#retrace lii
Text
DURING ISLA YURA ARC
Oz, Break and everyone: We cannot seize and search his mansion for the stone seal since it's in another country; we gotta sneak our way in! Let's trick the jack-fanboy into organizing Oz's 2nd Coming of Age ceremony! Everyone, act natural!! We are hiding our real purpose of coming here! Isla Yura can NOT know!!! Reim and co. will secretly find the seal—No, we lost sight of Yura!! Where is Yuraaaaa nooooo~!!!
Meanwhile;
Lottie:
#pandora hearts#may-reads-ph#lottie baskerville#charlotte baskerville#retrace lii#it's like how to say#oz gil alice are distracting the ppl at bank counter#while break and reim are sneaking into the locker room in masks and shades and full robbery get up yk#while lottie just walks in *flips hair cool clothes* hey manager won't you open the locker for me? ❤#oz alice gil break reim: . . . .#tbh if it wasn't such a tragedy all of ph can count for a sitcom with how ridiculous shit goes down in this
27 notes
·
View notes
Text
Wait For Me - Fan Chengcheng
Finally finished bashing this out after two failed drafts smh
Pairing: Fan Chengcheng x OC/reader
Genre: fluff, angst if you squint, royalty!au
Word Count: 5.9k
Life is difficult, especially when a military coup has overthrown your king. It doesn’t stop you from trying to topple them, though, even if you have to help from another kingdom altogether.
Masterlist
did i ever mention that fan chengcheng is a fatass mood
Things have been going well, Yanjun. I have a stable job and a place to live, and the Fan household is kind. The only things I lack are candles with which to write you these letters by.
I hope you are still alive and doing as well as you can. I hope the money I’m sending you is enough to do something. If only I could send these letters as well.
Don’t do anything stupid, Yanjun. If you do, I will find out, and I will find you, and I will bury you alive. Trust me. Your little sister isn’t completely helpless, and I’m stronger than I was a few years ago.
Wait for me. I love you and miss you. Please visit Father and Mother for me soon.
~~~
“Up late writing more letters?” Linkai asks, watching you yawn for the third time in a row.
“Not that late,” you protest. “Only for about half an hour this time.”
Xingjie shakes his head. “You go to sleep late anyway. You can’t keep staying up like this.”
You look up from the pot you’ve been scrubbing clean. “I don’t think you understand,” you say quietly. “It’s the only thing that keeps me sane.”
At that, Xingjie falls silent, probably a little embarrassed. You splash him with a little water. “It’s okay, Jie. I get that you’re worried for me. But until I know he’s alive, I won’t stop.” You pass the pot to Linkai to rinse and dry. “What’s next?”
“Wenjun told me you were assigned laundry and then to clean the young master’s room,” Zhangjing says, lugging along a sack of rice. You immediately go to help, picking up the end of the bag with a grunt. “Thanks, Liying,” he says gratefully.
“No problem, Zhangjing,” you say breathlessly, heaving the sack down in the pantry. “I’ll get going now. If you need any help, Wenjun will tell me.”
Laundry. You really hate laundry, because it prunes your fingers and makes them raw and pink so that they’re prone to bleeding at the slightest provocation, but at least you’re allowed to do your own laundry with the rest of the Fan household’s. You find a sack in the cleaning supplies closet, and then begin your long trek through all the bedrooms to collect dirty clothing.
The morning and some of the afternoon passes as you scrub laundry in the sunshine, pausing only for fifteen minutes to eat a small lunch. At one point, the young master and his friends come around and they say hi to you.
One thing that’s different about this kingdom is the kindness of the nobles, you think. Back in your home, the nobles, or at least most of them, were haughty and cold to their underlings. However, here, Fan Chengcheng and his friends treat you with kindness and a sort of tentative friendship that makes you feel a little more at ease.
Also, the nobles here are far more handsome than the ones back at home. Especially Chengcheng and his friends. Just saying.
Perhaps they’re all gods, you speculate as you wring out one of the master’s shirts. They’re all kind and good, and exceedingly handsome.
Well, it’s a theory. And it’s plausible.
The clothes dry quickly in the hot sunshine, and before long, you’re loading them all back into the sack to put them away. “Just a few more hours,” you mumble to yourself.
You let your feet go on autopilot, losing yourself in your thoughts as your hands move automatically to put clothes away in the correct places. Finally, you’re in Chengcheng’s room.
As usual, it’s a fucking mess.
A lock of hair has come untied from your usual ponytail, so you tie it back up again with a sigh, surveying the chaos before you.
“Cheng, have you- oh, sorry Liying!” Zhengting comes running into the doorway, then stops short at seeing you clearing up the mess that is Chengcheng’s room. “This is how he leaves his room?” he asks you incredulously.
You turn around and shrug before continuing to sweep the floor free of bits of paper. “Yes, young master,” you reply.
Zhengting shakes his head in annoyance just as Chengcheng appears in the doorway. “What do you need, Ting? Oh, hello, Liying.”
“This is the state you keep your room in?” Zhengting immediately says, rounding on the younger boy.
Chengcheng pinks a little. “It’s not like you keep yours any better!” he counters, and you have to try not to laugh. “It’s okay, young masters,” you say, addressing the boys. “Go and do whatever it is you had to do.” Despite your best efforts, a little laugh escapes you as you turn back to cleaning the room.
The pieces of paper are slowly cleared away, the ink blots scrubbed off the wooden desk, the bed made with new sheets and the books on the shelf straightened. You linger on this last task, taking your time to read the spines and snatch a few words here and there.
Books. What wouldn’t you give to have all your books back again.
You finish cleaning Chengcheng’s room as the sun begins to set. You report to Wenjun, who asks you to help the cooks finish preparing dinner. Then, finally, you’re given the okay to go to sleep.
. . . . .
Did you visit Father and Mother? If you did, I hope you told them I miss them too. If you didn’t, understandable.
Have their headstones been destroyed yet? I hope not.
It’s selfish, but second only to you and them, I miss my books. I just want all my books back. Every time I clean the library or Fan Chengcheng’s room, I find myself lingering to read the spines of the books. I can’t help it!
I guess that would be my birthday wish for this year. That or good news from you.
You know, ever since Zhengting scolded Chengcheng, his room’s been a little cleaner. I still laugh every time I think about that. I miss your laugh.
I hope you’re doing well. I want to hear from you soon. Wait for me. Goodbye, brother.
