Work Text:
The lull in events on Planarcadia was the worst possible thing to endure considering all they’d been through already. After things with Fulwish, leads had dried up and that momentary pause in whatever was brewing on the planet fell over everyone, leaving an anticipatory feeling always churning in the backs of their minds, wondering when the next penny would drop.
With things finally settling somewhat, though, the residents of Ahatopia had all but gone back to normal as if the planet hadn’t almost been lost to the Abundance. Life continued on despite the Trailblazers' exhaustion.
They’d all gone back to the Express once things were over and had each taken some time to refresh themselves in whatever way they could. With the Express docked still at the station, they’d opted to put up the privacy windows to keep prying eyes out while they rested, going so far, for a time, to close off access for any non-crew except for their allies; Pom-Pom standing guard for once as the conductor if anyone tried to come on without an official invitation. It wasn’t a normal situation, no, but there had been times in the past where visitors weren’t allowed due to crew issues or times, such as now, where they needed down time after a mission.
Caelus had passed out completely in his room. March had a shower and a nap but was busy with her photos in her room. Sunday, Welt, and Himeko had showered as well but had decided to have some coffee and tea in the party car to relax while reading: Welt had his newspaper, Sunday reading a book he’d bought, and Himeko was on her tablet going over some mechanical things for the Express.
Which left Dan Heng to the quiet hum of the Archives. He’d showered as well, perhaps spending the most time under the water to sate his dragon. He really wanted a nice, long bath where he could stretch himself out and relax more but the Express had limited room and the thought of going back out into Planarcadia to navigate and make his way to Inkford for the onsen there was enough for him to accept the longer than normal shower instead.
He’d heard of Inkford and hadn’t had a chance yet to go there. The establishment apparently had a plethora of different waters including private areas that were large enough for a dragon to spread his scales and something inside of him longed for that kind of warmth. Sure, he could disappear into the ocean waters if he really wanted to but, well, that might alarm more people than needed considering all the crazy things happening already.
Not to mention the fact that ever since he tapped back into his Imbibitor Lunae form, he was feeling restless and connecting to the more primal side of himself as a Scion of Long. He had been since acquiring the core flame of earth on Amphoreus but, alas, he hadn’t really had a break long enough to explore it in depth.
Letting out a sigh as he sat back in his chair, he let his eyes fall closed and stood up. Immediately his form changed and he was showing his true Vidyadhara self. He bent his knees, hovering in the air over his bed, reclosed his eyes, and began meditating, hoping something would come from clearing his mind.
Unsure of how much time had passed, he was pulled from his meditation by a knock at his door. Just as he opened his eyes and touched his foot onto the ground, the door slid open to reveal his two best friends.
March and Caelus walked in with smiles on their faces and joy in their eyes.
“Dan Heeeeennnngg!!” March beamed as she bounced in.
“Whatcha doing little dragon?” Caelus asked, hands casually behind his head as he walked inside.
Dan Heng bristled at the phrase that dared to leave the other’s mouth. “Please do not call me that,” he said, vanishing himself back under his human guise. “I was meditating. What are you two up to?”
“Well, we came to kidnap you, obviously,” March said, latching onto his arm.
“Excuse me?” he looked over at her, face unreadable as always except for the small purse of his lips.
“Mhm! There’s going to be a festival at Inkford Hermitage for the next few days and we’re going! Well, maybe for just one day since we’re so well known and all that,” March supplied.
“A festival? What kind of festival?” he asked.
Caelus shrugged. “Not entirely sure. I saw an advertisement for it a couple days ago when I went up there to talk with Silver Wolf.”
Blue-grey eyes snapped over at his friend, finding that suspicious. “You met Silver Wolf there? Why?”
Caelus looked like he’d been caught with his hand in the trashcan again and glanced away from his friend, hands falling to his sides as he began to gesture as he talked.
“Well, I mean, yeah? She was having a hard time after the stuff with Blade and, for reasons unknown, called me and asked me to meet her around that area, alright? She was upset! I couldn’t just leave her alone like that, you know?”
“So you went to comfort her? Aww! That’s so sweet and kind of you Cae!” March said, smiling warmly.
“Though I agree, you shouldn’t be going off on your own to meet up with Stelleron Hunters without a word to any of us,” Dan Heng added.
Caelus slowly turned his head back to meet Dan Heng’s stare. “As if you’re one to talk, mister,” he grinned mischievously. “Who just up and left Sunday with Yao Guang to run after two of them in hopes of finding one of them for some promise made about ‘staying with them until the end’? Hm?”
