“Oi. Why did you stand up for me back there?” Pang Zi asked quietly.

“Well… you saved me. I couldn’t just watch them say you did something wrong, could I? That would be insulting both you and myself,” Tian Long replied with a light chuckle.

The two sat on a round hill, painted green with grass. The 12 year old children sat beneath the cool shadow of the tree, which trunk they leaned against.

“… You didn’t have to do that, you know. My old man, he just gets riled up all the time.”

“Yeah? I can see who you take from, then. You were like a demon when fighting those delinquents, although I couldn’t see very well at the time.”

“Heh,” Pang Zi laughed and suddenly threw his arm around Tian Long’s neck, pulling him into a headlock. “Who told you to compare me to that old bastard, huh?!”

“O-Ow! I’m sorry!”

Met with Tian Long’s pleas for help, Pang Zi grinned and eased his grip a bit.

“I take back what I said earlier about you being a coward.”

Tian Long looked up and blinked. “Huh?”

“Look… I don’t say this to many people, but regardless how physically weak you may be, I respect you,” Pang Zi said, turning away and scratching the back of his head as if embarrassed. “Most other 12 year olds would never be able to talk back against my parents in that situation. So, uh… thanks.”

Tian Long was confused for a moment, then broke into a smile. The first, genuine smile he had since his grandmother died a year ago.

“No problem. Consider it repayment for saving me.”

“By the way… why were you in that section of the District anyway?” Pang Zi asked, curious. “No one but delinquents like those guys goes to those slums.”

“Well… I was on the verge of death when the leader of that gang found me,” Tian Long explained. “My grandmother had just passed away and I was left without a caretaker. In order to repay my debt, they forced me to steal from others and use my innocent ‘young child’ facade as a tool to trick my victims.”

“That’s… disgusting,” Pang Zi said truthfully, face contorted in annoyance.

“Yeah… but yesterday, the target they asked me to steal from was an old woman who reminded me of my own grandmother,” Tian Long continued, looking off into the distance sadly. “That warm smile of hers… I just couldn’t bring myself to do it.”

“Huh… I see. So they beat you?”

Tian Long nodded slowly. The two descended into a tranquil silence.

“It must’ve been hard,” Pang Zi said after a while. “Surrounded by people who don’t even care about your well-being and only seeing you as a tool.”

“Yeah… I was… really lonely.”

“Well.”

Pang Zi swung his arm around Tian Long’s shoulders and pulled him close in a brother-like embrace.

“Pang Zi…?”

“You’re not alone anymore, buddy. You’re not alone.”

– Present Day –

While everyone else on the team went back to the dormitories to rest, Tian Long alone took a detour under the lunar moonlight.

He made his way far outside the squadron grounds and up a certain hill. The grass was not green but black, covered by the shadow of night. His footsteps were weak, his body tired. But all that was nothing compared to the pain, the aching in his heart.

Finally stopping before a dead tree at the top of the hill, Tian Long knelt down in front of the now barren plant, feeling his eyes turn wet with tears.

“Hey, Pang Zi,” he whispered. “Do you remember what you told me at this same exact place, eight years ago?”

No response. Of course, there was no response. After all, he was talking to a tree.

“You said I wasn’t alone anymore. And I suppose… you were right. For eight years.”

Tian Long suddenly smashed the dirt, letting his emotions spill out completely.

“BUT WHAT ABOUT NOW?! YOU’RE DEAD… I’M ALONE AGAIN!”

Tears flowed down his face as he clenched his fists tightly on the dirt, gently meeting the ground with his forehead. His body trembled with emotion, a mixture of anger and grief. And perhaps… a little bit of regret. Guilt.

“It’s not fair…” He croaked quietly. “It’s just not fair… how could you leave me behind like this… how could you leave me alone again…”

“I knew you would come here,” a soft voice suddenly said from behind him.

Tian Long stopped and tilted his head slightly to see the patriarch Lei Feng standing there, face solemn.

“P-Patriarch…?”

Lei walked closer and knelt down beside Tian Long, placing a steady hand on his shoulder.

“I watched you two grow up. I know just how close the two of you were. That kid… he was always a troublesome one. Arrogant, egotistic, and violent… but also good-hearted and kind, in his own way.”

“…” Tian Long fell silent, staring at the now-dead peach tree before him.

“He was a good kid. I am just as saddened as you are to have lost him. However… if you think you are alone now that he’s gone, that is where you are wrong.”

“H-Huh…?”

“If there was one thing Pang Zi wanted to teach you… it was that this sect is your new family. Not just him alone, but this entire squadron,” Lei explained quietly as the night breeze blew past the two’s skins. “While your closest friend may have gone to a better place now, the rest of us are still here. And we have your back.”

Gently patting Tian Long’s shoulder again twice, Lei turned around and began walking away.

“Just remember, Tian Long… you’re not alone.”

His words seemed to resonate with something deep within Tian Long’s heart, as if a faint memory had just replayed itself in his ears. Strangely, although he knew it was Lei who spoke those words, in his heart, he felt as if it was Pang Zi telling him this.

Taking a deep breath, he stood up from the ground and rested his forehead against the bark of the tree.

“I know, Pang Zi. I know.”