Chapter Text
Xie Lian wasn’t sure how much time had passed at this point. He died too frequently to properly keep track, and he wouldn’t care anyways. What was the point of trying to document how long he had been stuck underground in a coffin? How long he had been in the pitch black, with a stake embedded through his heart and jammed into the wood beneath him, pinning him in place?
At the beginning, after what he assumed was a few days or weeks, he had tried to get out. He figured Lian Qianqiu would be long gone by that point. But he must have been more spiteful than Xie Lian anticipated, as the moment he had shattered the wooden coffin lid above him, he was met with thick and sturdy metal.
Even just shattering the wooden lid had sapped the little strength he had. His shackles completely restricted the flow of spiritual energy through his body, and the stake in his heart didn’t allow him to generate enough blood to stay lucid for long.
Xie Lian’s attempts to break through the metal lid were pathetic; the feeble and ineffective hits doing nothing but creating a resounding banging noise that rattled through his bones. Ruoye wasn’t much help either, the band unable to worm its way out or break through the metal. Though when it tried to pull the stake from his heart, Xie Lian stopped it. If this was his punishment, if this was what Lang Qianqiu wanted, he would endure it.
Once he realized he wouldn’t be able to get out on his own, his already tenuous grasp on the time passing vanished. He started losing huge chunks of time.
When he had brief moments of lucidity in between deaths, he was absolutely disgusted at what he felt himself becoming. It was like each time he woke up, his body was even more emaciated, he was bathing in an even bigger pile of blood, and the smell of his own rotting flesh desperately trying to heal around the steak was nauseating.
Xie Lian vividly remembered being stabbed 100 times. It isn’t something he thinks he’ll ever forget, though he does wish time would start to dull the pain that even the memory brings. How long will he have to wait before it isn’t painful to think about? But even remembering how painful, and terrifying, and disgusting that experience was, he would prefer that over being stuck in this coffin, nailed to the ground. At least there was an end to it. The longer he stayed in the coffin, the more the enclosed space felt monstrous.
He started to dread waking up from the deaths. Every time his eyes opened, though they could see nothing in the pitch black of the coffin, it felt as if the walls were inching towards him. Not fast enough to be a threat, but enough that it felt as if there was a hand squeezing his lungs and restricting his breathing. When he was awake, his breath came quickly, his heart sped up around the stake, and his eyes darted around looking at nothing real but seeing monsters in the dark.
Luckily, his own panic sent him back to death quickly each time.
-
“Hey man, this is a second layer to the coffin. What on earth would need to be buried under two coffins? Maybe we should leave it alone.”
“Are you kidding? This could be ceremonial, meaning that whoever is buried here is decked out in jewels and gold. We’ll be rich!”
“I don’t know any ceremony that requires multiple coffins for just one person. And look at all this blood! And the smell… ugh. What if it’s some demon that could only be controlled through multiple layers? It’ll kill us right away.”
“Shut up and help me get the lid off. It weighs like 300 pounds. I already unlatched it.”
Xie Lian squeezed his eyes shut tighter and turned his head to the side, willing himself to just die again. The hallucinations were a recent development, but had brought him more pain than anything.
At first it had been his own panic pushing his mind into overdrive, but after a while he started hearing things. Voices, crystal clear, whispering or yelling about everything and nothing at all. The first time it happened he believed it to be real, and screamed until he tore his vocal cords to shreds trying to get their attention. Anything to get out of this shallow grave and pitch black darkness that seemed to come alive around him.
But he learned very quickly that it was just his mind playing tricks on him. His own desperation and fear becoming something corporeal. It was never real.
A loud screech and banging noise reverberated around Xie Lian’s body so painfully it almost sent him to another death. Unfortunately, he held on, and had to experience the burning pain of something other than never ending darkness hitting his still tightly shut eyelids.
Another loud bang, and then shadows blocked out the light against his lids. The relief was immediate, though the faint light still creeping in from around the shadows was painful.
“Holy shit. Is that actually a corpse?”
