Work Text:
Jing Yuan always knew there was something special between
Dan Feng
Dan Heng and
Yingxing
Ren’s relationship. Something not even he could achieve, nor interfere.
Before everything went wrong, they have always been like that. It was almost like they’re attached at the hip—inseparable, something that’s always been a debate to other people. One of them was a High Elder of Vidyadhara and the other a short-lived species, yet it seems like even time cannot stop them. There was very little the other wouldn’t do for another, once Imbitor Lunae even broke rules the elders of Vidyadhara held in high regards for Yingxing.
That was before everything went wrong. (Sometimes in the midst of his drunken haze, Jing Yuan often finds himself wondering where everything went wrong.)
He was involved of course, but even he didn’t know the full story of Imbitor Lunae and Yingxing—only their ending; something he found always lamenting.
He saw it from a distance; the way they both fought his retainer. Nothing but hurt and blood and regret remained from their history but the way they fought was almost familiar. For a moment, Jing Yuan thought he was back in the past
and everything could still be salvaged.
He felt bad for Yanqing but even if Jing Yuan helped him, his victory was uncertain if it’s against the two of them.
There were no longer Dan Feng and Yingxing, something he always knew but just understood when he saw them again. It was now Dan Heng against Ren. The one thing that stays the same is that he was excluded once more—merely an observer of their story, something to be left behind from their shared past.
Seeing Ren was just too hurtful. The once eager and fiery man has become something broken entirely. Jing Yuan didn’t need another painful reminder of his failure to save him, the memories were enough. So he let him go,
again
.
Dan Heng though, he was formerly Dan Feng—
“It has been a long time … old friend.”
“I’m not him.”
“Mm … I’m sorry.”
—but not him at the same time.
Out of the three of them perhaps it was Jing Yuan who was still stuck in the past, not yet ready to let go.
Compared to Ren, Dan Heng was … easier to interact with. The one obvious reason being he wouldn’t be as quick to draw a sword if it weren’t necessary. And he was
not
Dan Feng. Imbitor Lunae was dead and the one in front of him was Dan Heng.
Oh, but when you were looking like him—
“Your Astral Express friends are waiting for you in Scalegorge Waterscape. Shall we go and see them together?”
—he can’t not find a reason to make him stay a little longer.
Jing Yuan was aware that the Stellaron Hunter probably planned this too; for Dan Heng to reunite with his friends and help defeat Phantylia—yet, all the more reason to make him stay. This time he had no problem following their script because it meant more time for him to hold on to his memories before letting them go later on.
Yingxing
Ren, think of it as my way of repaying my mistakes, we were once something after all.
Dan Feng
Dan Heng, this is how I congratulate you for breaking free completely and my prayer that history won’t repeat itself again.
After this, he would play his role as the General once more, this time perfectly so that he could support Yanqing, Fu Xuan, and the others that would be the future of Luofu as best as he can. Once again, he would merely be an observer between the story that was played—his role in the script was over after all.
Jing Yuan always knew there was something special between Dan Heng and Ren’s relationship, something he couldn’t achieve with neither of them nor interfere, not in this life, not in before. It was something solely exist between the two of them, for once it was the two of them against the world.