"Sorry. Reflexes."
Din looked down and saw that I had regular clothes on. He took his fist out of my hand and took a step back. "Wait, what happened to your suit?"
I looked to Long just to see that he wasn't a puppet anymore. "Look, Din." I looked to him. "There's something I need to tell you."
Long went up behind Din. "(Y/n), you have one more wish. You don't have to do this."
I sighed. "My real name isn't (F/n). It's-"
"(Y/n)." I looked up to Din. "You're (Y/n)."
"I'm sorry."
"But... why did you lie?"
"I wasn't planning to, I just... I was worried if you found out it was, well, me, that everything would end."
He looked around. "So... you still live around here? In that same old shikumen?"
"Yeah."
"I told you this wouldn't end well." Long said as he came up beside me.
"Wait. I remember this alley. We used to take a shortcut through here on the way home from school." Din said as he started to walk out of the alley. I looked to Long and then followed Din.
"And Mrs. Chu would sell those roasted yams." He laughed as he saw the old lady. "Hey, look at that! It's Mrs. Chu!" We ran up to her. "Hi, Mrs. Chu. It's Din Song. Do you remember-"
"One buck, two yams. No bargaining!" She said.
"Well, some things never change." Din smiled.
I pulled out a dollar and handed it to her. She gave us two yams and told us to move, so we left. We found the moms doing yoga and Din laughed.
"Yeah, new decade, same sweatpants." I said and we laughed.
"Hey, (Y/n), what do you think about a little race? Three, two, one, go!" Din said. Before I had time to comprehend it, Din was already running away. I followed him upstairs and found him looking at our old height chart. I walked up next to him.
"So, your old apartment has to be right around the corner." Din said as he ran ahead. I followed after him and saw that he was introducing himself to mom.
"I'm sorry, do I know you?" She asked.
"Hey, Mom. So, uh, surprise! Remember Din from when we were kids?"
"Din? What are you doing here?" Mom asked.
"Just visiting and old friend." Din smiled.
"Where are my manners? Come in!"
Time skip
I went up to the window and opened the curtain a little more. "Come in." I said to Long. I then went over and put the dishes in the sink.
Another time skip
After talking with Din on the roof, and going over our old promise, Din got a call on his phone. After talking, he hung up and looked to me sadly.
"(Y/n), I had a really wonderful time tonight, but I have to go."
"Why do you look so sad? It's not like I'm not gonna see you for another... ten years."
"(Y/n), the truth is, I have this whole other life now. You know? A career. A future that my dad worked really hard for, and certain expectations I have to meet."
I was sad before I went straight faced. "Let me guess, I don't meet those expectations?"
"No, that's... you don't understand. I'm just trying to be realistic." We stood there for a moment before Din left. I stood on the roof, facing the billboard.
"Good news, Long. You can finally be rid of me. I'm ready for my third wish." I said as I brought out the teapot.
"You are?" I heard him say from behind me.
"Make me rich. Piles of gold. However you do it."
"But-"
"Look, I thought it wouldn't matter. That he wouldn't care. But that was stupid." I turned back around. "So give me the pile of gold, and I can have some of that good life, and people will treat me with a little respect. Heck, I'm sure everyone will want to be my friend then."
"(Y/n)... are you sure?" That set me off. I turned around and marched towards him.
"Am I sure?! You've been telling me to make this wish since the moment we met! Well, you were right, okay? I was wrong! So there you go, that's my wish!" I set the teapot on him and stepped back. "Just grant it, and you can go back to your spirit world, and your big parade up in the sky while I'm stuck here!"
I put my arms out and closed my eyes. "Just grant the wish, Long." I whispered.
He used his powers, so I opened my eyes just to see that we were in the middle of nowhere.
"(Y/n), I'll grant your wish. But first, there's something I need to show you." We went up this hill to an old structure.
"What is this place?" I asked nervously.
Long looked at me before slamming the top of his tail to the ground. Magic formed over everything, recreating and old castle structure.
"This was my home." Long said as a little golden boy walked through me. "I was born into royalty. I learned from a young age that gold is power. So I set my sights on expanding my fortune and let nothing stand in my way." His older version walked around while his subjects worked on things for him.
"My subjects were loyal and worked tirelessly year after year." A golden woman appeared. "My daughters were married to the finest families to expand the kingdom's glory. And my son, I sent off to win treasure." An arrow went through my chest and I turned around to see a teenager on a cot. "He came home a hero. Soon, I had more gold, more land, and more monuments than any lord who had come before me." Long looked down sadly. "And yet..." he looked over to his old self dying. "As I laid on my deathbed, I awaited the parade of loyal subjects and living family, but there was none. With my last breath, I cursed all who had forgotten me."
Clouds appeared along with a huge gate. "I arrived at the gates to the spirit world and awaited a great procession to welcome me." A huge god stopped Past Long.
"I demand you open this gate!" He yelled.
"Instead, the gods transformed me into a Wish Dragon." Long was shown getting transformed and sucked into the teapot. "Not as a reward, but as a punishment. I was imprisoned in the teapot and sent down to Earth to serve ten masters and learn the true meaning of life."
The teapot landed in my hands and I looked up to Long, who was looking into the distance sadly.
"And to be honest, all these years, all these masters, I have been failing." He looked down before turning to look at me with a gentle smile. "Until I met you. I don't know the meaning of life. But the things you care about, your friends, your family, they're worth more that anything I ever possessed. And no amount of gold can ever buy that." He put his tail on my shoulder like a hand of reassurance and teleported us back. "It's your wish, (Y/n). Just make sure it's what you really want."
It was quiet for a moment before the door behind me burst open. I turned around to see-
"Mr. Song? What are you doing here?"
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Word count: 1819
Long's History
Start from the beginning
