3.1.3

Content warnings: pseudo-possession, descriptions of healing fatal wounds

~.~

“And then you just put the pizzas in the oven,” Auster said smoothly.

“Wow!” Joel chirped, watching as Auster slid the three pizzas onto the bottom rack. “You’re not even using oven mitts! Is that a pro strat?”

“What? Um, no,” Auster said quickly. “Do not do that, and definitely don’t say you learned that from me. Josh would kill me.”

Joel laughed. “I’m just teasing, Auster! Lighten up a bit!”

“Oh. Right.”

Auster sighed. It was hard for him to “lighten up” when he had spent the last week sharing a living space with eight strangers who all seemed to know each other pretty well. The abruptness of it all was still enough to give Auster a headache. First, Joshua had gone missing for three days, and then he’d shown up looking like he’d just walked out of hell (which was maybe a true statement? Auster was fuzzy on the details). Auster hadn’t even been given five minutes to pack the essentials.

“So, you think they’ll like the pizza?” Joel asked, hopping onto the counter.

“I hope so,” Auster mumbled. “It’s not like I can help on this life-threatening mission. Pizza is really the only thing I can do.”

Joel nodded sagely. “Yeah, plus you’ve gotta do something if you want to impress Lian.”

Auster’s face flushed a bright crimson. He opened his mouth to respond, but he was cut off by the sound of footsteps as Morgan stormed past the kitchen without so much as a hello—which was what Auster had come to expect from them, really. Morgan was followed by a tired-looking Joshua and a very waterlogged Lian.

“Oh, Auster!” Lian said cheerfully. “What’re you cooking? It smells delicious!”

“Oh, um, I just thought I’d make pizza for lunch,” Auster said meekly. “Since, you know. I’m stuck here anyway.”

“Aww, that’s so sweet of you,” Lian said, clapping their hands together with excitement. “I’m sure the others will appreciate it, too.”

If Auster could have turned a brighter red in that moment, he would’ve.

“So,” Auster said awkwardly. “Did you go for a swim or something…?” It was a valid question. Lian’s clothes were still dripping wet, and their hair looked a little windblown.

“We fought a sea serpent,” Joshua grumbled. Notably, Joshua was not wet in the slightest.

“What? That’s so cool!” Joel hopped off the counter, his eyes practically sparkling. “Did you win?”

“Nope!” Lian replied. A cartoon running sound effect echoed through the room. “We ran away!”

“You shouldn’t sound so happy when you say that,” Joshua said flatly.

“Why not?” Lian said innocently.

Before Joshua could explain, there was another flash of light from the foyer, and the mafia trio came stumbling in. Juli looked like a dead man walking as they made a beeline for the bedrooms, and Auster couldn’t help but feel concerned. Aside from Lian, Juli had been the most welcoming to Auster, and they were always chattering about something or the other. Their silence was unnerving.

“Are they okay?” Auster asked.

“No,” Dani sighed. “I’m going to go check on them. Peter, stay here.” Peter did a mock salute. As soon as Dani left, Peter turned to Joshua and Lian with a grin.

“How was your trip to the swimming pool?” Peter asked.

“It’s September,” Joshua said thinly. “Even if we had gone to the swimming pool—which we didn’t—it would’ve been too cold to go swimming.”

“Not in Texas, it isn’t,” Peter retorted. “So, did you meet any hot lifeguards?” Joshua let out an exasperated sigh.

“I’m going to go clean up for lunch,” he ground out.

“You mean you’re going to go fix your hair,” Joel teased. Joshua glared at Joel, but the effect was somewhat ruined by his crooked glasses and his messy hair, which was decidedly all over the place. Before anyone else could call Joshua out, he stormed towards the bathroom.

“Have fun!” Joel called after him.

“I should probably get some dry clothes, too,” Lian mused, wringing out the bottom of their shirt. A puddle was starting to form at their feet. “See you soon, I guess! I look forward to trying your pizza, Auster!”

“Um, right. Bye.” Auster’s voice cracked on the final word, and he winced internally. Luckily, Lian didn’t seem to notice. They exited the kitchen with a final wave, leaving Auster with Peter and Joel. As soon as Lian was gone, Peter turned to Auster with an innocent smile.

“So, when are you and Lian going to kiss?” Peter asked. Auster balked.

