Of Ghosts and Heroes

by The Silverfish (ZephyrAndTheSilverfish)

Summary:

Aizawa Shouta first met Wei Ying when the boy was merely a toddler dressed in odd old-fashioned clothes and he himself was not yet a fully fledged pro hero. When he meets the boy again, and yet again, he comes to realise that there’s a reason no-one can track the boy down – Wei Ying comes from an entirely different universe.

Notes:

Disclaimer: I do not own the original works.

This will primarily follow the plot of the Untamed/CQL.
Beta-read by Zephyr :)

Hope you enjoy ~

Chapter 1: The Toddler

Notes:

Part 1: 'Aizawa is confused'

When Aizawa Shouta first met the kid, he had just turned 17. He had not yet graduated from UA and he was interning under the underground pro hero NightLight. He was leaping over a dark side-street close to the end of his patrol route when he heard it. He paused. Somewhere beneath him was a quiet echoing hum, high pitched, soft and distinctly eerie.

He would be embarrassed about this later but his first reaction was to freeze. It was close to 4am, he was exhausted and the humming was echoing ominously in the night air. It was the type of creepy nonsensical tune used as soundtrack in horror movies.

Shaking himself, he scanned the empty street and dropped cautiously to the ground below.

He quietly followed the humming until he found a small lump of cloth curled up in a sheltered alcove. The humming stopped abruptly.

Shouta stared. The kid stared back. It was difficult to tell in the low light, but the round face and guileless eyes suggested a toddler, maybe 7 at most. Shouta was not prepared for this.

He crouched low.

“Um… Hello?”, he murmured awkwardly. The child blinked at him, tilting his head to one side but otherwise showing no reaction. Shouta’s sleep deprived mind flashed back to vivid images of inhuman apparitions. He fought back a shiver and shook the thought away.

Shouta gestured vaguely for the toddler to come forwards, and while the boy shifted, he did not approach.

The toddler was wearing the most old-fashioned clothes Shouta had ever seen. The outfit looked like it belonged in a museum – a dark tunic, layered over a long brown robe and yet another paler layer beneath. The cloth looked thick and sturdy, but still showed tears and signs of fraying. Shouta would be surprised if either the outfit or the boy himself were clean.

“…My name is Eraserhead”, Shouta pointed at himself, speaking slowly and trying not to show how unnerved he was by the kid’s staring, “What’s your name?”

He watched the kid frown, and repeated his hero name slowly. The kid scratched his nose and smiled.

“Yi-ra-zher Hei-do”, he cheered happily, pointing at Shouta’s chest. Shouta nodded encouragingly, despite how badly the kid mangled his hero name. The toddler shuffled forward a little and puffed out his chest, designating himself.

“Wei Ying!”, he declared. Shouta tilted his head and repeated the odd name back, making the toddler beam. So far, so good.

“So, uh, what are you doing out here?”, Shouta asked hopefully.

Wei Ying shifted and frowned hard at Shouta. Finally, he opened his mouth and spoke. It was gibberish. Shouta had always been terrible at languages. His best guess was that this was Chinese, but he couldn’t be sure if it was Mandarin, Cantonese, or something else. He did know it was outside his understanding. Shouta’s language skills were restricted to Japanese and the absolute basics of English that had been drummed through his head at UA.

He ran a hand down his face in exasperation.

“I have no idea what you’re saying, kid.”, he muttered tiredly. Wei Ying stared back, uncomprehending. It was mutual, then. Looks like he would have to mime. Shouta hated mimes.

“…come with me?”, he gestured for the kid to come to him, standing up and moving a few steps back.

Wei Ying yawned and slowly stood, smiling innocently at Shouta while he trotted over to stand next to the teen. Shouta attempted a smile of his own, holding back a wince at how trusting the kid was.

“…this way.”, he said, walking slowly into the main street towards the police station where NightLight was waiting for him. Hopefully someone there would know what this child was saying.

Wei Ying grabbed onto his trousers and practically skipped at his side the entire journey.

--

NightLight was an intimidating woman. She loomed over most people and her skin, eyes and hair were all shades of grey. When in her hero costume, she was truly devoid of any colour, blending with startling ease into even the lightest shadow. She was often blunt and strict with Shouta and her other interns, watching over them like a hawk until she deemed them capable enough. Beyond this, Shouta knew her to be kind and compassionate, with a strong sense of responsibility for the civilians in her care.

When Shouta arrived in front of the police station, he was unsurprised to find NightLight waiting with barely hidden concern in her monochromatic eyes. She approached him quietly, obviously having noticed the toddler at his side.

As soon as Wei Ying saw her, the toddler grabbed hard onto Shouta’s leg, gasping audibly, speaking more gibberish and retreating behind Shouta’s leg in fear. NightLight paused at the little boy’s reaction, lowering herself until she was sitting on the floor, smiling reassuringly.

Shouta reached for the kid and patted him on the head.

“Wei Ying”, he muttered, not terribly confident he knew what to do, “it’s …fine.”

The child glanced up at him briefly and said something urgently, tugging insistently at Shouta’s leg. Shouta just cautiously continued patting the boy’s long black hair, hoping the action would be calming.

Slowly, hesitantly, Wei Ying relaxed. He emerged tentatively from behind Shouta’s leg to stare unhindered at NightLight. Shouta took the opportunity to crouch at the toddler’s side.

He pointed at his mentor and spoke her name as clearly as possible. Wei Ying stared at him questioningly. He pointed at himself, “Eraserhead”, at the child, “Wei Ying”, then at the monochromatic hero, “NightLight”.

The child frowned but shifted forward to peer closely at the seated hero.

“Nai-to-Lai-te?”, Wei Ying sounded out questioningly. It was a much better attempt than his rendition of ‘Eraserhead’.

NightLight nodded, smiling softly. Wei Ying scratched the side of his nose, frowning. He nodded as if to himself and tugged Shouta forwards. Shouta shuffled awkwardly with the kid, until they were within reach of the grey heroine. Wei Ying stared at her suspiciously for a long moment before leaning in and prodding her leg, jumping back cautiously to stare a bit longer. Shouta sat cross-legged to watch, amused.

NightLight held out her arm, grinning slightly, and Wei Ying very warily reached for it, poking it and turning it slowly to examine her palm, frequently glancing up at the hero’s face in confusion. Eventually, he let go and huffed, hands on his hips. He said something in his language, decisively nodding his head. Then he turned and sat on Shouta’s lap.

NightLight took one look at Shouta’s baffled expression and let out a short laugh before turning serious.

“Eraserhead, please explain.”

Shouta sighed.

“…Heard him humming. He was sitting in an alcove on Yurei street, alone. He doesn’t seem to understand or speak Japanese. His name is Wei Ying. He’s… trusting. No sign as of yet of a quirk.”

NightLight raised one dark eyebrow at Shouta’s shrug. She gestured for them to follow and stood, guiding them into the police station. Shouta coaxed Wei Ying off his lap and stepped after her, keeping the child close.

Much to Shouta’s annoyance, they spent the rest of the night at the station. A Chinese translator was finally called in near 8am, after the police had determined the child was speaking Mandarin. Shouta had stayed with NightLight’s permission when it became clear that Wei Ying was not comfortable being separated from the teen’s side. NightLight had left to finish her own patrol, with a final, and remarkably unhelpful, pat on Shouta’s back.

The translator, Kotomi Aki, was a tall gangly man with bright white hair, tanned skin and a dark professional suit. He spoke quietly with Wei Ying for a moment, the toddler obviously ecstatic to find someone who understood what he said.

Eventually Kotomi-san looked up at detective Tanakawa who had been placed in charge, the child protection officer Furuako who had yet to say a single word, and Shouta himself who, so far, had done nothing but provide a reluctant soft surface for Wei Ying to sit on.

“Alright”, Kotomi-san stated, “He says he’s happy to answer your questions. He has questions of his own but I asked him to wait.”

Detective Tanakawa nodded, and with a quick look at Furuako-san, she addressed Kotomi-san.

“Alright, thank you Kotomi-san. Could you ask him to restate his name, and to explain what he was doing out in the middle of the night?”

Kotomi-san turned to Wei Ying and spoke. After a moment Wei Ying responded, waving his arms and pointing at Shouta. He bounced lightly on Shouta’s lap. Kotomi-san asked something else, and the kid giggled, holding his hands over his face in apparent glee.

Kotomi-san sighed, but turned back to the detective.

“He says his name is Wei Ying, as previously stated. He’s homeless. He says his parents are gone, and that he was just waiting for the morning so he could go beg for food at the street stalls.”, the man shook his head, “he says there was an angry … madam?... and he ran away until he suddenly arrived here. He asks if we’re …cultivators? …because of our clothes.”

Kotomi-san frowned, “His mandarin is a bit old-fashioned, and he refers to ‘Yiling’ several times. The way I speak is apparently rather rude, by his standards.”

Detective Tanakawa notes this all down on a file she holds against her knee. Wei Ying asks something and Kotomi-san answers before switching to Japanese.

“He wanted to know what the ballpoint pen was. He said it didn’t look anything like a normal writing brush, and he wanted to know where you were hiding the ink. He asked if it was a …talisman?”, Kotomi-san shrugged, as much at a loss as everyone else, “I explained…”

Detective Tanakawa coughed, “Could you ask him about these talismans, please?”

Kotomi-san did, and Wei Ying appeared almost as baffled as anyone else. A jumble of unintelligible speech later and Kotomi-san turned back.

“He says everyone knows what talismans are. He seemed almost shocked to have to explain it. He says they’re paper with writing for protection against evil spirits, and ghosts, and other monsters.”

There was a slight incredulous smile on the man’s face as he relayed the child’s explanation.

Detective Tanakawa shook her head in confusion, “Okay… Can you ask him where he comes from? Where he was before he arrived here?”

Again, the answer is more confusing than helpful.

“He says, and I quote, he thinks it was still Yiling because someone gave him a spicy pork bun yesterday, but he’s never heard of anywhere with such big ugly buildings and so many shiny lights. He asks if this is the …unclean realm?”

Kotomi-san continued this back and forth for another half hour, by which point both Shouta and Wei Ying had grown more than tired of the entire procedure.

At length the adults came to an agreement and decided to place Wei Ying in a nearby orphanage pending contact with the Chinese authorities. Shouta accompanied him there once he’d signed the appropriate paperwork.

Wei Ying stared at the road and the cars, frowned at every person with even minor mutant-type quirks, and stuck very close to Shouta’s side.

They arrived at a relatively large building with swinging doors and a yard with a handful of kids playing. Shouta and Furuako-san walked the child in. Wei Ying was not pleased. It took some convincing, difficult when one had to mime the entire conversation, but the teen’s leg was released eventually and Shouta left with the promise of a visit the next day.

When Shouta arrived the next evening, Wei Ying was gone.

Notes:

Yurei = 'ghost' in Japanese

Chapter 2: Where is my sister?

Shouta was 19 when he met Wei Ying for the second time. He wasn’t in his hero costume, instead he was ambling to the local grocery store, holding an empty carrier bag lazily in one hand.

“Shi-Jie? Shi-Jie!”

It was a young voice, obviously distressed.

Shouta did a double take. Right in the middle of the street was a young boy, dressed in decorative dark blue robes, long hair flowing side to side as he turned to stare one way and the other in obvious fear and confusion. Shouta couldn’t be sure it was the same boy as the kid from the alleyway, but such distinctive dress was rare. Shouta would always remember the strange toddler he’d found humming in the street. He’d searched for weeks after the kid had gone missing, and burned the child’s name into his memory when he’d had to admit defeat.

Gripping the carrier bag tightly Shouta hurried to the boy’s side.

“…Wei Ying?”, he asked carefully.

The boy whipped around and stared at him. He nodded quickly, running up to him and speaking rapidly in Chinese.

Shouta stared. He fumbled for his phone and opened a translation app. Quickly he typed ‘alone?’ and set it to translate into mandarin. He crouched and showed the child his phone. Wei Ying squinted at the writing and slowly shrugged.

Shouta turned the phone back and typed ‘Lost?’.

Wei Ying nodded at that, looking far too pleased for a self-proclaimed lost child.

“Gou!”, the kid explained. After a bit of fumbling, Aizawa set his phone to transcribe speech and gestured for the kid to speak again.

A moment later he was staring at the words ‘has dog.’ written on his phone’s screen. He blinked. Typed ‘Dog?’ and turned the phone back to Wei Ying. The kid nodded seriously, twisting his hands together and avoiding eye contact.

Shouta patted the kid’s hair in thought.

Wei Ying jumped up and down suddenly, reaching for the phone and making wild gestures at Shouta. Shouta set it again to transcribe speech and waved at the kid to speak. The kid grinned, “Xie le”, and spoke another few words into the phone, smiling hopefully once done.

Shouta translated it and hummed at the message ‘thanks do you know where is my sister’.

Shouta frowned and shook his head. He held a hand out for Wei Ying, a silent offer. Wei Ying smiled and took it, going back to scanning the street warily.

“Shi-Jie! Shi-Jie!”, he called, small hand tight in Shouta’s own. Shouta shifted his left hand around his phone and casually phoned the police.

“Shinzui Police department, how may I help you?”

Shouta blinked reassuringly at Wei Ying who was staring at him and the phone curiously.

“This is pro hero Eraserhead, I’ve found a lost child. He was reported missing two years ago from Shinzui public orphanage after only one night in attendance. Speaks Chinese, goes by Wei Ying.”

There was a moment of silence on the other end of the line, before a different voice answered. The call had been passed on.

“Uh… I think I have his file. You say you’ve found him again?”

Wei Ying shouted again for ‘shi-jie’ and Shouta sighed.

“Yes. He seems well looked after, though. Nothing like the last time he was found. Was there any progress on his file?”

Some typing.

“Well, no. No records of him in Japan, as far as we know. Might have records in China but the reports suggest that last we asked there was no missing child of his description.”

Shouta sighed again.

“There’s something else. He says he’s lost and looking for his sister. He… told me something about a dog. Sounded like he was afraid, and I checked. He definitely meant dog.”

“Alright. Thanks.”, a bit more typing, “Could you bring him to the station, Eraserhead-san? We’ll get a Chinese speaker to come translate as well.”

“On it”, Shouta agreed, having subtly been guiding Wei Ying in that direction the entire time.

Wei Ying was still young, only eight, assuming he hadn’t lied about his age two years previously, however that didn’t make him stupid. He pouted and stamped his foot when they arrived at the station, sending Shouta a frustrated glare. He said something about his ‘shi-jie’ again, angrily. Shouta took his phone out again and typed in ‘The police can help’, showing the translated message to Wei Ying. The kid frowned at the message mulishly, without any sign of understanding what it meant.

They’d only taken two steps into the police station when an officer with a dog’s face walked out into reception. Wei Ying took one look at him, screamed, yanked his hand out of Shouta’s grasp and bolted out the building.

Shouta cursed and turned to pursue him, regretting his lacking capture scarf. After this he vowed to never leave without it again.

He saw the kid stumble down the nearest alleyway. Shouta followed, running far faster. He caught a last glimpse of Wei Ying just as the child popped out of existence between one step and the next.

He stopped in his tracks, mouth gaping open.

They added ‘Possible quirk: Teleportation’ to Wei Ying’s file. Shouta returned home that evening after a fruitless search of the entire sector and a bitter taste in his mouth. Hopefully, Wei Ying had safely found his sister, and not ended up who-knows-where on his own.

He never did pick up any groceries.

 

Notes:

Shinzui = 'Essence, spirit' in Japanese (according to Google translate)
Fun fact, someone in the comments kindly let me know Shinzui is also a brand of soap ;)

Chapter 3: Kids Nowadays

Shouta was 23 when he spotted a young teen, teetering and drunk in the local park past midnight. He sighed, but it was only when he got closer that he realised the kid was wearing oddly familiar old-fashioned clothes. Perhaps more alarmingly was the knife at the kid’s side and the tiny pottery container of what had to be alcohol in his hand.

The kid laughed happily upon spotting him, and immediately ran up to hug him. Long black hair, dark eyes, long flowing robes… The kid babbled something in Chinese and Shouta pinched the bridge of his nose.

“…Wei Ying…?” he asked, already knowing the answer. It had been four years without news but this child had plagued Shouta’s mind for months after both his disappearances.

The kid cheered, clapping his hands and taking another experimental swig of what was definitely not age-appropriate liquid. Shouta snatched it and gave it a sniff and a taste. Rice wine. It was quite a nice rice wine. Confiscated.

Wei Ying didn’t even protest, still drunkenly giggling and poking at the goggles hanging over Shouta’s neck. He kept babbling incomprehensible words in Shouta’s ear. Shouta had made a bit of an effort to learn Chinese after last time but his grasp of the language was consistently abysmal.

This time, Shouta decided against the police station. Not only because he couldn’t be bothered to explain the situation with a drunk pre-teen in tow, but also because he knew for a fact Inuashi-san, with his visible dog mutant quirk was currently on shift.

Knowing his luck, the kid would disappear the moment he saw the police station after the fiasco last time.

Instead he half-carried Wei Ying back to his shared flat, hoping Hizashi wouldn’t mind helping out.

“Yiii-raaaaaaaiiii-zzz…. Zher….shenme…”, the pre-teen mumbled, one hand tapping exaggeratedly at the side of his nose.

Shouta sighed, “Eraserhead.”, he said.

“Aaaaah!”, Wei Ying declared, “Yii-raii-zher-Hei-do!”

He laughed, stumbling over the flat concrete and falling further into Shouta’s side.

Shouta wrestled him up the stairs, into his flat, and onto one of the chairs at their kitchen table.

Wei Ying made no move to take his shoes off at the genkan, and gawked delightedly at the flat itself. He immediately abandoned the chair and knelt in an obviously practiced motion by their coffee table, poking roughly at Shouta’s favourite coffee mug.

Shouta quickly rescued his mug and grumbled, getting the boy a glass full of water.

Wei Ying found the glass equally as amusing, but he seemed to grasp what he was to do with it, at least.

He picked it up awkwardly and without warning tipped the entire glass back as if taking a shot. Shouta snorted as the boy coughed in apparent surprise, water dripping down his face. There was a moment where Wei Ying appeared shocked before he dissolved into further uproarious laughter.

Of course this was when Hizashi decided to investigate.

“…Uh, Shouta?”, he asked, “There’s a kid in our living room.”

Shouta grunted.

Hizashi stared between them, blinking as Wei Ying started inspecting the glass, fascinated.

