The only person he couldn't blame anymore, was Da Hong.
༻ ❍ ༺
Y/N LOOKED AT THE MASK WITH HORROR FILLED EYES THEN BACK AT THE HOLD MAN, WHO WAS SMILING PLACIDLY, AS IF HE WAS HOLDING A DAMN TEACUP OUT TO HIM.
"No...no, no I can't do that..."
"You can," The old man replied, clicking his tongue. This old man was aware of everything that Y/n went through, aware of the credulity in his heart, aware of how he refused to blame people. Perhaps, he should start blaming.
Y/n was practically shaking, he can just shove it away! Why was it so tempting?! He wasn't about to become the villain! Was he?
Was he...
"...what's in it for me?" Y/n asked, fear and frustration shaking his voice.
"Well, I'll bring your sister and Mei back to your world if you take my offer."
Julia? Why the hell is she here too?!
I can bring her and Mei back?!
But I don't wanna be the damned villain!
"Isn't there another option?!"
The old man cleared his throat before placing the mask on his desk, Y/n wished that he put it back into his sleeve so he didn't have to look at it. The half smiling and half crying face may as well be mocking him. Staring through him as if it knew all his dirty secrets. It did, that's what made it so terrifying.
"Yes, you can take this sword." The old man held out a pitch black sword with gold accents on the tip and handle, drawing out a lotus on the handle and vines on the tip.
"And become Death, the reaper basically, the one who guides souls to Mount Tong'lu and the ghost city, or Realm."
Y/n's throat went dry, since when was his sister here too?! Since when did he get the opportunity to become death?! Since when could he bring them back to their world?! Since when?!
Since when did he actually accept the offer, and take the sword?!
Since when...
Well...
Since he died after being wronged for something his past self did.
Since he was tired of making excuses for assholes who didn't need them.
Since he got the opportunity to take Mei and Julia out of this hell so they didn't have to take on the task he did.
He was taking the bullet, he was getting shot by the arrow, stabbed by the sword.
Him and Da Hong, were the same person, he understood his other half, his other half understood him.
They finally understood each other after Y/n, Y/n L/n, and Xiu Y/n, let the black veil of a bamboo hat cover his eyes.
The only person he couldn't blame anymore, was Da Hong.
───༻ ❍ ༺───
The young white clothed man approached the violently shaking and cursing girl, she was about thirteen, she had Y/n's s/c skin, his eyes too; just with longer eyelashes, one would think they were twins if it wasn't for their eyes.
Y/n had e/c eyes, she had his eyes but with so much more spark and emotion than any other pair of eyes that anyone had ever seen. So much that that was the only thing that divided them.
If only the girl knew that she was slowly peeling herself away from her last goodbye with her precious brother that she was trying to remove from this world.
After Y/n and Mei Farewell disappeared, Julia got suspicious and depressed, she began to sit on that park bench that he always sat on to sketch and draw where he might be. One day she was approached by an old man, who offered to show her where her beloved big brother was, she accepted without hesitation. But when she woke up with Ban Yue from TGCF frantically trying to get her to stop bleeding from where the old man had hit her in the ankle with his cane. She automatically knew something was up with the universe and the star system.
Eventually she got the news and answers from Yushi Huang, also her second favorite character under Yin Yu. Yushi Huang helped her track down her brother and they parted paths when they reached Pei Ming's territory in the North to avoid any drama. But it was too late once Ya Wenling had found the temple she heard screams from.
She got so angry and drew the chrysanthemum sword Yushi Huang gave her and she nearly killed Jun Wu with it. She chased him away and wailed and sobbed holding her brothers body for the whole night. She took the body laid it in a glass coffin that floated in the shallow end of a lake full of swans, making sure to dress it in white garments and she would put lotus flowers in his hair. She slept near that coffin for six nights before she forced herself to let go of it for her own health.
Then she ran into death himself, the bitch knew where her brother was, her best friend.
"WHERE IS MY BROTHER?!" She demanded, tears and anger shrilling up her throat.
Y/n shook his head and sighed under the veil before his pulled something out of his long white sleeve. His robes were slightly different than the other interpretations of the white no face, who could be considered death, his were more detailed and looked like the blackened version of Jun Wu's gold details. Specifically recommended by the old man while he was reading book 5 of TGCF before he had to put on the hat with the black veil that consumed his identity and take the sword.
He pulled out a swan feather and lotus in a white chiffon pouch before tossing it to Julia, who pointed a silver sword with a chrysanthemum on the handle, almost like Y/n's lotus dagger and sword but make it a different type of flower.
Julia caught it with ease, Y/n knew she would, she did softball like he did baseball at one point, she also definitely wasn't willing to go up to him; not knowing it was her brother under that terrible veil and fake calm demeanor.
She looked at the pouch then back at the reaper with wide eyes; filled with malice and resentment towards him.
Y/n couldn't blame her.
But behind the reaper was a portal, a portal to her bedroom, she blinked a few times; making sure she wasn't hallucinating. She nearly dropped her sword and then looked at the young white clad man who stepped away from the portal; clearing her an imaginary red carpet.
"...will my brother and Mei Farewell be there too?"
