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The vanquishment of Phantylia is the denouement of the Ambrosial Arbor story. But unlike a play where the curtain falls after the final scene, reality is far more messy. Cloud Knights, healers, and officials all stream in en masse once the danger has been dealt with.
Jing Yuan is promptly whisked away to the Alchemy Commission, supported by his Cloud Knights before Dan Heng can say another word to him. As the General is departing the delve he stops to speak to Fu Xuan who scolds him, hands on her hips. Dan Heng is too far to hear their words but he can see Jing Yuan’s rueful laugh as he placates her looking indulgent of her poorly concealed worry. Their closeness and intimacy is evident and leaves a sour taste in his mouth.
Dan Heng is an outsider here and can only watch Jing Yuan’s receding back as he leaves.
~
Welt takes him aside as he is about to head back to the Astral Express with March and Stelle.
“The Astral Express will remain in Xianzhou for several more days to discuss the matter of the Stellaron as well as the Stellaron Hunters. You are always free to come and go as you please from the Express, but I thought you could use the reminder.” Welt is matter of fact, speaking sedately. He does not give him a knowing look and there is no pity in his gaze, only his usual calm composure.
“Thank you, Welt. I will stay out a bit longer today then.”
He feels endless gratitude for Himeko and Welt’s unquestioning acceptance and nonjudgmental manner towards him despite having likely guessed much of his past.
“I will let March and Stelle know for you. If anything comes up, do not hesitate to contact us.”
~
When he arrives at Jing Yuan’s house, the General’s young retainer Yanqing is sitting on the front yard fence restlessly spinning a flute in his hands. He looks up at Dan Heng’s approach and hops off, coming to meet him.
Jing Yuan had practically raised Yanqing, so the young man must have a key to his house. “Why are you outside? I doubt Jing Yuan would mind if you went in to check on him.”
“Even if I go in, there isn’t anything I can help him with; it would just be for my own selfish assurance and if I accidentally wake the General he would stay up trying to put me at ease. Once I’m older and taller it’ll be different but for now...” Yanqing trails off with a grimace. “Are you here to see him? I heard you saved the General in Scalegorge.”
Yanqing may be young but he is not naive. So it is odd that he doesn’t seem suspicious or hostile to Dan Heng. He may have saved Jing Yuan but that should not be enough to engender this degree of trust—to not be alarmed finding a stranger, a former prisoner, outside the General’s home.
“I am. Phantylia’s powers harmed both body and spirit. The Luofu’s Alchemy Commission is skilled, but I wanted to see for myself that nothing was missed.”
“Your Vidyadhara abilities. Yinyue-jun Dan Feng’s power.”
“...That’s right. I was undecided whether to come since I would be trespassing, but before I knew it I found myself here.”
Yanqing grips the flute tightly in his hands, gaze lowered uncertainly. “If the General needs it...you’ll help him?”
“I will.”
Yanqing is silent for a moment before he raises his head to look Dan Heng in the eye. “The General told me before that if someone named Dan Heng was ever looking for him, he would like me to help him and if doing so would bring me trouble to use my own discretion.”
His heart skips a beat, eyes widened in shock.
Jing Yuan did? Why would he go so far?
Yanqing takes something from his pocket and fiddles with it, biting his lip. He looks to be thinking something over so Dan Heng waits.
The young man comes to a decision and places a key in Dan Heng’s hand. “Please return this to me tomorrow. If anything happens to Jing Yuan, know that I will hunt you to the end of the galaxy and make you pay for it thrice over.” His small face is grim and solemn as he delivers the threat.
“Thank you, Yanqing. I promise you no harm will befall Jing Yuan and I will be sure to give this back to you.” And he does not need another person hunting him across the galaxy. One Blade is already more than he can handle.
Yanqing frowns at him, doubting whether he had taken his words seriously. “Don’t you dare look down on me because of my age. I am more than capable of carrying it through.”
Dan Heng responds straightforwardly, “I would never question your abilities. Your swordsmanship is exceptional and there is no opponent more dangerous than someone protecting their loved ones.”
There is a light flush over Yanqing’s cheeks, abashed at Dan Heng’s frank observation and pleased by his acknowledgement.
“Would you like me to send you a text once I have confirmed Jing Yuan’s condition?”
“Please.”
They exchange numbers.
