Xiang Yu passed through the gate and walked through the empty streets. This place might look like the capital of the Nine Heavens but nobody was living here. Even if a fallen god came here to stay for a while, they would leave after a while and find a place of their own. A small hut somewhere in the wilderness, a cave in the mountains, a spot of soft grass … Everything was better than living in a ghost town like this that would remind you with every step that you were different from anyone else, alone in the whole world.
Xiang Yu found his way to the middle of the city where the palaces of the most important gods stood. He passed by most of them and finally came to a halt in front of a smaller palace far from the others.
Looking at this building, he couldn't help but feel that it was oddly fitting. This was how the home of a fallen god should look like: A small cage far from anyone else where they could pace up and down and obsess over what had driven them until their fall. The gods … really knew how to make somebody suffer.
Ah. But the demons weren't better. No, they were … far … far crueler.
Tears gathered in his eyes and he finally called out. "Tian. Tian!"
The door of that palace opened and a man appeared in the entrance. In another life, Xiang Yu might have said he was handsome. In this life, he didn't care about that anymore. He only looked at that expressionless face that showed neither joy nor sadness and lacked the fear and disgust the gods would feel for someone like him. His heart … it slowly calmed down but the tears still gathered and finally trickled down his cheeks.
A sigh escaped Tian's lips and with two steps, he arrived in front of Xiang Yu. He didn't reach out and he didn't say anything. He only looked at him and let him cry.
Xiang Yu finally reached out himself and his fingers curled around the black robe in front of him. The soft sensation didn't calm him down though. Instead, his tears only intensified and his shoulders shook with his sobs.
This … this should have been his husband. The one to watch over him when he was depressed, the one to spend him company, to calm him down and dry his tears. How beautiful would that be to be able to rely on someone like that? Someone that would be his alone? Someone that would never feel bothered and always show him consideration? Someone who wouldn't return to his true lover after giving him his attention for a while?
He wanted … he wanted to be loved. He wanted it so desperately. So why … Why had things turned out like this? Why was he a fallen god now? Was he not allowed to love?!
He leaned forward his forehead finally touching Tian's chest. Why couldn't he be like Xing? A lover that accompanied him through life even when everyone else was against him, someone that would even follow him after he fell and wanted to spend this endless darkness together, a man that guarded him even in his eternal sleep.
If he had such a person, then he wouldn't feel this sad. Who needed to live in the capital or at some sunny place? Who needed to be among the gods? He only wanted one person that would stand by him and love him and … care for him.
Xiang Yu looked up at Tian that kind of person and his tears just continued to stream down his cheeks. "Someone fell in love with me."
Tian looked at those pretty eyes that had already turned red from crying. "You don't like that person?"
Xiang Yu shook his head wildly, making a few of those tears fly. "No!"
"Is he from the demon race again?"
This time, Xiang Yu shook his head more carefully. "It's not much better though. It's that fake dragon."
Tian sighed and raised his face to the night sky. "That one. He's indeed no good."
"Mn." Xiang Yu nodded and stared at his hands that were still clutching Tian's robe. They trembled a bit and he trembled just the same. Carefully, he raised his gaze to Tian's face. "Tian."
"Mn?"
"Can't you curse him too?"
Tian glanced down to him and for a moment, it seemed as if he wanted to raise his brows in question. In the end, his face stayed as expressionless as before though.
"If … If you curse him too, then I could consider it."
"Even if I cursed him, he still wouldn't be a better person. And you deserve that kind of person. Someone … who will treat you the best way."
"But I'm a fallen god. Who would love me?"
Tian eyed that gloomy expression and finally patted Xiang Yu's back. "Somebody will. You just need to wait and see what happens. Sooner or later you will meet the person that is destined for you."
"Are you sure? Maybe there's no one destined for me? Maybe I'm destined to stay alone forever."
Tian leaned down, his face coming close to Xiang Yu's. "What nonsense are you saying? Did you forget who I am? I am Tian, I am Heaven, I am the Lord of the High Heavens and everything below them. I am the true sovereign of all worlds and my word is law. So if I say that you have a destined other half, then you have that destined other half. If I say you will irrevocably fall in love in the future, then you will. And nothing will be able to change that."