Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

White hot pain sets every single one of his nerve endings on fire as Lin Quishi heaves himself out the door and into Obsidian; the blood seeping through the deep gashes on his chest making his shirt stick uncomfortably to his body.

He sinks to the ground, against the wall, unable to do much of anything other than keen in agony.

His vision starts developing dark spots— tell tale signs of him about to lose consciousness. Only this time, he's afraid that if he closes his eyes he might never open them again.

He can hear the rest of them talking downstairs, concern colouring their voices, The 15 minutes are up. Why aren't they back yet?

With the last of his remaining energy, he reaches up and pushes the blue ornate vase sitting atop the small table nearby onto the ground, hoping that the sound alerts the others, and winces as it hits the ground and shatters into a hundred pieces.

The talking stops abruptly, the urgent sounds of someone bounding up the stairs makes his skull pound.

His breathing becomes more ragged with every excruciating second. He can feel the blood dripping down his chest, through his clothes and soaking the carpet on the ground a deep crimson.

He can tell they've found him because someone screams, though in his state he's not sure if it's Lu Yanxue Or Qianli.

"Chen Fei! Hurry up he's bleeding out! Oh my God!"

His vision is starting to blur, the precarious grip he has on his consciousness slipping.

Someone's ripping his shirt open; presumably to see the extent of the damage.

Chen Fei, his mind sluggishly supplies.

There's a sharp intake of breath from farther away, Yixie? Or maybe it's from Chen Fei. Lin Quishi can't really tell over the ringing of his ears.

"What's happeni–what the hell!?"

Now that's a voice he hasn't heard before. Or maybe he has. He can't tell.

"Help me take him to his room." Chen Fei commands, his voice having a slight tremor in it that Lin Quishi has never heard before.

Guess this is it.

He hears someone whimper, "Linlin ge", across the room. Qianli. Oh god he's too young to see someone bleed to death.

"This might hurt." a gruff voice says right next to his ear; their arms winding around his back and under his knees.

"Nanzhu? " Linlin guesses. It comes out garbled.

There's a moment of silence, and then, " No, but I think he'll be out soon, so hold on, yeah? "

Wait, soon?

Ruan Nanzhu didn't make it out? Is his last thought before he's lifted by a pair of strong arms, making the pain ripping through his body increase ten fold, and promptly blacking out.

He wakes up to the sterile smell of a hospital; mind groggy and mouth full of cotton. There's an IV attached to his arm and what feels like layers on layers of bandages around his chest and torso.

He tries to sit up and immediately regrets it, the pain almost knocking him out again.

"Linling! Don't try to get up, lay back down." Lu Yanxue chides as she rushes over and the relief of seeing a friendly familiar face nearly brings him to tears.

Mind still groggy he asks, " Are we still inside the door? "

Lu Yanxue stops her fussing for a second looking concerned, "No. You're not in the door anymore, you're in a hospital actually. Speaking of which, I should tell the doctor you've woken up. You almost scared us to death Lingling."

A pang of regret hits him in the chest, "I'm sorry. "

Lu Yanxue's eyes soften as she holds his hand in both of hers, "None of that now. You're family, of course we'd be worried. I'm just glad that you're okay."

Quishi nods. It still surprises him, how close he's become with all of them in the short time he's been an Obsidian member. Family, she'd said, and his heart warms despite the physical pain he is in. He hasn't had one of those in a long time.

"I'll be right back okay? I'll get the doctor. The others will be relieved you're finally awake. Lay down and don't move." she pats his arm and walks to the door.

"Hey, Yanxue? ", he calls out.

She turns to him halfway out the door, " Yeah? "

"How long was I out? "

"Three days." she replies, eyes sad and leaves.

Three days? He was out for that long? All he remembers is pushing Xiao Gui out the door and—

Nanzhu.

The memory of the door God clawing through his chest comes back to him in a crushing wave. The the memory of someone telling him that Nanzhu didn't walk out the door after him, hits him like ice cold water.

He could be back. He could have come back a little while after you did, Quishi tries to reason with himself to try and supress the oncoming panic attack threatening to clog his throat. He just has to breathe.

In through the nose, out through the mouth. In through the nose, out through the mouth. In through—

"Good morning, Mr. Lin, " a cheerful man dressed in a white coat holding a clipboard pushes open the door and waltzes in; a few nurses, Lu Yanxue and a vaguely haggard looking Chen Fei trailing in after him. 

"Its a relief to see you awake.You gave us quite the scare. Do you mind if we ask you a few questions? Nothing too complicated, just a few standard ones."

Lin Quishi nods, a little disoriented from the sudden noise and intrusion.

They ask him his name, age, what day it is (he has no clue what day it is, but he just woke up so the doctor said he's fine. It's a Wednesday apparently.) and If he's feeling any numbness or dizziness.