He can feel Yanqing’s eyes on his back as he lets himself into Jing Yuan’s house, politely removing his shoes at the entryway. His night vision in this form is excellent so he doesn’t bother turning on the lights as he walks into the living room.
There is a trail of armor and clothing leading up the stairs—an indication of how bone-tired Jing Yuan must have been. The General has always been meticulous, almost fastidious, with his attire and gear.
Dan Heng collects the pieces—gloves, pauldrons, cape—in his arms as he follows them up the stairs and down the hall until he is standing in the doorway of the master bedroom where he finds a pair of red trousers and a white tunic. He neatly folds the clothing and arranges the equipment tidily on the dresser before going over to the bed.
Jing Yuan is fast asleep, starfished out on the mattress. His face is pale, chest crusted with blood where Phantylia had clutched him in her hands, and his lustrous mane of white hair is a lank mess. Even in such a disheveled state he is stunning, a weary beauty with his handsome features and powerful build.
And Dan Heng has been standing over the bed staring at him like a scoundrel for too long.
He shakes it off and sits on the edge of the mattress. Taking Jing Yuan’s wrist, he sends out a tendril of healing magic to survey his meridians—the pathways that allow vital energy and elemental power to flow and circulate through the body.
Dan Heng’s forehead scrunches in consternation when he finds the pathways distorted, though partially mended. Full recovery from this degree of damage would likely require months if not years.
Jing Yuan’s condition is stable though and his physical injuries have been mostly healed so he sends a brief update to Yanqing to put his mind to rest.
Dan Heng had used up much of his energy in the battle today, but he should have enough left over to partly restore Jing Yuan’s meridians and put him on the road to recovery. He lays a hand on Jing Yuan’s chest and begins to direct his healing magic through the energy pathways.
Dan Heng has just started when he is alarmed by another presence in the room. He springs to his feet, spinning to face the intruder.
Dread twists in his gut when he sees who it is—Blade.
The swordsman is standing by the window, expressionless as they face each other. Dan Heng’s pulse beats frantically as adrenaline races through his veins—his spear is out of reach near the doorway.
He is facing down Blade unarmed.
Their gazes lock across the room as they stand in total silence, the air fraught with tension. Dan Heng doesn’t dare to blink.
His mind races. If Blade is here for Dan Heng why is he not attacking?
...Is he here for Jing Yuan?
He wishes his memories from Dan Feng were not so fragmented. Nothing he can recall tells him why Blade might be here, whether it is ill intent or...concern.
Blade steps towards him.
Every muscle in Dan Heng’s body goes rigid as the man approaches, but he stops two feet away and peers around him at Jing Yuan. His eyes rove slowly over the General’s body from head to toe before he turns away, seemingly satisfied. Striding over to the wall beside the window, Blade leans back against it, sword hugged to his chest. His gaze is turned away from Dan Heng and his attention is directed outward.
Guarding.
He has a vague recollection of this from Dan Feng’s days in the Quintet. When one of them was gravely injured and Dan Feng needed to render treatment immediately on the battlefield, whoever was there would stand guard while he focused on healing.
But this is not an emergency and they are not in a warzone. He can’t make sense of it.
Were Blade and Jing Yuan that close?
It is hard to believe Blade would overlook him when he is wearing Yinyue-jun’s form, but he also isn’t the type to play mind games. He can only conclude that Blade is really here for Jing Yuan and will have to remain vigilant of the man’s actions.
He climbs up to sit cross-legged on the bed beside the General. Placing both palms over Jing Yuan’s sternum, he guides his healing magic through his meridians, following the path of energy circulation through his body and laboriously repairing the channels as he goes. Sweat beads on his forehead from the effort and drips down his face.
As he continues to work, his breathing becomes labored, arms trembling from exertion. He has only treated a third of the damage but he is running nearly on empty. It feels as if his vessels are being scraped raw as he tries to draw up every last bit of energy.
“I won’t attack. You continue.” Dan Heng jerks, startled to hear Blade’s voice from right behind him.
But Blade’s next action is far more shocking.
He lays his bare hand on Dan Heng’s back and transfers him his own vital energy.
Allowing Blade to pass his energy directly into Dan Heng’s meridians leaves the core pathways of his energy, his magic, completely vulnerable: Blade could devastate him and leave him crippled.
It is far more threatening than a sword at his throat. His palms are sweating as his heart hammers in his chest.
The thing is though—it is a two-way street.
Blade is just as vulnerable.
