It was not hard for him to stand in his bed and climb over. True, he had to get his nerves up. The whole thing was exhilarating, exciting, and his adrenaline was going a mile a minute, but when his feet touched the cold floor of his room, and his body was on the other side of the bars, the side of freedom, it all was worth it.

An accomplished smile broke out on his face, he stood there for the better part of five minutes, hands still gripping the bars, while smiling to himself.

When he finally remembered why he was out of his bed, he turned to the clock that read 5:34 a.m.

He tipped to the door, pressing his ear against it for any sounds. All was silent, as he crept the door open hoping it wouldn’t crack and make a sound.

He needed a bag, with food, maybe a flashlight, and a cover…things that would protect Lian on her journey.

Slowly descending the stairs, he made his way to the closet and pulled out his fathers black back pack, standing higher on the tip of his toes, he pulled down his old quilt. He remembered his mom making it for him when he first moved to this new house, being wrapped inside of the warm quilt was one of the times he truly felt safe…Lian would like it. Stuffing a notepad and pen in the bag was the last thing needed from the closet.

The rest of what he needed was in the dark kitchen. Grabbing six water bottles, packaged granola bars, fruit, and instant noodles, he threw it all in the bag, careful not to make any sound.

His last feat was opening the door and leaving.

The door knob getting closer to his hand made everything else seem to stand still. His senses heightened, it seemed he could hear every sound his own body made in the dense silence.

Pulling the door open and stepping outside, the cool air prickled his skin.

Walking down the steps, bare feet touching the grass, linen pajamas doing nothing to block the cold air, there was no turning back now.

Turning to look at his house, he smiled again, before running away…

~~~~~~

The willow tree looked even more daunting now then it ever did, everything was a shadow. Yixing had never felt as nervous walking the outside at night, it was his first time. The sounds of the creatures, the sound of the rushing waters of the stream, even the sound of the wind was different.

It all felt so real, so tangible.

In the horizon, there was the faintest glow of light, a hue of orange and pink, he knew this to be the sunrise, but he had never seen one in person before.

Staring at it, he froze in his steps, chills growing down his arms. The sight was magnificent.

"You haven’t seen anything yet," blew in the soft voice of the reason he was out there. His head lowered from the skyline to come into eye contact with the stiff form of Lian.

"Why are you here so early?" Yixing spoke, "I was going to leave you a note, to not wait for me," he explained.

"You told me to meet you here," she said softly.

He did?

"When did I?" he whispered, not remembering saying such words.

"I felt it, I felt you telling me to be here, so I came to meet you," she said slowly staring into his eyes.

He walked closer to her, looking down at her bare shoulders and arms, "Aren’t you cold?" he asked watching her flower patterned white dress blow in the wind.

"Not if you are here," she whispered touching his face gently. He gave her a tight lipped smile, showing his dimple as she caressed it, smiling to herself, "Let’s go watch the sunrise," she said grabbing his hand and leading him to the edge of the willow tree so they can see the skyline.

He put the bag down next to him and lowered himself onto the cool grass, Lian sat close to him, laying her head on his shoulder, "I would not have came if you hadn’t told me," she said lowly.

"Can you feel when I am thinking about you?" he asked laying his head on top of hers.

She reached for his hand and tangled her fingers around his, "Yes I do, you make me feel it, every time its always you," she played with his fingers as she spoke, "I wouldn’t know how to act if you didn’t tell me, or how to speak if I didn’t know your thoughts, I am so close to you," she murmured.

"Too close," came his lowly reply.

"Shhh, let’s watch the sunrise, such words can be dealt with later," her grip tightened around his fingers.

It was beautiful, tiny hints of extravagant shades of orange and pink appeared almost like a fiery flame, tinting the sky blue. The red enveloped everything, nothing was left unscathed. Yixing’s eyes burnt from the magnificence of colors he only ever heard about. The shades blended making a multicolored sky, colors with unexplainable splendor that have no name in Yixing’s vocabulary.

His mouth parted at the brilliance, as he felt his face warming from the sun’s rays shining down on his skin. Closing his eyes, he took a deep breath; everything was fresh and so…different.

"Yixing, you won’t run away with me will you?" came the small voice of Lian. She was picking at his linen shirt sleeve as if nervous of what his reply would be.

"You know I am not one to break promises," he mentioned. She looked up at him.

"You never promised, you said you would think about it…I can feel what your thinking." Eyes downcast she let out a breath.

"I don’t want to hurt you Lian, but I need to breathe slowly. Everything I am doing is so new, I can’t just take it all in, in one gulp. Running away is too much, my parents, they wouldn’t know what to do," he explained.

"They would know what to do," she said firmly, "they would hurt you! You know this, they would hurt you so bad," she clenched his arm.

"Which way is right, which way is wrong? Lian, I can’t put this in a correct way because there is none, but we have to move on, you know we are headed separate ways," he turned towards her kneeling to be on eye level with her.

"Yixing, you can’t stay here! You have to come with me, don’t you know that? You do, don’t you?" she said.

"Your too close Lian, too close to me, you gave me more than what I can return, you deserve so much better and I have nothing to give to you, you have to leave without me," he pleaded with her.

"Why? Why can’t you give me something? Anything?" she spoke desperately.

"Mother needs me," he whispered breaking eye contact with her, "how can I take care of you when I can’t take care of myself enough to please mother?"

"You will never please mother!" she screamed at him, "Don’t you understand? Her happiness comes from being around you all the time! You will never be able to do the things you want without piggybacking your mother along at all times!" she shook her head at his naivety.

"It’s why I can’t love you," he spoke, holding back his tears, her true words slapping his bare face.

"Yixing," she cupped his face, "was I ever real to you?" she asked.

His tears pooled in his eyes upon seeing her sad ones. He had to be strong if not for himself, for her. She had to leave.

"I packed this bag for your journey," he started, "it has water, and some snacks, but most importantly it has my favorite blanket. Whenever you feel in danger or lonely, wrap yourself in it and you will feel safe, I promise," he painfully forced himself to smile to her.

She looked up into his watery eyes; pain was all that was reflected in them.

"Thank you," she whispered.

