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‘Take care of (Y/N) for me, I’ll see you two in the azure sky’
“Hey Liu, before he went out, what did Naidan say to you?”
“...Oh ...uh, nothing. It didn’t make sense to me, either.”
The 5th round of the tournament is now underway with Ryuki Gaoh from the Kengan Association up against Purgatory’s Naidan Mönkhbat. It was weird, Naidan decided to go up on the behalf of Purgatory. You’ve known the fighters well and long enough to know their fighting style, personality, and power level. It was off to you, it seemed early in the tournament for Naidan to go up from understanding his fighting record and strength. Usually, Naidan would've saved himself to go up later on. But you figured something inside Naidan sparked him to go fight next.
Before he went up, he whispered something to Liu that you couldn’t make out. He then went over to you, eyes boring into yours. He stayed like that a few seconds before simply smiling at you, giving you a head pat as he would into the ring. Unlike most of the fighters, Naidan would ruffle your hair or give you a rough head pat before heading out to fight. This is Naidan’s thing he has with you due to the size and height difference. And yet, the head pat was gentle and tender, contrasting from the previous times he has done so. It felt almost unnatural for you to experience this from him. As he stood at the exit of the fighting box, Naidan paused for a bit. He sided-glance to Liu then to you before heading forward into the ring. That was when you noticed something from the pause of his…
Did he... hesitate?
No, Naidan wasn’t the type for something like that. This was somewhat amiss, Naidan’s strange behavior was making you feel uneasy about this fight. You couldn’t pinpoint it, but you knew something’s going to happen in this fight and you knew it involved him. Now here you are, behind the rails with Liu watching the fight happen. Every now and then, you would glance at Liu to see his reaction. However, he was genuinely lost in thought. Gently placing your hand on his shoulder, you pulled him out of his spaced out state.
“Liu, are you okay? You’re spacing out more than usually. Did Naidan say something that bothered you?”
“Oh, uh (Y/N), it’s- it’s really nothing. I’m fine, (Y/N).”
As he turned his attention back at the fight, his face reverted back to the way it was before. It was concerning to see Liu, one of the more collected fighters, be reacting in such a way. Deciding to not push it, you focus back on the fight. Naidan knocking down Ryuki seemed normal as expected of his caliber. As the fight went on, it seemed to be in Naidan’s favor. Naidan was barely fazed by Ryuki’s attempts before knocking him down again. This time, Naidan staggered. You saw it, however, when Naidan knocked down Ryuki. The kid kicked his temple last minute before slamming into the ground. By the looks of things, this was going to be Purgatory's win at the hands of Naidan. No matter how his opponent tried, Ryuki was being tossed around like nothing more than a rag doll by Naidan. You should be happy that Purgatory would be winning, right? Then why can’t you unshake the uneasiness from your stomach? This wasn’t like Naidan for extending the fight like this, it was clear that he was the undisputed victor in the match.
Then Naidan shouted something to Ryuki. At a distance, you couldn’t hear much of what he was saying. However, there was one word that grabbed your attention.
‘Kill’
Something was wrong, something was very wrong. There was another motive that Naidan had in this fight and you didn’t like the direction he was taking. Yet, Ryuki took his opportunity to strike him and land a couple hits. It didn’t help your situation when you heard Naidan shouting again, this time it was more audible.
“NOW BRING IT ON!!! ONLY ONE OF US WILL LEAVE THIS RING ALIVE!!!”
At this moment, you were starting to get scared. But you weren’t scared for the victory, you were scared for Naidan. What does this mean by what he said? You couldn’t think about it when Naidan resumed the fight. Ryuki dodged and was able to hit his eye, slamming him to the ground and unleashing a barrage of attacks. From Liu’s constant shouting, you might lose composure too. You weren’t a fighter by all means but you knew how to read air of the battle and this wasn’t a regular match anymore, it became a death match. When Ryuki didn’t listen to Shiina calls, it was right then and there those two were going to end the match on their own terms. And by the looks of things, it seemed only one of them was going to walk away from the fight alive.
“SHIINA, CALL OFF THE MATCH!!!!! STOP THE MATCH!!! THIS ISN’T A REGULAR FIGHT ANYMORE!!! WHY AREN’T YOU STOPPING THE MATCH, SHIINA!?!”
You knew it was absolutely useless to yell from where you were. But at this point what else can you do? It would be foolish to run in with such a murderous atmosphere. The only thing you can do is pray for Naidan’s safe return or Shiina would somehow hear you and stop the match herself. But she didn’t. You felt yourself chipping away, helpless at the fact you can’t do anything to prevent anyone from an unforeseeable fate they didn’t deserve. Your collected composure faltered with each second the fight went on. Although the air was fine, you felt like you were suffocating. It was getting harder and harder to breath. You tuned out reality, questions racing throughout your mind.