“Uh… Is he drunk?”, Hizashi started, “Shouta??”

Shouta sighed.

“Yes, Hizashi. This is Wei Ying. Found him drunk in the park next door. He speaks Chinese. Look after him while I call the police. Thanks.”

Shouta exited the room, leaving Hizashi sputter in confusion.

“Good evening, this is the Shinzui Precinct police. How can we help you?”, a low voice answered the phone.

“This is pro hero Eraserhead.”, Shouta started, already tired of the conversation, “I found a drunk twelve-year old alone in Yurei park. His name is Wei Ying. Last I heard he was still filed in the missing children section? Presumed to have a teleportation quirk.”

Some shuffling on the other end of the phone. After a few moments with Shouta patiently giving them additional information, they find the kid’s file. The call had again been passed on to another officer, presumably in charge of the odd case.

“Eraserhead-san?”, the woman spoke with a stern lilt to her voice, “Wei Ying’s file has been completely empty for … four years now. There’s been no additions since last you reported finding him, despite several investigations with the Chinese government.”

Shouta sighed, unsurprised but still disappointed.

“Currently, I’ve brought him to my flat. It is my intention to bring the kid to the station in the morning, once he sobers up.”

The officer on the other end of the line was not pleased but sounded resigned.

“That’s probably for the best. Thank you for the heads up, we’ll have someone come in to translate.”

Shouta grunted in agreement.

He returned to find Hizashi standing protectively in front of his fancy speakers, Wei Ying whining pitifully and reaching for the wires, whole body practically oozing not-so-innocent playful curiosity.

“Wei Ying”, Shouta snapped, satisfied when the kid jumped to attention. Wei Ying turned to face Shouta, pouting. He grinned, puffing up his chest and almost falling over when he attempted to stand straight.

“Wei Wuxian”, he preened, as if this should mean something to Shouta.

Shouta blinked.

“Wei … Wuxian?”, he tried, huffing at the child’s obvious delight. With all the oddities this child had shown so far, a change in name (or a second name?) was far from the weirdest. Shouta shrugged and took it in stride.

“Bed. Sleep.”, he ordered, pointing meaningfully at the sofa.

Somehow, with Hizashi’s incredulous eyes staring at them both, Wei Wuxian groaned and actually lay on the sofa with no more protest. Within seconds the boy was fast asleep.

Shouta let out a long breath. He gestured Hizashi towards him.

“Be quiet. I’ll explain somewhere more private.”

Shouta was woken at 6am the next morning by Hizashi. The kid had disappeared. Again.

Chapter 4: Whatever gets the kid arrested

This time, it wasn’t Shouta who brought Wei Wuxian in. Shouta came to report at the end of a patrol only to find that the police needed him to help interrogate a teen who had been found carrying a sword. He’d apparently made a token effort to resist arrest, before letting himself sag in police officer’s arms.

They said he’d tried throwing a piece of glowing paper (pulled out of thin air) at the officer in charge of questioning him, so he was in for illegally carrying a lethal weapon as well as potential offensive quirk use.

The officer escorting him continued, a bit baffled.

“He seems to be speaking Chinese? But we’re pretty sure he said your name, Eraserhead-san, o-or tried to. He’s a bit … tipsy.”

Shouta had a bad feeling about this.

He was quickly ushered into the interrogation room. Lounging against the metal chair was a very recognisable boy in long dark robes, with a red ribbon holding a part of his long black hair into a small bun. The boy grinned as their eyes met and Shouta groaned.

“Wei Wuxian.”, Shouta stated. He couldn’t quite hide the relief at seeing the mysterious boy apparently unharmed and well.

“Yi-rei-…aaah… Yi-rei-zher-ha… aaaah”, he muttered something Shouta couldn’t understand if he wanted to.

“Eraserhead.”, he reminded.

“Aaah! Shi de! Yi-rei-zher hei-do!”, the boy exclaimed, obviously very pleased. His cheeks were lightly flushed. Definitely tipsy.

Wei Wuxian suddenly sat forwards, throwing his hands out in a motion that clearly meant ‘wait’. Shouta sighed and easily took the seat offered by the frustrated detective also in the room.

Wei Wuxian whipped two fingers up in a precise, practiced motion, pulling a thin piece of parchment covered in red symbols from his robe as he did so. Shouta watched as it glowed red, and the teen frowned in obvious concentration. Then he looked at Shouta as if for permission, gesturing vaguely at Shouta’s head. Shouta narrowed his eyes but nodded. Wei Wuxian grinned and launched the paper out, somehow making it fly straight onto Shouta’s forehead. The detective stood in alarm but Shouta held an arm out pacifyingly.

“Aaaah – hey, hey, I’m not attacking anyone – calm down, please? Ahah…”, the teen was holding his arms up defensively, and to his amazement Shouta could understand every word.

“So… Did it or didn’t it work?”, Wei Wuxian smiled at him sheepishly.

“I can understand you, kid, if that’s what you mean.”, Shouta offered, trying not to push the parchment off his forehead. It fluttered against his nose. He sighed.

Wei Wuxian beamed, “It worked! Hah, take that, Jiang Cheng!”, he smirked proudly.

Shouta kept his gaze blank, feeling distinctly foolish with a piece of parchment stuck to his face.

“…Do you know what’s going on, Wei Wuxian?”, Shouta asked at length.

“Ahah! Nope! Not a clue. And they took Whatever from me too. Can I have it back, please? As a disciple of the Jiang cultivation sect I really need it…”, the boy ducked his head a bit bashfully.

“What is …Whatever?”, Shouta asked, resisting temptation to run his hand over his face.

“Oh! My sword, of course! Sorry.”, Wei Wuxian said as if nothing was wrong with that statement. Shouta decided to move on for now.

“Right. You’re at a police station. You’re being detained on account of carrying a lethal weapon and using your quirk on a police officer. You’re what, fifteen?”

Wei Wuxian frowned, “Ugh… I don’t understand you. What’s that word? Police? And yeah, I am fifteen. Where is this?”

Shouta blinked, “Police officers are people who work to protect others from crime, and arrest criminals. We’re in Shinzui prefecture, Tokyo, Japan. Where were you before you got here?”

The boy frowned harder, “What, so I broke a rule? Are you part of a cultivation sect? Did I offend someone of a gentry family? If that’s so…”, he places his hands together in front of him and bows to Shouta and the detective, “I’d like to offer my most sincere apologies for any offense caused, on behalf of the Jiang sect. Although I do wonder how easily offended you people must be for this to be necessary. How arrogant!”

Shouta sighed again, but waited for the boy to continue.

“Oh, right.”, Wei Wuxian spoke, “I was in Yunmeng, Lotus Pier. I think Jiang Cheng was looking for me but I didn’t want to go… Madame Yu already punished me anyway so what does he even want, rubbing it in my face…”

His face twisted with something Shouta couldn’t read, and he rubbed his shoulder with one hand. Shouta opened his mouth but the boy quickly grinned again, all sunshine and rainbows.

Shouta grumbled under his breath.

“Think you could point out this place… Lotus Pier? On a map if we brought one for you?”, Shouta asked. Wei Wuxian gave a quick nod, and Shouta turned to the detective beside him.

“…Kid, can they… understand me?”, he wondered aloud.

The detective waved a hand quickly and answered Shouta.

“Sorry, Eraserhead-san, we can understand you fine. Someone’s getting you a map. We have some questions for the kid in the meantime, though.”, he added gruffly.

Shouta nodded his assent.

“Here”, the man said, handing him a sheet of paper with scribbled notes all over it. The handwriting was terrible.

“Fine. Wei Wuxian”, Shouta called. The teen straightened reflexively before slouching back almost defensively and grinning awkwardly at Shouta.

“That’s me – Hello.”, he waved obnoxiously, smirking slightly.

“I have questions from the police here…”, he said, watching as the teen grimaced in obvious distaste. Nonetheless, he waved a hand for Shouta to continue.

“Right. What are the paper slips you use and are they part of your quirk?”, Shouta began.

Wei Wuxian blinked, “Aah? The talismans, you mean? They’re… talismans? You don’t have them here? Wherever here is. No-one ever believes me about this place.”

He sat up again, an excited gleam in his eye, “I know! Yi-rai-zher-hai-do can come visit and I can show them!”

Shouta blinked, nonplussed. Seemingly satisfied with his one-sided decision, Wei Wuxian grinned at him and sat back in the chair. Shouta picked up the conversation where it left off.

“…No, we don’t have… talismans? It’s not part of a quirk, then, if you believe them to be widespread?”

Wei Wuxian frowned and scratched the side of his nose in thought.

“I mean, all cultivator sects have them, to some extent? They’re mostly just tricks, you know? Not like the art of the sword… I like them though!”

The teen paused, narrowing his eyes at them, “I – what’s the deal with ‘quirks’? What do you mean by ‘quirk’?”

Shouta hummed, “They’re individual and unique … attributes – physical characteristics or any powers out of the ordinary. Over 80% of people here have some form or another.”

The boy smiled, “Aah – like the horns, and the weird colours everywhere?”

Shouta nodded, “Yes.”

“And – no two people have the same?”

Again, Shouta agreed, “None are identical, although some can be very similar.”

Wei Wuxian thought it over. Finally, he grinned, “I have none.”

Shouta turned back to the officer and relayed the information.

“Don’t discount the teleportation quirk yet though – I’m not sure even the kid knows what’s going on there.”

Wei Wuxian shrugged, at ease or pretending well.

There was a knock on the door and a globe, as well as a large fold-out map were placed on the table. The teen watched this with obvious interest. Shouta pushed them towards him.

“See if you can find where you come from. This is a map of our world. We are currently – “, he turned the globe and pointed at Tokyo, “- right here.”

The teen frowned and studied the globe long and hard. Shouta unfolded the paper map, a map of China, and passed that over as well.

“This is our best guess as to where you’re from”, he offered carefully.

There was more luck there. Slowly the teen started picking out locations and frowning harder in concentration. He indicated an area on the map, but didn’t speak for a long moment.

“Are you okay?”, Shouta asked cautiously. The teen faltered for a moment before smiling a bit oddly.

“Aaah… yes, I’m fine, I’m fine… It’s just…”, he took a deep breath, “Your maps are wrong.”

The way he said it implied he didn’t believe it himself. The teen took another breath.

“Um… Can I… I mean… No, nevermind. I need to – I need to go back.”

Shouta could see him become increasingly worried.

“Calm down, kid”, he spoke, “Do you even know how you’re travelling between here and where you’re from?”

Wei Wuxian shook his head, examining his fingers.

“What can you remember from the previous times?”, Shouta prompted.

“I… I just…”, he trailed off, one hand half-raised, and eyes flitting over the table, unseeing, “I think there was a-a dog?”, he swallowed, “or I was running, or…”

He raised his head to stare at Shouta, “I was always trying to get away.”, he revealed.

“But…”, he continued, making as if to stand before hesitating and settling back down, “But nothing here… I mean, this place is too different. You don’t know talismans, you don’t know sects, you’re offended by my sword? …I – even your buildings are huge and there’s loads of glass everywhere. And your – your – carts…!”

There was a long silence.

“Am I… Am I in another … plane? Is this a – another time, is this the future, but – no, you don’t… I don’t… I-I don’t understand.”

He stared up at Shouta, one hand gripping the arm of his chair tightly. Shouta stared back unflinchingly.

“I don’t know kid, but we’ll figure it out.”

Wei Wuxian chewed on his lip.

“Can I… Can you get my sword, Whatever, back to me? Please. It’s … very important.”

Shouta gazed at him seriously, “You won’t use it?”

The teen shook his head, “No, I – I need to- I want to head back. If-if I can.”

Shouta should have refused, but he felt for the teen sitting tensely in front of him. This… wasn’t where the teen needed to be. This wasn’t Wei Wuxian’s world, perhaps even literally.

“The kid needs his sword back.”, he relented, giving a flat look to the one-way mirror, “Can someone bring it in?”

The detective beside him bristled indignantly but Shouta just waved him off.

“Look, I’m confident the kid won’t be any trouble, and in any case I can take him if there is. Humour me.”

It’s difficult to project authority with a piece of paper hanging over one’s face but Shouta managed it with the ease of someone who had been in equally ridiculous situations before and had plenty of practice ignoring his embarrassment. After a moment the door was opened again and someone brought the sword in. It wasn’t what Shouta had expected, thin and long, with a rough wooden sheath, yet it fit perfectly with the teen opposite him.

Shouta handed it over, ignoring the hurried, thankful look the kid sent him.

Between one blink and the next, Wei Wuxian was gone.

Chapter 5: To the internet

Notes:

Part 2: 'What's going on?'

A few weeks later Shouta met the teen again lounging on a park bench. It was mid-afternoon and Shouta had been enjoying some free time before his evening patrol.

He hurried to his feet upon spotting Shouta and bowed in that peculiar way of his before rushing to meet him.

“Yi-rai-zher-hei-do!”, he greeted pleasantly, walking by Shouta’s side.

Shouta groaned. It was honestly painful to hear his name mangled so thoroughly.

“Shouta”, he said, pointing at his chest in exasperation. The teen perked up, repeating his given name with far more success.

The teen grinned at him and produced another of his paper talismans. This time, however he winked and slapped it onto his own head. Shouta noted he’d managed to keep it above his eye line, unlike the one he’d planted on Shouta previously.

“…alright? Is it working?”, the teen checked. Shouta tilted his head in assent. At least this time the teen was not drunk, lost or carrying a sword. He could avoid another trip to the police station.

“Perfect! So – I have, uh, maybe a few hours until someone comes looking for me.”, Wei Wuxian bounced lightly on his toes and leaned in to grin at Shouta expectantly.

“…and?”, Shouta sighed eventually. The teen’s grin just grew.

“Come on, big brother! Tell me! Is this really a completely different – uh – realm? Or-or is it the future? Do you know? Is there a library with historical texts?”

Shouta raised both his eyebrows but his own curiosity was piqued.

First, though, “Big brother…?”, he questioned, baffled.

Wei Wuxian pouted a little, but Shouta caught a quick flash of embarrassment and something else, something Shouta didn’t quite understand.

“Well… I do keep meeting you. I feel like I’ve known you forever.”, the teen’s cheeks flushed a little in embarrassment, “Aaah, but it’s fine, it’s fine, it’s fine! If that’s not okay.”

Shouta definitely saw something akin to disappointment in the boy’s posture this time. He rubbed the bridge of his nose.

“It’s fine.”, he muttered, confused by the other’s sudden vulnerability.

Wei Wuxian’s head sprang up and the teen whooped, actually throwing his arms into the air in excitement. Shouta couldn’t quite hide his own smirk at the display.

He led the teen to the small local library. He had promised Hizashi to spend some time out of the flat, and it wouldn’t do any harm for Wei Wuxian (his new brother?) to see the inside of a building other than the police station.

Wei Wuxian gawked at the library, although Shouta privately thought it medium-sized at best. He watched the teen run his hands over the books’ spines, eyes flicking from one shelf to the next. He wondered what kind of library the other was used to.

He practically had to drag the teen over to the computers, and had to tell him several times to sit before Wei Wuxian seemed to grasp that Shouta was indicating a chair, not the floor. He sat like he expected the chair to leap up and eat him, somewhere between delighted and uncertain.

Shouta took the lead, looking up anything he could think of. ‘Lotus pier Yunmeng’ was one of the first, without much luck. Wei Wuxian gaped noticeably at the pictures and characters appearing on the screen.

“It’s a computer.”, Shouta explained, seeing the wide-eyed confusion on the teen’s face, “it can access information from across the world. You use the keyboard”, he pointed at the ancient grey keys, “to search for …texts. With whatever keyword you decide to look for.”

Wei Wuxian nodded along, evidently mystified but trying his best to wrap his head around the concept.

“How – I mean, it’s a… box?”, the teen asked, then shook his head, “Aah, it’s fine. There’s so much here that’s… odd.”

Shouta shrugged, “It’s honestly not my area of expertise, but we can talk about it later if you like.”

Wei Wuxian smiled and bowed to him gratefully, before leaning forwards eagerly.

“So, uh, big brother, what does it say?”

Shouta debated bowing back, no matter how weird it would be, but quickly gave up the notion. He turned back to the screen.

“There’s nothing on Lotus pier, but that doesn’t necessarily mean much, if we’re in the future, for example.”, Shouta grimaced at how surreal it sounded, “Since you’re not familiar with quirks, you’d have to be travelling at least 200 years into the future… Do you have things you think are well known enough to have survived until now? Things that were written, buildings, events…?”

Wei Wuxian gave him a truly incredulous look but relented, thinking deeply. They cycled through more keywords this way, searching for the sects the teen mentioned, places he knew and one event the teen struggled to explain adequately.

Eventually Shouta searched for ancient Chinese history, and there they finally found something the boy recognised.

“Aah! This – them. They look like Jin sect, but not quite?”, he exclaimed, pointing at some old depictions of robed men. It was a grainy photo of a painting on age-darkened parchment, allegedly depicting people during the Tang dynasty, which had run from the years 618 to 907ad. That was… further back than Shouta had expected. It wasn’t quite right though, so Shouta navigated back to the search. Another depiction caught Wei Wuxian’s eye, this time of stone items from the Shang or Yin dynasty, which had ruled somewhere around 1600 bc.

“That – and that! They look like Qinghe Nie sect’s items…”, he mumbled, eyes roving over the digital image.

Shouta hummed, more and more convinced that Wei Wuxian was not from some distant past, but from somewhere else entirely.

They continued like that for another hour, with Wei Wuxian pointing out items and clothes from vastly different periods of Chinese history and likening them to sects, people and places he knew.

They left the library and returned silently to the park Wei Wuxian had appeared in.

“…I think it’s safe to say you’re probably not from our past, kid.”, Shouta spoke eventually.

Wei Wuxian nodded once, staring at the lights in the storefronts next to the park.

“Hmm…”, the teen answered distractedly, “I should go back anyway. See you?”

Shouta nodded to the question and watched as Wei Wuxian grinned and popped out of existence.

Notes:

Thanks all for reading, kudos, and of course the kind comments!
Wwx being smart is very convenient for language barrier reasons, not going to lie ;)

Chapter 6: Disconnects

Shouta started passing by Yurei park whenever he could. It was another few weeks before the fifteen-year-old paid him another visit.

“Da ge!”

Shouta relaxed minutely, turning to see the tall teen run up, ridiculously ornamental robes flowing behind him. Shouta endured a few minutes of Chinese before he tapped the boy lightly on the forehead. Mouth forming a surprised O, the teen quickly slapped another of his odd talismans to his head and kept right on speaking.

