Capturing My Demon King Costar

tw: suicide??

---

Yao Shen's head swims with the influx of new information going through it. He feels momentarily dizzy, on the verge of losing his footing, and then the scene around him solidifies and he sees a great willow tree, two stone tablets below its swaying branches.

"It's not right to bury him here," Tan Liansi says, looking mournfully at the two graves.

"They should remain together in death like they weren't able to in life," Xin Hulei says, his gaze shuttered and far away.

Tan Liansi frowns. "He was a demon, he should have been buried in-," she cuts herself off abruptly.

"In Modu?" Xin Hulei asks, without any malice.??

Neither of them has gotten used to the idea that Modu is gone. Watching from behind the willow tree, feeling like an outsider prying into something intimate, Yao Shen wonders if they ever will.

"Still," her lower lip trembles as if she's on the verge of tears. "This isn't...," she rubs the sleeve of her robes across her eyes. "This isn't right."

Xin Hulei says nothing. Yao Shen looks into his eyes, trying to make sense of what he's thinking.

"Go ahead, I'll be right behind you."

Tan Liansi grumbles something under her breath, but Xin Hulei shoots her a look, and eventually she lowers her head and leaves.

Xin Hulei waits for her to go, and then kneels beside Xie Huan's grave. He lifts the stone tablet and takes something from beneath it. Yao Shen approaches behind his shoulder so he can take a closer look at it and sees a brilliant red stone in his palm.

His eyes widen in recollection. He's seen this stone before, in Xin Hulei's lacquered box, where he also found the jade token the Crown Prince gave Xin Hulei.

Xin Hulei looks down at the stone. "I'll leave your body here with him, and find somewhere in the Underworld for your soul." He closes his fist around the stone. "One day, there will be somewhere for you."

Yao Shen watches as Xin Hulei follows Tan Liansi's path away from the willow tree and the two graves.??

While Yan Shuyi might have already reincarnated several times by now, but whatever remained of Xie Huan was buried under that stone tablet, and kept in a lacquered box in Xin Hulei's closet.

---

In another blink of the eyes, Yao Shen finds himself back in the Meng Po's house. She'ss drying some dishes, while Xin Hulei and Tan Liansi stand on the doorway.

"We're going old woman," Xin Hulei says. "Thank you for your help. We don't know when we'll ever see each other again."

"Yeah," Tan Liansi says, clearing her throat awkwardly, "Thanks."

Meng Po nods. "I wish you both well," she sighs, "if there's something I can say with some propriety is that time heals all wounds, and what it doesn't heal it at least scabs."

Xin Hulei nods. "Like I said, for now, there's nothing here for us, but who knows..."

Meng Po nods again. "The future to the gods belongs."

Xin Hulei's lips tighten into a grim line. He doesn't have much use for gods, if anything, he blames them for his rotten luck, for the injustices they have allowed to happen without doing anything.

Yao Shen can see it all written in his dark gaze, for once, as candid as a mirror.

Tan Liansi gives voice to his thoughts with a derisive snort. "I don't think the gods have much sympathy for us demons."

"We are the reminder that there is life even outside the shadow of their influence."

Meng Po throws her arms in the air. "That's too much for an old woman like me. I keep memories of the dead so they can go on to their new lives unburdened, it's not my place to judge them, or demons, or gods." She smiles, kindly. "It's better to let go of your burdens, young man, they'll only slow you down."

Xin Hulei is adamant when he shakes his head. "No, they give me purpose."

"If you say so, young man."

She nods towards them one last time, and they leave their house.??

Yao Shen expects the memory to dissolve around him, but instead it goes on, as Tan Liansi and Xin Hulei walk the streets of Youdu.

He doesn't know what they're doing, if they're just walking around aimlessly, until finally leaving, or if they have a set destination in mind, but they come to a large square not far from the administrative building, where a large crowd is gathered and come to a stop.

