Archive of Our Own ^beta

So Mum and his Dad had cried over him for ages (and maybe Nezha had cried a bit too, urgh this was getting to be a habit, so embarrassing Nezha couldn’t even kick anything without a dumb body.)

But then they had to go and try and sort out everyone a place to sleep, ‘cause apparently most of the of the town had been destroyed or something, and the townspeople were all too much of a bunch of whimper to spend the night outside.

And maybe Nezha might even have gone and helped them out a bit. ! Since, y’know, the townspeople had all done that bowing bit (Nezha giggled into his fists) but Nezha was stuck inside this stupid lotus and tiny and when his mum had tried to hug him her hands had gone right through him, so it wasn’t like he could play shuttlecock with his dad now anyway...

“‘Spose its better than being dead,” he said out loud.

Ao Bing looked up. He’d been very quiet all the time Nezha’s parents had been there; mum and dad hadn’t said much to him either.

“We are dead,” he said softly. “Taiyi Zhenren said we were.” Taiyi Zhenren was in the corner ‘rebuilding his cultivation’ through the path of snoring.

Nezha waved his hand loftily. “Yeah but there’s dead and dead, right? We’re only half dead.”

Ao Bing frowned. “That is incorrect. There is only dead and alive.”

“Well I’m still hanging around and talking so I’m less dead than I thought I was gonna be, so I say we’re just half dead!”

Ao Bing shook his head and looked down at his hands. He was fidgeting with something small and shiny, like he had been since they’d woken up in the lotus.

Nezha kicked his feet out and slouched against the edge of the lotus. Stared up at the dusty ceiling of the storeroom. “Thanks,” he mumbled.

“You don’t have to thank me thank me for anything.”

Nezha levelled a finger at him accusingly. “Hell yeah I do! Don’t tell me that I can’t thank you!”

“I tried to murder your entire town!” Ao Bing cried. He flung his arms open, as if he was going to summon those dumb chicken drumsticks again.

“I know!” Nezha shouted back. “You still stopped me from killing my parents! I’m gonna thank you for that no matter what you say.” He stopped and frowned. “Huh. Why were you trying to destroy the town anyway?”

“You don’t know?”

“No one told me,” Nezha said defensively. “I came back and you were all whoosh with the ice and bam with your clubs.”

“They, they realised I was a dragon,” Ao Bing said. He tucked his hand with the sparkly thing up close to his chest. “They said the dragons had stolen the spirit pearl. That we were monsters.”

“They do that,” Nezha said sympathetically. “I mean, I don’t blame you for wanting to beat them up. But why crush the whole town? There’s some not so shitty people there. Like my parents. Who you’d just saved.”

“It’s what my family required of me,” Ao Bing whispered.

“Huh. Your family sound like dicks.”

Ao Bing’s fist hit him in the face.

Nezha’s head snapped back and he went flying straight out of the lotus. The world went weird and looping for a second and then he felt something snap taunt behind his belly button and went flying straight back head first into Ao Bing.

They both tumbled to the bottom of the lotus and kind of lay there, breathing hard.

“Urgh, okay okay no dissing your family.” Nezha pushed himself upright and prodded his cheek. “Shit I thought the Spirit Pearl was meant to be all goody goody, I think you gave my soul a black eye.”

Ao Bing struggled up to his knees. “You don’t understand,” he whispered. “The dragons have been imprisoned at the bottom of the ocean for hundreds of years. I’m their hope. I was meant to do great deeds, defeat the havoc-wreaking demon pill and win merit, ascend to heaven and free - and free.” His voice stumbled.

Nezha rubbed his head. “Uh, sorry for not being a massacring monster? Except not really.”

“I’ve been training to kill the Demon Pill all my life! Don’t you care??”

Nezha shrugged, tucking a little bit of hurt away. “Eh, but you didn’t know that was the awesome me then!”

“I didn’t,” Ao Bing said earnestly. “Shifu - ah Shen-“

“Shen Gonggong.”

“Shen Gongbao. He said that the Demon Pill was a monster who would massacre everyone in its path. He said it would be a good thing to stop it. But if he hadn’t told you all those things, you would never have lost control like that.” He smiled at Nezha. It was a bit wan but very warm and made Nezha tuck his hands behind his back and his foot behind his other foot ‘cause there was no rock he could pummel here. “You were right. You’re a much better human than I am.”

“Yeah,” Nezha shrugged awkwardly, tugging on his ear. “I’m awesome. But if someone had Mum locked up somewhere - and I guess Dad too - I don’t know what I’d do.”

“I’m sure you’d succeed,” Ao Bing whispered. His hand tightened around the shiny thing he was holding. It looked like a fish scale, only much prettier. “You’re very strong, Nezha.”

“I am! So you know what? Fuck heaven! I’m the Great Nezha! You take me to the dragons and pow! Blam! I’ll break them out!”

“But the dragons are keeping all the ancient demons imprisoned!” Ao Bing protested. “Even if we could break heaven’s chains - the demons would be released -“

“Then I’ll beat em up too!” Nezha proclaimed. “What, you think a bunch of old monsters can stand against the great Nezha!”

Ao Bing shook his head. “No, Heaven would declare us their enemies. They’d hunt us down. If I could have ascended to heaven like Father wanted me to - but I won’t now. You stopped me. And I’m glad. I’m glad.” His voice broke.

“Heaven doesn’t sound that great,” Nezha mumbled. “There was that whole Heavenly Lightening thing. I’m not a fan.”

“I let them down,” Ao Bing whispered. He lowered his head, until his face was completely hidden behind his blue hair. Nezha hovered behind him awkwardly. Shit. He was pretty sure Ao Bing was crying. He wanted him to stop. How did you stop people from crying.

“Wanna fight?”

Ao Bing shook his head minutely. His shoulders curved in even more tightly.

Okay. Nezha thought hard for a minute.

“Wanna play shuttlecock?”

“We don’t have one,” Ao Bing croaked.

Dammit, he was right. Nezha stared down at him helplessly. He looked really small. Even though he was taller than Nezha in these forms. Nezha didn’t usually have to be the big one!

Okay. So so so so so so. What would Mum do? They didn’t have a shuttlecock. Could he give Ao Bing something nice? Stupid no, they were in a stupid lotus cage, in a stupid storage house, and the only other thing here was stupid Taiyi Zhenren snoring away. He couldn’t even raid his storage pouch like this!

Ao Bing’s shoulders were shaking slightly. Nezha reached out slowly and very lightly put his hand on Ao Bing’s shoulder. Ao Bing tensed slightly but didn’t pull away. Right, Nezha was supposed to say something now right? You’re not a monster, everyone will see that someday, yadda yadda yadda.

Nezha slumped down on the bottom of the lotus next to him, resting his back against his side. He stared up at the dusty ceiling. “We’re not going to let the world, heaven, or anyone tell us shit about what we can do.”he declared. “They said there’s was no way to survive the Heavenly Lightening. And we did! Together.” He nudged Ao Bing’s back. “So maybe there’s no way for you to free your family. But I bet WE can save your family! Even if we’re currently, you know. Half dead.”

Ao Bing mumbled something.

“What?”

“There a ghosts and ghouls which are dead but still conscious. Maybe we’re ghosts?”

Nezha grinned blindingly into the distance. “Nah! We’re not wimpy old ghosts. We’re still alive! We just don’t have bodies. Currently.”

“Where would we get bodies?”

“A quest! Can you turn into a horse?”

“Why would I turn into a horse?”

“This story Mum likes...”

Above the lotus and the store shed, the night turned slowly towards day.