~~~
Almost a year has passed since you first became a servant of the Fan household, and it’s your birthday. The day fills you with a bittersweet feeling, as it’s the first birthday you’ve experienced without your brother, and the first birthday you’ve spent in a foreign country. Still, Xingjie and Linkai remember, and they cobble together a small present for you.
It’s priceless in your eyes, the gift that they get for you. A small, torn book, but still readable and charming in its own right. They tell you they bought it with their own wages. You have a little trouble believing them, however, because it’s written in the old script.
The old script is only known and studied by the nobles and scholars of the kingdoms. The texts are priceless. However, perhaps the old bookstand owner didn’t realize just how much this small book would be worth. Either way, you don’t care that much. You’re enraptured by the worn pages and faded ink of the words.
You, of course, can read the old script. However, you have had to hide this skill ever since you came to the Fan estate so as to blend in with the rest of the servants. The book stays with you at all times, hidden in one of the pockets of your trousers.
You go through the days, cleaning, cooking, and scrubbing as usual for the pay given to you every week by Wenjun. Everything is normal, except for the fact that Fan Chengcheng seems to pay you a little more attention now. Whether it’s when you pass him in the halls or if he happens upon you when you’re washing clothing, he always dips his head in greeting and flashes you a little smile. That’s normal, but the frequency isn’t. It’s as though he tries to find you, but you’re pretty sure you’re just being stupid.
One day, you’re in the gardens, helping to pick the fruit off the top of the trees. No one is around since the old gardener trusts you not to fall and break your neck, so you hum to yourself in silence as you place the fruits in a basket.
“Good morning, Liying.”
You nearly fall off the tree in surprise, but you quickly grab onto a branch, steadying yourself. “Good morning, young master!” you call down.
Chengcheng smiles at you. “Mind if I take one?” he asks, gesturing to the basket of fruit. You shrug, dangling it down. “If you can reach!”
Chengcheng just manages to take one, appraising it in his hands before smiling at you again. You feel a small blush rising in your cheeks as you smile back.
“Thank you, Liying,” he says, waving.
“You’re welcome, young master.”
When he leaves, you have to take a moment to calm your rapidly beating heart. You sit on a sturdy branch, back leaning against the trunk, as you will the heat to leave your cheeks. It’s in that position that Xingjie finds you a little later, yelling for you to get down and help cook the noon meal.
In the midst of Xingjie lecturing you about not slacking off and teasing you about the young master, you don’t notice the absence of the little book in your pocket. At night, you realize its disappearance, but you can’t go back to find it at midnight. The next day, when you rush to the gardens in the early dawn hours, it’s not there.
The whole day, you retrace your steps from the day before to no avail.
The book is gone.
. . . . .
Yanjun, I’m terrible. I lost the book that Xingjie and Linkai gave me. They’ve been so kind about it that it makes me feel worse.
I’m so scared that someone will connect that book to me and find out that I’m not just a peasant. If that happens, I may be sent back home, and all my efforts would be fruitless.
Please be safe. If you’re dead, I don’t know what I’ll do. Please, wait for me. I have to come back to something.
~~~
It’s a pale-faced you that wanders the estate grounds throughout the week, going through the motions of living but constantly lost in worried thought. You do your best to put on a brave face when the young master and his friends come near, but you can only keep this façade on for so long.
Fan Chengcheng already looks suspicious, anyway. His eyes always seem to linger on you for a second too long when he greets you in the halls, and when he chances to come into his room while you’re cleaning, you can feel his gaze on you as you hurriedly sweep the floor.
Finally, you get a lucky break at the end of the week. Wenjun asks you to clean the library, and you jump at the opportunity to surround yourself with the comforting smell of old books.
Clouds of dust waft around you as you alternate between sneezing loudly and swiping the dusty wood and books. It makes you a little sad to see that the books are so unused.
You pull a particularly large book off a shelf, examining the title in rapture. You lean against the shelves, balancing as best you can on the stool you’re standing on, and impulsively open it to begin reading.
It’s a book of history, written by one of the most famous historians of the previous century. You’re so immersed that you do not notice when the young master enters the library, looking around curiously before alighting his eyes on you.
“Liying?”
You nearly fall off the stool in surprise, catching hold of the heavy bookshelf just in time. “Young master!” you gasp.
He walks over to stand over you and scrutinizes the book. You’re frozen. For a long, long moment, there is absolute silence.
“You’re not a regular servant, are you?” he finally asks.
“W-what do you mean?” you ask, eyes wide. Your mind is running with a thousand thoughts. What if you’re fired? What if you lose the mistress’s trust? What if you are sent to jail for overstepping your boundaries?
“You can read,” he states.
Play dumb.
You nod slowly. “Yes, I can read.” Most servants can.
“No,” he says more impatiently. “You can read the old script.”
Shit.
“Uh, no, I don’t, uh, I was just... looking because the words are prettier than modern script!” you stammer, snapping the book shut. Dust billows into a cloud and you sneeze.
When you look up, Chengcheng is just looking at you like “do you really think I’m dumb?
“Yes, I can read it,” you mumble.
He’s only looking at you, but his intense gaze paralyzes you and makes you speechless. You can’t move, you can’t speak. You can only stare at him. Uncomfortable tension fills the air between you.
“Cheng!”
Both of you start, you stumbling off the stool. Chengcheng catches your arm, looking at you with an unreadable expression. He lets go of you with a look that tells you he’s not done, and then walks out of the library.
You sink down, placing your face in your hands.
“Oh my god,” you mumble. “What have I done?”
. . . . .
Yanjun, I feel so lost. I don’t know what Chengcheng will do or what he will say.
What if I’m forced to return home? Or what if I lose this job? What if you end up waiting for nothing?
Yanjun, I’m sorry. I’m such a failure.
~~~
You can’t sleep that night, worried about all the terrifying possibilities that could happen, the worst being you getting fired. You’re pretty sure it’s not a capital offense for a peasant to be able to read the old script, but it’s a matter of honor to most of the nobles. If any of them caught wind of you being able to read, they might push a harsher sentence onto you.
Everything relies on Fan Chengcheng. He may tell, or he may not tell. You hope that it’s the latter, but you don’t know him well enough to say.