"Alright last question, what do you last remember? "

Lin Quishi swallows nervously, looking to Chen Fei who mouths 'bleeding'.

"Uh, I was bleeding through my clothes. "

The doctor hums, " Nothing else? Anything about the incident that caused your injury?"

Lin Quishi shakes his head, hoping that he doesn't pry any further, he doesn't have enough energy to craft a believable lie right now.

The doctor gives him a contemplative look, taking off his glasses," You seem to have a few minor memory issues, nothing too concerning for now seeing as you've just woken up, but we'd like to keep you under observation for a few more days. Just in case."

"Okay." Lin Quishi breathes, "That's fine. "

The doctor smiles. He looks a little like Chen Fei but taller and maybe a little leaner. The name tag clipped to his left breast pocket reads Dr. Zheng Fang.

"You're very lucky, Mr. Lin, " says Dr Zheng folding his hands over his chest, "Your friends got you here at the right time. A half hour later, and we would not be having this conversation. "

Lin Quishi nods again, unsure of how to react to the knowledge that he'd been a half hour away from certain death.

"Well, rest is essential at this time, so I'll leave you to it. Remember, no extreme movements, we don't want to aggravate any of the stitches." warns Dr. Zheng as he turns to leave, shaking hands with Chen Fei. He hears them making plans for dinner soon, apparently they know each other, as the nurses adjust his IV and check his bandages.

Once everyone has emptied out of the room, save for Chen Fei and Lu Yanxue, he asks the question he has wanted to since he woke up.

"Where's Nanzhu? "

Both of them shoot each other concerned looks.

Lin Quishi's eyebrows furrow, "Chen Fei? Is he okay? "

Chen Fei sighs, "He—he didn't make it back. "

Lin Quishi's heart drops to his stomach, his breaths quickening.

This can't be happening.

"He was right behind me, Chen Fei. What do you mean he didn't make it out? "

Chen Fei gives him a pained expression, " When we found you upstairs, you were on the ground bleeding out. There was no one else there. "

Quishi's eyes burn, "No. No. He was right behind me. He promised me that he'd be right behind me. I saw him."

Lu Yanxue steps forward trying to placate him, "Lingling—"

He can't breathe. His chest feels like it's collapsing in on itself and he can't breathe. His throat's closing up and his head is swimming and he can't fucking breathe.

"Go Lingling, get Xiao Gui out. "

"But—"

"I'll be right behind you I promise. Run and don't look back. Get the kid out, we don't have much time. "

Suddenly Chen Fei's standing next to him, "Hey. Hey look at me . Breathe, Lingling. Breathe with me. In and out."

Quishi shakes his head, he can't.

"Yes you can, come on," Chen Fei says, voice firm, " In and out just like that. In and out. "

Slowly, too slowly, Quishi's breathing calms down. He feels a wetness on his face and a quick touch to his face confirms the tears.

He can't remember the last time he cried. 

"There you go, " Chen Fei says squeezing his shoulder, "Rest now. We'll talk later alright? "

Quishi nods, not trusting himself to speak. Lu Yanxue rounds the bed to give him a sideways hug, looking teary eyed herself.

"He's right, you need to conserve your energy before Qianli shows up. "

The smallest smile breaks out on his face involuntarily at the the thought of Qianli and Yanxue huffs out a watery laugh at the sight of it.

They bid their goodbyes and leave, promising to be back as soon as possible, and all the fight promptly leaves his body as he sinks further back into the bed.

He's so tired and thinking about Nanzhu makes his chest hurt way worse than his physical injuries. So he elects to not thnk about the entire conversation with Chen Fei.

He must have been more tired than he thought though, because he's out like a light in minutes.

When Lin Quishi wakes up again, hours later, the curtains of the windows have been parted and it's completely dark outside. A quick glance at the clock hung on the wall opposite tells him it's 8:15 PM.

It's completely quiet, save for the ticking of the clock and the white noise of the machines whirring.

However when he turns to his left he nearly jumps out of his skin.

"Lingling ge! You're awake! "

"Qianli?" Quishi clutches his chest, trying to calm his racing heart, "Have you just been sitting there this whole time? "

He nods emphatically, "Yixie too! He went out to get us something to eat. "

Quishi nods, already endeared, "How long have you guys been here? "

Qianli looks at his watch, "About two hours, give or take. Lu Yanxue and Chen Fei had to go back for a client, so we're here instead."

Right. The clients. He almost forgot they existed.

Quishi steels himself for the oncoming pain as he tries to fully sit up, gripping the sides of the stiff hospital bed, and Qianli rushes to help him.

"Careful Lingling ge," Qianli says as Quishi leans on him, grateful for the support so that he doesn't topple over.

He lets out a deep breath once he manages to sit up, his bones creaking in protest at the movement.

The pain is not gone, but it's bearable. He suspects it has something to do with the morphine they've given him. It's now more of a dull throb than a searing sting all over his body.

