Wei walked thru the portal with a sad smirk on his face, it was time to put an end to all this, something he should have done a long time ago.

He had spent his whole life divided between the King and the Ghost, convincing himself that he was doing the right thing, that he had no other choice, but it was time to face the reality of things and to put a stop to it all.

He wasn't helping anyone, letting the king continue with his evil ways, he had to stop hiding behind fancy words and start facing the fact that what Dixing needed was a real change.

He knew what would be waiting for him on the other side, he hadn't bowed to the king in days, he could only imagine his fury... actually he could imagine it quite well.

Enough with those thougths, they were useless, he had already made up his mind, he only wished he could see Yunlan one last time.

~~~~~

Hong watched him go through the portal, it was a matter of a moment and Shen Wei... the Envoy was gone.

What had happened? Was she supposed to stop him? But how could she do that, after knowing who he really was?

She was supposed to look after him, she had taken him out of Sid, it hadn't been her idea but still she had agreed to it, and now he had gone back to Dixing...

She felt chills down her spine thinking of going back there, why had he done it? But more importantly, why had she done it? Why had she agreed to let him take a walk? She should have imagined he was up to something but she had been moved by his brave act, protecting her chief, and had felt indulgent towards him... a big mistake that she would never repeat a second time.

She thought bitterly of Yunlan's anger when she will inevitably tell him that he had gone back to Dixing... did he even know that Wei was Dixingian? He probably did, Yunlan always seemed to know everything.

'He probably knows that he loves him too, why should I be the one to tell him?' she thought, disliking the idea of being the messenger between the two love birds.

Then another thought entered her head, why had he told her that? Why couldn't he wait and tell him himself after he came back? She replayed the scene in her head, his voice, his sad expression... like he thought he wouldn't be able to tell him himself anymore?

What was that all about? It had felt like... a goodbye?

'As long as the king was alive' he had said... was he planning to kill the king or die trying? That was madness, there was no way he could do it alone!

A sudden uneasiness filled her heart, she would have liked Yunlan for herself, and there was no chance of that with Wei around, that was true, but when she had thought that she'd like him gone, she hadn't meant dead, only away from her chief!

She had to do something, she wasn't sure of what Wei planned to do but in her heart she was more and more convinced that his life was in danger, and she didn't want him dead, he had spared her after all. As the Envoy, he must have known from the start who she was, but he had done nothing to her...

She had to tell Yunlan, she decided, he would know what to do, he always knew what to do.

She cursed herself for walking out without her bag and the cellphone that was in it, she had no other choice now, she turned away from the portal and ran back to Sid.

~~~~~

Yunlan handed in his written report claiming that he had an urgent case and that he simply had to go, he would be back to report personally if that was needed, but not now, and with that he hastily walked out.

He couldn't wait to be back to Sid and see for himself that Wei was alright. Of course he would be, who knows how many bad situations like that had he gone through already but this was different, this time he wasn't alone, there was Yunlan with him, and he wouldn't let him face it all by himself.

He passed the area where he had met Hong for the first time months before, and his eyes caught a familiar figure.

What the... what was he doing here? And alone! Why was nobody taking care of him?

He stopped in his tracks and then ran towards him yelling, "Shen Wei, what are you doing here alone, you're still hurt!"

Yunlan stopped when he got close enough to look into the other's eyes. "What's wrong? You seem different."

'Shen Wei' looked alarmed and asked, without answering his questions, "Hurt? Wei is hurt?"

Yunlan was taken aback. "Who are you?"

"I'm Yezun, his twin brother."

Yunlan was shocked, he had never known that Wei had a brother, and: "he never talked about you," escaped his lips.

Yezun smiled. "No, of course not, I don’t exist. But first take me to my brother and tell me who you are to him."

They looked so alike that Yunlan had no difficulty in believing that they were brothers, so he answered honestly, "I love him."

Yezun didn't comment but asked, worried: "You said he was hurt?"

"He saved my life," was all Yunlan said. The memory of him getting hurt in front of his eyes, protecting him, would haunt him for a long long time.

"Yeah, he's like that," said Yezun with a sad smile that was the mirror image of Shen Wei's. "Please, tell me about him, we haven't seen each other in a long time."

"Because of his... 'work'?"

"So you know about that too?" Yezun asked after a moment of hesitation.

"That he's the envoy? Yes, I know."

"Are you ok with it? Don't you think that he's dangerous? Weird? A joke on nature?"

"That's not a nice thing to say about one's own brother," Yunlan said, his face dark.

"Those are his own words, the last time we saw each other," Yezun told him and Yunlan murmured: "At least he didn't say disgusting again."

"He said that too actually, I just gave you a brief summary of what he thinks of himself."

"Yeah, he can be silly sometimes, but I can understand why he talked like that."

Yezun raised an eyebrow. "You can? Please, tell me about him."

And Yunlan told him roughly what he knew while they walked side by side, their steps quick, both eager to see Wei and make sure that he was alright.