Work Text:
When the beast cried out “Stop!” , he moved without thinking.
There was a blade in his hand from a sailor’s belt and his brother’s voice called from somewhere behind him - but Shi Qingxuan pressed forward against the raging storm which rendered the ship’s deck a soaked hazard. Leaving him tripping over bare feet as shoes were lost many steps behind him. Rushing to the flailing net in the dark as his brother’s subordinates continued to thrust and stab with steel weapons at the dark shape bound by silver wire.
“Qingxuan! Don’t!”
His brother sounds closer than before and thunder curls the blackened sky above. Sailors cry out in anger and disgust as the beast fights once more, a long body writing beneath scalding nets and the cry of pain brings Shi Qingxuan’s heart to shiver.
He knows his brother’s spiritual array like the back of his favorite comb - knows where to plunge the hefty dagger to loosen the winding binds. To render the encapsulating binds useless and the men scramble away with shouts of warning and panic. The beast was free - hissing in wet echoes across the storm soaked deck. It’s shape is nearly indiscernible from the black night and Shi Qingxuan falls forward onto a wet body when the tail ripcords from the net. The scaled flesh burned in crossing lines from the touch of the trap.
Suddenly there are gold lights hovering above his crown - watching him as a low shudder tears through his bones at the sound of sharp things digging into the wood below them. Teeth, elongated and thick jutting from the lips peeled in malice, leave Shi Qingxuan gasping for breath as he feels fear and relief in a strange combination.
“Run!” He calls foolishly as his brother’s voice is in shreds behind him.
The beast seems startled, head tilting ever so slightly, before lighting strikes the ship in a fearsome CRACK of light and heat.
He’s deafened and hits the water with a gulp of salt and stinging throat. The world is black and heavy, cold and his body is tossed about as it sinks deeper beneath the waves.
I’m sorry ge, he thinks with his last calm moments before there’s a hysterical squall tearing through him.
Lungs burn, eyes feel chewed by the salt which he should be used to from a childhood of swimming in these very waters. He’s afraid and he doesn’t want to die - he thinks that’s funny.
The beast didn’t want to die either.
In the absolute darkness there is something gold rushing towards him. Long and bent like the skeleton of a truly impressive fish, cutting through the black current like it is nothing and Shi Qingxuan smiles in his dying moments as the word beautiful comes to mind.
Like a golden firework lit for his birthday, watched from the safety of his brother’s arms as they stand in their home. The pavilion of luxury surrounded by business allies and those who survive only at his brother’s powerful mercy.
He will miss celebrating his birthday when he dies, Shi Qingxuan realizes at the end.
But at least he managed to save the beast who too only wanted to live.
.
He Xuan does not know why this creature saved him.
He does not know why he saved him in return.
He was on that ship, that horrid trap of two legs and steel knives which cut and torn at his body. He was one of them , the creatures with nets and gluttonous desires which make the sea dangerous if one wanders too close to where they float. The shadows of carved wood vessels haunt the world below as any dangerous carnivore seeks its next meal.
In truth, he should have let the other drown.
But he couldn’t.
The storm has passed leaving the sun beginning to creep along the horizon. The black turning blue and the waters warming at the start. He Xuan stares down at the pink body - red blood dripping from a cut across his cheek that he laps away with the flat of his tongue. Surprised at the sharp taste and how the action makes the dark lashes flinch and turn in unconsciousness.
He Xuan has seen men , knows them enough to know the rise and fall of the lean body means this one is still alive and a pang of relief is a surprising sensation at his chest.
This boy in the storm, hair and body drenched in the rain, torn through his bindings and was almost left dead for his kindness.
Kindness .
He Xuan didn’t know those who travel the lands could perform such an act.
In comparison the color of his hand is like faded seaweed, cold and pale as fingers stroke the bruised pink cheek and lean closer when the man gives a noise of pain. He searches for the source, using the base of his torso to keep him balanced between the human’s unmoving legs. Steering his touch down the many layers of cloth the other wore, pushing them aside as he finds more of that red blood soaking the man’s ribs.
It’s a mess, but nothing so concerning. He will live if he stops bleeding.
He Xuan ponders his choices only a moment, weighing what he should do and what his cold heart is telling him.
He should let the man die - it’s not his responsibility.
Run! The human cried, rain dripping down his long lashes and into his mouth, looking scared for him .
Hm.
What He Xuan is, is special.
Their blood is special and he knows that’s why there are so few of them left. Hunted by men like those aboard the ship who snatch up He Xuan’s people (his family) and they are never seen again.
His blood is potent, bitter and easily drawn from a thick bite of jagged teeth at the inside of his mouth. Letting the cold thin liquid fill his lips and He Xuan nuzzles the injury beneath the man’s chest. Spilling his blood against the open wound and licking the gash without hesitation. Spreading what he knows will help the mortal while hands grips the lukewarm thighs for balance.
This man’s blood is warm and sugary. His skin tastes like flowers that only sometimes spill into the ocean, and salt. He’s soft and sweet and He Xuan pulls back as his own blood begins to mend the wound, trying not to be dizzy off the human’s blood.
He’s tasted human blood before.
This is different.
Hn.
The man’s eyes are strangely pale.
Like sea foam brewing after a storm.
Wait.
The man is awake and staring at him.
He doesn’t look afraid and for some reason He Xuan, who is unmoved by screams and vicious weapons, is frozen staring back.
The man is thin, winces when he moves to press his palm against his cheek, causing He Xuan to startle at the warmth and the following smile that reminds him of his hoard of crystals and glittering things in the depths below.
“You saved me.” The man says, weak and happy in the face of a monster whose crooked teeth and thin jaw is dripping in their blood.
He’s pretty, He Xuan thinks and feels guilty for it as he finds it too easy to rest his head against the warm palm.
“Qingxuan!”
Voices call over the sandy hills. Men, angry and violent beginning to approach.
He Xuan grips the mortal’s body with long claws, thinking he might drag him into the waters to escape - but mortals can’t do that can they?
“You need to go!” The man says desperately, pushing with a cry of pain at He Xuan’s clammy shoulders. “Ge will hurt you!”
He hesitates, the voices grow louder as the rescue party is closer.
“Please, I don’t want to see you hurt!”
For no reason, no reason at all, He Xuan butts his head into the mortal’s brow.
It almost knocks the man over.
“Thank you.” He says, his voice a low hiss, twisted by what he is and he feels the man tense at the sound.
“Qingxuan!”
He Xuan tears himself away, a seamless return to the ocean as he still tastes the human’s blood on his lips - the warmth of his skin on his - and the shivering heartbeat against his body when he snatched him from the black water.