Dan Heng’s eyes narrowed and he could feel how his invisible tail was thrashing behind him, glad of the fact that he had such control over the appendage as it would give too much of himself away as it had always done. The glare sent a slight shiver through Caelus, visible to Dan Heng’s overly observant eyes.
“Guuuuys!! Does it really matter? Nothing happened and it’s all in the past now, right? Can’t we just get ready and go? Please??? I even have outfits for us!” March grinned at the two of them.
Dan Heng was going to have a headache, he was sure of it.
The crowds getting to Inkford hadn’t been entirely bad despite things. Dan Heng stood at the railing of the ship taking them across the water, watching as the sun set on the horizon and feeling the water align with his hidden truth, power flowing just under the surface, almost begging for connection.
He was still trying to discern what the restlessness was inside of him. Meditating had helped quiet his mind but hadn’t done anything to the feeling he was having as if something inside of him needed to crawl out and be released. However, each time he had reached for it, it eluded him and remained a buzzing type of feeling just under his skin. He knew it wasn’t bad, instinct told him that but something was pushing him to a realization yet to come.
He leaned against the metal railing, a soft sigh escaping him.
“You know,” March’s cute voice came up beside him and he glanced over at his companion. “This festival is going to be so much fun! Apparently it’s part of the Starrail Festival! So many people are still cosplaying and it’s so adorable to see all the little March bunnies!”
He turned around and looked at her. “Yes, they are very cute but do not compare to the original,” he smiled.
She giggled. “Oh, you! Always with the words, hm?”
He smiled back. “Only when I mean them. Where’s Cae?”
It was her turn to sigh, pointing in a random direction. “The Furbobos found him and he’s indulging them right now. Who knows what he’s having them do.”
“As long as he’s staying out of trouble. I don’t think we can afford anything else happening right now.”
She laughed. “He’ll be fine as always. You should really try to relax some, you know? You put so much on your shoulders to be our great defender but you also deserve time to yourself and to rest.”
“Thank you March, but I’m alright,” he gave her a soft smile. “Despite looking human, you know I am built differently. I can manage.”
“Really? Because you’ve been looking off for a while, and don’t try to deny it. We didn’t spend all those centuries on Amphoreus together for me to not know when you are going through something.”
He sighed. “Yes. I’m well aware of that. Really, though, I will be fine. It’s just a Vidyadhara thing, I think. If I cannot get an answer on my own soon, I will contact Lady Bailu and perhaps Lingsha to get their opinion on the matter.”
She smiled again, big and bright. “Good! But also, remember we are here and if you need to talk or vent or whatever, we all will be there for you.”
The boat finally arrived at the dock. People disembarked with a casual flow. Caelus, ever the magnet for trouble and chaos, walked off smugly with a line of Furbobos behind him. March giggled beside Dan Heng as they waited off to the side for their friend.
“Now listen,” Caelus’s voice commanded. “You all have your assignments. Don’t let your President down! Go get 'em, Team Galactic Baseballers!” He grinned wide enough to blind someone if they stared too long.
The two companions waiting on him watched as the Furbobos darted off in different directions to do whatever bidding their boss had put upon them as a slight twinge of worry passed through Dan Heng.
“I have a bad feeling about this,” he muttered under his breath as Caelus bounced over to them in his grey and gold yukata.
“Guys! Sorry I disappeared. Didn’t know they were coming so I gave them all some direction to dig up some stories for the paper.”
“I hope you sent them in a good direction and nothing chaotic,” Dan Heng said.
Caelus gasped and held a hand to his heart, feigning hurt. “Dannie boy! Do you not trust me? The Great Baseball Racoon???”
“Trust in battle, sure. With things like this, questionable,” he deadpanned, earning a giggle from March and an actual hurt gasp from Caelus.
The dragon turned away before more foolishness could happen, his Vidyadhara robes swaying effortlessly as he walked. March had gotten him a yukata to wear but he opted for his robes instead, citing comfort and warmth for going to an area more covered in snow than anything else. However, upon arriving, he found that there was some sort of magic barrier over the area that seemed to allow warmth despite the snow that was not melting. It was a peculiar thing to see, honestly, but at least he wasn’t freezing. Well, he wouldn’t anyway thanks to Akivili’s gift to help regulate temperatures for the Trailblaze upon each place they stopped. It didn’t completely protect them but it made things more manageable.
