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As soon as the General Jing Yuan entered the room already filled with people, the brouhaha turned into a respectful silence. He smiled to every of those who laid their eyes on him with that mix of deference and grace. Jing Yuan may be a man close of his people, he would always be busy or behind the Arbiter-General’s doors, no one had ever gotten the chance to see him so close. They were more used to his sempiternal hologram, at best, so see him of flesh and blood. Here?
“My Lord,” a young voice dared. A woman got up, her hand on her round belly. “My appointment is the next one.” He smiled to her. “But you can take my place!”
“Oh no, please, no!” Jing Yuan answered. He laughed gently. “I appreciate the thought but I will take my turn. I can wait.”
“My Lord, it really wouldn’t annoy me.”
“And what if it would annoy me?” he answered in a teasing tone.
She gasped, pressing her hand over her mouth.
Jing Yuan, still smiling, invited her to sit back with a gesture of his hand before sitting at his turn. The one lady that was next to him looked at him with even more adoration. A bit of pride, as well. She was sitting next to the General. How beautiful he was! And his hair were so fluffy! She had to hold back the need to dug her fingers in that forest.
All the looks were trailing on Jing Yuan or, at the invert, looking away with so much strength it appeared a few necks would be snapped under the effort. Jing Yuan had centuries to get used to the such attitude coming from the people of Luofu. As the years stretched, he grew more and more used to it so he grasped a magazine let at this effect and started to look through the pages.
Women, men and people of all gender passed before him.
He should be with his peers, especially since Blade dared to walk back in the giant ship but he liked that he could take a bit more of time for himself. And it wasn’t as if he hadn’t warned the other Generals for this visit. He could also rest his eyes a little. Sleeping had been difficult those last nights and the sudden arrival of the Stellaron Hunter plus the one thing they chased after wasn’t to help.
“My Lord General?”
Jing Yuan hid his yawn with his palm as he put down the magazine he had stopped pretending to read. He got up and then offered a smile to the doctor who let him come in.
The door closed soon enough behind Jing Yuan.
“Do you want to take place immediately for the consultation or do you want to talk some matter?”
“The consul…” Jing Yuan started.
He was interrupted by the sound of his phone.
That ring.
“My apologies,” Jing Yuan started once again.
“Please, my Lord, you can do what you want.”
“I wouldn’t want to jostle your schedule, or the one of those who are waiting.”
The doctor only smiled.
Jing Yuan pressed the key of his phone. It wasn’t useful to fight back on this matter and perhaps should he use his name at his advantage, indeed.
“Yes?” Jing Yuan said at the phone.
“My General!” Ah, so he was more than probably in public. “I have been pressed about contacting you. Strangers had landed in our spaceship. We overheard they wanted to help us but this is not of the taste of the Helm Master of the Sky-faring commission. I’m not sure what is exactly the matter but our men urged to contact you. They seem to have clues about the Stellaron.”
“Thank you so much for contacting me, Yanqing, I will take care of the matter as soon as possible.”
Yanqing cleared his throat.
Jing Yuan smiled lightly. He knew him enough to know what this meant. He wanted to say something but didn’t dare to talk against the will of the General. And his father.
“What do you wish to say?”
“They are currently in audience with Lady Yukong.”
“I see. Please, while I’m working on this matter, would you scout the streets? I want our population to know they are safe and sound.”
“I will, my General!”
“Thank you, Yanqing. I’m very proud of you.”
The boy gasped and Jing Yuan could imagine his eyes shining with joy. He could only smile at the vision and regretted not having used his hologram. His son was so cautious about being a soldier the General could be proud of, he sometimes forgot about his juvenile side, about the slightest happiness.
Only the tonality for company, Jing Yuan put away his phone and grasped the hologram device.
“I have this urgent matter. I can leave my place to someone else if it’s better,” Jing Yuan said.
“They can wait. I want to be sure everything is alright. Especially, you seem quite busy… when will you have the time to take another appointment?”
Jing Yuan had to give this to him. He should have taken this one weeks ago, months ago, and there was always something to push it back.
“I will be brief,” Jing Yuan promised. “Please, do not disclose anything that will be say outside.”
“I wouldn’t dare, my Lord.”
Jing Yuan used the device so his hologram could cross the ship and land right through the Sky-Faring Commission’s headquarters. Ah, Yukong was already tugging the ear of those travellers. An old man with short brown hair, a young girl with messy pink hair and an intriguing being beyond every gender.
“You are forbidden from leaving the Sky-Faring Commission until aforementioned questions have been investigated!”
“Don’t be too harsh, Yukong,” the General said. What a fine arrival, he thought. It almost appeared like he planned this all along. “If this gets out, the whole galaxy will think the Alliance has forgotten how to treat our guests.” Jing Yuan knew about those people. He knew about everyone that could be a treat to the Alliance. “It’s very unlikely that those people coming from the Express would work with the Stellaron Hunters. Aren’t they mortal enemy?” He laughed. “My deepest apologies for interrupting your meeting. Let me introduce myself.”