“I thought I saw it move!”
A faint slapping noise.
“Stop fucking around! I mean, look at it. That thing isn’t living.”
“I get it, but… It doesn’t exactly look like a corpse either.”
“Shut up!”
“It’s still bleeding.”
Xie Lian felt something touch the steak embedded in his heart, and the white hot pain caused his body to jerk involuntarily. His breath started coming out in sharp pants as he fought against the death he could feel coming. Something was starting to feel really off about this hallucination, and he wanted to see it through.
“HOLY FUCK!”
“IT’S ALIVE! IT’S FUCKING ALIVE!”
“PUT THE LID BACK ON!”
Xie Lian faintly heard the men clamoring around the coffin, their shadows passing over his eyelids and providing slight reprieve from the light as they did. He felt his heartbeat slowing down, his breath catching in his chest and sticking, and the blinding pain radiating from his eyes and the stake in his heart fading as death crept over him. He fought it as much as he could. He clenched his fists, scrunched his eyes tight, anything to keep himself lucid, but it didn’t work. He should’ve known. Death isn’t really something you can fight. Especially not when you’ve been fighting it for years.
-
When he awoke from his death, he was surprised to find himself fully alert right away. Usually it took him quite a while to have any kind of rational thought after waking up from his deaths where he just laid there, mind fuzzy and ideas flitting around his brain but none able to take hold.
But now, he woke up and though he was ridiculously tired, and in pain, and felt a gnawing ache in his stomach and throat from years of starving and dehydration, his thoughts were clear right away.
Xie Lian decided to slowly open his eyes, and when he did, it was to darkness. He felt himself start to panic, a learned fear of the coffin overtaking him, when he realized it was just dark. It was no longer the pitch black, overbearing darkness he was accustomed to, but a darkness his eyes adjusted to relatively quickly.
He slowly raised his right arm, needing to test what he didn’t quite believe he was seeing. He felt a painful tug in his chest at the action and was surprised to not feel the jostling of the stake. He ignored it for the moment and continued to raise his arm, pushing aside the pain and violent tremors wracking his body at even the slightest movement after so long laying still.
He kept raising it, until it was in the air perpendicular to his prone body. It didn’t hit the lid of the metal coffin roof, as he thought it would. Instead he was able to fully extend it over his body and out of the coffin.
Xie Lian took a moment to process that, not letting himself hope for freedom quite yet. He lost strength in his arm after a few seconds, and let it fall with a slap against the bottom of the coffin. He narrowed his eyes, glancing around and letting them continue to adjust to the darkness.
After a few minutes, he was able to make out a few things above him. It looked like tree branches, swaying very lightly in a soft breeze that Xie Lian couldn’t feel, isolated as he was by the walls of the coffin. Looking down at himself, his breath caught at what he saw. Or more accurately, what he didn’t see. There was no stake protruding from his chest.
Gritting his teeth, Xie Lian wriggled around in the coffin until he lay on his side, ignoring the bursts of pain shooting through every single point on his body. He got his arms stabilized against the wood beneath him and pushed up into a sitting position. Though he immediately had to lean against the wall of the coffin to avoid toppling over, his head was now above the ground and he was able to feel the soft breeze in the air, was able to smell something other than his own rotting flesh and the tang of his blood.
Tears slid down his cheeks, surely creating unsightly tracks through whatever gore had stuck to his face during his time in the coffin, but he didn’t care. He was no longer trapped. He could see blades of grass through the streaks of moonlight illuminating the canopy of trees above him, could smell the crisp scent of nature after a rainstorm, could hear the chirping of insects hidden around him.
It felt better than ascension, to experience this again after the nightmare he had just lived through. When he'd accepted the punishment from Lang Qianqiu, he knew it wouldn’t be a good experience by any stretch of the imagination, but he figured once he had served his time he could break out and continue his aimless wandering once again. But it had turned into something much worse. He had severely underestimated how badly Lang Qianqiu wanted to wipe his existence from the world.
