Wen Reian

2005 years after The Long Night

South Jiezhî

Wen Reian was hollow. In his chest, his lungs, his heart-

There was nothing inside but emptiness, and the heaviness of the outside world, steadily pushing at him until he feared that in the end he would crumble, fold in on himself and never be the same. Beside him Xie De stood, knuckles turning white as he fought not to reach out and comfort the sleeping boy on the bed...

The healers had explained to them that Jin Yu was not actually sleeping. It was the head wound that was causing his brain to swell, and his punctured lung slowing air intake. They said that sometimes the person wakes up, but sometimes they just don't. A miracle would need to occur. And Reian was currently in the process of trying to make one.

When they'd asked to be alone with Jin Yu, all the healers had seemed hesitant. It was only Xie De's insistence that had finally made them relent.

Someone had also gone out on their behalf to fetch Sun Xieren, and he had come inside with reddened eyes for a few moments, then told the two he would let them say goodbye on their own.

Reian was not saying goodbye. Beside him, Xie De was not saying goodbye...

Xie De was telling Jin Yu stories. Like he used to when they were kids. He was mumbling, and sometimes forgot some words, but he was doing so in the hopes that A'Yu might hear it...

Wen Rei had spent the last fifty minutes, analysing every inch of his younger brother's broken body, both spiritual and physical. He was shaking from the effort not to let his own pain be seen on his face.

Once I assess his wounds, once I can feel where the damage is most severe, then I can connect with his soul and begin to heal him...

This was what Reian kept saying to himself, over and over again as he checked, double checked, and triple checked.

He wasn't sure if it was his own emotions getting in the way or Xie De's, but Reian was still struggling even after this long, to locate Jin Yu's soul.

His broken arm. It's there, I feel it. That pain is sharp at the edges, pulsing, swollen-

As he continued to scan the boy, searching for a place to start, Wen Rei continued to feel and see each injury, and not only the external ones...

It's true. A'Yu's right lung is full of blood, and because there was nothing they could do to fix it, they've simply placed a spell on him that allows him to only breathe with the other. That won't last very long-

Reian realized the longer he stared at Jin Yu that the truth was, even if he could heal the boy's body, his emotional wounds were only fixable from within his soul and that was something Wen Rei couldn't find.

When he'd healed Xie Yi-jun all those months ago, the King's wounded soul was hidden in plain sight. So noticable simply because in extreme pain, it had built up a huge, poisonous wall around itself...

Dismantling such a thing was one matter. But Jin Yu's spirit wasn't hidden where Reian could see. It didn't give off a sense of wrongness, a faint ebbing glow, or even a pulse.

Is it possible for one's aura to be so buried inside, that no one can feel it? And if that's true, how am I ever going to heal him?

"Wen Rei?"

Xie De snapped him out of his thoughts in a moment. The older boy had long since stopped crying, but his expression now was one that Reian had never seen. Never in his life had he witnessed Xie De looking so heartbroken. So... tired.

From the boy, Reian could feel that where his spirit was usually a burning, crackling fire, darting from one thing to the next, all that was there now were fading embers and the scent of smoke.

Reian nodded slowly, "Hm?"

He felt Xie De take a deep breath in, exhaling as if with great effort.

"Did you mean what you said about Jin Songcai? Is he really visiting you?"

Reian's heart thudded in his chest...

He hadn't meant to reveal that to anyone, not even Xie De.

Swallowing, he replied carefully.

"I don't know, all I know is that my powers began growing when the dreams started. And that the things he tells me usually turn out to be true."

Xie De waited several moments, finally speaking again with a barely contained tone of urgency...

"What are you waiting for then? Fix him-"

"I've been trying. It's not easy, his... spirit is gone-"

"Gone?!"

"Hidden."

Xie De and him were still staring down at their friend. Jin Yu's face was covered in so many cuts and bruises, it was almost like looking at a stranger. What kept reminding Reian who he was, were the boy's slightly pointed ears. A feature that A'Yu had been insecure about for years, but one that Reian found sweet and charming.

He's a little monster... my little monster. I won't rest until I have him back-

"Will it help if I leave for a moment?" Xie De said.

Reian glanced at the boy before eventually nodding.

"I will do whatever it takes to bring him back, Xie Ge." He frowned.

The older boy didn't look at him, just suddenly placed his hand on Reian's shoulder and squeezed so hard it hurt. He left, taking a portion of the sadness in the room with him. As he did, Reian was finally able to notice the stark difference between his own and Jin Yu's pains.

They are separate...

Mine are like dark storm clouds, making it hard to breathe and absorbing into the air around me. A'Yu's are very much within him. Dark blue, black. Sharp edges, and concentrated places where blood has gathered. His are fuzzy, mine are detailed. His are almost nearly drained of color, mine are swirling with it-

With a deep steadying breath to clear his head, Reian proceeded with his first step...

