迷宮之城

-在戰爭時期-

(純，善，毒)

…

Atop the wall, the wind is strong and chill;
On the river, the water vapour's cold.
What day will these soldiers' uniforms
Singing and dancing enter Chang'an?

There was once a little boy who lived inside a fortress.

He wasn't a special boy. He wasn't related to some high official in the Emperor's Court. He wasn't anything to look at twice. He had average intelligence and would go on to live an average life and die in mediocrity. That was his life, foretold by the deities above like Yu-Huang; although it was probably the San-Kuan that decided this boy's normal life.

The boy's name was Liang Tian. He was a boy that lived in the fortress, as the son of one of the cooks of the army; and despite being born average and expected to be average, he experienced something now only told in legends or in fading memories.

Liang Tian lived in what is now referred to as, The Walled City.

The story starts in 1841, using the Julian calendar, in the year of the Snake.

Tian was four years old, his dark eyes sparkling and his cheeks puffed out trying to hold in his breath, turning them a blushing red. He was hiding behind a crate full of radishes as he listened in curiously about what the adults were talking about. Four men sat around a small circular table with their dinner spread before them, chatting quietly.

"Qiánbèi, what are these Westerners doing here?" Tian's father asked one of the other men.

The older man slurped his soup before letting out a satisfied sigh, as he placed the bowl down. "It's not something polite to talk about at the dinner table, Xiánjiā."

One of the younger men pouted. "Come on, Ojii-san, you know we're all interested about what they're doing here. Besides, it's only not polite to talk about it when people don't want to hear it. I'm sure we all want to hear it." He inclined his head towards his friend, the only other Japanese inside the fort, who nodded in agreement.

"I don't want to hear that tone, Ér. And how many times have I told you to refer to me as Qiánbèi, or Tàifǔ?"

"But Ojiiiiiiiiiiiii-san."

"You're not going to get anything out of him, Qiánbèi, might as well just tell us what's going on outside." Tian's father, Liang Gou hid his smile behind his cup of tea.

'Ojii', whose real name was Li Zhu, sighed, his long grey beard shining catching the light of the candles brightly whenever he shifted around. "Oh, alright." Zhu sighed. Honda Hiroto smiled brightly at his friend, Miuzaki Daiki, who rolled his eyes in reply. "You know how the soldiers are talking are talking about the fighting ending?"

"Eh? They are?" Hiroto blinked in surprise.

"Baka…" Daiki muttered under his breath. "It's all they've been talking about…"

"Oi! I haven't left this kitchen in days; give me a break, Dai-chan!"

"And whose fault is that for getting banned from leaving the kitchen for a week?"

Hiroto didn't grace his friend with a reply.

Tian laughed behind his hand, careful to keep out of sight of the men at the table. He didn't want to be thrown out and sent back to bed.

Zhu took this pause as his chance to bring the conversation back to him. "They've finally come to the end of the War –"

"Yay! Isn't that great news?"

Tian's father, Gou, blinked. "Really? Wow, that's wonderful to hear."

"Hm." Daiki was never the best conversationalist.

"But they're given us up."

"…"

There was a sudden intake of breath, and Tian frowned from his hiding spot. What were Fùqīn and the others talking about? Given up? He wanted to run over there and ask them, but that would mean he wouldn't get to hear the rest, and they probably wouldn't tell him. Tian pouted, but before he could think any more of the matter, his father started speaking.

"You mean… Kowloon?"

"The entire island and peninsula."

They blanched. Hiroto was biting his lip, Daiki had a look of startled indifference on his face, and the two older men looked grim.

"W-What?"

"We lost- well, we didn't lose, but those damned British wanted something because we destroyed all their Opium," Zhu sneered here, and Gou shook his head. "How disgusting? So this whole fort has become part of the British Empire. It's those blasted Mages they have- 'wizards' they call them- who actually made this petty fight into a big war." Zhu snorted.

"W-What do we do?" Hiroto asked.

"Nothing. They're come and evacuate us soon enough. Throw us out on the streets, I suspect."

Tian nearly started crying, his cheeks blushing bright red in anger. "No! I don't want them to do that!" He ran out of his hiding spot and ran over to his father, burying his face in his robe.

Gou looked down at his son in shock. "Tian, Quǎnzǐ, what are you doing out of bed?"

Zhu frowned and narrowed his eyes. "And how much have you heard?"

"I d-don't want to leave! I don't like this War! I d- Papa, what's opium? Wha-?"

"He's heard enough," Daiki replied, looking at the young boy with narrowed eyes. "How bold of him though, to come listen to us when he's supposed to be in bed."

Tian shook in his father's hold, wetting the silken robes that the old man wore. Gou sighed and shot a look at Daiki to be quiet, and picked up the young boy, holding him tightly to his chest. "I'll put Tian to bed, and make sure he stays in bed. We're talk about this at another time."

The man nodded, and carried his crying son out of the now silent room.

"Oi, Liang. I'll take a pack of whatever cigars you got this week."

