Like a solar

May 10, 2021, 07:07

Beijing, china

CPA ICU wing

Evdokia thinks she dreams of flower fields and kids laughter. It takes her back to the times they'd play chase and catch at her castle's garden, her, Jean, Ira and Tommy. The four royal hassles as LiQin liked to call them. The dream is a nice touch to her reality. She sees them playing with water guns at the garden, chasing after each other so that the least wet one of them wins the prize LiQin has put . Evdokia sees Jean falling onto his back in a puddle of water, only that the water turns dark red and thickens. Jean loses consciousness.

 Evdokia realises the gun in her hand is way heavier than a water gun and she throws it away. The gun that Tommy fires at the tree is a lot louder than a simple water splash. The laughter's get higher, but they're no longer laughs but more of screeches and screams for help. Evdokia realises that Jean was shot dead, and Tommy and Ira watch her in horror. She tries saying something, come closer to them, but they turn their backs and run away in fear. The world around her is falling apart, crumbling down into nothingness, the sky castle coming down from the sky into a pile of dust and blood of her people, bodies crushed and grinded.

Evdokia wakes up in unsaturated anxiety and horror when she sees the corpse of Jean beside her leg, free of the spark of life in Jean, her Jean.

"Jean! Where is Jean?!" she screams at Valodya, the first person she finds beside her when she opened her eyes.

"Easy, calm down, he's right beside you." Valodya tries calming her down as he turns her head to the left of her bed. And there he is, huddled up beside her, bandages and gauze all over his body and all, rubbing his sleepy eyes after being woken up by her yelling.

"What's wrong? What happened?" He asks as he yawns and she throws herself at him, making his back hit the bed back down by her weight, as she hugs him tight, scared for her life.

"Bad dream?" he murmurs into her hair as he tries catching up to her. She doesn't answer.

"Where's Ira and Mizuki?" she asks Robin, who's standing behind Valodya.

"The two beds next to you." Robin sighs heavily, and when Evdokia is met with Ira's cheeky smile and Mizuki not giving a fuck about her and continue reading whatever old novel he's reading and she can finally breathe normally again. She'd get up and kiss their head if she didn't have an iron elf attached to her body right now.

Evdokia lets her head hit the pillows back, arms still around Jean as the doctors arrive to check on all of their wounds, treating what still hasn't generated yet.

Eventually they all get moved to individual rooms, with Jean insisting onto being with Evdokia after the nightmare, even though he's the one with wounds still open.

She's sitting on a chair on his right, staring into nothing in particular.

"What's bothering you so much?" he says as he reaches his hand to smooth out the frown on her face.

"I don't know? Maybe the fact that LiQin might be dying as we speak." She answers with a tone in her voice she didn't intend to show.

"No, something else is on your mind. "Jean ignores what she just said because he knows her and he knows how she reacts to everything and that's not the right reason.

She visibly sighs and swaps his hand off her face, intertwining their fingers and makes him see what the now dead man was telling her. It doesn't bring out the reaction she expected from Jean, and maybe that just adds gasoline to her fire.

"He's not wrong." Jean states, simply.

"Are you serious?! You think my father thought of anyone as less than him? You think he abused his pow-"

"That's not what I said, Eve. He's not wrong about feeling that way. You might not have ever seen this happen before your eyes, but I have. My father literally saw his own people, his own patroness as less than him, and I saw it as it happened before my eyes. It's not pretty or fair, but have you ever thought that maybe we are actually in the wrong here?"

That much makes Evdokia shut up. Its a hard pill to swallow. She often forgets that her father was actually just another creature who isn't a perfect saint, and perhaps she was way too young before the war started to understand anything regards being a leader, but it sure did seem that way before. She's aware it's a foolish mind-set, but they're gone now, what's the point of shit talking them?

"I know it's not easy for you, but your father could have had good intentions behind it, but it doesn't always work that way in politics, and you know that better than anyone."