Xingjie eyes you suspiciously when you show up in the morning, but says nothing. You can feel waves of concern rolling off of him, but all you do is give him a weak smile. You’re pretty sure Linkai knows something’s up as well, but he acts normally, acting up and teasing you as you wash the breakfast dishes.
You trudge through the day, avoiding Fan Chengcheng as best you can. He’s with his friends, however, and they know you by name, so you have to avoid six people instead of just one.
The hours pass slowly until you’re finally going up to the servants’ quarters to sleep. You’re almost too tired to write Yanjun your daily letter, but you force yourself to pull out a piece of paper, your crude ink and brush, and you tiptoe to your usual writing place.
The candle you light is so dim you can barely see to write, and that’s probably why you don’t register someone walking towards you until you hear the crunching of leaves not far away. You go still, blowing out the candle quickly.
“Liying, I know it’s you,” a voice says. You scrunch up your face in annoyance and exasperation.
Just how many times can you fuck up in two days? And all in front of Fan Chengcheng? You stay silent.
He sits down next to you and lights up a larger lantern, putting the small flame of your candle to shame. You raise your eyebrows.
“Young master, it’s very improper for you to sit like this,” you say.
“Doesn’t matter. So,” he begins, “why are you, a noble, doing the work of servants?”
You bite your lip hard, unsure of how to answer. You don’t want to give yourself away, but you have to say something.
“I need money.” It’s not a lie.
“What for?” he asks.
What is this, an interrogation?
“Personal reasons.”
Chengcheng huffs, and you can dimly see the annoyed pout on his features. It’s cute. “You don’t plan on giving me a straight answer, do you?” he asks.
How do I respond to this? you wonder.
“Not until I trust you,” you finally answer.
At that, Chengcheng laughs. “Fair enough. Though, Liying, I think you can trust me.” He gets up, taking the lantern with him, leaving you enshrouded in darkness.
“Wait,” you say, something he said finally registering in your brain. The lantern stops moving. “How did you know I was a noble?”
“You can tell a lot about people from the way they speak and carry themselves,” Chengcheng says. “And the fact that you can read the old script certainly gives things away. Which reminds me.” A small something lands on your lap. Your fingers fumble with it, recognizing the wrinkled pages and worn cover of the gift Xingjie and Linkai gave to you. “I believe that is yours.”
You’re too shocked to reply.
. . . . .
Fan Chengcheng really confuses me, Yanjun. I’m grateful that I have my book back, but I’m still not sure if he’ll say anything. He hasn’t done anything yet, though, so I’m hoping he won’t.
Honestly, he’s a sweet person. He smiles at all of us servants and treats us nicely. I want to trust him, but it’s hard to know who’s trustworthy and who isn’t. Currently only Xingjie and Linkai know, and I don’t think I’ll be telling anyone anything anytime soon.
Stay safe. Wait for me.
~~~
It’s midnight. You have no candles, no source of light. Only the faint light of the moon guides you as you silently traverse the large estate, sneaking past guards to finally exit the grounds. Your feet take you instinctively to the tree where you meet the messenger.
“Dinghao,” you whisper. Said boy appears quickly, the moonlight illuminating his face. You set a pouch of coins into his hand. “Any updates?”
The usually smiley-faced boy nods seriously. “The fighting is escalating,” he whispers. “Yanjun was injured last time and he’s recovering.”
Your face is tight with worry. “That idiot,” you say fearfully.
“He says he misses you lots and that the money you send is doing much good for the rebellion,” Dinghao finishes.
You swallow. “Tell him that if he gets his ass hurt one more time, I’ll go back and punch him myself,” you say, allowing a tiny smile to creep onto your face. “Tell him I miss him too.”
“Will do,” Dinghao says with a grin. Then, just as quickly as he arrived, he’s melted into the shadows again.
. . . . .
You idiot. I told you not to get hurt. Lin Yanjun, mark my words, you’re going to get it when this whole fiasco is over. Just wait.
~~~
You carry that scrap of a letter with you the whole day as you march around, tight-lipped and white-faced. Linkai immediately guesses what’s wrong and tries to cheer you up, which helps a little bit, but not much.
Dinghao didn’t tell you how bad the injury was, just that he was recovering, and, caught up in the moment, you forgot to ask. This just makes you even more nervous and more scared for his life.
Things get to the point that Fan Chengcheng realizes something’s up when he sees you wringing out the clothes with more force than necessary. You also don’t smile when you wave to him and his friends.
“What’s up with Liying?” Zeren asks, glancing at you with narrowed eyes. “She seems upset.”
Chengcheng shrugs, but he makes up his mind to ask you later. Perhaps it has something to do with the letters you write late at night and your mysterious background.
You finish up work a little earlier than normal and you stalk through the halls, ready to throw yourself in bed and worry some more over Yanjun. Lost in your thoughts, you don’t notice the ball of crumpled paper slip out of your trouser pockets.
“Liying,” a voice calls. You whip around to see Chengcheng holding up your crumpled letter. “You dropped this.”
You sigh, walking back to take it from him. “Thank you,” you say, but he doesn’t give it back. Instead, he uncrumples it, eliciting a slight gasp from you.
“Please-”
It doesn’t take him long to read the four sentences you scrawled on the paper in your worry and anger last night. He looks up wordlessly and hands you the paper.
You shove it back into your trousers, chewing the inside of your cheek in nervousness.
“Lin Yanjun,” he says quietly, as though trying to recall a long-forgotten memory. Then he snaps out of it, looking at you again. “Come with me.” You have no choice but to follow.
Once inside the empty room, he turns to you. “Are you related to the Lin family of the Alynthi kingdom?”
There’s no point in denying it. You nod, the fight leaving you.
“Are you here to escape the dictatorship there?” he asks.
You sigh, then nod again. “Yes.”
“Why would you need money if your family was one of the most powerful in Alynthi?”
“Fan Chengcheng,” you say, for once ignoring proper etiquette, “money gets used up quickly during wartime, and working here pays rather well.” You give him a small, slightly mocking bow.
Chengcheng laughs a little. “It’s quite easy to see you’re a noble when you act like this,” he says. You scrunch your eyebrows in confusion. “The grace of your movements, the simple yet eloquent way you speak. Observe your surroundings, Liying,” he says teasingly. “It’s not hard to tell the difference.”
You roll your eyes. “And this whole time I thought I was hiding myself pretty well,” you mutter.
