A Gentle Torment

Chen Guang (晨光)

AN: Whelp. That happened. Which 'that'? You decide.

There have been a few too many mischievous giggles over this chapter -- just a fair warning, we're getting ((really)) close to the reunion between two dragons and their beloved fox(es). If you can't tell based off of the name alone, CG is going to play a pretty pivotal role in solving a few of the (major) issues haunting all of the realms. It's been hinted at ever since MY saw BQ in the dreamscape.

PS... I can't help but wonder how much BQ was thinking about MY for her daughter to already know her first word... 😅 But since it'll follow the same process as YH did in the drama, she'll forget it by the time she's born.

Mo Yuan had remained on the platform for some time after his step-mother left. Quietly overlooking the city, he waits patiently for her return with whichever body Guan Yin appeared in while taking in the sights of a city he'd never be able to walk in freely.

Somewhere amidst the commotion, he's able to see her again.

She's wrapped up in Ye Hua's cloak, laughing for a fleeting moment as she remains at his side, watching as her baby boy plays among a small gaggle of immortal children, most of them being girls his age. For a small second, he catches himself wondering if she didn't want to come back at all.

If she could only choose one of them... would she choose Ye Hua?

It's the sudden coughing fit Ye Hua goes into that shoves the idea away. He can feel his brother's spirit from afar.  Close to death, he's alarmed by the sudden weakness of it.

Bai Qian's looking at him with worried eyes as she rubs his back. Settling down by a dining table outside of a small restaurant, she pours him a cup of tea in the late midday sun.

The sun has become a novel concept unless one was cloud jumping in the past few thousand years.

The brave smile that she gives him when he claims to be okay has him wanting to take them both back to their dragon den. He'd always been protective of the two of them, and yet, he can only remain on the platform.

Bai Qian moves to take the cloak off, wanting to return it to his coughing shoulders only for him to force his bloody coughs down in order to attempt and convince her to keep it on.

o~O~o

She was cold, too alarmingly cold.

Her fingertips were colder than ice. With the sun warming the city, she should be warm, but she's not.

"I feel better with you wearing it."

It's a weak excuse, but it's no lie by any means.

"Hua Ye..." She's distracting herself by watching their son as he happily plays with his schoolmates, bright-eyed and full of all of the life in the world, "There's something I want to ask you..."

It had been before A-li was born when they last brought it up. With Lady Hua Yin having surely passed away by now, though, she wasn't quite so sure if he still wanted his childhood dream.

Hua Ye is watching her intently as if she were the only woman left in all of the realms, and she can't help but blush over his gaze.

"I know you wanted to get married while Hua Yin was still around and I understand if you don't know, but..."

"Qian Qian.." His voice is soft as he takes her hand, pressing a soft kiss against the velvet skin found there, "I've never wanted anything else."

Bai Qian looks back at him, offering him a sweet smile that leaves his heart rushing in ways it hadn't since their time on the mountain, "Would you object to it being soon?"