Dan Heng would only need to forcefully reverse the flow of energy to ruin him.
“Stop thinking about irrelevant things and do your job. Focus,” Blade growls. He is close enough that Dan Heng can feel the man’s breath stir his hair.
He pulls himself together. The strain of doing this is nearly as taxing on Blade as himself; he can’t waste the precious energy that is being painstakingly handed over to him.
Blade’s unnatural vitality flows into him, pulsing through his meridians and warming his veins as it passes on through to Jing Yuan where he is working to restore his energy circulation.
The rare instances when he had felt someone else’s vital energy it had always been a gentle flow. But Blade’s is like a fiery torrent, so abundant that the excess wells up within him causing his face to flush and shortening his breaths.
“Blade, can you decrease the flow? Pass it slower?” He manages to gasp out.
“Can’t.”
Is it an effect of the curse of immortality?
Blade doesn’t seem to be lying, though he doesn’t know where his trust in that is coming from. Dan Heng can only grit his teeth and persevere.
He nearly collapses, flushed and panting when he finishes the treatment. It’s a relief when Blade withdraws his hand and the flow of energy cuts off, but it also leaves him cold with an odd sense of loss.
Dan Heng should be ready to drop after all this but it is as if some of Blade’s vitality remains within him. He is tired, but he almost feels better than when he had arrived.
At least it gives him the strength to pick himself up and check over Jing Yuan. He is reassured to see that there is color in the General’s cheeks now and his breathing is more even.
Dan Heng has achieved what he set out to do and should take his leave; any more than this would be overstepping. But Blade is not making any move to depart and Dan Heng is hyperaware of the man’s presence at his back, too close for comfort.
“...Dirty. Go wash.”
He blinks up at Blade who is scowling at him. “Are you talking to me? I’m done treating Jing Yuan, we should go.” He is careful not to emphasize the ‘we’, uncertain what may break this fragile truce.
“I’m not leaving him like this,” Blade gestures to Jing Yuan’s dismal state.
“It would be too presumptuous to...bathe him. What relationship do you have with Jing Yuan to be taking such liberties?” he asks suspiciously.
“Not your business. Do you think you could stop me? If you want to leave me alone with him, be my guest. I didn’t think you were the type to break your promise to Jing Yuan’s brat though.”
A shiver goes down his spine.
Blade was watching them?
Dan Heng had been on the alert, expecting opposition from Yanqing but he hadn’t sensed Blade at all.
Why would Blade want him here though? Could it be...
He almost squeaks when Blade hauls him off the bed by his collar.
“If you’re going to go, then go. If you’re going to stay then go bathe right now stop dirtying the sheets.”
Looking at Blade’s appalled expression, he belatedly remembers that the man has always been contrarily fussy about home cleanliness despite being a forgemaster, an inherently sooty profession. It pulls up a vivid mental image of Blade nailing Baiheng in the forehead with his house slipper for forgetting to take off her shoes once.
His gaze darts down to Blade’s socked feet and then scans the room. Sure enough, his shoes are lined up neatly under the window he came in through.
“...I’ll go wash up.” He can’t leave this man alone with Jing Yuan.
Blade grunts in acknowledgement.
Dan Heng goes into the bathroom, shedding his elaborate vestments and washes himself briskly.
If he puts his dirty clothes back on, Blade may throw him out the window—his dictatorial fastidiousness is no joke—so he walks out with a towel around his waist though it leaves him feeling naked.
The bedsheets have been changed with Jing Yuan bundled up in the dirty bedding on a corner of the bed. He notes that the soiled sheets are precisely folded so no uncleanliness touches the new linens.
Blade comes back into the room from the hallway, hair pulled up out of the way in an elaborate bun.
Dan Heng stares.
There are two literal chopsticks, as in eating chopsticks, holding the bun in place. They aren’t unadorned though, painted blue with a floral pattern. Bizarrely, Blade manages to pull it off, making it look elegant.
“Change back.” Blade’s lips are thin with displeasure as he waves at the Vidyadhara horns and tail.
“I can’t. I tried.” He had attempted it while showering, not wanting to be in the form of the person Blade loathes most.
“Figures,” he mutters darkly.
Dan Heng automatically takes the two jade green chopsticks that Blade hands him and looks down at them dumbly. He has no idea what to do with these. “...I’ll just tie mine back.”
