From Earth to Heaven, From Heaven to Earth (TGCF HuLian)

Chapter 9 And A Name

...Which means Wu Ming knows the statues are here.

...Which means...

Xie Lian feels his throat go dry. Unable to resist he glances over his shoulder at the naked seductive statue of himself and then slowly he turns back to the terrified ghost before him.

"Wu Ming... Did you make these?"

"Forgive me." The words are only a whisper on the ghost's lips. He's shaking now, his destress so obvious that Xie Lian is torn between his instinct to rush to him and comfort him and the need to understand, those statues .../that/ statue.

"Why would you?"

The ghost says nothing only looks at Xie Lian in mute horror as though living in his worst nightmare and even with the way his own mind is buzzing, Xie Lian so can't bare the destress in Wu Ming's eyes that he bends down and props the torch against the cave wall and takes a few quick steps closer to Wu Ming before freezing as a sudden thought comes to him.

The first few statues do actually make sense. Xie Lian is Wu Ming's god and for some strange reason even after everything the ghost still believes in him, so maybe it's not so strange that he would build statues to Xie Lian, but this statue...

Xie Lian glances back at it again, his cheeks heating at the mere sight. ...Is this how Wu Ming imagines him, naked, and covered in marks and so... so... Xie Lian's cheeks burn even brighter just at the thought.

But why would Wu Ming see him this way?

Wu Ming who has a beloved.

Wu Ming who's love for that person runs so deep that it sustains him even after death.

Wu Ming who lingers on as a ghost for his beloved's sake, for...

'Why would I want to stay in a place that rejects my god?'

'I would do anything for your highness.'

'Your highness is my prince and my only god and I will always be your most devoted believer.'

'Your highness will always be your highness to me.'

Xie Lian's breath is coming too quickly. His heart is pounding. His blood rushing in his ears so loudly that he can barely hear his own shaking voice.

"Wu Ming, the beloved you spoke of, the one whose wrongs you wanted to avenge, your reason for still being, is it... is it..."

Xie Lian looks back at the ghost in time to see him turn away, his hands balling into fists that don't fully conceal the way they're shaking.

"If your highness already knows then why ask?"

Xie Lian sucks in a sharp breath. How long has he been jealous of 'the beloved'? How envious has he been knowing that they have Wu Ming's affections, Wu Ming's heart. How angry has he been with himself for begrudging Wu Ming anything that can bring him joy? And yet... And yet... Suddenly Xie Lian wants to laugh, or maybe cry? He isn't sure. He isn't sure of a lot of things, not how he got so lucky or how someone as perfect as Wu Ming could love someone like him or how that love could have survived Xie Lian's cruelty. And yet here they are, and it has, oh it has.

With quick footsteps Xie Lian crosses the cave and rests his hand lightly on the ghost's shoulder. Wu Ming starts at the touch, his shoulder stiffening as though he expects a blow and just the thought makes Xie Lian's heart ache.

"Wu Ming, will you look at me?"

The ghost says nothing and the tension doesn't leave him, but slowly he does turn and the sheer terror and pain in Wu Ming's eye makes Xie Lian feel like someone just placed a fist around his heart and squeezed. Does Wu Ming expect to be rejected? Can he truly imagine that Xie Lian won't want him?