Greet his pain.

He placed a shaking hand upon one of the places Jin Yu wasn't so badly bruised, the back of his right hand as it lay there, pale and cold on the table. Frightened by how freezing he was, Wen Rei prayed he'd be able to warm up soon.

In an attempt to locate Jin Yu's rapidly shrinking aura, Wen Reian followed the pain through his body, as gently as he could, trying with everything he had and everything he'd learned, to breathe life back into the boy's broken body.

Recalling what Songcai had taught him about requiring an anchor to the spirit when one was very badly wounded, Reian tied himself around the part of Jin Yu that he could feel was the most present.

As he did so however, suddenly everything shifted...

Growing dizzy and pale from the abrupt hollowness now surrounding and seeping out from Jin Yu, Reian blinked, a shiver starting at the back of his neck. Where he'd tied himself around the boy's aura, now Reian felt his own soul skittering back to him, as if there was nothing left in A'Ju for him to remain there.

No. No, that can't be right...

Hands shaking, it was with great strength that Reian was even able to begin to reach out with his aura again, some deeper part of his mind and heart, already knowing what he'd find.

Empty-

There, tucked away in the darkest parts of the boy's soul, were all the fragments of his will to live, surrounded by Reian's now weeping heart, still trying with bleeding fingers to piece back together all the shards.

He's still alive! Reian's soul screamed...

But within Jin Yu, there was nothing else that wanted to be.

He's given up. If I try anything else to heal all these fragments, I'll only kill him quicker. He will melt away upon my fingers like disappearing snowflakes...

Jin Songcai's voice came to Reian then, echoing through his mind like a curse;

"... you can't bring someone back from the dead, and those who wish to be dead cannot be convinced to live."

Numb to the world, Reian wiped all the tears from his face, held his breath, and slowly went to kiss the top of Jin Yu's head, whispering the only thing he could think to say in such a moment-

"You have nothing to be sorry for."

Then Reian did the hardest thing he'd ever done. He left. It wasn't a walking out of the door, it was a tearing of what felt like his heart in half, leaving the brighter part lying there on the table with his baby brother.

As soon as the door shut behind him, Xie De was grabbing Reian's shoulders, the most desperate, hopeful look in his wide eyes as he demanded to know what was going on...

Reian swallowed back the pain, forcing whatever words to come out that he could-

"He isn't going to wake up. I... have to go,"

To his surprise, Xie De's hands fell in an instant, the older boy not stopping Reian from moving towards the stairs. Each step was like walking through glass. Everything inside him begging to be the one lying there instead of A'Yu.

"Wen Reian," Xie De said suddenly.

He paused. Then from behind him Reian heard the boy's low voice as he whispered;

"Don't make me lose you too..."

Wen Rei closed his eyes, hot tears spilling as he did, and then without even promising Xie De that he would return, he left the hospital alone. Alone and with half his heart missing. No, not missing. He knew exactly where it was.

Bitter cold froze his ears and nose. Snow had fallen all day, and was continuing to fall well past one AM, the last few dregs of people on the streets, rushing home to be with their families and turn in for the night.

Reian just kept on walking, putting one foot in front of the other as if it was the only thing he could do. He felt about as useless...

If I can't save Jin Yu's life, what's the point of these powers? What's the point of anything?

Everytime Reian recalled the wounds and blood upon his friend's skin, all the air would leave his body, his teeth would clench. Fury and grief filled him until he felt like he'd explode.

He would do anything to go back in time, to that moment when A'Yu's attacker... his father... approached him. Reian would do anything to have been able to take Jin Yu's place-

His attention was suddenly caught by two people arguing loudly by one of the only open stores...

"-go home already! I have nothing more to sell you-"

A louder voice answered; "Hold on! I've got more money, found it on the street, I did! See there?!"

"But, this is covered in blood!"

The loud man laughed but it turned into a coughing fit that he ended with the words-

"Well I said I found it on the street, I did! After that kid dropped it!"

"Go home! I won't take your stolen money-"

The shop vendor was quick about closing his window, barring it against the angry and already very drunk man. Reian's eyes narrowed suddenly at what that person held, his shaky fingers carefully returning bloody coins into a satchel as he grumbled...

That's-

The purse was light blue, white and silver. Reian remembered the exact day he'd made it in class for Jin Yu, and the boy's wide eyes when he gave it to him.

"Thank you Wen Rei! I'll keep it forever!"

He had pressed it close to his heart, smiling fondly...

Now, the one holding it was lurching down the street, muttering to himself and spitting in the road as a stray dog barked from an alley. Reian watched as the man suddenly lunged at the dog, who yipped and cowered, running away in terror and out of sight.

Wen Rei was moving even before he had admitted to himself what he already knew...

That this man was Jin Yu's father. And Reian was going to kill him.