"What's going on?" Tan Liansi asks, trying to look over the crowd.??

There's a wooden stage mounted in front of a few buildings. Someone is kneeling there, with a black cloth sack over his head, while Er Wang addresses the crowd.

"Good people of Youdu, today we bring you something you don't see everyday in the Underworld!" She turns theatrically to point at the man with the black sack over his head. "An execution!"

The crowd starts cheering excitedly, someone next to Yao Shen says:

"An execution? I haven't seen one of those since my own!"

The man next to him guffaws, holding on to his stomach to keep all his guts inside. "You weren't in any condition to enjoy the show then, were you? Enjoy this one."

Yao Shen feels his blood turn cold, he has an inkling he knows who might be up on the chopping block.

No all ghosts rejoice at the chance of seeing bloodshed. Several groan in dismay and turn to leave, not at all interested in such a grisly spectacle.

Er Wang tries to convince everyone of the righteousness of what's going on, "Fear not, good people, this is a ruthless traitor, who was given the privilege to join our rank as ghost king and watch over you all, and yet would betray you for those vile demons!"

A woman behind Tan Liansi turns to her friend. "What did the demons want to do to us, anyway?"

"I heard they wanted to eat our souls, prevent us from reincarnating," she points at a few of the ghost kings standing behind the stage, keeping guard. "I asked Jiu Wang myself, and he confirmed it."

The first woman sighs. "Jiu Wang is so handsome..."

While several ghosts leave the square, there are many who stay behind to watch what's going to happen.

Happy with the number of onlookers, Er Wang finally pulls off the sack covering the man's head.

Yao Shen isn't surprised to see the Crown Prince, but he is surprised to see the amount of of torture he has been put through.

One of his eyes is almost swollen shut, and his lips are split and bloodied, making his mouth resemble the insides of rotten fruit. His nose is broken in at least two places.

Yao Shen looks away with a flinch. So that's what he would look like if someone was determined to make him no longer resemble himself.

Xin Hulei recognises him too. Despite himself, he takes a step towards the stage.

Er Wang pulls he Crown Prince's head up by his mangled hair, which looks like it was hacked away with a sword.??

"This is the face of a traitor," she says, smiling at the crowd. "Not a pretty sight, but..."

From the crowd, some scattered laughter.

Xin Hulei is looking up at the stage in shock, a thin line of tears streams down his cheek.

For the first time, Tan Liansi notices his distress. "What is going on? Who is he?"

Xin Hulei doesn't answer, his pained gaze focused on the cruel pantomime happening on stage.

Er Wang nods towards someone behind the stage and Si Wang goes up the stairs, his expression calm and composed, a shining sword hilt catches the wan twilight glow from the scabbard at his waist.

"Si Wang will have the honours, since he was the one who apprehended the traitor," Er Wang says, stepping away from the stage.

Without a word, Si Wang changes places with her, holding up the Crown Prince's head with one hand, while positioning the blade below his neck.

The knowledge that he means to kill his brother in the same way one does to a pig makes Yao Shen sick to his stomach.

Xin Hulei too can't stand it any more.

"Stop," he growls, cutting through the crowd and jumping up on the stage in a sleek display of the martial arts he learned at Frozen Peak.

Yao Shen rushes after him, climbing up on stage unnoticed by everyone.

He arrives there just in time to hear the Crown Prince's ragged warning, "get out, leave here," his voice is so broken that the words are barely audible.

Si Wang doesn't look surprised to see him, as if he has always known it would come to this. "You can switch places with him if you want."

Something flashes in Xin Hulei's eyes. For a moment, Yao Shen thinks he might say yes, just because he can't stand it anymore.

The Crown Prince must see the same thing in his eyes, because he whispers, "You only have one life," with great effort he tries to smile through the damage on his mouth, "but maybe we'll meet again in my next one."

And then he slashes his own neck open on the sword Si Wang is still holding beneath it.