But it was a punishment he had accepted. A punishment he deserved.
Xie Lian turned his head to look to his left, and saw the top of the metal coffin sitting against the grass and mud. It was almost a foot thick, and there were mechanisms on the side that clearly latched to the rest of the coffin, making escape nearly impossible. And with a stake in the heart, completely impossible.
Xie Lian pondered it for a moment, and realized with sudden clarity that the voices of those men he now presumed were grave robbers were in fact not a hallucination. One of them must have knocked the stake out of his heart in their panic when they saw he was alive.
A glance to the right showed he was buried on a gently sloping hill, something he did not remember from when Lian Qianqiu put him here. It seemed to have eroded enough to alert people there was something buried here and spark interest to grave robbers to figure out what that was.
Looking down at where he had been pinned to the coffin, he noticed the wood was completely soaked in blood to the point that it was a dark red, almost black, and was squishy to the touch. Xie Lian didn’t know whether to laugh or cry at the fact that his own never ending stream of blood from the stake pierced through his heart had given him a more comfortable place to lie down.
The mask he wore as Feng Xin Guoshi was in tatters at the bottom of the coffin, probably from when he would panic and flail around during short moments of lucidity. He didn’t dare look anywhere else, especially at his own body, knowing what he would see would disgust him and wanting to enjoy the feeling of freedom for a bit longer before dealing with that.
He turned onto his knees in the coffin, chest hanging over the edge onto the grass, and pushed himself all the way up so he was laying flat on his back on the ground. The cold dew drops on the blades felt wonderful even through his destroyed robes. He felt his chest throbbing at the movement, but it was no longer the white hot pain of a foreign object destroying his insides. Instead, it was the dull ache of a slowly healing wound, and he welcomed the pain. He called to Ruoye to wrap around the wound, hoping to stop the trickling of blood and hold it closed so it could heal.
After he had given himself quite a bit of time to enjoy being out of the coffin, he sat up with difficulty and leaned his back against the nearest tree. Without looking, he reached back onto the trunk and started digging his fingers into the bark. He could feel skin tearing and fingernails cracking, but he was able to break off a few small pieces.
He laid them in between his spread legs, trying to ignore the way the fabric of his robes showcased his emaciated form, and brought one piece of the bark to his mouth. He chewed slowly, knowing he couldn’t eat too fast or he would make himself sick, and the act of throwing up would be so taxing it would surely send him to another death.
He sat silently under the tree, eating bark, for hours. He needed some kind of sustenance to give him the strength to stand up and walk. Though he was a martial God, the years of starvation, dehydration, not moving, as well as the cursed shackles around his neck and ankle were prohibiting him from being able to bounce back as quickly as he once might have.
When he had responded to the insistent hunger pains in his stomach, and knew eating any more would make him sick, he attempted to stand up. It was quite a process, and Xie Lian was grateful nobody was around to see the pathetic show he put on to stabilize himself on his own two legs. Once he was up, and confident he wouldn’t fall right back down when he started moving, he turned away from where he knew Yong’An was and began to make his way through the woods. Every step sent tremors through his entire body, his muscles working overtime just to do basic functions. He felt as if we was wading through water.
He had taken only a few steps, and hadn’t covered much distance at all, but something caused him to pause in his movements. He leaned against a nearby tree and took a few deep breaths. He wanted to get away from here, as far away from Yong’An and Lang Qianqiu as possible. He had done enough damage, it was time for him to get away once and for all.
But something was holding him back. Some sort of weird desire to see what had happened, what had become of Yong’An since it was destroyed. He didn’t know why he was feeling that way; realistically he knew he needed to get as far away as possible.
Even so, he turned around, almost losing his balance but righting himself with the support of the tree, and headed back the way he came. He almost stepped right into the coffin as he passed it, but was able to avoid it just in time. The sudden movement caused his legs to give out and he collapsed into the dirt, but he just picked himself back up and kept moving.
His robes, stained black from his blood, dragged behind him in rotted tatters. But he didn’t stop, heading towards the ruins of Yong’An.
