27 Chapter 27: Calm

Waking up to Ling Hongyun's worried scowl probably shouldn't be as enjoyable as Leiji finds it. They realize only after that their head is wrapped in bandages and they are no longer in the temple.

Also. Thinking hurts.

Also, also. Ling Hongyun is yelling something at someone and there is ringing in their ears. He looks furious.

Light...wait, Light's herr? She, if Leiji is not hallucinating or seeing an illusion, comes up to Ling Hongyun and slaps him. He scowls and reaches for his swords but Light yells—she yells! How weird is that, what king od alternate workd did Leiji land in??—and he stops, instead sitting next to Leiji and talking.

The ringing is still there. Static, painful and something must have either shown on their face or echoed through the bonds because Hongyun cups their face and speaks through their mental bond, 'Sorry, how much does your head hurt?'

'Ringing. Where?' Leiji blinks, turning their head just a bit and wincing.

Although this wasn't their first head wound, it still hurt. Ling Hongyun's expression softens and he softly pats one of their cheeks. 'Back at the sect. Never do something like that without my knowledge ever again.'

Leiji sighs internally. 'Light?'

Ling Hongyun rolls his eyes. "Does it no longer hurt?"

...oh. Leiji blinks and turns their head again, but it didn't hurt as much as earlier. "No. Is this the famed quick regeneration you love so much?"

He snorts, then leans forward to simply, uh, put? Yes, put his forehead on theirs.

For a while, they just stayed like that. Leiji feels like their heart is going to pound out of their chest at any time now and Hongyun probably feels it too because he lands a kiss on their nose before getting up and saying, "You may not leave the bed." He narrows his eyes then, before continuing, "I'll tell the otthers that you woke up."

"How long was I asleep?" Leiji asks instead.

"Only several hours, don't worry." Ling Hongyun proceeds to leave the room. Leiji sighs and looks down, seeing their right arm in a cast—though they couldn't feel it. Pain killers, or the weird needle thing?

Several seconds pass before Light comes inside the room that Leiji realizes belatedly is the medical bay. She briskly walks, footsteps actually able to be heard, to Leiji's bedside and reaches out to pinch their cheeks. There is whispering in the back of their mind, of how Light is apparently rather furious at the moment and Leiji responds by blinking innocently up at her.

Light doesn't seem at all amused. "How did you not know how to spread momentum? Even if you couldn't see what was happening, I don't believe you're as much of an idiot as everyone outside."

Leiji very well couldn't say that they suddenly panicked to someone like Light. They ask instead, "Who else is here?"

"Just Ling Hongyun and I," Light answers, "In the sect's grounds at least. Ling Fengbao that weird guy is finding a place for your mother and Tian Lanbing to stay. Bai Shaoxue and Bai Qiafei agreed on watching the residence for a while. You should talk to Lanbing by the way, she isn't an idiot."

"I was planning on spending more tome with her anyways," Leiji sighs, "but what am I supposed to talk about with her? Pulling a prank on Hongyun?"

"Hos about the fact that you destroyed her family?" Light raises a brow, speaking drily.

Leiji...doesn't exactly understand what she's getting at. Sure, theyr destroyed the Tian, but it's not like they were good people. Lanbing would understand that right? Leiji themselves isn't a very good person either though...

It, their thought process that is, is rather self-righteous. Humans the deviate too much from their moral compass and/or have hurt the people that Leiji thinks of as either family or friend shall be eliminated. Such a simple thing, but the Tian had crossed both things and therefore were destroyed.

They didn't even kill anyone, just poisoned Tian...something? Their biological donor and their biological donor's biological donor. Leiji doesn't remember their names. The test of them ran away and Tian Lanbing was the only one who stayed.

...speaking of, who is Lanbing's mother anyways? Didn't all the other inderage ones go with their mother?

Did she accidentally die?

"I can hear you thingking from here," Light speaks, slipping into the common language of her and Lightning's world. "If you want to know, then I'm pretty sure that someone who is mentally as young as sbe is wouldn't understand even if she wanted to. Think about it, Leiji. All Lanbing knows is that she used to have a loving family and suddenly they're gone, also knowing that it's very likely that we did it."

"That's..." rather odd. "I'll talk to her after the matters here are concluded. Is there anything else?"

The door opens again and Jiao Zihua practically jumps at them and starts babbling. Light smiles at him, looking amused now. She isn't as angry as she was earlier, which is good because the world isn't quite ready to face an angry Light.

"-and Zhang Binghua is reporting to Hall Master Ling, also who are you?" Jiao Zihua tums to look at Light, Light Smiles again, brighter this time and tells him, "I'm Leiji's sister, you may call me Light."

"...sorry, come again?" Jiao Zihua seems confused. "Lai-de?"

She sighs. "Close enough."

Leiji laughs at the exasperated look on Light's face. She simply didn't want to be called Light but in this world's language and chose her world's common language. A language that nearly no one knew in this world. Joao Zihua smiles apologetically before turning back to Leiji, "Zhang Binghua says that she's sorry for letting you get injured."

