#mooore filler while i diiiiie writing this textual analysissss

[yi-dashi-a]

//Also wow, I love how I wrote two different things at different times, yet they both converge on a similar through line. Maybe that’s just me being uncreative? Who even knows.

  Anyways, it’s more substantial drabble time, featuring Yi’s parents. I’ve basically completed the story at this point, but am just staggering the release of it. Soon there will be no more long winded under the cut drabbles to annoy people when readmores don’t work pft

  As always, check the hobby project tag on me blog if you happen to somehow read this with no context and go ‘wtf???’

Despite her protests, the man came to blind Chao too with a thick piece of cloth. Da-Jhei, he had introduced himself as, at least somewhere in her hysterics. He stripped her faux husband of almost all his clothing, and only then did she note the direness of his state elsewhere on his body. Two crossed gashes, the injury piercing braded facial hair, pelts, robes, skin, and stopping almost to the bones of his ribs. The slice to his throat was all but gone, and she could only thank the Stars for that, but she had to wonder if it was still too late.

… How could she keep crying? Where was she getting these tears from?

But Da-Jhei was quick in his work, and other hands joined him at his barked orders. Compressive cloth. Strange concoctions that seemed to fizzle at contact with blood. She so desperately wanted to question their methods, but she was too busy stroking at Chao’s face, and cleaning the red away with damp towels.

“I knew this would happen, one day.” Da-Jhei said, sternly solemn when he finally got leave to address Huan directly, “I’ve watched ever since I came here. Even when I was a child, I knew that Yi Wushi was crossing the line.”

“What..?” She managed to stumble out her mouth, and the man’s features gave way for a little bit of sympathy,

“He’s not a good person, and now he’s done something he can finally be held accountable for.”

“You want to try and trial Yi Wushi?” Barked some unknown man, clasping at his blade, “How dare you!”

“You didn’t see what happened, Shei!” He shot right back, “But you’ve seen what’s been going on here since our beginning recollections.” That seemed to dissuade the swordsman from saying any more, slinking into the background, “No one could challenge him. Not in word, or by sword. But you… Huan, right?”

“Y… Yes…”

“I hope that you left some life in the old man.” A broad hand rested on her shoulder, and she let it be so despite herself, “But it’s good what you did. No wonder we fear mages so much. Magic does not compliment Wuju well.”

“I just want Chao to be okay.” She whispered, wetting her towel in pink water and liberally scrubbing her darling down, “I was supposed to help him. I just…”

“…Do you need to rest?” Da-Jhei soothed, “He’ll still be here if you rest. Surely you’ve been traveling… though I understand. Congratulations on your marriage, ah… by the way.”

It was out of turn for him to speak so, and he knew it when her glare cut though his heart. So he removed himself from her presence, and she continued in almost ritualistic fashion. Cleaning Chao top to bottom. Caressing his face with every free moment she got. Checking his neck as if the wound would open again. All the same she whispered her forced confidence to him. You are going to wake up, Chao. I believe in you. She was leered at by Wuju student eyes all the while, but such things did nothing to threaten her. Da-Jhei kept his watch, and she continued without fear.

That was until the monster they called Yi Wushi gurgled to life.

He said nothing at first. The only indication of his consciousness was that his rattling breaths became less even. After that, the young men who attended him backed off as if he’d been afflicted by a deadly, contagious disease. He spat deep red bile from his mouth, terrible retching following soon after. It took all efforts of everyone, once they gained their courage, and their herbal remedies to stead his breaths and expunge all the by-products of her assault from his body. Eventually however his body lit up like one giant green candle, and with that he seemed to uncompress.

But once again Huan steadied her fear. She’d already dealt with him once.

“What… have you done to me?” He rasped to no one in particular, “Why..?”

“You know why, Yi Wushi.” Da-Jhei asserted himself, and Yi Wushi’s eyes seemed to race behind his blindfold. Once again the background whine of mana circulated, but it could not manifest as he was it seemed.

“Fools, all of you. Conspiring with my son... I will end you…”

“You may have killed your son.” Huan piped up, cradling Chao in her lap, “What do you say to that?”

“Is that her?” He asked, voice gaining more depth as the green fire of healing burned around him, “Kill her. She is of Daemon Kind!”

“She is a mediator, as I see it.” She watched Da-Jhei intently, as if to wait for another excuse to crush the Yi Wushi’s ribs. He was, however, too busy parting the sea of sympathisers in order to address his Master within his space, “Did Wuchao not declare something rightly? You tried to murder him. You very well may have murdered him yet. It’s as simple as that.” The man’s arms motioned outward, “And no one can deny it. You either were not there, or you are blinded by this Wuju cult.”

“You don’t understand his deception, Da-Jhei!” The man tied to stumble to his feet, but as if numb and boneless he was quick to tumble down again, “H-He’s… He’s disrespected me. All of you have! You are all traitors of Wuju. Anyone who lets me be blinded like this deserves to die.”

“Yi Wushi, you’re the one disrespecting this art…”

And he’d make his case onwards, though Huan wasn’t of a mind to keep listening. Literally. Her vision flickered for a moment, though it took her a moment to realise the uncanny vignette didn’t match what her eyes had seen seconds before.  So easily she felt herself being transported away by brazenly powerful mentalism, so powerful that she couldn’t even hear the whispers of anything outside the illusion. To hear nothing but her own breaths was almost as unnerving as it was steadying… until her bloodied love spoke with pristine clarity.

“Papa…”

“Chao!” She all but shrieked his name, regardless of whether it was an illusion or not. Perhaps it was better she knew it to be magic, but elected to ignore it. He was as light as a baby when she gathered him up, and he was so warm with life in this world. The room she knelt in was the same as the real one too, but bereft of any other soul but herself, Chao, and Chao’s Master. It was suddenly peaceful somehow, though she wondered if Chao willed it so, “Please…”

“Let me out of this magical world, Wuchao!” Screamed out the man, and she would have strangled his head from his body if she was so allowed in this world. But she was not. Chao was the Master of this domain,

“Papa… You’re awake now. I need to tell you something.”

