Abstain and pain

January 17, 1997, 08:59

The moonfolks kingdom

The Sky Castle Training

Ground

"Again." LiQin shouts out as Evdokia topples onto her back.

Evdokia gets up and dusts off her glutes, spinning her sword with her left arm.

"Can we take a break for a while?" she, honest to god, has no energy to even walk at this point.

"No, stride at me, check your form this time. Shoulders back, chest wide and open, blade close to your ears, low enough to hit the target in a weak point."

Evdokia rolls her eyes at him but takes her starting position anyway.

"Eyes on me, Evdokia, calculate my moves and analyse my posture before going in." He carries on.

Evdokia closes her eyes for a second, listening to the sound of LiQin's boots make as he takes his starting form, the wind breeze clicking against where his sword Is. She can do this.

She opens her eyes and strikes at him, their swords clicking against each other with every swing on her behalf. Evdokia takes a lunge at LiQin's right shoulder but he's quick to dodge it using his sword. She goes for a diagonal hit across his chest, but he stops it so hard it throws Evdokia back on the ground.

"Again." LiQin moves back to his starting point.

Evdokia groans and kicks her legs repeatedly like a child having a tantrum. LiQin doesn't say anything and waits for her patiently.

"Dude, you're just making fun of me at this point. " she pouts at him, still lying on her back on the ground. LiQin is one of the best wizards and warriors across the kingdoms of their realm, Evdokia doesn't understand the point of doing this, knowing that she can never actually beat him.

"Yes you can. If Amara and Felony did, so will you." LiQin reads her mind and Evdokia hates it when he does.

"can you not?" she snaps at him, and he bows apologetically.

"you know I can't control it, now, get up, one more round and I'll call Valodya to take you to Jean. "

The mention of Jean's name gets her right up on her feet, griping her sword with all she can.

LiQin snorts at that and shakes his head.

"Again." Taking his place, posture perfect for any surprising moves Evdokia could pull up at him.

And she does, because he really didn't expect her to go for swiping him off his feet with a clean move by her shin at his ankles.

"Boom." She looks ecstatic at him, her sword an inch away from his nose. He smiles at her back.

"If that's how you perform just by the mention of Jean, I'd like to see you fighting for his life." LiQin chuckles.

"I doubt you want to put him in such position and deal with me." She says in a low threatening tone, and it only makes LiQin laugh harder. She looks like an angry white bunny with sparkling black eyes, wonder who would be scared that.

"Again!" she says with a cheeky smile, eyes mischievous as she hops her way back to her starting position.

"oh so now you want a rematch?" he joins her in his start position, ready as ever. "give it your all, little angel."

*

April 25, 2021, 09:00

Beijing, China

The C.P.A building

Evdokia has her arms before her chest, toes bouncing off the ring lightly like a rabbit.

The kid, William, gets up and takes his starting position for the fifteenth time. He's breathing heavily and worn out, Reema thinks.

"Evdokia, you're pushing him a little to much." Reema calls her in Hishibi, the moonfolk's ancient language, one none of those recruits even know it exists.

"He can take it." Evdokia throws behind her as she tackles William on more time to the ground with no effort.

"You're not concentrating, I've already explained it to you ten times!" she screams at William, and the boy, honest to god, cries. Reema sighs, gets up onto the ring and drags the boy away to do damage control.

Ufuk watches from the side along with Robin.

"Something is so fucking odd with her." He concludes.

"Very much so." Robin hums in agreement, pushing himself off the wall and walking up to Evdokia. He reaches out a hand to her as she jumps out of the ring to rehydrate.

"You're being harsh to the kids this session. " Robin tries out, not wanting to criticise her directly, she doesn't take it well.

"I'm helping them build endurance. " she says between taking gulps of ice cold water, spilling a little down her chin and reaching her tight black crop top neckline.

"No, you're scaring them away. You don't always act like that, something happened." Robin states more than asks.

"sleep deprived. " she throws over her shoulders as she gestures another kid to walk to the ring.

She catches the eyes of Jean from across the room, frowning at her. She chooses to ignore him and finish the task on her hand.