Y/n nodded, silently begging her to go through and enter her world.
Julia hesitantly began walking towards the portal, every step she took weighed down by a familiar feeling towards the white dressed figure.
She passed through the opaque seal on the portal, entering her bedroom, the one she hadn't seen in what felt like years.
Her body was in her room, her dark basil colored hanfu that one of the people of Yushi gifted her disappeared and was replaced with her silk pajamas, Y/n felt the tears falling down his face. But to his little sister he was just a jerk who was feeling sympathetic, one of his only feelings under that damned veil.
He felt like a variation, like a duplicate of the white no face but photoshopped with a black veil and sugar coated.
"I'm sorry, I'm so weak and desperate I can't keep a damn promise Julie."
I want to wash my mouth out with soap,
Julia's eyes went wide with tears as the white clad man turned around, wearing the face of her one and only brother, the portal closing as she screamed and ran for him; she reached out in an effort to go through the portal and he mouthed "I love you" before she disappeared with the portal.
Deathly silence hit the clearing in the dark forest.
Y/n heavily dropped to his knees, his nails digging into the dirt, his tears wetting the dirt into mud.
He gave into his emotions and let them run loose.
He cried for hours, cried about how useless he felt, cried about how he wanted to at least hug his sister goodbye before he never saw her again, cried about how the last image he saw of her was of her screaming and crying like he was now, crying about how this experience will scar her and soon Mei forever.
He felt horrible, he felt like a failure. He let her down, he sent her through the portal, only revealing himself at the last second so that she wouldn't try and convince him to go through with her. The thing was that if he went through his soul would dissolve in his once world.
After he became The Reaper his soul in the other world disappeared and was crushed, he now never existed in his old world, where he was just Y/n L/n. His soul was now fully tied to this world, as if he became a character in TGCF, and was actually written by MXTX.
But now, even if he asked the old man, threatened him even, he wouldn't be able to go back without dispersing into black sand permanently, not being able to reincarnate or wander around as a ghost.
But what was he going to do about it now, just sit and cry? Hope the universe would give him mercy for his tears? Hell, the universe doesn't give mercy to shit.
He wiped his eyes and picked up the black veiled hat, covering his face with it and letting his newly acquired dark energy adopt his body once more, peeling through his veins and bite at his skin.
He stood up and walked into the dark of the forest, the dark, that's right he still became a swan at night, despite being The Reaper and/or Death.
He saw the dim gold light illuminate in his chest and he prepped his human, no, ghost body for takeoff into the stars.
Damn his already ended life was going horrible wasn't it.
───༻ ❍ ༺───
Y/n felt a horrible feeling of guilt swallow up his chest as he saw Mei's face when she saw his own without the veil.
"NO!" She screamed as the portal began to close. Y/n could only smile with tears dripping down his face.
"Goodbye Mrs. Farewell," He said his hands shaking as the portal closed.
He could already feel himself choking on his sobs that bubbled up in his throat. He grabbed the sword on his back and held himself up from collapsing out of pure exhaustion.
Pei Ming had taken Mei and Ya Wenling to a meditating caves where gods would balance their spiritual energy. It was a heavily protected area so that no unwanted guests could come in without proper permission.
Mei had run away from the caves, only leaving a note for Ya Wenling before she disappeared for those six days of hell. The note said and described how much she had loved Ya Wenling, and how much she just needed to leave and have space after Y/n's death, Ya Wenling was practically forced to let Mei move on and accept she wasn't coming back. A tragic love story, that now was too late to save, because even if she wanted Mei wasn't coming back unless she somehow found that old man and convinced him to send her back.
Both possibilities were lower than finding a dragon in a volcano and somehow surviving, in the other world of course.
Mei had stayed in a not so popular bar at night, where she was the only customer, she would get drunk every night and then leave and cry for hours in the woods before she would fall asleep in her motel room.
One day she woke up and in her corner was Death himself, ready to take her out of this hell, he promised that Y/n was there with Julia, but in reality Y/n was under that veil.
He promised.
Y/n collapsed onto the bed and hugged a pillow tight, crying heavily but silently; not daring to provoke the kind old man at the front desk who would help Mei up to her room every night when she got too drunk to navigate properly. His chest heaved as he tried to suck in his sobs and tears, what he needed was a real hug right now at this moment. He couldn't remember the last time he got a genuine hug that wasn't to mess around.
You don't know how long it's been since you got a real one until you need one.
Eventually he sucked all of his tears and anger down and left the motel, making sure to pay for Mei's room.
He would spend the next week preparing to become the Reaper and take ghosts to the ghost city after the old man would gift him with instructions on how to be Death.
It all honestly sounded so fake Y/n could laugh at it, but he was in position or state to even let a chuckle slip.
But for now, he was going to let himself have his pity party and not deal with shit until he wanted to. After all everyone knew that he deserved a break, more than a week definitely, but that was the most the old man could give him before the old Death would retire and he would have to fill his place.
That's right there's always been a Death.
The ghost kings weren't all that fond with him but they acknowledged that without him everything would go to shit. Because with the state the world was in now and how Death was practically too tired to escort ghosts, it wasn't the best.