“-should have let me know earlier, big brother! Now I’m going to have to tell you all of this again. I –”

Shouta sighed and ambled to one of the nearby benches. He lay down comfortably, yawning and waving a lazy hand for the boy to continue. Wei Wuxian blinked, staring at him incredulously before bursting into laughter.

“Is it just you or is it normal to be so”, he snorted inelegantly, “so rude!”

He stood over Shouta, shoulders still shaking with laughter, “I can’t imagine the looks everyone would send me if I dared just – that.”, he seemed enthralled by the very concept, “and they call me shameless!”

Shouta shrugged.

Wei Wuxian shook his head, and sat on the ground, lounging against the bench, “Aah… well it doesn’t matter! I’m just here to say hi. I’m going on another hunt tomorrow with some of the other disciples. It’s probably just a really angry water ghost, but Jiang leader says I’m to lead the party.”

Shouta frowned, “…hunt? …ghost?”

The teen lifted his head to peer at Shouta, “Yes?”, he grinned, “I’m good with a blade, and these water ghosts are nothing, don’t worry.”

“Wait, no, back up. What’s a water ghost? Why are you hunting it? How are you hunting it?”, Shouta amended.

Wei Wuxian paused, “Oh, right. You’re not a cultivator, I guess?”

Shouta shook his head slowly.

“Uh, so, water ghosts are exactly what they sound like. If they’re resentful enough they can start sinking fishing boats and drowning more people, but usually we get to them before they kill too much.”, the teen explained blithely.

Shouta sat up.

“These things kill people?”, he managed not to choke, just.

The teen was staring at him like he’d grown another head.

“Uh… Of course? And, I mean, a ghost isn’t a thing…? They’re usually formed from some accident or another where someone drowns, so… they’re resentful spirits…?”

There was a silent ‘duh’ hanging in the air between them.

Shouta took a calming breath.

“We don’t have… ghosts… here.”, Shouta tried to explain.

Wei Wuxian laughed. Then he took another look at Shouta’s serious expression and the smile slipped off his face to make way for surprise.

“What – really? But then – where do they – what happens to restless souls?”

Shouta didn’t have any answer. They stared at each other, both struggling to accept such a fundamental difference in their realities.

“Are you sure that – these are truly restless…spirits?”, Shouta finally uttered in stupefaction.

Wei Wuxian laughed a bit hysterically, “Of course! I’m – I’m a cultivator. Hunting these kinds of ghosts and monsters is literally what – what we do.”

“And you’re saying no-one here – there’s no-no spirits, no ghosts, no ghouls or demons or-or”, the teen waved his hands around as if to encompass a truly absurd number of supernatural creatures.

Shouta just nodded in assent. For another long minute they re-examined each other as if trying to spot tell-tale signs of madness.

Wei Wuxian huffed.

“We already knew I wasn’t from here, but I didn’t expect…”, he tapped his nose with his index finger before shrugging and twisting to grin at Shouta.

“Right – Big brother said last time you’d explain the weird things here? Come on, I want to know!”

Shouta groaned good-naturedly, “…the computer?”, he asked.

“And the lights! That can’t be the same kind of candles we have. They’re so bright!”

Shouta quickly discovered how little he actually knew about a lot of the world he lived in. Wei Wuxian found it hilarious.

--

The visits continued to happen sporadically. Sometimes Shouta had the time to entertain the teen, show him modern-day Japan, sometimes he called Hizashi over so he could resume his patrol without an overexcited teenager getting in the way. Sometimes he could only briefly greet Wei Wuxian before rushing away when he was too busy to stay.

When they spent time together, Shouta was forever answering the myriad of questions Wei Wuxian had about his surroundings.

In exchange, the teen told him more about his mysterious, ghost-ridden world, his devoted sister and irritable younger brother. Shouta learned that the teen’s fancy robes and fluid movements came from years of etiquette lessons he was given as the adopted son of the Jiang sect leader.

He discovered that Wei Wuxian was raised in many ways as a young lord. At fifteen, the kid was expected to lead actual combat units to battle dangerous creatures, sometimes at several days journeying from his home (although, of course the younger brother was often in charge instead, due to him being the heir of the sect). He was expected to learn some complicated style of swordplay, bow and arrow, talismans, diplomacy, history and the many variations of spiritual monsters he was expected to come across.

Beyond that, Shouta slowly came to realise that Wei Wuxian was rich and protected by his status. Whether this status stemmed from him being a cultivator, or one of the sect leader’s sons, Shouta didn’t know. Flyaway comments about beating or even killing people who dared insult the Jiangs always sent shivers down Shouta’s back, not because he believed the kid would truly act on those threats, but because it was obvious the teen could with minimal consequences.

It scared Shouta, that a child could be handed such power over others.

Notes:

More culture shocks :)
Thanks for reading!
Thanks also to your beautiful comments - I hope you will continue enjoying it!

Chapter 7: First Blood

Notes:

Warning: mentions of killing :/

It was almost six months in these exchanges that Shouta got his first glimpse at how violent Wei Wuxian’s life was. The teen was in the park, as per usual. He smiled when Shouta approached, applying his newest translation talisman to his chest. He even gave the elder man a by-now customary hug.

Shouta quickly noted the light shake in the boy’s hands, however.

“What happened?”, he asked, concerned.

“Aaaah… nothing, don’t worry.”, the teen deflected, badly, “I’ll be fine, it’s nothing.”

Shouta narrowed his eyes, “It’s not nothing. Come on.”

Wei Wuxian didn’t complain as Shouta led the teen to his and Hizashi’s flat. Shouta frowned at the slight unevenness to the teen’s steps. Once inside, he handed the boy a mug of hot green tea, the jasmine one the teen seemed to enjoy most.

Wei Wuxian looked nothing like the confident youth Shouta knew. The long dark hair was lightly ruffled, and even the light trailing robe appeared to sag awkwardly around the teen’s thin frame. Shouta waited, watching as the teen looked anywhere but at him.

“I killed someone today.”

It was said in a whisper. Shouta stayed silent, processing the statement internally and trying to hold down the rush of emotion swirling uneasily in his chest.

“I… There were bandits, I guess, on the way back from the hunt. I…”, he shrugged, a jerky motion, like he was trying to shake something off, “I don’t… I’ve seen others die, of course, but…”

There was a crack in the teen’s voice. He curled around the tea, fingers tight.

“I-I’d never killed anyone before.”

Shouta sat by Wei Wuxian’s side and pulled him over to lean against his shoulder. He had no idea what to say. Shouta was a pro hero – he’d seen people die, sometimes in truly horrible ways. He’d failed to save people, hesitated, arrived too late, made a stupid mistake... The closest he’d come to killing someone at the age of 26 was having a villain fall from a building while they fought. Shouta had been too slow to catch him.

He was aware that many pro heroes had killed villains or even civilians accidentally. Shouta knew he was lucky his quirk and fighting style just wasn’t indiscriminately destructive the way many others were.

“I… My sword just went right through his chest. It was – a forward thrust just like Jiang leader- just like.”, the teen held a hand over his mouth, breathing deeply through his nose. There were tears running down his cheeks. He shuddered.

How could Shouta say he understood? He couldn’t because he’d never dealt a killing blow.

Could he say it’s alright? He couldn’t, because he refused to lie, and he didn’t consider a teenager killing anyone ‘alright’.

Could he say anything at all? I’ve seen others die, of course, the teen had said. As if it was common-place to see people die. Maybe it was, for him. To Shouta, the thought of death being that trivial was foreign, disturbing.

Shouta felt cold. He ran his hand up and down the teen’s back numbly.

“It’s… they said well done. I did good. I did… it was good, right? I was – was right to kill him. I- he wanted to k-kill me and he d-died. Because of – m-me.”

At long last, Shouta found the strength to speak, “Wei Wuxian, listen to me.”, he said, firmly, “You killed a man in self-defence. I cannot truly know what your world is like, so I...”, he paused, licking his lips, “I can only tell you what I believe. In battle, there are times where the only choices are bad ones. It’s never easy, never simple, and there’s always a cost. Killing should never be easy, but sometimes… it can be unavoidable.”

They sat in silence for a long time, the teen resting his head against his shoulder, staring at the ceiling deep in thought.

This time, Wei Wuxian left without a word, a wan smile on his lips.

Notes:

CQL: lots of twirly sword fighting, and casually killing whoever enemies happen to be.
BNHA: improbably huge disasters, but not much death, somehow.

Thanks for reading :)

Chapter 8: Lotus Pier

Notes:

Part 3: 'Welcome to my world'

One thing to note is that I've aged up the characters a little. Cloud Recesses happens when Wei Wuxian is about 18 in this fic (it feels wrong to think of the CQL characters as 15...).

Shouta waited a full month before the teen made another appearance.

“Da-ge!”

Shouta hid a smile in the folds of his capture scarf.

“Wei Wuxian”, he greeted, surveying the boy with a critical eye.

He seemed to have regained his cheer, bouncing on the tips of his toes and grinning wildly. He was also carrying his sword, something he hadn’t done since he’d been arrested. That should have been Shouta’s first warning.

The teen gestured Shouta forwards, making a ‘wait’ motion with one hand and gripping Shouta’s arm with the other.

Shouta blinked, and he was standing on a wooden pier. He wobbled on his feet, abruptly disoriented. His nose was assaulted with the muted muddy smell of riverbed and the rich scent of plants. There was the distant sound of lapping water, and men and women shouting foreign words. He lifted his head to stare wide-eyed at Wei Wuxian. The teen was standing proudly, hands on his hips, hair stirring slightly in the warm breeze. Behind him was a quaint river-side port town, elegant in design with delicate old-fashioned buildings topped by sloping rooves, and unlit lanterns hanging by wooden doorways. The streets were bustling with wooden carts, salesmen and women waving their wares from the side of the main walkway, vegetables, fruit and handmade ornaments on display in a chaotic mix of vibrant colour.

Shouta cursed. With feeling.

The teen pulled out a translation talisman and nodded at Shouta questioningly. Shouta acquiesced silently. The talisman was pressed carefully to his chest so that it lay protected by Shouta’s capture weapon.

Shouta turned away from the kid and stared this time at the river. It was large, flat and quiet. Shouta found it calming, in sharp contrast with the busy town behind him. The opposite banks were wild and green, and the shallower areas were teeming with long stems of lotus. Shouta let his gaze follow the pier, studying how the lotus extended far out and past a small isolated pagoda. The surface of the water was covered with a light sheen of fog, obscuring the base of the lotus stems until it appeared they were growing out of clouds. It was beautiful, otherworldly. Like something out of a painting.

He found Wei Wuxian watching him carefully, a contrite grimace growing on his face. Shouta ran one hand down his face, half-expecting the motion to wake him from this odd hallucination.

“…Warn me, next time.”, he grumbled.

“Ahah….aaah… right… ahem…”, the teen rubbed the back of his neck, more amused than chastised “…sorry”

Shouta grunted. He couldn’t quite keep his eyes from flicking back to the river, the lotus, the town. It was like he’d stepped into a very elaborate historical recreation. He decided for his own sanity not to dwell on the more supernatural aspects of this world.

Wei Wuxian clapped his hands, pulling Shouta’s attention back to him.

“Alright!”, he laughed, “Come on, I’ll show you around!”

He grabbed onto Shouta’s hand and dragged him towards the town. Shouta let himself be pulled along.

Ambling through the town, they were greeted by many of the locals, with bows and happily offered ‘Young Master Wei’. Shouta garnered more than a few odd looks, but Wei Wuxian’s presence seemed to be enough to keep their suspicion at bay.

Shouta was shown all the town’s landmarks, namely: the market, noisy and chaotic, full of rich scents, pushy crowds and yelling merchants; the street with the ‘best seamstress in town’, where they stood to one side to let people pass them by while Shouta examined the colourful cloths and Wei Wuxian laughed with an older lady working in the back room; the blacksmiths, scorching hot and sooty, but with a surprisingly lavish side-room; and finally the tea houses, where Shouta terrified some unfortunate owners who had dared to offer the teen rice wine in his presence. Apparently glowing eyes and floating hair were even more effective intimidation here. Wei Wuxian quickly dragged him away from those before anything more serious could happen. The teen was still giggling about it ten minutes later.

While he showed Shouta around, Wei Wuxian masterfully inquired after the townspeople’s livelihoods, their families, any trouble they’d heard of. It took Shouta a while to ponder over this behaviour before he realised that law enforcement, community actions and these people’s livelihoods was almost certainly a big part of the Jiang sect’s responsibility.

He’d once compared Wei Wuxian to a young Lord. It seemed that his assessment was more accurate than he’d imagined.

He found himself admiring the teen’s efforts, flitting from one person to the next, laughing and always hearing back from them in return. He knew all their names, was familiar enough to understand their troubles when they had any, give advice or promise to pass their problems on. And he obviously meant it, if the way the townspeople responded was any indication. Shouta wished more mainstream heroes had this kind of attitude to protecting their communities.

“Wei Wuxian!”

Shouta watched with amusement as the teen sprang upright, grin turning distinctly sheepish. Another teen, this one a little younger and wearing an intricately embroidered purple robe ran up to them, glowering fiercely.

“Aaah… Jiang Cheng…”, Wei Wuxian greeted.

Shouta recognised the name. This was Wei Wuxian’s adoptive brother, the sect heir.

Said sect heir hit his brother in the arm with obvious frustration.

“Where the hell have you been?”, he hissed angrily, turning belatedly to assess Shouta, “And who the hell is this? Why’s he wearing… rags?”

Wei Wuxian burst into laughter, earning himself another thump on his shoulder. The younger boy scowled at Shouta, not-so-subtly sent a hesitant glance at his giggling brother, and executed a quick polite bow, holding his sword alongside his other hand in an elegant, practiced motion.

“Jiang Cheng”, he introduced himself, “Courtesy Wanyin. May I ask for your name and your business in Lotus Pier?”

Shouta almost brushed him off before realising that the kid was practically duty-bound to ask after Shouta’s business. This was his family’s town, and he was expected to keep the peace. That Jiang Cheng was asking at all spoke more of his sense of responsibility than it did rudeness.

He sighed, “Aizawa Shouta.”, he gave a small bow of his own, without using his arms because he had no idea what that was meant to mean, “I am here because he”, he points lazily to Wei Wuxian, “brought me”.

Jiang Cheng sighed, an overtly exasperated expression on his young face. He gave Shouta a polite smile and rounded on the evidently very amused Wei Wuxian.

“Wei Wuxian! What – I mean who? Explain”, he whispered loudly, stamping his foot petulantly when Wei Wuxian merely grinned at him fondly.

“Aaah…”, the teen eventually started, obviously searching for a good way to put it, “Well, you see, you…er… remember that place I told you about? The … weird place with the tall…houses.”

Jiang Cheng just rolled his eyes, “Really? Now? You’re going to bring up that old story? I told you, I’m not a kid anymore.”, the boy clenched his hand over his sword and turned away, “if you’re not going to tell me the truth then just forget it.”

Shouta watched Wei Wuxian open his mouth, think better of it, and tap his nose with his index in thought. He ran to catch up with his brother and leaned companionably against the younger’s shoulder.

“Okay, okay, I get it, I’m sorry – I’ll explain what I can.”, he soothed, smiling kindly. Jiang Cheng shrugged, some of the tension leaving his back.

“So?”, he asked, glancing again at Shouta who had decided to trail them.

“Ah, well, I invited him. Da-ge’s from … uh”, he leaned back to peer at Shouta, raising his eyebrows meaningfully.

“…Tokyo.”, Shouta provided, just in case ‘Japan’ was a known location here.

“Tokyo.”, Wei Wuxian uttered with utmost confidence, “I wanted to show him Lotus Pier.”

“Tokyo”, Jiang Cheng repeated disbelievingly, sniffing in slight disdain. He shifted to one side, glancing over his shoulder with badly hidden curiosity.

“I knew he wasn’t from a gentry sect. Have you seen his clothes?”, he sneered without malice, muttering “if you can call them that.”

Shouta felt like he should be offended, but he was too busy being amused. Jiang Cheng spoke like a snobbish old lady and Wei Wuxian was biting his lip looking both highly entertained and slightly panicked in turn. Hizashi would get such a kick out of this.

“And how’d you even meet him, anyway?”, Jiang Cheng added suspiciously.

Wei Wuxian hummed, tapping his nose, “Aaah… Well”, he snapped his fingers, “you remember that time when I was twelve and I – uh, disappeared? …for a whole night?”

Jiang Cheng scoffed, “Of course I remember! You were so upset you ran straight out of the house. Sister and I were up all night waiting for news because Mother wouldn’t let us go find you ourselves.”

Shouta raised an eyebrow as Wei Wuxian coughed awkwardly, “Well, yes… Uh, but actually I… uh… stole some rice wine from old man Huei.”

He finished his sentence in a mumble. Jiang Cheng stared at him in astonishment.

“You what?!”, he half-shouted, sounding perfectly scandalized.

Wei Wuxian waved his hand as if that would be enough to shift the conversation, “Aaah… I was upset, you said so yourself… Anyway!”, he bulldozed his way through Jiang Cheng’s protests, “Long story short, I got drunk and I got lost. Da-ge helped me.”

It was a good story. Basically true, and masterfully avoiding the question of where exactly it happened. Didn’t help if Shouta was asked but hopefully they could bypass that line of questioning entirely.

Jiang Cheng squinted distrustfully at Shouta.

“And how’d you help him, huh?”, he asked aggressively.

Shouta scoffed lightly, “I didn’t do much. I confiscated the rice wine, gave him some water and showed him a place to sleep. He was gone by morning.”

Jiang Cheng grunted, “And why didn’t you contact us? The Jiang sect?”

Shouta conceded the point with a tilt of his head. He usually wished people were smarter, not dumber.

“I’m not from around here. I had no idea he was part of a sect at all.”, Shouta shrugged, “He wasn’t exactly coherent.”

Jiang Cheng seemed to consider this seriously for a moment, expression twisting into something like regret before softening to a milder, bratty irritation. Shouta braced himself for the next line of questioning, but the boy just shook his head.

“Fine.”

Wei Wuxian smiled fondly, skipping back to lean against Shouta’s side as they walked.

“So… Da-ge. What’s it like? Lotus Pier? What do you think?”, he needled.

Shouta snorted softly, but decided to answer honestly, “Prettier than I imagined.”, he thought for a moment, “safer, too.”