*

April 26, 2021, 15:00

Beijing, China

The C.P.A building

Evdokia is staring at the ceiling when Jean finds her in her office.

She's supposed to be on the crow demon case that rose to the surface again after the last explosion in the country side of Beijing.

"what's up, darling?" She pops the end of the sentence, spinning around in her chair and not sparing Jean a glance.

Jean takes his time to think before he opens his mouth. This morning was the first combat and martial arts class with the new recruits and it was a disaster. Evdokia was way too distanced. Jean knows that she has a restless mind full of dark and bloody apprehensions and flashbacks, but she usually functions well and throws them at the back of her head when she's around people. It's exhausting, Jean assumes. He doesn't really have the most peaceful brain either but he knows Evdokia was born different, and she takes things in differently. Evdokia usually wins all the demonstration combats between her and the other captains when they're showing the recruits tactical fights. However, today she didn't, she got beaten by both Reema and James and something about it rubbed Jean the wrong way.

Not just Jean, even Reema asked Valodya if something is wrong with Evdokia because she doesn't remember winning a combat against her, ever.

There could be three out comes if he asked her what's wrong or what's on her mind.

One, she could brush it off and try harder to pretend that nothing is wrong. Jean would have to let it go, because Evdokia is like a ticking bomb, if you pressured her more than she can take, she'll blow up, or more like blow you up.

Two, she could take offence and be grumpy for the next few weeks, not something he wants to deal with.

And three, she could open up and tell him everything while he holds her close and pats her back as she cries silently.

"I've been thinking. " Jean starts.

"that's never good." She says back.

"I'm being serious here." He frowns deeply and Evdokia looks at him, his hands are fidgeting inside his pockets, she has a feeling she knows where this is going.

She hums as she stops spinning in her chair and holds up some of the paper on her desk, a good old way of Evdokia to make it seem like she's anything but nervous, but Jean knows her too well and Jean sigh and pulls the papers out of her hands. She lets her hands fall down slowly onto the desk, her heart swelling.

"Eve, what's going on? You're hazier than normal, Did you even come to bed last night? Something happened." Jean whispers as he puts the papers to the side.

"No shit Sherlock." Evdokia chuckles in an attempt to lift up the mood.

Jean gives her a stern look and it makes her smile fall. They weren't supposed to notice, she was supposed to pull it together and act like it never happened. But how could she? For one, she's terrible at hiding it when her mood is down, specially when it comes to Jean, Ira and Valodya. Two knew her since the day she was born and in a crib while the later practically raised her.

Evdokia sighs and thinks for a second, the LiQin in the video words ringing in her head.

"Hello, little angel."

"I'll tell you when we get home." Evdokia makes up her mind, faster than Jean is used to, and he sees her face going through five different emotions when she says so, probably regretting giving in so easily. She feels sharp pain in her knee caps but she ignores it.

Jean raises his pinkie at her, "pinkie promise?"

Evdokia clicks her tounge and snorts, with a smile playing on her lips, but she raises her pinkie back nevertheless and intertwines them, and for the first time today, Jean doesn't look like a grumpy kid at a supermarket that his parent refuses to buy them anything they want.

With that out of the way, Jean leaves the office after kissing Evdokia's temple, and he leaves her wondering if she actually wants to share this little information with Jean, and Jean knows that's what she's thinking of as he walks out of the door.

Jean is about to close the door behind him when she calls out wait, getting off her chair and walking up to him. She pulls her arms upwards and circles Jean's neck, looking right into Jean's eyes like he hung up the stars up in the sky. Jean is taken back by it and hides his face between her shoulder and neck, a very uncomfortable position given their tremendous height difference. He feels her fingers planting onto the skin of his neck, talking to him through touch.

I love you.

Jean squeezes her waist, even if she didn't say it with her lips, it still manages to tear down every barrier he built over the years between the world and his heart.

Its scary, being in love. The fact that she's got him wrapped around her fingers, if she asked him to jump he'll ask how high. But it's also beautiful, how someone can accept him with the baggage that comes along with his love, Judgement free and all.

