Chapter Text
-Prologue-
Shi Qingxuan screamed.
“Don’t make me do it! I can’t! I can’t! Ge—please”
“Don’t be scared, Qingxuan! Look at me—listen—this won’t hurt more than switching fates—go to General Pei, he’ll take care of you.”
Shi Wudu held out the blade.
Shi Qingxuan sobbed, writhing against his shackles.
He Xuan, who had been infinitely patient until that point, snapped—lashing out with a kick. Shi Wudu hit the floor with a crack, coughing up blood.
Shi Qingxuan, fighting against his bindings, cried, “Ge!”
“Enough”
He Xuan’s tone was chilling.
“Your brotherly act won’t save you.”
Suddenly, Shi Wudu, who had lain sputtering lungfuls of blood, leapt up and lunged towards his brother, seizing Shi Qingxan’s throat.
Shi Qingxuan struggled to draw in breath; he choked out, “…Ge?”
There was an almost hysterical gleam in Shi Wudu’s eyes, “Qingxuan! I can’t leave you by yourself like this! No—no, we’ll both go—come with gege, you wouldn’t survive anyway on your own!”
Shi Qingxuan’s lungs labored with gasps, death crawled in his ribs, and icy cold fear poured down his spine.
Xie Lian was shocked.
Would Shi Wudu really kill his own brother?
Shi Wudu strangled him tighter—Shi Quinxuan’s sight was spotted with black.
Then Shi Wudu’s forearms were ripped away.
For once, Shi Qingxuan did not call out for his brother.
The last thing Xie Lian saw was He Xuan’s dark gaze—before he was spit back into his own body.
Shi Qingxuan was now alone.
“I didn’t give you a third choice.”
He Xuan’s voice was cold.
The air was thick with the stench of blood as Shi Wudu staggered back.
He landed on his knees, head bowed.
Shi Qingxuan’s eyes were blurry with tears.
“Ming X—He Xuan—please—I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry—we were the ones who sinned! We’re the ones in the wrong! It’s all my fault—you—your family—didn’t deserve this fate! It’s all because of me. My brother tried to find a scapegoat—believed we could get away with it —and never considered who would suffer on the other end. Please—He Xuan—I’m sorry.”
Shi Qingxuan would’ve kowtowed a hundred—no, a million times if he could, begging for mercy, forgiveness. But still chained as he was, all he could do was plead.
Slowly, He Xuan turned his gaze to Shi Qingxuan.
Shi Qingxuan’s breath caught.
Then Shi Wudu spoke.
His mouth was still stained with blood. The bloody stumps where his arms used to be were limp at his sides.
“My brother is right.”
Shi Qingxuan flinched—he had half the mind to tell his brother that this is enough, to tell him to stop—to ask, no–to beg him not to speak anymore.
But—“I have sinned.” Shi Wudu bowed lower, trembling as he felt He Xuan’s cold gaze landing on him.
A sight to see, the once prideful Watermaster—begging for forgiveness.
He Xuan froze, slowly taking in the view.
“Ge” Shi Qingxuan hissed, fear so deep exhaustion had begun to seep in.
Then, He Xuan scoffed.
Shi Qingxuan went still, trepidation crawled up his spine
“You beg, like this, after you try to condemn your brother to death? You claim to love him and protect him, yet the first apology comes from his lips. I gave him so many chances, but every time he chooses you. Look at him now, still pleading for mercy on your life even after you try to kill him. Even after knowing the whole truth, he still chooses you.”
He Xuan kicked Shi Wudu square in the front, and Shi Wudu slammed onto his back.
He Xuan’s chest rose and fell rapidly, then he stepped closer and closed his hand around Shi Wudu’s neck.
Shi Qingxuan whimpered, not knowing how to respond, making his fair, gorgeous, beautiful baby girl's delicate, pleasing, pulchritudinous, angelic, exquisite, well-formed (you get the point) face paler.
“Do you still choose him?”
He Xuan’s voice was low, almost pleading.
“Even after all this, will you keep trying to save him? Why? After all that he has done?”
Shi Qingxuan lowered his head.
His tongue tangled in his throat, and the sound of his heart thudded dully in his ears.
“He Xuan, he’s my brother, I can’t—I can’t hate him.”
He Xuan’s back was turned, but Shi Qingxuan could still make out the strangling hold he had on Shi Wudu.
Shi Qingxuan closed his eyes. “He Xuan, please.”
He Xuan clenched his jaw, then shoved Shi Wudu to the ground and planted his foot onto the back of Shi Wudu’s head.
He pressed harder as Shi Wudu struggled beneath him.
Then he slowly met Shi Qingxuan’s gaze.
“Him?” He Xuan dug his boot further into Shi Wudu’s skull.
“Or me?”