Chapter Text
Jing Yuan dies.
It didn’t happen all at once.
His life was annoyingly long. The only one left amidst everyone dying off or leaving. It was tedious and drawn-out. Of course, it would make sense that his death would be just that. Long, tedious, and excruciating.
The Cloud Piercer going through his chest hurt. But that was expected. He’s no stranger to things going through any part of his body, as stab wounds go. What he didn’t expect was the unbearable agonizing piercing pain of the feedback he’d get when Phantylia got hurt.
It hurt. There were no words for it. He didn’t know if he screamed or cried or whimpered. He hoped he didn’t. He has an image he had to protect after all.
Well, if he has an image he could come back to if he lived through this.
Then Jing Yuan falls.
Someone catches him.
The arms were familiar despite it being centuries since he last felt it. But the eyes that he met-- he knew, wasn’t. Because Dan Feng was long gone. And he was the only one left.
Phantylia talks, something about a temporary body and Xianzhou’s destruction. What he catches though, was her question. “How much longer can you last?”
Not for long, Jing Yuan thinks ruefully.
He stands anyway, shakes off the familiar arms around him and pushes himself off the ground as he tries not to keel over with the pain making his knees weak.
“Begone Pawn of Destruction,” He blusters through the weakness in his joints. “Tell the Legion that the Vengeance of the Hunt will fall upon them.” He brushes the flame away.
“General are you... okay?” Jing Yuan smiled at the young girl, warmed at her concern. He wishes he could say more. Assuage the worry in their faces.
But it seems like he had finally reached his limit.
Jing Yuan falls.
“Jing Yuan!” Dan Heng exclaims and once again, he’s in his arms. Familiar, warm, once owned by someone he had loved and yearned for.
But he’s not here anymore. Nor was Yingxing. And Baiheng and his master. Everyone is gone.
He would be too, Jing Yuan thinks.
There is no despair in those thoughts. No fear. Just a loosening of shoulders. A fading thought of finally .
“Jing Yuan! General! Can you hear me? Please, wake up- you can’t-”
Blue eyes bright with otherworldly powers now tinged with tears look onto him. Jing Yuan wishes to wipe these tears away, to whisper comfort, to tell him to learn to let go. Because isn’t holding on to something that should be long gone the reason why they are where they are today? He thinks of another man, pale hair, blue eyes, rough hands, and wonders—would he look at the general with the same sorrowful eyes?
But words were beyond him for Jing Yuan had already run out of time.
Maybe in another world, another life...
Then he’s gone.