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Liu Qingge couldn’t remember how he got here.
He can’t shake the feeling that something is wrong - but nothing should be wrong with the scene before him. He’s sitting in the bamboo house on Qing Jing peak, having tea with Shen Qingqiu as the other man prattles on about nothing.
It’s a clear day outside - birds are chirping, and he can hear the sounds of disciples chattering as they go through their lessons. The sunlight falls on Shen Qingqiu’s face in just the right way to make it look ethereal.
He couldn’t stop staring.
Something is wrong, his gut tells him. There’s something in the back of his mind - a mission, perhaps? He should be on a mission, maybe. But the scene before him is so familiar, so peaceful -
“Shidi?” Shen Qingqiu said, as Liu Qingge suddenly lurched to his feet. “What’s wrong?”
“Need to go,” Liu Qingge managed to grit out, stumbling towards the door. Something’s not right - this isn’t, he’s not supposed to be here, there’s something he needed to do -
Now where do you think you’re going? An unfamiliar voice whispered in his ear. Liu Qingge’s head whipped around, but all he saw was Qing Jing Peak and the bamboo house, sitting there as peacefully as it always has.
Don’t you want to go back inside? To where Shen Qingqiu is waiting? The voice continued. Liu Qingge’s head was spinning - there was a mission. A mission with a dream demon. A demon that dug into your deepest fantasies and... and...
I think not, the voice purred, and the world suddenly shifted.
Liu Qingge couldn’t remember how he got here.
But - but he certainly wasn’t complaining, as Shen Qingqiu climbed into his lap and kissed him breathless.
This - this wasn’t right. Liu Qingge can barely think as Shen Qingqiu’s weight settled on his hips, his breath hot in his mouth as their lips met again and again. His head was spinning, but - but -
Something’s not right.
There’s something he needed to remember, but it’s hard to string a coherent thought together when Shen Qingqiu’s whines echoed in his ear and his hips ground down into Liu Qingge’s groin.
“Stop,” Liu Qingge gasped. Shen Qingqiu didn’t seem to hear him, kissing a line up his neck before finding his lips once again. “Stop-”
Is this not to your liking? The voice purred in his ear. He didn’t recognize it - he wasn’t sure where it came from, but it made him tense regardless. If you won’t be placated with this, then perhaps -
The scene shifted yet again.
Liu Qingge’s awareness was beginning to return, but only in fits and gasps as his mind scattered about him. He remembered this place - the Lingxi Caves.
He also remembered this moment - or at least, what remained of his ability to think straight knew what moment this was. His qi was fluctuating wildly out of control, and he was slashing Cheng Luan anywhere and everywhere.
Another presence entered the room - Shen Qingqiu. He remembered this moment. This is when Shen Qingqiu saved his life-
Then the air in the room shifted, and something was very, very wrong.
Shen Qingqiu’s qi was too much, too unstable. He was shouting at Liu Qingge - something was different, more similar to the way he was before. Liu Qingge’s qi was fluctuating even worse, and he could feel something within him fragmenting - his golden core, or just his very being.
He was going to die, Liu Qingge realized.
See? The voice whispered. Weren’t the other visions better?
Liu Qingge couldn’t remember how he got here.
“Here” being Huayue City on the worst day of his life, watching Shen Qingqiu fall to his death.
He can’t do anything but watch it happen - watch the way Shen Qingqiu collapses off of the roof. He wants to move, he wants to fly up and catch him, he wants to beat Luo Binghe to bloody bits for killing his master like this, but there is not a single muscle in his body obeying his will right now.
Somewhere in the back of his mind, he heard a voice calling his name. A voice that sounded oddly like Shen Qingqiu’s.
But that’s not possible. Shen Qingqiu was dead - he was trapped here, watching an endless loop of his body falling again and again and again -
You’ve got visitors, the voice said, disgruntled. Then the scene changed again.
Liu Qingge didn’t remember how he got here.
Locked in combat with Luo Binghe, however, he didn’t really need to know. This could be any of the hundreds and hundreds of battles he fought against the beast, and he wouldn’t really know the difference.
Something is different now, though - something was different in Luo Binghe’s eyes, a deeper savagery than he had ever seen. Before, Luo Binghe had held back - he claimed it was to honor Shen Qingqiu, and the fact that his shizun wouldn’t have wanted to see Liu Qingge dead.
Now, however, there was no such mercy in his eyes.
And when Xin Mo pierced his chest in a killing blow, he heard another voice - one that sounded like Luo Binghe’s, twisted with rage, echo in the back of his mind.
But that wasn’t possible. Luo Binghe would be happy to see him dead, Liu Qingge is sure. He can do nothing but collapse to the ground, bleeding out, staring unmoving at the angrier version of the beast as he approached with a twisted sneer on his face.
In the back of his mind, the chorus of voices grew louder - both Luo Binghe and Shen Qingqiu’s. But that doesn’t make sense. Luo Binghe is right in front of him, ready to kill him. And Shen Qingqiu was dea-
Shishu, we’re getting you out of there.
Liu Qingge didn’t know how he got here.
No - wait, he actually did.
The mission he was sent on - the dream demon, the one that had ensnared him. This was its lair, and Shen Qingqiu and Luo Binghe were all but dragging him back to his feet from where he’d clearly collapsed onto the ground.
“Shidi, are you all right?” Shen Qingqiu said, fretting over him. At his side, Luo Binghe was staring at him with a strange look in his eye that Liu Qingge had never seen before.
It almost looked like... concern.
“Fine,” he ground out, trying very hard not to think too hard about it. “Did you kill it?”
“Yes,” Luo Binghe said, eyes unwavering. “I killed him. And I pulled you out of his dreams.”
“Good,” is all Liu Qingge said. He could only hope that he hadn’t seen all of those dreams.
Something about the intensity with the way Luo Binghe looked at him, though, made him wonder.
“Let’s go home,” Shen Qingqiu said. Liu Qingge couldn’t help but agree.