So I'm a million years late for an update! :( This chapter has had many forms and even more endings. The consequences having too many ideas and competing dramas. So here it is: Nie Huaisang writing what he thinks might be his downfall.
Laoba means father. Like Dad I suppose.
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They say the most determined are the most dangerous because nothing deters them. Years can pass and still a flame burns.
Lan Xichen knows that he is in love with one who fits that description and best friends with his older brother. Who is as nervous as a groom before his wedding, trying to make sure in his own gruff impatient way, that everything is going well with his little brother. That this reunion is going to be another stone in the foundation of their reconciliation, not the biggest crack yet.
Which is why news of Nie Huaisang fighting shocks not only him, but Nie Mingjue as well.
Everything had been going well. Little Tiger was nervous and skittish but that was to be expected. He seemed so relieved when Lan Xichen arrived, his kiss frantic, his hands bruising. Not that Lan Xichen ever minded. His back was strong enough to carry Nie Huaisang, his arms would hold him, his heart would support him.
But things had been okay for the first few days.
Now as he followed Mingjue, who had left the ones claiming Nie Huaisang had struck them, seething in his office, choosing to find his elusive brother instead. The memory of finding him near death was too close for them not be worried.
He should have paid more attention to Little Tiger, seen when he was close to snapping! Lan Xichen berated himself. All of these relatives and sect members who disliked him...it was too much and Lan Xichen should have seen that. Guilt coiled in his heart.
"He wouldn't just throw a punch!" Nie Mingjue said as they rounded another corner. "Where is he?"
Lan Xichen's phone rang in his pocket and he hastily drew it out, relieved when he saw Huaisang's name. "He's calling me. Hello? Huaisang? Where are you?"
Nie Mingjue stopped in the corridor and shifted closer, "Where is he?"
Lan Xichen hesitated and put it on speaker. The sounds he was hearing where odd. A rustling?
"Maybe its in his pocket?" Nie Mingjue suggested. "Huaisang!" He barked hoping for a reaction.
Lan Xichen was pretty sure Nie Mingjue was half convinced this was sign of a kidnapping, a desperate worry in his brown eyes.
Then as clearly as if they were standing with him, they heard Meng Yao's voice. "Huaisang! Shit. You're bleeding! What happened?"
Lan Xichen looked at Nie Mingjue and both of them froze. Why was Meng Yao here? He had said he couldn't make it to the reunion...
Huaisang's voice was garbled and then with another loud rustle, it sharpened. "Sorry A-Yao. You were asleep."
"Nie Huaisang...did you use the portal talisman to get here?" Meng Yao demanded suddenly. "Why? That's so dangerous! Why didn't you call me? What's happened? Does Da Ge know you're here?"
Portal talisman! Lan Xichen's brows rose sharply in shock. Nie Mingjue looked gutted even as shoulders relax incerementally, but Lan Xichen knew he was reeeling a little. THings were so bad, Huaisang used a high energy drain talismna to escape...thankfully he went to Meng Yao, who would always welcome Huaisang with open arms.
If he was honest, Lan Xichen ahd always been a little jealous of that. He suspected Nie Mingjue was as well, for entirely different reasons. A-Yao had defended Huaisang against the Jin and since then, Mingjue had been proactively strengthening their friendship again.
"It was that or die. Don't worry. I'm going back." Nie Huaisang's voice was hard, cold. It sent a drop of fear into Lan Xichen's belly, the idea that there was far more going on that a fist fight gone wrong.
Mingjue's expression turned alarmed instantly.
"I've waited a long time for this opportunity." He added. "I just need a place for a few hours."
"You are not going anywhere in this state." Meng Yao snapped, sounding for once, irritated. "And what do you mean die? "
There was the sound of a box opening and packaging being opened. Nie Huaisang hissed and Meng Yao made a soothing noise. "What happened?" Meng Yao asked gently.
"It doesn't matter."
A classic shutdown and it had a scowl on Nie Mingjue's face in seconds.
"Someone cutting you with a knife is something that matters A-Sang." Meng Yao said in an almost warning tone.
What?! Lan Xichen clutched Mingjue's wrist and his friend stared in anger at the phone.
"No one would believe me anyway. What's the point?" Nie Huaisang shot back. "I just have to get through the next day and then at the big event, they can know the truth."
