Work Text:
The early morning light painted the heavenly realm in a soft orange glow as clouds lazily rolled by over the paths. This morning could be described as quite tranquil, maybe even peaceful. But Feng Xin wouldn’t describe it as such, he was called to the palace of Ling Wen for an urgent matter. A mission and the only thing he knew about it was that himself and general Xuan Zhen where called to the palace of Ling Wen.
Feng Xin sighed. A mission wasn’t a big deal but the fact he had to go with Mu Qing, it annoyed him. For the past few weeks Mu Qing’s mood had been awful. Still duty comes first, so he tried not to complain to much and get to work. The palace of Ling Wen came into sight and he headed in. Feng Xin walked to her office and knocked a few times.
“Come in.” Came Ling Wen’s perpetually tired sounding voice.
Feng Xin entered the room, everywhere he looked there were towers of scrolls and documents. What a nightmare he thought, shivering at the sight. Ling Wen was sitting at her desk, her hand on her head as she looked annoyed at the scroll she was reading. Feng Xin was the first to arrive and he stood in awkward silence in the room after greeting Ling Wen.
“Seems like general Xuan Zhen hasn’t arrived yet.” Feng Xin said, more to fill the silence than anything else.
“Hm.” Ling Wen was too focused on her scroll to say anything more. So they ended up waiting in silence again until Mu Qing showed up.
The door suddenly swung open and Mu Qing briskly walked in. “ling wen.” He said “I rushed over as soon as possible, what is the mission?” His tone was impatient and he completed ignored Feng Xin’s presence.
Feng Xin threw a glare his way and wanted to comment on Mu Qing’s rude behaviour, but shut up as soon he looked Mu Qing over. He looked haggard. His eyes had dark bags under them, his hairpiece was crooked and hair messier than usual. Normally Mu Qing looked nothing less than perfect but now it seemed like he had been through the wringer. So to say Feng Xin was surprised was an understatement.
Ling Wen finally looked up from the scroll since they had both arrived. “Good, now that your both here let me quickly brief you.” She said as she picked up another scroll. “On the border of the southeast and southwest a savage has been active. This demon has been causing chaos on a important trade route between your domains, killing any and all passer-by’s.” She stated calmly. “So the two of you are to deal with it as soon as possible, please make arrangements between each other about how to deal with this. Here is a scroll with all the important information, here you go.” Ling Wen said and held out the scroll.
Mu Qing grabbed the scroll. “Thank you Ling Wen Zhen-Jun.” He bowed and speedily walked out of the room.
“Hey!” Feng Xin yelled after Mu Qing as he began walking after him. He quickly bowed to Ling Wen before catching up to Mu Qing.
They where already out of the palace walking down the path ,Feng Xin grabbed Mu Qing’s shoulder forcing him to stop. Mu Qing huffed and looked up from the scroll he was already reading. The audacity of that bastard, Feng Xin thought, why does he have to be like that!
“What is it?” Mu Qing coldly said.
“Where supposed to work together aren’t we? Why are you being so… so frustrating!” Feng Xin yelled. His loud voice drew the attention of some onlookers, but they where unsurprised when they saw who where arguing and continued their own conversations.
“Well if I’m so frustrating let’s go to the mortal realm and get this mission done.” Mu Qing pushed the scroll in Feng Xin’s hands and walked towards a spot they could jump down to the mortal realm from.
Feng Xin let out a noice of complaint but followed, fine then he didn’t have the energy to deal with his bullshit. If Mu Qing wanted to rush into this then that was fine by him! The faster this was over with the better!
-
They arrived in the area that was being tormented by this evil spirit. Usually this road had some travellers and ox drawn carriages passing by. But now it was completely deserted, it felt eerie. In the distance they could see an abandoned carriage and decided to start there with their investigation.
As Feng Xin walked behind Mu Qing he could see how he was hunched slightly, his posture was unlike Mu Qing who usually carried himself with an air of pride, back straight and head held high. Had he been on so many missions lately? Feng Xin wondered, he had been awfully short with him lately. Maybe he should ask Ling Wen later, he thought to himself.
Mu Qing stopped as they arrived at the carriage. He walked around it looking it over. “There are scratch marks here.”
Feng Xin walked over to the marks, he could feel the ghost qi roiling of off it. “Looks strange, like it was made on purpose.” The marks where two line that where perfectly horizontal, it didn’t look like the result of an attack.