"I'm not her responsibility," Leiji responds. Wherher they got hurt or not, it was entirely dependent on their ability. Being coddled isn't a particularly nice thing, even though it feels nice.

He just smiles.

And then the door is slammed open, Zhang Xuanhe on the other side and looking alternately excited and confused. Not always a good combination. He shouts, "The sect leader just woke up!"

Jiao Zihua yells back, "Father?!"

Zhang Xuanhe hollers back, "Yes!"

Which, by the way, ouch. There is a sudden pounding in the back of their head and it hurts, damnit! Stop shouting in the medical bay!!

It is quiet, after that thought and Leiji belatedly realizes that they had actually shouted it out loud. They sigh and reach up to the bandages on their head, whispering, "When can I take these things off?"

"That and the cast are allowed to come off the moment we know you can be trusted alome without running headfirst into danger." Light tells them. Which, fair. They had probably caused everyone a lot of worry and not blocking the bonds when hurt for sure did not help. Leiji has to remember next time.

Jiao Zihua had ran out of the room with Zhang Xuanhe and Leiji realizes that they lost a chance to ask about what happened.

...well, in any case, the sect leader was awake? Does that mean that Zhng Xuanhe gathered the hundred year moss and got the medical hall to make the antidote? The rumor of the man having spies is clearly a lie so what will he do?

"Hey, Light?" Leiji doesn't wait for an answer, "Did you know that there are people or things that can make illusions here?"

Because Light was the best illusionist in her world, despite illusions not being her forte.

"I didn't know this," Light shrugs carelessly, looking like she had been rhinking of something unpleasant, "but this world can rot in a ditch somewhere and I wouldn't care. I'll care when we start finding things that are related to sending us back to our world."

"Did something happen?" Leiji wonders aloud, knowing that Light wasn't the type of person who said such 'cruel' things...the most likely thing that happened was that she was reminded of how horrible humans in this world is by something or someone. That or she really wants to know what had happened to her family.

Light turns her uncharacteristically cold eyes at them, "I ask for our ruler's permission for annihilation."

Lightning pushes to the forefront of their mind and Leiji recites what she says, "Details."

Her spear glints ominously and Light speaks concisely, "This world's human race are ungrateful and know nof of basic courtesy, furthermore, I have my suspicions that some of our own are also out there and alone."

"The humans here know ungratefulness as their basic courtesy, holding them to our standards would be cruelly unfair...who else do you think is here? Leiji continues reciting, then adds a line of their own, confused amd curious, "What actually happened, Light?" 

"I met Fire" Light says and Lightning doesn't hesitate in saying, "This matter will be stalled until Leiji is finished with this sect." 

Fire? Searching through the dump that is the information, Lightning decided to upload into their mind, Leiji soon finds information about the man, Fire Emperor, main weapon sword and uses male pronouns, specializes in strength. Formerly officially ranked three and...

...oh

Light leaves the room without any answer. Leiji waits several moments before getting up and also leaving. No one seems to be around, they realize soon enough. Walking... doesn't seem to hurt as much as it should. The pain killer must still be working. They don't particularly feel anything looking at this sect. 

But Lu Leiji feels strongly about this place, Leiji could say that the man loves it and it probably wouldn't be far off from the truth. 

They have never seen him feel so strongly about anything before. 

Even towards his own death, Lu Leiji is largely apathetic. At most he would talk about the things he should or could have done to avoid dying. It bothered them a lot, because if Lu Leiji had never felt anything outside of resentment towards the things that happened in his life... wouldn't that be too sad?

Because Lu Leiji is 'what could have been'.

And something like a life filled with inky resentment scares Leiji.

'"Your unending optimism disgusts me," Negativity comments drily as a newly ascended Creation smiles at the scene that us the training area after Destruction and his newly found rival soulmate finishes using it. He laughs and simply picks up a broken rack and puts it in it's original place. 

The rack promptly falls apart.

Creation merely laughs as the ash is blown towards him. How and why there is ash in here, Negativity does'nt know, because neither Destruction nor his rival soulmate have Fire elements.

"Will you be alright with taking care of this all by yourself?" Negativity asks after a moment because this really isn't something they should just launch onto a new Creation. Even he would rather feel bad if Creation just does everything by himself. "You can ask Lightning for the contact details of the usual construction company..."

"No!" Creation's sudden outburst shocks Negativity, but he doesn't show it. He stammers, "I mean, I can do it myself! it's not that bad at all!"

"Look," Negativity says slowly, "I don't get your problem, if you want psychological counseling then go to Night or literally anyone other than me. I am not the person to go to at all. But you're new and Lightning will be frustrated if you accidentally use the wrong material for literally anything." 

"I..." Creation tears up and oh World no please don't cry.

Goddamnit Negativity did not sign up to take care of people like this. "I'll leave you alone if you want? Don't cry please?"

Instead, Creation starts laughing. "You... are really akward."

So? Negativity grumbles to himself, just a little angry for having been led on like that. But then he glances back at Creation who was frantically wiping the tears away and laughing all the while and thinks, he's holding in less negativity than earlier.

For everyone has a duty and right now, fulfilling it is all Negativity wants to do.'