~~~~~~

"Why is it taking Yixing so long to come down for breakfast?" Haodong asked his chirper wife. She was very excited about telling her son the news of him not being allowed out anymore, so excited that she didn’t notice his prolonged absence.

"I, I don’t know," she said looking towards the stairs.

"Did you unlock his bars?" he questioned her with a raised eyebrow making her immediately smile at her forgetfulness.

"Oh silly me! I completely forgot, I was so excited this morning," she said walking towards the stairs.

Haodong brightly smiled at he happiness of his wife. Anything he could give her to make her this excited, he would. That was his whole obligation as the husband of Zhang Xifan. To protect, love and cherish…

"HAODONG!" Xifan screeched reached the ears of her unsuspecting mate. No words could describe how fast he was out of his chair, knocking it backwards, and up the stairs to see his wife bent over the bed throwing the blankets and sheets about as if searching for something that was not there.

"What is it!" he rushed breathing hard.

"Yi, Yixing! Where? Where is my YIXING!" she shrieked fighting with the mattress.

Haodong’s eyes hardened at the sight. His son was not where he tucked him last night and his wife was not in the happy place she was ten seconds ago.

"ANSWER ME!" she screamed spinning to face the hard eyes of her husband. He slowly glared into her distraught fiery orbs, before turning on his heel and heading down the steps and out the front door, with his wife hot on his heels.

~~~~~~~

Yixing gazed into the soft eyes of Lian who was cupping his face gently, "You really won’t be coming?" she asked again tilting her head to the side.

He looked down grinning slightly at her question again, feeling ashamed that he couldn’t say yes, but the overpowering thought of leaving his mother, who obviously needed him, alone would not be pushed aside.

He froze when he felt something so dreamlike and warm fall over his dimpled cheek. He looked up slowly at the retreating face of Lian, had she just kissed him?

His eyes widened at the thought, before feeling and seeing her close the space between their faces again. Stiffening from the close proximity, he held his breath, just to feel the tickling breath of hers on his upper lip.

Eyes still wide open, the warmth of soft clouds pressed against his lips, looking directly at her closed eyelids, he could feel the haziness of her fingers grasping the front of his shirt, pulling him closer.

He couldn’t breathe, not with the feel of her sensual lips messaging his, his eyes fluttered close for those final moments of mind distracting dizziness.

Finally responding to the kiss, he wrapped his dead arms around her minuscule frame, feeling her molding in with his body.

Yixing, like clay, molded her to fit perfectly with him, every touch, every breath, every sound, was like a potters, fixing something so beautiful that only he can have.

"YIXING!" a far away voice shrilled, sounding horribly like his mothers.

His eyes almost immediately popped open, as he hurriedly detached his lips from the exquisiteness in front of him.

"Mother," he heard her whisper. She looked up at him before climbing to her feet and running under the willow to the other side, "they are coming for you Yixing!"

"No," he said quietly, quickly looking at his watch noticing it was past time for him to be at breakfast. He was suppose to be back way before then, but he was distracted.

Lian…

Quickly he got to his feet grabbing the packed bag and ran towards her frame. Reaching her, he grabbed her shoulders and turned her around to face him, looking over her shoulder towards the advancing figures in the distance.

"You have to go! They can’t see you here!" he said gripping her arms.

"You have to come with me Yixing!" she fussed again, "Don’t stay here; they are angry they will punish you!"

"I can’t leave," he mumbled, tears finally dropping from the corner of his eyes, "I can’t do it, you have to run," he said firmly.

He looked over his shoulder, they were only a few meters away now, "Go! Please go!" he yelled.

"Yixing," she whined, touching his face one last time, with a pleading look.

He took a shaky breath, listening to his parents steps get closer and closer, she turned from him finally and started to run. Faster and faster, she slowly disappeared.

"RUN LIAN! RUN! Please," he wept, dropping to his knees, the footsteps of his overbearing parents crushing down nearer to him, "get out of here…" he whispered dejectedly.

"Yixing!" the gruff voice of his father boomed, his hands clamping down around the hair of his broken son, "You ungrateful brat! Who was that! Huh? Who is Lian! ANSWER ME!" he screamed into Yixing’s hair.

His head was snapped up to meet the dead eyes of his father, he trembled under such pressure, his own hands rising to his father’s forearm, slightly gripping at the hairy flesh of the man he calls ‘dad’.

"I’m sorry," he whimpers, "I’m sorry," his eyes pleading for the man above him to understand, that he didn’t mean to be this way.

"Drag him back to the house," came in the calm voice of his mother. His eyes widen at the emotionless sound of her voice.