March was wearing a cute pastel blue yukata with pink and yellow flowers swirling around and a lavender bow upon her back to pull the whole look together. She found some cute hair accessories that accented it quite nicely and held on to a pouch that matched the lavender bow with the same small pink and yellow flowers. It was clear that the female versions of these outfits were meant to be cute and adorable while the male counterparts were more muted with darker tones and barely any designs.
Dan Heng was thankful for his own Vidyadhara robes, though, as they fit in perfectly without drawing too much attention.
“You should let go and be yourself,” March encouraged him from his side. He gave her an inquiring look.
“Yeah, dude! No one will bat an eyelash if you’re in your normal form here. They’ll just think you’re cosplaying, you know?” Caelus added. “Isn’t it stuffy always hiding away like that?”
He hummed. “I suppose you’re right. Wait a moment,” he agreed, sensing it wasn’t really that bad of an idea and he did want to conserve energy for the moment with everything he was feeling and going through. He found a quiet little place to duck into, March and Caelus standing in front of him to help hide what he was about to do. He wasn’t as much ashamed of his form but he wasn’t about to drop the magic in front of prying eyes either. The whole point was for people to think he was ‘cosplaying’ after all. The shift didn’t take long at all as his hair grew long with its two singular strands of mismatched red and teal hair, respectively, against the black. His horns grew tall atop his head, slightly shimmering under the lantern lights. And his tail…he hadn’t wanted it out at all considering the trouble it caused but it had somehow manifested without his permission yet again. He glared down at it as if to admonish it like a parent would a child.
When he emerged again, March bounced up and down, clapping and smiling. “You’re so beautiful like this!” she admitted, causing Dan Heng to blush slightly.
“She’s right though. You are a beautiful man, but like this it’s a lot more,” Caelus agreed.
Dan Heng let out an irritated chuff, being more connected to his dragon self now he was bound to start exuding those sounds. Luckily for him, his companions were well aware of them after having learned more about his Vidyadhara form while on Amphoreus.
“Let’s just go,” he said, walking forward without looking to see if they were following.
As the night settled, the three walked through the festival, stopping every now and then to play some of the games, try some of the food, and peruse some of the stalls selling different wares. With time passing quickly, it was soon dinner time and the trio opted to go to some noodle restaurant together.
There was a line, but it didn’t seem like the wait would be terribly long compared to other places so they took their place, standing out of the way with the other patrons waiting to have dinner. Caelus was talking about something nonsensical as always, March was listening enthusiastically, and Dan Heng, well, he was trying to listen but he couldn’t help feeling the hairs on the back of his neck stand at attention, his instincts alerting him to something. It wasn’t danger, per se, but it was an impending feeling of something that had him on edge. His eyes scanned around their location as if trying to hone in on whatever it was. His senses were heightened in this form, which he was thankful for, but even with that, he couldn’t find the source of anything. Huffing out his irritation, he turned his head back to his companions. However, as he did, a rich shade of red caught his peripheral vision and it had his head snapping back around to find it.
There was nothing. Which didn’t make sense because he would not be mistaken about what he’d seen. Something or someone was watching them. His tail lashed out against the stone beneath him, catching his two companions off guard and the people behind him gasped at the sudden sound, not quite expecting his tail to actually move.
“Whoa! That’s so cool!” the little boy behind them said excitedly. “Is that a real tail??” he asked, about to touch it. His mother, thankfully, smacked his hand away.
“Even if it is, you do not touch without permission,” she reminded him. He quickly apologized and Dan Heng smiled at him, pushing his irritation away.
“It’s alright. And yes, it’s real. Would you like to see?” he offered, extending the tail to the child. “My apologies if I frightened you before. Sometimes it has a mind of its own,” he jested, and the boy giggled at that, reaching his hand out to touch the scaly appendage and the soft tuft of hair at the tip. He giggled harder as his mouth went wide with awe and his eyes sparkled at the sensation.
“This is so awesome! I’ve never met anyone with a tail before! Is it some sort of imaginae?” he asked, looking up at Dan Heng.
He leaned over to the boy’s height. “I’m afraid not. This is my true form. I come from a race far across the stars. Do you know of the Xianzhou Alliance?” he asked. The boy nodded. “My people immigrated to their ships a long, long time ago when our world was no longer sustainable. Not many have the same traits as I do, but some have horns or scales like this. Very few have tails.”
