a trembling hand he removed the sheet covering his face. Until a strong gust of wind blew away for the most part of the sheet and revealed the demoniacal work of the assassin. The torso of the man had some stabs that the flesh was coming out of the body. His chest was mangled, ripped to shred. It wasn't the work of a man; it was the one of a devil.

Maybe by fear or maybe he was terrorized, he screamed alerting the soldiers and the priest. The emotion was so strong, his chest was about to burst out by rage and sorrow. He screamed again, as he tried to understand the situation before him. He was sick, he was tired, he was afraid, they restraint him, telling him to not look at the horror. Yet, even if one of the soldiers closed his eyes and put his hand on his mouth, Ling Tong remembered and in exhaustion, he let himself falling. His legs couldn't support him and his whole body was light, however he remained conscious, unable to let himself fall into darkness.

His eyes opened up. His heart was bumping into his chest and he was taking deep breath to remain calm. After a moment, he shocked his head to submit the memory and decide to do a small walk around the camp to clear his head from the horrible visions of the past.

----------------------------

One year has passed since the recruitment of Gan Ning among the Wu army. To the dislike of Ling Tong, he was stuck with his father's killer, but he was also companied by the strategist Lu Meng. Since the former pirate had become a general, Ling Tong hasn't been able to avenge the gruesome death of his father. If he does, he will be banished from the Wu army or possibly killed for treachery. Either ways, he didn't want to end up like that.

They set up camp for the battle in He Fei. The earth level always changed and the mountains, cliffs and rocks were a natural part of the environment alongside with patch of grass, a small coast and a lake. However, what the nature didn't bring naturally was the bickering between Ling Tong and Gan Ning. Not too far from them, Sun Quan and Lu Meng were watching them; they were only going to react if the situation was going out of hand. Lu Meng's thumb and index were stroking smoothly the end of his eyes, ashamed of the behavior of his two subordinates.

-They are still fighting?

-As usual…

The two generals were always arguing over anything and everything. However, their fight never went physically violent and they always calmed down after Lu Meng pointed out their childish manners. The old strategist was tired of their continuous conflicts, even if the reasons were serious for at least one of the two. Since Ling Tong couldn't kill the ex-pirate, he used man's second greatest weapon; his mouth. He was using it without trouble, the nunchaku fighter was familiarized with debates and taking a position was now easy for him. Gan Ning's mentality was always rebellious, but he kept his loyalty to the Wu army. It was the perfect opposition for Ling Tong's sharp words. Furthermore, Gan Ning never reminded the fact that he was beat by his hateful ally the day they met and seemed to have forgot about it. It wasn't the case for Ling Tong though, since he still held a strong grudge against the ex-pirate. At a certain point, Lu Meng decided to end the argument between the two.

-Stop it, both of you! You act like child in front of our lord.

They both stopped when Lu Meng's voice was heard. They were so engaged into their confrontation, that none of the two warriors saw Sun Quan. Ling Tong's eyes went down in shame, while Gan Ning crossed his arms and smirked, probably thinking he won this round against his rival. Lu Meng sighed and collected his ideas. His job was simple yet hard; making sure that Ling Tong or Gan Ning wouldn't go for each others throat. Easier said than done, he had thought the first time he saw the heated hate between the two generals. When Sun Quan moved away from their sight with a major, Lu Meng explained the situation.

-The task gave at hand is an easy one. You two must kill the general Yue Jin. He's a talented warrior, so I request for the both of you to cooperate on this one. You cannot kill Yue Jin alone; he's too strong and he certainly as a trap up his sleeve. Is that clear?

The two opposing generals only starred at each others eyes. Lu Meng repeated his question.

-Is. That. Clear?

They both nodded without quitting each other eyes.

-Working again with him? Is that guy nuts?

-Great, another cooperation mission. I have to babysit whiny baby, again.