"Are you whistleblowering A-Sang?" Meng Yao asked, sounding not the least bit surprised. "And I would believe you."
"You're not Nie Sect." Nie Huaisang told him almost sadly. "And its Da Ge I have to convince. When I do...its all over A-Yao. Its better you stay out of it."
Lan Xichen looked at Nie Mingjue who looked just as disturbed as he felt.
"If it ends with your corpse, it will be my business." Meng Yao shot back. "And what will happen? You get thrown out again? You think Mingjue will do that?"
Thank goodness A-Yao was talking sense into him! Lan Xichen thought feeling lightheaded.
"Its worse than that. He won't forgive me." Nie Huaisang replied sounding like he was crying.
"You are a part of the Nie!" Meng Yao said loudly. "You have just reconciled with him!"
Nie Huaisang's voice resonated with fury. "I've heard everything they've said! A over-privileged brat who should struck from the record, his legs broken and sword taken."
"I have never thought that! Would never allow anyone to do that to you." Meng Yao snapped, "I don't care what anyone says. You were the only one who stuck by me!"
"Lan Xichen..."
"Thought I was guilty and chose to stand with me. An act of loyalty cheapened by my innocence." Meng Yao said quietly. "Not his fault. How do you tell someone you nearly married your own sister?"
Nie Mingjue choked and Lan Xichen stared at the phone like it was going to bite him.
"You didn't know!" Nie Huaisang practically shouted. "No one can blame you! They decided you committed adultery."
"Better that they did." Meng Yao said in a broken voice. "I have been in love with someone I can never have for the majority of my life. Who will never look at me like that. I've accepted it. I thought I could find happiness with someone else. Dreamed of a family and a home."
Nie Mingjue looked gutted, Lan Xichen noted.
"You met her a thousand miles from Lanling!" Nie Huaisang snapped. "Another city. Might as well have been another planet! How were you to know that lecherous bastard raped his friend's wife?"
"I didn't." Meng Yao admitted and Lan Xichen's heart broke. "If her mother hadn't admitted it...we would have married A-Sang."
"Her mother was wronged, but those sins are not yours to bear A-Yao." Nie Huaisang said softly.
"I know." Meng Yao agreed. "Now. Now I do. Then I felt like filth. My mother wouldn't look me. Two of my closest friends thought I had cheated on her, that the rumors were true. That I would do that because I was his son. I felt like I was the one who was dirty. Rotten."
"Meng Yao." Nie Huaisang called gently. "It wasn't your fault. It wasn't her fault either. Blame that bastard."
A-Yao's laugh was full of shards and broken dreams, painfully amused at his own failings. "I never did understand what you told Ma."
"I told her that you went dinner with your soon-to-be father-in-law and he spent the time talking about how wonderful Jin Guangshan was. As her son you could hardly stand for that and broke off the engagement. Her mother spread the adultery rumors to hide the truth. You didn't tell her because you were ashamed." Nie Huaisang said calmly.
Clever. Lan Xichen thought rubbing his face, as horrified tears collected in his eyes. Why hadn't A-Yao simply told him the truth? Why make it seem that the rumors were true? Lan Xichen had known for years that A-Yao heart belonged to someone, presumed they had rejected him and this marriage was his rebound.
"A-Sang!"
"What? That bastard wasn't ruining your relationship with your mother." Nie Huaisang snapped.
There was a pause and then he said, "A-Sang."
"None of it was your fault." Nie Huaisang said firmly. "No one had any right to make you think of yourself as broken or wrong or dirty."
"Don't look so worried A-Sang. I've rebuilt my life, because of you. You made me see, gave me the strength to face all the criticism and hate." Meng Yao said softly in reply. "So there is nothing, that you could do that will make me turn from you. Nothing."
There was a pause again as it sounded like Meng Yao rose from where they were sitting and the quiet lull included sounds of ceramics and Lan Xichen presumed A-Yao was making tea.
"Da Ge won't forgive me. Lan Xichen won't either. I see that now." Nie Huaisang suddenly said close to the phone. "It was stupid to...he'll be less forgiving because..."
Because they were in a relationship. Nie Huaisang was regretting them. It cut into Lan Xichen like a blade.
