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[bringingdowndisaster]

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[bringingdowndisaster]

"Huh..." Xue Yang looks away for a moment. "I don't remember my parents." For as long as he can recall, he's been on his own. "Sometimes, I think I can... remember a voice, but... I dunno."

[gentledawn]

"I don't remember mine either." Xingchen squeezes Xue Yang's shoulder, "Can you remember what the voice said?"

It's...something. A memory. Sometimes Xingchen wonders if his Master was right (teasing him gently as a child) and he just appeared one day on her mountain.

[bringingdowndisaster]

Xue Yang shakes his head. "No. I just know it's a man's voice." He glances back at Xiao Xingchen, a little curiously. "You didn't have parents either?"

[gentledawn]

"Your father, then." Xingchen smiles encouragingly, "Does your voice sound like his maybe?"

That would be a nice connection. At the question, he nods.

"Master likely found me when I was a baby."

[bringingdowndisaster]

"Mm... maybe." Xue Yang wishes he could remember more clearly. At the same time, he's also definitely worried that if he does remember, it's going to turn out that he was unloved and not cared for by his parents either.

"...Lucky," he murmurs, a hint of bitterness creeping into his voice. There's so much he could've avoided having to suffer through if he'd had that same luck.

[gentledawn]

"I'm glad you have some memory." Xingchen won't push; he wants the voice to remain good for Xue Yang. He shouldn't suffer for the failure or tragedy of his parents. There has to be some reason they aren't in his life.

"I am." he agrees, pulling the other boy against his side, "I'm sorry you've suffered, Xue Yang. It won't continue."

[bringingdowndisaster]

Xue Yang's face scrunches up a little as he tries to remember. "I think... I think he was teaching me how to write my name. I can hear him say my name. That's how I always knew it." He sighs a little and shrugs. "But that's all."

He tenses a little when he pulls close and gives Xiao Xingchen a slightly wary look, but he allows the closeness. "...We'll see, I guess."

[gentledawn]

Xue Yang is so precious! The other boy can't know how much Xingchen has come to care about him. He can see Xue Yang doesn't trust much of anything except what he can see and feel himself. That's fair.

"Names are given with love." he feels the tension and loosens his hold, "You will see. I will be beside you."

[bringingdowndisaster]

"Do you know if there's any way to... remember things like that?" he asks, peering curiously at the older boy. He doesn't know if remembering would make him feel better or worse, but it might at least give him some closure.

[gentledawn]

"I can ask Master. Meditation might help free those memories. There are certain herbs that can open the mind." Xingchen answers thoughtfully, "I will sit with you if you wish to try?"

[bringingdowndisaster]

Xue Yang worries his bottom lip with his teeth for a moment before nodding. "Okay... but I've never meditated before." He doesn't know if he can even manage to sit still for that long!

[gentledawn]

"The incense will help you be calm." Xingchen reassures, rising to make preparations, "All you have to do is sit and think back to the time you want to remember."

[bringingdowndisaster]

"Okay..." Xue Yang decides to put some faith into Xiao Xingchen, even if it is a daunting task. He just hopes it'll be worth it. He sits back on the bed and waits for Xiao Xingchen to finish the preparations.

[gentledawn]

He measures out the appropriate herbs - after checking one of his scrolls - and then invites Xue Yang to sit on a cushion beside the incense burner. To make the other boy feel less alone, he joins him and smiles calmly.

"Breathe deep."

[bringingdowndisaster]

Xue Yang fidgets a little, but he sits down and tries to resist bouncing his leg. He feels strangely... jittery. If he'd been more in touch with his emotions he might've recognized it as nerves.

The incense and Xiao Xingchen's presence do help though. He takes a deep breath when prompted and feels himself relaxing a little.

[gentledawn]

Nervousness is normal - and expected in this case! Xue Yang might remember things that are painful or frightening. But Xingchen is determined to stay beside him until they know for sure.

With the incense burning, he helps the other boy through the steps that will take him into a trance-like state.

"Relax and think back...to your first memory..."

[bringingdowndisaster]

It takes some effort, but Xue Yang is eventually able to relax enough to sink into the trance of the meditation.

He follows Xiao Xingchen's guiding voice, lets himself be soothed by it, and calls up buried memories from his childhood.