“Like it marked its territory.” Mu Qing stated. This had Feng Xin’s blood boiling. The nerve of this creature, didn’t it know fear! Trampling over the territory of two martial gods.
“Bastard!” Feng Xin yelled, “Show yourself coward!” He punched a tree next to him completely obliterating it. But it stayed quiet in the forest aside from some birds that had flown away due to the scare.
“What was that for?” Mu Qing asked glaring at him. “You think that would draw it out?”
“No! But I also wouldn’t know how it behaves and how we’re going to catch it because someone didn’t give me time to read the information!” Feng Xin shouted
Mu Qing rolled his eyes before saying, “never mind, let’s split up, we can cover more ground like that, the quicker we find it the better.”
“Are you sure though? Is that the right thing to do?” Feng Xin asked.
“What? Think you think you can’t handle it by yourself?” His sharp gaze meeting Feng Xin’s eyes. As if to challenge him.
“Hrng! Your impossible!” Feng Xin yelled, “Fine I’m taking the left side! Bye!” He turned and walked away into the forest. He couldn’t deal any longer with Mu Qing. He took deep breaths to let his heartbeat calm down and control his frustration.
He walked around the forest and opened the scroll which he hadn’t been able to read yet. Most of it contained records of incidents and sightings of this ghost. What was interesting though was that it had come from another gods domain. What they deduced from these encounters was that it would always go for the person with the least spiritual power, and preferably fought singular targets. The creature had no eyes and could only hear them or sense them through spiritual power. It didn’t take big risks, never taking more than it could chew, therefore it had never been caught before and fled from its previous area.
This had the cogs in Feng Xin’s head turning, he decided to contact Ling Wen. He called out to her over the communication array.
“Ling Wen? Can I ask you a question.”
“Go ahead.” Said Ling Wen silently.
“Has Mu Qing been on any missions before this one?”
“He has been very busy lately, there is an exceptional amount of ghost activity in Pei Ming’s domain and general Xuan Zhen was asked to help.” After a second of silence she asked, “Why, is there a problem?”
“No.. well.. I don’t know, he just seems very tired. Kinda out of it, you know,” Feng Xin cringed as he stumbled over his words.
“Ah… I see.” Ling Wen said with a hint of amusement in her voice, “Well, good luck general Nan Yang. Tell general Xuan Zhen to take it easy after this mission, goodbye.” Ling Wen cut the communication array, leaving Feng Xin gaping and speechless.
He shook his head trying to get his thoughts straight. But his thoughts drifted back to Mu Qing. He understood why Mu Qing looked so haggard. So many missions take a toll on spiritual power especially if the missions are in another gods domain.
He got it now, why Mu Qing wanted to split up. He was low on spiritual power, by getting rid of Feng Xin it would most likely target Mu Qing!
Feng Xin felt his heart drop, while simultaneously feeling like he wanted to punch Mu Qing in the face. He ran back to where he came from and could sense ghost qi getting stronger in the air. The sounds of fighting were noticeable now and suddenly a horrid screech sounded through the forest. Feng Xin burst into the clearing his bow ready.
Mu Qing looked his way, hunched slightly and arm bleeding from a deep gash. “Don’t let it escape, it might try to run since your here now.” Mu Qing had the audacity to sound annoyed but Feng Xin made his way to the opposite side, the demon now in the middle.
The creature looked horrific. Its eye sockets were empty, its claws blackened by old dried blood and it stood on legs that looked crooked and broken. Despite that fact it was quick and had managed to injure Mu Qing.
The tension could be felt in the air, and Mu Qing cut it first. He moved quick ,attacking swiftly. His form was graceful despite his injury and tiredness, but the demon was agile and dodged most attacks only getting grazed by the sabre.
Each time the creature started moving to the edge Feng Xin shot an arrow at it driving it back to the centre. This went on for a bit but eventually Mu Qing started to slow down, fatigue was catching up to him. Sweat lined his brow and he was breathing heavy. Meanwhile the demon got more aggressive with its moves but also more sloppy. Mu Qing managed to cut off its hand and it staggered in surprise. Feng Xin released an arrow hitting it in its back.