-
It was as bad as he thought it would be. The city was completely abandoned, most homes and storefronts still standing but obviously on their last legs. Some had already collapsed, laying in piles around the main road. Xie Lian’s eyes had adjusted to the moonlight completely, and could see the destruction with clarity.
He roamed the streets, gait slow and unsteady, and viewed firsthand the damage that had come to Yong’An. Even now, the guilt of what he did made his destroyed heart squeeze in his chest, and he had to stop to try to calm himself down. Tears once again began to slide down his cheeks.
He was so distracted he almost didn’t notice it, the bright silver butterfly fluttering through the air on the other side of the street. It was small, but even that bit of light made him flinch back and narrow his eyes, trying to keep is gaze on it. Whatever it was, it didn’t seem to notice him, and continued lazily on its journey down the street.
Morbidly curious, Xie Lian followed behind it from a distance. It turned down a corner that Xie Lian recognized as what was once the city center. Where it was once vibrant and bright, filled with vendors and residents, it was now just as barren and ruined as the rest of the town. It hurt to see such a great place in pieces, but he soon forgot about that when he saw where the butterfly was headed.
Xie Lian leaned against the side of a still standing booth, watching the butterfly approach a man standing in the middle of the street and dissolve into a metal vambrace on his arm. He was facing away from Xie Lian, but even from a distance Xie Lian could tell the man was tall and powerful. He wore dark colored robes, red maybe, if Xie Lian had to guess, though it was difficult in the dim light. Silver jewelry around his neck, adorning his robes, and strung through his boots glinted in the moonlight, and his hair was dark and pin straight, hanging to his lower back.
Even with Xie Lian’s spiritual energy suppressed from his shackles, it was obvious that this man was formidable. His spiritual energy was unrestrained, and almost seemed to physically fan around his body in waves. Given his power, Xie Lian assumed he wasn’t an original resident of Yong’An, as someone like that would not have flown under the radar enough for Xie Lian to not notice him.
This was a dangerous man, that much was clear. But Xie Lian was desperate with nothing to lose, and the sight of another person was exciting. He opened his mouth to call out to him, but not even a whisper came out, and it shot pain down through his throat. He doubled over with a hand clenched around his neck, trying to breathe through the ache. It seemed his vocal chords were still destroyed from his screaming in the coffin.
It didn’t matter though. Xie Lian’s movements must have alerted the man to his presence, because he whipped around, and a few more butterflies materialized and fanned around him threateningly.
Xie Lian stood back up straight and gave a weak wave, smiling. He wasn’t too worried. He was absolutely positive he couldn’t be perceived as a threat right now. He would be seen as more pathetic than anything else. And even if the man decided he was a threat, it would just be one more death to tack onto the rest. Nothing new.
The man observed him, tilting his head to the side, before he visibly stilled. Unperturbed, Xie Lian pushed off from the booth he was leaning on and began walking towards him, maintaining the smile on his face. The man seemed to jerk back to life at his movements, and rushed forward as well. As Xie Lian got closer, the brightness of the butterflies started to blind him, and he had to stop and turn his head away, clenching his eyes shut.
He heard the footsteps of the man stall. There was a moment of silence, only the rustling of the wind through the nearby trees to be heard, before the man spoke. “Y-Your Highness?”
It was so startling that Xie Lian whipped his head back around to look at the man, but once again the butterflies blinded him. He shut his eyes again and took a step back, but his legs disagreed with the sudden movement and folded under him. He dropped with a heavy thud to his knees and steadied himself with his hands flat on the dirt.
“Your Highness!” The man now exclaimed, rushing forward and kneeling in front of him in the dirt. “What’s wrong? What’s the matter?” The voice was deep and gravely, but carried a note of alarm.
Xie Lian waved his hand in the direction he assumed the butterflies were, turning his face to the man with his eyes still closed and mouthing, “bright”.