Blade makes an inpatient sound and snatches the chopsticks out of his hands. Dan Heng’s shoulders tighten when the man circles behind him, but Blade only roughly twists his hair up into a bun for him.
That done, Blade promptly goes to lift Jing Yuan into his arms. When they’re in the bathroom, he hands Jing Yuan over to Dan Heng who watches blankly as Blade unashamedly strips everything off right in front of him revealing rippling musculature crossed by deep scars. There is a savage beauty to him that inappropriately quickens Dan Heng’s pulse.
He hurriedly looks away when Blade hooks his thumbs into the waistband of his boxer-briefs.
~
Dan Heng lowers Jing Yuan into the bath and he and Blade climb in on either side. Dan Heng ends up at the head so he lathers up the shampoo while Blade frowns at the blood caked on the General’s skin taking up a sponge. They work in silence only broken by the soft splash of water. Unbelievably, Jing Yuan does not even stir despite their ministrations. Jing Yuan’s warm weight lying against him settles some of the unrest he feels from the day.
It takes two washes before the matted white locks are pristine again. Dan Heng inspects the four bottles on the shelf next to the shampoo. Two have the word conditioner amongst the incomprehensible word salad on the labels.
...Jing Yuan has a haircare regimen? He is not sure if he feels more flabbergasted or amused by this discovery.
He doesn’t know what to use though. “Uh, Blade, do you know which one to use?” He points to the bottles.
Dan Heng receives a disparaging look making him feel incredibly wronged.
Why would he know anything about this?
Blade checks the labels and then lines three of the bottles up. “Use them in this order. A quarter sized amount for the first—“ He cuts himself off on seeing the bemused expression on Dan Heng’s face.
“—Nevermind, switch with me. You clearly don’t know what you’re doing.”
They shuffle around and Dan Heng accidentally gets an eyeful of the substantial uh, length between Blade’s legs and feels his ears warm. The image is unfortunately seared into his mind.
~
Dan Heng feels like an interloper as he watches Blade tuck Jing Yuan into bed. He wishes it was the heat of envy or longing, but it is the bitter cold of loneliness that settles in his bones.
But as Blade turns back towards him, he realizes that he is genuinely physically cold and has to suppress a shiver.
Dan Heng and Blade are standing a foot apart, eyeing each other warily when they hear Jing Yuan’s voice, deep and raspy with sleep.
“Blade? Dan Heng?”
Blade’s wide-eyed panic mirrors his own.
So Blade wasn’t as blasé about this as he seemed.
They both shuffle guiltily to the bedside.
“Jing Yuan.” “...Sorry.” Blade sounds subdued as Dan Heng apologizes as the same time.
Jing Yuan chuckles. “What are you apologizing for Dan Heng? Blade, Dan Heng, Thank you both for taking such good care of me.”
He shakes his head in negation. “I was too disrespectful. Please accept my apologies.” Blade stands stiffly next to him.
Jing Yuan’s brilliant golden gaze moves between him and Blade as he smiles warmly at them. “You are both fine. My gratitude is heartfelt, I feel much better now. You two have expended much effort on my behalf.”
An involuntary shudder goes through his body and he is grateful he is half hidden behind Blade whose shoulders are bunching for some reason. But he doesn’t have the time to puzzle out Blade’s reaction.
The blood in his veins has turned to ice and he can barely hold back the tremors from the freezing cold.
There is something wrong with his body—he needs to leave now. These are the last two people he wants to break down in front of.
“Then I will take my leave first. Have a good night.”
His speech is too hasty, but he isn’t even sure he can make it out the door as he is now. He pivots on his heel—
—and yelps as the room spins and he lands on his back, the hand on his arm burns against his icy skin. Jing Yuan had lunged forward and pulled him onto the bed.
He can’t hold back the violent shaking anymore as he curls onto his side. He has never felt so cold.
“...The hell is wrong with him?”
Jing Yuan’s brow is creased with worry, “It looks like shock. Dan Heng?”
“I-I’m fine. Let me go,” he says through chattering teeth.
The General takes his wrist. “His meridians—they’re nearly empty.”
“That can’t be, I passed him my energy and he was fine before.”
Jing Yuan’s gives Blade a startled look. “You did?” He visibly shakes himself, “No matter. I don’t have any knowledge of this, but perhaps your transfusion of energy temporarily suppressed the symptoms.” He places his palm on Dan Heng’s back and starts to transfer his energy to him.
