The three continued a warm conversation until the two emperors came to sit with them, Shi sitting by Jace and Qui by Keith. The two friends stared at each other.

“Hold on im realising something, im a descendant of edgelord here. And your… a descendant of Shi…” Jace mumbled the last bit. 

He went silent before anyone could react, he lunged across the table at Qui, tackling him down and screaming. Keith got up but was held back by Ava. The two were getting physical, dark mist forming from Qui while Jace continued his attacks. He never was violent, only being like this once when his stepfather tried to beat his mother.

It didn’t take long for Shi to find a chance to pick up Jace, holding his raging form off the ground away from the other. It seemed he had calmed down until Jace turned on Shi, his rage refueled. 

“You’ve ruined my life already with your damned curse and I don't need your help!” Jace then dispersed in a cloud of mist, breaking out of the dream-like world followed by the other two. Jace had gotten up, picking up a vase and threw it against the wall. 

The other two took to trying to get him restrained but he whirled around, fist flying to meet Keith’s chin. “I said dont touch me.” He growled, leaving Keith on the floor as he walked out of the shrine only to fall to his knees outside and covering his head.

He didn’t want this. He didn’t want to lose someone to a jerk that ruined his life. He was angry. He had a right to be angry. No, not angry, furious. He was burning with rage and now… the fire had burnt out, he was in pain. 

Jace was conflicted.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

It had been a week since the incident at the shrine, Ava having come by to try and coax Jace out of his room yet he never moved once, the silver amulet laying on the floor by a broken mirror. Jace laid on his bed, holding a large plush fox, one of the gifts Keith had given him for his birthday. 

The day he decided to get up and move, he found the amulet gone and within an hour, Ava came in, holding it in her hand. “Alright, we gotta talk now. If you're interested, there is a way to keep Keith safe.”

The sentence was enough to make Jace look up, moving his legs to let her sit. She sat down and began to explain, handing him the silver amulet. Lost to most of the story, Qui cursed Shi as well. Apparently, the two used to be friends as kids but during their early teen years, they began to fight. Rumors came up and their relationship shattered. The day Shi was to be executed, they had a final argument where the other cursed the other, a two way curse of the same level and details.

In Keith’s problem, he was turning 18 in 3 months, Jace in 6. If he was able to find common ground and agreed to the so-called marriage, Qui would lose. The curse sent by Qui would have no effect. 

“Jace 3 months and Keith would be gone. If we can fix it by then, the edgelord would lose.” Ava said and stood up.

Jace held the silver amulet in his hand, finding it difficult to speak after crying uncontrollably for a week. He let go of the bear plush and lifted the amulet over his head, going to hug the bear plush again. 

Once she left, he laid down, curling back up into a ball. He didn’t know how he’d deal with it. He went from having 6 months to 3 months. It took a year for Ava to become friends with Jace, how was he going to break that barrier to befriend an emperor…

Jace called back to the day his father died, during a plane crash. He remembered talking to his father on the phone, his voice was shaky and terrified but he had sung to a crying 4 year old Jace. He calmed down, because he trusted him and once he died… he felt betrayed, he was alone without the man that taught him how to play instruments, who’d make kimchi for him on Fridays.

That was his barrier, his problem. He couldn’t trust anyone because he didn’t want to go through the pain of losing them. And that exact feeling was happening with him and Keith. Now he had no choice. He took a deep breath, drifting back into sleep.
He found himself on the ground this time, not floating. He stood up, rubbing his face. He walked to the tree, sitting down. Shi was nowhere in sight. He sighed, beginning to sing the same song his dad sang for him long ago.