Immediately, the light of the butterflies was gone, and Xie Lian was able to slit his eyes open to look at the man in front of him. The butterflies were still there, fluttering in weird panicked motions around Xie Lian’s head, but they now emitted no light at all. Xie Lian only noticed their darkened presence due to their movements.
The man in front of him was incredibly handsome. His dark hair framed the pale skin of his face, with an eyepatch covering his right eye. His left eye was exposed, showing a rust colored iris surrounded by long eyelashes. His face was angular and coldly beautiful, but his expression was one of alarm and anguish, making it hard for Xie Lian to admire for long.
Xie Lian opened his eyes fully and smiled once again, trying to assure the man he was fine without words. It didn’t seem to reassure him though, his eyes trailing over Xie Lian from head to toe and becoming filled with worry. Xie Lian didn’t even have to glance down at his own sorry state to know what was prompting that reaction. His robes were destroyed, rotted away in places from his own blood, and gaped open around the still healing hole in his chest that Ruoye thankfully covered. He could feel his skin pulling painfully against his bones pressing too close to the surface. And though he had grown accustomed to his own scent, he assumed it wasn’t pleasant.
Xie Lian decided to ignore the fact that this strange and powerful man, who seemed oddly concerned for him, apparently knew who he was. That was a problem his already overworked brain did not have space for. Instead, he glanced around and fixed his eyes on a small pond that was situated behind one of the booths.
He shakily stood up and headed towards it. He had meant to at least rinse himself off before talking to the man, but the man mirrored his movements and followed close behind like a silent shadow. It didn't feel threatening, so Xie Lian said nothing. Once Xie Lian got to the edge, he allowed his exhaustion to overtake him and fell face forward into the pond. Realistically, he had been attempting a more graceful entrance into the water, but was clearly out of energy.
The pond was deeper than he thought, and he was fully submerged before he reoriented himself and felt the silt under his feet. He allowed himself to float for a moment. The cool water felt nice, felt like a privilege after however long he was in the coffin without access to water. Before he knew it, an aching thirst that he had been pushing down overtook him, and he began gulping in the water around him, uncaring if it was clean or not. He had been poisoned and sick enough times that he was pretty much immune to a bit a dirty water.
But before he could drink as much as he wanted, he heard a muted splash and felt hands gently grab his waist. They pulled him to the surface, and he gulped in a breath he forgot he needed in his desperation to quench his thirst.
“Your Highness, are you alright?” The man asked once again. Xie Lian slowly opened his eyes, and was momentarily stunned at the sight before him. This man was devastatingly handsome. His hair was even darker when wet, with strands clinging to his cheeks and droplets of water sliding down his skin.
Unable to help himself, Xie Lian reached out a hand and gently trailed a finger down the man’s cheek. He followed the path of a droplet of water, entranced at the vision he made. His whole hand tingled at the contact.
Once the drop of water had finished its path down the man's face, Xie Lian brought his hand back up to cup his cool cheek. The man’s single eye watched him with an unwavering intensity, and the hands on his waist tightened imperceptibly where he was holding him above the water.
“Your Highness,” the man breathed, “...what happened to you?” His voice sounded choked, almost like he was about to cry. Xie Lian silently huffed, for some reason not wanting this man he had never met to be sad. He leaned forward until their chests pressed together, and brought his other arm up to loop around his neck and pull him into a hug.
He had just meant to reassure him, but the close contact made an indescribable warmth flood Xie Lian’s body. He knew what it was, had been starved for human contact before, but never to this extent. Never to the extent that a simple hug with someone else could bring him such pleasure.
The man gasped as Xie Lian pulled him in closer, and after a moment his arms looped around his waist fully to return the embrace. Xie Lian buried his face into the man’s neck and breathed in, smelling a wonderful combination of pine and something smoky.
But the moment that thought reached his brain, he remembered how filthy he himself was, and pulled away. The man immediately released him, allowing Xie Lian to back away to somewhere he could stand with his head above water.