“What?”

“Ohhh, sorry, sorry,” Peter apologized. “Hand holding comes first, doesn’t it?”

“What?” Auster repeated. Joel started to laugh. Peter materialized a rose, then handed it to Auster with an impish grin.

“You should try this,” Peter said slyly. “Lian is sure to love it. Or maybe you should give a rose to Joshua instead…?”

In that moment, Auster wished he could sink into the ground.

His crush on Lian was one thing. Lian was cute, and also a thousand years out of Auster’s league, and Auster had fallen for them rather quickly. Auster’s feelings for Joshua were a tangled mess, however, and he was thoroughly unwilling to label those emotions now—or ever.

Peter thrust the rose into Auster’s hands before Auster could react, and his devious laughter echoed through the pocket dimension as he skipped away. Auster buried his face in his hands. Now that Peter had caught on, Auster was in serious danger. There was no telling what Peter would do next.

Auster was not a violent man, but he suddenly understood why Joshua wanted to strangle Peter.

“Auster, what did that mean, exactly?” Joel asked. “Why is Josh involved?”

The beep of the oven timer saved Auster from having to come up with a proper response.

“I’ll, um, tell you later,” Auster said quickly. “Let’s get the pizzas out of the oven.” Joel’s expression made it clear that they would, in fact, be talking about this later. Auster groaned internally. This was quickly turning into the worst day of Auster’s life. He just hoped Joel was nicer about it than Peter had been.

~.~

At least it wasn’t hot out. It was a small comfort, really, as Joshua circled around the banks of the Yangtze River for the fifth time in the past hour. He’d tried walking around the area. He’d tried flying around the area. Lian had even waded into the river. And still, Kai’s soul fragment was nowhere to be found. It was dark out, which should’ve worked to their advantage—the soul fragments were glow-in-the-dark, after all—but the damn thing clearly didn’t want to be found.

Are you sure this is where the soul fragment is, Rae? Morgan snapped, drawing on their telepathic link to the pocket dimension.

Positive, Rae replied. His voice was thick with exhaustion. Is the bracelet not drawing you to any particular location?

No, Joshua said curtly. It’s not. He glared at the bracelet around his wrist, as if he could guilt the soul core into doing its damn job. His highness seems to be asleep.

Wait, Karyme interjected. To your left. What’s that?

Karyme wasn’t physically present to point out what she’d seen, but as soon as Karyme mentioned it, Joshua spotted a slight shimmering in the air above the shallowest part of the river. It was subtle, but as Joshua flew closer, the anomaly came into focus.

A tear in the fabric of reality—that’s what it looked like.

“There’s no way this is unrelated to the soul fragment,” Joshua muttered.

“No kidding,” Lian agreed. “I guess we just go in?”

“Sure,” Morgan said with a shrug. “Joshua should go first.”

“No, please. You first, princess,” Joshua snarked. He couldn’t deny his satisfaction at seeing Morgan stiffen. Morgan took a step forward, ready to rip Joshua’s head off, but Lian intervened.

“You’re both being big babies,” they said with a frown. “I’m going in. Feel free to keep arguing, though.” Lian hopped through the rift before Joshua could stop them. Joshua and Morgan exchanged glances, and then they followed, because what choice did they have?

A battlefield.

That was the only way to describe what met the trio on the other side of the rift. All around them, the clang of metal on metal echoed through the air as men fought with all manner of melee weapons: swords, axes, spears. Every now and then, an arrow whistled past. There wasn’t a gun in sight.

Joshua would have been hard-pressed to identify the exact time period they’d walked into, but judging from the brightly colored robes and rusty chain mail, they were in ancient China. According to Karyme’s records, Kai was born in the early 500s AD, so maybe this battle scene was from around then?

Not that Joshua cared. He just wanted to find the soul fragment and get out of here.

Joshua was knocked out of his thoughts by a supersonic screech. Only his quick reflexes saved him from taking the brunt of the attack head-on. Joshua dove to the side, then scrambled back to his feet just in time to watch as Lian aimed a similar attack at Morgan.

“Lian!” Joshua yelled. “What are you doing?”

Lian silently rounded on Joshua with menace in their eyes. Joshua swallowed. He’d seen this before, back in Dimension X—Lian was being aggravated by an outside source. Joshua tensed up, preparing to take another supersonic hit—

And then Morgan blew past him on a gust of wind and slammed into Lian, knocking them off balance.