‘What was Naidan’s true motive?’
‘Why is he fighting like this?’
‘Was this the real side of Naidan you never knew, the you knew was a hoax?’
‘Was what everything Naidan told you was a lie?’
‘Was his love for you a lie too?’
You snapped back to reality when you heard Liu shouting. Asking Naidan to forfeit, saying he can just take the loss and they’ll pick up from it, begging him to just come back. It seems his yelling worked as Naidan turned to glance at the two of you. Before he turned back to the fight, he gave out a pitiful smile to the both of you. Both of you call out to him causing Lolong to say that this is Naidan’s fight and no one else’s. But you didn’t care, you deafen it out.
“STOP THE MATCH, SHIINA!!! SHIINA, WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING!?! SOMEONE’S GOING TO DIE IF YOU DON’T STOP THE MATCH!!! SHIINA!!!!!”
You shouted out while Liu begged Naidan not to go in for the kill. Your voice became hoarse, strained, scratchy from all the yelling. Your emotions of being scared were mixed in with frustration and stress, why isn’t she doing anything!? Why hasn’t she stopped the match!? You became desperate, desperate for Naidan to forfeit and come back alive. But you knew deep down something was going down, something real bad. As Naidan choked Ryuki, both you and Liu repeatedly pleaded for him to not kill him. It felt like time slowed down, something was going to happen to him. Your eye caught twitching in Ryuki’s arm. Before you could’ve seen anything else, your eyes were shielded from the matter.
It was Liu, Liu shielded you from what happened next.
He held you tight with a slightly firm grip on your head, as if to keep you from seeing the aftermath. However, the stillness of the air and lack of sound only to be accompanied by something wet hitting the ring floor confirmed your worst fear. Ripping away from Liu, you saw what he blinded you from.
There was Naidan, slumped over, bleeding out on the ring floor.
You didn’t what came over you, your legs moved on their own as you ran out of the box into the fighting ring. Liu called out after you, following suit as you called out to Naidan.
‘No...’
‘NO…’
‘NONONONONO! PLEASE, ANYTHING BUT THIS!!’
While you picked up Naidan, you heard Liu call for the medics in the background. You tried stopping the blood from seeping from his neck but more came out then it was staying inside. God, there was so much blood, so much that the more you thought about it the more sick you became.
“Naidan! Please hang in there! The medic is on his way here!”
Your hand was stained with his blood. Liu kneeled by Naidan’s side too. But Naidan was trying to say something to him. It sounded like incoherent mumbles but you didn’t miss what he said to Liu.
“Be careful. Don’t trust Nicholas”
What? Don’t trust Nicholas? What the hell is going on? What is Naidan talking about? What’s wrong with Nicholas? There’s so much going on right now that it began to overwhelm. From Naidan’s worsen condition to the new found information you heard. You held Naidan’s hand, pleading for him to keep his eyes open as help was literally just a few seconds away. You gave him a firm grip as you prayed for him to stay alive.
“Naidan, Please stay awake! You can’t die!! Please, Please, Please! I beg of you!!! Don’t die on me, please!! Naidan!!!!”
You begged him, while Liu was keeping his head up, Naidan shifted his eyes to you. Your eyes were glossy, tears threatening to spill over. Your face held fear and worry in them as you stared back at him. His eyes soften at you, there was a feeling in his heart that he couldn’t describe. Was it pain from his injuries? Guilt of being the cause of your distraught state? Or sadness of knowing he has to leave you behind? He couldn’t tell as he felt his life slip away. But one thing he couldn’t deny was how beautiful you looked. It doesn’t matter what state you’re in, whether it be of joy, frustration, or stress, he was alway captivated by your beauty. Maybe that’s what drew him to you. As his life slipped away, he reminisced about the first time you two met and the times you spent together. He first met you after his match with Liu, you had to establish his profile and style of fighting. It wasn’t necessarily love at first sight, but he did want to see you again. Since then, you two grew close fairly quickly, and eventually fell for him. From accompanying him to spectate fights and making Liu feel like a third wheel, to those nights he spent with you, loving you. Even though they were odd experiences, he didn’t regret them at all.
Having Liu as a great friend and having you as his lover, he never thought he could expect this from his life being a part of the worm. But he can be content with that, he can be at peace with what he had. And he would be forever grateful for you teaching him how to love and giving him the chance to feel and understand it. He turned to Liu and whispered something in his ear causing Liu to nod vigorously. He turns back to you and gives a soft smile as he raises his hand to cup your face. You grabbed it with both hands and leaned into his touch.