“No!” He just healed Jing Yuan. If he does this now before he has recovered, it will do serious damage. “Jing Yuan, you can’t! You’ll injure your meridians!”
“Dan Heng, it’s alright. Your condition is far more critical.”
“I’ll be fine. Stop transferring, your meridians will be ruined!”
He fights Jing Yuan’s hold, but the General has him pinned.
“Blade!” Dan Heng calls desperately.
Jing Yuan is shoved off of him as he is grabbed around the waist and lifted away. Blade retreats out of Jing Yuan’s reach, carrying Dan Heng with him.
He leans against Blade’s chest as he is wracked with violent shivers. Blade’s arm around him is the only thing keeping him on his feet.
“Blade, it would please me greatly if you would help Dan Heng. But if are not going to do so, return him to me.”
“Why would I help him?” The deep voice is cold with familiar hostility. Blade shifts his grip on Dan Heng lower to take his full weight when his legs give out.
“Then will you allow him to die? Bring him here.” Jing Yuan’s tone is sharp.
“He won’t die from this,” but Blade sounds uncertain.
Dan Heng does know he won’t die from this, but the consequences would probably be...quite bad.
His head is spinning, thoughts sluggish as he tries to follow their conversation.
“Shock can be fatal. You know this.” The sheets rustle as if Jing Yuan is about to get up.
“B-Blade. Take me and leave.” Before Jing Yuan comes over.
“Shut up.”
Why isn’t Blade going? Jing Yuan is struggling to his feet.
“You—Fine. I’ll help him. Jing Yuan, sit back down,” Blade snarls sounding furious.
He moves forward, tossing Dan Heng onto the bed. Blade roughly flips him onto his front and places his hand on Dan Heng’s back.
NO.
Dan Heng rolls onto his back, clutching Blade’s forearm to his chest, fingers of both hands curled around the larger palm to hold it in place.
His mind is muzzy, but all he knows is that he doesn’t want to force this person. He can’t take another choice from him.
“Y-You don’t have to. I won’t die. I-I really won’t,” he chokes out through clattering teeth. “D-don’t listen to Jing Yuan.” He can’t feel the cold anymore, his entire body is numb. There is no sensation but he feels the pressure of his grip on Blade’s hand slip from his stiff fingers and traps it between his forearms instead.
His vision is blurry but he can make out Blade glowering down at him.
“I-I won’t die. You don’t have to.” Did he already say that?
He makes a distressed sound when Blade tugs his hand free and scrabbles at his arms, but the joints of his hands are frozen.
“Dan Heng would you just—I’m choosing this okay? This is my choice so stop acting like this.”
He is turned onto his side facing Jing Yuan who is sitting crosslegged beside him.
Molten flame pours into him from Blade’s palm against his back and he bites through his lip to hold back a cry. Uncontrollable tears streak down his face from the pain of the blistering heat.
Jing Yuan sighs, exasperated. “For Aeon’s sake, you two.” He places his hand over Blade’s to keep it in place as he rolls Dan Heng to face Blade with the man’s arm curled under him.
Dan Heng quickly throws his arm over his face, but Blade has already seen his tears. The excessive flow eases up, but even lessened the overwhelming energy burns agonizingly through his meridians—too much after too little. He clenches his teeth, fisting his hands in the sheets.
“Blade, why don’t you lie down? It looks like this will take awhile.”
Blade doesn’t look at Dan Heng as he lies down on his side facing him.
“Can you reduce the flow?” Jing Yuan asks over him.
“...Can only increase.”
Chidingly, “Was that really necessary?”
There is a distinctly guilty cast to Blade’s face.
He gathers Dan Heng close and pries his hands away from the sheets bringing them to rest on his shoulders. Sliding his fingers into Dan Heng’s hair, he guides his face to the junction of his shoulder and neck.
“You can bite and scratch. It doesn’t bother me.”
Some of his bewilderment cuts through the haze of pain.
Blade grumbles under his breath.
The fiery pain spikes and he reflexively bites down, clawing at Blade’s arms. Right after, the energy flow returns to baseline.
“Stop making that face. You started this, so come over here. I’m not doing all the work.”
He feels heavenly warmth curl up against his back.
~
Dan Heng sobers to find his teeth sunk into the meat of Blade’s shoulder. He hastily lets it go, raising his head.
And is met with a mortifying sight.