It roared in anger before suddenly rushing towards Mu Qing in a mad dash, a last ditch effort. He lifted his sabre just in time and the demon pierced itself on the blade, but it didn’t stop and kept moving forward driving it’s remaining clawed hand into Mu Qing’s side and started tearing at his flesh. Mu Qing groaned and through gritted teeth said, “Feng Xin, capture it!”
Mu Qing grabbed the demon with his free hand trying to keep it from moving too much as it kept clawing his side. Feng Xin could now get a clear shot and released an arrow of spiritual energy. It pierced the demon’s chest, going in from one side and exiting the other, leaving but a gaping hole. The creature went limp, its claw dropping from Mu Qing’s torn and bloody side. All fight left it’s body.
Feng Xin quickly grabbed the demon wrapping it in a binding rope and then quickly contacted his deputy gods to deal with it. He dropped the demons limp body on the ground and made his way over to Mu Qing.
Mu Qing had put his sabre back in its scabbard and stood with his back turned to Feng Xin. Feng Xin noticed the blood dripping onto the ground and the slight swaying. Mu Qing took one step, probably wanting to get away from this place, but his knees buckled and he fell face first on the ground.
“Mu Qing!” Feng Xin yelled and rushed over. He grabbed Mu Qing’s shoulder and turned him on his side, which made him grunt in pain. His other hand lifted mu Qing’s head slightly keeping it of the muddy ground.
Mu Qing was deathly pale, blood dripping from the corner of his mouth. His breathing was shallow and raspy, clearly it was quite painful. Still Mu Qing tried to speak but Feng Xin was having none of it and told him to shut up.
“Dumbass!” Feng Xin yelled. Glaring at Mu Qing, “You knew that it would come after you!” His eyes lower to Mu Qing’s side, stopping at the wound which looked horrible now that he saw it up close. Flesh and fabric were both torn to shreds, leaving a horrible sight.
“It was the quickest way to get this over with.” Said Mu Qing in a raspy voice as he coughed up a mouthful of blood.
“Shut up!” He yelled, “Look where it got you! If we hadn’t rushed this job none of this would have happened, we could have baited it another way but you were so keen on getting it over with! I know you don’t want to work with me but honestly what is your damn problem!” Feng Xin was venting at this point. Mu Qing looked away the entire time not able to meet Feng Xin’s eyes.
“I’m just tired.” Mu Qing’s voice was barely above a whisper. Feng Xin looked wide eyed at him. Mu Qing rarely showed vulnerability and honesty about his feelings, so Feng Xin was surprised and speechless for a second.
“Still, you could have just… Never mind let’s bring you back to the heavens, your injuries need to be tended to.” Feng Xin sighed. He tore of a piece of his robe and pressed it to Mu Qing’s side which was still bleeding. Mu qing hissed and closed his eyes in pain, tears welling up in the corners of his eyes. The wound wasn’t closing quickly on its own due to Mu Qing’s lack of spiritual power right now, so he pressed it tightly to his side and wrapped another piece around his body to keep it in place. It bothered Feng Xin that he hurt Mu Qing by doing this but right now it was a necessary evil.
“To my palace.” Mu Qing said through gritted teeth, trying to get up by himself. But Feng Xin stopped him and lifted him up bridal style. Mu Qing’s hand grapped the front of Feng Xin’s his eyes closed tightly.
“Are you sure? Maybe we should see someone who is equipped to deal with these injuries?” Feng Xin wondered.
“No.” Mu Qing shook his head, “My palace, I want to go to my palace.”
“Okay then, I’m bringing you there.” Feng Xin decided not to argue with Mu Qing, he felt bad for him and understood if he wanted to be in the comfort of his own palace.
“Hm.” Mu Qing closed his eyes, looking like he was about to sleep in Feng Xin’s arms. Feng Xin tightened his grip on his rival and left.
-
Feng Xin brought the both of them up to the heavenly realm. Avoiding any people he rushed to Mu Qing’s palace. He kicked open the doors startling a few junior officials who were cleaning. Feng Xin pointed to two of them and ordered them to bring medical supplies to Mu Qing’s room. They looked surprised at Feng Xin carrying their general in his arms, but they quickly bowed and rushed off.
“Where are your private chambers?” Feng Xin asked. But when he looked down Mu Qing was asleep or he had passed out, Feng Xin didn’t know.