Lan Xichen felt dread join the horror and gripped Nie Mingjue's arm tightly, as he realized that Huaisang was speaking with finality. As if everthing was ending... Mingjue looked sick and he leaned on Xichen. The next part of the conversation was muffled, but they then heard all too clearly, Meng Yao shout,
"...The only reason you would hold out this long, was if it was for your brother!"
"A Yao!" Nie Huaisang shouted sounding wronged and tearful.
"What? Tell me I'm wrong. " Meng Yao demanded. "Tell me that the A-Sang I know, who would sell his own soul for Nie Mingjue is holding a grudge so great he won't let his brother be sorry for it! Tell me that you wouldn't forgive."
"A Yao. You don't know what I did!" Nie Huaisang cried. "He won't forgive me."
"Maybe if he just gave me the chance." Nie Mingjue said hurting.
"You can lie to the rest of them A-Sang. You can get your brother to believe you hate him, but I know you! I know exactly how much you love your brother. How much his words and rejection hurt you all these years. So tell me, explain to me what is happening. This truth you're hellbent on damning yourself with!"
Meng Yao sounded genuinely angry, a shocking thing of itself.
Nie Mingjue closed his eyes and leaned near Lan Xichen. He had understood that his former self, before his memory loss was never going to win a personality contest and that he had hurt Nie Huaisang. Physically too. It made him sick to think of it, but for two years everything he had learned only hurt. He hadn't been the brother he needed to be, thought he was. He loved Huaisang and this desperate need in his chest to protect him seemed so at odds with the former him.
"It isn't your fight A-Yao." Nie Huaisang said more softly.
"If its A-Sang's fight, then its mine too." Meng Yao snapped. "I might also say that is Wei Wuxian's fight. Jiang Cheng's. Think about it A-Sang. If you die, Nie Mingjue will blame who he thinks is responsible whether he 'hates' you or not. The Jiang Sect. My mother will never defect from the Meishan Yu Sect, so I will have to align with the Jiang, against your brother. Gusu Lan will side with the Nie, no matter how many favors the Jiang have done for them. The alliance is centuries old and the previous generation were close. Lan Xichen will side with Nie Mingjue. "
"I remind you too, that your death will break your brother. And he will kill himself trying to find answers or to get revenge. Jin or Jiang. Someone has to pay. Can you tell me you want this bloodshed?"
"Of course not! But," Nie Huaisang refuted, definitely crying now.
"Tell me."
"Promise me." Nie Huaisang sounded desperate suddenly, all traces of anger gone.
"Promise you what A-Sang?" Meng Yao asked silkily.
"Promise me you won't do anything rash! When you find out...don't do ...anything mad."
Nie Mingjue looked alarmed and frantically looked at Lan Xichen who was as pale as snow. His old friend gripped his arm and mouthed, "Not good."
"Fine. I promise." Meng Yao said easily. Too easily.
Nie Huaisang took a breath and sighed unsteadily. After a long moment he said, "Everything that's happened...I have proof. Enough for a trial. Enough to get Mingjue to finally listen. He'll hate me for my part in it. For lying to him. For Laoba."
Nie Mingjue who had been trying to find answers for years, well aware that his little brother was hoarding most of them at least and utterly unable to find closure, glared angrily. Lan Xichen who knew his old friend's heartache and who had also struggled in the dark with him, frowned at how callous that remark from his Little Tiger seemed.
Meng Yao didn't say this, never eluded to it, only waited.
"I agreed to a deal A-Yao. They put a gun to my brother's head. Literally. Nine milometer semi-automatic. What was I supposed to do?" Nie Huaisang said bitterly. "Tell me that! What was I supposed to do?!"
Of all the things they might have thought, that wasn't one of them. Nie Mingjue looked shocked and Lan Xichen could only hold the phone and his friend's arm.
"They...when?" Meng Yao's tone was icy, menace and the promise of revenge winding through the syllables.
"You promised!" Nie Huaisang cried immediately.
"I did." Meng Yao's tone was still cold, "What happened A-Sang?"
Nie Huaisang sighed again, heavy and laden with sorrow. "They say that my father and I had a poor relationship, because I'm basically useless."
That...wasn't right and wasn't what either of the listeners expected him to start with.
"You are anything but useless A-Sang." Meng Yao interrupted and Lan Xichen smiled through the dread swirling in his chest.