“I won’t listen.”

“You have no choice.”

“You…” The man, surprisingly against his rage, let out a brisk sigh, and Chao was left to speak on,

“As a father, I love you. No matter what you do to me. No matter if it’s words, or sword strikes, or the deprivation of my rights. I love you as a father.” She thought for a moment that her caressing of him was what turned his face into a stern smile. However, when she forced her hands away from him, the thing still remained, “As a Master… I hate you. I hate you so much. Sometimes I feel as if you’ve damaged me beyond repair, but I am too tired to keep hating. That, or the damage is simply already done, and I can no longer feel hate outwardly against your disciplines of me. Regardless it is there, and I will instead replace this hate in my mind for the love I have for this woman. I only hope she would have made me her husband one day. I love my father, and I would love my wife. This is all I have the power to say to you.”

“Wuchao—" But Yi Wushi was dismissed as if he were nothing in this place. Chao’s head turned slowly, and as it did she felt her vision black out around its edges. But she didn’t pay it any mind. All she needed to do was focus on him while he spoke so clearly,

“Huan..?”

“Yes, Chao? What is it?”

“… I don’t think I’m afraid anymore.” He laughed of all things, and a bloodied hand came to so easily brush away his blindfold. His eyes were so happy. So brave, “This is the one thing I was afraid of, and it’s not so bad. It’s because of you that I can say that. It hurts, but physical pain means nothing to me because I love you. And I can say I love you, but I don’t think a concept as simple as that encompasses how I feel. I’m nothing without you, I suppose. That’s the simplest I can put it.”

“Don’t be so silly!” She slapped him softly, and he winced in a dramatic, playful fashion, “You are the one who rode your horse to me. You are the one who said what was hard to say, and you somehow convinced me to come here. If you’re feeling brave now, then you haven’t been paying attention to yourself this entire time.”

“Ah… I suppose I’m in no state to argue…” Suddenly his face grew stern, though that was the last thing she saw. His voice still rung on in his mind, though she found little comfort in it as all her other senses reached some form of equilibrium, … I just wanted you to hear my voice, Huan.

“Chao?”

Even if it’s not in the way you’d like. Even if I’m here, right in front of you, bleeding through whatever you’ve put upon me. I’m faint …

“Chao! Don’t you dare disappear from my presence like this.” She shouted, but the sound in her ears barely echoed like a whisper, “Don’t you dare dismiss me. You owe me so much more than this. Don’t think it’s okay to talk to me like this.” But there was nothing but a seamless expanse. She floated there as if without any permanent form. She was not of herself, yet her mind raced. It clawed for reason and answers. It knew what he was gearing up to say, and it wouldn’t stand for it.

He must have known it too, so ingrained in her mind he was. Of course he must have heard every unspoken thought, fear, and dread of her position. As quickly as he had disappeared in the darkness, so too did he present himself once more. His head dipped out of the black as if it were water clinging to his face, and she wished to desperately to reach out for his tired expression. But she was nothing. She had no arms.

“... If you’re going to say goodbye to me.” The words echoed bravely against the strange surroundings, though she knew she hadn’t spoken them as such, “Say it to me when I can see your face. And if you die, know that I might not forgive you for it after talking to me like this. I know you’re here, and I’ve been ready to give up everything for you. You said I was to save you, and you owe me just that.”

“Just hear me, Huan, and know that I feel brave.” It seemed as if he tried to smile, but it was so very hollow, “I’m not trying to say goodbye. I’m present, and I’m trying hard, but I can only do so much for myself.  Just know... this could have gone better indeed, but I’m here with you. I’ve caused you no end of stress… but we’re here. Together. I’ll not forget this, whether I live or I die. You mean everything to me. My last hope is that I hope I’ve made you feel something too. Braveness. Joy... Even sadness, as selfish as it is. Anything. I want to know… I left a mark on someone, and even if you come to hate me after … I want someone to remember me as I truly am.”

“You can’t say tha--”

She was back to the real world in a jolt, and the first thing she heard was shouting. Along with the ruckus, the first thing she felt was someone pushing her aside, and the first thing she smelled was wood like oils as he face hit the floor boards of a temple. Her first instinct was to lash out with her magic again, but the snap reflexes of a mage were stayed by one remark alone,

“Has he died?”

“Don’t panic. He just needs help.”

“By the Stars, Yi Wushi. What have you done?”

“Don’t panic! He’s not dead.”

“Dead..?” She managed to say to someone, and someone just gave her a pained expression, “Da-Jhei..?” But the man was too busy slapping Chao’s injured chest and face to heed any of her words. Immediately her mind began to remind her she wasn’t a healing mage. She didn’t know any healing spells. She didn’t even know any first aid. She was useless beyond her ability to crush a man to near death.

“Let him die!” Yelled the head of school from across the room like some slavenly animal, and his conviction alone made her want to vomit, “He’s not worth this effort. So what if I tried to kill him? He is nothing but dishonour to the name of Yi—”

She couldn’t heal either man, but with her mana she could smack the face of the father who would let his son die. It did wonders to stop him screeching, and it ensured no one would encroach on her space. That was all she had in her though. She was lucid -- present, as he had put it -- and nowhere near passing out, but she was just absent from her body somehow. All she could do is watch, and listen to men fighting for Chao’s life. To hear him splutter back to life momentarily before something made him fall into unconsciousness again.

It was a battle she couldn’t fight, but she was praying so, so hard that those she wanted to win would triumph.