Jiang Cheng fell back to walk on his other side, chest puffing up in pride, “Of course it is! There’s the Jiang sect to protect it, after all.”

Shouta hid a smile behind his scarf. Wei Wuxian cut in, grinning brightly.

“So, Jiang Cheng, you were looking for me?”, he asked curiously.

His brother snuck an uncertain look at Shouta and nodded seriously.

“Mother says you were to meet with her. She…wasn’t pleased when she found out you’d left. Again.”

There was a note of warning in Jiang Cheng’s voice, and Wei Wuxian grimaced in response. Shouta noted the stilted motion of the teen’s arms, as if he was trying his best to act unaffected. Neither teen seemed particularly happy.

Wei Wuxian straightened and turned to Shouta with a grin plastered to his face. Shouta almost winced at the obvious unease the teen was attempting to hide.

“Right, haha… So, uh, Da-ge, if you don’t mind I can leave you to explore for a bit on your own? I can find you near the pier in… an hour?”

Shouta shrugged, “Sure.”

Wei Wuxian’s grin softened to something a little more natural, and he dug into his robe to pull out a little bag. He opened it and handed Shouta a few silver lumps, ignoring Jiang Cheng sputtering beside him.

“Here – to buy yourself some food, or a souvenir, or whatever.”, he explained.

It was money, Shouta realised. He scratched the back of his neck a bit uncertainly, looking up to thank the teen. But as Shouta raised his gaze, the warm scenery disappeared and he found himself in colder air, alone in a very familiar park with pebbles sitting uselessly in his hand.

He sighed, pocketing the strange currency. He’ll hand it back next time.

Notes:

So I know some were hoping for Aizawa to see Lotus Pier - I hope you enjoyed!

Chapter 9: Teaching responsibilities

A few days later heralded the arrival of Shouta’s acceptance to a new job as a UA high school teacher. Shouta would not hesitate to blame Hizashi for this, but it would be lying to place all of the responsibility for the decision on Hizashi’s shoulders. Shouta had applied of his own volition, had decided that maybe if he was so dissatisfied with the newer heroes he saw on the streets, he could try his hand at guiding them himself.

Maybe his confidence was strengthened by the thought of two young teens dutifully taking responsibility for a town and its people, the memories of appreciative greetings and a proudly puffed purple-clad chest. Maybe Shouta wondered if power through status and power through quirks was not so different at the end of the day. And maybe he’d agonised over how important guidance was, even to those who to all appearances wanted for nothing. Maybe he’d decided to try, himself, to guide in turn because of dark eyes and a small wan smile.

Shouta could not be certain if this was the case, or if he’d simply always wanted to lend a hand to young aspiring heroes. In the end, it was probably a bit of both, and Shouta didn’t care enough to tease it apart.

He was lounging in what he’d come to think of as Wei Wuxian’s park with Hizashi at his side, enjoying one of their last fully free days before he was saddled with a class of spoiled teenagers. He’d been hoping for another visit from Wei Wuxian and had been waiting patiently for the teen to find time to slip away.

Hizashi was content to sit back against the bench beside him, dipping his head to some of his peppy music, headphones over his ears. It was a pleasant afternoon, quiet and relaxing. Which made the teen’s arrival difficult to miss.

“Da-ge! Da-ge!”, a flick of paper, “-brother… You know Jiang Cheng now believes you to be a thief? How do you plead, you deceitful bandit!”

Shouta raised one amused eyebrow at the teen marching up to the bench. He’d been called many things, but never a ‘deceitful bandit’. Hizashi pulled his headphones off and grinned widely at the younger dark-haired man.

“Heeey – Wei-bro! How are you! I heard you gave Shouta the grand tour – I’m jealous!”

The teen laughed back, rushing up for a quick Hizashi-hug. It was always interesting to see them together. Both outgoing and exuberant in their own way, and yet so different in their posture and attitudes. Where Hizashi was forever waving his arms, shouting obnoxiously and tripping over his own legs, Wei Wuxian was fluid and elegant, formal almost despite himself no matter how cheeky he sometimes acted. Hizashi wrapped an arm around the delighted teen’s shoulder, and Wei Wuxian turned to stare judgementally at Shouta’s sprawled position, unchanged by the new arrival.

“How improper! Aaah… Not even sitting up to greet me… I am unloved.”

Hizashi swooned with Wei Wuxian, both cackling as they almost tripped into the dirt. Shouta blinked a lazy greeting and pulled out the silver stones he’d accidentally taken with him.

“Here”, Shouta yawned, ignoring the two’s antics, “… did you really call me a ‘deceitful bandit’?”

Wei Wuxian dissolved into giggling, tucking the money away gracefully and dropping onto the bench by Shouta’s side. Hizashi followed his movement so that the teen was perched between the two adults.

It didn’t escape Shouta’s attention that Wei Wuxian preened at the attention, eyes sparkling softly.

“Well, you see – after you disappeared”, he paused, scratched his cheek, “Aah, I think that was my fault by the way, I was trying something out but…”

Shouta sighed, already having anticipated this, “You had no idea what you were doing, bringing me along, did you?”

Wei Wuxian blushed, “Aaah… ahah… well, I had some theories? I put a burst of – um – spiritual energy into the leap this time? And it – I think – it kept you there for… the time until the energy… ran out.”

Shouta grumbled quietly, but it was Hizashi who intervened.

“You mean you dragged Shouta with you on a hunch??”, he yelped, giving the teen a scolding glare, “Did you even think about what could have happened if you were wrong?! To you? Or to Shouta??”

Wei Wuxian’s smile turned very sheepish, a slightly panicked look in his eyes. Shouta watched curiously. Hizashi had been teaching for a year already and it showed. The blonde man levelled Wei Wuxian with a deeply unimpressed glare.

For such a fun-loving man, it was always disconcerting how serious he could be when he felt it was needed.

Wei Wuxian slowly lost the insouciant confidence he’d been exuding, turning pensive.

Hizashi did not lift his stare even as the teen broke eye contact and hunched his shoulders defensively.

Shouta watched as the teen bit his lip and actually thought it through. He saw the moment Wei Wuxian realised how badly it could have ended if he’d been wrong, with widening eyes and a terribly guilty frown.

Hizashi glared at Shouta when he made to open his mouth, a clear warning that Shouta heeded. The blonde gave the teen a quick shoulder squeeze and softened his tone.

“I don’t know how your – your powers, whatever they are, work.”, Hizashi said, “and, truthfully, there’s no better way to learn than by testing it the way you have been, but”, he paused briefly, lifting the teen’s head to face him, “always remember to do these things in steps. You rush in and you might get someone, be that yourself or someone else, hurt.”

Wei Wuxian nodded, frowning. The teen glanced towards Shouta, who gave him a perfectly apathetic stare back.

“No harm done.”, he muttered awkwardly.

The teen bowed then, to both of them in turn, hands held out together.

“I apologise.”, he uttered sincerely, brows furrowed seriously.

Shouta sighed and Hizashi squeezed the teen tightly.

“So – Wei-bro, my poor deprived friend”, this had been a running theme since Hizashi had realised Wei Wuxian lived in a world without digital music, “tell me all about Shouta’s time exploring Lotus Pier!”, he winked and lowered his voice to a loud whisper, “I know he’s not telling me everything. He’s shy like that.”

Shouta groaned at Wei Wuxian’s startled laughter, and his irritation was only half-fake.

The rest of their afternoon was markedly less laid-back, far from silent but no less pleasant.

They brought up their upcoming schedules for the school year. Meeting would become slightly more difficult but Shouta knew they would manage well enough.

Notes:

A little bit of Present mic, for once.
Thanks for reading!
Thanks also to those who take the time to write a comment - I appreciate every one of them :)

Chapter 10: Golden Jackal

They did, in fact, manage well enough. Once a week, Shouta would check the park. Sometimes, Wei Wuxian would be there, and sometimes not. Hizashi checked on a different day, and overall, they met up with the kid more often than they missed him.

Shouta suspected the kid to be sixteen, or soon to turn sixteen. The baby fat was leaving his cheeks and while he joked and teased just as much as he always had, he also showed a more serious demeanour with increasing frequency.

Shouta never knew if this was a natural consequence of Wei Wuxian growing into adulthood, or if it stemmed from the peculiarities of his odd life.

Despite his reservations on the world in which Wei Wuxian grew up, Shouta knew that the teen had a good heart. It was reassuring, especially when Shouta was reminded that the teen had been trained to fight and kill for most of his life.

--

Shouta was not a huge fan of golden week. The streets were more crowded than usual, full of people enjoying their time off. Hizashi was constantly over-excited and eager to go do something ‘fun’. Nights were unusually noisy and Eraserhead had to deal with far more drunks than villains.

It also meant that villain attacks during the day tended towards pure chaos.

This particular villain, a woman with shapeshifting quirk who could transform into a jackal, had obviously decided to use the crowds to her advantage. She ran, branching off from the other villains, twisting her way through the crowd with ease and pushing people onto the ground to be crushed in the stampede of panicked civilians. Shouta recognised her. The police called her Hidden Jack, she was a thief and a murderer, with very few discernible morals and fewer known motivations. She excelled in escaping police and hero custody, invariably disappearing before she could be arrested for her crimes.

Shouta chased after her with dogged determination, using his capture scarf to yank her unfortunate victims into safer zones as he ran. It slowed him down considerably, but he hadn’t lost her yet.

What he hadn’t realised was that he hadn’t been chasing her alone. As he skidded around the corner Shouta took in the scene with alarm.

Hidden Jack was leaning against the wall, bleeding profusely from her shoulder. A menacing group of strangers stood by her side, aggressive and ready to fight at her command. In front of them, nonchalant and twirling a dagger between his fingers, was Wei Wuxian.

“Wei Wuxian!”, Shouta called, resisting the urge to swear too loudly.

“Ah, Da-ge”, the teen stated, turning to bow at him as if he wasn’t actively being threatened by six dangerous villains.

Shouta swore his heart rode up into his throat as he saw one of the burlier men lunge straight at Wei Wuxian. The teen in question barely seemed fazed, evading the man with a swift hop to one side, tripping him and slamming the dagger’s hilt into the man’s back to send him sprawling.

“Aiya! Interrupting people while they bow! Where is your honour…”, he grinned, cheeky and utterly unintimidated.

Shouta leapt into the fray just as the remaining villains joined in. It was a matter of seconds before all but Hidden Jack were left slumped inelegantly over the ground.

Shouta turned to her in time to see her shift into her jackal form, growling low. Whatever Shouta had expected to happen next was waylaid by Wei Wuxian screaming, dropping his dagger in fright and bolting for the entrance of the alleyway.

Things happened very fast after that. Distracted as he was, Shouta was shoved aside by the tawny canine. By the time he rolled to his feet, Hidden Jack had cornered the terrified teen, shifted back and grabbed him, pressing his own dagger to his throat.

She laughed, a low, snarling sound. Wei Wuxian stood very still, eyes wide and chest heaving. He didn’t disappear. Why didn’t he disappear? Shouta raised his hands pacifyingly.

“Let the kid go”, he said tensely, watching for even a single twitch in her arm.

Why hadn’t the teen gone yet? Shouta assessed Wei Wuxian in mounting frustration and fear. The teen was obviously terrified, gaze just a little vacant, unfocussed. Was he so panicked that he couldn’t think to? Was he unable to?

Shouta took a deep breath.

“Hidden Jack.”, he said, “leave him out of this.”, he held out his hands, “If you want a hostage, I’m much more valuable to the hero commission.”

He met her gaze seriously, “Trade?”

Hidden Jack laughed, and it wasn’t pleasant, but it wasn’t dismissive either. Shouta counted his blessings.

“Oi, Sonoda, get up”, she ordered with a roll of her eyes. Her grip on Wei Wuxian remained strong.

The burly man Wei Wuxian had thrown to the ground first got to his feet, frowning. Probably a healing quirk.

“Eraserhead, right?”, she continued, a smirk tugging at her lips, “Stay still and we can trade. The brat goes free and you come easy. Deal?”

Shouta grunted, “Deal.”

This was risky. These situations always were risky. Shouta glared at her, wishing he had more than her word to go on. Nonetheless, he let Sonoda shove his arms behind his back and tie them with his capture scarf.

Thankfully, she was as good as her word, kicking Wei Wuxian away from her once Shouta was secured.  

The teen immediately pressed himself against the wall, obviously scared but unable or unwilling to run.

“Brother…”, he gasped, and really, Shouta was touched by the teen’s worry. He held back a sigh.

Shouta was marched forwards by the burly Sonoda. He waited until they were about a meter away before ducking and kicking Hidden Jack hard on one side of her knee. She went down with a howl, and he wasted no time in shoving his shoulder into Sonoda’s gut, sending him tripping into the wall. Hidden Jack may have been a challenging opponent at her best, but today she was injured and tired, blood still coating one side of her costume.

He twisted out of the way of her flailing legs, quirk directed straight at her, and aimed a carefully controlled kick at her head. She was knocked out immediately.

Sonoda hesitated as soon as he saw Shouta’s angry glare. He opened his mouth, thought better of it, raised his hands and sat on the ground.

Shouta stretched his neck, “Wei Wuxian?”, he called, “You alright?”

There was a quick puff of laughter, and the teen came forward, quickly loosening the knots in Shouta’s capture weapon. Shouta used the free length to secure an unresisting Sonoda before calling the police to their location.

Shouta leant against the alleyway wall, watching Wei Wuxian struggle with himself. Finally, the teen spoke.

 “Why did you – I could have – you could have died! I should – I would have been fine. I could have – could have gone back.”

The teen’s voice was strangled. Shouta gave him a small pat on the head.

“You couldn’t. Or you would have”, he stated with certainty.

Wei Wuxian gaped at him, speechless.

“Besides, what kind of hero – what kind of person would I be if I let my little brother get hurt on my watch?”, Shouta smirked.

He let out a startled ‘omph’ when the teen abruptly barrelled into his chest for a hug.

Notes:

:)

Chapter 11: Testing, testing

A few days later Wei Wuxian returned to the park.

“I think.”, he started, collapsing next to Shouta on the bench, “that I’m using my spiritual energy to travel here and back.”

Shouta hummed.

“I’ve been thinking about it. There’s something here – something in the park. No matter where I am, I always travel here. And I always arrive back exactly where I left from.”

Shouta let him talk, watching as the teen waved one hand in the air in front of him, as if tracing an invisible pattern.

“And I didn’t really notice, because it really doesn’t take much, for me, but… Actually I’m pretty sure that explains why I felt a little weaker the day after that night when I …uh… was twelve.”

He paused, “I thought it was the drinking, but it hasn’t happened since, so…”

Shouta raised one exasperated eyebrow and the teen coughed.

“You know it’s normal to drink sometimes, right?”, he mumbled under his breath before clearing his throat.

“Right, ahah. Moving on.”, he waved a hand over his head as if to chase away the previous topic, “And obviously when I brought you over I also used my spiritual energy, because I have been thinking about this for a while. Believe it or not.”, he rolled his eyes, “And it worked.”

Shouta blinked in acknowledgement.

“Mmhmm. But”, the teen drawled, “last time, with that… woman”, he shivers, “I tried – I was literally shoving spiritual energy towards getting me out of there, you know, without the crazy dog-lady, but it didn’t work.”

Shouta blinked again. So he had tried, then.

The teen brought his hand to his head, scratching and mulling over his own words.

“But when I tried to leave after the danger had passed, it was easy.”

Shouta had noticed that, yes. He’d been left alone to deal with the police.

“So I thought”, the teen smiled lopsidedly, “maybe it was the danger?”

He shook his head, long hair shifting with the movement, “but that doesn’t make sense, because I’m pretty sure I was doing this out of fear when I was a kid.”

Shouta watched as the teen stood back up to pace, obviously getting close to his point.

“And then I wondered, well what did I do differently?”, he snapped his fingers, “I was trying to use loads of spiritual energy! Of course, I did that once before, when I brought you over”, he explains, “but this time I was definitely not trying to take her with me.”

He grins, “so I experimented.”, putting his hands on his hips, “it only works when I put a tiny amount of spiritual energy in. Every time I consciously draw more, it fails.”

He sits back down, yawning, but proud, “I’ve been trying all morning.”

Shouta gave him a lazy smile, “Well done…”

“Now all I need”, stated Wei Wuxian eagerly, “is to test it with someone else.”

Shouta groaned.

--

It took months for the teen to be satisfied he knew how to control his odd ability. Hizashi had been ecstatic to be included in the experimentation, as it invariably involved long hours visiting Lotus Pier, although he lost some of his enthusiasm the first time Wei Wuxian transported him to a deserted patch of forest where he was in the process of tracking a swarm of demonic bees. Shouta himself had had the dubious honour of overseeing Wei Wuxian and Jiang Cheng fight a handful of water ghosts (Wei Wuxian wouldn’t know what the term self-preservation meant if it bit him on the nose). Only once had Wei Wuxian managed to take both of them together for more than a few minutes, but he’d had to spend the entire hour lying down, exhausted.

Somehow, while Jiang Cheng obviously held a very sensible degree of suspicion towards Shouta, Hizashi and their supposed home of ‘Tokyo’, the Jiang heir had accepted their presence without much of a fuss.

“You keep that idiot out of trouble.”, he’d stated once, when Hizashi had asked.

“He obviously likes you, and you’re not – well.”, he’d shaken his head in embarrassment, “You’re his… our friends”, he coughed, “It’s… we appreciate your company.”

Hizashi had spent the rest of that day cooing over the poor teen until Jiang Cheng had become so irritated he’d dunked the blonde into one of the lotus lakes.

Jiang Yanli, a handful of years older, was as gentle and kind as Wei Wuxian had professed her. Shouta and Hizashi saw her less often, for the sole reason that Wei Wuxian never brought either of them to the Jiang compound and Jiang Yanli, in turn, rarely left.

A year and a half passed in comfortable camaraderie. Shouta and Hizashi enjoyed the visits, and the two teens as well as their kind sister were good company.

Shouta relayed the news to Hizashi when Jiang Cheng proudly told him about their upcoming attendance at the Cloud Recesses lecture. Hizashi was the one to gush to Shouta about Wei Wuxian’s apparent obsession (it’s a crush, Shouta, oh my god) with the ever mysterious Lan Zhan.

And for a while, everything was fine.