“Wow! So you’re like special special?”
He laughed and smiled at that, ruffling the boy’s hair. “Something like that.”
Before anything else could be said between them, their tiny group of three were called to be seated and they had to leave. Dan Heng stalled for a moment, catching something on his tail. When he brought it up to his face, he noticed two loose scales. Gently, he plucked them from the tail and held them in his hands. He couldn’t remember a time in this life when his scales had ever come off outside of the molting he’d experienced during his incarceration at the Shackling Prison but that was all due to stress. Since leaving, he’d never lost any.
He filed the curious thought away and pocketed the scales, disappearing into the restaurant and completely unaware of golden eyes watching his every move.
After they filled their stomachs, the three decided to walk around a new area that was out of the way of the main festival section. There was a large, looming, golden tree in the center that sent Dan Heng’s instincts on fire. He would never not notice the mark of Yaoshi. However, it seemed to be stable and not causing issues so he did his best to remain calm and enjoy the softly lit area.
This particular area seemed to have more artisan stalls: hair sticks, accessories, and even some armor and weapons. It reminded him a lot of the Artisanship Commission and brought out faint memories of festivals once held there. It put a small smile on his face as a blurry vision of a man with white hair walked in front of him, glancing over his shoulder with a wide grin as a red tassel earring swayed with the movement.
Dan Heng missed that smile, or rather, a part of him did.
“I think I’m going to be sick,” Caelus said, abruptly stopping and covering his mouth as his eyes looked around for a bathroom. He took off toward whatever he’d seen. March darted off quickly after him.
“I’ll take care of him! You can relax!” she called back over her shoulder before also disappearing.
Dan Heng’s head tilted as he blinked and watched them vanish into the crowd. He had been left behind. Alone. In the crowd. To do…what exactly.
He laughed to himself, crossing his arms in front of him and sliding his hands into his sleeves, a thing Dan Feng used to do whenever he was out in public. Dan Heng was, however, unaware of doing it and continued walking along the narrowed pathways that had been created. He stopped at a few stalls, his eyes catching on hair accessories that he knew March and Himeko would like. He purchased them each something along with a hand pouch for himself to carry them in, also placing his money inside since it was easier than reaching into his robes every time he needed to pay for something.
For Sunday, he found two small earrings that looked like they might be something the Halovian would enjoy wearing and somehow he managed to find a random stall selling little bronze mecha figures. He bought a couple of them for Welt considering he didn’t have room to carry anything bigger.
His companions still hadn’t returned even after the time he’d spent shopping around. When he pulled his phone out to call them, he noticed March had messaged him saying that Caelus had eaten too much (not a shocker) and that they would be taking a quick break for his stomach to calm down now that he’d expelled the extra.
Dan Heng’s face scrunched at the mental image, thankful such things didn’t really gross him out that much anymore. He was too old to be bothered that much by such things. Still, though, this left him to his own devices for a little longer. He sighed, allowing his feet to take him wherever they wanted.
He finally stopped again at a stall selling hair sticks. The designs were beautiful and the craftsmanship was impeccable, probably almost as good as the ones he used to own as Dan Feng but they definitely did not hold a candle to the ones that a certain Furnace Master had once created.
The sting in his chest caught him by surprise as he thought about Yingxing, the visage in his mind immediately shifting from a head of white to one of raven blue-black, lavender eyes transforming to a hue of mara red and gold.
He had been kidding himself, he knew that. Ever since they parted days ago when Blade left him to face his finality, Dan Heng had not stopped thinking about him. Their parting had been…odd, to say the least. From the moment they met again in Planarcadia until their divergence of paths, something had shifted between them. The hostility from before was gone, morphed into some sort of tension Dan Heng could not explain or begin to understand. They’d spent a few days alone together trying to find out what they could about the Abundance and Shuhu, yes, but during that time, they’d grown closer in an unspoken sort of way; a way that seemed too familiar laced with tension over a hidden line neither of them were willing to bring up.
Even when they parted, it lingered behind and now plagued Dan Heng’s mind. He thought, perhaps, this was the restlessness he’d been feeling but it didn’t seem like the entirety of his problem.
He sighed, looking at a particular hair stick: a sleek golden stick with dangling ruby red spider lilies.
Of course it’s spider lilies.
He held it in his hands, examining it as the owner of the stall approached him and started talking about it and the inspiration behind it, explaining the flower was something he’d come across in a book once about extinct flowers across different worlds. Apparently the flower had been in abundance on one planet centuries ago that got overrun by the Borison.
