Sunset Clouds

7.

"We're coming in." 

Barely a minute after FengYin had opened the door and asked their reasons for coming there, Jiu MianMian had pushed into the room, tugging the boy along. She had only muttered these few words before barging in.

The boy looked at FengYin apologetically, but FengYin did not notice it.

He only stared blankly at them, before stepping back in and closing the door.

Jiu MianMian was looking at her surroundings, a frown steadily growing on her face.

"May I ask why you are here?" Normally, he would try to include everyone in the conversation, however, right now, he didn't care about it. He just stared at Jiu MianMian, who was still observing with a frown.

Hearing the question, Jiu MianMian's attention snapped back to FengYin, who had been looking at her with a dull gaze.

She felt uncomfortable. Her mind tried to think of a lot of reasons -

But she had gotten worried for her dearest friend.

Despite not having communicated in this life, they had been close, at one point. 

Jiu MianMian had woken up one day, after casting a long and complicated array. She had not arrived in the past by chance nor fate. She had forced her way through the tunnels of space and time, in order to prevent-

What was she trying to prevent? Despite wanting to help FengYin, she hadn't known what he had gone through. All that she knew, was that in the alternate world, LongYue was the one with the mark of the vermilion bird instead.

It was LongYue who had almost drowned, not FengYin.

The one who was supposed to go to WanYuan was supposed to be LongYue. FengYin was supposed to go to JianDong.

Jiu MianMian bit her lips.

None of this was supposed to happen!

While Jiu MianMian was worriedly trying to garner a reason, the boy who had been dragged with her spoke up.

"It was my fault!...I saw that you weren't leaving your room for several days, and I got worried." FengYin shifted his attention from Jiu MianMian and to the boy instead.

The boy was thin and lanky, with freckles dotting his face. The markings on the hems of his robes indicated that he was from the spirit grass peak, CaoShen peak.

However, FengYin truly did not recognize him. He was probably a cannon fodder anyways, and probably one that has a better fate than him. 

His body felt like lead. It was heavy, as if something was pressing down on him, as if the weight of a thousand boulders were placed on his shoulders. FengYin blinked, and the pressure was gone.

"...Oh." He only muttered this softly. He looked at Jiu MianMian, who was biting her thumb now.

"...Well, as you can see, I'm alive." he spoke blandly, seemingly staring at the both of them. However, his gaze wasn't at them at all. He was staring at the wall behind them, seeing a phantom from his past-

He blinked, and it was gone. It seemed like an illusion.

Jiu MianMian was able to see that FengYin was intending to chase them out. She was unwilling to part before she got what she came here for.

Had FengYin went back too-? Seeing his actions, it seemed that he hadn't. But she needed to truly know-

"Wait! Do you.." Jiu MianMian's voice trembled, looking at the passively staring FengYin.