In a deadly silence, both generals walked away side by side with the starring duel still going on. Lu Meng didn't know what to do anymore. They had to understand that working together was the key of their success, but the hatred of Ling Tong and the stubbornness of Gan Ning weren't helping them at all. He shocked his head and moved toward his tent to clean his weapon before the fight.

The battle started with the battle cries and the loudness of the men's roars. All the ground was beginning to turn red and the bodies were accumulating on the ground, but two horses were passing through the fights, occasionally killing an enemy with a clean punch on their cranium or by slashing their throat.

-Damn it, how many of those guys there is?

Ling Tong didn't reply and continued to go forward on his horse. A scout had informed them the presence of their target near the ally army's supply base. If the supply was going to be taking down, they will lose the battle. They ran toward an opening between a cliff and a mountain, it was a shortcut perhaps already took by the enemy. However, they weren't alone and problems were coming quicker than they thought. A rain of arrows was falling down from the sky. In the confusion from the origin of this attack, Gan Ning's horse was struck down by one of the deadly ammo. Gan Ning jumped down from it and landed perfectly. When the former pirate was standing on his feet unhurt, he could see his ''ally'' running into the opening, without looking back at his dismounted friend.

-Great…

The rebellious general was pissed off, but he was more irritated when he saw a large group of enemy soldiers running toward him. He equipped his chain and sickle attached together. When he was ready, he charged toward the group of soldiers while his bells were jingling to make them understand their mistake.

Meanwhile, Ling Tong was headed toward the supply base. He was showing a half-smile on his face. He was glad that Gan Ning was behind him. He could show his strength to his lord and be free of the hotheaded general once the battle down. Plus, there was nobody to contradict him if anyone would ask the fate of his hated ally. He exited the opening in one piece with his horse still alive. The supply base was overrun by the army of Wei. Quickly, Ling Tong smashed through the ranks and attacked any Wei soldiers in his range. They tried to stab him, but the agile general evaded at the same time he was breaking the jaws and the bones of his enemies. When the group of soldiers was out of commission, he walked into the base nunchaku ready.

-Yue Jin!

The general came out of the main tent, his clothes and armor covered in blood, spear bathing in the red liquid of the Wu soldiers. Yue Jin seemed powerful and unmistakably savage. He had the appearance of a demon or a serial killer.

-Ling Tong, I supposed?

The Wu general remained calm and smiled at his opponent.

-In the flesh.

The red and blue general walked toward the nunchaku wielder and stopped at four meters from his red adversary.

-Very well, than let's fight.

-I was going to say the same thing!

Blindly, the young fighter hit the sides of his horse with his feet and the horse charged toward his enemy. When his horse ran a single meter, an arrow passed through the animal's head. In pain, the horse stumbled and gave a pair of fake wings to Ling Tong. The poor general was so surprised by the attack that he didn't balance himself and rolled on the ground before stopping not far away from the savage general. His neck was burning and his whole head was submitting the pain from the rocky ground. His body was trying to drown the aches, but when he tried to get up his right knee gave him an electrical shock through his entire being. When he saw the damage, he almost yelled in surprise. His right leg was dark red and his knee was wrecked. His teeth clutched to his unfortunate wound.

-How sad. The great general Ling Tong falling into battle by his unluckiness.

He walked near to his wounded opponent, spear ready to strike him down. He was about a foot away from the injured general. Ling Tong could see the crimson tainted steel above his head. He closed his eyes; he couldn't run away from the savage man and had come to the conclusion of his life.

-Hey, jackass!

Suddenly, the general's head turned toward the scream and in a flash his hands were holding tight by a chain. The spear was thrown away, when the chains recklessly had pulled the general's hands toward the wielder of the weapon. A slightly wounded man was holding firmly his ground to avoid being thrashed away by the general.

-If you want to play fair, come and play with me!