He halted another junior official who could point him to Mu Qing’s chamber. He was lead down hallways that were tastefully decorated before they arrived at a door, the junior opened it, bowed and quickly left, Feng Xin entered the room. He had never been to Mu Qing’s room and he was curious to see what it looked like. The room was spacious and tidy unlike Feng Xin’s room which was always a mess. Honestly it was exactly as Feng Xin expected just as tastefully decorated as the rest of the palace.
He placed Mu Qing on the bed. The moment he hit the bed he stirred. His brow creased and he groggily looked up at Feng Xin.
“You fell asleep on the way here. How are you feeling?” Feng Xin asked
Mu Qing sighed and looked at Feng Xin. “I don’t know. Terrible I guess,” He tried to move a bit but the pain stopped him. He grimaced and gave up on moving.
There was a knock on the door, “we’ve brought the supplies you requested.” A junior official called nervously.
“Come in.” Feng Xin said, “put it over here, thank you.” The juniors bowed and hastily left. It was then that he thought, wait who is going to wrap his injuries? Mu Qing reached out trying to grab the items that were put on the bedside table, but he was clearly struggling.
“What are you doing idiot?” Feng Xin asked.
“What do you think? Who is gonna dress these wounds.” Mu Qing quipped. Feng Xin stopped him.
“Let me do it”
“What the Hell.” Mu Qing stared wide eyed at him. Feng Xin couldn’t leave him alone to tend to his wounds all by himself, even if Mu Qing is his rival he just couldn’t leave him alone right now that would make him feel terrible.
“Let me help. What is the problem?” Feng Xin grabbed a cloth dipping it in water, “Oh wait, you need to take these robes off.” Mu Qing’s eyes widened even further. Feng Xin realised that it may sounded weird, but still what’s the problem? He can’t clean these wounds when Mu Qing was still wearing his robes. He reached out a hand to help but Mu Qing smacked it away.
“I can do it myself.” He said sharply. Feng Xin let him but noticed him struggling especially when he reached his injured arm. He reached out again but this time Mu Qing didn’t lash out. His eyes where closed and his teeth were clenched so he didn’t see Feng Xin getting closer to help. Feng carefully grabbed the fabric trying to avoid any discomfort as he removed the outer robe. “Just accept the help you idiot.” Feng Xin grumbled.
With the inner robe Mu Qing let Feng Xin help entirely and stopped complaining. Since some of it was sticking to the wound on his side it was especially painful to remove the robe so Feng Xin was being extra careful. The skin was absolutely shredded and still bleeding slowly. Once Mu Qing was left in just his pants he could get to work.
He cleaned the blood and dirt of off his skin with a wet cloth, the basin of water quickly turned murky. Feng Xin looked up at Mu Qing who was trying not to make a sound and control his breathing. He opened his eyes and his gaze fell on Feng Xin. “What are you looking at, take joy out of seeing me like this?”
“What the hell!” Feng Xin exclaimed, “What do you think of me, of course not.” Why did he always assume the worst of people. Feng Xin was carefully tending to his wounds and still he thought there might be bad intentions. “I don’t like seeing you like this if you’d like to know. I’m still not happy with how things went today but let’s fix you up first.” Feng Xin continued cleaning the wounds and Mu Qing stayed quiet through the rest of it, only occasionally hissing at a particularly painful part.
Feng Xin smeared a salve on the wounds to benefit the healing process. Then wrapped the wounds, he started with his arm and finished that one quickly since it was the smallest wound, but next the wound on his side. “I need you to sit up for this one, otherwise I can’t wrap it around you.” Mu Qing grunted and Feng Xin helped him stay upright. Mu Qing was slightly leaning against his chest, gasping and grunting due to the pain of being moved.
Feng Xin started wrapping the gauze around his waist. Feng Xin fingers occasionally brushing against his soft skin. His waist was small Feng Xin noted, his muscles lean and strong and… wait this was his rival he was thinking about. He quickly finished bandaging and said, “There you go, it’s done.”
“Why do you help me?” Mu Qing asked softly.