Notes:

Spoiler: it doesn't stay fine :/
So... um, first off, sorry? I know at least some of you were hoping for wwx's ability to be unrelated to his golden core...
Next chapter begins Part 4: 'The eve of war' (not at all ominous)

Thanks for reading!
And a big thanks to you guys in the comments :)

Chapter 12: Wen-dog

Notes:

Part 4: 'The eve of war'
To indoctrination!

Wei Wuxian stumbled into the dungeon, back stiff from where he’d been shoved, heart racing and a smile fixed rebelliously onto his face. This was nothing, he reminded himself, sleeping here was easy. Then he looked up and saw the dogdogDogDogDOG it’s huge it’s – he swallowed a terrified scream and leapt back out, right into the Wen guards’ grasps. Their presence was a lot less daunting than it had been previously. His bravado had all but evaporated.

Wen Chao laughed and mocked him with words that warped together like meaningless smoke. Wei Wuxian held tightly onto the knowledge that he could – that he would be able to switch to Da-ge’s realm. To safety. He’d just have to step in, wait for the door to close, and then he would go.

Then he realised, cold certainty running down his spine – he couldn’t. Not yet, anyway. Wen Chao would not leave immediately, would want to hear him scream and fight this monster. If he noticed that Wei Wuxian left… what did that mean for Jiang Cheng? For Lotus Pier? He shook in fear. He could not risk them.

Wen Chao shoved him in, sending him sprawling across the dirty ground. There was laughter.

“We’ll see if you’re still alive come morning, scum.”, the second son of Wen sneered viciously.

Wei Wuxian struggled to get up, shaking and tangling in the heavy chains strapped to his neck, his arms, his legs. How was he going to survive this?

Without any thought, he rushed the dungeon door, banging into it less than a second after it was slammed shut.

“No – Wen Chao! Let me out! Let me - !”, he gasped, “You bastard! Open the door!”, he shouted, “Wen Chao!”

He could see the other’s red robes still there through a small opening at the door’s base – too close, too close to the door. Wei Wuxian cursed him with everything he had. He wanted them to open the door. He wanted them to leave. A growl sounded behind him and they had still done neither. He twisted to face the display of huge sharp teeth and his breath caught in his throat.

He lunged to one side as the beast leapt straight at him, rolling to keep his eyes on the terrible creature. The chains rattled and tripped him, sending him reeling onto his back. He pulled up the metal links, held taught between shaking hands, just in time to avoid teeth ripping into his head. The beast snarled, jaw snapping close – too close. This was the first food he’d found in days, but the stray was rushing for him, lips held back and snarling - Wei Wuxian pushed with all his might, shouting in pain as teeth bit into his shoulder in retaliation. He kicked wildly, foot meeting flesh.

A yelp, and he was thrown into the wall, stunned and bleeding. Distantly, over his panic, his memories and the sound of the creature circling back to sink its bloody teeth into him, he heard the sounds of footsteps finally, finally leaving.

He spared a last glance at the opening below the door. No red. Something sharp and painful sank into his back and he – fell, winded, headfirst into a patch of coarse, dirty grass. He panted in pain and relief, unable to believe the danger had passed.

Deep breaths, in and out. In and out. Tears wetted his cheeks and his chest shook with every exhale and inhale. He was okay. He was safe.

He was alone. He uncurled and sat up. It was evening, and the sun was dipping below the nearest buildings. The park was empty.

For a while, he considered finding help, but then he discarded it.

He shifted, chains rattling with his small movement. And he thought.

The chains had to stay on. There was no way Wen Chao would accept them disappearing overnight without suspecting foul play. There could be no suspicion of foul play – well, none beyond Wei Wuxian’s survival anyway. He sighed, almost amused at his predicament. Don’t cause suspicion, but stay alive against all odds.

The injuries… Well, it’s not like he could do anything about them anyway, and they led some credibility to his presence there overnight. So did the dirt.

Would Wen Chao check in on him? Send guards? Wei Wuxian hoped not, but even then maybe the silence would be interpreted as him being all-too-predictably dead, and the dark would disguise his absence.

When would they open the cell? Wen Chao had said morning, and Wei Wuxian didn’t doubt he could be cruel enough to delay his arrival until after the morning meal. Would he come before? Maybe.

He bit his lip. Staying away was risky, no matter how unlikely it was for them to notice his absence. He let out a long breath.

Maybe he could … check in. In, out, quick enough to avoid the beast, but long enough to hear voices or footsteps. Enough to – to … to be just that bit less likely to be discovered.

He could wait. He hoped. Just a little. Something fearful lodged itself in his throat. The idea of purposefully facing that creature again was … almost more than he could contemplate. Just a bit longer.

He pushed himself into standing before his first attempt. The dungeon was pitch black and silent as a grave. Wei Wuxian held his breath, listening hard. Nothing. Snuffling. A growl. He landed back on the grass, in the park, eyes shut tight and heart in his throat.

He shuffled to rest against the bench, grateful that no-one had spotted him yet. He didn’t want to have to explain.

He managed to check a few more times before anyone came across him.

He didn’t look up as his Da-ge crouched low in front of him. He had nothing to say and he was too tired to try. He flinched when a hand found his shoulder, curling a bit more tightly over his knees.

“Wei Wuxian?”

It was gentle. Worried. Scared. He shrugged, leaning heavily against the bench. He had a little while before he had to go back and check again.

Da-ge tried to pull him up but Wei Wuxian shook his head. He couldn’t. He opened his mouth to say that and then… just didn’t. He sifted through his robes for a talisman. Eventually, he found what he was looking for. He waved Da-ge down and slapped it to the man’s chest. He didn’t want to forget it on his own chest when Wen Chao deigned to find him.

“There.”, he sighed, blinking slowly.

Da-ge frowned, eyes assessing every part of him in that precise, worried way he had.

“Are you – what happened? Why won’t you come with me?”, Da-ge settled on.

Wei Wuxian tried for a small smile, “I – uh, need to head back. If they realise I’m – not there… Jiang Cheng, Lotus Pier, everyone will be in danger.”

He could see Da-ge tense, one hand held out as if to pull him into a hug.

“What happened…?”, Da-ge asked again, voice barely more than a whisper.

So Wei Wuxian told him. Explained what he could. The Wens, the threat of war, the Yin Iron… His worry over Lan Zhan and the lack of news from Cloud Recesses. The indoctrination.

“I’m… uh… Wen Chao has me in the dungeons.”, he muttered, “punishment.”

He decided not to mention the beast.

He heaved another deep breath and stood.

“I need to – I need to go back. Check.”, he said, forcing his gaze away from the worried face of his Da-ge.

Before another word could be said, he left. The dungeon was still dark. Still cold. He stood very still.

“Wei-gonzi? Wei-gonzi!”, it was coming from the cell door.

With difficulty, and more than a little fear he’d trip over the monster hiding with him in the cell, he shuffled to see who was speaking.

“…Wen Ning?”, he asked, startled to see the younger boy peering through the small opening.

The boy’s face lit up in relief.

“You’re alright!”, he gasped, “I’m so sorry, Wei-gonzi, I…”

Wei Wuxian stopped him there.

“Shh.”, he whispered a bit frantically, “you’ll wake the –”

“It’s alright, Wei-gonzi.”, Wen Ning reassured, “it’s asleep now. A-Jie…”

Wei Wuxian’s eyes were slowly getting used to the dark, and sure enough the dark shape of the beast lay still, breathing deeply. Wei Wuxian shuffled closer, holding his breath. There were three needles sticking out of its neck.

The beast breathed, sending his heart racing, and he stumbled back to fall against the door.

“Wei-gongzi?”, Wen Ning asked, so kind and caring.

The boy proceeded to give him medicine, nervous and yet taking so many risks… for what? For him? Wei Wuxian did not really understand, but he was grateful nonetheless.

Wen Ning told him about Cloud Recesses. Wei Ying’s heart ached for Lan Zhan. He held the bottles of medicine in one hand and considered it slowly. He – his shoulder sent out a stab of pain, unpleasant but not life-threatening. Hopefully. He’d be fine. Lan Zhan… needed the medicine more than he did.

He thanked Wen Ning, watching the poor boy grow incredibly flustered at the gratitude. Then he was alone again.

Should he go back? The beast was still here, but it wasn’t attacking. He could stay, be ready to disappear if the beast woke up... Da-ge was waiting. Wei Wuxian was tired. He couldn’t dare to sleep away from here, for risk of discovery, and he couldn’t imagine sleeping here with his nightmare less than a body’s length away. He straightened and almost immediately fell back. His energy was low, he’d been going back and forth for hours now.

Wei Wuxian sent a mental apology to his Da-ge. He would stay.

He slept restlessly. Every time he heard the slightest noise he would jump awake and stare at the unconscious beast, waiting for it to rise. It never did. This time, he awoke to the echoing sound of heavy footfalls, getting louder. His shoulder screamed at him when he tensed and his body ached all over. Thinking quickly, he quietly snuck to the monster and pulled out the needles, hiding them up his sleeves.

He threw himself back against the wall as the large beast moved, rising to its feet, a terrible growl rumbling from its chest.

Maybe he’d been too hasty. He dodged a clumsy lunge from the creature, and stumbled against the door. His chains rattled loudly in the dark.

The cold steel behind him fell back and Wei Wuxian fell with it, crumbling inelegantly into the corridor. He blinked up to see Wen Chao, surrounded by guards as always, evidently stupefied to find him alive and (all things considered) practically unharmed.

He was too exhausted to properly grin, so he settled for an arrogant smirk. It was definitely worth the extra punch before they dragged him back to the lectures.

As boring and demeaning as the lectures were, at least they gave him time to think. He’d crossed between Da-ge’s realm and his own at least ten times the previous night, and now that he was less distracted by the pressure of not dying, he realised he’d been expending more and more spiritual energy with every jump. It was an uneasy realisation. He’d never truly felt strained before.

A few days later, Wen Chao took them out to search for a cave. It somehow went worse than Wei Wuxian had expected.

Notes:

Thanks for reading!
Thanks also to those taking the time to comment :)

Chapter 13: Open sesame

Lan Zhan pulled the shivering form of Wei Wuxian to rest against him. The cave was far too cold to let the other rest against the damp rock. Not in the state he was in.

Bruised from Wen Chao pushing him down the slope and burned by Wang LingJiao’s brand, not to mention the unknown injuries he had sustained a few nights before, it had struck Lan Wangji that Wei Wuxian might be approaching the end of his endurance. He’d been wrong. The Jiang disciple had pushed through, tending to Lan Zhan’s wounds and helping him prepare for the battle ahead.

They’d worked together to bring down the Xuanwu, but it had not bought them an escape route. All it had achieved was to leave them both exhausted and more injured than they had been previously.

Yet throughout their battle, and even before that, the dark-dressed Jiang disciple had seemed to hesitate, a nameless suggestion on his lips. Second young master Lan was well accustomed to waiting, and wait he did, patiently and dutifully for the other to share. But the dark-haired youth had looked away and shaken his head, mouth pressed in a thin, indecisive line.

Now, the friendly face showed none of the many strange exaggerated expressions Lan Wangji was becoming so familiar with. After Wei Wuxian had returned from a last fruitless search of the cold lake and collapsed against the wall by their makeshift fire, his condition had done nothing but deteriorate at an alarming speed. Lan Wangji had tried his best to help, transferring spiritual energy, shuffling the other closer to the flames and even singing when the other had asked it of him. Watching the unconscious face of his first friend, Lan Zhan felt a spark of frustrated anger at his own helplessness.

If not for Lan Wangji, they might have all successfully escaped. If it hadn’t been for his injuries… Truthfully Lan Wangji had anticipated being left behind. He was in no condition to swim, had known it before the plan had been set in motion. He’d stayed until last purposefully, acted to help Wei Wuxian because that was something he could do, someone he could help. As he was unable to escape himself, the least he could do was help those who could. And yet Wei Wuxian had saved him, stayed for him, shared his medicine with him. Had smiled.

There wasn’t anything Lan Zhan could do about it now, and he knew privately that there hadn’t been anything he could have done about it while it had happened either. If there was one thing he’d learned in his time spent with Wei Wuxian, it was that it was almost impossible to stop the mischievous disciple from doing anything he’d set his mind to. He was as stubborn as a mule.

Lan Zhan was afraid. He felt certain someone would come for them, eventually. He was less certain that the people to find them would be friendly, and even less sure they’d still be alive to find out. He shifted until he could lean against the wall, groaning at the agony shooting up his leg now the adrenaline had worn off. Wei Wuxian, breathing unevenly and hot to the touch, was held carefully against his chest.

Lan Zhan wanted nothing more than to have Bichen with him but he had nothing, and none of the strength to fetch any of the dead’s discarded weapons. Unarmed or not, he vowed he would fight for everything he was worth, if it came to it.

He didn’t notice Wei Wuxian blink tired eyes open, and frown in intense concentration.

He did notice when the cave wall disappeared from underneath him and he abruptly had to tense his abdomen to keep himself and his friend from falling backwards onto the … well-packed soil. The air was warm and humid. Lan Zhan’s heart hammered in his chest and he blinked against the bright light surrounding him. He went to draw Bichen, hand coming up empty. He braced himself and struggled to his feet. He held Wei Wuxian close against him, terrified the other would get hurt, would be killed. His leg gave out and he teetered dangerously to the side, the added weight almost sending them crashing back down. He tried desperately to get his bearings, noting the foggy shapes of people, threats, shifting away from him, and the tall outline of a tree which stood out in the open space surrounding him.

He quickly made his way to the tree – the only cover of any kind he could see that he knew he could reach without collapsing, forcing his bad leg against the ground. He kept one arm out, defending against the still-moving silhouettes. There was so much noise. Low rumbling and loud, horrible screeching whines. It was hard to think. Lan Zhan blinked rapidly, trying to clear his vision, trying to clear his head.

Where were they?

There weren’t actually many people there. Only a few scared-looking, strangely foreign women, one of which had bright green… skin. He slowly fell back against the tree, his leg no longer willing to cooperate. He slid painfully down to the ground, adjusting Wei Wuxian’s body to rest more evenly against his.

Wei Wuxian shifted against him. Lan Zhan held him closer in warning.

“…Lan Zhan… it’s…”, he broke off with a painful sounding coughing fit.

Lan Zhan wished they had thought to pick up one of the discarded swords left in the cave. None of them would work like Bichen, but a weapon is still a weapon. Even the half of his cord, broken at the end of his fight with Xuanwu, would have been better than nothing.

One of the women (not the green-skinned one, happily) sauntered over, speaking loudly. Lan Wangji could usually count on his reputation, or the reputation of the Gusu Lan sect to precede him, and to save him from having to explain who he was and what he was doing. It didn’t seem to be the case here, and he wasn’t convinced he was hearing her properly. His vision swam. Her words didn’t even sound like Chinese.

A pair of offensively coloured boots got just a bit too close and Lan Zhan tensed, whipping his head to face this unknown person (threat). He grasped at the ground, finding a dirty stick – little more than a twig. He held it up nonetheless defensively.

How pitiful a sight he must be, a distant part of him lamented. A myriad of rules flicked distractingly across his mind. Do not assume. Do not judge others harshly. Do not- Lan Zhan almost snarled in frustration. For once he agreed whole-heartedly with the teen in his arms. What use were these rules to him in his present situation?

The person backed away. Lan Zhan felt his consciousness drift. He blinked and stared ahead. Focus.

There was noise. Loud, a sound from no known animal or instrument. His jaw tightened in pain as his head throbbed in counterpoint.

Footsteps. New arrivals. His stomach twisted in frustrated fear. Lan Wangji steeled himself and squinted up at them. His eyes had largely adjusted to the light, thankfully. He assessed them with growing apprehension. They wore strange dark outfits. These were obviously uniforms, which suggested another sect, or some organised group. Judging by the size, confidence, and posture, they may not be swordsmen, but they were soldiers nonetheless.

He swallowed. He would protect Wei Ying.

One of the soldiers approached, a tone of command in their voice. Lan Zhan growled, raising his branch as threateningly as he could. They hadn’t attacked, weren’t even acting aggressive, but his foggy mind was paranoid. It would happen soon. He couldn’t… let them. They were slowly being surrounded.

He tightened his grip on Wei Ying. In all of his life, the second young master Lan had never felt so out of his depth, so helpless.

The soldier stepped back, pulling out a dark device. He was too weak to tell how much spiritual power it contained.

Wei Ying moved again, tugging weakly at Lan Zhan’s sword arm, still brandishing the stick.

“Hey…”, he rasped, “Hey, no Lan Zhan, no no”, his tired voice seemed to grow stronger, more insistent, “Lan Zhan, it’s –”, he coughed, “-gh- fine.”

Lan Zhan risked a glance at the other teen, who’s head was resting heavily on his shoulder blade. Wei Ying was squinting painfully at the light, grimacing worriedly at the soldiers surrounding them.

There was the sound of rushed footsteps and a panicked voice.

“Wei Wuxian!”

Lan Zhan braced them both against the tree, glaring. The soldiers were still there, too close. His vision swam too much to make out more than vague motion behind them.

“Stay back.”, Lan Zhan said, low and threatening.

A man pushed his way in. He was dressed entirely in black, with a long thick white ribbon loosely wrapped around his neck. Not a soldier like the others, but the tired eyes assessed him like those of a trained fighter.

“Wei Wuxian.”, the man said, concern clear in his tone, turning to snap orders at the people around him. Lan Zhan hesitated.

Wei Ying grabbed his arm again, pulling it down. Lan Zhan slowly let it happen, keeping a wary eye on the soldiers who’d moved cautiously away at the black man’s urging.

“...Da-ge”, Wei Ying mumbled weakly. Lan Zhan turned to stare at Wei Ying, still boneless against his side. Lan Zhan’s head was pounding and his thoughts were muddled, a far cry from the clarity he’d been taught to strive for. He struggled with himself for a moment before speaking.

“…Safe?”, he asked lowly, still watching the people around him warily.

Wei Ying coughed but nodded against his chest. Lan Zhan very warily lowered his stick, eyes flicking from Wei Ying to the concerned, dangerous man, and back again. He gave the man a shallow nod.

The man wasted no time in rushing over to them. Lan Zhan tensed further, every instinct urging him to attack the strange threat. To defend. He ignored it, instead sitting very still, and even slowly letting the stranger pull Wei Ying from his grasp and lay him on a stretcher. His heart was thudding just a bit too fast. But he trusted Wei Ying, and Wei Ying trusted this man.

One of the soldiers made a move to approach again and Lan Zhan levelled him with the coldest glare he could muster. The dark man barked orders at them, directed them to lifting the stretcher, then looked back at Lan Zhan with his dark, concerned eyes. Lan Zhan assessed him unhappily.

