Work Text:
The first time Hua XiXi sees her Qing Ge again, it’s in Heaven. After her ascension she silently seeks after Mu Qing. She desperately wishes she could tell Hong-er but Hong-er was dead and so was Wu Ming. Now she was alone, no brother, Mu Qing doesn’t recognize her, and she’s surrounded by gods who sneer at her if she tries to talk.
She’s a Civil and Martial god which makes her unique and she’s favored by Jun Wu. It does not settle well with her. But she hides how she feels and does her job. The status quo is kept for years until some new calamity ghost rises to power. The power vacuum left behind by Bai Wuxiang is very noticeable even to Heaven which makes them worried about a new Ghost King.
Instead of feeling worried she feels oddly comforted. She had no idea who this new ghost was but she hoped they were nice.
~~~
Famous last words. She thinks. “Who does he think he is?” One god complained. “Who?” She asks. “Hua Cheng, Crimson Rain Sought Flower.” Ling Wen explained. She nods and watches as the gods go to arguing amongst themselves. “How many officials?” She asks. “Thirty-five, Generals Xuan Zhen and Nan Yang are included in that.”
She grips onto her brush a little too tightly. It cracks before eventually breaking. She blinks at it dumbly. “General, is everything alright?” Ling Wen asked. Hua XiXi coughs and apologizes for the broken brush before hurriedly replying, “Everything’s fine, just stressed. I have a lot of work to do. Uh bye!” She leaves the palace and runs all the way back to her own. She presses her fingers to her temple and contacts Mu Qing.
‘Are you busy?’
‘Yes, why?’
‘I was just wondering.’
It feels painful to know and not have. She desires what her younger self had. You’d think as a god should could get anything in the world and you’d be right but… this was one thing she’d never get back.
So instead of wallow in her sadness she goes to the meeting spot for the gods and the Crimson Calamity. She waits sitting upon a rock staring at the horizon melancholic.
“General Hua Jang.” She turns because that voice… it was oddly familiar. Standing nearby is a man clad in red, a scimitar at his waist, and an eyepatch over his right eye. A red coral bead braided into his hair. Her eyes zero in on that bead. “You must be Hua Cheng.” She says cautiously.
The man nods and a smirk settles onto his face. She finds that she doesn’t feel scared by this man. “I need to ask, otherwise this is all I will think of. Are you Hong-er?” Hope barely concealed behind curiosity. Hua Cheng tilts his head eyeing her. “Perhaps this will answer your question.” He gets onto his knees a fist over his dead heart. Hua XiXi’s eyes widen and she springs up from the rock to run over to him. “I thought you died! Gone! Dispersed forever!” She’s in hysterics already overjoyed and sad knowing the truth.
When she laughs it sounds more like a sob and she hugs him tightly. “I missed you so much.” She settles for instead of the blabbering nonsense she was sure to spout. “I missed you as well. You have done a lot of good things. Seems our promise is still being kept.”
She laughs and now it does sound more like a genuine laugh. She leans back to look at him tears blurring her vision but she could care less. “We’ll need to catch up.” He smiles and wipes her tears, “Alright.”
~~~
She doesn’t tell him about Mu Qing. She doesn’t have the heart to. But she’s sure Hua Cheng is being especially annoying because he knows. “Can you tell your brother to piss off?” Mu Qing whispered harshly to her. She giggles. If only you knew. She thinks.
Her brother dies again. She watches as his butterflies fly away like tiny stars. There is an ache settling in her heart. She doesn’t cry. She doesn’t know if she can. Seeing Xie Lian sobbing his heart out hurts more. So she kneels beside him. “Is his ring still there?” She asks softly. Xie Lian nods. “He’ll be back. You just have to trust him.” She smiles weakly and brings Xie Lian into her arms. He cries and cries until his cries turn into hiccups and later pitiful shuddering. “Let’s go to Puqi Shrine.” She mutters softly.
She doesn’t cry, not until she’s alone and the pain gets to be to much. She compartmentalizes it. Life is dull without her brother’s odd commentary at different times in the day. Heaven is in shambles and she takes pride in being able to help fix it. She visits Xie Lian daily so he isn’t as lonely but she knows a deep hole has settled where Hua Cheng entered his life.
She tries her hardest to make him laugh when laughing herself seems outlandish and like a crime to not share her happiness with Hua Cheng. She also tells Mu Qing about who she really is. He gets angry at her for not telling him. “We’ve lived 800 years together in Heaven! How could you keep this from me?” He looks pained. She smiles sadly, “Because I didn’t want you to be sad. You protected me and Hong-er and treated us kindly when no one else would.”
“So is…”
“I think you should find that out for yourself.” She smiled. As the months pass she still holds onto hope that Hua Cheng will return. She also goes to visit the XianLe ruins and walks back to her childhood home. She sighs and walks through the ruins reliving the memories. She’s been more melancholic lately and reminiscing about her brothers. “Thought I could find you here.” She jumps and turns to find Mu Qing and Feng Xin. She blinks dumbly. “What?”
“You’re being sentimental.” Mu Qing frowned. “Plus we have a lot of work to do.”
“You should know that I don’t handle death well. Never have, probably never will.”