As he spoke his grade, he had to hold back to touch his belly. Ah, this wasn’t time for such pain.
“General, this is an internal affair for the Luofu,” Yukong spoke.
“And I fully agree with you, Helm Master.” He folded his arms, pressed the elbows against his belly. “I am sorry, dear guests, but I’m afraid I cannot accept your kind help, as for the reason mentioned by the Helm Master. However… I do have a favour to ask.”
Yukong turned the head towards him and even the doctor gasped.
“May I ask what is this favour?” the brown man asked.
Jing Yuan smiled still and started to explain the situation with Blade and Kafka. He explained how he wished for them to find the later. It was of their habitude in any case, right? And if he could avoid to deal with this himself? He had… other matters to tend for. As for Blade himself… he still didn’t know how he should react if he came to meet this old friend once again. The pain may be too big to handle the matter himself.
As soon as the Astral guests accepted the proposition, Jing Yuan notified Yukong and, finally, finally he could breathe again.
Metaphorically.
Setting down the device, Jing Yuan indeed the heavy belt that protected his stomach.
Ah… Flattened his stomach, it appeared.
Now, Jing Yuan could actually breath. He rubbed his hand over the belly which took back its normal shape, quite round.
“You should have sat down, my Lord,” the doctor dared.
“I am not sure it would have been a good way to meet guests.”
“Sometimes, the circumstance matter less than your health.”
“It’s alright,” Jing Yuan said. “The little one was a bit too tight there but with the current condition I prefer to be always ready to fight. And protect her.”
The doctor allowed himself a smile. “How many months?”
“ We are reaching the year,” Jing Yuan answered.
For a short-specie creature, this would have been such a long pregnancy, but for someone like Jing Yuan, it was actually barely the half of it. They were growing slower but filled themselves with energy that would provide them the long life-span everybody had in Luofu.
“She must starts to move a lot.”
“A lot, indeed. She prevent me to sleep most of the night. I’d love some medicine to help as long as she isn’t put in danger.”
The doctor smiled. “Of course. This is a common question. Would you take place? I’d like to see how she feels. Being tightened by your armour must be uncomfortable.”
“I try to put it as little as possible,” Jing Yuan said. He sat on the auscultation table. “But I worry too. She is always moving so much once I remove it.”
“She is probably being so happy to move again,” the doctor reassured.
“I hope…”
🦁🦁🦁
“Dan Heng!! NOW!” Jing Yuan roared.
The battle had been so long, and the more Jing Yuan stood to fight the abomination created from the Destruction and Abundance, the more he felt out of breath. Not only this. The energy to fight, to summon his power was also so much. Finding back old friends and have to face again this lost friendship had been disastrous too. Without counting that Yanqing put himself in danger.
Because of him?
He almost lost his son. He probably owed the life of his precious son thanks to Kafka.
And now…
Now, he was ready to put his life on the balance for the sake of the Ship. It was his duty. But it was horrible to think that after fearing to lose his son, he was now fearing to meet death and so condemn his little girl.
Now, Jing Yuan was feeling Phantylia’s mind slither in his, so many tiny hands, tentacles, trying to take away every ounce of happiness he ever had. When a very tiny Yanqing was put on his threshold after the death of his Master–ah yes, he was carrying his little girl, but he adopted Yanqing. It was the same for him–when he first met Dan Heng and Blade, when he learned he was pregnant from that adventure with a blessed soldier.
But she had to perish.
For the sake of the Alliance.
For the sake of the Ship.
For the sake of his memories.
For the sake of Yanqing.
For the sake of the baby in his belly.
So he asked Dan Heng’s help. The Dragon summoned his ancestral power and threw his weapon through the connection.
Through Jing Yuan.
Jing Yuan felt the pain in his back. It was aimed to not touch any of his vitals, Jing Yuan could have recognized this expertise.
But when he felt the pain cross his belly, blood came out from his coughing lips and his belly in a macabre geyser…
The power of Phantylia broke and the gravity took back its right. Jing Yuan closed his eyes. He didn’t feel his girl move. Maybe she was just too terrified for this. But if she wasn’t alive, he wished to crash on the ground.
But arms caught him, forcing him to face his life.
He felt dizzy.
The world was suddenly blurry around him.
“Well done, General of the Hunt…” Oh… so he really was alive. His thorax was his pain. His heart was wheeping. “All I lost was a body stole on a whim… and you?”
The sensual voice appeared so sadistic.
He knew so much of her thanks to that connection. She knew so much of him. Perhaps did she grasp the fear of losing that little girl he waited for he wished to take care of a baby again and ease his heart from the pain in the laugh of a baby. He hadn’t wanted her, but when he started to feel nauseous after a night that meant nothing, he hoped. Hoped for her.
He also could see the joy of Yanqing when he announced his pregnancy. How the boy made more and more chores and kept telling him to rest. So the powerful General became a little thing that was about to break?