Xie Lian reached behind him and pulled the full sweep of his hair over one shoulder, thinking he could start there to get himself clean. The sight that greeted him was… unpleasant to say the least. His hair was matted with blood and gore to the point that Xie Lian knew it was unsalvageable. He looked back towards the man, and made a motion with his hand imitating slicing his hair off, wondering if the man had a knife he could use.
The man, still wearing an agonized expression but seeming to try and hide it behind a gentle smile, took a step towards him, holding his hands out in front of him. “You want to cut it?” He asked.
Xie Lian nodded.
“Can I…” The man trailed off, stopping his movements. Xie Lian raised his eyebrows in question, urging him to go on. “Can I try to clean it before you cut it off? I can help.”
Xie Lian hesitated. Being in the water was a welcome break to his aching body, and was allowing his mind to focus more on what was going on around him. This man was obviously powerful, and knew of his title, meaning he probably had plenty of reasons to hate Xie Lian. Yet here he was, jumping into the water after Xie Lian to pull him above the surface, allowing Xie Lian to touch and hug him, and offering to clean his hair for him. Something was odd here, but he couldn’t quite figure out what. Or if it was even something he needed to worry about.
Xie Lian moved his fingers in a motion prompting the man to come closer, and the man obliged, wading through the water towards where Xie Lian stood. When he was only a foot away, standing at the same level, Xie Lian was surprised at how far he had to crane his neck to look up at him. The man was at least a foot taller, even with his head tilted down to look at Xie Lian.
Xie Lian pointed at the man and tried to speak, but once again, his throat burned at the effort and led to a coughing fit that was even more painful. He felt the man’s hands gently grip his shoulders to steady him, and had to fight the urge to lean into the touch like a plant towards the sun.
“Don’t try to speak if it is painful, Your Highness. I can read your lips if you just want to mouth it.” The man spoke once Xie Lian had finished coughing. Xie Lian smiled gratefully at him, wiping away the tears that had built during the coughing fit.
Who are you? Xie Lian mouthed. The man seemed to understand, but hesitated for a moment before answering.
“I was the third born in my family, so gege may call this one San Lang.”
An obvious avoidance of the question, but Xie Lian didn’t mind. He was more grateful that San Lang was no longer calling him ‘Your Highness’. But gege, really? What a cheeky man!
A smile curled Xie Lian’s lips, and he nodded once, pulling his hair into one hand and handing the clump over to San Lang to signal his acceptance.
San Lang took the hair in his hand, analyzing the mats for a moment. “This may take a while. Would gege like to lay by the side of the pond while I work?”
Though Xie Lian was enjoying the feel of the cool water flowing over his skin, he could feel his legs shaking with exertion and nodded once. Before he got out, he leaned his face over the pond to get another drink. He was still thirsty, and with his throat stinging from the coughing fit, he couldn’t resist.
But before his lips even touched the water, there was a gentle but insistent hand on his shoulder standing him back up straight. Before Xie Lian could ask San Lang what was going on, a waterskin was being held out to him.
“If gege is thirsty, he should drink this. The pond water isn’t safe for consumption.” Xie Lian took the waterskin from San Lang, giving him a grateful smile and taking a few sips right away. He handed it back, but San Lang shook his head. “Keep it. I don’t need it right now.”
Xie Lian put the cap back on it, and set it on the ground next to the pond’s edge. He was grateful, and hoped the water would begin to soothe his aching throat. Once that was done, and he had time to analyze the height of the ledge in front of him, he realized he was in a bit of a bad situation. He didn’t think he had enough strength to pull himself out. It was possible that if he got his upper body over the edge, he could fling the rest of his body out. It would just be ridiculously embarrassing and there was no guarantee he'd actually be able to do it.
However, seeming to be able to read him surprisingly well considering they didn’t know each other, San Lang made an aborted movement with his hands towards Xie Lian, before saying, “Can I help gege get out? The ledge may be slippery.”
Xie Lian knew that was just an excuse to placate him. And to be honest, it warmed his heart that San Lang was even trying. They both knew what kind of state he was in. I mean, San Lang had his hands on his waist earlier when he hugged him, so even if the robes hid the worst of the effects of the starvation, he was sure San Lang had felt it.