You need to find the soul fragment, Morgan hissed.

What? No! Joshua argued. I’ll distract Lian.

Nuh-uh. I did what you said last time, Morgan retorted. You can fly, and you’re faster than me. It only makes sense.

Joshua clenched his jaw. Morgan’s words were logical, but he still didn’t trust her to leave Lian unharmed.

If you hit Lian with lightning, we’re going to have a very unpleasant chat, Joshua snapped. As he took off, Morgan’s voice echoed in his head.

That was one time!

Joshua launched himself high enough into the air that he was out of the path of any errant arrows. From this vantage point, Joshua could more clearly make out the structure of the battlefield. There were two camps: one to the west and one to the east. Between the two clusters of tents, hordes of soldiers clashed for supremacy.

There was nothing to indicate where the soul fragment might be.

“Come on,” Joshua muttered, squeezing the single bead on his bracelet. “Just tell me where I need to go next, you damn windbag.”

At that moment, a great whooshing sound echoed over the battlefield. Wind whipped around Joshua at unnatural speeds, almost knocking him out of the sky. As Joshua righted himself, he realized, with horror, that a tornado was beginning to form over the eastern camp. In the middle of the storm system was a bright flash of green.

“You have got to be kidding me,” Joshua groaned. No matter how fast he was, he couldn’t very well fly into a tornado. Morgan, on the other hand…

Joshua swooped back down just in time to watch Morgan get hit by a wave of sound. He’d only been gone for a matter of minutes, but Morgan was already covered in bruises. Lian let loose another screech, but Joshua was ready this time; he pushed off from the ground, drawing on his super speed, and tackled Lian to the ground.

Change of plans, Morgan, Joshua said firmly. I need you to get the tornado behind us to calm down. The soul fragment is over there.

What? Morgan squeaked. Lian writhed under Joshua’s grip, but he had them pinned down—for now, at least. If Lian attacked Joshua from this distance, he wouldn’t be able to dodge. Already, the sounds of battle were growing unnaturally loud in Joshua’s vicinity.

Just do it, Joshua snapped. Unless you’re scared?

Fuck you! Morgan shot back. Joshua sighed. At least Morgan was predictable. He sensed something in the air shift as he turned back to Lian. Good—that meant Morgan was getting to work.

Lian, Joshua intoned. Snap out of it. The music teacher’s teeth sank into Joshua’s wrist. Joshua swallowed the pain and kept talking.

I know you’re stronger than this, Lian, Joshua continued. Your arms are like wet noodles, and you can’t throw a punch worth shit, but…

The sounds swirling around Joshua continued to intensify. His head was starting to hurt. Still, Joshua kept an iron grip on Lian, because letting go would mean fighting them, and that was the last thing Joshua wanted to do.

Lian, Joshua repeated. No response.

Joshua took a deep breath. He wasn’t stupid. He’d noticed the way he’d grown unnecessarily fond of Lian, but he’d pushed those feelings down, because there was no time to think about what that meant.

No, that wasn’t it. If there was one thing Joshua was good at, it was lying to himself. If he was being honest, though, he had pushed Lian away because he hated that Lian knew all of his secrets now. He hated the fact that talking to Lian made him feel vulnerable.

But he couldn’t keep running. Lian needed him right now.

Lian, this isn’t you. You’re not an angry person—just the opposite. I don’t know how you manage to be so nice to everyone, even the people who don’t deserve it, Joshua continued. Even me…

The words continued to flow, now, as if everything Joshua had refused to acknowledge before was pouring out of his mouth.

You’re the weakest among us physically, but there are other kinds of power in this world. And for you? Your compassion is your strength. You’re one of the strongest people I know. You’re strong enough to fight back against this.

Lian continued to struggle, but their flailing was weaker now, as if the words were having some sort of effect on them. It still wasn’t enough. Joshua needed to dig deeper. His mind flashed back to Lian’s conversation with him in the aftermath of the shadow clone fight. What was it Lian had said then? That they’d been upset about knowing Joshua’s favorite color now? No, it had been—

I… Joshua swallowed. I want to get to know you too. If you’ll have me.