He has gone too far, and he knows it…

"Please!" he calls, the grip of his hands tightening around his fathers forearm, begging to be released from the harsh hold the man had on his hair, "I’m sorry, please," scrambling, he revolted, wanting to be unconstrained, jostling for something that would not happen.

Xifan looked at her sons appearance, bare feet, clad in his thin pajamas, bed hair still wrapped around the fingers of Haodong, face stricken wet with tears.

He had tried to leave her.

"You pack a bag and try to run!" she screamed picking up the discarded bag.

Yixing barely being able to turn his head to see his mother, widen his eyes at the bag in his mother’s thin fingers.

"No, no!" he screams upon seeing that Lian left the bag. How would she be safe? She left the water and snacks, and his blanket! How would she think of him without his blanket?

"Donot scream at your mother!" Haodong yelled into the ears of Yixing, "You need to be taught a lesson! How can you attempt to do something so cruel to my wife?" he continued still pulling Yixing by his hair.

"I didn’t mean it! I wasn’t trying to-"

"Shut up!" his mother shrieked, interrupting him, "How could someone so loved and protected try to hurt the person that cares for them the most?"

"Mom!" Yixing screamed as he was tugged up the steps and pushed in through the front door of their home.

How did they get here so fast?

"Didn’t I tell you not to scream at your mother?" Haodong’s voice boomed as he roughly grabbed Yixings wrist and pulled him towards the cellar opening the door that led to darkness.

"Father please! You’re hurting me!" he pleaded, yanking at his arm his father had a grip on. Haodong turned around wide eyed at the feel of Yixing resisting him.

"Did this Lian turn you into a rebel!" his father yelled closing the space between their faces, his hot breath washing over Yixing.

It felt so real, and dangerous. Not so fascinating as Lian’s, not as different.

"What did she do, huh?" his father continued upon no response from Yixing, "Did she throw herself at you? Please you a little? That’s why you were rushing to get out of this house and away from your mother so some tramp can play with you!" he screamed making Yixing eyes water at the sound of his father defaming Lian’s sweet nature.

"Don’t talk about her like that!" Yixing yelled desperately, yanking his wrist free from his fathers grip.

Haodong stood shocked at the temper his son was displaying to him.

"You ungrateful little monster!" Xifan whispered approaching her son, slapping him repeatedly on the back, "You ungrateful monster!" she shouted continuously slapping him.

He turned to face her, trying to brace himself from her assault stepping backwards away from her in defense, "Mother please! Stop it!"

"You like seeing me hurt! You enjoy it! You yell at you father and me! You ingrate!" she continued slapping him across his arms and head.

He stepped back one last time before yelling ‘mother’ again, but this time for another reason. Not wanting her to stop her assaults, but wanting her to protect him.

The cellar door remained opened and through the haze and shock of these turn of events, Yixing did not realize he had stepped back through the door, losing his balance…

"Yixing!" Xifan screamed, cupping her hands around .

Haodong came from his stiffened shock, running towards the cellar steps as the sound of a limp body tumbled down the wooden rectangles.

"Yixing!" He yelled as he heard his wife drop behind him, immobilized and crying into her hands.

Running down the dark cellar steps, he nearly tripped on the lone leg that hung, caught in-between the spaces of the steps, twisted at an odd angle.

"Yixing!" he yelled again, flicking on the light, but freezing upon sight of his son.

There he lay, hand splayed across his chest, while the other was stretched out away from his body, one leg tucked between the steps while the other lay out limply. Eyes still open, staring at the ceiling above him, as blood pooled in a halo around his head, matting into his hair.

"No!" Haodong yelled dropping to his knees and scrambling over to his son, his lifeless son. Scooping him up into his arms he whispered his name softly, repeatedly with the same response…nothing.

"Yixing," he tries again, "Yixing please, answer me," he cries, rocking back and forth.

"Xifan! Call an ambulance! Please Xifan!" he yelled only to be responded to with a death curdling shrill.

The sound of his wife at the sight of their dead son was enough to make bile rise in his throat, he watched as she held onto the door of the cellar with all of her might trying to stay upright but failing as her legs crumbled beneath her.

"What have I done?" she whispered as her eyes lost sense of direction. They wandered everywhere before landing back on her husband. His shirt and arms stained in the blood of her only son, his eyes still open, staring lifelessly at the ceiling, she stopped moving upon sight of him again, her breathing stopped.

Everything stopped, it all seemed different to her, as her vision blackened and she saw nothing…