Evdokia doesn't say anything, she just sits there like a good girl, listening attentively.

Jean lets go of her hand and it breaks something in her, because she catches a glimpse of what he was about to think before they lost skin contact. And it fucking hurts.

"Fuck you." She clenches and unclenches her jaw in aggregation and misery, feeling a void grow between them both.

"You're just mad because you know I'm right. I understand, Evdokia, I understand them and understand your frustration, but blocking it out and carrying on isn't the right thing to do at this moment."

"Are you suggesting we just let LiQin die? How is that even suppose to fix anything?" Evdokia is in absolute dubiety.

"No, I'm suggesting we talk this out. Also, I thought you were mad at him?"

"We've already tried this once and look where it got us. And yes, I am, doesn't mean I think he deserves to die."

"No, we haven't. All our parents went to that peace making conference with war preparations behind their back. Your father took his best enforcers with him." Jean says.

"He took them in case he needed them, which he did."

"And so did Akuji and Edgar, my esurient father, George the winter stalkers emperor, Ken the wind fae king, Farida the sand queen and Jian Jian the fire nymphs empress. They all wanted peace but they also prepared for the worse like they were anticipating for it to happen.

The only person that went with real peace intentions was Ira's father, and you can tell by how quickly he pulled back his forces and left to his empire when the forces clashed."

"He's underwater. Practically a different realm than ours."

"You're dodging the truth again, Evdokia. King Artem was absolutely the most kind hearted father I've seen in my life up until this moment, and maybe that love towards you and your siblings, especially his oldest son, has made him do the absolute worst. There's nothing as undoing as your own child, at least to parents who care about you." Evdokia knows this parental topic is very sensitive when it comes to Jean, given how he was treated by his own father and mother. Her, Tommy and Ira's parents have always took him under their wings like he's their own child, and maybe that might have just made him feel worse, maybe he hated their sympathy and saw it as pettiness. But by god, Evdokia knows her parents never pitted him, it was always pure love, and perhaps Evdokia and Jean's relationship played a huge part in it.

"is it just the war we're worried about?" Evdokia asks, suddenly, "or is there something more to it that you're keeping from me?"

"There's a lot, Evdokia. If we have to go back home to dix this, do you think you can take it? Being back there?"

"Home is here with you." She whispers, getting up and into Jean's arms, even if she feels like there's a mental distance between them right now.

"Is it?" he mumbles back, but she doesn't hear it.

*

January X, 2004, xx:xx

The Onis lands

X

Evdokia doesn't leave until she starts suffocating over the smell of the corpses and death. She's still drained and out of energy. She peels herself away from Amara's cold body, looking around the room, hoping for someone to move, even if none have in the past few days, or hours, she doesn't know, she lost the sense of time at some point.

Before she leaves the hall of death, she looks at each and every individual that she killed, carving their names into her head like a carve on a stone. She remembers to take Amara's necklace and puts it around her neck, along with her own half moon one that she was gifted the day she was born. She gives him one last look and kisses his forehead.

Saying good bye was never one of Evdokia's favourite things to commit to. She never had to, not until this hell rose upon them.

She tries not to think about who she has lost as she walks through the big bushes and huge trees, but rather the people she might still have left.

They got the news that the sky castle has fallen, literally fallen from the sky, while they were battling the Onis on the forest faes lands. They were fighting wind whispers and subrace desert elves.  She doesn't believe it. It would talk a whole army of wizards to do so.

As Evdokia stumbles into the night, she sees a group of raven demons and planetniks tied by ropes around their wrists as they are being lead by kipines, clearly, war prisoners.

She wishes she can save them, but she has lived to know this isn't just a game of being a hero that can save everyone. She silently prays for them, because that's all she got after all.

The night is getting colder the more she walks through the woods. She doesn't know where she is and she doesn't have a mental map of their entire planet. However, given the weather shifting, she can tell she is walking up to the winter stalkers and elves lands, which is reassuring since they remained neutral and refused to make it to the peace meeting.