"How are things back home?" he asks once Qianli settles back into the uncomfortable looking plastic chair next to the bed.

Qianli shrugs, "The usual with the clients. Chen Fei's handling most things now, I heard he's thinking about having Obsidian take a break from everything for a while until things get sorted out. "

Lingling nods. It's understandable; with Ruan Nanzhu not here, carrying on business like normal just doesn't feel right.

They turn their heads towards the door as Yixie shoulders his way in, carrying three plastic containers of what smells like dumplings, kicking the door shut behind him.

"You're awake, " he notes, the briefest sign of relief flashing across his face before being replaced by his signature stoicism.

Quishi smiles, " Yeah, how have you been?"

He scoffs, setting the containers down on the small bedside table and dragging another plastic chair next to Qianli's, "Shouldn't I be asking you that? You looked like you went through a paper shredder."

"Ge! Don't say that! "

"It's okay Qianli, " Quishi says, glad to see that Yixie's still the same.

Yixie smirks at Qianli like he's just won something, "So are we gonna eat or what? I'm starving here."

"Good." Qianli retorts as he passes a container to Quishi.

The dumplings are delicious and Quishi's happy to be eating something nice instead of the same kind of bland hospital food he had for lunch, which he now remembers the nurses waking him up for.

He watches, amused as the twins bicker back and forth throughout their entire meal. If he tries hard enough he can almost pretend that everything's normal and that Nanzhu's still here, that they made it out together.

Almost.

His eyes immediately burn at the thought and he has to blink back tears. He looks away and takes a shaky breath in and out, he's not going to cry in front of Yixie and Qianli.

Later, once they've disposed of their containers and chopsticks, they settle down into their seats again, listening to Qianli talk about anything and everything that comes to his mind.

There's a slight increase in the pain across his chest, the pain meds they've given him beginning to wear off, but he elects to ignore it in favor of being able to sit up and watch Qianli and Yixie talk.

"You've got to make us dumplings when we get home Lingling ge, these were nowhere as good as yours, "

"He's injured and can barely stand up you idiot. "

"I know that!" Qianli sputters, "I was talking about when he can walk! "

Lingling nods, "I'll do it. Though you might have to wait a couple of weeks. " he gestures to his chest.

Qianli nods, "That's fine. Besides, Lu Yanxue and Chen Fei might need you more to find Ruan ge anyway."

Yixie fixes Qianli with a glare and Qianli panics, "I'm sure he'll come back soon! He's probably just doing something important! Or maybe he just got lost! "

Yixie facepalms.

"He's not lost, " Quishi clarifies, "We found the key and opened the door. "

Yixie frowns, "Then what happened? "

The door swings open again before Quishi can reply, and Lu Yanxue strides in, hanging her coat on one of the hooks on the door.

"What are you guys talking about? "

"Ruan ge. " replies Qianli.

Lu Yanxue pauses for a second and looks at Quishi, trying to gauge his reaction, probably scared he's going to have another panic attack and he feels a small prickle of guilt for making her worry.

"It's fine, " Quishi assures, "they just wanted to know what happened. "

Lu Yanxue nods, leaning back against the edge of a table scattered with boxes of medication that the nurses left behind.

"Is it normal for someone to not show up outside the door for this long? " asks Quishi.

"No, " Yanxue says, a worried frown creasing her brow, "you guys found the key, that's the end of the door. Even if someone... passes on inside the door, they usually show up almost immediately in the real world. At most, I've seen it take two days. It's when they'll die in the real world that we can't tell, that might take days or even weeks. "

An uneasy silence descends upon the room.

"Are you absolutely sure he was right behind you? Could he have been dragged back by anything?",  Yanxue asks

Lingling shakes his head, " Not from what I remember, we were running from the door god and I was ahead but...." he trails off, now unsure, "Was there anything weird when you found me? "

Qianli scoffs incredulously, "Weird? Lingling ge, their was blood and glass everywhere. Li Dongyuan's eyes looked like they were about to pop out of his skull when he saw you."

"That's not what I—wait, Li Dongyuan was there? Why? "

"To eat all our food and use our wifi," Yixie mutters.

"He was there to talk to Ruan Nanzhu, " Yanxue clarifies with a note of exasperation in her voice, "he helped us bring you here."

Oh. He vaguely remembers someone picking him up before everything went black. He'd thought it might have been Xiong Qi at first but now that he thinks about it, Li Dongyuan definitely made more sense.

The pain in his chest suddenly spikes and he tries to suppress a wince. He doesn't do a good job of it apparently, because Yanxue notices.

"I'll get the nurses. I think you should rest, we can try to figure this out once we're all back home. "

Quishi's itching to ask more questions, to figure out what the hell stopped Nanzhu from stepping through the door, but the pain is getting worse by the minute so he's forced to agree.