In a speed almost inhuman, Gan Ning pulled out his sickle and charged toward the general. The following event awoke a strong feeling of disgust and fear in Ling Tong's heart. The ex-pirate mercilessly pushed aside the general from Ling Tong. In the push, Yue Jin fell on the rocky ground. He tried to get up, but the foot of the pirate stepped on his chest. Somehow, the scene remained a strong feeling of rage in Ling Tong's soul. With the only goal to kill the Yue Jin, Gan Ning stabbed the general in the face and removed the freshly tainted blade from his skin. The general screamed in agony, but the pirate continued. What could he do? He didn't have the time to remove the armor of Yue Jin and the only unprotected part of the body was his red face. It's a disgusting work, but someone had to do it.

During the massacre, Ling Tong's mind was confused. His vision changed between reality and the memory where he saw the mangled chest of his father. The images and sounds were confusing the poor young man who slowly fell into fear and terror. However, Gan Ning didn't know that his actions where driven his ally mad by terror.

When the general had finally drawn his last breath, the pirate removed his weapon from wound and walked toward Ling Tong who hided his face away from the former pirate.

-That guy just didn't want to give up. Plus, why on earth did you leave me behind? I almost got kill back there.

Ling Tong didn't reply, which had raised an eyebrow for Gan Ning. He came closer to his unusual quiet comrade and saw the problem. His arms were shaking and his skin was crawling, agitated by the stress and the pain of his wound. He reached out and touched Ling Tong shoulder.

-Ling Tong. Look at me, would jia?

Finally, Ling Tong awoke from his awaken nightmare. He turned his worried eyes toward the man he hated, but had saved him. Seeing his comrade was back into reality, Gan Ning checked the wrecked knee of his ally.

-With that injury, there's no way, you'll stay shut. I'll go get something, don't move.

Without doubting, the former pirate took a piece of clothe from the dead man. He rolled it up and came back to the side of his comrade.

-I know this sound weird, but if you want to live, bite in this and keep in your mouth. It's going to hurt.

Ling Tong, still shocked, looked at the piece of cloth in a ball and executed the demand of his helping comrade. Gan Ning could move to the wound. The knee wasn't broken, but displaced from its original position. Even a bit displaced could be painful for the victim and make the injured badly bleeding. He put his two hands on the extremities of the wounded knee and gave a look at the injured man.

-That's gonna really hurt. So yell.

Swiftly, the former pirate pushed his hand in different directions. There was a loud hollow snapping sound and the muted scream of Ling Tong was drowning by the ball of clothes. When he finished, he spitted out the clothe from his mouth. The bone was reestablished to its usual place and the wound stopped bleeding, for awhile at least. He gave two miniatures taps on his comrade's good working leg.

-Okay. Now, it's time for me to take you out of here.

He managed to take his injured friend without much effort on his back; the injured general didn't replied back. They both exited the supply camp, like two survivors from the destruction of a village. At the beginning of the walk, they both remained silent. The two allies didn't know what was happening to them, they hated each other and would go for the throat of the other, so why they haven't fight yet?

-You're still holding in there?

The nunchaku wielder didn't replied immediately; he was in some sort of trance between the invading great fatigue in his body and the pain which flowed through him.

-My knee is out of service, I almost died and you saved my life, so yeah… I'll hold up.

His voice was almost absent from reality. He was recovering from the shock and the pain. The pirate cheerfully laughed to Ling Tong's comment.

-Even in that condition, you still sound like someone ready to kill me.

Then, they both fell into silence again.

-So… why did you saved me?

The pirate stopped in his steps. Ling Tong was sure that the former pirate was about to throw him to the ground, but instead he sighed and continued to walk with his comrade on his back.

- Because you're the moron who decided to run into the general's trap? Duh!

Ling Tong was amazed. His most hateful enemy saved him from a certain death, even when he left him behind to his own death. There was a contradiction with a sense of sane reasoning into all of those words, yet the proof was just below him.

-Plus, if you had died, Lu Meng would kill me for it! So now, shut up. I don't want the enemy army to find the two of us like this...