That caught Dan Heng’s attention quickly and his head snapped up to look at the owner.
“What do you mean?” he asked.
“Well, just as I said. There isn’t much known about the planet, really, other than the eventual destruction brought on by the Borison invasion back then. Maybe 7-800 years ago if my memory is right.”
“Where was this planet?” he kept asking, his mind racing with memories that were but weren’t his own as a somber voice in his head recounted the same story.
The man shrugged. “Lost to history I suppose but survivors had given accounts and stories were collected, at least.”
Dan Heng swallowed, looking back at the hairpin as reality merged with memory for a moment longer. Slowly, he placed the hair ping back down, his hand hovering before letting it go as if he couldn’t let it go. His hand tightened around it as he decided if he should buy it or not only to feel a surge of warmth coming from his bracer and a rather large hand slide around his waist.
His eyes went wide as he turned his head, coming face to face with Blade.
“I’ll take this for him,” he said to the owner, offering the money for the hairstick. Dan Heng immediately brought it close to his chest, his heart beating rapidly as he stared at Blade, noting the changes immediately.
Gone was the red in his hair, replaced by a soft grey ombre at the tips, he seemed a little taller, broader, too. Yingxing’s coat was gone, replaced by a long red one that faded to navy at the ends with swirling patterns of gold, red, and navy reminiscent of fire and the forge. The entire coat was open, showing off that broad chest of his wrapped entirely in bandages aside from a few places where skin peeked out. In the center of his chest was a barely there red slit that looked a lot more like blood than anything else. And his eyes. Gone was the mara, replaced entirely by a gold hue so beautiful that Dan Heng couldn’t look away.
Before he knew it, he was being guided away from the stall by the hand around his waist, Blade walking slowly to a quieter place away from people.
Neither of them spoke. Not when they walked. Not when they stopped. Not when Blade turned Dan Heng around to access his hair. He plucked the hair stick from his hands and expertly gathered his hair into a beautiful bun, sliding the stick in to hold it up and as a claim.
A memory of a jade hair stick being placed in a similar fashion flashed through the dragon’s mind. He blinked it away as he was turned around once more to face the swordsman again, completely pulled into Blade’s space, almost flush against him as one hand found its place again on his waist and the other took to carding through the loose strands of his hair, taking pause at the deep red and teal strands, gathering them between fingers and bringing them to his lips for a gentle kiss before letting them slip away.
“You,” Dan Heng found his voice again, only to lose it after one word.
Blade smirked. “Me?”
Blue-grey eyes narrowed into a serpentine glare, flashing a deep azure blue for a moment.
“How?”
Blade smirked, a truly devastating thing in reality and more devastating to Dan Heng’s racing heart as his hands moved, one placed over Blade’s heart and the other cupping his face without caring for anything else, without thinking, as if on autopilot because he was what Dan Heng was missing, what he was yearning for, and was now right in front of him.
Feeling the rapid beat of the heart under Blade’s chest had his hand curling as if he wished to claw his way beneath the bandages and flesh to hold it in his palm. His eyes darted up from the chest in front of him to where his hand touched Blade’s face, watching as a larger hand covered his own as the warm cheek beneath his fingers pushed into the touch, golden eyes closing for a moment as a settled breath escaped through his slightly parted lips, snapping open once again to meet Dan Heng’s stare.
“Does it matter?” he asked.
Dan Heng’s head shook side to side. “Not really, no.”
Blade smiled. Actually smiled, a hint of the past shining through but something that was entirely Blade with just the lingering hint of Yingxing, that part of the man that was mischief and longing.
His head turned and, suddenly, soft lips were pressing against Dan Heng’s palm, the dragon’s face flushing at the gesture as Blade gave him a side-long glance as his lips lingered.
“Will you indulge me for a while, Dan Heng?”
And never in his entire life had he heard his name spoken so softly, so full of need and desire. His heart fluttered in his own chest as his tail swished around happily behind him, betraying him. Blade chuckled as he looked past the dragon to his tail.
Before Dan Heng could say anything, their hands slid from Blade’s cheek, down to their sides as the swordsman interlaced their fingers, squeezing tightly to ground them both. The hand around his waist moved and they started walking again, hand in hand under the warm glow of red and orange lantern lights.
They didn’t talk, not really as neither one of them knew where to start but also not wanting to burden the moment with anything.
