Chapter Text
It was still dark when Xie Lian became lucid again for a moment. Through the occasional sounds of gargling blood and airless lungs trying to fill up, he heard the rumbling.
Was someone… digging?
His moment of lucidity didn’t last long enough for him to find out, as the searing pains overtook his senses once more. Again, he felt what it was to drown in his own blood and enter that dark purple room of nothingness.
He screamed… and his own voice was repeated back. He walked… but ended up in the same spot even when he took no turns. It was so cold, but he couldn’t see his breath in front of him.
And then, everything was white.
Am I finally dead? He wondered to himself.
He perhaps should have known this wasn’t the case when an ‘Angel’ wrapped their arms around him and pulled him from the coffin.
Slowly sounds began to filter in one by one.
“Y-.. gh… t .. o,” the voice called to him.
He tried to ask what the Angel meant, but all he could do was cough more dark blood onto the beautiful crimson robes he wore.
It was a shame really, they’d surely be stained.
“Your highness,” he was finally able to hear, his eyes trying desperately to focus on the face in front of him.
“What did they do to you,” he cried out in such a way that Xie Lian couldn’t understand it.
After a small time of the wind on his face, Xie Lian suddenly came to the realization that he was being moved. Out. Of. The. Coffin. And against stable arms, he closed his eyes for proper sleep for the first time in who knows how long.
…
When he awoke, he was in a daze. The world shined with a glassy fog, he could see the red lights swaying as the one carrying him walked.
It was warm, not like the heat of an airless fever. Nor was it cold like the winters that froze down deep into the ground.
Oh how he had longed for freedom in that purgatory haze. Oh how he had feared the ever lasting night.
Xie Lian shifted, biting his tongue at the sudden rush of pain. He wasn’t sure what he expected, but it wasn’t to be held tighter and reassured.
“It’s okay your highness,” the smooth voice reminded him, “we’re almost there, then we’ll get you all patched up.”
He might’ve opened his mouth to mutter a reply, if not for the writing shackle upon his neck. It’s twisting and constricting forced him to keep all thoughts locked deep down, somewhere he shan’t be tempted to let out.
Fog still covering his eyes like a blanket, Xie Lian didn’t realize the scene had begun to change until the stranger's grip on him changed, and he was laid down on a soft cushioned sofa.
When he tried to meet the gaze of this angelic person, there was only a blurry mess of black and red. He caught some hints of silver, and evidence of a somewhat sickly ivory skin tone.
Who are you? His heart willed himself to ask.
“Your highness,” the man spoke, a slight shake in his otherwise silky voice, “I’m sorry to ask this of you, but may I remove your outer robes so I can help with your injuries?”
Without hesitation Xie Lian opened his mouth, yet no sound passed his lips. And Xie Lian was sure he saw the man recoil a bit through the haze. Knowing fighting a battle of wills with a shackle is worthless, Xie Lian nodded his head slightly and lifted his limbs to start pulling away the heavy outer robes he wore.
“Just rest your highness,” the stranger sighed, “I’ll take care of this.”
Xie Lian couldn’t for the life of him figure out what was happening. First this Angel digs him from a grave deep inside a cursed hill, personally lifts him out of a coffin— one he was nailed to no less— and now he’s carried him home and is trying to heal his wounds?
How could this man possibly heal centuries old wounds? And why did Xie Lian know he could?
Xie Lian truly didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
Without a fight he let the stranger pull away 3 layers of robes to reveal his bare, marred flesh. And without surprise, he listened as the man stifled a horrified gasp.
He expected that then and there he would be thrown out or casted away. Surely it was understood now that no normal human could survive this.
But then he wasn’t.
“It’s okay your highness,” the man— the man that mustn’t be a human whispered, “it’s okay, I can, I can help with this.”
One by one, he pulled the shards of wood, glass and metal from Xie Lian’s chest. He plucked and plucked them away until Xie Lian could take a breath, unplagued by the feeling of all those objects embedded in his skin.
“I’m going to…” the man trailed off before looking up to stare at Xie Lian’s face, “I’m going to put some spiritual energy into your chest so that it heals faster, okay your highness?”
Well that’s one thing confirmed, he isn’t a normal person. Maybe… a ghost? But why would one ever help him… one who clearly knows him anyway.
Xie Lian nodded weakly, not expecting the sheer amount of energy that would suddenly flood into his body through his chest. It was alarming how much someone would just give away.
The ghost must have seen his surprise, “it’s alright your highness, this is only just a small amount of the energy I have saved up.”
That wasn’t exactly why he was worried.
Despite the obvious shock, Xie Lian couldn’t help but lean back and take a deep breath as he felt his lungs and heart finally repair themselves fully. Being whole is so underrated.
Now that his body no longer had to devote the boundless energy it did not have to healing, Xie Lian’s vision had begun to slowly return to him.
He could now faintly see details on the person in front of him as he shifted somewhat uncomfortably.
“I… I don’t mean to be rude,” the ghost began with a blushing face? “You have blood… ehm all over you?”
Xie Lian looked at his hands… which were admittedly crusted with varying shades of red and brown. In that very moment he was quite grateful that the rate at which his vision was returning was so slow. He didn’t exactly want to see himself.
Swallowing his pride (and certainly with a red face), Xie Lian looked to the still blurry figure before him and raised his arms as much as he comfortably could. Hopefully this was a positive enough gesture for the ghost to understand he was giving him permission to bathe him as he saw fit.
It’s not like he could just sit in what’s presumably this man’s house covered in dirt and blood.
The man immediately picked up on it, carefully lifting Xie Lian. “Are you sure it’s okay?” The man asked, seemingly biting his tongue a bit at the end.
Again, Xie Lian motioned to start talking before closing his mouth again and simply nodding his head.
It was nice. Being held in that way, Xie Lian felt like suddenly every prayer he screamed to the universe was heard.
This person… this stranger… had come into his life so suddenly and for some reason felt so safe. He didn’t know whether to laugh or cry at that moment. There he was, being undressed and lowered into the bath of someone he hadn’t even properly met, and yet it was the safest he felt since…
Since before.
Truly he couldn’t make heads or tails of it. Why was this person so careful? His every touch was so soft and delicate. It was almost as if he was afraid Xie Lian might just crumble away if he pulled too hard while untangling his blood-crusted hair.
What on earth had Xie Lian done to deserve this? It wasn’t as if he was some remarkable person with a perfect past.
Xie Lian had been a monster for so many years, it was completely unbelievable to him that someone could ever remember to call him dianxia again… let alone some stranger he had never met.
It made him stiffen for a second… the thought that this could all be some elaborate game made up to fool him into thinking there was still good left in the world for him. He knew better than to fear that though, it was enough to be good to others. He didn’t need anything in return. Even basic kindness is far too much to ask of a stranger.
“Your highness,” the soft voice interrupted his thoughts, “your hair and top are all done. Let’s go ahead and put some clean clothes on you so you can wash the rest tomorrow after you’ve had a good night's sleep, okay?”
Xie Lian didn’t even realize he was tired until this person had covered him in what felt like fine silks and tucked him into a warm, fluffy bed.
And Xie Lian didn’t notice himself clutching onto the hand of that stranger as he drifted off into sleep, refusing to let him go without a word.