Lian froze. The jumble of battle sounds fell away all at once.

“Do… do you mean that?” Lian’s voice was hoarse, but it was undeniably them. Their gaze was clouded, still, but for the first time, Joshua could see Lian in those eyes. Joshua’s expression softened.

“I do.”

In the distance, the roaring of the tornadoes faded to nothing. The wind stilled, cowed by Morgan’s efforts. And then, a flash of green.

~.~

According to the teachings of the Temple of Karai, Karai’s chosen soldiers were not to interfere with mortal affairs unless absolutely necessary. It was Kai’s job to peruse the timelines, find the best one, and then nudge mortals in that direction—nothing more, nothing less. By and large, Kai had abided by those rules, but he couldn’t hold back anymore. Kai was going to get in a lot of trouble for this, but…

Fuck the temple. Kai wasn’t going to sit back and let his brother die.

It was easy for Kai to pick Xiao Gang out of the crowd of soldiers on the battlefield. He’d seen this moment in his nightmares for weeks, after all—the scene played out every time Kai closed his eyes. And yet, as the hail of arrows pierced Xiao Gang’s torso, Kai couldn’t bear to watch.

Kai was just on time, it seemed. He pulled his mask up over the lower half of his face, and with one last look around, he propelled himself towards Xiao Gang on a jet of air. Before any of the soldiers could react, Kai grabbed Xiao Gang’s body and rocketed into the sky, ignoring the dismayed shouts around him. He used the winds to guide him to an unoccupied spot on the battlefield, and only then did he relax.

Kai’s chest was tight as he looked upon the crumpled, still form of his younger brother. Xiao Gang was still breathing—that was all that mattered. He had already lost a good deal of blood, but that was nothing Kai couldn’t fix. Hopefully.

Kai took a deep breath and closed his eyes. The image of a forest green flame burned in his mind’s eye, and after a few seconds, his core began to glow with that same color. Kai let the warm light spread to his hands, and then, with the utmost care, he started to trace Xiao Gang’s fatal wounds. The bleeding slowed as torn blood vessels repaired under Kai’s healing touch. Once the bleeding had slowed enough, Kai yanked the arrows out and let healing energy flood the wounds.

Kai was starting to feel light-headed, as if he’d been the one to lose nearly a quart of blood. He had never expended this much energy on healing before, but still, he pressed on. He let life energy flow from his core into his brother’s. As Kai watched, layers of damaged fascia knitted together, and then skin closed on top, and just like that, the arrow wounds were gone. Xiao Gang’s ripped, blood-stained clothing was the only sign that he’d been injured at all.

With a groan, Xiao Gang started to sit up, started to open his eyes, started to—

Xiao Gang made eye contact with Kai, and even though Kai was wearing a mask over the lower half of his face, he knew immediately that Xiao Gang had recognized him. Kai scrambled to his feet and then immediately regretted the motion. He had poured most of his energy into his brother, leaving himself weak and light-headed.

“Gēgē—”

“Don’t.” Kai turned away so that his brother wouldn’t be able to discern his condition. He felt like he was going to vomit. “I’m not your brother anymore.”

“That’s—” Xiao Gang broke off into a coughing fit.

“Don’t talk, Xiao Gang. It’ll hurt,” Kai said tersely. He took a few steps away from his brother, just enough to put some space between the two of them.

“Shizuan,” his brother choked out. “That’s my name now.”

Kai swallowed. Xiao Gang was his brother’s formal, given name. Shizuan must have been his courtesy name—and of course he’d have a courtesy name now. A courtesy name was customarily bestowed upon a young man when he reached adulthood. Something deep inside Kai ached at the realization that his brother had grown up without him.

“Shizuan, then.” The word felt unfamiliar on Kai’s tongue. “Your name doesn’t matter to me.”

Shizuan laughed bitterly. “You’ve always been a horrible liar.”

Kai’s mask hid his weary smile. As he surveyed the battlefield, he debated leaving. He had accomplished his goal. On the other hand, Shizuan’s forces were supposed to face a crushing defeat here, and there was no guarantee that Shizuan would survive such an ordeal.

Kai forced his growing nausea down and pulled the green flames to his fingertips once more. Then, he allowed the green glow to envelop his entire body. A breeze ruffled Kai’s hair. He extended a hand, and the wind speed began to pick up around the pair. Kai willed the air currents to respond to his beck and call, threading them around his fingers with ease.