A louder laugh escapes Chengcheng’s lips. “Don’t worry, my friends are dumb, and my parents are too busy to pay attention to these things. I think Minghao is the only one that’s caught on.”
More silence. Then, you speak. “Are you going to tell?” The words are quiet, but even and calm.
“No,” Chengcheng says, shaking his head. “Why would I?”
. . . . .
Fan Chengcheng is too smart. He made the connection between your name and the Lin family and had me outed in a flash. Thankfully he said he wouldn’t tell.
I hope he’s telling the truth.
Get better. I’m still going to kick your ass when I get back, I promise. Just wait. I will.
~~~
Now that Fan Chengcheng shares your secret, you find yourself more relaxed around him. More often than not, you find him in his room when you come into clean, alone or with his friends. Instead of just leaving like he normally did before, he stays and talks to you if his friends aren’t there.
You talk about nothing and everything, topics ranging from favorite books to food and eventually to family. It’s a touchy subject for both you and him- both of you are separated from your siblings, and though his parents aren’t dead, neither are particularly close to him.
“Do you miss your sister?” you ask one day, pausing in putting his clothes away in the closet.
Chengcheng’s lying on his unkempt bed, reading a book. He sighs. “Yes.”
“What was she like?” you prompt, turning around to him.
A slight scowl comes over his face, replaced by an expression of annoyance and then a slight smile. You snicker. His expressiveness never fails to amuse you.
“You remind me of her,” he finally says. “She was brave-”
“Brave?” you ask, bemused.
“Yes, brave.” Chengcheng puts down the book, looking at you with a raised eyebrow. “How many people would risk their lives to go to a new country with nothing just to support a rebellion back home?” He picks it back up, hiding his face behind the pages.
“Well, when you put it that way, it sounds a lot more heroic,” you mumble.
“Take credit for your actions, Liying. Anyway, Bingbing was also nice, annoying, and intelligent. I couldn’t hide anything from her.”
“Me? Annoying?” you ask in mock offense, placing a dramatic hand on your chest. “I’m offended.”
“Yes, annoying.” Chengcheng sticks his tongue out at you, and you roll your eyes, placing the last shirt back in its place. “What was your brother like?”
“A cocky bitch,” is the first thing that comes out of your mouth, making Chengcheng choke in laughter. “But smart. Expressive. A flirt, I guess, but not overly so. Annoying, just like you-” Chengcheng gasps dramatically, the book falling from his hand to the floor- “but loving.”
“Would I get along with him?” Chengcheng asks. You have to think on this one. “Probably, if you didn’t do anything stupid,” you say. “Why?”
“Curiosity.” He shrugs, picking the book back off the ground. You pick up the broom, ready to sweep. “What are you even reading?” you ask.
“The book you were reading when I caught you.”
You raise an eyebrow. “You don’t strike me as the type of person who likes to read,” you say.
Chengcheng looks over the book at you. “I don’t really, but you seem to like to read a lot so I figured I’d give it a try.”
You don’t know why but that sentence makes you blush pink. “Then what do you like to do?”
Chengcheng sighs. “Dance, talk with my friends. Play piano. Father says I’m going to have a hell of a time running this estate if I don’t find a sensible wife.”
You snicker. “Sensible wife?”
“I’m okay with numbers but apparently I spend too much time on music and I lack common sense,” Chengcheng grumbles.
You laugh harder, leaning against the broom. A brush comes flying at your head, and you duck. “Shut up!” Chengcheng whines.
It’s moments like these where you realize just how much you like and care for the young master. You’d be ecstatic if he felt the same way about you, but there’s no way to confirm it and no way you could act on these feelings in your current situation.
. . . . .
I’m hearing rumors that the dictatorship is about to collapse. Stay safe. Don’t be stupid. I’m waiting for news.
~~~
You have a dream one night. You’re walking in the gardens of your old estate back at home, but there’s someone with you. It isn’t your brother, and you’re pretty sure it’s Chengcheng. That dreamy thought is confirmed when he turns to you, and you can see his face.
He laughs at something you’ve said- you have no idea what- and you look down, and he’s holding your hand. In your dream though, it’s like this occurrence is normal. You’re not even blushing.
Just as you feel the morning waking you up, Chengcheng leans down and places his lips on yours in a fleeting kiss.
You sit up with a jolt, looking around wildly before you realize you’re in the servants’ quarters and that none of what you dreamed actually happened. You will your racing heart to calm down as you stumble to the washroom.
You’re in a daze as the hours pass, feet taking you everything you need and hands doing everything you’re assigned, but your thoughts wander near and far, blush rising in your cheeks every time you think of the young master.
It takes all of your willpower not to collapse in a squiggly mess when you talk to Chengcheng as you clean his room, though you’re pretty sure you haven’t managed to completely get rid of the pink tint on your face.
And you’re correct, you haven’t. Chengcheng notices, and he smiles a little to himself behind the thick book he’s reading.
. . . . .
It’s over, isn’t it? You won’t have to wait much longer.
~~~
There isn’t much to do today, so you, Xingjie, and Linkai get some free time before the sun goes down. You’re walking around the gardens, and Linkai nearly pushes you into one of the ponds before Xingjie manages to pull you away.
As you’re berating the grinning boy, you hear someone running along the path. He yells something that you can’t quite hear, then runs off elsewhere.
You look at your friends, totally confused. “Is he insane?” you ask.
“Dunno, but I want to know what he’s saying,” Linkai says. “Let’s follow him!” He runs off, and you have no choice but to follow him.
It takes you a little while to find the guy, but you finally catch a glimpse of him running past the library doors. He opens his mouth to yell something again.
“Alynthi’s dictatorship has been toppled!” he yells.
You stop short, his words paralyzing you. Xingjie looks at you, face worried.
“Is it true?” Your voice is hardly more than a whisper. “Is it true?”
Your feet unconsciously move, faster and faster, and soon you’re running to catch up to the man. “Is it true?” you ask, gasping. “The dictator is gone?”
“Yes, miss, it is true!” he replies, his eyes elated. “Now I must go to inform the rest of the household!” And he’s off, leaving you shell-shocked on the grass.
It’s over.
It’s over.
It’s over.
Those two words repeat themselves in your brain over and over and over, and your head feels light and you feel dizzy, and your legs are buckling and you’re not sure how long you can keep standing-
The last thing you remember before the consuming darkness is someone shouting your name.
. . . . .