The black haired man nodded, his mole next his left eye very pronounced, as he took the cigarette package out from the display and put it on the counter.

The other man, tall and lean, with dark brown hair and a permanent scowl on his face, grabbed the pack and switched it around for the exact amount of change needed. Liang didn't even have to check the money to know that it was the right amount, and scooped it into the cash register.

"So… business going well for you?" Liang Fai asked.

The brown eyed man shrugged as he lit the cigarette. "Pretty good, I guess. Some foreigner bought a box of opium, the bastard. I bet he could have afforded a red pill, with shoes like that."

Fai raised an eyebrow. "A foreigner? You don't see many of them around these parts."

He sighed. "Yeah. Otherwise, business is fine. Got a few more recruits." The man side-eyed Fai.

Fai caught this look and glared at the other man, as he took out a towel and swiped at the counter top. "For the last time, I'm not joining your underground, Kyouya."

Kyouya sighed. "It's not that bad. The Chinese Triads-"

"-Rule this place. I know. My grandfather complains about it every time I go and visit him."

Kyouya smiled at that. "That wasn't what I was going to say. How is Ojii anyway?"

"Still hates your guts and the Triads for ruining his childhood home, but otherwise, in perfectly good spirits."

"For him."

Fai grinned at his unofficial best friend. "Yes. For him."

"Glad to know. The last thing we want is our best fishball vendor to kneel over. Boss would have a fit; he loves the xiaochi Tian-jiji makes."

"W-" Fai was interrupted by the mailman rushing into his small store.

"Liang, do you have any bandages? Jiao fell over and-"

Fai already shoved the bandages in the mailman's hands. "Don't worry about it, it's on the house."

The mailman smiled brightly as he waved, and ran out of the store. "Xie xie!"

Kyouya looked down at his watch and cursed. "Shoot. I have to be back at Boss's by five. See you soon?"

"Kind of have to, my store would go out of business without you buying twenty packages of cigars a day, so I believe so."

"Snarky wáng bā."

"Bèn dàn."

"Real creative."

"So was yours."

Kyouya shook his head and left the store, shouting a 'Ja ne!' behind him. Fai who remained inside, sitting on the stool as sounds of people talking and walking above his head echoed in the nearly empty room.

A few hours passed, a couple customers came and went, but for the most part, it was just Fai until closing time. The young man hummed under his breath as he closed up his shop and locked it, making sure that no drunken members of the Triad would break in and wreck it (again). With that done, he shoved his hands in his pockets and began walking the 'highway' that would lead to his apartment.

The Chinese Fortress that it once was centuries ago had been filled in with apartments, leaning all on top of each other, and with no particular style of building. Garbage filled the streets of the maze, and it was mostly ungoverned inside the city, except for the Chinese Triad that ran the city's gambling, prostitution, and everything else on the opposite side of the law.

It was no longer a fortress, instead a large and imposing structure of mismatched colours. It went by the name of 'Kowloon Walled City' now, something Fai's grandfather, Tian, disliked immensely.

"When I was a boy, Xiánláng, we were fighting against the British-"

"I know, Tài, you've told me this story multiple times."

"Sit down, brat, and listen to your elders when they're speaking."

"What elders?"

Fai let out a small yelp of pain as his grandfather hit him upside the head, and rubbed the back of his head as the old man glared at him.

"Don't be so rude!"

"Yíhàn…"

Tian cleared his throat. "When I was a young boy, we were fighting against the British at the start of the new era. When I was four years old, however, the British gained control over Hong Kong and this very fort here."

Fai nodded to show that he was listening as he spooned noodles into his mouth.

"They tried to kick us out, but myself, Fùqīn- may his soul rest in peace-, and the other men refused to leave, so we stayed inside the fort. Many people came to visit during that time period, and they started living in the fort. Soon it ran out of rooms, so they built. And they built, and built, and built, it was almost like the old magic my grandfather used to tell me about, how so many people could fit inside, and now here we are. The Kowloon Walled City. I'd almost be proud of it, if it weren't for those bastards of the Triad's ruining the history here."

"Ah, that reminds me, gramps. Kyouya says hello."

"Tell him that I don't want him conversing with you."

"He already knows that."

"Hm." Tian sniffed. "And yet he's disobeying me. Hmph! Kids these days."

Translation: First half of the story is respectful names for each other, as the Chinese were big on that then.

Second half is mostly insults.

If you're curious you can look it up further.

(the Chinese are rather creative, I must admit.)

….

for wand wood- fir. for QL: blushing, biting, bold,

Dedicated to the lovely, lovely Remi who answered all my questions and is actually interested in Chinese Triads, yay. *high fives*

Thank you every single site I had to scroll through to find black market information on opium and red pill cost, Taoism information, honorifics, names, dates, zodiac signs, Kowloon information, the walled city, emperors, war captains… yep. Everything must be as exact as possible.

I don't own Harry Potter.

Thank you so much Sam for betaing! Ily *hearts*