Chapter 97 - Forgive Me

["YING YUE!!!" Wang Li shouted out his lungs as he pointed his sword at him, "You! How dare you!"

"Ah Li," he whispered to see the hatred warping inside of his husband.

Eyes red as blood stared into his golden ones. The sound of screams and roars echoed around them. People were dying, demons were creating chaos, and Wang Li… the one who was to protect them was here in front of him… wanting his blood.

"You must stop Ah Li," he spoke softly, "If you wish for my death, I will give it to you," he smiled at his husband, "Just stop this."

The laugh that escaped his lover's lips were raw, terrifying, and intimidating. A grin stretched across the raven-haired beauty's face.

"My naïve wife," Wang Li tsked shaking his head, "I am playing my part. This is what they deserve, death," crazed eyes watched him closely, "And you, my love, cannot stop me."

"This isn't you," he cried out.

"Of course, it isn't!" His husband shouted out angrily, "You took it! You took what was in me!"

Swords clanged with one another, sending shockwave of crackling power.

"You knew and you still stayed," the red eyes male gritted out, "You took what was mine!"

"I… I tried, Ah Li," the blonde pleaded, "I tried to make it work. I didn't want to leave you. I love you."

"You love me?" Wang Li laughed, "No, you never did. You stayed and ruined me. You should've just killed me, Ah Yue. This is all your fault!"

Another clash and another to have them pressing against one another.

"Death would be much easier to handle than this, dear wife," the raven-haired male said coldly, "You wish for my torture. You wish for me to forfeit."

"No!" Ying Yue pressed against the blade with his, "That isn't true! Once I knew nothing I was doing was helping, I forced myself to leave. Please Ah Li! I would never wish harm to you."

"Shut up!" Wang Li jumped back, only to throw himself forward once more.

Golden glow and black light fought each time their blades met, leaving cracks and scorched around them. The lake, the moon, and the sparkling stars watched as the two lovers fought: one wrought with anger, the other with guilt. Their fight took them onto water.

Blades and feet sliding and moving as water splashes and arched.

"Please Ah Li," he tried again, "I love you."

"Ah Yue," his golden eyes widened slightly, hearing the soft tone he missed for so long, "I love you too, but you betrayed me."

A strong push had him skidding backwards, but he quickly blocked the attack from his husband. All those times they practiced and spar… he knew his every move, just like his husband knew his. There was no way either one of them would win, but…

'Ah Li,' he thought sadly blocking the hard swings of his lover, 'If this is how we will end,' he saw the blade aiming for him and he closed his golden eyes, dropping his sword into the water, 'Then know that I love you even now.'

He felt the sharpness of his lover's blade pierced through his chest, through his heart, through his core, and out of his back. Blood leaked out his mouth and wound. Wrapping his arms around his husband, he pulled him in closer, causing the blade to push deeper into him.

'Know that I would do anything to stand beside you…'

"Ah Yue… AH YUE!" He heard Wang Li shout trying to pull him back, but he held on.

'Let me hold you… a little longer…'

The blade was gone from his chest, but it didn't stop the bleeding, it didn't stop the tears, it didn't stop the guilt.

He felt his husband covering his chest, as if he could heal it somehow, prolonged the inevitable. But he couldn't. There was nothing to be saved.

"Ah Yue," he felt arms wrapped around him tightly and he felt the ground beneath them, "Don't leave me… Ah Yue… I am sorry, please… don't leave me. This  wasn't supposed to happen!"

Too weak to hold on, he easily followed when Wang Li pulled him back to search his face. Smiling with what energy he still had, he ran his fingers over his lover's face. Memorizing every curve, every dip, every scar through the blurriness of his eyes.

"Jade Emperor!" The Ghost King shouted, "Save him! Save him please! Please…" his lover cried.

He was pulled close to his husband and felt lips against his. Listening to him cry against his ear, golden eyes looked to the moon.

'Will you look at the moon and think of me Ah Li?' He wondered and closed his eyes, 'My husband… I forgive you.'

The last thing he heard as he faded into darkness was the agonizing scream from his king, from his husband, from Ah Li.]

His eyes opened with a start and he leaned over to cough hard. Hand pressed against his chest, he cried and cried. So that was why… that was why Wang Li always looked at him with such deep sadness. Covering his face, he sat in his bed for awhile and looked out his window. The moon watched him in its crescent form, as if it birthed the truth in him.

"Wang Li," he whispered feeling the chilly air cooling his heated skin, "Forgive me."

==

He did not dream. There was nothing but darkness where he stood.

He sensed another person here with him and turned to see a man with sunflower hair and orange eyes. The man had a grin on his handsome face wearing fine delicate clothing. A few feet away, the blonde stopped and watched him with an understanding, like the topaz eyed man knew he would arrive.

Ying Yue knew who this was. There was no denying the similarities.

"Sheng Shui."

"Hello, Ah Yue."

"…"

"Eh? You still upset with me? I promise, I wanted to tell you it wasn't me that you keep yelling at. Those memories are not mine, Ying Yue."

"I know. I know… they are mine."

The man looked at him empathetically and walked toward him.

"You… you are shameless, Sheng Shui… I had to deal with people upset with me, but it was you."

"Eh… forgive me, but…" Sheng Shui grinned with a quirk of a brow, "I enjoy bedding with people and my experiences, were helpful, weren't they Ah Yue? You couldn't stop touching our king."

"Th… that's…" Ying Yue blushed and covered his mouth with his sleeves, as if to hide his reddening cheeks.

"Hm? It isn't different, Chosen One. You enjoy him inside you, touching you, kissing you. Being pleasured by our king is a feast."

"Ah Shui!" Ying Yue covered his face flushing red, "Stop it!"

The golden blonde laughed at Heaven's Conduit's embarrassment, before letting out a sigh.

"He is beautiful, Ying Yue, and he makes you happy."

"Yes…" he felt his ears were hot, but he blinked his golden eyes at the man before him, "I am sorry Sheng Shui. I have neglected you this whole time. I was really…"

"Jealous? Clingy? Obsessive?"

He covered his face and heard the light laughter before a hand cupped his shoulder.

"Don't be. Now that our souls are back, I can now feel you and him."

"Ah Shui! Don't… don't say it like that," Ying Yue felt like a tomato.

"Especially when you both make love like before. So good is our king, isn't he Ah Yue? Mm, the way he tastes and his large mmph-"

Ying Yue covered the shameless man's lips as his entire body flushed. He really did not want Sheng Shui to speak on such matters. Wang Li was his husband and for Sheng Shui to speak in such… such terms…

"Eh? Ah Yue, I have no idea why you are so shy," Sheng Shui pulled the hands away, "I feel what you feel so when Wang Li brings you to pleasure in a multitude of ways, I feel it too. You both do enjoy yourselves quite often enough to satiate me. Oh wait… maybe you are like that because of me?"

Sheng Shui hummed curling his finger under his chin as he tilted his head. Ying Yue glanced at him and wondered if that was true as well.

"I think… you've just made me more… confident and um… more…"

Sheng Shui laughed and pulled him in for a hug, which Ying Yue joined in grinning.

"Hey, let me tell you what you should try next."

He was going to pull away, but the orange eyed man kept him close and whispered. Golden eyes widened and he flushed deeply, red in the face and chest. When he was pulled away, he saw the mischievous grin on the golden blonde.

"Have fun," Sheng Shui grinned and pushed him.

He felt as if he fell floating before the darkness slowly bled away for light.

His golden eyes opened to see the ceiling and his heart wanted to escape his ribcage.

'Sheng Shui! You…' his face flushed deeply from what the golden blonde offered, 'Shameless!'