“(Y/N)... Everything is going to be okay…”
“Naidan, what-”
“You’ll be okay… Your love for me was more than enough…”
“Hold on, Naidan! Why are you saying this-”
“Thank you for loving someone like me… and teaching me how to understand it…”
Panic and fear erupted from you as your eyes widened from what he’s saying.
“Naidan, please! This isn’t a good time for someth-”
“(Y/N)...”
You stopped yourself before rambling on
“Yes, Naidan?”
“I love you…”
And from that, his hand went limp and fell to the concrete floor with a sicken thud. Your heart stopped, your body went cold, as you began to shake violently.
“Naidan…Hey Naidan... Wake up… Open your eyes, please! You made a promise to me you’d come back alive!! You promised me!!! Naidan, please, please don’t leave me!!! Naidan, please come back to me! Naidan! NAIDAN!!!
Your eyes searched for any life left in him, you shook his lifeless body, desperately hoping to find any sort of evidence that he was alive. But there was no use.
Naidan was gone.
Fat tears rolled down your eyes as sobs began to rack up in your throat. Liu came to your side and held you, burying your face in his shoulder. You hugged Liu as you continued to cry over the loss of your lover. It hurts, it hurt so goddamn much. It was as if someone stabbed your heart, ripped it out of your chest and kept on shooting it while it was on fire. Your cries weren’t just of sadness, they were pent up frustration from this whole match.
What’s wrong with Nicholas? Why do you need to be weary of him? What was Naidan telling Ryuki? But more importantly, why didn't Shiina stop the fight? She could’ve stopped the fight when they weren’t listening to her call, she could’ve saved Naidan if she did. Naidan would still be alive if she stopped the fight! Naidan would have lived… Naidan would still be here with you… Naidan would-. You glanced to look over at Ryuki who was sitting up. But something was up. He was shaking, tear droplets in his eyes, eyes widened with fear and trauma. Ryuki looked scared, like he didn’t mean to kill Naidan. No, you can tell he didn’t want to kill him,
Something isn’t right, something was going on here that you don’t know, but there was something bigger happening in this fight that was more than a match.
On the other hand, Liu was seething with rage of unimaginable proportions. Not only did he saw his best friend die right in front of him, he had to see you mourn the loss of your lover. Liu knew you for a while, you were someone who kinda was reserved with emotions. Stern with everything you said and showed a little apathy with almost every fighter. But Naidan changed that, you weren’t so uptight and had more leeway when interacting with others. He saw how the two of you cared for each other and he was honestly jealous of you. But he was your best friend too. Liu cared about you like he did with Naidan, but now he had a deceased friend and another crying over him. He never wanted this for you, you didn’t deserve this.
Liu then stood up and unleashed his aura towards the Kengan association. Before you advanced towards them you stopped him by tugging on his shirt. His aura disappeared as he focused on you.
“Liu…”
His attention fully on you with a hand on your head.
“Yes, (Y/N)?”
“What did Naidan whisper to you before he left?”
He hesitated for a moment before pulling you into a hug.
“ He said ‘When I’m gone, protect (Y/N) in my place’.”
Liu continues with a heavy heart
“We made a deal, (Y/N). I’ll protect you from now on.”
Tears began to fall again as you hugged him close. Liu returns the hug and comfortingly runs his hand through your head. You didn’t know if the Naidan you loved was truly the real him or a mask he put on. However, what was real was that he loved you more than anything and didn’t want to leave you behind.
Yet, during Naidan’s final moments he thought about you. Your touch, your laugh, your smile. It flashed in his mind as the fire in him flickered so slowly. Before his life slipped away completely, he had a few last thoughts.
‘Liu’s a good man, Liu will protect you in my place, (Y/N)’
‘(Y/N), I’m sorry it had to be this way… I wished I could protect you more…’
‘(Y/N), I Love You’
But you sadly won’t know them as he took them with him in the sky above. So many things were going on, Liu wanted revenge for you and Naidan, Naidan’s warning about Nicholas, Ryuki’s terrified and traumatic expression, to Naidan lifeless body, it was all too much that your mind went blank. As your vision became hazy, Liu was calling your name but it was muffled out. The next thing you know everything went dark. You passed out in Liu’s arms, Liu frantically called out your name in hopes of getting a response from you but there was no use. You were not responding.
Although he wasn’t there, you knew Naidan was free. Soaring high in the crisp blue sky with puffy white clouds. You were jealous almost, you were bound by earthly chains that grounded you to the Earth. But Naidan can soar freely, and at the whim of his will with nothing holding him back. You hoped your hawk spread his wings and soared among the beautiful sky. Now, the Hawk of Ordos was soaring high and free. Knowing that he would be watching over you. Before your mind went blank, you had one thought before passing out completely.
“I’ll see you too in the Azure sky, Naidan…”