Body in Flames; Home in Paradise (TGCF HuaLian)

Chapter 1

So this is the work of the dreaded scimitar the heavens fear. He's not afraid of it, not when he was first told about it and certainly not now. E'ming is far too cute for that. He doesn't blame the blade or the one who wielded it. Taking the strike himself was his own idea after all. Besides, maybe it's fitting, a just punishment for burning so much that San Lang treasured, and after everything the ghost king did to help him fix his own house too...

The building is hot and the smoke is stifling but, somehow, nothing seems to be collapsing and, for once, despite his bad luck, his hair doesn't catch fire. That's a pleasant surprise. His robes singe a little but it's nothing a good wash and a few patches won't fix up. The whole place is filled with rolling waves of spiritual energy and he guesses that San Lang's power must be doing something to hold the building together. Honestly it's a little bit awe-inspiring, so much power.

Maybe the armory won't be a total loss?

Still... None of that guarantees that San Lang will ever forgive him.

Xie Lian is honestly surprised how easily he finds the armory, despite the burning and the stench of smoke in the way clouds his vision, maybe some of San Lang's luck still clings to him? It's useful but the practice makes him feel even more guilty.

When he first steps through the door of the burning room the smoke and the heat haze mean that, at first he thinks San Lang isn't there at all. He's about to turn in search elsewhere when a slight movement catches his eye, something shifts deep in one of the darkest corners.

Carefully, using a Martial God's agility to move silently even over treacherous ground, Xie Lian approaches that corner. Then another flame flares up, illuminating the figure standing against the wall and Xie Lian freezes, eyes going wide and heart hammering in his chest.

San Lang is standing against the wall, head bowed, shoulder silently shaking, and for once it seems that he really hasn't sensed XIe Lian's approach, too lost in whatever thoughts are consuming him ...And in what he's doing.

In one hand Hua Cheng clutches his deadly scimitar, and in the other... The other is holding it too, but the blade not the hilt, his fingers tightening and tightening around it until blood runs down his wrist and arm.

"San Lang!"

He can't watch this. He can't. At the sound of Xie Lian's voice, Hua Cheng's head snaps up, eye going wide with shock. Xie Lian doesn't hesitate. For a moment all of his trepidation about seeing Hua Cheng again, all of his fear of standing in the ruined remains of their friendship, evaporates into the need to stop ...whatever this is.

He hurries to stand before Hua Cheng, ignoring the pain in his own arm as he places one hand over each of Hua Cheng's wrists, fingers moving to cup the back of that bleeding hand.

"...Your Highness?" Hua Cheng's voice is raw with more than the smoke in the air. There is shock and it, and pain and disbelief and he flinches under Xie Lian's touch. "What are you doing here?"

"I came back to apologize I... San Lang I'm so sorry, your lovely Manor and all of your swords and it's all my fault. I'll pay you back for it. I swear I will. Even if I have to get a job and work for the next hundred years, I promise...."

He's babbling, of course he is, he just can't help himself sometimes, and he needs to get the words out and... He's not sure if he should be letting go or not and San Lang is still bleeding, his hand still on the blade, and Xie Lian knows exactly how sharp E'Ming is...

"Your Highness is apologizing to me?" The shock is still in Hua Cheng's voice, but now there's something else there too, anger, so much anger.

It's what he was afraid of.