Work Text:
He never understood why Yue Qingyuan kept searching.
Shen Qingqiu was lost to them.
He was cold, vicious, heartless.
Corrupt and corrupted.
But Yue Qingyuan kept preserving even under censure and disapproval.
He got punished and got right back to his fruitless search.
"What are you going to do if you find him?" Liu Qingge asked.
Yue Qingyuan shook his head. "I don't know yet but I have to, Qingge. I have to try."
His eyes were desperate and manic and that shut Liu Qingge up better than any rebuke.
So he let Yue Qingyuan search, took on his duties where he could, and on rare occasions, accompanied him on his missions so he could finish quicker.
To search further and farther.
It consumed him beyond reason and Liu Qingge could only watch how he lost himself.
All for that traitor.
On one such mission, they encountered Shen Qingqiu.
He was a ruin, his face a twisted mask of rage and despair.
He had been beautiful once, in a cold, reserved way.
Now he was nothing but a shadow of himself.
Yet Yue Qingyuan lit up with hope when he saw him despite the outward signs.
Liu Qingge wanted to shake him and scream.
It would be as senseless as this search, he realized at that moment.
Yue Qingyuan would not let go.
He couldn't.
Whatever happened between them to cause that rift, it bound them together infinitely.
Liu Qingge watched in mute horror as Shen Qingqiu ran and Yue Qingyuan gave chase.
It was a trap.
It must be a trap.
This place, half jungle, half destroyed factories, was predestined for it.
If Shen Qingqiu didn't use it, there was no sense in bringing him back.
Ironically it would mean nothing of his mind was left.
Liu Qingge followed them.
He found Yue Qingyuan, prone and bleeding but alive.
For a second he was set on taking him and leaving this hellhole but…
Hunting down Shen Qingqiu would be easier now, after a fight.
He couldn't be far.
Finding him was Yue Qingyuan's whole life.
What kind of friend would he be if he didn't try?
He settled Yue Qingyuan against a tree and hoped nothing ate him.
He would not stay long or stray far.
Probably.
When he found Shen Qingqiu, Shen Qingqiu was breaking hard and close to a cliffside going so far down that it looked like a gateway to the core.
Or the abyss itself.
"What do you want?" Shen Qingqiu hissed, struggling to his feet, weapon still in hand.
Now that he thought about it, there had been no scorch marks on or around Yue Qingyuan.
"You haven't drawn your sword."
"I did, you blind fool."
He ignored the words and the sneer.
Instead, he took stock of Shen Qingqiu.
His clothes were torn and dirty, not from one fight but from harsh living conditions.
His eyes were as bloodshot and burnt yellow as with all users of the Dark Side.
His body trembled faintly, stark lines that hadn't been there before aging his face. He was thinner than Liu Qingge remembered him.
Shen Qingqiu looked exhausted.
He still held himself stiffly yet hadn't attacked yet.
Either because he didn't have the strength left or…
"He has spent every waking moment searching for you," Liu Qingge said.
Shen Qingqiu closed his eyes.
Whether in pain, defeat or exhaustion, Liu Qingge didn't know.
"Tell him. Tell him I forgive him," Shen Qingqiu snapped.
Thrn he leaped.
Not forward like Liu Qingge had half expected him to but down into that fathomless abyss.
"No!"
He couldn't go back to Yue Qingyuan without him.
It would break his heart, destroy him.
Liu Qingge knew it, could feel the truth of it echo in the Force.
With all his will, his fear, his love, and hope, he reached for the Force and it sang to him.
He found the remote heartbeat of Shen Qingqiu, falling ever faster to his destruction, and pulled.
He caught Shen Qingqiu's fall, even if the backlash ached in his bones.
He let the Force hold them and stepped back from the edge.
When Shen Qingqiu appeared over the edge of the cliff, haloed like he was by power and pure rage, Liu Qingge almost understood.
He dragged Shen Qingqiu with him to Yue Qingyuan's side.
Shen Qingqiu fought him every step of the way but Liu Qingge was stronger.
He collapsed beside Yue Qingyuan and pulled Shen Qingqiu's body close.
"Watch him," he told Shen Qingqiu, harsh and dizzy with the effort.
"You would trust I will?" Shen Qingqiu scoffed, sneer not as sharp as it was.
"He means something to you, whatever that is."
That shut Shen Qingqiu up.
"You mean nothing to me," he finally turning away.
"I know. He'd be sad, though."
Liu Qingge fell into sleep with a swiftness that would have surprised him had he had the energy for it.
When he woke to wan daylight, he was not only alive but also unharmed.
Somewhere nearby Yue Qingyuan was talking, hasty and hushed, at Shen Qingqiu who was tending the fire.
There was a kind of small beast roasting over the flames.
"You're still here," Liu Qingge said, righting himself groggily.
In the daytime, Shen Qingqiu managed to look even worse.
"Qingqiu has agreed to come home with us," Yue Qingyuan said.
He beamed and his eyes shone brightly. It made something in Liu Qingge's chest ache.
That desperate hope in his eyes…
Liu Qingge averted his gaze.
"I did not say that," Shen Qingqiu said, hoarse and hissing.
It calmed something in Liu Qingge.
A fast change of heart would have been too soon.
This… this was reluctant and broken and as desperate as Yue Qingyuan was.
Liu Qingge couldn't leave them alone.
"We can go to my family's homestead," he offered.
It drew their attention.
He tried not to feel the heat of their gazes.
As he had expected, Yue Qingyuan was more hopeful and relieved.
Shen Qingqiu in turn was all mistrust and suspicions.
Still, when Yue Qingyuan agreed and thanked him, Shen Qingqiu said nothing in protest.
He quietly tended the fire, berated Yue Qingyuan, and scoffed at Liu Qingge.
He fed them and made a show of gathering his things so they could have the illusion of privacy to talk things through.
Almost kind of him.
Yue Qingyuan didn't talk, though.
He never took his eyes off Shen Qingqiu, a blatant sign of how far gone he was.
That was the man Liu Qingge had fallen for. And he'd never look his way.
It hurt but Liu Qingge swallowed it down.
Yue Qingyuan was happy. That was enough.
Eventually Shen Qingqiu returned, obviously impatient, and glanced between them.
"Are you done?"
He was still sharp-tongued and harsh but every word he said, to either of them, made Yue Qingyuan smile.
Shen Qingqiu noticed too and sc offed at it but Liu Qingge caught a glimpse of his face when Yue Qingyuan turned away for a moment to lead the way to the ship, so sure they'd follow, all of a sudden.
And…
It was devastating.
All the vast void of longing Yue Qingyuan wore so uncaring and openly was mirrored in Shen Qingqiu's eyes, carefully, desperately hidden.
Maybe Shen Qingqiu would turn on them and steer them into a sun but in this moment Liu Qingge didn't believe it.
They were both equally hopeless and stupid about the other.
With a sigh, he followed Yue Qingyuan, for once as hopeful that Shen Qingqiu wouldn't stab him in the back.
This thing between them had to be contagious.
Or Liu Qingge was merely a fool.
He wanted to help them fix themselves.
Even if it would break his heart.
But, somehow, he felt it'd be a worthwhile endeavor.
(He hadn't counted on how insane they were about their attachments.
Clearly, neither Yue Qingyuan nor Shen Qingqiu were people who would or could let anything go.
He would stay or they'd hunt him down, Shen Qingqiu informed him testily.
Yue Qingyuan didn't even pretend he didn't agree with everything Shen Qingqiu said.
They were clearly mad about each other, Liu Qingge thought, but he was too flattered that they were just as mad about him to be indignant about it.
Getting everything you wanted was terrible tempting.)