Song

Chapter 25: Emperor

Shu's mind is blank. As he runs towards his partner, he can feel no emotion. When Song's arm was severed, Shu was already killed on the inside.

"Song..."

He arrives at his partner's side and drops to his knees. Gently, he takes Song in his arms. He's no longer breathing. Shu watches him silently, as if any second now his partner will wake up and tell Shu that it was all a ruse, as if by some sheer miracle his severed arm will be attached again.

But nothing happens.

"Song..."

Slowly, the acceptance of Song's death seeps into his mind and slowly, a terrifying sense of immense grief grows within him, spreading like cancer.

Shu screams.

Tears drizzle onto Song's bloodied features, mixing with the crimson. By now, his screams are like sandpaper scraping against his throat, but he refuses to stop. He doesn't know what else to do. There is nothing else he can do.

"Why are you always... such an idiot..." Shu chokes through his tears. "Why can't you just be happy staying by my side?"

By now, the Apprentices and Purgers are slowly pouring out of their shelters. The boys solemnly watch Shu grieve, his crimes all but forgotten for now.

"Was I not enough for you? Am I really that worthless of a person?"

Kiin wrenches out the bone from his throat, and the wound is already starting to heal. The leader of the Black Blossom quietly watches.

"I didn't even need anything else. All I wanted was to live with you. It's all I ask for, and still..."

"This is the path your partner chose, but aren't you the same as well?" Kiin walks towards Shu. "You came back, even after Song's efforts of getting you out of the Palace. Like Song, you and your friends chose to die."

The engine of Shu's grief stalls, and in turn, something else churns within him. Now, Shu understands what Song has been getting at all this time. He, Lin and Mei didn't choose to die because they wanted to― it's because they had no other choice. Shu couldn't live without Song, and Lin and Mei couldn't live with abandoning their friends. But all of their fates are like this because Kiin was the one who raised them to be so.

The lack of free will, their fates dictated by a power they can't escape nor speak against― this is the life of a Purger.

"Your hatred... I understand it now, Song..." Shu whispers.

Something stirs within Shu's body, and he can feel it in his life essence. Hatred? No, it's something else. Now that Shu finally understands his partner's reason of existence, it's as if he's connected with him in spirit for the first time. All this while, he's loved Song, but he couldn't completely love him when there's some part of him he couldn't understand. True love can only happen when both spirits are in tune with each other.