Luo Binghe wakes up in the Endless Abyss. He doesn't remember how he got there, but as he struggles to his feet, a few vague moments come back to him.
He remembers...sword glares. Two. One he thought he vaguely recognized, and one he knew to be his beloved Shizun's. He remembers indistinct shouting, someone yelling, "I won't let you!" And then...warm arms?
He can't remember anything past that. He can't remember anything at all.
"Well, it's about time you woke up." Meng Mo sounds tired. There's something else in his tone as well. Something subdued. Almost...regretful? "Kid, look to your right."
"I'm sorry, Kid. I really am."
Binghe's legs give out. He lands on the ground hard, but he hardly notices, scrabbling forward on hands and knees until he's close enough to snatch up the dusty silk cloth.
"Sh-Shizun?" Air comes to him in ragged, heated gasps. He tugs on his master's sleeve. "Shizun. Shizun? Shizun."
"Shizun!" Binghe releases the sleeve and starts pushes at a stiff shoulder. "Shizun! Shizun, wake up!"
"NO!" The word tears free of him painfully; like ripping off a scab. "NO! SHIZUN! Shizun needs to wake up! Right now!"
Binghe could remember warm arms. He felt like, maybe, he could remember screaming now, too- being tucked under chin, and hearing his shizun's voice saying- something.
"He took the brunt of it, but you knocked your head pretty good, too. I thought we were all going to die."
"He- he said something," He hears himself say. "Before we crashed, he said something. What was it? What was it?" And why- WHY- couldn't he remember it?
Meng Mo goes silent; and Binghe's attention snaps onto him so quickly that even he is a bit startled at the intensity of it- but that doesn't matter. Meng Mo- he knows something. He knows something about Shizun’s last- about what Shizun said to him. He knows.
"Tell me." The words hiss pass clenched teeth, "Tell me right now, or I'll- I'll-"
He doesn't know what he'll do, but the things that came to mind were definitely a start. A gross, messy start. None of it would stick, but it would at least hurt.
"Ah, geez! Would you stop with the nasty mental images?! I get it!"
"I will; just not right now!" Meng Mo does a mental equivalent of gesturing widely. "Look around, kid! You're in hell! Now's not the time to lose your head!"
Binghe finally did, and...Meng Mo was right. Terribly, awfully right.
Rage gave way to overwhelm. He looked on instinct to his shizun, seeking guidance as he always did, but Shizun-
Grief choked him. "I have to bury him."
"...fine, but take his sword. It's been trying to get your attention this entire time anyway."