He approached Lan Zhan with careful steps, stopping to crouch at his side. A long sigh and a tilt of the head towards where he’d sent Wei Ying.

“…Wei Wuxian…?”, he asked, gesturing to Lan Zhan, arms out and ready to offer support.

Lan Zhan frowned minutely at having to show his weakness to these strangers, but he swallowed his reservations and nodded once.

He shifted, clenching his jaw against the pulsing agony from his leg, and used the tree behind him to push himself upright. The man grabbed his upper arm to support him, dark eyes flicking up and down Lan Zhan’s body, probably for evidence of his injury. Lan Zhan gave him a long look and let himself glance meaningfully down at his leg before meeting the man’s gaze. The man tilted his head in acknowledgment and twisted to support the teen’s weight on that side, pulling Lan Zhan’s arm over his shoulder.

They walked across the sparse grass, and when Lan Zhan refused to lie in another stretcher, they hobbled further to a white tent. He spotted Wei Ying on entry and allowed himself to be lowered onto a thin mattress nearby. Lan Zhan could feel sweat running down his brow and soak into his headband. He was beyond exhausted. He stared hard at the strange man, and the man met his gaze without flinching. There was a calm assurance in the man’s subtle expression. Lan Wangji decided it would have to do. He blinked and the world went dark.

Notes:

silversky27 called this one :)

Just saying, though. We have two people stuck in a cave where the only source of water has a rotting carcass in it (which just so happens to be full of other rotting carcasses), and no food.... for seven days...
Granted I think in MDZS canon they have things like inedia or whatnot, but in CQL that's never brought up.

Anyhow, thanks for reading!
Hope you enjoyed :)
Thanks also to you guys in the comments - it's always fun to see what you think!

Chapter 14: Close sesame

Shouta hissed through his teeth at the state his – his little brother – was in. There were bruises all over him, scratches, bites, dirt rubbed into every surface, and running a high fever. And if that wasn’t enough, someone had burned a brand into his skin.

He’d been close by when the police had called him. After yesterday he’d let out a notice to the local police to have someone on-hand to contact him asap if anything odd happened in that park. And something had.

Finding an obviously on-edge teenager in dirty white robes clutching the unconscious form of Wei Wuxian protectively against him had not been what Shouta had expected. For a terrifying moment Shouta had believed his little brother to be dead, but then Wei Wuxian had moved, spoken, and Shouta felt his relief wage war with his concern.

Apparently the one in white robes had been threatening anyone who approached with a stick and an allegedly icy glare. The police warned him the white-robed teen was potentially dangerous. What Shouta found was a teen at the end of his rope, with an almost perfectly impassive face that nonetheless barely hid a desperate resolve to protect the feverish body in his arms.

Whatever Wei Wuxian had said or done, it was apparently enough for the white-clad teen to agree to trust Shouta. That didn’t mean the teen was relaxed – far from it. He watched Shouta like a hawk, tense and wary of every sudden movement. He never said a word to Shouta or even made a sound, despite the worrying signs of injury he displayed. And yet Shouta had reached an understanding with the white-clad teen. It had been almost too easy to follow the younger’s silent language, the long glances and wary appraisals.

Shouta had purposefully ordered a medical tent set up within the park itself, as close to where the teens had appeared as possible. Especially with two of them, Shouta didn’t know how long they would – how long they could stay. If Shouta’s little brother had to go back to fetch his friend they would end up back here either way, still needing help.

Now, he stood back as a nurse quickly used her quirk to assess the strange teen’s injuries. She gritted her teeth and quickly summarised her findings, moving directly to the teen’s leg. Peeling back the fabric of his robe revealed a gory mess of bleeding flesh. Someone had tied two pieces of wet stick to brace the bone, and some makeshift bandage had obviously once been wrapped over the wounds themselves.

The nurses pulled off the torn scrap of cloth holding the sticks and set it aside, hurrying to clean and treat the mangled leg. Shouta felt a bone-deep wariness seep into his chest. He knew things were getting bad, and he hated how these kids were being pulled into it.

It hadn’t been long, a few days, since Wei Wuxian turned up in fucking chains, blood soaking his clothes from his shoulder and too scared to speak. He’d eventually explained some of his situation, and the more Shouta heard, the angrier he’d become.

These kids were being used as bargaining pieces in a war their parents were failing to avoid. They’d gone willingly into the jaws of their enemy and were paying the price for it. Shouta crossed his arms and held them tight across his body. He hoped that Jiang Cheng and the other kids sent in as pawns in a political game, were alright.

--

Lan Zhan woke back in the cave. He wondered if he’d imagined being elsewhere, if his sanity had given up on him, if his leg injury was finally getting the better of him. His leg… It felt surprisingly well. As if it had already started healing. He blinked in confusion. He hadn’t the spiritual energy left over to heal yet.

He wondered how Wei Ying was faring… Wei Ying! Where was he?

Lan Zhan twisted one way and the other, but there was no sign of movement, no person-shaped mound, no –

“Wei Ying!”, he called, calm façade breaking entirely. There was no answer. He felt the beginnings of panic rising in his chest.

Suddenly, someone appeared literally on top of him. Lan Zhan muffled an undignified yelp, arms coming up to defend himself.

“Umpf…”, the sound came from the face smushed into Lan Zhan’s chest, but it was still recognisable. Relief slowly gave way to embarrassment.

“Wei Ying”, he stated. The dark haired teen twisted awkwardly, leaning on him and huffing in displeasure.

“…ugh, need to rethink how I do that.”, the teen muttered. Lan Zhan looked down to see the teen stare back at him with a small reassuring smile. He felt his ears heat at the other’s close proximity. It had been different, when Wei Ying had been unconscious. More necessary and less… improper.

“So, Lan Zhan. Do you prefer salmon or chicken teriyaki?”, the other asked. There was a rustling and somehow Lan Zhan was presented with two hard paper pots of… food. He blinked. Wei Ying was still very close.

“Look. You have to choose soon you know. If you don’t you’ll miss your chance!”, Wei Ying’s grin was apparent even in the dark, “Lan Zhan. Aiya, Lan Zhan!”

Slowly, he chose one of the containers. The food tasted odd, but Lan Zhan was not feeling picky. He swallowed another mouthful and gazed questioningly at the tired teen, sitting slumped against the cave wall.

“Wei Ying…”, he said, at a loss on what he actually wanted answered. Where was that? Was it real? Who was that? Why? How? His tongue stuck to the roof of his mouth uncertainly.

“Ah, I guess I’ll explain, don’t worry. Anyway I have medicine from the doctors for us to take, here.”, he handed a white pill to Lan Zhan, taking another himself and swallowing it whole. Lan Zhan copied the motion in confusion.

Eventually, Wei Ying started talking. Not a lot, and not in detail, but enough. He learned about the other realm – a separate dimension of their realm, perhaps, or something completely different. The other explained why they were back in the cave (Wei Ying had been reckless. He’d run out of spiritual energy by taking Lan Zhan over after their fight). Who the man was (Wei Ying’s Da-ge).

They fell asleep leaning closely against each other for warmth, their fire dying to small embers.

And over the week they spent waiting for a rescue, Wei Ying provided them with food, clean water and medicine, taking the evidence back as soon as they were done. It was obviously an effort for him to travel this often, low on spiritual power and still recovering, but neither of them wanted to risk the Wens finding them first. Wei Ying’s ability was too strange and powerful to reveal.

Lan Zhan worried Wei Ying would collapse before help arrived. He looked more haggard by the day.

It was approaching the seventh night when Lan Zhan finally decided to ask about the ability itself. After all, Jiang Wanyin had shown no sign he’d known his brother had a secret way out.

“Who knows?”, he’d questioned softly.

The tight smile on Wei Ying’s face was not altogether reassuring.

“..Aaah… well, you, for one. Da-ge. And another person from… over there.”, he shrugged.

Lan Zhan mulled it over. It was odd that neither of Wei Ying’s siblings were included. He’d seen for himself how close they were at Cloud Recesses.

“…Family?”, he prompted finally, watching the other carefully.

Wei Ying lifted his hand to rub his nose, avoiding Lan Zhan’s gaze.

“Aaah… Well, I did tell them, when we were kids? But I wasn’t even sure I believed it at the time. It was more imaginary than real.”, he smiled a little sadly, “Madam Yu disapproved and no-one believed me.”

“Now?”

Because that couldn’t be it. He didn’t believe Wei Ying would stop mentioning it due to one person’s disapproval, no matter their position. And they were a lot older now, old enough to surely listen – or be shown, because Wei Ying obviously knew how to transport someone else over.

Wei Ying scratched his cheek.

“It’s… I don’t know. I just… it was mine, I guess.”, Wei Ying trailed off awkwardly.

Lan Zhan considered it. He didn’t know much about Wei Ying’s life, having disdained rumours as long as he could remember. He knew though that Jiang Wanyin, despite being the heir of their sect and a talented cultivator in his own right, was not the head disciple. He’d also seen Wei Wuxian’s ill-disguised wincing when he mentioned Madam Yu, Jiang Wanyin’s mother. It didn’t seem far-fetched to infer some level of tension existed between Wei Ying and his adoptive family, especially considering the other’s playful, disrespectful nature.

Even at Cloud Recesses, Wei Ying had often disappeared, allegedly to explore or to sneak to Caiyi town. Lan Zhan could sympathise with a need to get away, and perhaps this ability of his granted him a safe haven he was not eager to share.

“Mn.”

Lan Zhan was glad Wei Ying had chosen to share it with him.

Notes:

Part 2 of the cave

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Chapter 15: To protect

It had been days since Wei Wuxian had been cooped up in Lotus Pier. He enjoyed shooting kites as much as any other Jiang disciple, but he had done more than enough kite shooting and sword practice to satisfy even Madam Yu for another week. Maybe he was exaggerating.

Wei Wuxian was on edge, tense in a way that he couldn’t help. Restless every night and anxious during the day. Jiang Cheng was no better, crabby and snapping at the most ridiculous of offenses. In fact, the entire Jiang family was troubled, all waiting for what they knew to be inevitable. The Wen were coming.

Every day Wei Wuxian would check in with the disciples on watch. Ask the villagers for any worrying rumours. Fly above Lotus Pier to survey the surroundings.

What would they do if an army did march upon them? Where would they go? Could they flee? Could Wei Wuxian do anything to prepare?

He almost cursed when one possible solution came to him. He ran to find his brother.

“Jiang Cheng!”, he yelled, spotting him in the training courtyard. His brother turned, an irritated frown on his face.

“I’m going to be away for – for all of today. I think, no I know”, he waved one arm, “I’ve had an idea that I think could help. I’m going to check it out.”

Jiang Cheng opened his mouth to protest.

“Aaaah!”, Wei Wuxian cut him off, “I promise it’s worth it – I… Just don’t expect to find me until this evening. I’ll be back!”

And he ran, ducked behind a bush and crossed over.

He had some planning to do.

--

Shouta was half-way through class when he received a notification from the police. Something was happening in the park. He glared at his class, until even the unruliest of them ducked their heads, stepped out of the room, and marched straight for the teacher’s office.

Barging in, he pointed at the first competent teacher he saw, Vlad King.

“Sekijiro, I need you to take over my class.”, he stated urgently, “please.”

The hulking man groaned at him but quickly caught on to the urgency in Shouta’s voice. He was out of the room in a matter of seconds. Everyone knew not to leave hero-course classes unattended for too long.

Next, Shouta grabbed his car keys and rushed out. He made it to the park less than 15min after he received the notice.

As expected, a police officer was waiting there to meet him. Shouta gave the man a once over. They weren’t worried, or particularly uneasy.

“Your kid brother is here.”, the man said, voice gruff and only slightly teasing. And if Shouta had let that detail slip for the sole purpose of being contacted quicker when Wei Wuxian was spotted, only Hizashi would know.

The teen – closer to a young adult now, truthfully – waved when he spotted Shouta walking over.

“Da-ge!”

Shouta grabbed him, relief washing through his body. Wei Wuxian was obviously far healthier than before. He wasn’t covered in blood, or scared, or crying. He pulled back.

“Are you alright?”, he asked, “Do you need help?”

The teen grinned warmly at him, shrugging a bit sheepishly.

“I’m fine, brother, but I do… I’d like your help, if you can give it.”, he bowed. This was something important.

Shouta thanked the officer, now posted specifically to keep an eye on the park, and walked Wei Wuxian to a nearby bench.

“What do you need?”, he asked.

Wei Wuxian met his gaze, face devoid of his usual cheer.

“The Wens will be coming for Lotus Pier.”, he stated, “I – I was hoping I could, in a worst case scenario, send some people here. Just…”, he swallowed, “at least the younger disciples, the ones who can’t fight.”

Shouta gritted his teeth, stomach swooping with dread.

“How do you expect to do that?”, he asked finally.

Wei Wuxian shook his head.

“I don’t know yet, but… If I can – I can come here, and I can even bring people with me, even if it’s for short periods only… Surely I can study it. I can… If I can recreate the same effects here, set up an anchor, a place for people to be sent…”, he cut himself off, looking up at Shouta hopefully, “but I need to know they’ll be safe. I can’t just drop them here. Even if I did, I need the anchor to be kept undamaged.”

Shouta nodded thoughtfully.

“I’ll ask Nezu, but I think UA might be able to help you.”, he intoned, “How long do you have?”

“For what?”, Wei Wuxian laughed, short and tense, “For the Wens to make their move or for me to figure this array out or…”, he glanced away and bit his lip.

Shouta put a hand on his shoulder, “Today. I can take you to UA, we can discuss it with Nezu in person. Would that help?”

Wei Wuxian blinked, then smiled.

“Yeah, okay. Thank you.”

Shouta drove them back to the school and paged the teen in. They made their way up to Nezu’s office to find the door open and the principle already setting three cups out on a low table.

Shouta sighed but ushered the teen in.

Apparently following some silent rule, Wei Wuxian bowed, arms out, and introduced himself.

He then proceeded to carefully and elegantly pour the tea and push each mug out to Nezu, Shouta and then to himself. Odd ritual out of the way, the teen met Nezu’s eyes and started speaking.

Shouta sat silently nursing his tea, watching as Nezu hummed and smiled politely at Wei Wuxian. As well as Nezu controlled his expressions, Shouta could tell the principal was intrigued. Not surprised, Shouta didn’t doubt the mouse-dog-man had already known something was up with Shouta and Hizashi’s regular disappearances from hero work. Not doubtful, either, although Shouta guessed his presence helped allay some of the immediate disbelief. Shouta just hoped intrigue would be enough to grant his younger brother a chance.

“-I humbly request your assistance in finding such a safe location for those vulnerable members of my sect, if the need should arise.”, Wei Wuxian finished, head bowing low and hands tight around his tea.

Nezu’s whiskers twitched and Shouta let out a breath of relief at the familiar cue. The principle would help them.

“I will have to set some conditions, of course.”, Nezu started, tapping his paws together. Wei Wuxian jumped to his feet and bowed again.

“I understand. Thank you.”, he spoke earnestly, the beginnings of a smile pulling at his lips.

Describing his many conditions (no swords, every detail of the transferring process must be explained in-depth before it is used, Nezu would set down ground rules if these people were to arrive, and he expected the arrangement to be temporary, pending updates from Wei Wuxian himself), Nezu guided them to one of the less-used training facilities. It was a modest open space with only a few small buildings, meant to mimic a rural terrain. Wei Wuxian bowed again upon seeing it, thanking them both again.

From then on, Wei Wuxian got to work. Nezu gave him a guest access card, Shouta handed him enough money (and instructions) to get to UA with a taxi, and every few days the students and teachers of UA would find the teen popping up around campus, carrying armfuls of talisman paper, and the occasional bottle of rice wine. He took short breaks in the cafeteria, scarfing down the spiciest item on the menu and ignoring the curious looks from surrounding students.

The training ground was covered in talisman arrays, some seemingly abandoned and others freshly drawn up.

Shouta visited him frequently, checking in and throwing him more cash when he started running out.

It lasted just under two weeks, the arrays becoming more and more intricate with every visit. Then Wei Wuxian stopped coming.

Notes:

Um...
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Thanks for reading!
Thanks for your comments :)

Chapter 16: Save me

Notes:

Part 5: 'The fall'

Warning for descriptions of dead bodies :/

Lotus Pier was burning. Falling. There was blood, screams, war. And every second they drifted just that bit further away on this thrice-damned boat. Jiang Cheng fought against the purple rope of Zidian like a man possessed. His mother – she was – they were – let me go. Wei Wuxian was limp against him, but Jiang Cheng had no time to worry about him right now – they had to go back, they had to – they had to –

“Jiang Cheng.”

A-Niang – no, we need to –

“Jiang Cheng.”

Get this fucking off me – I won’t let this – won’t –

“Jiang Cheng!”

His brother was shouting at him.

“What?”, he half-sobbed, writhing. His movements were far from calculated. He didn’t have time to think about how to get back, he just had to be back. He choked back another strangled sob.

“It’s – there’s a-another boat. Jiang Cheng.”, his brother spoke like a man devoid of feeling. Too calm, too distant, why aren’t you helping? This whole time he’d been lying against Jiang Cheng, unresponsive to his struggles. Who cares if there’s a boat –

“I think it’s – it’s Shi-Jie and Sect Leader Jiang!”

A-Jie? Father? They would – they would help. Finally.

“Shi-Jie! Shi-Jie!”, he was pulled back by Wei Wuxian straining outwards. Jiang Cheng leant with the movement, twisting to yell himself hoarse.

“Father! A-Jie! Father!”

He coughed, gulped a lungful of air to keep shouting.

And then Father just threw A-Jie in to join them. He – he said his goodbyes – he left them – Jiang Cheng felt something in his chest splinter. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no! Not Father too, please!

It took too long, much too long for Zidian to release them. A part of Jiang Cheng already knew what that meant (they were too close, too close to home for it to fulfil his parents’ purpose). He buried that thought deep, deep down and scrambled to find an oar.

They ended up tearing the benches of the boat apart to tow them back to shore. There was no time – no time – no time to spare.

Don’t do this to me, please, I’m not – I can’t – don’t leave me.

They ran, and ran, and ran.

Lotus Pier was bathed in blood. There was no shouting. No swords clashing. No fighting. Jiang Cheng almost threw up before they even reached the West gate. His hands were clammy and his body stuttered through every motion like a man struck with fever.

