Ash and Honey [BL]

"Shizun… Shizun…" 

Fu Ran's mind startled awake to the tiny presses of hands on his chest.

"Wan Yu, let him sleep." That voice—!

Fu Ran was still unsteady, remnants of a heavy sleep threatened to dampen his recognition, but the voice woke him up completely.

He sat up in a hurry, just like he had done in his dream. For a moment, he thought it was still ongoing, he felt the lingering after effects of a tightened chest. He believed the nightmare around him had merely shifted to a scene he'd never seen before, but that wasn't the case. 

The speed of how fast Fu Ran bolted upright made Wan Yu stumble backwards into the legs of a large man. "Shizun, no!" Wan Yu cried, "Don't get up yet!"

He wanted to give the boy a moment's respect, or some thanks for his previous aid and comforts, but the man behind him… that man held every shred of his attention.

He was much clearer now, not blurred by the remnants of Fu Ran's injury. His facial features had perfectly carved edges, and his eyes fell into a dangerous slit. Even from beneath his robes, a power emanated from his size. 

The Tyrant Emperor stood before him.

The man's familiar lips move in a slow and simple explanation, but he couldn't focus on a single word. Whether the lips pursed together, parted, or when he saw teeth, Fu Ran didn't register the motions as sentences. The heat in his veins fled; and he was as cold as ice. 

How had he awoke from one nightmare, into another?!

The Tyrant Emperor asked a question, clear by the cock of his head, but when Fu Ran didn't answer he crouched beside where he lay. "Are you all right?" The Tyrant Emperor smiled.

This isn't real. It can't be.

"Were you more injured than you looked? Do you hurt?"

Completely impossible.

"Perhaps… illness…?" The Tyrant Emperor pressed a warm hand to Fu Ran's forehead, and his nerves came alive.

Fu Ran's hand moved faster than his mouth and he slapped away the palm that had touched him. The room fell into silence. "Ah…" A small noise escaped his lips, and his eyes widened. "Ah…" Fu Ran couldn't form a single word.

Calm down, calm down, calm down, calm down. He had forgotten his place, forgotten his current situation, and even forgotten how to speak.

There wasn't much time to decide on a method of self preservation, so he didn't put much thought in at all. Fu Ran had learned to deal with this face after many, many nights of frightful tossing and turning. 

Fu Ran brought his sleeves together and covered the bottom half of his face. Along with this simple action of respect, he faked a smile.

"Y-you," Fu Ran clearly stuttered. No. That wouldn't do. 

Taking a deep breath, he tried again, "If you rescued me… Then I am ever thankful." That's better. Just like in my dreams. 

Tian Han smiled, his eyes curving into thin slits. "I'm so happy to see you well." He paused like he had to compose himself and continued, "...My name is Tian Han."

"It is my pleasure." Fu Ran smiled politely, but the curve of his lips soon disappeared.

The atmosphere was tense, and Wan Yu shifted to the side. "Gege," he said. "You're causing problems." He pressed up against Tian Han's legs and noticeably tried to make him move away. "Shizun doesn't even know what happened yet."

"What happened…?" Fu Ran asked.

That's right, the last thing he was doing… He was in the demon realm. It looked like he wasn't there any longer, as he had been moved into a room. The demon realm's haze of thick air and redness was gone, and replaced with pristine white stone.

This was An Xian Yun Peak.

He asked for clarity, "Are we back home?" 

Tian Han roughly placed a palm on Wan Yu's head and, to his dismay, messed up the boy's well tidied bangs. "We are still in the entrance hall. They turned some rooms into a small healing bay. The Peak Elder is working with the other doctors to see how many people can be saved."

Fu Ran's gaze lowered into his lap, and a sudden wave of guilt hit him. Worrying about my own state…? After what happened…

A white sheet lay over him, and his clothes had been changed into some more comfortable robes. His hands were no longer covered in blood, and his skin was clean. Even Shi Wei Ji lay nearby. 

He was safe, but the same could not be said for the rest of his acquaintances.

"How many…?" Fu Ran asked. "How many have been declared dead?"