Evdokia thinks even if they decided to take actions for other races, they'd win against any other army. She remembers Robin taking them there to train them for much more than just being a warrior, but rather a warrior that can deliver under any circumstances.

The weather starts to get a little too harsh for what she's currently wearing. She strides forward, wanting, no needing to find Robin somehow. But she's tired and worn out, hell she's in the worst physical state she could think of. It takes her a few minutes for her body to give out, making her fall onto her knees and she starts shaking.

She feels as her clothes soak into the mud puddle she fell in. She doesn't care, not anymore. She slowly gives up bit by bit, closing her eyes and accepting her fate. She thinks she had a good one.

Before she's all out, she thinks she hears someone calling her name, but something tells her it might be one of the ghosts she killed, will be haunting her forever if she survived this. She would rather not. She takes one last inhales as she shuts he eyes and passes out.

*

May 10, 2021, xx:xx

Cairo, Egypt

The only thing that takes over LiQin's mind once he regains his consciousness is YuNing. Is he safe? Is he still with Evdokia?

YuNing is going to be fine if he is, now that he knows who he really is and his background, add to that he might work for the CPA too while he's at it. LiQin can't help but think that the last conversation he had with YuNing is not what he wants to leave as the last memory YuNing has to remember his father with.

LiQin suddenly gets the urge to tear himself apart. To bleed out the pain he's feeling and the weight of his life choices. Maybe he should have saved AiLin, maybe none of this would have happened if he was admitted under the CPA. Maybe YuNing and AiLin would have been better off without him. Maybe AiLin's disease was all nothing but karma. Maybe he's now realising its about damn time he takes what he deserves.

LiQin says his last prayers when he hears someone coming near the door, knowing too well he doesn't have much time anymore. That, or he's getting deported to their creatures realm and getting executed there. He's not chained down by any ropes or handcuffs, surprisingly. He thinks they probably know his magic is drained or they have good wards around the room that wouldn't allow him to escape, although, the last time the did think that it didn't exactly go according to plan.

The door knob twists and turns along with the clicking of the keys against each other. A tall man dressed in white crisp button up shirt, sleeves folded to his elbows with a black vest on walks into the room, closing the door behind him.

The light coming from behind the blackout of the room is enough to show the man's sharp features. His long nose and chin, slick black hair, pale dark skin and green piercing eyes. It's none other than little Tommy, all grown up now and no longer the Tommy that would cry when a frog jumps onto his shoulder when LiQin would be teaching them about the Yuri forest in between its trunks.

LiQin's emotions catches up with the memory and makes a tear fall off his lashes. They look into each other's faces for a solid minute, but it is neither awkward nor tense. LiQin sees it happening before Thomas steps closer and takes LiQin by the arms, tightly hugging him like a lost child that has finally found their parents.

For some reason, Thomas starts sobbing, and LiQin doesn't ask, but rather holds him tightly as he lets him take everything off his shoulders for what seems like the first time in forever. The room is stuffy and dusty, but it doesn't take away from the moment's preciousness. Thomas pulls back and looks up at LiQin's glassy eyes, and it seems like the time has been rewind and every broken piece of Thomas was put back together just by this simple hug. LiQin is a little scared and cautious with letting go, scared he might break again before his eyes and he won't be able to recollect him together.

"I missed you, old man." Thomas chuckles, tears trails still apparent on his cheeks.

"Vicious little Tommy. " LiQin ruffles and messes Thomas's hair up, making Thomas blush slightly, if that's even possible for a vampire. "How have you been?"

"Eh, could have been better." Thomas shrugs, letting go of LiQin's arms, going to sit down at one of the arm chairs in the dim lit room.

"How so? There's never a better than the real life, kid." He lets the smoke exhale out of his nose.