I’m coming back, Yanjun. Wait for me.
~~~
You wake up later in a clean, white bed, sheets tucked neatly around you. Someone sits next to you, and with a start, you realize that it’s Chengcheng, sleeping.
You try to sit up, and your motion must startle him awake because he jolts up, eyes showing relief when he sees your eyes are open.
“Water,” you croak. He grabs a glass off a nearby table and hands it to you. You take a long drink. “Why are you here?” you ask.
“You collapsed when you heard the news, so Xingjie and I carried you here,” he says, playing with his fingers. There’s a long moment of silence.
“Are you going to leave now?” he asks quietly. You know he’s not referring to staying in the infirmary.
You shrug. “Maybe not now, but soon,” you reply. “When I do, please tell your parents for me.” Silence falls again.
Chengcheng suddenly encloses your hand in his. You gasp and instinctively try to pull your hand away, but he holds on. “Let me stay like this,” he whispers. “Just for now.�� The playful Chengcheng you knew is gone for moment, replaced by a serious and sad face.
You relax into his hold, even leaning your head against his shoulder as the minutes pass.
When dawn comes, neither of you wants to let go.
. . . . .
Two days later, there’s an uproar in the Fan household when you simply disappear from servants’ quarters at night. Two other servants disappear that same night as well, without so much as a note.
Chengcheng knows where you’ve gone, of course. He suffers quietly, telling only his parents and friends. They look at him with concern as he goes through the days in silence, waiting for anything from you. Just a sign that you’re safe.
Then, a month later, a letter arrives for him, written on a strip of fine paper.
I’m safe, Cheng. Just wait for me. I’ll come back.
. . . . .
- A year later -
Fan Chengcheng is annoyed and pissed. He’s told his parents he doesn’t want this, but of course they go against his wishes and do it anyway. He glares at the mirror as a servant makes last minute adjustments to his outfit.
A year has gone by since you left his estate. A whole year, and you’ve only sent one letter to him. He pouts unconsciously at the thought. He’s waited so long.
And now, for his coming-of-age birthday, he’s required to choose a wife out of all the noble girls in attendance of his party. A nauseating feeling comes over him, and Zeren snickers from where he’s sitting on Chengcheng’s bed, talking with Quanzhe.
“You’ll be fine, Cheng,” Zhengting says soothingly. Chengcheng doesn’t deign to reply.
He doesn’t know how dense his parents are to not have noticed that he only cares about you. He doesn’t want to marry any of the other noble girls around. Just you. But no, they promised him that they’d only pick the best and allow them to the party. Like that even mattered to him.
In his eyes, you’re the best. No one else matters.
When he enters the party, he plasters on a small, polite smile to mask his confusion over the fact that all the girls are wearing masks. He can’t figure out who most of them are, though he does manage to identify Mei Xu and a couple of others who are known for their ostentatiousness.
Talking, drinking, eating. Chengcheng feels himself getting more and more miserable with every minute that passes, despite his friends’ best efforts to cheer him. He does his best to be polite to the girls, but it’s so hard. He can’t even bring himself to dance with more than a couple. Finally, the party is almost over, and he’s called to stand in the front of the room so that all the girls can reveal theirselves.
There are two lines of girls, and they are each escorted forward, one at a time, by a male family member before they curtsy and take off their mask so that he can see who they are. Polite smiles, polite smiles, he keeps telling himself each time another girl takes off her mask and it isn’t you.
Finally, there are only two girls left. He hasn’t spoken to either of them the entire night, but Chengcheng can feel the slight hope he had draining out of his body with each second that passes.
A girl with a rosy red dress and gold mask is escorted forward by her father and introduces herself as Lang Yujin, daughter of the Lang house. Chengcheng nods and smiles mechanically, trying to catch a glimpse of the last girl in line. She’s too far back, however, so he just gives up. He fiddles with the ring he was told to give to the girl he chose.
The last girl steps forward, an elegant but simple turquoise garment covering her body. Her mask is blue, ornamented with gold. Chengcheng feels like he sees your grace in her movements, but he dares not hope in case that hope is shattered.
A handsome young man that Chengcheng doesn’t recognize escorts her forward, introducing himself as her brother. Chengcheng remembers that your parents are both dead, so if you were here, your brother would be the one to escort you. However, he doesn’t say his name, so Chengcheng is left wondering.
The girl curtsies deeply, then raises her hands to pull off the mask. Chengcheng finds himself holding his breath, hoping, hoping for a miracle.
As though in slow motion, the girl removes the mask gracefully, then lifts her face to gaze at him.
Chengcheng can’t breathe.
“Good evening, young master Fan,” you say as smoothly as you can, a slight waver in your voice, a hint of a smile on your face. “I am Lin Liying, daughter of the Lin house of Alynthi.”
#ninepercentnet#nine percent#idol producer#nine percent fan chengcheng#fan chengcheng#fluff#royalty!au#fan chengcheng scenarios#yuehua entertainment#zhu zhengting#ding zeren#bi wenjun#justin huang#lu dinghao#you zhangjing#lin yanjun#zhu xingjie#wang linkai#banana culture entertainment#gramarie entertainment#wait for me#scriptura-adrepticius
486 notes
·
View notes
Text
...
Oh, what the fuck?
why is he out here liying in the damned grass of all things? he quit drinking specifically because of the hell sleeping on the ground wrought on his back and also on doctors orders but mostly of his own volition for the most part. okay first up taking stock of himself and his surroundings. anything wrong with me? no more than usual, creaky back and cracked joints yelling at him as always if a bit louder then is the norm but thats to be expected.
anyone around me i should be watching out for? he listens without opening his eyes yet and doesnt hear anything human nearby, theres a pokemon snoring away right up close to hiim and a few yards away he can hear the rustle rustle of little pokemon trainers wading through the grass on their way to somewhwere important for their journey he guesses but none have noticed him or stopped to check on him if they have.
who’s that pokemon? it’s persian! specifically gemothy, his beautiful baby boy! he got out of his ball at some point last night and curled his way under greg’s bad leg! how sweet of him to care for his dad like that! he’ll have to remember to give him a pokeblock when hes up and about!
do i still have all my pokemon? no pokeballs taken but he knows well enough that doesnt mean theyve not been replaced by weaker mon in the same sort of ball and while hed like to think hes 100%of telling his pokemons pokeballs just from the wear and tear theyve taken over time he knows that aint reliable.