"Biased." Nie Huaisang replied but he was smiling, Lan Xichen could hear it. "Anyway, it wasn't true. Lǎobà was military to the bone, but we were close. Once." There was a pause and then Nie Huaisang added, "This whole mess started while Da Ge was away. When he was promoted to Colonel. At first it was fine. Years went by and things got worse. The year before I...was...kicked from the sect, Laoba started using these pills. He said it was to help him sleep."
"Poison?" Meng Yao asked quietly. "Huaisang did they poison your father?"
"Yes." Nie Huaisang sounded choked and Nie Mingjue looked as if he had been gutted. "The pills were supposedly prescribed by the sect doctor. Soon after taking them, his mood swings, his qi deviations...all of it got worse."
"I stole a few pills to test." Anger seeped into his voice now, hardening it. "I got my answers only after I was kicked out. It was for sleep supposedly. Anti-anxiety. But the drug was banned nineteen years ago because of its terrible side effects. Vision loss, increased internal skull pressure, then other ones like depression, suicidal tendencies and seizures. In cultivators these risks doubled and others like qi deviations, energy disruptions causing internal bleeding..."
"And they gave this to your father?" Meng Yao sounded aghast, as horrified as Lan Xichen felt. Nie Mingjue had tears in his eyes and the fires of rage were banked in his gaze.
"It was only ever manufactured by the Wen." Nie Huaisang told them bitterly. "It was the Wen who supplied the drug. I don't have proof beyond them being the manufacturers, but I know they did. I know my enemies bought it from them. And their plan nearly worked."
"Laoba nearly killed me." Nie Huaisang said woodenly. "He wasn't himself. He wasn't Laoba anymore. A stranger wearing his face, with rage in his eyes and a sword. Not even his own in the end. Stolen from the guard."
"When I lived...they upped their game. Jin Guangshan got his wife, or maybe it was her plan all along...to tell my father that I was a Jin."
"You're not." Meng Yao said sharply.
"No. I took a DNA test. I'm Nie to the bone." A self-depreciating laugh could be heard. "Didn't help that I only got the result the day after they told me Laoba was dead. Qi deviation." He said bitterly.
"When Da Ge came back, I thought I could explain everything. That he would listen in person like he didn't on the phone! I thought I could convince him. Instead he's telling me that it was all the deviation, that just because I was a brat, I didn't kill Laoba."
Lan Xichen looked at Nie Mingjue who had no memory of this at all. He looked stricken and confused. Horrified.
"Da Ge took me and Nie Rong into Laoba's study before the funeral. We had tea. I was about to launch my proof, when Da Ge passed out and Nie Rong hit me. He just lost it like he drunk or high! When I came around there was an elder looking at my brother on the floor and Nie Rong was out cold too."
"Ah Rong died three days after our father." Nie Mingjue said horrified.
"Turns out, Da Ge was sedated. Nie Rong was poisoned. My cup was clean. I think. I never drunk from it. I was too upset. The elder said it would be easy to prove I had killed my own brother. Then he put the gun to his head, like some horrible drama on TV. Said he would offer me a deal."
"What did he want?" Meng Yao asked quietly.
"He wanted his cushy position to be maintained. If I kept my mouth shut, never admitted about Laoba to Mingjue, he would convince the other elders to vote for him. He would get all he factions together and get them to swear in Mingjue as the sect leader. If I didn't comply he'd shoot him and say I killed him. If I went back on my word, he's poison Da Ge."
"Why did they want you parted?" Meng Yao asked.
"They wanted Mingjue to swear in another in my place as second. Couldn't do that if I was there. Again they threatened." Nie Huaisang's laugh was soft and bitter. "They thought Mingjue and Laoba had a good relationship. They never heard the fights. He thought that Mingjue would still be that reserved, quiet boy he was when he left." Another laugh and Meng Yao snorted.
"I can't imagine Da Ge as quiet and reserved somehow." He said with a smile in his voice.
"Neither can I." Nie Mingjue said with an ironic laugh.
Nie Huaisang's laugh this time was wet and more like his usual chuckle. "They didn't know what they had done. By then it was too late. Da Ge is hard-line enough for the elders, incorruptible and fiercely anti-corruption."
"So how long did they wait before trying to kill him?" Meng Yao asked, tone hard.