He loves her, with his heart, with all he is, and he stopped being scared of it by the time they were twenty.

They once had a fight over Evdokia almost getting herself killed for acting out of order on a mission. She had an earful from their captain when they were back at the facility, and Jean could tell Evdokia was regretful of it, but the stone headed she is never admitted her regret. That night she fell to her knees the moment they stepped a foot in their apartment. Jean held her as she cried and asked for forgiveness from no one in particular. Jean understood that night that she doesn't think she's perfect, that she's bare and rare, whole when it comes to him, and Jean loves her, honest to god loves her with everything he has, and he has never regretted their love.

He loves with every string attached, and he wouldn't have it any other way.

He leaves a kiss onto her lips and looks her in the eyes, those green and golden orbs that are more captivating than a thousand ropes that could circle around his body and chain him down. He takes it in, her beauty, her kindness, her thoughtfulness and her mindfulness. He kisses her one more time before peeling away from her, because they're both, as always, late for the raiding preparation time.

*

April 26, 2021, 17:00

Having a terrible night sleep was always a part of YuNing's life. Painfully so. Since he was ten, he has always had haunting nightmares, ones that keep on playing inside his head and terrifying the child in him with every time he closes his eyes. YuNing remembers escaping sleep at some point when they became unbearable during his teen days. He'd drink coffee and drinks with high caffeine percent just to avoid them, and so, even if this nightmare is real this time, he still has somewhat of a tolerance against it.

YuNing lifts his head up and stares at ZiYan's worn out body. They didn't even bother tying him up, positive that they've tortured him enough that he wouldn't be able to stand up or even crawl if he wanted to. This morning they tossed them in ice cold water bath and hurriedly throwing them on electrical chairs. YuNing is surprised he's awake, no, alive. It isn't the first time, with time they intensify the electrical shock, making sure they don't develop complete immunity to the pain.

The last few days have been worse than every nightmare YuNing has ever had. Even though his nightmares felt real, incredibly so, a cut or a beat only felt like a bruise when he wakes up.

YuNing wishes he can die already.

Add to the mixture, four of his friends were killed and left to rot and get eaten by rats and worms, lying at the other end of the room, stanching the whole area with the smell of death.

YuNing looks up at ZiYan when he sees him moving, coming back to life. ZiYan moans in pain the moment he opens his eyes, tears railing down his cheeks from the pain. Someone implanted him with a sword and kept spinning it around and just.. left it in there. He can't even heal properly if he wanted to because he'll have to take it out even after so. It's not the first time they do it anyways.

YuNing wiggles his way to ZiYan's side, straight up getting to his point is handling the sword between both of his legs to pull it out. ZiYan screeches in pain as YuNing pulls it out, blood spurting everywhere around them.

YuNing is about to press onto the wound with his bare palms to stop the bleeding when a guard opens the door abruptly. ZiYan whimpers, not ready for another round, his pelvis literally butterflied. Two guards enter the room hurriedly, one of them leaning down to make sure the knots on the boys wrists are secured.

"Please, not anymore." ZiYan is wailing in pain, YuNing pressing into his abdomen, desperately trying to stop the blood flow.

The guard yanks YuNing's arms away from ZiYan, making ZiYan hiss in affliction.

"Move." The guard spits out as he harshly grips YuNing's shirt upwards.

The other guard carries ZiYan over his shoulder. They walk through a really long corridor, making YuNing question if they were in fact in an apartment basement like it seemed.

They eventually reach the end of the tunnel, the night as dark as the dungeon they were stuck in.

YuNing and ZiYan are loaded in the back of a truck, and YuNing silently prays that he never sees the light of the day again, before he's hit on the back of his neck and knocked out.

*

April 26, 2021, 15:45

Beijing, China

Case 06-77-89

She got the evidence file yesterday's morning, and since she had time on her hand, she thought they can take a stroll and maybe plant a mic and tracker onto one of the dealers clothes, but she never thought it would be this easy to just kick off the raid on the next day. She isn't sure if the men are that dumb or if it's a trap, but she prepares for both outcomes, just in case.

