𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙈𝙞𝙨𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙩𝙪𝙣𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝘼 𝙎𝙬𝙖𝙣 | TGCF

◦༻ 40...Death Falls and Death Rises

     Y/n feels just a little less alone this way, and that makes all the difference for him as he slumps over a little more; shifting into a position where he can lean on Feng Xin.

     Feng Xin's hands remind him of Chen Chunhua's, they're warm and strong. They bring him nothing but comfort and a feeling of safety that he rarely gets to feel now. That feeling of safety was taken away from him the moment he stepped into this world. It's only so rare to feel it now, like he doesn't always have to be on guard.

     That's why he lets Feng Xin hold him until the sun sets again, that's also when the god speaks up for the first time since he's sat down.

     "Aren't you supposed to turn into a swan or something soon?" He asks, his voice laced with concern. He loosens his grip on Y/n's shoulder, Y/n chuckles quietly and only leans in even closer.

     "The curse was removed when Da Hong died. But the scar is still there."

     "...what?" What scar?

     Y/n leans away for a moment and faces Feng Xin and he hesitantly slides his robes off his right shoulder, Feng Xin flinches away but a moment later he leans in as he looks over it in shock.

     On Y/n's shoulder is an imprint, almost like a tattoo, of a swan holding a lotus in its beak.

     Feng Xin reaches out to touch it unconsciously, but Y/n quickly leans away. Feng Xin cringes at his careless action and quickly shoves his hand behind his back.

     Y/n slips his robes back over his shoulder and stands up silently, he looks over the folded up robes and looks back to Feng Xin.

     "Can you carry those? I can't bring myself to touch them." Y/n asks, crossing his arms.

     Feng Xin is a little surprised at the request at first, but he does it nonetheless. Y/n's best friend—practically his brother— just died, of course he doesn't want to touch his possessions right off the bat!

     After he picks the robes up as carefully as he possibly can, he looks over to Y/n, waiting for an order or instructions as to what to do with them.

     Y/n takes a deep breath in. He doesn't know if he's even prepared for what he has to say.

     "Throw them into the river."

     ...what?!

     Feng Xin's eyes are blown wide as he looks at Y/n. Y/n's blank smile doesn't change for some reason, he only blinks at Feng Xin once before speaking again.

     "It's what Da Hong wanted. Don't feel bad about it." Y/n whispers.

     Feng Xin trusts Y/n with this more than he trusts himself, so he does as he's told.

     Tears gather in Y/n's eyes as he watches the robes drift away with the river, they take in water and the violet color quickly turns into a dark oriole. But he reminds himself, it's what Da Hong wanted. It's why he set up his robes just outside the river.

     The thing was, is that Da Hong hated Heng Mei with his whole being. But he knew Heng Mei was forced to do what she did, so he wanted a piece of him to drift away with her. To return to her and let her know that he still cares for her, that she's forgiven for her sins.

     But Y/n is still a little selfish, so he stops Feng Xin from throwing the diadem in as well.

     Feng Xin raises an eyebrow at him, but doesn't say anything as Y/n takes the diadem from his hand without a single word. Both of his eye brows shoot up when Y/n takes off his own diadem and holds it in his other hand.