Xie Lian felt overwhelming gratitude, and for the first time in a long time, felt incredibly lucky. It was unbelievable that he had met such a kind person, who was so willing to help him. Someone who was obviously powerful enough to not have to. Someone who knew who he was and was still willing.
He felt tears welling up behind his eyes again, and didn’t bother to hide it. He was so tired. Too tired to put on a facade. He briefly worried his time in the coffin had broken him, but quickly shook that thought away. That was a worry for another time.
San Lang looked panicked again. “Your Highness, I am so sorry for assuming. I didn’t mean to upset you, or overstep. I-”
Xie Lian cut him off by reaching forward and grabbing one of San Lang’s hands that was still stretched out towards him. He brought it towards his own body and nodded, signaling his acceptance of San Lang’s help. I am grateful for your help. He mouthed, once San Lang had moved his gaze from where their hands were connected back to his face.
It seemed San Lang was the speechless one now. He lowered his lashes and nodded, before lightly removing his hand from Xie Lian’s and using both hands to grab Xie Lian’s waist. He noticed now more than before, that San Lang’s hands overlapped where they grabbed around his waist, and he felt another flush of embarrassment at the state of his body.
“Okay gege. Ready?” San Lang looked back up at him. Xie Lian gave him a smile.
Gentle as can be, San Lang effortlessly lifted his body out of the water until he was sitting on the edge, with his legs still in the pond.
“Did gege want something to eat as we work?” San Lang asked, pulling a slightly damp bun from his sleeve. Xie Lian’s mouth watered at the sight, but he knew it probably wasn’t a good idea to eat more than he already had at this point in his starvation. He patted his stomach, indicating the issue and hoping San Lang understood, and shook his head.
San Lang, possessing an uncanny ability to understand him with no words exchanged, nodded and placed the bun back in his sleeve. “If… if gege is interested, I have a residence not far from here if I use my teleportation device. Once we get gege’s hair clean, he is welcome to join me there for a proper bath and meal.” When Xie Lian didn’t respond right away, San Lang continued. “You don’t have to answer right away. Let’s get your hair clean. You can think about it.”
Xie Lian smiled down at where he stood, still in the water, before turning his body away and laying flat on the ground with his hair dangling in the water.
It wasn’t that he didn’t want to accept. Though everything about San Lang at face value was dangerous, he had been nothing but unnecessarily kind and helpful. Xie Lian trusted him. Inexplicably, he knew San Lang wouldn’t do anything to hurt him. And he knew it was possible that he only thought that because he had just gotten out of a traumatic situation and San Lang was the first kindness he experienced afterwards, but he didn’t care. He welcomed the blossoming trust and fondness building in his chest.
San Lang said nothing more, beginning to work on his hair. Xie Lian smelt something faintly floral, and figured San Lang had pulled out some kind of hair oil to aid in the process. He had expected it to hurt, or at the very least, had expected San Lang to give up once seeing the extent of the damage, but neither happened. San Lang worked methodically and tenderly through small sections of his hair, and the sound of combing as well as the gentle tugging on his scalp had his eyes closing and a silent sigh releasing from his lips.
Embarrassingly soon, he was asleep.
-
Xie Lian woke up slowly, leisurely. He could smell that same floral scent of the oil that San Lang had been using all around him, and he was warm and dry. He opened his eyes, and felt his heart drop when all he saw was darkness. That comfortable, floaty feeling he had right after he woke was gone immediately, and panic echoed through his veins, choking him. Paralyzing him.
Had it all been a dream? Was he still locked in the coffin? Did San Lang even exist? Would he never escape, and was he truly stuck here forever, forced to indulge his own sick mind in fantasies of escaping-
“Gege? Are you awake?” He heard a soft and low voice call from his right. San Lang, that was San Lang’s voice.