gemothy? check. bruno? check. barkspawn? check. honcho? check. bliss? no check. whos fucking jigglypuff is this? parmesan?? no check big x mark, someone fobbed their clefairy off onto him. who the fuck gives up those 2 pokemon? even if you dont want them theres always paying customers out there who do! you can make bank on the little puffballs even just selling 1 at a time! not to mention the breeders who live off these lines!
okay thats it up we go! times a wasting and hes gotta get his blissey and his dog back. his joints can cry all they want. now where the hell is he really? just a bit off path for route 48 apparently. retracing steps what had he meant to do out here?
oh right.
he’d spent the last couple days at the safari zone catching pokemon with jun. more specifically hed been trying, and failing, to catch the meanest croagunk hed ever had the displeasure of meeting. and when jun tried to help him out hed snapped at him.
jun didnt deserve anything like that.he was legitimately trying to help him out.he usually manages to keep his cool over shit like this but hed been irritated onto his last nerve by his own joints and johto’s douchiest poison frog.
he’ll never quite get used to johto. everything is so so different from orre. everything is much nicer? he guesses? warmer maybe. nobodies as friendly in orre, where you can live most of your life next to someone and not even know their name. nobody really talks to anyone around past the age of 10 or before age 60. let alone stop to offer any help without being asked.
back in orre if you wanted to make like sisyphus on his hill with some arbitrary ass task you were left to bang your head on the wall until you either got tired of it or hurt yourself enough to need help. nobody really gives you shit in orre, not without being asked, threatened, payed to or what. aid only comes unprompted when they need your body out of their way.
johto is so so different. it scrapes on his nerves sometimes even though it really shouldnt. going from having to maintain an image to not put a target on his back to johto where people stop and help you for no reason if you drop shit in the street. and even the people trying to rob you are more likely to challenge you to a pokemon battle then just attack you outright. what counted for the local gang was dismantled by not 1 but 2 beginner pokemon trainers.
johto is painfully different. he had to completely reverse gears on the way he behaved. do the exact opposite of what he was raised to. go completely against his instincts on damn near everything. assimilating into johto was a long process of deprogramming himself from constantly being on lookout for the slightest sign of hostility. forcibly lowering his guard to Be Nice At Least Greg. because everything hed learned in orre went from just common sense to dickish behavior in practically one day.
minding your own business is apparently cold hearted around here. you have to make nice with everyone you interact with not just your boss and some people youre friends with. people who do not know him at all worry about him! take time out of their day to see if he needs help! its overwhelming enough to make him miss being ignored.
it isnt so bad of course. in small doses from friends he can handle the attention better. but it was still weird to go from team snagem admin who’s only real draw was being so apathetic he didnt even care enough to punish you when you fucked up to having control himself 24/7 just to stay approachable enough to keep his daycare running with clients.
for the 100th time in his life he wonders if hes cut out for this shit. if he should pack up his thingsand take his antisocial ass back to orre to live with the rest of the douchebags out there. if he could maybe run the daycare in agate village.
maybe he should.
he doesnt want to though. he likes it here even if the place and the people are kind of a headache for him sometimes. its very nice when its not overwhelming and hes got more friends here than he ever did in orre. hes a selfish bastard through and through, hes never let go of shit. everything hes ever lost to time or the world or someone else had his claw marks on it.
he can make it up to jun probably? jun doesnt have to forgive him if he doesnt want to but he can put the croagunk thing mostly behind them. jun deserves an apology for it at least.
0 notes
Text
Not me making the umpteenth post about this very panel, but, bc I have only so much to go by here ;_; this panel has some funny underlying subtext because at the first glance, this seems like a very normal, very formal conversation between two people who are more or less strangers but--
1.] Break knows her name now?
interesting that Break addresses her as Miss Lottie here, and not little miss (flirty (derogatory)) like in the Sablier arc.
so, my guess is that he really did not know her name then, because he simply followed Oz (eye of the cyclone lmao) hoping to find some Baskervilles targeting him as they did in the Lutwidge. In fact, Oz himself wanted to do the same, put himself out there as bait for the Baskervilles before deciding to venture into Sablier.
(Funny how Break shoots down Oz's idea of meeting the Baskervilles with the excuse that they might be following absolute orders and hence, useless to negotiate with. and then..... proceeds to do the same lol)
[more under the cut cuz I can't shut up about these two lol]
Also, in the same chapter, Oz lets slip Zwei's name in their conversation which Break silently registers--
all in all, the most names among the Baskervilles he would have known by the time of Sablier arc is Zwei's.
meaning, after returning from his meet-cute meeting with Lottie, he must have set about trying to find out her name. Since they don't have internet in those times, only way to get information is to manually dig around.
but... of course, that is not possible just like that, right? Break cannot ask around a Baskerville's name without raising a bunch of questions, facing trouble from the Pandora (which is why he even hid the Intention's desire from them), ntm, nobody even knew any of the Baskervilles, much less their names.
Well, nobody except Oz. Oz did get to meet the Baskervilles and see and hear them interacting. during which time, Fang and Doug did call out Lottie's name a bunch of times. so obvs Oz should know her name. however, it's up in the air whether he would remember, rather want to remember the name of the girl who stomped all over his chest?
so this means Break really went that extra mile to manipulate this information out of Oz without rousing his suspicions. Oz is too smart for his own good, mind you. The slightest misstep, he is going to figure out what Break was planning:
and from this panel, it appears he didn't want anyone (including Oz and Gil) to know what he had been planning with the Baskervilles. and now even we, the readers, will never know lol
He must have asked Oz to recount his experiences from Lutwidge for him again and got him to slip up her name, the way Oz did for Zwei. Sneaky, so sneaky!
sooooo, while everyone was busy putting together two and two about the Tragedy of Sablier and whatnot, Break here was trying to squeeze out the name of the girl he met in a dungeon someday before he went fully blind (he was fated to see her just once, he can never see her again.) lmaooo what kind of shoujo manga plot was he playing out here?
2.] Lottie expected to meet him again?
This is a little more obvious but funny (to me) nevertheless. when Break puts his sword at her throat, Lottie doesn't even blink or get startled, merely sighs and goes: oh yeah I was wondering why the hell you didn't show up?
But for some reason I felt you'd show your face here.
So, I don't think she means Break making an appearance at Yura's party. That's way too obvious. Rainsworths, and by extension, Break their important valet, are invited and are going to be present here.