"Of course you'd say some wise shit about it." Thomas snorts. "and you? Heard you have a real son now? My men almost killed him though, my bad."

"He'll be fine, I took the real blows for him." LiQin says half heartily.

"of course you did." Thomas mumbles as he takes a long swift off the cigarette, letting the smoke embrace his lungs as a whole.

"don't mind me asking, but why am I not in tight ropes on that metal chair?" LiQin dares to ask.

Thomas doesn't answer, he rather takes his time to think about it. Why is the man he was ordered to bring him over to the clans, alive or dead, is in his bedroom, walking freely as he wishes?

"it's a long story." He says, eventually.

LiQin doesn't say anything, but he does fix his posture, waiting for Thomas to spill his heart out to him, and so Thomas does just that.

"After you left, our world was a mess. Wars carried on for years and years, and at some point people lost the point of it, going around killing people to gain the upper hand over the rest of the races. And for nothing, just plain greed and rapacity.

The battles never stopped, not until this day, LiQin. Can you imagine? Until this day. They're still going around waving their swords and guns,  showing off the number of lives they've robbed from their loved ones. It was sickening, its sickening.

But it wasn't all so bad, not until it was." He smiles but a sad tear leaves his eye, and LiQin is quick to shifting next to him, for Thomas to rest his head on LiQin's shoulder. LiQin holds Thomas's hand just like he used to with little Thomas when water spattered over his clothes and he cried because he didn't like his clothes being wet.

"I got engaged to the love of my life, a great woman named Yamama. She was everything to me, everything. The only flicker of light in that dark place I was buried in. She was always there, always there through thick and thin, through the bad and good days, through the nights I cried my heart out as I saw my parents coming back from a battle with heads of their combats on spears held up in the sky like a fucking trophy.

She was there through it all, up until she no longer could. There was a stupid fight between her sect and another, her parents took it out on her one night, and I woke up the next day to her suicide letter by my bedside table. It broke me, shattered the last piece of me that still gave me hope to live." Thomas is shaking at this point, and LiQin draws little circles with his thumb onto Thomas's hand in a soothing gesture.

"Ever since I lost Yamama, father wanted to keep me away from the clans, scared I might do something stupid and scandalous that can cost my father his power over the clans." Thomas finds it easy, talking to LiQin. Even if it has been over two centuries, Thomas still takes LiQin as a parent to him more than his biological parents ever will.

"I had a fight with them one night, I broke down and bared all of me to them. I thought they would get it, that they'd take me into a parental hug I was deprived from my whole life. Instead my father dropped a heavy bomb on me. He asked me to get him your head. How he even knew you're alive is still a mystery to me." Thomas pulls his head away from LiQin's shoulder and looks him in the eyes as he says so. "He asked me for your head to get their validation, he asked me to kill the person he knows is the dearest to me to prove something to him, to earn his venomous love." Thomas is spiting heat as he tells.

"And so you came for me..." LiQin whispers, but doesn't pull away anyways. And it constricts Thomas's heart in the best ways. This man is his last standing wall to lean on. He can't lose him too.

"I didn't. I picked the morally worst enforcers off dad's army to bring them here, use them as a shield, get them killed while at it, and find you. I came here to you not for you. I would never hurt you, ever. They're out of control, the enforcers.  They're so fucking thirsty for blood to be shed and heads to be off." Thomas almost begs for LiQin's forgiveness for the times he fucked up at controlling the enforcers and got him hurt.

"it's okay, I understand. " LiQin hushes into Thomas's ear.

He doesn't, be he imagines its the right thing to say.

Thomas was one of his many kids he raised since they were babies up until they became grown adults. And now, seeing his child in this state, it surprisingly doesn't set him off, but LiQin's thought process couldn't help but think of YuNing. He'd go to war for him, he'd build an army out of himself for him. Maybe Evdokia was right, after all. Maybe LiQin was nothing but one hell of a selfish man.

LiQin smiles to himself.

*