Blade’s left shoulder and neck is covered in nasty bite marks, some oozing with blood. Deep red scratches streak down his arms without an inch of unmarred skin.
He looks as if he has been mauled by a rabid animal.
Blade is unconcerned as he asks, “How do you feel?”
Dan Heng swallows, the coppery taste of Blade’s blood on his tongue.
“Better, it doesn’t hurt anymore.”
“You’re still freezing though,” Jing Yuan murmurs, unnecessarily close to his ear from where he is cuddled up against his back.
“...Why are you holding my tail?” Jing Yuan is hugging it.
“Mm. It was a bit active when you were out of it.”
“You smacked him a few times with it. Well done.” Blade sounds like he means it.
Dan Heng wants to sink into the floor and disappear.
“Are you ok?”
“I’m fine, just a little bruised.”
He hurt Jing Yuan too?
“Dan Heng, stop falling for it. He’s playing it up. Do you need me to continue?”
Blade is still transferring energy to him, warmth circulating through his meridians. But what had been a waterfall has ebbed to a stream.
“No, this is enough. Thank you.”
He feels significantly colder when Blade stops the transfer and can’t hide the small shiver. Jing Yuan rubs his arms while Blade watches them impassively.
Blade is staying? Dan Heng had thought he would make an excuse and take off right after.
“You tired him out. I have to say I’m impressed, it takes a lot to completely drain Blade these days.”
Jing Yuan doesn’t say it suggestively so there is no reason for his mind to interpret it as innuendo, but he still feels his cheeks warming.
“Are you...ok?” He never thought he would be saying these words to the man who has hounded him across the galaxy, whose heart he has pierced so many times with his own spear.
“I’m fine,” Blade replies curtly, looking just as discomfited by their situation.
“You were wondering why he hasn’t left right? He can’t even stand right now,” Jing Yuan drawls.
Aggravation seeps into Blade’s apathetic expression. “Jing Yuan have you said enough? What are you trying to do?”
...so that is why Blade is still lying here next to his sworn enemy and hasn’t tried to move away. Even if he wanted to get away from Dan Heng, he can’t.
Whatever else is between them, he owes Blade this time.
“I should go.” Dan Heng pushes himself up with difficulty, about to climb over Blade.
But the arm loosely encircling his waist from behind cinches tight dragging him back down and a large scarred palm hooks around his neck, shoving him back to the bed.
Blade’s mouth is tight, gaze conflicted.
“Where are you going in this condition?” Jing Yuan’s tone is mellow, but his arm is an unyielding steel band around Dan Heng’s waist.
“I’m much better now. The cold is a—side effect and will have passed by morning. I need to return to the Express.”
“In the middle of the night?” Jing Yuan is not easily deterred.
“If you leave, you’ll have to take me with you,” Blade states evenly.
He looks into bright crimson eyes. “You’re worried about the mara—that Jing Yuan can’t fight you off if you have an episode.” It was a conjecture before, but he is certain now.
Blade doesn’t say anything which is answer enough.
“You can’t even move right now.”
“You’ve fought me when I was affected by the mara before. Can you say with confidence that I wouldn’t be able to harm Jing Yuan?”
He can’t. Overtaken by mara, he has seen Blade fight when he should have long fallen; a vengeful asura hellbent on destruction.
“If I could, you would still tell me to bring you away. You aren’t willing to risk harming Jing Yuan.”
Neither of them are willing to take that risk.
He always understood the price better than any of us, yet he never spoke up—never did anything!
The anguished fury of Blade’s accusation when he had spoken to Stelle about Jing Yuan echoes in his ears.
Yet Blade had not been able to stop himself from coming when he had seen Jing Yuan fall. There is no other explanation.
And if Dan Heng has figured it out, then the General must have also. He feels Jing Yuan’s form tense along his back.
“What do you know of me, Dan Heng? Don’t speak as if you understand me,” Blade says in a guttural growl, flaring up at being called out.
He can’t carry Blade with him in this condition, so Blade will not allow him to leave even if he does not want him here.
What a mess they are.
Blade is glaring at him now, the brittle détente that had softened the discord between them crumbling.
“Since we are all staying, could we not put aside our differences for tonight? For the sake of this convalescent, if nothing else,” Jing Yuan tries placatingly.
But it only incites Blade further as his animosity transfers to the General. “Jing Yuan, you are no better than him. Do not think I have forgotten or forgiven your inaction.”
