Chapter Text
Himeko finds him staring out the window. "Are you worried about those two? Welt is with them, they should be fine."
He can't answer her. Worry, yes, worry is a large part of it. There's something else he can't name, though, something heavy in the shadow of the ship that generations of not-hims had called home. He asks for a copy of the transmission instead. And—it's him. Dan Heng's heart drops the second he sees the hologram of Blade. The "Stop!" he shouts is possibly the most urgent Himeko's seen him outside of battle.
It's fear, of course, because Blade's presence means his companions, the entire flagship, everyone is in danger. Fear that distracts from the weight of a legacy he's long since discarded.
There's no other explanation for this numbness in his chest. It leaves no room for the complicated tangle of feelings and echoes brought up at just the sight of the Luofu. It only leaves space for a strange lightness, the well worn instinct to run. He hadn't seen that man in years, ever since he'd boarded the Express. His eyes keep flicking across the hologram, searching for something in the projection of his nightmare. Even if those few years went by quickly for the likes of them, it feels like the longest he's had between Blade's murder attempts. It has to be the longest he'd known peace.
(you'd worried that blade had forgotten about you. because as much as blade had wanted you dead, at least you'd been wanted.
he had chased you down with a single minded dedication—devotion, burning in red eyes, red as the blood that spilled from his chest, red as the blood dried into the lines of your hands—searing an accusation into your back as you ran away.
it burned, it was the only warmth you'd known for decades. even with the kindness of the express, you've been cold without that inferno. the sensation of a hand in yours through a bracer can only do so much.)
Himeko asks if he'll come back after all this. He nods.
(you don't know if there's any coming back from this. you don't know if you'll come back. you've changed the steps of a dance that you've trodden for decades, you don't know what it'll change in you.)
Dan Heng rushes down to the surface of the Xianzhou Luofu the second he catches a glimpse of Blade's face. He violates his exile, because he sees Blade is down there, because his friends are in danger from him. He meets two strangers, doubtlessly interesting people, yet he cannot free his mind from circling endlessly around Blade and the threat he poses.
He says perhaps far more than he should know in his distraction. He tells them about the Vidyadhara, things that are mysterious to even the residents of the Xianzhou, things no "traveler" should know. He's too familiar with this place, echoes coalescing in the mist, throbbing at his temples.
An echo warns him that enemies lie ahead. He jumps on the starskiff, that warning serving just the opposite purpose.
They meet on the Dragonprayer Terrace and Dan Heng almost jumps the man.
(he's really here! there's a vengeful sort of satisfaction thrumming in your heart, to be the one doing the chasing for once.)
Blade's maddened laughter scares him as much as ever, fear for his life shooting down his spine, that same old mantra demanding he pay a price he wants nothing to do with.
Then a little blonde boy shows up, and Dan Heng remembers that this situation is so much larger than just their same old dance. Dan Heng wants to tell him to run, to stay out of their conflict, that Blade is doubtlessly stronger than the boy can handle. He doesn't need protection, Blade is his burden alone to fare against.
Blade dashes behind him, and it's the same steps as ever, the same blocks and parries.
Yanqing interferes, and it's such a jarring departure from routine that Dan Heng freezes, unsure where to go with this interloper between them. Blade takes advantage of his pause, throwing his sword clean through his heart. It forces him to shed his disguise, to face the man stripped of any pretense. He stands on his lotus and suppresses a shiver at how Blade looks him over.
It's strange to be called "both of you" by Yanqing, to be considered a unit, for them to be lumped together despite all the time that they'd spent in opposition. But it's far too easy to fight with Blade, by his side instead of against him, even with powers he hasn't touched in decades. Dan Heng knows every swing of Blade's sword, every gap in his defenses. Dan Heng swoops in everywhere Blade leaves an opening, to cover where Yanqing might gain an advantage.
Blade raises the sword in his hand, and calls for his partner. "Let's heat things up then. Kafka!"
She commands him in that hoarse drawl, "Bladie, listen to me: unleash the mara."
It's strange, to see Blade tamed. He'd almost hated Kafka the first time he'd met her, seen her control over Blade. Dragons are horribly possessive creatures, and here was this woman laying claim to one of the few things Dan Heng could consider his own.
(and isn't that funny, to see your hunter as just that: yours. you'd had almost thought you were special, in your horrible understanding, that this chase was something only you two shared.)
It's so very strange to see Blade under Kafka's control, to see his tormentor reduced to a dog at another's beck and call. To see him need her permission to set the mara loose, when all Dan Heng had ever known of him was the marastricken madness. He wants to tear that control from her.
(you wants blade's leash for yourself. you want to know if beneath the mara, you could make him scared of you, as scared as he's always made you.)
Maybe if Dan Heng could control him, Blade would finally listen to his insistence that Dan Heng has nothing to do with his past. Maybe he could finally get Blade to leave him alone, to give him peace.
(there's nothing else that appeals to you about imposing your will upon your inescapable nightmare. nothing about seeing the man at peace, about what he could be like beneath the madness that called for your blood. in your worst nightmares, he's kind to you beneath it all.)
In the fight against Yanqing, Blade taunts him for his hesitance to hurt the boy. He wonders when Blade had picked up on his aversion to conflict, when everytime they met had ended with Dan Heng's spear pinning him to the ground. Or wall. He's not picky. He wonders what else Blade had managed to figure out about him in the decades long hunt.
The two of you soundly thrash the boy, to no one's surprise. Jing Yuan arrives, right on Kafka's cue.
Blade turns away from Dan Heng, to Jing Yuan. "My task is complete."
Dan Heng is a little bit outraged. He went to all the trouble of chasing Blade down, only for him to be here at Jing Yuan's request? It feels like a betrayal, almost, for Blade to have let Jing Yuan orchestrate this meeting of theirs. Hadn't this game always been theirs alone?
Jing Yuan replies, "Mm, that it is." He calls this a small matter, he thanks the Stellaron Hunters, and he lets them just leave.
He watches Blade's back as the man walks away. He doesn't think he's ever gotten to see it before, always being the one to run first.
(you want to grab him—by trailing red ribbons or hair—wind it through your fingers, and pull him back to you. demand a rematch, demand he burn you again.)
"It has been a long time old friend," says the General.
The words are near reflexive, "I'm not him."
He despises the old familiarity Jing Yuan treats him with. He almost prefers the attempted murders. At least those were Dan Heng's torment, and his alone.