They're all positioned as planned. Evdokia, Mizuki and Jean are attacking. Ira is in the van making sure all their earpieces are on and connected, watching the entire place with hidden cameras they planted earlier this week. Valodya and Robin are on the roof as the snipers, in case they couldn't catch him inside and he flew away.

Unlocking the door doesn't take Jean more than five seconds. The compound smells like a sewer that haven't seen the light in a decade, and Evdokia isn't surprised given that this place was only occupied by men for the last two months. They scan the room first from the outside, in case any traps were planted as a welcoming gesture on the gang's behalf to Evdokia's team.

Fortunately, there wasn't, there was however twelve men and five hostages inside. There were also all the tech they used for the robberies and the black market transactions. They have quite the collection of weapons in bags scattered around the room, and the number of the weapons sure doesn't match the number of the men currently inside the compound. Evdokia's grits her teeth at it, she wanted to catch them all at once, but she also calculates it, and she is willing to let some of them be if it means she's pulling out of this mission with zero losses or injuries in her team.

Two seconds into thinking and Evdokia had to run the gears of her mind the fastest she can get them to, because one of the two hostages had a gun pointed at them right on the spot. The man holding the gun was shouting something in Cantonese and Valodya translates to Evdokia through the earpiece "if your father doesn't give a shit about you then you should be discarded either way". And that's when Evdokia gives the signal to Ira to turn off the electricity of the compound for a few seconds, just enough for her, Jean and Mizuki to get closer to the men without them pulling their weapons out and attacking back. They're all three circled around the men when the lights are back on. Evdokia takes one down with a hit in the knees followed by a strike behind his head, they need them alive, well, most of them. Jean jumps onto two men at once and takes them out, always making good use of his gigantic silhouette. Mizuki fires two shouts onto two men's shins, initiating screams from both. Evdokia hears shuffling behind her, A man launches at her with his full body, which she kicks away, audibly hearing the man's ribs break, silently wishing it doesn't hurt his lungs. When she looks up she finds two men on top of Jean, one fiddling with his gun trying to load it while the other is pushing a sword down at him while Jean is pushing it back, severely cutting his palms. The sword looked like an iron elf craftsmen produce, and something about it unsettles Evdokia.

She's shoots the one with the gun in the hand, making him yelp in pain, falling down to his knees. His hands however regenerates on the spot, great, a vampire. She strikes at him with a fist, but he stops it with his forearm, his muscles flexed like iron that Evdokia almost breaks her knuckles. Evdokia whips out her dagger as she predicts the man pulling out his sword. They booth attack at the same time, metal clicking against metal. He's good, it's a shame, Evdokia's better. She wins in less than two minutes, and she punches him in the right spot in his pelvis that makes him pass out on the spot.

Evdokia looks up and realises they missed two people, and they're almost out of the door. Evdokia doesn't bother running after them, Valodya and Robin will catch them.

They untie the five hostages, they're all passed out except for the one that had the gun pressed to her head, and Evdokia looks them up down, they look like they've been treated like shit and so she doesn't try to wake them up, instead she asks Jean to carry them carefully to her car. One of them looks awfully familiar, but she doesn't dowel on it for too long and hustles to scanning the rooms content.

Evdokia and Mizuki scheme through the papers scattered all around the room and boards while Jean ties the men up and carry them to the van that Ira just drove to the compound door. Evdokia decides it's better if they took off before any other members arrive, which will cost them equipment for no good. She orders Jean and Mizuki to load the tech and radars into the van, while she looks through the rest of the papers, in case there's anything useful they can use in the integration. Valodya is there in no time to photograph the evidence too, but so far, they couldn't find anything major or any of the reported substance, and so Evdokia decides on taking what should be taken and calls the detectives to come and do what they do best at such cases.

*

Evdokia has her medical mask and gloves on as she cleans the woman's wounds. It's bad, enough to leave a scar even though she's a race that regenerates. Ira is driving steadily so he wouldn't disturb the hostages with them in the SUV. They woke up at some point during the ride, crying and bowling their eyes out for realising that they're actually out of that compound they were stuck in for weeks. Eventually they pass out, the heaviness of the days under the knifes and even torture with spells finally setting in. Evdokia can imagine what they've gone through, given that she was in a very similar position as them at some point in her life.

