Much to Yue’s profound disappointment, the official announcement of his pregnancy went perfectly fine. The only show of anger from Mark was the fact that he didn’t even show up.

“I’ve won every ‘battle’ and yet I’m not satisfied.” Yue sighed, whining to Mai about how Mark hadn’t made any sort of move.

“Maybe he’s given up? It would be irrational for him to touch you. His only move right now would be to reach out to Viktor to convince him he’s being possessed or something.” Mai replied after thinking for a second.

“That’d be incredibly foolish. Viktor has made his point very clear.” Yue rolled his eyes.

They changed the subject shortly afterward, the end of the year was coming so they were discussing how Mai’s pregnancy was going so far as she was past the halfway point already.

“Well…we’ll both meet our little ones next year, we have to get through the end-of-the-year festivities first though.” Mai giggled.

“Yeah…Elena and Natasha’s birthdays, the yearly meeting of the 4, and many holidays…” Yue murmured,” It’s definitely going to be a full season.” 

“Speaking of the 4…Aylin hasn’t been around much has she?” Mai murmured with a look of worry.

Yue flinched as he was reaching for his teacup. That was certainly something that was still fresh in his mind, but it wasn’t something the 4 had disclosed even to their spouses yet…

—

“Where are you going?” Viktor asked, groggily grabbing Yue’s waist when he suddenly got up from their bed in the middle of the night.

“...Go back to sleep, Vitya.” Yue looked over at him, his eyes glowing as he placed his hand over Viktor’s eyes. He usually wouldn’t be able to get away with this little sleeping spell but Viktor was already half asleep and they were in the temple so his power was significantly stronger.

He was sure this was a problem for all of the 4 as their time zones had them still deep into the night. He was surprised when he heard Aylin’s voice in his ear while he was dreaming. It called to him and woke him with certainty.

“Let us meet. Just us 4.”

Yue knew the gravity of such a private call, he moved silently to the teleport pad in the temple and went to the central temple.

Aylin and Elena were already there— he could feel their presence and vaguely hear their voices. Huy teleported in shortly after Yue arrived. Yue looked at him and they nodded at one another before following their voices.

“But you are so young! Aylin, what of your children?”

On the balcony, Aylin stood, looking out at the dark night sky as Elena spoke to her. She was eerily calm and Elena was uncharacteristically erratic and emotional.

“What is going on?” Yue’s voice came out a lot softer than he intended, he didn’t mean to sound so vulnerable but his mind was connecting the dots before anything was explained and it was tripping him up.

Huy on the other hand stayed silent. The situation was so vague reminiscent of watching his (Mai’s) parents argue that he kind of fell into his instinct and shrunk away.

“...I’m breaking my pact of immortality,” Aylin said and looked at Yue and Huy, getting straight to the point while avoiding Elena’s eyes.

“What?” Yue wasn’t surprised, he just didn’t want to believe it.

When someone who has been immortal for a long time—like Aylin who has been immortal since her early twenties—breaks the pact, their aging will happen very quickly. They will reach the age they are chronologically but they will also generally age a lot faster from then on too because, in essence, to break a long-lasting pact of immortality, is suicide.

Fei Xiang broke his pact of immortality for a few weeks after his father passed on. Chronologically he was in his 80s at that point but physically he was 22. In those few weeks, he aged to his late 40s where he decided to stay.

“...If you haven’t noticed…I’m not one of you. I’m an incarnation… not the real white tiger.” Aylin explained.

It made sense, Aylin didn’t go to the scale with them, she didn’t meet the incarnations or gain new powers…she really wasn’t “the real one”.

“Why does it matter? Why do you have to die!” Elena exclaimed, grabbing her arm.

“You wouldn’t understand,” Aylin murmured.

Yue was going to try and de-escalate things as he noticed that something sort of snapped within Elena but Huy held him back.

“Why do you always say that?!” Elena exclaimed. That was exactly what a former white tortoise said to her.

“Because it's true! None of you know what it’s like! You don’t know what it’s like to feel that this world isn’t meant for you.” 

Yue’s first instinct was to interject, to explain that for most of his life, he had never truly ‘belonged’ amongst the people in this world but he knew that wasn’t what she meant. In his gut, he knew it was something deeper than being an outcast.

“I-”

“No. you can’t understand that. You wouldn’t know what to do if you didn’t know you would live forever.” Aylin said and sighed.

“You are whole, you are complete, I am just a part of a whole. It didn’t make sense to me for so long but now I understand…”

Elena went silent from then on.

“I’m sure I won't die immediately but… the time will come sooner than you think. I just ask that you find the next incarnation or the real one as soon as possible.” Aylin said and nodded to Yue and Huy. She left soon afterward and Elena just stood there silently for a while.

Yue glanced at Huy and whispered that It was okay if he left. He stayed by Elena’s side for a while.

“...I know very well that living forever isn’t for everyone. Things like these…watching friends and loved ones pass on isn’t for everyone…believe me I know…but…” Elena mumbled.

“...Well…it’s not like you’ll never see her again. We always have the scale.” Yue tried to comfort her.

Elena turned to him with a slightly happier expression but still unhappy. She stroked Yue’s hair and smiled.

“Go back home, Yue. I’ll be okay.” 

Yue was hesitant but he did as he was told.

–

Yue had been thinking about immortality for a while since then and he was sure that everyone else was too. Especially Huy.

Viktor was likely to reach immortality by the time Yue did and it was unlikely that he’d ever want to break it, practically his whole family was immortal…But Mai was a different case…

He wasn’t entirely sure how Mai felt about immortality and he wasn’t sure he really wanted to ask…especially not while she was pregnant.

 —

“Would you tell me your story?”

Yi was a little shocked that Yue was asking.

“...like my life’s story?” He asked with a raised eyebrow. Yue was cultivating just so he could ask this question it seemed.

“Ideally, I’d ask everyone their stories but…You and I are the most alike.” Yue murmured.

“That’s on purpose. I am your core, the first piece of the puzzle that is Azure Dragon—you are the completed puzzle.” Yi explained.

“Anyway, I’ll tell you my story. I will say… It’s similar to your own in some ways.”