23. Going Under
Going Under
If Dustin ever told anyone that his greatest weakness was being “too empathetic”, they’d probably look at him like he’d just complained about “pretty people facing prejudice too”.
But it was true.
Because even though he was so beyond fucking fed up with Chris and his bullshit, he couldn’t stop worrying about his safety for even a second.
It had been hours since he left, and Dustin half expected him to be back by now.
Usually, it only took an hour or so of aimlessly speeding around town blasting music so loud it shook their car’s frame for Chris to cool off.
Clearly this ran deeper than usual for him.
He’d tried calling, but the phone went to voicemail three times in a row.
Before he could spiral further into helplessness, there was a light tap at his door.
He took a deep breath to center his thoughts, and opened it, revealing his father standing there like a lost puppy.
“Yes sir?”
“You should uh, you should go find your brother,” Elliot said, rubbing the back of his neck in some blend of concern and annoyance, “your mom just called. Said she was about to head back from Seattle. Figured that gives us about an hour and a half,”
Ah, that explained it. He didn’t want to face his wife’s wrath when she found out that Chris had been gone for hours and he’d done nothing about it.
“He took the car,” Dustin said blankly, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. Which to be fair, it was.
“Right, yeah,” Elliot sighed, “take the Escalade. Just make sure you’re both back before your mom gets here,”
Dustin had only ever driven his father’s car once, and that was only to move it off the street so it wouldn’t block the garbage truck on trash day.
It just felt viscerally wrong controlling a vehicle that large and weirdly pristine; the man spent more time cleaning and waxing it than Dustin spent in the pool.
Plus, it was genuinely hard for him to reach the pedals even though there was nothing blocking them, unlike him and Chris’s car which was always overflowing with soda bottles and takeout boxes.
But still, he managed to maneuver the behemoth well enough to arrive at Bailey’s, the first place he’d expected Chris to go.
And sure enough, their car was parked right out front.
Dustin parked the unwieldy SUV and steeled himself in preparation to head inside.
As he made his way to the door, his thoughts were racing in an attempt to figure out how to handle this. He knew Chris was probably gonna snap at him, but he couldn’t let himself be baited. He just had to convince his brother to come home, and they’d sort the rest out later.
He didn’t even have a chance to knock before Bailey opened the door, standing before him in nothing more than a black t-shirt that was way too big for her…
One with “Kochiyama Athletics” scrawled across the chest in bold white letters, with a little Orca sticking its head through the ‘O’.
The very same shirt Chris left the house in,
“I knew you’d come to collect him sooner or later,” Bailey chuckled. That was when Dustin noticed the purple marks blooming on her neck and collarbone.
“Hold on… did you fuck my brother?”
Bailey’s eyes went wide, but she slowly nodded, as if the full weight of it had only just settled on her shoulders.
She clearly expected Dustin to be furious, but honestly, he wasn’t mad at all.
On another day, he’d probably be elated that they’d finally acted on their obvious attraction to one another.
But right now? With Chris as emotionally volatile as he’d been? He couldn’t help but find himself feeling concerned that he’d lash out and hurt her, or that Bailey would end up shouldering his emotions in the exact way the Lotus Garden tried to help her avoid.
“Dusty I… look, it just kind of happened, alright? It doesn’t have to change anything…”
“Hey, relax, it’s all cool,” Dustin assured her, putting a hand on her shoulder, “I’m not mad. We definitely have a LOT to talk about later, but right now I just need to get Chris home before our mom gets back,”
“Of course dad would send you after me like you’re my fucking handler or something,”
Dustin winced at the abrasive sound of Chris’s voice, as the latter appeared in the doorway behind Bailey, shirtless and clearly still fuming.
“I don’t like it any more than you do,” Dustin replied through clenched teeth, trying to keep his bubbling anger in check. A shouting match with his twin would only make things worse right now, “but unfortunately that seems to be my role in life,”
“Dustin, don’t…” Bailey started, but Chris immediately cut her off, stepping past her out onto the front porch.
“And who the fuck asked you to do that?! You act like you’re so selfless and tortured, but you’re really just a conceited, smug asshole with a martyr complex,”
Dustin clenched his fist; so much for the restrained approach. He’d had enough.
“Who asked? YOU ask all the fucking time! You think I enjoy being responsible for your ass? You think it’s fun taking the hits for you because mom and dad think I should be the one keeping you in check? Just so you can run around doing whatever the fuck you want without a care in the world?!”
Chris didn’t say a word. Not at first. He just stared at Dustin for a long time, his mouth tight and his posture rigid.
And then he laughed.
Broken, angry, joyless.
It was a sound Dustin had never heard from his brother before, and it struck something primal within him.
“Christian… Ziheng. I don’t know what you’re thinking, but you need to chill before…”
“Shut. The fuck. Up,” Chris’s voice was low and gravelly, like crackling embers, “I’m done taking orders,”
The sky started to darken as clouds gathered overhead. A violent crack of thunder rang out, almost loud enough that Dustin didn’t hear Bailey’s scream…
Almost.