Helpless and desperate for a drop of mercy.

Their ride to the CPA takes less than an hour and they're turning in the criminals at the gates first to be sent to the cells in the CPA jail department. Most of them are vampires so they're mostly sent to the underground dungeons to avoid their contact with the sun. They leave their head, a crow demon and a huge name in the upside drug field.

"six vampires huh, Dracula wouldn't be happy about that." The gate guard for some reason finds his joke very funny while Evdokia stands there awkwardly waiting for him to do his job and let her leave without popping a vein. It takes him good fifteen minutes, throwing a lame joke from time to time and what Jean would call flirting for him to finish the report sheet and gets on with taking them to the prison. Men could be really annoying sometimes, she thinks.

They have a five minute drive to reach the C.P.A main building, and Valodya notices Evdokia staring into nothingness, but he doesn't ask.

Once they're at the gates or the building, paramedics are there to pick up the hostages and get them under medical supervision immediately. They need them alive and in good shape for the integrations. Valodya sees Evdokia jump in her place when they paramedics almost dropped one of the boys, and he puts a hand on her shoulder to calm her down and keeps her awake and grounded.

*

April 26, 2021, 20:08

Beijing, China

CPA integration room

"You were in jail for five years for a robbery. " Jean states.

"Ah yes," the man has a smug look on his face, framed with face tattos all over, " I was a father who needed to provide for three ki-"

"So, you're also human trafficking to provide for the family?" Mizuki questions.

"Perhaps."

"one, you have history in crimes, two, the humans were found inside the compound you admitted working at solely. This isn't the best look for you right now. I advice you to cooperate with us, it'll lessen your years." Evdokia leans backwards into her seat as she sips from her tea cup. She honestly just wants the man to admit he was involved in the case so she can go home already.

The man doesn't utter a word for a good five minutes, eyes wandering around the room, almost like he's manifesting for the room to open up and swallow him.

Through pressure and a little bit of pursuing, the man does admit he was involved in the drug being produced under his supervision yet he wouldn't give in any names or information about the drug's ingredients nor the reason he was creatures trafficking with who. Evdokia can't think of a crime the guy hasn't committed. They eventually decide that they've had enough of his bullshit for the day, and so they leave him on the chained arm chair and leave the integration room and head to their lockers to leave, except for Evdokia and Jean, who had to go to her office to write the report regarding the case and everything they caught so far, and where they should be heading from there.

The night breeze is chilling in a good way, making Jean hold onto Evdokia's hand inside his coat's pocket while they walk up to his car.

Thanks to Jean, their apartment is squeaky clean when they enter, Evdokia almost wants to give him a forehead head kiss for always doing the cleaning after her flipping the house upside down while doing the minimum like frying an egg.

Evdokia takes a long warm shower, cleaning off the dirt of the day and easing her mind with the hot water, massaging her temples while she's at it.

Jean whips them a little dinner of pasta with mushroom while she's showering, god bless him. They eat while watching Jean's favourite comedy show until Jean passes out from tiredness. Evdokia carries him to his bed and takes off his dirty clothes and leaves him only in his underwear, making a mental note to wake up earlier than normal to wake him up for a shower. She stares at his sleeping face, tired and scared all over, he never fails to make her heart skip a beat. She gives him a kiss on his eye lid and closes the door behind her as she walks to wash the dinner dishes.

When she's done with that, she heads to he living room's couch, making sure the apartment door is locked first. She usually sleeps next to Jean but she's rather not disturb him today.

She turns on the air conditioner and closes the windows. Yes, it's freezing cold but she likes the smell of the air-conditioner so she's turning it on for a peaceful night sleep. The moment her head makes contact with the pillow she falls into a deep sleep, and unlike normally, she has a peaceful night sleep, dreaming of cherry blossoms and the breeze of mountain Fuji.

*