So, when Y/n had to take that heavy burden of keeping the life and death system in order, he lost his own meaning to what his old life was.
───༻ ❍ ༺───
Y/n let out a thoughtful sigh as he twirled a white flower inbetween his fingers, leaned against a tree, the tree that was the tree he met Jun Wu under.
The Tong'lu region made his dark energy feel like it was on fire and it would push through his blood and try to seep into his mind, but the old man was somewhat kind enough to make sure that would never happen.
"So this is the new Death I hear, what are you doing trying to take a break and slack off?" Y/n heard a familiar voice and immediately turned his head around.
Hua Chengzhu, the one and only.
Y/n only shrugged, why should he give this man answers, he didn't owe him anything! It wasn't like he tortured Xie Lian like Bai Wuxiang or Lang Qianqiu did. Also it was fine to take a 15 minute break.
Part of his job was to go into dreams and escort ghosts through there as well, it was much easier and he didn't have to move as much.
And yes, Y/n finally read book 4 and 5 when the old man gave him time to think of the consequences of becoming Death.
Y/n heard a sword be drawn from its scabbard and he immediately disappeared in a flash and re-appeared a few meters behind Hua Cheng, dodging E-Ming. Hua Cheng's eye flashed a brilliant crimson before he was about to direct the next attack when E-Ming returned to his hand with great speed. Y/n held up a white feather locked between two fingers.
"..." Hua Cheng halted abruptly and stared at the feather before he lowered his arm, E-Ming in hand.
"Lovley to see you again, Hua Cheng."
A strict and suspenseful silence hit the area immediately after Y/n had said his words.
Hua Cheng gritted his teeth before lowering E-Ming to his side, it's eye dashed around wildly. Hua Cheng spun around and grabbed Y/n by the shirt collar, shoving him against a tree. Y/n suddenly remembered this position when Hua Cheng found out he was once Da Hong, but he didn't even know.
"Why the hell would you do this?!" Hua Cheng demanded, his grip tightening.
"I did it for a reason," Y/n hissed, lightly layering his hands over Hua Cheng's wrists not even tight or gripping enough to hold the cloth of his clothing, the crimson ghost kings eyes went wide at how cold they were;"I did it so that I could send Da Ju and Heng Mei back." Y/n explained calmly, holding back from remembering their horrified faces and screams when he revealed his identity.
Hua Cheng's mouth held itself open slightly, his face darkening, not in an angry way, but in a vexed and almost...sad. What had he done to this young man? To this..that's when it hit him. He used to love this man.
Hua Cheng lowered Y/n down, loosing his grip on the white robes collar, not wanting to rip it like last time.
"...why didn't you get to go back too?!"
"Enough questions, I'm tired." It was true, he was tired from all this bull crap, might as well dig his own grave at this point and hide there for the rest of eternity while the world burns.
Y/n turned his back and began to walk away, so lightly and ghost like that it looked like he was floating. His robes trailing behind him elegantly and mysteriously.
"Don't you dare leave Da-"
"Shut your mouth or I'll sew it shut." Y/n roared at the mention of the surname of the one who got him into this mess.
Y/n faded into the shadows, letting Hua Cheng catch a glimpse of the Reaper's sword, the Lotus dagger that Da Hong used to use was one of the fake skins of that sword. The Reapers sword is known for being an ancient artifact from Wuyong, known to take on many forms, the most popular beings it's original and silver lotus dagger one.
Da Hong was the only person who was ever able to take the weapons dark energy and use it properly without his soul getting infected with its demonic aura. Of course him and the Reaper were supposed to fight over it when he became a ghost but he skipped over that step.
Yet even in his reincarnated life, it was still glued to him, if he is going to reincarnate; the possibilities are high it will follow him through that as well, one way or another.
The sword was like his origins in this world, it stuck with him, even after the death of Da Hong. It was honestly horrible that Y/n was the one who had to deal with everything Da Hong couldn't.
Hua Cheng began the question why he had taken it out on Y/n and made all of this happen, if he had just listened and let it slide the most powerful being the universe, that didn't even know he was the most powerful, could have gone back home.
He was even a threat to Hua Cheng at this point, he could summon his ashes and turn him into dust with a single finger snap.
Not to mention all the resentment and frustration built up in Y/n's head at the current moment.
Hua Cheng could understand, he understood that Y/n made the decision to trap himself here for the sake of his friends, he could understand why Y/n was so tired, he could understand why Y/n had enough resentment and anger in his body to become The Reaper.
That's why Hua Cheng let Da Hong get away, he could have caught him no sweat as he was dying, but he let him go.
BECAUSE HE UNDERSTOOD.
Decided to make this a really depressing chapter for pain+lore reasons 👍
An sadly this will be the exit of two of our beloved characters:
-•Julia L/n/Da Ju•-
Y/n's little sister
13 years
Female
-•Mei Farewell/Heng Mei•-
Y/n's dance instructor
28 years
Female
This is also the first chap of 'Misfortune Of A Swan' season 2!!!
I will never shut up about this
👏BEEFLEAF👏DESERVED👏BETTER👏