No, this means she had a feeling Break would slip out of there and come out here to have a tête-à-tête with her which is just... ??? How was she so sure? Was she looking forward to it? Waiting for him to write her a letter to her hiding place in Sablier or something? Waiting for him to come there just as her lion knocked down Yura? She wasn't in the least fazed! just goes, oh yeah I was waiting for you >_>
Because logically, Break surely went radio silent the whole of the month(?), right? Owing to his untimely blindness, whatever plans he might have had for her also must have cut off. Unless he got help from another person which he didn't seem to want, esp. not in this case, which, for whatever reason, he wanted to keep a complete secret. And in spite of this radio silence, Lottie doesn't think he was bluffing or stood her up at Sablier. She actually seems quite prepared to meet him here? I wonder how many times she turned the scenario over and over in her mind since they met and parted, and got more irritated what the hell did he mean and if he did mean something, why can't he contact her again?
because, the very first thing she demands of him is an explanation of what he meant by his words at Sablier
and surprisingly, this.... surprises him? at least enough to sheathe his sword and start talking properly to her??? (a huge thing bc Break never gives a straight answer; he is always talking in riddles and annoying everyone on purpose)
#pandora hearts#xerxes break#lottie baskerville#charlotte baskerville#retrace xxxiv#retrace xlii#retrace lii#break x lottie#brottie#ph musings#anyway tl;dr#just what the hell was supposed to be going on between these two?#some kind of star crossed fate#he sees her once then never sees her again#they talk civilly once then end up never talking again#he wanted to be friends with her in life they don't but in death they do and just what gjfklklfj#mochijun really created a ship that caters to me and me alone lmaooo#no probs the actual tl;dr is#peak clown on clown communication#they are star crossed idiots tbh
20 notes
·
View notes
Text
Typical sibling behavior
#pandora hearts#elliot nightray#vanessa nightray#retrace lii#head hunter arc#may-reads-ph#i feel like out of all the nightrays vanessa really cared about elliot#she deserved better#maybe she could have understood (and accepted) leo if she were to have a more open mind about such situations? idk#everyone else were only out for the family name ready to go to any length to /preserve/ it but vanessa seemed really concerned about elliot#elliot her little bro not elliot nightray
42 notes
·
View notes
Text
Thinking about it, I find tons of similarities between Break and Lottie—
(yes this is yeeeet another of my break/lottie posts but please hear me out!!)
Both of them are:
Valets in their respective houses
Too loyal to their masters and went to the extent of killing hundreds of people for their master
Lost so many family members to an outsider (directly/indirectly because of Sablier)
Fell into the Abyss in the process of trying to keep their word to their master
Returned to the real world after a long time skip, not to their present but many years into the future
[Look at their matching expressions on emerging into the present and realizing the ramifications of their deeds i am crying they are just so precious to me ;_;]
Intent on finding out the Truth of what happened a hundred years ago (adding here: both of them are Seekers in the story. Break might hang out with the kids but he is not exactly the mentor/teacher character. Uncle Oscar is the Mentor/Teacher; Break is a Seeker)
Assumed a fake persona (in case of Break: a fake name as well) for the sake of their mission
Tend to put on the creepiest faces when others are watching and only reveal their true emotions when they think nobody is looking at them
Ruthless getting to their objective; ready to torture and force what they want out of the other party; maybe, even kill
Intelligent and perceptive and easily see through people on multiple occasions (mostly Oz (twice or thrice) and separately? They are reading through and keeping an eye on either of the brothers in their custody lol)
(Also I find it sweet that after Break passed away, Lottie took in Gil as well, Gil-Lottie were the best bros i bet,, ig after Noise's death, Lottie was the lone big sister kinda figure for the boys)
Other tidbits:
Both of them are fond of dolls! Break and Emily yes! and... remember how Echo offered that doll as a 'bribe' to Lottie to give her a few minutes to talk with Oz lol
Oh man they sure know to clean up well (how can I not add this when both of them rocked in their Head Hunter Arc attire :_: I wish we had a clear full shot of Lottie's dress; it was so gorgeous <3)
their real ages are... ambiguous. They could be anything from 20s to 90s depending on how you start, perceived age, experienced age, chronological age, technical age etc. etc. All I know is that these are old ageless people. annnnd Break is definitely younger than her, no matter how you see it lol. So him calling her "little miss/little lady" is....(ik he is flirting with her) but if they ever had a civil conversation, her reaction was gonna be something like this ahjhjgjskl
(unrelated but I love these three 💔)
ah yes this panel but make it Lottie, Break who is laughing HA HA HA HA and Lily in his arms; post-canon, nobody dies/everybody lives au that never happened ;_;
#pandora hearts#lottie baskerville#charlotte baskerville#xerxes break#break x lottie#brottie#retrace xli#retrace xl#retrace xxxii#retrace xxxviii#retrace lii#ph musings#jic#this is all just canon things anyway#i forgot other points while i was making this post#so if i remember something i will add in reblogs#if you think of something i missed feel free to tell me ^^#head hunter arc lottie and break have a special place in my heart *squeeee*#gotta add that panel everywhere gjshjgjs you have no idea how much i screamed at it while i was reading that chapter#honestly i wish i could relive all of ph again new#but once you know you know how can i read it like the first time?? ;-;
12 notes
·
View notes
Text
ahfjsjkksl I haven't yet finished processing this arc but I am stupid giggling over here bc I am so thoroughly fed with my guilty pleasure ship like mochijun is feeding me large spoonfuls of delicious spicy content *here comes the airplane aaaah*
I totally screamed when he popped out of nowhere and this happened:
(mochijun really said the next time they meet, they are gonna be dressed up so grand and pretty. this is the most dapper I have ever seen Break (out of that school boyish clown costume. finally.))
honestly, they should leave all this Pandora and Isla Yura and whatnot business and go out on a date come on he left emily behind on purpose bc she'd only be a cockblock lmao
I am gonna post every crumb of them here just watch me
("met" apparently. and ofc you did, how can I forget?)
