Lue no longer knew what was right and what was wrong.
Or perhaps-
he had simply forgotten how to care.
The line that once separated the two had long since dissolved, washed away in something darker, something far more consuming than reason or morality. Thought itself had become distant, unnecessary… a burden he no longer carried.
All that remained-
was instinct.
Lue moved forward.
And everything in his path-
ceased to exist.
He did not cut them down.
Did not strike with force or fury.
He simply… erased them.
Like a hand tearing a page from a book.
No blood-curdling screams.
No lingering bodies.
Just absence.
As if they had never been there.
As if their lives had never been written at all.
He had lost count.
Of how many.
Of how long.
Of where it had started.
But the hunger-
It didn't fade.
It didn't slow.
It only grew.
More.
More.
More.
It clawed at him from within, tearing through the hollow space inside his chest, filling it with a need he could neither understand nor resist.
And at some point-
Lue reached his limit.
Not of killing.
Not of destruction.
But of pretending.
The fragile shell he had wrapped around himself-
the one that resembled something human-
began to crack.
And then-
he tore it away.
He stood in the middle of a river.
A river not of water-
but of blood.
It flowed beneath his feet, thick and endless, carrying with it the remnants of countless lives. The air was heavy with it, suffocating, clinging to his skin, his breath, his very existence.
Lue looked down.
At what remained of humanity.
Nothing.
Around him, silence spread, not because the battlefield had grown quiet, but because fear had swallowed every voice.
No one moved.
No one dared.
No one attacked.
But Lue..
He had always been the one to make the first move.
And when he did
they ran.
Panic shattered what little courage remained. Bodies collided, footsteps stumbled, voices broke into desperate cries as they fled from him, from the thing that stood where a person should have been.
Lue didn't chase.
Not immediately.
His vision blurred, the world around him dissolving into a sea of red and motion. Faces became shapes. Voices became noise.
Meaningless.
All of it.
And then..
Something… stopped.
In the chaos-
In the storm of fleeing bodies-
One figure remained still.
Lue's steps slowed.
Then shifted.
Drawn.
He walked toward that person.
Slowly.
As if something deeper than instinct had taken hold.
In his vision-
There was only blood.
Only red.
Only ruin.
And yet-
That figure didn't disappear into it.
Lue's steps faltered.
Just for a moment.
Then-
His eyes widened.
Something flickered-
Something that had not existed within him for a long, long time.
"Qian…?"
His voice broke.
The word felt unfamiliar in his mouth.
Fragile.
His pace quickened.
Then-
He ran.
Faster.
Desperate.
As if the distance between them mattered.
As if it could still be closed.
When he finally reached him-
He didn't stop to think.
Didn't hesitate.
He stepped forward-
And pulled Qian into his arms.
For the first time-
It was Lue who held on first.
"Qian… Qian…"
His voice softened, trembling at the edges, as if the weight he had been carrying had suddenly shifted, cracked open, spilling something raw and unguarded.
"I- "
The words caught.
Broke.
"Pia- Mom… Xiao…"
His grip tightened.
"They… they…"
His breath grew uneven, shallow, struggling to form something coherent.
"You know- Xiao… she let me hold her…"
His voice trembled harder now.
"Why…?"
His fingers curled into Qian's clothing, as if anchoring himself to something real.
"She didn't even move…"
A pause.
Broken.
"She was cold…"
Another breath.
Shattered.
"…in fire."
Silence.
Qian didn't pull away.
Didn't speak.
Instead-
He lifted his hands slowly.
And held Lue's face.
Carefully.
Gently.
As if handling something fragile.
His fingers brushed through Lue's hair, pushing aside the strands that clung messily to his face, his touch steady- too steady- compared to the chaos that surrounded them.
Lue stilled.
For a moment-
Everything did.
Qian stepped closer.
Closing what little distance remained between them.
And then...
He leaned in close...closer than usual.
In a voice that might fade any movement...
"Live a long life for me... a good one okay?..
..."
His eyes didn't left Lue's... His hands brushed over Lue's hair one last time...
"I'M SORRY LUE..."
And then-
He collapsed.
Just like that.
Lue froze.
His mind couldn't catch up.
Couldn't understand what had just happened.
"Qian…?"
No response.
His knees hit the ground.
Hard.
He caught him.
Held him.
His hands moved quickly, almost clumsily, brushing over Qian's face, his shoulders, as if searching for something- anything- that would prove this wasn't real.
But his skin-
Was cold.
Again.
"Hah…"
A sound escaped him.
Broken.
Unstable.
Then-
Laughter.
"Hahahahahah-"
It tore through the silence, sharp and uneven, cracking at every edge.
Tears fell.
Uncontrolled.
The way he never did.
Until now.
Too late.
His fingers tightened slightly.
As if refusing to let go.
Ever again.
His hand reached blindly-
until it found it.
The doll.
Small. Light.
Blue.
The one Qian had given him.
"Stupid… doll…"
His voice barely held together.
He lay down.
Next to him.
Just like before.
Just like the nights they had once shared-
quiet, close, safe.
Lue turned slightly, pulling Qian closer, wrapping his arms around him in a way he had always wanted to- but never allowed himself to.
He raised the doll weakly toward the sky-
his eyes following it for a moment-
before drifting back down to Qian's face.
The battlefield stood still.
Silent.
No one moved.
No one attacked.
While Lue just laying on the blood, next to Qian... holding him tight, trying to escape from reality.
The one who erased existence itself-
lay there.
Defenseless.
Broken.
Human.