He can't be more than three or four years old. A man with a blurry face seats him at a table. There is a calligraphy brush, a small inkwell and a sheet of paper on it.

The man has a kind voice when he speaks, "Can you write your name, A-Yang? Xue Yang. Just like I taught you. Do you remember?"

The small boy nods. "I remember, papa!" With much concentration, he starts to clumsily write the characters on the paper. They're crooked and ugly, but the man - his father - sounds pleased. "Well done, A-Yang. We will have to work on your penmanship, but--"

While he can't see the man's face clearly, he can tell that he is concerned by a loud knock on a door somewhere. "A-Yang, do you remember where you hid last time when we played? Go and hide there now. Don't make a sound, and don't come out until I tell you too, okay?"

The young Xue Yang tries to protest, but the knocks get louder and angrier, and his father ushers him away in a hurry.

The house is small with not a lot of hiding places, but Xue Yang knows where to go. There is a loose floorboard in the room they're in, in a corner, and he slips down there. He can't see much, but he hears loud, angry voices. His papa is trying to pacify the men, but they just get louder. Angrier.

The Xue Yang of the past is too young to understand, but the older Xue Yang who is living through this through the eyes and mind of his younger self, he understands. His father has borrowed money from these men, money he hasn't been able to pay back.

Suddenly, Xue Yang knows what is about to happen. There is violence coming.

Xue Yang gasps, tears streaming down his face as he snaps out of the trance and scrambles backwards, knocking the incense burner over. "No, no, no!" he cries.

[gentledawn]

He is ready - or he tries to be - but he hates that his new friend has seen something awful. He had been praying it would be nice. Xingchen is quick to follow the poor boy, seeing to the incense burner before it catches anything on fire.

"Xue Yang... Shhh, you're with me." he frowns, pale and worried, "What did you see? Was it your parents?"

Had something happened to them? A cold knot surfaces in his chest. He knows the truth without Xue Yang saying a word. Why would loving parents ever leave a boy to suffer like his friend had?

[bringingdowndisaster]

It had been nice, until it wasn't. Xue Yang trembles and wraps his arms around himself. Something he would always do when he was little and upset - now he knows why he'd been so upset.

"My... my father," he finally manages. Although he is no longer in a trance, more memories are coming to him. Angry tears keep welling in his eyes. "They... they k-killed him!"

[gentledawn]

"A-Yang, do you remember who did it?" Xingchen sits at Xue Yang's side and carefully strokes over his friend's hair, "Names... Faces... I can let Master know. She believes in justice." and what men could stand against her in a fight?

"I'm so sorry." he adds quietly, "He must have loved you very much to keep you from being hurt too."

[bringingdowndisaster]

"N-No. I didn't see them. I just... heard them. They were moneylenders." He wipes his face with his sleeve, but he's still trembling a little. "My father... he couldn't, couldn't pay them back, so..."

[gentledawn]

Xingchen pulls him into his arms and closes his eyes sadly. Xue Yang doesn't need to say.

"He made a mistake, trusting murderers. But his son is safe. I'm certain his soul is at peace." particularly now that Xue Yang isn't on the streets anymore, "Stay here, A-Yang. Train. Then you and I can set out and make sure men like that are held accountable."

[bringingdowndisaster]

Xue Yang nods, and carefully leans into Xiao Xingchen's arms. He can train and become strong. Maybe he won't be able to ever track down his father's killers, but there are others...

"I remember... my father said that he wanted me to have a better chance than he'd had. That's why he wanted me to learn to read and write. I didn't really get it, back then, but..." He does now. His father had probably used some of that borrowed money to buy that calligraphy brush. Just to teach him.

[gentledawn]

Xingchen rests their heads together, listening to those precious memories. He chuckles softly, a little tearfully, at the comment about not getting it back then.

"A-Yang, you were only a child. You expect so much of yourself and...that's how you've survived." he wipes at his eyes with his sleeve, "I'll help you with anything you want to learn. Your father is likely already proud of you, but why shouldn't you be strong and capable?"

[bringingdowndisaster]

Xue Yang sniffles and shudders. "How could he be proud of me? I'm just a... a... fucking delinquent whore. That's nothing to be proud of." He spits the words, angrily. "Who could... ever want that?" His voice sounds smaller now.