WangXian Forever 7

Chapter 14 Missing

Hongse was too late to stop the fall out but even as the pulse rocketed towards them, she put up an invisible barrier protecting those on the beach. The pulses continued, and Rumi, terrified and shaking, ran out of the water. Nothing could stop his tiny feet as he ran away, as fast as he could away from there.

Meanwhile, Lan Zhan waited until the pulsating waves of energy had diminished, and then he pushed a frightened Li XiWang towards his brother and dived back into the sea to find Wei Ying. His strokes were powerful, gliding through the water, urgency powering his arms and legs, trying to see where Wei Ying had fallen.

All the while he was praying that his beloved's quick thinking of wrapping his wings around his body had protected him enough.

And then he remembered that Shui was also in the waters at that time, what had happened to him? Was he safe under the water? Or could the energy penetrate through liquid equally, and with devastating results? It was impossible to tell.

There was a flash of movement to his right, and Lan Zhan aimed towards it.

Relief flooded through his whole self when he saw an anxious Shui cradling Wei Ying's body. He went to take Wei Ying from the frightened boy, motioning for him to follow as he swam to the surface.

XiChen and Jiang Cheng were already swimming towards him, Jiang Cheng the stronger swimmer, reaching him faster. Together, they swam towards the shore.

Blankets were already laid out, and panting, as they laid Wei Ying down, he was already regaining consciousness. He coughed out excess water turning on his side, and then lying down again.

"What...what...was...that...? His breath came in painful gasps, as Lan Zhan clasped his hand, anxious for contact.

"Rumi...the boy was scared of touching water for a reason." XiChen told him.

Wei Ying's eyes snapped open, even as he tried to stand up, but he fell back into the softness.

"We...have to...find him...where..is...he?"

That's when they looked for him, realising that he was nowhere to be seen.

*******

Search parties were formed as soon as Wei Ying could stand, with Lan Zhan holding him up. Hongse and her sisters with Zhitiao and JingYi with his babies, flew towards the town, Haibian Chengshi. Jin Ling and SiZhui had held hands and run off in another direction, also aiming for the town. SiZhui had been there before and knew other parts not familiar to Jin Ling.

Hui Gai vanished by himself, a determined look in his eyes, while Oge offered to babysit Klem and Li Li with Li XiWang. The children were terrified, confused about what happened. Lan Zhan had hugged his little rabbit, telling her that they would find Rumi soon.

Wei Ying was still feeling the effects of nearly drowning coupled with being hit by the full force of Rumi's power, a terrible and unusual predicament. Now it all made sense, why the boy was so scared of water. Had something like this happened to him before? He was only six years old...

His eyes filled with tears as Wei Ying thought about his baby demon. He must be do scared...hiding somewhere, not knowing where or what to think. As the search parties left them alone on the beach, Wei Ying tried to think where Rumi could have gone. He was feeling terrible in his own body too, exhausted but he would not even think about resting until his son was safely in his arms.

Lan Zhan was leading him off the beach, after trying to make him rest more, but Wei Ying suddenly had an idea. He walked slowly to the shore, with Lan Zhan's aid, looking for something, happily patting Lan Zhan's arm when he found what he was looking for.

The beach had been trampled on by many sets of footprints, but Rumi's were clearly visible as he had tried to get out of the water. They led towards the thick grasses swaying in the breeze.

Wei Ying caught Lan Zhan's eye, motioning towards the place he thought Rumi might be hiding. Slowly, they made their way forward.

At the edge, Wei Ying got down on his hands and knees, and crawled forward, parting the long grass. Sure enough,there lay a black and white body, his tail wrapped around his tiny frame. One amber eye opened at the sudden intrusion, and all it took was for Wei Ying to open his arms for Rumi to scramble up and into them.

The child was crying pitifully, even as Wei Ying cradled his small body, wrapping his arms around him, trying to shush the dry sobbing. Lan Zhan sent off butterflies to the others that they had found Rumi, before holding both boys in his arms.

That was how Jiang Cheng and XiChen found them a few hours later, asleep to the world.

*********

Jin Ling was horrified at the state of this small seaside town.

"You would think that it might be a tourist attraction and bring in some kind of income." He mentioned to SiZhui, who had come here before with his fathers.

The deeper in they went, the squalor within which children were playing was getting to him. SiZhui had to remember that Jin Ling was not used to seeing things like this. Koi Tower was such a far cry from the daily struggles of these people as to be a completely foreign country to him.

"Isn't there any governing body?" He was huffing and puffing at everything he was seeing wrong with this situation.

"It's too far from the cultivation world for them to pay attention to here, as well as their daily concerns." SiZhui told him. "But if we gave them a reason to help, it might be a different story."

"What are you thinking?" Jin Ling stopped walking to stare at him.

"I don't know, but say, if rumours were to spread that the land is rich and fertile enough to grow anything, what do you think would happen?" SiZhui was smiling his open smile, one that made him believe the boy was incapable of lying.

"There could even be a "lucky" fountain in the town centre..." Jin Ling made the speech marks sign, as more ideas came to him. "And we could build a shrine at the edge of the town, that would bring fortune to weary travellers."

"Exactly!" SiZhui kissed his nose, happy that Jin Ling was do quick to catch on.

Little changes were the equivalent of a small rocks rolling down a snow covered mountain; by the time they started rolling to the end, the little stones would become huge boulders of snow...in the same way, these small changes they were planning could transform this small seaside town into a thriving community for it's residents, promoting a better way of life.

"I will send a team of disciples here when we get back." Jin Ling promised, giving SiZhui a proper kiss. "My husband is clever as well as kind."

They were walking through an alley of sorts, when they received the butterfly that Rumi had been found. They were just about to walk out from there, when SiZhui heard a shuffling sound.

"What's that?" He pulled out his sword as Jin Ling did the same, both looking around.

All around them, there was rubbish and filth, and it looked like people used this alley to deposit all the things they had no use for; old baskets for catching lobsters and fish lay broken and pieces of debris found in the ocean, old clothes and rags were strewn around them.

And then a pile of clothes moved towards them.

SiZhui put away his weapon, and crouched down, smiling when Jin Ling wasn't so trusting, standing ready to guard him from whatever he was about to uncover.

"I bet it's a dog..." He muttered hopefully, but not taking any chances.

As SiZhui removed the layers slowly, trying not to scare whatever it was, they both gasped when they saw dirty brown curls framing a cherubic face.

It was a little girl, who smiled up at them with gaps in her baby teeth.