Time passed as the searing pain continued. His nails clawed deeper and deeper into his chest as if he were about to close his hand around his heart and rip it out in front of him. He felt his breath shake and his throat vibrate from the yells to stop but all at once it stopped. The hand was removed as the knee threatening to break his ribs almost fell away. Yi Lian didn't have the power to keep his eyes open any longer. Whatever Yi Chen had done, there was something different about it, like he'd coated his nails in poison or used a talisman of sorts.
Yi Lian heard a fight brake out. As if someone had come into the cave and ripped Yi Chen off of him before sending him into the cave walls to punch him repeatedly in the face.
"If you ever touch him again I will find you and cut you limb from limb!"
Nie Asreal?
Yi Chen sprinted at full force out of the cave. Yi Lian felt bad but he was glad Nie Asreal had come to save him. Not that he would ever admit that aloud.
Yi Lian tried using his legs to roll to the side to see him but a hand quickly appeared on the back of his head and another to his shoulder, gently easing him back down.
He opened his eyes to see Nie Asreal in a very worried state and a swollen and cut eyebrow.
Yi Lian, "Did he hurt you? Are you okay?"
Nie Asreal blinked and chuckled. He pulled him up slightly so Yi Lian could lay in his lap whilst he looked in his lapel for his medicine pouch.
Nie Asreal, "Did I get hurt? Have you seen you?"
He pulled out some pills and was about to pass them over when he saw the rope bound around his wrists.
Nie Asreal gulped. "Well they're into some stuff… Yi Lian could you please tell me exactly what they did to you?" He asked softly.
Yi Lian shrugged and sighed. "They're young, they will make mistakes. Best to forget these things."
Nie Asreal frowned and put the pills to his lips. Yi Lian reached forward to take them, grazing his lips against Nie Asreal's fingers. It was only a brush but Yi Lian blushed slightly and there wasn't exactly a way he could hide it. He silently made a note to get some sun so his blush wasn't so contrastingly obvious.
Though Nie Asreal didn't seem to be focusing on this. He had become extremely angry. Yi Lian watched him as he tried to compose himself but in the end he gave up trying to control his emotions.
In an instant he flipped them. He still held a hand under Yi Lian's head so that he wouldn't be uncomfortable but he was positioned right over Yi Lian's body, only centimeters away in every aspect.
Yi Lian, "Nie Asreal control your emotions. Was your time at Immortals Valley Top really so forgetful-"
Nie Asreal rolled his eyes and spoke, "You let them get away with it last time, you're not letting them get away with this again! You can't just shrug it off. They need to be punished. I'll do it if you won't."
Yi Lian, "You don't understand-"
Nie Asreal, "That your beloved brother was a bit of an asshole? I do understand Yi Lian but they can't punish you for that and-"
He chewed on his words, "You can't expect me not to go and throw them into the deepest, darkest, most demon infested cave in the mountain, lock them up, beat them- Look what they've done to you…"
His manic words were spoken so decisively that Yi Lian gulped. He looked up into his pained eyes. They were so bright and passionate but Yi Lian didn't know how to explain these things.
Nie Asreal placed the hand from his head to across his claw wound. Yi Lian hissed in pain, pushing up his tied hands to clutch at Nie Asreal's robe but he continued to trace the marks to his abdomen.
The air shifted and Yi Lian's breathing sped up. He felt so open and exposed. In the past he could hide most reactions but in this position-
Nie Asreal sat up in his lap and pulled Yi Lian with him by his bound wrists.
Yi Lian looked to the side, his hair pin finally giving out and his hair shadowed a curtain across his face. He looked so small. With his hands held above him, a man in his lap and his face tilted down, off to the side.
Nie Asreal whispered, "Look what they've done to you."
Yi Lian felt a loosening. He looked back and his hands were free. Nie Asreal held the blade of his sword and cut through the rope. Yi Lian's spiritual energy started to circulate again. It was like his entire body could finally breathe a sigh of relief.
Yi Lian chuckled, "Turns out you did need your sword heh.."
Nie Asreal wasn't amused. Why did he feel like his parents were cleaning him up after he rolled in the mud? He felt he was having to deal with his brother again when he would get disappointed with Yi Lian for not going outside for awhile.
Yi Lian was about to get up when his head went hazy again. Nie Asreal saw and moved off of him so that he could support him into a stand.
He found a nearby rock and seated him down. Nie Asreal dusted off Yi Lian's robes, reagusted them neatly back over his shoulders and gave him some more pills.
Nie Asreal, "I have an old watchtower nearby on the other side of the mountain. We can go there until the event is over."
Yi Lian nodded his head slowly. "Where's Yi Vian, and what about the competition, your points?"
Nie Asreal sighed and scratched his head. "Yi Vian kind of left in the beginning and lit a whole gorge on fire… I decided to just leave her to blow off some steam."
Maybe the interaction with Third Young Master Nie had gotten to her. Yi Vian had done the same thing with part of the forest when she had arrived at The Island. Strange how it was the same persons fault each time.
Yi Lian nodded then asked again, "And the competition?"
"Who cares about the competition? Let's go."