LINKDING

Summary: <blockquote>“And I said something like, ‘If you think it’s so easy, why don’t you try?’” Quan Yizhen stood up so quickly that his chair clattered over. “Yes!” he cried, hands slammed flat on the table in his excitement. “Yes, Shixiong, that’s what you said! Did you remember?!” “…No, it just…” Yin Yu stammered, unprepared for that reaction. “Isn’t that a normal way to respond?” He doesn’t think that way, Xie Lian had told him. He scrambled for a better answer, gesturing for Quan Yizhen to sit back down. How did one explain sarcasm to someone like this? / When Yin Yu returns to the world as a ghost, he’s forgotten everything about his former life. Has he been given a chance to start over again, or will the pain of the past just catch up with him?</blockquote>

<blockquote>“Your Highness,” Feng Xin says carefully, “what do you…how much do you remember?” “Clearly, he remembers enough,” Mu Qing snaps. He waves an emphatic hand. “He’s happy to see us, isn’t he?” “Ah, it’s really alright, I remember most things,” Xie Lian says, placating. “I just don’t…” His eyes skitter nervously towards Hua Cheng and then away again; the tension in Hua Cheng’s shoulders, in his entire body, stretches closer to snapping. It feels like every muscle is straining under the weight of this, like every cell in his body is rebelling against this…this horror. Still, he manages to say what Xie Lian apparently cannot: “He just doesn’t remember me.”</blockquote> ➤ yessss

<blockquote>Some parts of the past, you don't tell people about, even if it's relevant to later behavior. Not until it gets thrown in everyone's faces. A Xie Lian in a very bad headspace who wears no shackles and a Wu Ming with a fancier saber have no idea what is happening. A very different sort of Amnesia Extra</blockquote>

<blockquote>Every morning he wakes up, and forgets.</blockquote> ➤ this is soooooo good ➤ SPOILER: the premise of the fic is: "What would Xie Lian have done in the name of atoning for his regrets, and how might that have been taken advantage of."

<blockquote>When Hua Cheng loses all his memories of Xie Lian, afflicted by a tricky curse, there’s only one way to get them back: Xie Lian has to get Hua Cheng to kiss him. It shouldn’t be too difficult, right? Xie Lian has a plan. --- “Greetings, Chengzhu,” Xie Lian said. “Apologies for the intrusion. Actually, I’ve been gifted to you by the heavens as a…” His voice caught. “I mean, to—” Xie Lian’s cheeks suddenly felt hot, and his palms grew damp under the rope binding his arms together. Beneath Hua Cheng’s piercing stare from above, he lost his cool. “As your,” he stammered. “Um, as—well—if you want, I’ve been sent to you as—I’m here to be your—”</blockquote>