For tonight, the puppet was free from its master,
he was free to watch her.
"Ling Yao, my twelfth son, you have found the secret to immorality?"
"Yes father"
"Give it to me."
The greedy young prince gulped. If his father, the Emperor of Xing, lived forever, he would not get the throne. Power, Honor and Riches would slip through his fingers like soft sand. All that he had worked for would have been in vain. The arm that Lan Fan had sacrificed, her grandfather's life, would have been for nothing.
He drank the philosopher's stone.
He thought he was doing it for his people, the people of Xing, so that he could make a change.
He convinced himself that preventing his father from laying hands on immortality would be for the greater good. To ensure that the sacrifices that his companions had made for him would not have gone to waste.
(In reality, he was still the adolescent greedy prince he was before he left the outer walls of Xing. In fact, it might be fair to say his was greedier than before)
"Welcome back, Greed!" Ling exclaimed, a wide boyish smiled plastered onto his face.
"... Who the heck are you, you squinty eyed brat?"
The old Greed was gone. The Greed, the one Ling came to know and accept, was a thing of the past. This Greed was fierce, he was determined, and he would make no compensations for anyone. He wanted the world, and for that, compromise was not an option.
Shackled, his soul was trapped within his own body. Emperor Ling was but a vassal to Greed. Greed took full control of him, never backing down once.
"This was not what I wanted"
"Who cares about what YOU want, I am Greed, all I concern myself with is what MY heart desire"
It was only when he touched her, it was only then did Greed make a slight exception.
Ling was able to take control of his eyesight as Greed touched her.
They say 'eyes are the reflection of your soul". The first time, Lan Fan had thought she had her young master back. She cried, tears of joy, tears which quickly turned into tears of pain as he continued to touch her. She begged him to stop, but he had no control over his body. He was made to watch her, watch what the monster was doing to one he loved.
Time after time, she had become an empty husk, lifeless as Greed roamed Ling's (his own) hands around her body. Caressed her cheek, trailed his tongue over the collar bones.
And time after time, he cried. The regretful prince shed tears. Tears of regret, knowing the pain the woman he loved was going through, and he had no power to help her (He was useless), and tears of longing, for he knew that Greed knew that he wanted to touch her too, but Greed would never let his guard down. She always understood those tears he had shed, his Princess, and she always wiped them off his smooth, porcelain face, a gesture of love (but one that he could not feel) and smiled reassuringly as his hands, under Greed's control, roamed the terrains of her body.
She was always giving, and he was always taking. This cycle, which would span out into a lifetime.
Maybe this was his lifelong punishment, for being the selfish and greedy young prince. A life, subjected to being a puppet.
xxx
Hi! This is my first attempt at writing some LingFan Fanfiction. Not a fan of GreedLing/LanFan, but I was inspired by Taken, by SorainaSkye, which I found as I was sieving through the LingFan archives here. Great stuff, highly recommend you to check it out :)
Please R&R!