“He’s not dead forever.”
“I know that. His ashes still hang around Xie Lian’s neck.”
“Really? You’re acting as if the world has ended.”
“Mu Qing I know we knew each other in the past and have been civil to each other for 800 years but that does not mean you get to tell me how I should or should not handle grief. He was there when the world went to chaos. He was there when my heart was broken is half. He was there when I needed a person to vent to about the stresses of my day. You want to know why I didn’t go to you or anyone else in Heaven?”
Mu Qing winces. Hurt is portrayed so vividly in her eyes. “I knew you all would tell me to suck it up. That being a god is hard and we have to shoulder past it. You know who told me otherwise? Hua Cheng. Being a god is hard yes, but he told me not to listen to you selfish bastards. He helped me on missions in the mortal world. In turn I helped him in Ghost City. He helped.” She says in finality. She doesn’t walk away though.
They needed to talk through this like adults instead of running away from each other. “You know what else I did? Made sure your territories were safe and you didn’t have as much work. I had Ling Wen promise to never tell you because I didn’t want you coming towards me all distrustful. You really need to work on that by the way.” Mu Qing gave an offended noise.
“She isn’t wrong.” Feng Xin muttered. “You stay out of this.” Mu Qing sneered. Hua XiXi looks at Feng Xin. “And you two need to get your shit together.” With that she rolls her dice and goes to Ghost City. While there she handles things at the Gambler’s Den, breaks up fights, and gets dragged along by younger and older female ghosts alike to have her do their makeup. She happily does it. She gets told stories and tells stories.
Ghost City truly felt like home. She thinks. “Jiejie! Tell us stories of Hua Chengzu!” A young ghost asks her. Her expression takes on a fond yet mischievous look. “He will be so mad if he finds out I’m going to tell you this but…” the ghosts look at her excitedly. “Now huddle close as I tell you the story of the Prince Who Pleased The Gods and his most faithful believer.” The younger ghosts look on in awe while the older ghosts fondly smile. This is exactly what she needed. Hua XiXi’s trust in Ghost City residents was something Hua Cheng had teased her about constantly but she always said, “They were there, and so were you. I would happily give up godhood if it meant saving this family.”
Hua XiXi tells the story with a bright smile waving her hands to create an effect. The younger ghosts are in awe. She ends the story by saying, “Hua Cheng will forever love Xie Lian. That is his link to this world. The one thing he cherishes more than anything. The one basking in infinite glory is you, the one fallen from grace is also you. What matters is you, and not the state of you.”
“Wow! I want a love like that!” Hua XiXi laughs brightly so overcome with fond joy that she can’t help it. For the first time in months she laughs without restraint knowing somewhere Hua Cheng is smiling fondly.
~~~
Hua Cheng returns. 3,000 lanterns lifted into the sky. She quietly sips her tea hearing the shock spread through the Heavenly Officials. She sees Mu Qing give a sigh of relief but then hides it behind a mask of annoyance. Pei Ming lifts her into the air with a laugh, “That bastard is back! They need to get married like now! I’m preparing their wedding!” Hua XiXi laughs.
“I’ll tell Hua Cheng and Xie Lian. I’ll help. Mount Taicang shall be the area they marry. The trees are absolutely beautiful and technically it is their first meeting spot after hundreds of years apart.”
“Hua Cheng’s gonna cry.” Yushi Huang mumbled. “I’m gonna cry.” She says with a laugh. “I’ll wipe your tears dear.” Yushi Huang smiled at her gently. “Rain Master you are too kind.” Hua XiXi hugs her friend.
In the next few weeks she helps Pei Ming prepare a wedding venue. Of course she told Xie Lian and Hua Cheng who looked at each other before looking at her. “You’re doing what?” Hua Cheng sounded breathless. “A wedding? Like for you two.”
They were surprised to say the least. Xie Lian had wedding jitters but oh Hua Cheng was worse. Mu Qing even helps with table cloth and what not. Feng Xin surprisingly had an eye for flowers and Yushi Huang went with him to help. She goes back to the Xianle ruins and strings a red ribbon on the part of the wall that Hua Cheng had fallen from and a gold ribbon where Xie Lian was during the parade.
Then it was the day of the wedding. Mu Qing doing both Xie Lian and Hua Cheng’s hair. He’s complaining about how Hua Cheng won’t stop moving his head. Hua Cheng rolls his eye. “I’m tempted to chop your hair off.” Mu Qing says sternly. Hua Cheng glares, “You wouldn’t.”
“Try me, Crimson Rain.”
“Brothers please!” Hua XiXi smiles. Mu Qing instantly goes fond over her look. “A-Xi you look wonderful.” Hua Cheng nods his agreement and Mu Qing makes an annoyed sound. “Stop moving.” Hua Cheng chuckles.
The wedding is beautiful. Everything goes smoothly. FengQing cry. Mu Qing hugging Hua Cheng tightly crying to take care and love Xie Lian while also telling him to take care of himself. Hua XiXi smiles to herself as tears well in her eyes. Mu Qing pulls her over and tugs her into his chest. “I know Qing Ge doesn’t need to protect you two anymore… but I want to. Can we start over?” Hua XiXi cries now. “Of course Gege.”