He continued to talk with his intimating and lower voice, plus his speeches were almost endless. If he was in better shape and not into this pain, Ling Tong would have replied to every comment of Gan Ning, but he didn't, on the contrary, he was listening to his rival's words. He talked about everything and anything, the weather, the war, Lu Meng's lectures his opinion on Sun Quan and so forward… In all the speeches, the injured man didn't talk back or commented. He was tired and his fatigue was growing with every minute passing by, but the voice rude and tough voice of Gan Ning was keeping him awake. After two hours of walk, without the enemy noticing them, Gan Ning arrived at an ally garrison near the main camp. From a watchtower, one of the soldiers pointed the two generals and called for the healers.

- Alright, so promised me you'll not talk about what I said to the others, alright?

No answer.

-Ling Tong?

Still no answers for the injured man. He was resting, but his breath was absent and his eyes weren't completely closed. Gan Ning's thoughts stop the moment he understood what was happening to his comrade. He looked behind him and saw a faint trail of blood from his feet to the horizon of the rocky road he took.

-Shit… Get the healers, now! We have a dying general here!

------------------------

A patched up Gan Ning and a healed, but tired, Ling Tong were facing their greatest enemy yet. It wasn't Liu Bei or Cao Cao nor Sun Quan, but the old strategist Lu Meng. He was ashamed of the attitude of both Ling Tong and Gan Ning. The selfishness of the nunchaku fighter could have kill Gan Ning and the former pirate rudeness almost killed Ling Tong by blood lost. However, he was even more disappointed by Ling Tong's attitude. The young general explained to the strategist what he did and all of this was to show his worth, but in the end he ended up as the idiot and immature child.

-I told you.

Those were the three first words of Lu Meng. Those words weight a lot on the fighter's mind and they were light as feathers to the hotheaded general.

-I warned you about Yue Jin, but you had to go your way, Ling Tong. I am really disappointed in you.

The fighter didn't say anything. His silence was rare like diamonds. Lu Meng didn't saw the need to explain why and the consequences of his selfishness if Gan Ning didn't save him. Ling Tong's head was looking at the ground, until someone raised his voice.

-Give him some slacks, old man. He just underestimated the big, bad guy. I would have done the same thing!

Ling Tong was perplexed. Did the former pirate just protect him? However, the defense of Gan Ning was taken down by Lu Meng who ordered his silence. The pirate only sighed and grinned at the strategist.

-In any cases, considered yourselves lucky that you survived this. Next time, do what I say if you don't want to get kill.

The old strategist was bad at this number, but he had been worried. The two generals knew, since he remained most of the time silent and only starred at both Gan Ning and Ling Tong, before he walked out of Ling Tong's tent. The former pirate was about to make his leave, until he was stopped by his comrade.

-Why you said that to Lu Meng, Gan Ning?

The sickle warrior thought about it for a moment and turned his head toward the fighter with an arrogant face.

-I guess, in the end, I actually like you just a bit.

Ling Tong remained quiet and finally responded to the answer of Gan Ning.

-So? Those that mean we are friend? After all those yelling and bickering?

The pirate let out a warm laugh.

-I guess we can say that. Of course, if you still…

-That was in the past.

The ex-pirate was baffled. He never thought that Ling Tong would say those words. They both exchange a stare, before they let out a laugh together. Some soldiers near the tent stopped and their face's showed confusion. They were surprised to hear the laughs of the two rival generals in unison, unless if it was a joke, they would easily believe it.

-By the way, my friend, I saw you putting that extra stone during our last game of Go.

The laughs lasted for a short moment, before the bickering started again. Some things would never change in the laws of nature and friendship. Even with the small and useless bickering going on, Ling Tong felt much better than before, his body was more relaxed and his mind at ease. Maybe, he thought, maybe that was the plan of Sun Quan all along? To make him rediscovered what he had let behind a long time ago; friendship.