They wandered around some of the earlier stalls Dan Heng had passed by with his friends, moving past them and into a new area of Inkford, a path that led out of the main area, heading further into the mountains.
It was snowing now outside the magic bubble as they took slow steps up the path. Dan Heng looked around, noting the stone figures all around, the soft glow of moonlight off in the distance, and a quiet solitude that filled the space. It was peaceful; perhaps the most peaceful place he’d found on Planarcadia.
“Where are we going?” he finally managed to ask, shivering slightly as the cold started seeping in.
Blade pulled him closer, their hands unclasping as his hand snaked around the dragon’s waist once more, pressing him against his side. Dan Heng almost churred at the warmth radiating off of Blade’s body, a different kind of heat from before, something new yet familiar. He didn’t ask, not yet, as he leaned further into the warmth, his own arms and tail wrapping around Blade’s torso.
The swordsman chuckled as they continued walking and turned down another path, leading to an observation area scarce of people. The view was breathtaking, a chance to look out across the ocean ahead of them, the white of the actual moon shining and glimmering across the water, and the faint hue of light being emitted from the festival down below.
“It’s quite beautiful,” Dan Heng said quietly between them.
“Mm,” Blade replied, eyes gleaming as he stared down at Dan Heng, watching him and how he was responding to things, not even faltering when those blue-grey eyes shifted and looked up at him.
“I meant the view.”
“I’m aware.”
“Then why are you staring at me?”
He smirked again. “Enjoying the view.”
Those draconic eyes narrowed again, not in annoyance but at the shamelessness of the man. His tail twitched to smack at Blade but was coiled up around his waist still, enjoying the warmth too much to do anything.
“Why are you so much warmer now?” he finally asked.
“Part of the transformation; forged in fire and flames.”
“That doesn’t make sense.”
“I know. But just as you had your own change with the core flame of earth, so have I with facing Shuhu and the past.”
Dan Heng leaned in, sniffing the man. “I don’t smell the mara on you and the heat is different from before.”
“That’s because it’s gone,” Blade explained. “My body was reforged as an immortal cage when I overcame that demon. He will never be free to wreak havoc in the name of that accursed Aeon ever again as long as my body lasts.”
Dan Heng blinked and turned slightly to face him. “What?” he questioned, the word barely audible. “You traded your end, your one chance at the finality you sought all these years to permanently reshape yourself as an immortal cage for that thing?”
“I did. What I saw after I plunged myself into the Voracity,” he began, “what I had to face in those moments free of the pain and anguish of mara with absolute clarity, allowed me to see things in a new light. As you said, that which started with us, needed to end with us. Prophecies never meant much to me as they’re open to too many interpretations. Only Elio’s scripts are true to the future. We will have our end, but perhaps not in the way I or you originally thought,” he said, reaching down to touch the jade pendant hanging from Dan Heng’s belt. “Our end has yet to come. No matter what it is, we are linked for all time, Dan Heng.” Gold eyes shifted once more to meet Dan Heng’s.
The dragon shifted where he stood, his mind processing each word. Their past was messy, bloody, and full of heartache. Well, not all of it. Whatever there was before this incarnation of himself lingered between them, memories of softer times, warmer moments, and a love so deep it spiraled into such harmful consequences that neither of them could fathom.
And now they had a second chance. Or, at least, Dan Heng was hoping that’s what Blade was implying.
How could he mean anything else? He’d put his bracer back on underneath all his new fancy attire; he had sought Dan Heng out; given him a hair stick, placed it himself as before, a symbol between lovers; he’d spoken as if he fought for this change, this chance; and he acknowledged their entwined fates for the rest of eternity. There wasn’t much that could dissuade Dan Heng from thinking Blade wanted to move forward now, to rekindle whatever faint connection that remained, to put the past behind them and move past the pain and grow that spark that had reignited the moment Shard Sword pierced Dan Heng all those years ago to reawaken his powers, his identity.
He moved closer, eyes never leaving Blade’s; their toes touched first, then their chests as Dan Heng’s tail slid off of his waist before recoiling itself around both of their forms. He reached up to touch Blade’s face, holding him gently.
“We have all eternity to find our end and when we do, we will face it together,” he replied, pushing up on his toes and placing a gentle kiss on Blade’s lips.
When he pulled back, hoping he hadn’t misread things, Blade’s golden eyes were glowing. And before Dan Heng could say anything else, Blade leaned down and consumed his lips, pressing roughly against them as if starved for the contact.