Those Wen – inhuman monsters – how dare they – how could they – A-Ni was only ten – the lifeless eyes of his peers and his subordinates bored into his chest, stabbed into his bones. The bitter taste of failure clung to his tongue.

A-Niang, no, no. He forgot to breathe. That’s not – she looked nothing like the mother he’d known; the proud, strict woman who was more often firm than kind, domineering and oh-so-strong. There was no disapproval in the set of her mouth, no minute softening of her eyes when she saw him – there was none of her soul in the empty flesh lying discarded, bloody and dishevelled.

His father’s corpse lay beside her, somehow appearing tidier than his wife. Even that was wrong, wrong, it was all wrong. How could it be so wrong? Wen Chao sauntered out the Sword’s Hall with his stupid whore by his side – he – Jiang Cheng let go, fell off the roof they were spying from, and ran.

He was only distantly aware of Wei Wuxian following him. Over and over again he saw the bodies, saw that low-life Wen Chao pour liquor over his parents’ – his parents’ – Jiang Cheng collapsed into the long grass like a puppet with its strings cut. Even here the rusty tang of blood clung to him, thick and nauseating.

Everything. A-Niang. A-Die. Sixth young master. His friends. His family. His sect. His home. Gone, gone, gone, gone,gone-gonegone. His life had been torn to shreds.

“Jiang Cheng.”

His brother spoke softly, quietly. Brokenly. He was always quiet when he was upset. How dare he – how could he – Jiang Cheng bared his teeth. Anger such as he’d never felt before swept over him. He raged. Shouted. Insulted. Accused. Cried. Stop this. Please, stop this. I can’t – I don’t – STOP IT, please… why did you let it happen… why didn’t you stop it… His hands were squeezing around his brother’s throat. He let go and stumbled back. He couldn’t even do this right.

He couldn’t protect his family. He couldn’t protect his sect. He couldn’t even be trusted not to hurt his brother. Jiang Cheng didn’t sleep so much as he blanked out for an unknown stretch of time. Minutes or hours, days or weeks, months or years, who cares.

“Jiang Cheng…”

He stared ahead, only very distantly aware of the damp grass beneath his fingers.

“Let’s go, Jiang Cheng – Jiang Cheng. Jiang Cheng! Let’s go…”, a sigh, “Shi-Jie is waiting for us. Please, let’s – let’s go.”

A-Jie. He was too tired to cry. He stood and followed Wei Wuxian. They found A-Jie. Told her. Jiang Cheng’s eyes managed to summon a few more tears.

“We need to go.”

It was quiet and pleading, so unlike the brother he knew. Jiang Cheng’s heart squeezed, but he couldn’t summon the strength to even blink. He managed to follow where his brother led. Mechanically obeyed every instruction.

He watched his brother with blank eyes as he paced around the room they had paid for. They were hiding. It couldn’t last. The Wen-monsters would come. They would come, and they would crush all that was left of Jiang Cheng’s pitiable life.

Talismans, spread in an unfamiliar array. Experimental, like the many arrays his brother had set up in his room before – before. Jiang Cheng watched as Wei Wuxian muttered and re-arranged and powered up and cursed and paced and tried again, and again, and again, and again.

Frustration built up, distantly, but Jiang Cheng continued staring straight ahead. Eventually his brother gave up and knelt by his side.

“Jiang Cheng.”, his voice registered somewhere deep down, “Shi-Jie is feverish. I’m going to try something to get her help. I might – we might be away for a while. Stay here, please, Jiang Cheng… Stay here and stay safe. I promise we’ll be back.”

Jiang Cheng tried to summon the energy to respond, but even that simple task was beyond him. Pitiful. Pathetic.

Rustling. A pause. Cursing. Wei Wuxian’s words broke helplessly, tumbling over each other like so many punctured kites.

He was back to kneeling by Jiang Cheng’s side. So much for being sect heir, he still couldn’t be bothered to turn his head.

“I’m – I’m going, Jiang Cheng. Look after Shi-Jie, okay…?”, he pleaded, placing a cold hand on Jiang Cheng’s own.

Then he was gone. Jiang Cheng hadn’t even heard the door. Was he losing time now? Useless.

It was an eternity. Maybe a second, maybe an hour. Jiang Cheng twitched his fingers. It was dangerous. Wei Wuxian would get caught. He had to find him. His brother. His reckless, idiot brother. He had to bring him back. Wen – the Wens would kill him, or worse. A-Jie would be safe here.

Jiang Cheng stood and left.

He didn’t find Wei Wuxian. But he did see Wen soldiers walk up to the inn where A-Jie was asleep. Where his brother would return.

He couldn’t protect his parents, his sect.

I’d rather die a thousand deaths than let what’s left of my family be captured and killed by Wen-scum.

--

A call.

“Hello, sir. This is officer Tanuki, currently stationed at Yurei park.”

Shouta’s hand tightened around his phone.

“Eraserhead. What’s happened?”

“Your brother”, Shouta was already on his way out the building, “he turned up, asking for fever medicine. He’s real upset. Took him ages to make any sense… I sent my partner to pick up some over the counter fever reducers.”

Shouta grimaced, “Is he still there?”

“Yes, sir. I’ll pass him the phone.”

A rustle, and then, “Brother? I – brother please, I need medicine. I -”

“Someone’s getting some for you now, just stay where you are. I’m on my way over. Are you hurt? What happened?”

Shouta spotted Hizashi and waved at him urgently. He mouthed ‘park’ at the blonde and the man quickly rushed over, already pulling out his car keys.

Wei Wuxian remained silent. Shouta would have believed he’d left if not for the faint sound of uneven breathing.

“Talk to me, Wei Wuxian.”, he begged, climbing hastily in the car and letting Hizashi drive them. He waved a hand to hurry the blonde up. It was unnecessary, Hizashi was already driving as fast as he could without getting them killed.

A quiet hiss.

“I… big brother. I… Lotus Pier has –”, a sob, “has fallen.”

Shouta’s throat closed up. His free arm came to grip at his capture scarf.

“Are you okay?”, Shouta asked again, forcing the words past numb lips. He knew the answer, knew it was a stupid question, knew he should have asked something – anything else.

Hizashi shot him a worried look and sped up.

“I – I – I – no, of course I…”, Wei Wuxian cut himself off, “We have a-a room, in an inn. We’re hiding. Shi-Jie, Jiang Cheng and I. Shi-Jie is sick.”

There were voices on the other end of the line. Shouta heard a heartfelt thank you, a low voice answering politely.

“Brother – thank you. Really. I – I have to go.”

Shouta leaned forwards in his seat as if that would get him there quicker.

“Wait – !”

But it was too late. The next voice to speak was older and deeper.

“Eraserhead? I’m sorry, he’s gone.”

Shouta managed a brief ‘thanks’ and hung up, gritting his teeth.

The only thing that kept him from throwing his phone out the window in a fit of frustration was the familiar sound of Hizashi’s fingers drumming restlessly against the steering wheel.

Notes:

... sorry...(?) Aizawa is very stressed.
I hope not too many of you are terribly disappointed.

Thanks for reading!
Thanks also for your comments :)
I feel like I should note that Aizawa and Wwx do see each other again soon. Please don't panic ^^'

Chapter 17: I am here

Shouta spent his every free minute in that park. Waiting. Hoping. He ate there, worked there. He slept on the bench in his sleeping bag. Hizashi didn’t stay with him, opting instead to flit about anxiously. He brought Shouta coffee, food, took over when Shouta had to leave.

Shouta had never known any class to be so quiet. Hizashi, when asked, raised an eyebrow and pointed out Shouta’s unusually short temper. Shouta had no answer.

His cheerful little brother might be dead.

Two weeks later, late afternoon on a Saturday, Wei Wuxian finally appeared again.

“Brother”, Shouta breathed.

He could see Wei Wuxian’s shadowed gaze. The amusement, once so natural, now seemed forced.

“Aah… Da-ge.”

The grin was still kind and warm but instead of limitless, colourful joy, Shouta could only distinguish muted sadness. Shouta drew an arm around Wei Wuxian’s shoulder and pulled him into a hug.

The younger male shivered, shoulders twitching. Then he melted into Shouta’s embrace, tears running silently onto Shouta’s jumpsuit.

“Aiya… I- I’m sorry, I shouldn’t…”, a self-deprecating laugh, followed by a new wave of tears, “I already h-had Shi-Jie c-comfort me… I’m so – s-so pathetic…”

Shouta hugged him tighter. Wei Wuxian cried until all that was left was deep exhausted breaths.

“…Lotus Pier fell.”

Shouta didn’t say a word, holding his brother firmly, reassuringly. Wei Wuxian’s voice was small and distant.

“It… It was Wen Chao. His horrible whore came with soldiers. We… We tried to pacify them. It didn’t work – I… Madam Yu sent me and Jiang Cheng a-away. T-tied us to a boat. It saved our lives.”

Shouta tightened his hold. A light breeze ruffled the trees and he watched the pattern of shadows shift back and forth like waves upon the shore.

“…We… Jiang Cheng and I, we ran back. I… It was too late. S-sect leader Jiang… Madam Yu. A-Xing. A-Yu. A-…A-Ni… all of them, all of our disciples, a-all of them were dead. The floors were filthy with blood and gore.”, Wei Wuxian shuddered in Shouta’s arms, “I… We ran. Rowed away, as f-far as I could. I got us a room to rest, not far. Shi-Jie had a fever and Jiang Cheng wouldn’t – was like a-a shell, blank and-and… B-but when I came for medicine, Jiang Cheng l-left. He was c-captured.”

Shouta sucked in a mouthful of summer-sweet air. The pleasant warmth settled heavily in his lungs.

Wei Wuxian kept speaking, exhaustion clear in his every slurred word.

“I… went after him. Th-the Wens… they w-were having a-a banquet in the central pavilion. I w-was lucky… I met Wen Ning. He-”, here Shouta’s brother curled further into his chest, “He offered to help me… I almost killed him – I was going to kill him, but he- he’s – he’s meek and weak and kind, big brother, I couldn’t, I – and he really did help. I don’t know why.”

A long silence.

“He drugged the guards. Brought me J-Jiang Cheng a-and… he brought us to his sister. She’s a doctor. She’s been helping. Brother… Jiang Cheng is out of danger, he’s healing well. But, brother, he… I’ve never seen him so broken.”

Shouta’s heart thumped painfully against his rib-cage. Wei Wuxian sat up slowly and met Shouta’s eyes.

“Do you… Jiang Cheng lost his golden core. It was crushed by Wen Zhuliu. He can’t live like that – I need… I need to fix it. Could your doctors help?”

This, it seemed, was what he had come for. Shouta let his brother wipe his cheeks roughly before answering. The answer he had to give hurt.

“I don’t think so.”, he said, “No-one here knows of a golden core – I doubt any of our doctors would even know how to start. Beyond that, though, you speak as if it would not heal with time?”

Wei Wuxian shook his head.

Shouta sighed, “The medical procedures we have here may seem miraculous, but even the most powerful healing quirk only speeds up recovery. If the potential to recover isn’t there, no amount of medicine or healing quirk will overcome that.”

He blinked, slow and sad, “Even with all our advances, we cannot re-grow lost limbs or organs, only replace them with machine prosthetics, or with transplants from compatible donors. And even what we do there is based on centuries of medical research. Golden cores… are too foreign, too unknown, too spiritual in nature, for us to be of any help. I’m sorry.”

Wei Wuxian’s throat bobbed and he ducked his head.

“... Thank you for your honesty.”

He didn’t seem surprised, only resigned. Perhaps noticing Shouta’s sorrow, Wei Wuxian let a small grin stretch over his face. It was the most natural smile Shouta had seen so far. It was also the saddest.

“Aaah… It’s alright, Da-ge. I’ll keep looking through Wen Qing’s scrolls. I’ll find something. I have to.”

Shouta blinked in assent, then stood.

“Come on then, let’s get you some food and some rest.”

Wei Wuxian stared and hid his face with a shaking hand.

“Okay…”, he whispered.

Shouta hadn’t noticed before, too concerned with the younger’s mental state, but as Wei Wuxian stood he brought with him a sword. It wasn’t the sword he’d carried as a teenager, but a red-sheathed blade, stern and officious. Shouta had never seen a weapon seem so glaringly out of place in the hands of its wielder.

--

Shi-Jie smiled at him when he returned.

“I’m glad you went to visit Da-ge and Mic-ge, A-Xian.”, she murmured, “They’re good to you.”

Wei Ying almost tripped in shock.

“How - ? I mean, Shi-Jie, I didn’t leave!”

She merely raised an eyebrow at him. He coughed and rubbed the back of his head.

“…How long have you known?”, he relented.

She shook her head demurely, “Oh, XianXian… You were never very discreet.”

She didn’t seem upset. Wei Ying coughed, unsure how to react.

“Tell me then, A-Xian. Are they well? Did they make you rest?”

Wei Wuxian held his hands up in defeat.

“Aaah – Shi-Jie, Shi-Jie, they’re almost as good at worrying as you are…”, he pouted, “They made me lie down all afternoon! And you know that Da-ge has the scariest glare when he wants to. Mic-ge gave me noodle soup, but it’s no-where near as nice as your cooking.”

He smiled at her winningly and she giggled.

“Alright, A-Xian, I can make you something.”, she held a hand to cover her lips. For a moment, it was like nothing had changed. Shi-Jie had that kind of effect on people.

She pinched Wei Ying’s cheek, light and affectionate.

“I’m glad you have people there who will help me look after you.”, she teased. Her smile faded, though her expression lost none of its tenderness.

“Next time you visit them, please thank them for me, A-Xian.”

Wei Ying had to swallow twice for his throat to loosen enough to answer.

“I will, Shi-Jie… I will.”

That’s right. He wasn’t alone. He would find a way to help Jiang Cheng and they would get through this.

“The three of us, forever.”, he whispered under his breath.

And on top of that he had his Da-ge and Mic-ge. Wei Ying could do this. He would do the impossible. With all these people believing in him he could do nothing less.

Notes:

Thanks for reading!
Thanks also for your comments :)

Chapter 18: Goodbye

Hizashi was a loud person. Shouta called him obnoxious, in that deadpan fond way of his. Others called him enthusiastic or sometimes just eccentric. When he was anxious or unhappy, though, he was quiet. Or, well, quieter. It was one thing to yell his happiness, it was another to expose his sadness.

Shouta had relayed the events of the past month to him, evenly and distantly, as if he hadn’t spent a week providing food for two trapped teens and an entire afternoon hugging his traumatised little brother. Hizashi had been there, when Wei Wuxian was brought back to their flat.

Sure, their young listener smiled and laughed, but beyond the obligatory interaction, he was reserved and silent. Just like Hizashi, Wei Wuxian hid his negative feelings behind a front of gaiety. And like Hizashi, whenever he finished playing his part he turned mute. None of his friendly teasing succeeded in fully covering the raw wounds dwelling beneath. And Hizashi was glad it didn’t – that kid (not a kid, not anymore) was already far too good at masking his pain.

Somewhere between a hasty pot-noodle lunch and a light-hearted joke to keep Wei Wuxian relaxed, Hizashi had seen his young friend wince.

A bit of needling had revealed that yes, Wei Wuxian had been hurt, but he was fine, he said. Except Hizashi was very familiar with that kind of dismissal. Hizashi had always been very good at spotting hidden hurt. It was an important skill as a hero, whether when dealing with civilians, or (and more often) when dealing with his colleagues.

He’d stolen Wei Wuxian away, ignoring Shouta’s disgruntled (worried) glare.

“Show me.”, he’d prompted, raising one eyebrow at the young adult’s displeasure. Wei Wuxian had grimaced and avoided his gaze.

“I told you it’s fine”, he had muttered.

Hizashi was also very familiar with pig-headed stubbornness. He had sat on the bed and crossed his arms. The message was clear. I can wait here as long as you take to give in.

Wei Wuxian had let out an incredulous scoff.

“Alright, fine!”, he’d huffed, frowning in irritation. The robe was pulled off with a few precise motions.

Hizashi carefully had not reacted. There was a brand burnt into Wei Wuxian’s chest, some light scarring on his shoulder, but both were long since healed. There had been fading lines of painful-looking bruises snaking over his right side. With a sharp exhale Wei Wuxian had turned, pulling his hair out of the way to show his back. Hizashi had stiffened.

“…These…”, he’d gritted his teeth, carefully examining the angry red lines running down his friend’s back. Lash marks.

The young man’s scarred shoulders had lifted into a small shrug.

“They’re almost fully healed. They just… ache still, sometimes…”, Wei Wuxian had explained.

Hizashi hadn’t answered. As a radio host, he was well-practiced at steering conversations. He had not pressed, but he knew that if Wei Wuxian was prepared to talk, silence would prompt him better than any spoken word.

And sure enough, it had.

“I… Wang LingJiao, Wen Chao’s … mistress… demanded I be punished for – well, for threatening Wen Chao.”, another small shrug, “Madam Yu… agreed.”

Hurriedly, Wei Wuxian had added, “It was for the best… At the time, it was all we could do to try and pacify them. And-and well…”, a shake of the head, “It was… my fault they came, after all.”

Hizashi had blinked back tears, watching those shoulders curl, ashamed.

“No.”, he’d spat, surprising them both. He had lightly pushed Wei Wuxian around to face him.

“Do not blame yourself for others’ actions. Never blame yourself for the horrors inflicted by someone else. Do you understand me?”

Wei Wuxian had nodded, a light sheen to his wide eyes. He’d looked vulnerable and so very young in that moment. Hizashi could only hope his words were heeded.

He’d made Wei Wuxian lie down the rest of the time he spent with them.

Now he waited in the park, umbrella balanced precariously on his shoulder and trying to correct some of 1-B’s English essays. This particular paper was so atrocious he didn’t know where to start.

That’s when he heard the footsteps.

“Aiya…”, some indecipherable whining, before the teen ducked under Hizashi’s umbrella. Hizashi caught the essay before it could get covered in mud, tucked it away in his waterproof folder and back in his bag. He grinned at Wei Wuxian, who grinned widely back, slapping one of his talismans to his chest.

“Heya, Mic-ge!”, he greeted, joyful tone belied by the tension in his eyes.

“Hey, A-Xian”, he answered, because yes, if Shouta got to call him little brother at least Hizashi could use the familiar address.

Wei Wuxian leant against him affectionately. For a moment the world narrowed to just the two of them, the rain hiding the surrounding city. The heavy patter of raindrops and the warmth of his friend by his side soothed some of Hizashi’s worry.

