[ The silence, this time, stretches on for longer. But Hua Cheng moves to make sure that the scroll is on display visibly with the shrine, so that people will see the faces of those they've lost.
And, as he does, the turbulent emotions settle into something softly reverent. Warm. An embrace itself. ]
I had once asked Taizi Dianxia a question, not long after he had first ascended, begging that he would answer this one question. Every day was suffering. Every day was agony, even before the war had truly crested. "For what should I live for in this world? What does it mean to live?"
[ Gaze lifting up, like he's looking to the Heavens even in this place, he rises from his knees - so as not to prostrate, and instead to stand on his own two feet, with this memory. ]
"If you don't know how to live on anymore, then live for me. I have no answer to the question you asked. However, if you don't know the meaning of your life, then make me that meaning, and use me as your reason to live."
[It's a little aweing, to see Hua Cheng speak like this, and not with the cold ruthlessness he used so often in trials. It's like a little window, secret and vulnerable, into the heart of a man that has simply wanted to live, and let someone else live alongside him.]
I... hope, wherever Dianxia-sama is, that he knows how devoted you are to him.
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[Her lips thin.]
Is... there prayers you say to him, Hua-chan? To let him know you still know him as... as a whole??
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[ A contemplative moment. ]
Never prostrating, because he didn't think that the gods should be worshipped like that. But always with a fresh white flower, every day that I could.
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To not bow before a god...
[#relatable]
... I know you said he became a god, but...
What... happens to gods, if their people despise them?
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[ His voice is solemn, but there's something almost vicious within his emotions. ]
Their power comes from their followers. With no one to worship them, they're not only loathed, forgotten - they're erased.
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...You've... been trying to keep Dianxia-sama alive for 800 years, Hua-chan? All by yourself?
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And, as he does, the turbulent emotions settle into something softly reverent. Warm. An embrace itself. ]
I had once asked Taizi Dianxia a question, not long after he had first ascended, begging that he would answer this one question. Every day was suffering. Every day was agony, even before the war had truly crested. "For what should I live for in this world? What does it mean to live?"
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[Quietly, letting her eyes settle on the scroll with a pained flicker.]
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"If you don't know how to live on anymore, then live for me. I have no answer to the question you asked. However, if you don't know the meaning of your life, then make me that meaning, and use me as your reason to live."
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[It's a little aweing, to see Hua Cheng speak like this, and not with the cold ruthlessness he used so often in trials. It's like a little window, secret and vulnerable, into the heart of a man that has simply wanted to live, and let someone else live alongside him.]
I... hope, wherever Dianxia-sama is, that he knows how devoted you are to him.
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[ A little boy, beaten, dirty, born under a star of solitude. A nameless boy, too young for war, but there regardless. Why would Dianxia remember him?
Nothing like melancholy tinges that devotion. Just a quiet understanding. ]
And that is enough, for me.
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Hua-chan...
...
If I come to find you, to make sure you remember Dianxia-sama, no matter what happens...
Would you allow me? To help remember your cherished prince, even if it's just for a little while?
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If you will protect it, and help me to cherish it, then I would entrust my memory of him to you, Hikaru.
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...Thank you, Hua-chan.
I'll do my best with your trust in me.
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Mm, I'm sure you will.