Tian Han answered honestly, without missing a beat. He recited the names like he knew them personally: "Mei Zhinuan, Ji Quinghe, Huo Zhenhong, Gu Chengwei." 

It didn't matter if they said terrible things, or didn't like him at all, Fu Ran's face scrunched and he felt a deep ache in his chest. They were people who he knew since he was little. However, the next words stole the breath right from his lungs.

Tian Han straightened his back, and cooled his tone. "Along with 24 unaffiliated young children." 

"Twenty…" Fu Ran's jaw dropped. "...four?" Nearly the entire year's worth of applicants. He stiffened in the bed where he sat. 

How was this right? Children should not… go through this. Those that survived suffered horrors, and those that perished… unimaginable.

The heaven's are so cruel. Fu Ran gripped the sheet in his lap.

***

Fu Ran wasn't allowed a drop of privacy, although he was allowed some quiet. Tian Han sat on a chair in the corner of the room, his leg crossed over the other and a training sword propped in his lap. Even Wan Yu offered some space after being chastised by his 'gege'.

The door opened up, and his attention shifted.

"Oh hey, look who's not dead—" Before Shesui Lang could even speak Zhi Lao hammered an elbow into his rib.

"Cool it."

"Ah…" Shesui Lang rubbed his side. "Sorry, sorry, I know it's not the time." He paused for a minute and intensely looked over Fu Ran's condition. "Fu Ran… You got a minute?"

Fu Ran couldn't deny the relief he felt. They didn't look too injured, aside from the bandages beneath Zhi Lao's sleeve. "Yeah," he answered softly. With the aid of his sword, he pushed himself to stand. Surprisingly, he felt okay after being away from the demon realm. 

The slash on his stomach seemed to be taken care of by the time he woke up. So, he quickly followed his martial brothers into the entrance hall.

The entrance hall had a distinct feel of mourning. The floors on the far side away from the makeshift 'healing rooms' had been converted into a morgue. Fu Ran grimaced. 

An overwhelming sense of death assaulted his body.

The numbers added up just as Tian Han said: 24 children, and four adults. Each one was covered in a white cloth, some stained in seeping blood. A small boot stuck out against the sheet, barely peeking out from beneath. 

His steps stilled, and he couldn't turn away. Fu Ran shuttered when he felt the soft touch of a hand, Wan Yu didn't look at him nor did he leave his side, but he held onto him like he had done before the exam.

Like he was catching the end of a conversation, Fu Ran heard the complaints of a fellow Peak Master. 

"—And when are we allowed to leave? I am sure all of us must grow tired of idly waiting around with a bunch of dead bodies," Jie Baihu asked the question as if it were common sense, like everyone should have agreed with him. 

Shesui Lang's expression shifted from his usual collected self. He breathed a deep sigh, and asked, "Oh? Are you in a rush to return, Master Jie?" His words were biting. Through a fake smile, aggravation could be heard.

"What about the four of our fellow Peak Masters who can't just leave? Or perhaps the 24 children who won't make it home?" Shesui Lang scoffed as he passed the man, and said as a matter of fact, "You need to put that attitude away, Master Jie."

Jie Baihu must have felt guilty. But clearly not guilty enough to shut his mouth, or even chill his tone. He asked under his breath, "Then when will we be done?"

"It'll be done when we say so. You clearly don't understand the severity." Shesui Lang crossed his arms, and twisted on his heels to face Jie Baihu. "We were set up. Someone in our ranks, or someone who knows about the entrance exam, squealed our secret training location, and now people are dead."

Jie Baihu stiffened, and the room had fallen into a suffocating silence. No one dared to move.

Shesui Lang rarely let his mood slip, but he continued, "So tell me, Master Jie—doesn't that sound important?" Jie Baihu didn't answer, so he continued. "There is a high chance that…" 

This time Shesui Lang turned towards the rest of the cultivators present. Filling out the entrance hall was the entire cast of An Xian Yun Peak cultivators—both the living and the dead.

"...Someone in this very room has committed treason."