“Huh, why not? We’re friends after all”
Mu Qing’s breathing hitches when he said that, and he looked away from Feng Xin. He was blushing, eyes not able to meet Feng Xin’s. “Where do you keep your night robes?” Feng Xin asked. Mu Qing pointed him to a closet in the back of the room. Feng Xin grabbed a black luxurious robe decorated with gold embroidered flowers, and brought it over to Mu Qing. “This one looks nice, wish I had a robe like this one. The patterns are stunning!” Feng Xin said admiring the handiwork and saw Mu Qing’s face get redder all the way to the tips of his ears. Did he make it? Feng Xin wondered but went to help Mu Qing first. Feng Xin helped him put on the robe and laid him down on the bed. Mu Qing’s tired eyes were struggling to stay open.
“Guess I’ll go report to Ling Wen everything is dealt with.” Feng Xin got up from where he sat on the side of Mu Qing’s bed just about to leave.
“Wait, don’t go yet… “ Mu Qing grabbed onto Feng Xin’s sleeve. “I… “ he sighed.
“What’s wrong?” Feng Xin sat back down looking worried at Mu Qing’s downcast face. He couldn’t help but feel sympathy for him, after Tonglu mountain a lot had changed. He could tell Mu Qing wanted to get closer to others but had no idea how to go about it and kept people at arm’s length. He was still petty at times and difficult to get along with but at least Feng Xin understood him better nowadays.
“I’m s-sorry, for today.” Mu Qing softly said still holding on to Feng Xin’s sleeve. Feng Xin was surprised and placed his hand on Mu Qing forehead, “Are you sick?”
“No, what the hell!” Mu Qing pushed his hand aside, face bright red. “I just don’t want to be alone… I’m tired of it.” His voice cracking slightly at the end.
“Oh.” Feng Xin said, ”I’ll stay then, but promise me you don’t push me away.”
“When do I do that?” Mu Qing huffed. Feng Xin chuckled at this, “Don’t laugh at me.” Mu Qing glared at him, but there was no real anger behind it.
Feng Xin sighed lightly and asked, “Why were you helping in Pei Ming’s domain anyway? It’s not your job after all.”
“Owed him a favour, don’t ask what favour its too personal.” Mu Qing was fiddling the sleeves of his robe. Feng Xin was curious what that was about, but if it was too personal he wouldn’t ask further. This was clearly off limits so he would respect his boundaries.
“I see.” He said, “next time ask me for help though, you don’t have to do everything alone.”
“I don’t want to own anyone favours if I can avoid it.”
“I wouldn’t want anything in return, I would do it because your my friend.” Feng Xin said with a sincere smile on his face.
Mu Qing looked shocked and he sat up a bit in surprise. Mu Qing still had issues coming to terms that some people wanted to be his friends and especially of these people were being so honest and sincere. But this bastard better belief it or I would have to smack some sense into him, Feng Xin thought or he would make Mu Qing have a conversation with Xie Lian about this so he could talk some sense into him. Mu Qing’s eyes were starting to water and his shoulders shook slightly.
“Are you okay?” Feng Xin had barely said the words before Mu Qing pulled him in a hug, his face hidden against Feng Xin’s chest. Feng Xin was surprised for a second before wrapping his arms around him. Rubbing his hand up and down hoping to comfort him a little.
“I want to lay down.” Mu Qing muffled voice sounded against his chest. Feng Xin was about to let Mu Qing go but he held on. “No, lie down with me.” Mu Qing whispered. “Oh. Wait let me take of my outer robes first, they’re dirty,” Feng Xin said and quickly took of the robes and armour pieces and threw them on the ground before moving to lay down beside him. His arms wrapped around Mu Qing, who was trembling softly. Feng Xin’s hand started petting Mu Qing’s soft and silky hair. Holding him like this, seeing him like this, it was all new to Feng Xin. It wasn’t bad though, he wished he could hold him like this more often, just under different circumstances where Mu Qing wasn’t hurt and maybe a bit out of it due to the pain and fatigue.
Feng Xin noticed a soft breathing sound, ah he’s asleep, he thought. Gods didn’t need sleep but it could still be nice to do that sometimes, especially after physically and mentally exhausting times. He let a slow and steady flow of spiritual energy flow into him, Mu Qing would never allow him to do that when awake, too proud to receive help from anyone. Still this would make him recover faster, and that would be worth it in the end.
Feng Xin sighed, it was conflicting to him that something like this was needed to come closer to each other. But still he hoped Mu Qing at least believed a little more he cared about him, actually cared about him like a friend. He hugged him a bit tighter before closing his eyes and slowly drifting of to sleep as well.