Xie Lian’s hands jerked up, surprised to not hit the top of the coffin but instead dangle in the open air around him. He moved them up to his face, and felt fabric draped over his eyes.
“Sorry about that gege. You were sleeping so soundly, I didn’t want to wake you, but I was worried about the sunlight affecting your eyes. You seemed uncomfortable by the brightness of the butterflies, and I didn’t want the sun to hurt you while you slept.”
Xie Lian let his arms fall back down by his sides, and a smile crept over his lips. Thank you. He mouthed, hoping San Lang was watching.
“Of course, gege.” San Lang responded. “I brought some fabric to wrap around your eyes if you’d like. I just have my outer robe draped over them right now, since they are thick enough to block out any light. The fabric I brought would let in some light, and could get your eyes used to it once you’re ready.”
The smile on Xie Lian’s face grew. He couldn’t help it. San Lang was so good, so kind, and he had no idea why that was being directed at him but he wasn’t going to question it. He held a hand over the robes covering his eyes and sat up, turning his face towards where he heard San Lang speaking.
Can I have the fabric? He mouthed.
San Lang reached out to gently grab the hand that wasn’t holding the robes to his face, and placed a strip of fabric in his open palm. Xie Lian felt Ruoye stir against his chest, where it still covered the wound. He ran the hand holding the fabric over it soothingly, before letting the robes fall from his eyes and placing the strip of fabric over them.
The warm light he felt against his eyelids during the exchange was painful, but not terribly so. Much better than it had been before. It made sense. He was finally able to sleep, not just die, and he felt the wonderful effects of a good night sleep all over his body.
As he tied the fabric around the back of his head, his hands brushed his hair and caused him to pause. His hair was… silky, smooth, and completely detangled. Once he finished tying the fabric, he excitedly ran a hand through his hair and smiled at San Lang.
Thank you so much! He mouthed. He heard San Lang chuckle, and the sound sent pleasant shivers through his body.
“Of course gege, it was my pleasure. I’m just glad I could help.”
Xie Lian leaned forward, gravitating towards San Lang like he couldn’t help himself. He heard rustling, and saw San Lang’s shadow through the faint light filtering in through the fabric as he leaned closer as well.
I have so many questions for you. Xie Lian mouthed with a smile, and San Lang properly laughed at that.
“I don’t doubt it, Your Highness. I have some questions for you as well. But first, I have more water and some plain soup for you. You need time to heal. I’ll still be around when you’re ready to ask.”
San Lang placed the waterskin into his hands, and Xie Lian took a few grateful gulps. After he finished, San Lang replaced the waterskin with a small bowl that Xie Lian assumed was the soup. He brought it to his lips and took a sip, sighing in pleasure at the warm flavor.
He drank the soup slowly, and he and San Lang sat in companionable silence while he did so. Their shoulders bumped where they sat side by side, and Xie Lian leaned into the touch.
After the soup was finished, San Lang took the bowl from him and Xie Lian heard him set it somewhere in the grass. “Has gege considered my offer?” San Lang asked, breaking the silence.
Xie Lian had thought about the offer to go to San Lang’s residence quite a bit before he fell asleep. As much as he inexplicably trusted San Lang, he wasn’t sure he wanted to be in any place with walls surrounding him. He was still on edge from his time in the coffin, and was appreciating the open space.
I don’t want to be in a confined space. He mouthed simply, not knowing how to explain the extent of his worries.
San Lang was silent for a moment. “My residence has extensive gardens. The light is controlled and wouldn’t be too painful, and you could rest and heal properly. You wouldn’t have to go inside at all if you didn’t want to.” A pause, before he continued. “You don’t have to accept it if you're uncomfortable, I just… want to make sure you’re okay. That you're safe and healing comfortably.”
That was the part Xie Lian didn’t understand. If San Lang knew of his title, then he knew the kind of life he had lived. One full of mistakes. Mistakes that cost lives, cost entire cities. Why on earth would he care about his well being?
But even with all of those thoughts spiraling around his head, he simply mouthed, okay.