"Nie Bichu, Da Ge's second....I think he tried to kill Da Ge two years ago on that Night Hunt." Nie Huaisang said tiredly. "He died. Da Ge had a qi deviation so strange it change his personality and altered his memory. A sword spirit was involved somewhere."
"He nearly died." Meng Yao remarked in a sad tone and Lan Xichen nodded thinking of that frantic time.
"They won't get a second chance." Nie Huaisang said and his tone was steel.
"Why not tell Lan Xichen or me?" Meng Yao asked too gently.
A damn good question! Lan Xichen thought hotly.
"Firstly because Da Ge spoke with Er Ge and told him I basically killed our father." Huaisang said tiredly. "And secondly because they threatened to kill Lan Zhan if I did. They could too. He lives outside the sect and works as a glorified sect police officer. Car bomb. Drive by. Poison. Take your pick."
Horror filled Lan Xichen chest as he imagined it, followed swiftly by rage.
"Before they might have hurt your mother, if they knew you were with me. Or you. They suggested sending you a text pretending to me and just shooting you from behind! I couldn't risk that! " Nie Huaisang admitted sounding like he was crying. "Same with the Jiang. None of them would let such a thing go, or say it wasn't their problem. Jiang Cheng would have walked up to Da Ge and told him to his face! Who knows what Wei-ge would have done!"
Nie Mingjue cursed and looked pained. Lan Xichen closed his eyes. "What are you planning?" Meng Yao asked calmly. "Whatever it is, let me help."
"In two days, Da Ge is holding a banquet thing. They'll all be there. The good and the bad. I want them to see the evidence, the proof they killed Laoba, that they tried for Da Ge's life. The missing money, the fraud. A lot of people have helped me do this A-Yao. They've found evidence. They want justice too, for their families."
"Without care that would destabilize Da Ge's position..." Meng Yao started sounding disturbed, then stopped. "You are taking the blame. For Da Ge. Painting him as the righteous leader and them the corruption in the shadows looking to kill him so they can have the sect..." Meng Yao breathed sounded horrified for the first time.
"He is not taking the blame!" Nie Mingjue snapped. "I am the sect leader...I...Xichen...Do you think I was corrupt?" He added, eyes wide.
"No." Lan Xichen said quickly. "Never. You were not...stable in personality...easily angered...but you were never...would never have accepted this."
"This has to end before they kill Da Ge. He won't see it coming and he won't listen. So, I need to show them all."
"Show who? Who are our enemies?" Meng Yao demanded.
"Ours?" Nie Huaisang asked sounded lost.
"If this is your fight, then its mine." Meng Yao said sharply. "You should have told me before. I would have known the text was fake. I would have known and wouldn't have been at risk. So, who are they, Nie Huaisang?"
They heard him sigh. "Elder Nie Yi. All of his loyalists are in this. Nie Shicheng and his wife Jia Ruhan. He's hoping to kill me to become second in my place." He said this causally, as if such a thing was to be expected. To be murdered for your position.
Lan Xichen could hardly believe it. Little Tiger and he were going have a detailed conversation on the importance of his life, mental health and safety.
After having the more important one, where Lan Xichen refused to be dumped so Nie Huaisang could go off and do something self-sacrificing. Judging by Mingjue's expression, he wasn't going to be only one.
"Nie Yi." Nie Mingjue growled. "That soulless bastard!"
"Of course outside the sect, there is Ma Biao the Qinghe Magistrate. The businessman Wang Jianping - he was Nie Bichu's father-in-law." Nie Huaisang finished. "Nie Yi has ties to the Wen. Namely Wen Xu. Debts. Laoba was going to strike him from the sect."
"But we have proof?" Meng Yao checks.
"Laoba had a camera installed in his office. Mingjue's office now. It uploads the copy to a server. I have access. The whole conversation that night, when they poisoned Nie Rong? That's on there. With my salary from Furong, I paid a private investigator. She has the information on Ma Biao and Wang Jianping. She found dirt on Nie Shicheng too and recorded him in a restaurant talking about how much he hates Da Ge and wants me dead. They had a whole plan but Wei Wuxian screwed it for them." Nie Huaisang laughed, "He thought it was the Wen trying to kill me."
"They nearly killed Huaisang?" Mingjue breathed, grief heavy in his voice. Lan Xichen felt as though he had been punched in the chest.
