The Ghost Of You

Chapter 11

The light was almost blinding. Feng Xin closed his eyes on instinct.

"What the fuck?" he whispered. "Is that supposed to happen?"

"No," Mu Qing said, still in the strange, soft way he had been speaking.

The first fiery blaze of light faded, and Feng Xin opened his eyes to the warm glow of lanterns, hanging gently over the Heavenly capital. They cast everything in shades of gold.

Mu Qing was standing next to him, still clutching his robes in his hands. He stared up at the sky, in awe, lit up by the light. The glow softened him, made him blur out at the edges.

"Even I've never received that many," he said as he let go of Feng Xin. It seemed impossible to place if he was jealous, or only impressed.

Far away from them, the Heavens had fallen into chaos, as they always seemed to do. In the center of it all was His Highness, standing there, staring up at the night sky, and the three thousand lanterns released in his name. When he turned around, he was smiling.

Feng Xin ducked behind the wall, not brave enough to let His Highness see him.

"He beat the Emperor," Mu Qing was saying. "No one's ever— no one's supposed to— it's not possible."

"If he did it, how can it be impossible?" He found that he was speaking quietly as well.

"Of course, it's not the first time he's done something impossible," Mu Qing said, and he barely even sounded annoyed. "Why am I even surprised anymore?"

Feng Xin didn't have an answer. He didn't think Mu Qing wanted one. Instead, he leaned back against the wall, and put his face in his hands. The warmth in his palms surprised him.

"We can't tell him," he said, miserably.

"What?"

"White-No Face. We can't tell him." He had wanted to. He'd gone in the first place to tell His Highness, to risk himself just to warn him. He had found Mu Qing instead, and maybe that was for the best.

"Why not?" Mu Qing snapped. "Don't you think he deserves to know?" He emphasized the "you" as if to imply he did not particularly agree.

"Don't you remember what happened last time? Fuck, I'm not about to put him through that again!" He grabbed Mu Qing's wrist, keeping his hands meticulously placed over the fabric of his sleeve, and gestured towards His Highness. Mu Qing gasped, at his touch.

"Look at him, Mu Qing! He's happy!"

Mu Qing looked, and then rolled his eyes, groaned, and stamped his foot on the ground. Eventually, and said; "Yes, yes, Good for him. What's your plan, then? Going to try to take on White-No Face yourself? Or do you expect me to solve it?"

He turned back towards him, and the light of the lanterns made his eyes look more brown, and less fathomless black. It lit up his robes and made him look like a walking flame.

"You do have a plan, don't you?" he said, voice cool. "Tell me that you have a plan."

And Feng Xin stared at him, and faltered. Pressed this close to him, Mu Qing was distracting, in all his sharp edges and unknowable motives. If he'd ever had a plan, which was unlikely at best, it was long gone.

"Mount Tonglu will open soon," he said. "I can feel it."'

Mu Qing raised one delicate brow, but said nothing.

"It'll be there, when it does. It always is."

"If it's already broken out once, what's the point in going back?" Mu Qing asked. He glanced at their surroundings, before once again grabbing at Feng Xin's robes, and pushing him against the wall.