~~~~~~

Many pieces had to be put together the weeks that came after the accident. An investigation had to be taken place, and people had to be questioned.

Though the authorities came to the conclusion it all was an accident, many people were still wondering who this Lian was.

There was not another person living around them for miles, and the other scattered individuals were either retired couples whose kids were grown, stayed in the city and had families of their own or lonely souls whom had no kids.

No one ever reported of seeing a girl walking around. Even though Haodong and Xifan had never seen the girl personally, they did know it had to be someone young.

No one could find her, however. Her name was not heard of nor was she ever seen.

One day, upon a walk to go visit Yixing’s grave under the willow tree he visited so much, Xifan’s eyes landed on a carving in the bark she hadn’t noticed before.

‘Lian, the graceful willow’

She traced her hand against the carving, wondering if this could help the police out in finding this girl.

Little did she know, but it did. The carving took them back to the previous owner of the house; it led them to find that the owner planted the Peking willow, and that he named it Lian before he moved away.

This did nothing to help the police find the girl, but the autopsy reports did…

A request from the morgue called Haodong and Xifan out to visit him with a report that was conducted on their son’s body.

He explained his request before asking them to sit and turning out the lights he held up a scan of two brains, one with the marking Zhang Yixing, while the other was marked ‘prototype’.

He explained many titles to them, none of which they understood until he said something that caught their attention, "Due to several lines of converging evidence, many scientist believe that dopamine is the cause of many schizophrenic symptoms…"

"What?" Xifan said interrupting the doctor, "Did you say schizophrenic?" she gulped.

"Well, dopamine pathways in the brain are highly specialized and may influence different kinds of thinking or behavior. People with high levels of dopamine in certain parts of the brain may also experience psychotic symptoms or paranoid thinking, symptoms of schizophrenia," he explained thoroughly.

"Are you saying our Yixing was mental?" Haodond said with a stiff voice.

"Well, I am not saying that sir; it is what my autopsy results show. Even his neurotransmitter, glutamate, was found to have lower levels than a normal brain. These low levels sometimes mimic hallucinogenic drugs that can cause paranoia that imitate schizophrenic symptoms. Even though we won’t ever be able to know for sure, it is a good chance that this Lian was a figment of his imagination," the doctor ended, turning on the lights in the room.

The tired faces of the two parents dulled at the news that could be true, but will never be confirmed.

Shuffling lifelessly out of the doctor’s office, the two returned home that night, tired and distraught, with Yixing, their only child, their son, now only as a memory, all at once everything is different…

A/N: This was the final part to Now That I See You. I hope everything pieced together well for you guys. Even though I was crying my poor eyes out writing this, I managed to get through it; I hope you lovely readers are able to do the same! I recommend that you read the story over to peice together the hints that Lian was possibly not a real person, but it is up to you to decide...

Also, if any of you lovely readers need any questions answered about Lian's character, feel free to write on my wall or PM me any time, I will gladly answer any question you have...

Don’t forget to COMMENT because even through it all, COMMENTS are what keep me going with joy!

Thanks to all those who did COMMENT, SUBSCRIBE,and this is pretty important, UPVOTE! I appreciate you all, and even the ones to come!

Look out for more fluffy oneshots, and of course, more angst...!

Thank You!!!

~Lynci Renzei