Blade’s face is distorted with bitter resentment, breaths coming fast and eyes ablaze with wrath.
It is the disproportionate reaction and his blaring instincts that tips him off.
That unholy light in Blade’s eyes, that incandescent flame. He could never forget it.
It is not anger—it is the mara.
“Jing Yuan,” he warns with urgency.
“I know. Yingxing—“
It is the wrong thing to say.
Blade snarls with animal fury and lunges forward.
Dan Heng moves to block Blade, grappling him until he can lock his arms and legs around Blade’s torso, pinioning his arms. But as he had feared, he is insufficient to contain a mara maddened Blade. The man nearly breaks out of his hold before Jing Yuan comes up behind him and lends his strength, clasping them to him in an unbreakable hold.
Furious at being obstructed with his limbs immobilized, Blade lurches forward intent on tearing out Jing Yuan’s throat with his teeth, but the General manages to duck it. When Blade comes for him again, he doesn’t avoid and instead turns into it this time so that Blade chomps down on his shoulder.
With Blade momentarily anchored, Jing Yuan links his fingers with Dan Heng’s and presses their joined hands over Blade’s back.
“Jing Yuan, what are you doing?!” Opening themselves up to Blade when he is in this condition, if he uses this to attack them...
“Dan Heng, please. Trust me.”
Their twined energy flows into Blade. Jing Yuan’s, golden as the rising sun and Dan Heng’s, the soft glow of moonlight. Despite his current state, some subconscious part of Blade recognizes them and lets them in.
The effect is instantaneous.
Blade’s body goes slack, jaw unclenching from Jing Yuan’s shoulder.
A moment later blood streams from his mouth, dripping down his chin.
“Get your hands off me.” The words are mangled, barely intelligible—he bit off his tongue to regain control of himself.
Jing Yuan squeezes Dan Heng’s arms, urging him to let Blade go. When he loosens his hold, Jing Yuan withdraws, taking Dan Heng with him.
Blade’s eyes are closed, breathing raggedly.
“What do we do?” he asks anxiously. There is so much blood.
“We must wait.”
It feels like an eternity before Blade’s breathing evens out, but he does not open his eyes.
“Blade—the mara attacks, the memory loss; they have been worse have they not? You do not have to struggle alone. Please, would you allow yourself to have this one night of rest? I would not ask you to lay down your grievances. If you must think of it as such, you may consider it a small recompense from us. The debt cannot be repaid but please allow us to make this reparation at least.”
Dan Heng does not agree with Jing Yuan’s words—he is not the Dan Feng that committed those crimes against Yingxing—but if they can convince Blade to let them help he will hold his protests.
Blade does not respond which Jing Yuan apparently takes as agreement. Jing Yuan climbs off the bed, moving like an old man. “I will return shortly.”
When he returns with the medical kit, he turns Blade onto his back and tugs open his mouth. Dan Heng holds the light for him as Jing Yuan applies a coagulant salve to the remnant tongue to stop the bleeding and dresses the injury with gauze and tape. Blade neither resists nor cooperates with their actions.
Afterwards, Jing Yuan prompts him to lie down and arranges Dan Heng so he is lying with his head on Blade’s chest. He watches Blade guardedly, but the man does not show any reaction.
“Jing Yuan, wouldn’t it be better for you to be in the middle?” he whispers.
Before Jing Yuan can answer, Blade drapes his arm over Dan Heng’s hip, an unspoken request.
“I think this works well,” Jing Yuan says with a small smile, seeing the motion. “You’re still cold right? Come in closer.”
He is, and Blade’s body is blissfully warm but...what about Blade’s hatred?
Dan Heng can’t understand Blade’s contradictory actions. And after everything Blade has done to him...
But he thinks of Blade standing guard, his hand on Dan Heng’s back, the warmth of his energy filling his veins. His unflinching embrace as Dan Heng bit and clawed at him out of his mind with pain.
That is the person he wants to comfort and Blade is allowing it. The complicated mess that is their relationship—he can analyze it some other time.
Since he has already received permission, Dan Heng snuggles in hugging Blade’s waist.
Jing Yuan spoons up against Blade’s back. “Is this alright?” he peers down at Dan Heng over Blade’s shoulder.
“Mn. Yeah.” Blade’s heat is already lulling him into sleep.
Before he drifts off, he feels Blade’s arms come around him, holding him close.
[End.]