“DUSTIN, MOVE!”
He barely managed to scramble out of the way before a searing blast of flames scorched the walkway where he’d been standing less than a millisecond ago.
His heart was hammering in his chest so intensely that he could barely hear his own thoughts. His breaths came in ragged and shallow as he examined the blackened gravel, before his eyes snapped back to Chris.
Chris, who was standing there with glowing veins and blinding red eyes.
Chris, who had almost killed him.
“Y-you… you almost hit me,” Dustin’s voice was trembling so much he could barely form a coherent thought. The timbre was so light and fractured that it wasn’t even clear if Chris heard him over the booming thunder. Or if he would listen even if he had.
Dustin’s emotions spiraled as his brain and body argued over what to do next. Part of him wanted to turn and run, but what if Chris hit him in the back? Clearly talking to him wasn’t going to work either though.
No… he had to do the one thing he never did. His entire life, he’d been trying to temper Chris’s blazes, but now that the fire was literally aimed at him, he had no choice but to fight back. And while he might not have been able to fight fire with fire…
He could absolutely smother it.
Dustin’s shock and disbelief quickly flowed into furious resolve as his veins darkened into inky blackness. As if responding to his intent, the clouds overhead opened up and a downpour ensued, leaving Dustin standing beneath the tempest… one he intended to make into his weapon.
Chris barked out another laugh as he stepped off the porch into the rain, his veins glowing brighter as the meridians beneath his skin lit up in concert.
“Christian get your ass back here NOW!” Bailey shouted, her yellow lights pulsing with uncertainty. She clearly had no idea how to handle any of this.
Chris didn’t respond. He simply held out his hand and an impenetrable wall of flame flared up behind him, forcing Bailey to stay out of it.
“Finally. Dropping the act and fighting like a man,” he said, blue flames igniting his fists as he stalked toward Dustin.
“I don’t wanna do this Christian,” Dustin said. Cold, and so painfully aware of what was coming next.
“YES YOU DO!” Chris yelled, firing two sapphire bursts of flame, “GET OFF YOUR FUCKING HIGH HORSE!”
Dustin anticipated the head-on attack, and the rain solidified into a thick wall of ice under his command, rendering the flames inert long enough for him to get out of the way before they explosively broke through.
Dustin reached for the water again, praying that he had enough control to hose Chris down without seriously injuring him…
but, he couldn’t sense it anymore. In fact, everything around him felt hazy, like the world had lost its finer edges.
Even moving his limbs felt like an insurmountable task in that moment.
He dropped down to one knee, but his eyes immediately shot to Chris, not wanting to give him another opening to attack.
But whatever was happening to Dustin, was clearly affecting Chris too; he was just standing there, staring into open space with glassy eyes as the rain continued to beat down on them both.
“Such power,” a voice pressed into Dustin’s mind, sudden and violating… the same voice he’d heard the night they freed Leo from Qin Shi Huang’s control, “one ferocious, the other controlled. Together, you will become unyielding weapons,”
Clarity rattled Dustin like a car alarm as Sima Yao’s words came back to the forefront of his mind. About how being “spiritually compromised”, or “in emotional anguish”.
Terms that anyone would use to describe him and Chris in that moment.
“N-no.” Dustin’s words slurred as he fought to stay in control of his own jaw, “I won’t let you,”
“Relent boy. You are in no position to refuse me. You are my blood, you only draw breath because of all that I accomplished. Now it is time for you to ascend into your rightful power, to claim your birthright as the heir of Qin Shi Huang,”
Dustin ground his fist into the mud, grunting with frustration and sheer willpower as he forced himself to stand under what felt like the weight of an ocean.
“I… don’t want your p-power,” he stuttered, “get. Out. Of. My. HEAD!”
“A shame that my line produces disappointment after disappointment,” the pressure finally started to lift off Dustin, and he could breathe freely once again, “but now this boy. If you do not bow, you shall break,”
With that, just as quickly as the storm gathered, it dissipated; the last few raindrops plunking against Dustin’s shoulders as he raced over to Chris, who had now collapsed.
With the wall of flames gone, Bailey immediately arrived at his side.
“What the fuck just happened?!” she asked frantically, shaking Chris in an attempt to rouse him.
“It was him, the emperor,” Dustin panted, “he almost… he tried to…”
His words were cut off by Chris’s eyes snapping open, no longer glowing fiery red, but no less intense than before.
“Are you okay?” Dustin asked, preparing to help his brother stand. But he wasn’t met with words… instead, a vicious gust of wind blew him and Bailey back, forcing Dustin against the wall of the house with incredible force.
He struggled to focus his vision through the dense gale, but what he could make out was Chris standing up and cracking his neck, before smirking like a predator.
“We will teach you the lesson that countless before your time failed to learn. That we do not make empty threats. We cannot be refused. As we warned you, boy, if you will not bow, you shall break,”