"Then I owe him more than I thought. I'll help you." Meng Yao said calmly. "If they want to kill Da Ge, we'll stop them."
"I have to." Nie Huaisang said firmly. "No one will believe me. It has to be public. It has to be in their faces. Wang Jianping bought the police of Qinghe. Ma Biao's son-in-law is in with a casino. You know that means triad money."
"I'll see them all in the ground." Nie Mingjue snapped.
The line went dead and the two friends were left reeling in the corridor, trying to make sense of this tilting broken world. Without speaking they sat down against the wall, shock giving way to anger, then to a feeling like grief.
Nie Huaisang had been trapped for years in a deal to protect his brother.
Lan Xichen felt like a fool and hated how blind he had been. The estrangement. Huaisang's lack of bitterness over it. His desperation to get back to Qinghe in those early days. His grief when Nie Mingjue shut him out. How horrified he had been when Da Ge suffered that qi deviation and all the changes after that.
He had resigned himself to being apart from his family and keeping this deal going. Lan Xichen realized. That's why he stayed with the Jiang. He couldn't go home. There was no grudge, no emotional block. He was traumatized that was obvious now, but that wasn't the reason why he never went back. Why he was so distressed when Da Ge reinstated him as the heir.
Da Ge would have done anything to reconcile and Huaisang never took any advantage of that. Now, he seemed sure he was about lose his brother and his freedom.
"Mingjue?' He asked softly. Looking at his oldest friend who was slumped against the wall, a puppet with its strings cut. In a few minutes he was going to explode in rage, Lan Xichen knew. But right now he was too shocked to do anything but try and process this.
"I can't believe they have done this to him." Mingjue said in a broken tone. "He's carried this on his own for years."
"He was trying to protect you." Lan Xichen told him urgently. "They threatened him, you and everyone he could have gone to for help. Something msut have happened for this status quo to change. He's kept the secret for years."
"They want to kill me." Mingjue said. "After being a poor brother to him for years, he's willing to face jianghu punishment for betrayal, just to make sure they don't kill me."
"But now we know, we can make sure he doesn't face that." Lan Xichen out out there, already thinking of Gusu Lan backing, asylum and legal respresentation.
"He's not going down for their crimes!" Nie Mingjue snapped and the relief would have broguht Lan Xichen to his knees if he wasn't already sitting down.
"Perhaps you should have an outing of your own." Lan Xichen suggested, thinking. "We have to protect Nie Huaisang and now Meng Yao."
"Damn right." Nie Mingjue said firmly. "He's not taking the blame for my incompetence. And A-Yao never had our support when he needed it. We owe him."
===
As he closed the bathroom door, Nie Huaisang breathed out a choking breath and pulled out his phone. The call had ended and he knew that meant they had heard everything.
Wei-ge's array was working perfectly, so they would have heard.
His skin felt too tight and his stomach was tied in knots. He had just ruined two relationships, both of them precious to him. Two of four, if he counted the Jiang as one and Meng Yao as the other.
Better. This was better. This was what he had planned for. He reminded himself. He couldn't keep a lid on this much longer and the Jiang needed some time. Lan Zhan needed some time if their operations against the Wen had a chance of succeeding.
That and they were genuinely trying to kill his brother. All his deals and debts, all the years he had tried to keep those he loved safe by dirtying his own hands would be worthless if they died.
If he was lucky, he would face prison time, struck from the sect and publicly humiliated. His relationship with Lan Xichen smashed like porcelain. His relationship with his brother dissolved. The Jiang would be horrified and try to help him, but he could manage that. None of it would touch Meng Yao. He had no part in this and Nie Huaisang had just proved it.
No one would touch him. Otherwise they would have blamed him. He was the clever one after all, the well-connected one with plenty of reasons to want revenge on people like Ma Biao, who was another dear friend of Jin Guangshan.
If he was unlucky, Da Ge would be forced, or decide on his own, to instigate martial jianghu law. Nie Huaisang would die on the Last Stones, the stone platform where hundreds had been whipped to death for crimes against the sect, or hanged.
Better Lan Xichen left now that witness that. No mater how betrayed he might feel, he wouldn't want Nie Huaisang to die. It wasn't in accordance with the beliefs to Gusu or the man's kind heart.
He's lost, but he going to win the entire board. He'll pay with blood, but he'll see them fall.