The sound of their smacking lips was for their ears only. Dan Heng tilted his head, allowing for a deeper kiss. Blade’s tongue licked over the dragon’s lips and he opened without hesitation, allowing access. Their tongues met in a heated dance for dominance and to chase the pleasure they’d been denied for centuries, connecting again as their souls reignited within each other’s grasp.
Bandaged hands grasped at Dan Heng’s waist where the tail didn’t cover, pulling him roughly, closer, needing him desperately closer. Dan Heng was no better off, his hands winding around Blade’s neck, pulling him impossibly closer as well, as if, in doing so, he might possibly suck the man’s soul from his body with how harshly they were kissing.
Eventually, they had to part for air, hot breath panting against their lips as their foreheads touched.
“How do we define this?” Dan Heng breathed out.
“There is no definition for what we are or have been. We are just us, Dan Heng. For eternity. In every life, in every cycle, in every reincarnation.”
Dan Heng chuckled as he smiled, placing a small kiss against those delicious lips. “It will be hard to explain to the others.”
“You’ll manage.”
“And the Hunters?”
He shrugged. “They don’t really care and probably already know. At least Kafka does…probably. And Wolfie. She has a script right now so there might be something in it about my path here.”
“Wait, you didn’t have a script?”
He shook his head, kissing the tip of Dan Heng’s nose. “No. With how much the Elation can interfere with the scripts, Elio could not foresee the future here for me but knew that my presence was required for whatever reason. Now we know.”
“To deal with Shuhu and go through this,” Dan Heng replied.
A nod. “That’s my guess, yes. I will join the Phantasmoon games and work toward the ending needed for this planet. Alongside you, and the others, I’ll lend my blades to take down that which threatens the world.”
“Mm. Until then, what should we do about this, between us?”
A raised eyebrow and a smirk answered him. “What are you thinking, little dragon?”
He did not bristle at that phrase like before. Somehow with Blade saying it, it sounded so much better and sinful.
He coughed to the side. “I don’t know.”
“How long were you planning to stay for the festival?”
“Just today. With the way things went down with Fulwish, we’ve all been trying to lay low and let things blow over. I suppose Caelus more than March or myself should return to the Express. I can hide myself well enough with my cloudhymn. But you’re also a wanted criminal, are you not?’
He chuckled. “Did that stop me before walking around in broad daylight? That stoneheart woman doesn’t care; her focus is elsewhere. Wolfie is pseudo working alongside her and got a pass. Once she realizes I’m a supplicant as well now, I’m sure it won’t be a problem.”
Dan Heng rolled his eyes. “Remind me which of us was the prideful one?” he mused, recounting their past that now seemed reversed.
“I have every right to be with how long I’ve lived. Besides, nothing save for an Aeon can cut me down now.”
Dan Heng let out a growl at that. “That better be the case.”
“Oh? Is my little dragon feeling possessive now?”
“Who’s a little dragon?” he snarled back. “I’ll have you know I’m older than you now.”
Blade scoffed with a soft laugh. “Amphoreus time ran differently than the real world.”
“That does not change the reality in which we lived through the Scepter’s world. Time passed there as if it were reality and we all felt it as if it were reality.”
He sighed. “Fine, fine. As you say, Your Highness,” he teased. “Stubborn as ever.”
Dan Heng let out a huff, annoyed but not willing to fight over things right now. “I heard the hot springs here are good for healing; maybe not as powerful as Scalegorge but enough that doctors recommend them for medicinal purposes.”
“Are you saying you want to enjoy the onsen with me, Dan Heng?”
“With or without you,” he shrugged, knowing what he wanted but not wanting to be so forward with his desire.
“Then let’s go. Tell your companions you will be staying for a couple of nights to ‘rest’ and ‘relax’.” Dan Heng did not miss the double meaning but refused to acknowledge them for the time being. His heart raced at the implications and he could only hope Blade wasn’t made aware of it. However, the knowing smirk on his face told Dan Heng he wasn’t doing a great job of hiding anything from the immortal swordsman.
“Insufferable,” Dan Heng complained, pulling away from Blade, his tail smacking the man’s thigh for the teasing.
Blade merely laughed at the familiar antic, his mind, clear for the first time in centuries, recalled an equally flustered Dan Feng doing the same thing whenever he feared his words would betray him, despite his tail doing it for him.
“Lead the way, little dragon.”
Dan Heng rolled his eyes.