So the powerful General became a little thing that was about to break…
His fingers squeezed over his belly, barely trying to contain the waves of blood. He tried to make her react. Please, polearm, made that you missed the baby. Dan Heng had power enough to know about this. He avoided the baby. He certainly did.
“The destruction of the Xianzhou… is nigh.”
Jing Yuan tried to get up, leaving a print of his hand on the floor.
In their kindness, those Astral guests wanted to help him but he couldn’t stomach it. He could see his own weakness, of course, but he felt like accepting it, today, would equal to accept what Phantylia took from him.
Perhaps.
He hung on that word.
Perhaps.
Perhaps she took it from him.
Perhaps the little girl was dead.
He was just worried like any parent would.
She was doing alright.
“Begone pawn of destruction!” Jing Yuan spat. “Tell the Legion that the vengeance of the Hunt will fall over them!”
In a sweep of his hand, he threw away the last flame of Phantylia. His hand turning to the sky fell over his side, and all he could hear was the sound of scream.
“He is losing so much blood!” the pink girl said, Lady March.
“Jing Yuan!”
Dan Heng…
Jing Yuan breathed out as March and the Trailblazer removed the armour to see the spread of the damage.
“No!”
Welt’s scream was swallowed by the hiccup of horror March let out when blood flew even more from the wound. With how tight the belt were, the blood was slightly cut from the wound, but now? Now, it was freely streaming from the belly.
Unless the hiccup of horror was for the shape his belly took?
Round.
“He is…” Dan Heng said.
His tone was so livid.
So, Dan Heng couldn’t guess there was a little baby in his belly when he aimed for it.
So, Dan Heng couldn’t dodge the baby.
So his little girl…
Jing Yuan stopped to try to fight to stay conscious. The fight was over. He won. He protected his nation.
But what did he fail to protect…?
🦁🦁🦁
Oh…
There was more people than the doctor would have expected. He could recognize the young boy with long blond hair that was squeezing flowers so much they would soon be nothing but sap and petals, and that one long-haired Vidyadhara was quite familiar to him but… why?
“Are you all here to see the General?” the doctor asked.
“Yes!” a pink haired girl said. It wasn’t the Diviner Fu, though. “You saved him, right?!”
The doctor smiled and nodded.
The young boy, the Lieutenant Yanqing, let out a relieved sight, the hand over his heart.
“And…” He seemed to hesitate.
“And the baby?” the pink girl asked.
“I cannot talk about this but with the General,” the doctor answered.
“This means…?” the Vidyadhara asked.
The doctor preferred not to answer, walking towards the door they were all waiting to enter in. He pushed it open and closed it behind him so fast it appeared like he was trying to stop a Mara-struck invasion.
Laid in his bed, the General looked at the ceiling, his fingers stroking his belly.
“My Lord General…”
“Please, do not say a word if you failed to save her,” Jing Yuan said.
The doctor gulped.
One tear rolled down the fair face. Then a second. And before the doctor realized he should look away, he saw his General turn on the side, hiding his tears, holding his belly.
“I feel so empty,” he whispered. “I feel like something is missing. Have you taken her away from me?!”
“She was already dead when you arrived. We had to remove her to correctly preserve you. You were crossed from side to side!”
“You should have let me die…”
“My Lord General… you will need time.”
“Where is she?”
“In a tiny coffin,” the doctor said. “Waiting for you to bury her.”
“You did right,” Jing Yuan said under his breath.
The doctor bowed in two.
He knew he shouldn’t look but he yet stared the back that was shaken by sobs. Here was the General that was always smiling, always appearing strong, as if nothing could touch him. And yet, there was no smile, there was no strength left…
Only remained an empty cocoon.
“My Lord General, your son and the travellers from afar came to see you. Should I send them away?”
“No… Please,” Jing Yuan said in between his tears, “let them in.”
The doctor bowed once again. He walked to the door and opened it.
“Lieutenant, Travellers, you are invited inside.”
March grabbed Dan Heng’s arm and tugged him at the following of Yanqing which had a worry look over his face. Yet, he was welcomed by a soft and wide smile, a tender expression behind the snow-like strands.
“Yanqing, you brought me flowers? It looks like you’d think I would die.”
“Father!” He blushed. “I mean…”
“It’s alright. I think we can all accept some weakness in such situation, don’t you believe?” Jing Yuan asked with a tender smile.
Yanqing nodded and scurried inside. He climbed on the bed without asking and even dared to pass his arms around the strong shoulders.
“I was so worried,” Yanqing whispered.
“It’s alright. I’m alive,” Jing Yuan said, caressing his back.
It was his duty to comfort Yanqing, his son. His only son. Everything he would ever had. If he couldn’t have protected his daughter, he would not fail for him.
If alive he was, as he said, there was only a part of it that was. His smile and even the light in his eyes appeared fake. Deep inside, he was dead…