Break is so funny; he is like: um... Miss Lottie... isn't it? We MeT iN SaBLier laST TiME, rEmEmbEr? as if he met her at a ball or something lmao. Break, you have a sword at her throat. is this any way for a gentleman to greet a lady? Lady Shirley would be so disappointed.
also, something my brain thought of: he can't see in this arc. he did not know those 'false' Baskervilles were wearing red until Lottie happens to point this out (otherwise he'd never have known). and just before this scene, it's all Isla Yura screaming like the drama queen he is; nobody called out her name or anything. then how did Break know it's her?
my hopeless shipping brain: her perfume 😏
please go on "telling her all the things" you want just forget about Reim he is simply playing catch with Lily and her doggo nothing bad happened there
(ah yes me my enemy and her six ton pet lion.)
in a second, they went from being enemies to killing enemies together. enemies to this-situation-calls-for-it allies, 30 sec speed run.
also I am cackling omg Break isn't even all that tall but the way these panels are framed he appears tall enough to give me that sweet height difference I love in my ships
side note: Lottie's dress is so pretty <3
I didn't know his hair was done up like that he has more bobby pins in his short hair than she has for her long hair lol
(well then, until next time!)
this panel tho. the amount of unspoken words ahgshfjjkkl;; the whole dilemma of is-he-gonna-come-after-me? should-I-go-after-her?
so in a matter of a few panels they went from the-sword-at-your-neck to making small talks to allying for a split second and taking down common enemies to letting-my-enemy-escape-for-now.
who knows what the future might hold? 👀
#pandora hearts#retrace lii#xerxes break#lottie baskerville#charlotte baskerville#may-reads-ph#should i tag this post as a ship post?#break x lottie#brottie#pandora hearts reboot when? i wanna see these scenes animated >.<#giggling twirling my hair lying in my bed kicking my legs#enemies to lovers 💓#i am hopeless#whenever i see enemies with this kind of dynamic my brain switches to ship!#who knows what the future might hold i say but i already know everything is ruined now#break seemed to have made up his mind about somehting the reason he let her go#maybe next time he'd have been more civil and they could have talked more ;-; is what i thought#but now they are back to full on enemies again all the baby steps towards an alliance gone to null#well anw i am full#even if i get no more interactions between them#i am happy mochijun gave me this much i didn't expect even this much at all!
8 notes
·
View notes
Text
Retrace LII is my favorite chapter in the Head Hunter Arc. Not only because ofc it has teeny crumbs of my self-indulgent ship,,, but also because.... Transitions! oh boi, the transitions from one suspenseful scene to the next and the overall tension kept me on the edge of the seat the whole while, I didn't even know when I had gotten to the end of the chapter...
See:
1] Let The Party Begin—
I legit thought it was Break who lost his head; it was impossible but my first reaction was to shout out "WHAT!"—
2] This one ;-;
⬇
3] the one where Break apprehends an unknowing Elliot
#pandora hearts#retrace lii#may-reads-ph#elliot nightray#xerxes break#isla yura arc#head hunter arc#vanessa nightray#tw: blood and gore#i have so many other smaller thrilling transitions in this chapter as well#but if i keep adding i might end up adding the entire chapter lmao#i love /love/ this chapter#yk there were many scenes where the chapter could have cut off at as a cliff hanger for the next chapter#but the author chose the best of the cliffhangers to end the chapter#48 pages of pure unadulterated thrill and tension ❤
6 notes
·
View notes
Text
PH MASTERLIST
(aka I wrote a lot of stuff about this series now trying to put all of it in one place so I find Things when I search for it)
CHAPTERS
retrace i | retrace ii | retrace iii | retrace iv | retrace v | retrace vi | retrace vii | retrace viii | retrace ix | retrace x | retrace xi | retrace xii | retrace xiii | retrace xiv | retrace xv | retrace xvi | retrace xvii | retrace xviii | retrace xix | retrace xx | retrace xxi | retrace xxii | retrace xxiii | retrace xxiv | retrace xxv | retrace xxvi | retrace xxvii | retrace xxviii | retrace xxix | retrace xxx | retrace xxxi | retrace xxxii | retrace xxxiii | retrace xxxiv | retrace xxxv | retrace xxxvi | retrace xxxvii | retrace xxxviii | retrace xxxix | retrace xl | retrace xli | retrace xlii | retrace xliii | retrace xliv | retrace xlv | retrace xlvi | retrace xlvii | retrace xlviii | retrace xlix | retrace l | retrace li | retrace lii | retrace liii | retrace liv | retrace lv | retrace lvi | retrace lvii | retrace lviii | retrace lix | retrace lx | retrace lxi | retrace lxii | retrace lxiii | retrace lxiv | retrace lxv | retrace lxvi | retrace lxvii | retrace lxviii | retrace lxix | retrace lxx | retrace lxxi | retrace lxxii | retrace lxxiii | retrace lxxiv | retrace lxxv | retrace lxxvi | retrace lxxvii | retrace lxxviii | retrace lxxix | retrace lxxx | retrace lxxxi | retrace lxxxii | retrace lxxxiii | retrace lxxxiv | retrace lxxxv | retrace lxxxvi | retrace lxxxvii | retrace lxxxviii | retrace lxxxix | retrace xc | retrace xci | retrace xcii | retrace xciii | retrace xciv | retrace xcv | retrace xcvi | retrace xcvii | retrace xcviii | retrace xcix | retrace c | retrace ci | retrace cii | retrace ciii | retrace civ
some Serious posts: may-reads-ph | some Fun Posts: ph musings
MY ANALYSIS POSTS
1.] Lottie | (add: re: real reason why Lottie changed sides in the last arc)
2.] Noise | (add)
3.] Alice(s)
4.] Lacie
5.] Glen, Children of Misfortune, Juries and the Baskervilles | (Part 1 : Glen, Jury and Knowledge of Abyss) | (Part 2 : Choosing a side) | (Part 3 : Oswald and his sin of passivity) | (Part 4 : Oswald and Lacie)
6.] Core of the Abyss and "her" Children of "Misfortune"
#ph masterlist#may-reads-ph#gotta go thro my may-reads-ph tag to see why i completely skipped over some chapters 🤔#will write more analysis on other characters then i will add those links here#for now i am in semi-hiatus anyway too much rl stuff to handle 😭#my q keeps running with no tags plus i have no idea what is saved in my drafts either lol
9 notes
·
View notes
Last Seen Blogs
vergilsangel
Vergil's Angel
benfintigo
aim for the sun.
menacing-pfeffernusse
Well this is a mess.
n00b-knitter
Knit Happens!
artoffvckyou
broken