And then, Kai’s fingers closed into a fist, and a tornado smashed into the enemy camp. Shizuan’s eyes widened.

“So it’s true,” he breathed. “You’re one of Karai’s Chosen.” Kai didn’t acknowledge Shizuan at all. His sole focus was on keeping the air currents in check.

“Don’t ignore me, gēgē,” Shizuan snapped. He inched towards Kai on hands and knees. “Just because you’ve decided never to talk to us again doesn’t mean I haven’t wanted to talk to you.” Kai went rigid. The tornado in the distance grew more turbulent.

“There’s nothing to say,” Kai growled. “I’m an exile and a disgrace. The crown prince shouldn’t associate himself with me.”

“And yet you returned to save my life,” Shizuan said hoarsely. “You’re not as detached as you pretend to be.”

The wind whipped around Kai, moving almost against his will, and he disbanded the tornado entirely for fear of accidentally causing a cataclysmic weather event. The enemy camp was in pieces, anyway. The green glow around Kai’s form faded, and with it, the last of his energy seemed to leave him.

Kai’s knees buckled, and by some miracle he managed to fall into a sitting position instead of falling on his face. His vision was starting to darken around the edges.

“Gēgē? Are you—“

“Fine,” Kai interjected. “I’m fine.”

It was a clear lie. Kai’s hands were shaking in his lap, and beads of sweat coalesced along his brow. With each blink, his head drooped forward. The strain of bringing a person back from the brink of death was starting to settle in Kai’s bones now. He needed to leave before he passed out.

“It doesn’t have to be like this,” Shizuan said quietly. “You could come back.” Kai swallowed.

“No, I can’t. It’s too dangerous for—for mortals to be involved with me,” Kai ground out. “I don’t need Yaran taking hostages.”

Kai tried to stand, but his legs wouldn’t listen. His vision was doubling now. It was only sheer stubbornness that was keeping him awake.

“You’re hurt,” Shizuan pointed out. “Stay. I won’t tell anyone who you are.”

Kai bit his lip. He shouldn’t. He shouldn’t. But even if he tried now, he doubted he could muster the energy to teleport away.

“Fine,” Kai mumbled. He couldn’t keep his eyes open anymore. “M’trusting you.”

~.~

When the light cleared, Lian, Joshua, and Morgan were sitting on the banks of the Yangtze River. Morgan had fallen to their knees, clearly spent from the exertion of dispelling an entire cyclone system. Lian was limp in Joshua’s grip.

Joshua quickly released Lian, then scrambled backwards to give them some space. The fury had drained from Lian’s eyes, replaced with abject horror.

“Oh god,” Lian breathed. “Oh god, I hurt you, I hurt you both, I can’t—“

“Lian,” Joshua interjected. “That wasn’t you.”

“It was,” Lian insisted. Hot tears ran down their cheeks. “I—oh my god—“

Joshua hesitated. He was not good at handling crying, even when it was Joel. The guilt on Lian’s face was all too familiar to Joshua, however. It was the same guilt Joshua wore every day.

It took Joshua just a second too long to start moving again. Lian’s teleportation crystal was already in their hand, and just as Joshua reached out to grab their wrist, they disappeared in a flash of orange. Joshua cursed.

Joshua tried to stand up to chase after Lian, but he was still reeling from the vision he’d just experienced. He could feel Kai’s exhaustion, even now, but that wasn’t what made Joshua feel weak in the knees—it was the way Kai was so willing to sacrifice himself, the way Kai had broken every rule just to get his brother back. Joshua hated it, because if Joel’s life had been on the line, Joshua would have done the exact same thing. God dammit, Kai.

“So, are you going to deal with that?”

Joshua jumped. He’d forgotten that Morgan was there. Morgan’s tone of voice was defiant, but the worry shone through in their eyes.

Up close, Joshua could clearly make out all the injuries Morgan had incurred in the few minutes they’d been fighting Lian, and yet Lian had been completely unscathed, which meant… Morgan hadn’t fought back. At all.

Maybe Joshua had misjudged Morgan.

“I’ll take care of it,” Joshua said through gritted teeth. “Let’s just head back before Lian does something stupid.”

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