Reincarnation to the Past

Chapter 87

Yǔ's POV

(Outfit as above)

(Aug 15th– later that night)

I couldn't seem to pull my eyes away from the skies. My mood had darkened from the afternoon's experience. Honestly, in my head, I knew Lì did nothing wrong. I knew it wasn't a big deal that he bought the fox for his stupid friend's sister. But the second I heard her name, the faces of those who betrayed me flooded my mind. My father, my mother, Annabeth, the seven, Thalia, Nico, Grover, Chiron, Apollo, Hermes, and everyone else just kept slamming one after the other in my mind, sending me down the rabbit hole all over again. And I had to get out. I had to leave before I ended up doing something worse. I should have just stayed at home. I mean, I could have always just found the fox after and kidnapped it if I had to. But no, I just had to go then—when my emotions were already all over the place—to the one person who had more power over my feelings.

I sensed it first—Lì's presence as he landed noiselessly on one end of my roof, trodding silently on the ridges of the roof and walking towards where I lay, staring up at the gray skies. For the first time in days, it had stopped raining, but the skies remained a depressed, cloudy gray that I couldn't look away from. It seemed to call me and connect with me. My heart, my mind, and my mood all seemed to drown in that gray.

The sound of smaller trotting interrupted my thoughts as a tiny red snout appeared and affectionately rubbed against my cheek. The red fox yelped softly, nuzzling closer to me, sensing the familiar presence of Hestia's powers. My heart waivered at the thought that Lì had brought the fox over after all, before hardening again. "Are you not going to say anything?" His voice infiltrated the otherwise silent night.

"If you're expecting a thank you, you're not going to get it. You basically ruined my plan of burning your lady friend's residence to the ground and then some."

"What's going on with you?" He asked, sounding worried. My eyes fluttered shut, and I was met with complete darkness as my heart squeezed painfully. How could I explain it? Explain everything that was going on with me—everything that had broken me.

How could I explain that whenever I closed my eyes, I could still see it sometimes? His malnourished figure, his sunken face, his soulless, dull green eyes—all the hope bled from his essence. They had pulled me in front of a mirror before dragging me to the throne room right before the execution. I saw it then—what I had been reduced to.

Fractured. 

Broken. 

Bleeding.

"Go away, Lì, I'm not in the mood to deal with you,"  I whisper.

"I'm not stupid, Yǔ. I know that you're not mad at me because I unknowingly bought the baby beast you wanted for YunYun. So why don't you just tell me what's wrong?"  His worry stabs at my heart, and his concern cracks the wall that I built over my fractured heart. I wish he'd stop.

I'm scared.

Especially now when the pain is fresh.

"Maybe you're the problem." He wasn't. I just felt shitty and wanted to make him feel shitty. I needed him gone so I could suffer in silence, the way I did best. I regretted going to Lì's residence the minute I left. I knew I wasn't in the right mindset to deal with him. I knew I was too vulnerable right now; I should have just waited. I should have just locked myself in like I initially planned. "I don't trust you, Lì. You..."

"Bulshit!" he interjects as my eyes widen and I turn towards him, surprised at his confidence. "You know, at one point, I may have believed that you didn't trust me... But now I know you're just lying."