However, he could already tell this wouldn’t last. Wei Wuxian hadn’t spoken yet. There was something the younger wanted to share. After a moment of peace, Hizashi sighed.

“Want me to call Shouta? You can tell us both at the flat?”

Wei Wuxian nodded against his chest.

Hizashi didn’t rush, and yet it was no time at all before all three of them were seated in their living room. Wei Wuxian alternated between avoiding their gazes and staring at them as if drinking in the sight. Like he didn’t expect to see them again.

Hizashi swallowed a lump in his throat. He hated goodbyes.

“What is it?”

Shouta’s voice broke the fragile silence. Hizashi could tell Shouta was bracing for the worst, but his tone was as even and calm as always.

“I… I’m here to say goodbye.”

The admission hit him like a punch to the gut. Hizashi couldn’t have spoken if he’d wanted to. Knowing and hearing were always different. The tall double-doors of the orphanage. ‘Your parents… well, little one, they decided you’d be happier here, with us.’. Knowing was the hope it wasn’t true. Hearing was confirmation.

“…Why”

That was Shouta. Quiet, rough, devastated. Wei Wuxian’s hands squirmed on the table. He frowned at the fake wood, jaw rolling restlessly, biting his lips, letting go.

Finally, he lifted his head and met their gazes. Hizashi observed the determined gleam to his eye and he knew that nothing either Shouta or he could say would change the younger’s mind. Whatever he was going to do, he would do it with or without their support.

Hizashi could tell Shouta noticed the same thing from his tense exhale.

“I found a way to help Jiang Cheng.”, Wei Wuxian said. It should be happy news, yet all three of them could hear the silent ‘but…’ hanging over the statement.

Wei Wuxian didn’t avoid their eyes this time, resolute and firm.

“I won’t tell you how. It’s not important.”, he bowed his head, “but I think… no matter how it goes, I won’t… I won’t be able to come back.”

And now he looked heartbroken.

“Da-ge… Mic-ge… Thank you so much for everything you’ve done for me. Shi-Jie sent her thanks along as well… I… Knowing you… Thank you.”

Shouta rose, stepped around the table, and pulled Wei Wuxian into a tight hug. Their young listener wrapped his arms fiercely around Shouta’s middle and hugged back. Hizashi joined them, wrapping his own arms around his – his family.

That evening was full of parting words. Every goodbye was too much, too final. Every goodbye was too little, too empty.

And between one reassuring grin and the next, Wei Wuxian disappeared.

--

Wei Ying knew exactly what he was doing.

He’d lose his cultivation. Lose his safe haven. His Da-ge. Mic-ge. Lose that security blanket he’d been carrying without thought that it would ever be taken from him.

He hadn’t managed to invent the right kind of array to transport people between realms, and now he would forever lose the opportunity to finish it. Without an anchor in Da-ge’s realm, he didn’t think it was possible.

Tomorrow.

Tomorrow he would lead Jiang Cheng up the mountain.

Tonight he would drug Shi-Jie and sent her to safety.

Tomorrow Wen Qing would pull out his golden core and give it to Jiang Cheng.

It will be a sacrifice. A huge sacrifice. It will be painful. It might mean his life. It might haunt him for the rest of his days. It might not even work. He might lose his core for nothing.

He had faith in Wen Qing. He had faith it could work. How could he not try? Together they would do the impossible. For Jiang Cheng.

Jiang Cheng would hate it.

Wei Ying knew exactly what he was doing.

That’s why no-one else could ever find out.

Notes:

So much drama... also, some Mic pov
(Don't panic, they meet again)

Thanks for reading!
Thanks also for your comments :)

Chapter 19: Burial Mounds

Notes:

Part 6: 'Rock Bottom'

The first warning they had was screaming, civilians fleeing the park. Shouta rushed in, capture weapon at the ready, but the park was empty– no. A flicker and a gargle of pain. Another flicker, and a crash.

Shouta whirled around to see a dark trembling lump of cloth. The only feature he could make out was a red trailing ribbon tied to long dark hair. The lump disappeared, reappeared as a person on all fours, gasping painfully. Disappeared again. The next reappearance, Shouta caught a glimpse of Wei Wuxian’s bruised face, eyes wide and unseeing, lashing a hand defensively and shouting at the air around him. He made a horrible choking noise, flickered, disappeared again. Shouta rushed forward, not daring to get too close.

Pulling out his phone, Shouta hesitated. Who could he… Nezu. Nezu would help.

“Hello, Nezu speaking.”

“It’s Eraserhead. Wei Wuxia –”, Shouta cut himself off, seeing the young man reappear kneeling and holding his head, flickering in and out repeatedly like a strobe light. 

“Eraserhead?”

“Shit. Sorry. Wei Wuxian is popping in and out of Yurei park. He doesn’t seem conscious of his own actions, seems in pain. Like he’s fighting something. I…”, Shouta swallowed, “I need a tent, something to cover him. We won’t be able to move him. Recovery Girl, maybe, if we can stabilise the flickering. He’s hurt.”

“On our way, Eraserhead.”, the mouse stated, probably already adjusting Shouta’s plan to account for who-knows-what.

The call cut off. Shouta shakily sent an urgent text to Hizashi before staring back at his little brother.

Shouta could swear Wei Wuxian was growing darker, like he was being surrounded by thick black smoke. He reached out a hand to touch the young man’s shoulder. Wei Wuxian howled at the contact, a distorted, disturbing sound flickering with the young man, and something black lashed out and threw Shouta several meters away. He rolled with the fall and pulled up in a half-crouch.

Wei Wuxian was flickering so fast Shouta could almost believe he was fully there. Shouta slowly approached again, but his presence garnered no obvious reaction. Wei Wuxian flinched away from something unseen, hands gripping his chest tightly. He was shaking violently, mouth gaping and tears cutting through the grime on his face. Little whimpers tore from his throat, and he coughed up a mouthful of blood.

“Wei Wuxian”, he called, fists shivering by his side, “Wei Wuxian, little brother, it’s me, please, Wei Wuxian!”

The other gave no sign of hearing him, no matter how many times Shouta repeated himself.

Backup arrived quickly, and Shouta could only direct them not to touch Wei Wuxian directly, gritting his teeth at his own uselessness.

They set up a tent around him. Hizashi joined them, stiff by Shouta’s side. No-one could get near him. Every attempt ended with whoever had tried being blasted across the small space. Recovery Girl had been of no use whatsoever.

Black tendrils of smoke thickened around Wei Wuxian’s body, suffocating by their presence alone on a level Shouta had not been aware he could feel anything before now.

It was getting worse.

Wei Wuxian’s voice had turned hoarse. The young man gagged, shaking so violently Shouta wasn’t sure whether he was still trying to fight or if he’d simply lost control of his limbs.

The thicker the smoke grew, the less Wei Wuxian flickered.

Hizashi grabbed Shouta’s hand.

“Shou. Do you think, maybe…? Can we slip him something? Medicine?”

Hizashi’s eyes were wide and scared. Determined.

“Recovery Girl?”, Shouta asked, squeezing Hizashi’s hand back. He didn’t look away.

“Try slipping him this.”, she said, handing them a small bag of gummies.

“I can’t risk giving him medicine without an examination.”, she explained hollowly.

Shouta tightened his jaw. Gave another squeeze of Hizashi’s hand and snuck forward.

Wei Wuxian had fallen onto his side, curled into a tight defensive ball and hands over his head. His chest was heaving far too fast. There was a small gap where his robe opened up at his chest under his neck, just large enough for the gummies.

Carefully, Shouta reached out and flicked the gummies in. As soon as they touched him Wei Wuxian stiffened and convulsed, a wave of black smoke pulsing out and shoving them all back.

The smoke in the tent pulled together, sinking into Wei Wuxian’s body.

Shouta flinched at the desperate agony wheezing from his brother’s bloody lips.

Just as the air was becoming clear, Wei Wuxian disappeared.

--

Shouta and Hizashi waited for over half a day.

They sat on the hard ground, pressed together. Recovery Girl brought them water and food before bidding them goodbye. The tent was to stay up for now.

Wei Wuxian reappeared the next morning, still surrounded by black smoke. He flickered in and out, bringing more and more smoke with him as he stabilised. He coughed up blood, slammed his head into the ground and dug misshapen fingers into his head.

Nothing Hizashi or Shouta said or did made a difference. The dark smoke threw them away again and again. They couldn’t touch him, couldn’t feed him, couldn’t trickle water into his mouth. The smoke was unaffected by fire, unaffected by light, unaffected by the wind, and unaffected by them.

Eventually, Wei Wuxian stayed long enough for the smoke to force its way into his chest. Then he disappeared.

--

Shouta and Hizashi paced on the hard ground, sharing useless idea after useless idea. Hoping and dreading Wei Wuxian’s return. They waited a full day this time.

Wei Wuxian appeared, yelling hoarsely and holding onto a pitch black sword. A tidal wave of dark smoke swept both of them back, destroying the tent as it rose chaotically into the air.

Shouta rolled onto his hands and knees, twisting to stare at the mass of – of whatever that was. So close to it, and with so much around, it felt like fury and pain, but worse. Like every good thing in his life had been ripped apart. Like every cell in his body was bursting with terror, horror and rage.

Distantly, he heard a cry, then the smoke receded. Something in the centre was drawing it in.

The mass cleared enough for Shouta to glimpse Wei Wuxian, holding the sword pointed at the sky.

Dark eyes stared back at him, shocked. The arm holding the sword shook, and Wei Wuxian slapped a second hand onto its handle.

Shouta rushed forward.

He caught a last glimpse of Wei Wuxian’s wide, terrified, pained gaze –

Shouta lunged –

Then he fell onto grass. The air was clear. The tent was crumpled over the ground in front of him.

They waited again, for days, until Nezu set up a security camera and dragged them away.

Notes:

I don't know what to say, so...

Thanks for reading!
Thank you also for your comments!

Chapter 20: The black flute

When Lan Wangji had discovered Wei Ying’s secret transportation ability, he’d expected many of the consequences. Perhaps not explicitly, but he’d anticipated them all the same.

It had not come as a surprise when Wei Ying had spent most of their time together in the cave chatting, and even less of a surprise that, more often than not, the topic of choice had been Wei Ying’s strange friends from the other realm. His Da-ge, Shou Ta, (or apparently ‘YiRaiZher-HeiDo’) as well as a ‘Mic-ge’ were protectors, not cultivators but what they called a ‘hero’. As Lan Wangji understood it, it was a profession, based on the concept of ‘heroism’ shared between both realms. He had privately thought the idea somewhat idealist, but not unpleasant.

He himself could easily agree with the core value of heroism. Protect the weak.

He had also privately decided that Wei Ying fit the self-sacrificing aspect of the ‘hero’ role too well. He pursed his lips at the thought of Wei Ying’s dangerous tendency to undervalue his own health and safety being encouraged. Perhaps heroism wasn’t as palatable as he had initially thought.

And now Wei Ying had disappeared.

Jiang Cheng and Lan Wangji had been scouring the land searching for him.

Lan Wangji wondered if Wei Ying had hidden in his Da-Ge’s realm. Wondered why he hadn’t returned. Wondered if he was dead.

Whenever that last thought crossed his mind he pulled out his Guqin and played until his heart settled.

Every evening he would remind himself sternly that Wei Ying would not be captured. Could not be held. Could even avoid the deadliest of blows. There was always a back door for him to escape to. It was fitting, for a free spirit to be unbound by even the rules of the world itself.

And yet, doubt remained. Wei Ying had not explained how his ability worked, not really. Lan Wangji could craft as many reassuring narratives as he wished, all remained empty of evidence.  

Lan Wangji held himself together with the tight restraints of his will, and the tighter grip of his hope. Wei Ying would be found.

Unless he wasn’t anywhere they could follow.

He could be dead and they’d never know.

He kept looking.

And then, at long last, they found him.

--

Wei Ying – Wei Wuxian was alive. Jiang Cheng ignored the waves of resentful energy flowing from his brother and rushed to meet him.

He could feel tears building in his eyes.

That idiot, stupid, reckless, …idiot brother.

He’d searched for so long, with the help of Lan Wangji (and why the second jade of Lan was so invested was a mystery Jiang Cheng was not going to question).

Wei Wuxian’s lips quirked up in that arrogant smirk of his that usually made Jiang Cheng want to punch him. Jiang Cheng hugged him, tight. The arms that hugged him back were hesitant and weak.

His brother was quiet.

Jiang Cheng knew from that alone that something terrible had happened to him.

And yet… He wouldn’t tell them anything. He shut out Lan Wangji, twisting the other’s every word until Jiang Cheng took pity on the both of them and politely asked the stoic man to leave.

Unconventional as this cultivation path was, if Wei Wuxian said he could control it, Jiang Cheng would trust him. His brother was a cultivation genius, after all.

The usual bitterness he felt at that thought was buried under the relief at finding Wei Wuxian alive and – and remarkably well.

A-Jie was going to be so happy.

--

Lan Zhan didn’t understand.

Wei Ying was hurt. Was hurting himself. Was risking everything he was, everything Lan Zhan loved – risking it all for power. Power to protect, to fight. To win, maybe.

But the cost was too great. Or it had the potential to be too great.

Wei Ying was stubborn. So was Lan Zhan.

He could not stop Wei Ying. He did not understand why his friend was doing this, but he understood enough to know there was no changing his mind. So he chose the only acceptable option left to him. He would help.

Lan Zhan was terribly afraid that Wei Ying would fall, would succumb to the dark whispers of resentment he had pulled into himself.

He was terribly afraid of losing Wei Ying. And he would accept anything, demonic cultivation the least of it, to prevent Wei Ying from disappearing again.

So he helped.

They talked. They spent time together.

Wei Ying regained some life. Fought with fervour at his side. Held his chest in pain when he thought no-one was looking at him.

Wei Ying was careful, but he always tried too hard. He never gave up. Always stood tall with his brows furrowed in determination. Stood tall when blood ran down his chin.

Wei Ying was reckless. He fought like a gust of wind, flowing around his opponents, dodging deadly blows by a hair’s breadth. Beautiful, elegant, foolish. He danced with his imminent death, only a flute to protect him from the sharp blades of his enemies. His flute and Lan Zhan.

Wei Ying was angry. When they received bad news. When someone was cruel. When he heard prisoners cry out. He clenched his hand around Chenqing, gritted his teeth and fought against his emotions. Fought until the shadows of resentful energy retreated back under his skin, where it never belonged. Fought with the will and the heart of a man too good to give in.

And Lan Zhan fought with himself as well. He would not trap Wei Ying, but he could not let Wei Ying destroy himself. He could not abide by Wei Ying’s choice. He could not stand against Wei Ying’s choice. He helped and he protected and he prayed that Wei Ying would be strong enough.

Wei Ying never spoke of his Da-ge or his Mic-ge anymore. Lan Zhan was afraid to ask, afraid to press.

The war ended, with tired warriors and the corpses of their comrades and enemies falling still once more. The last gust of wind carried with it the echoing trill of a pitch black flute.

Notes:

A bit of a quick skip through the war - Lan Wangji pov catching us up :)

Thanks for reading!
Thanks also for your comments! They're great :)

Chapter 21: The last of the Wen

Lan Zhan returned to Cloud Recesses and Wei Ying to Lotus Pier.

The air was lighter than it had been in months, yet with it drifted the scent of blood and sweat and tears. The constant threat of violence and death, like a madman always half a step behind them, had disappeared. Now they carried his corpse on their shoulders, relieved in their hearts but burdened nonetheless.

Lan Zhan could not imagine any cultivator to be unaffected. Cloud Recesses was muted and smaller than in his recent memories.

The sects met again to celebrate, and to regroup. Reorganise.

Lan Zhan abhorred the violent aftermaths of the war. The senseless killing. The fearful prisoners. His own inaction. His helplessness.

He could see that same frustration and sadness in Wei Ying, building like the dark cloud on the edge of a storm.

It was only a matter of time before the storm hit.

--

‘Activity at Yurei park’, blinked the notification on Shouta’s work phone.

Immediately, he dropped his paperwork, glad it was a weekend and he was home. Hizashi met him at the door, ready to go. They exchanged a single worried glance.

It had been just over four months without news. Four months since they’d seen Wei Wuxian, injured and fighting back black smoke.

They met Jiang Cheng before reaching the park.

The teen looked older, tired and strained.

His frown grew when he spotted them and he grumbled angrily to himself before hastily drawing a familiar set of sigils on a spare talisman and slapping it to his own chest.

“You!”, he snapped, glaring at them.

Shouta could have apologised for never explaining, for helping keep Jiang Cheng in the dark. He could have bombarded the teen with questions.

As it was, he spared no time at all for thought and pulled the teen straight into a relieved hug.

“Oh my God, you’re okay, you’re okay”, Hizashi babbled behind him, probably already crying.

Jiang Cheng grunted in surprise, tense, but when Shouta’s hold didn’t let up he hesitantly leant his forehead onto Shouta’s shoulder and sighed deeply. He didn’t let it last, and quickly shook Shouta off.

“Okay, that’s enough, get off of me.”, he grumbled, straightening his robes and almost successfully hiding his small blush.

“Are you safe?”, was Shouta’s first question.

Jiang Cheng rolled his eyes and nodded.

“Yeah, I’m fine, you can stop looking at me like that.”, he snapped at them, frown back in full force.

Shouta’s lips tugged into a small smile.

“Are you alone? Where’s Wei Wuxian?”, was Shouta’s next inquiry.

Jiang Cheng stiffened at that and scoffed defensively.

“Why would he be here?”, he grunted, mouth twisting into something frustrated and angry. Hurt, Shouta realised.

“This way”, Hizashi directed, leading them all back to their flat. Jiang Cheng walked slowly, eyes flicking every which way to stare at his surroundings. He clenched his fists hard around his sword and Shouta quickened their pace. The last thing he wanted was to attract any unwanted attention.

They arrived and guided the young man to sit. Before either Shouta or Hizashi decided what to say the teen turned to glare at a point to the left of Shouta’s shoulder, posture stiff.

“Sister is well.”, he muttered, “And that idiot Wei Wuxian is… as irritating as ever.”

Shouta’s shoulders relaxed ever so slightly, although it was clear there was a story there.

“Lotus Pier?”

Hizashi grimaced apologetically even as he stared at Jiang Cheng with quiet intensity.

Jiang Cheng glanced at them, frown smoothed into something tired and haunted.

“We’re rebuilding.”, he said simply.

“The war?”, Shouta asked.

Jiang Cheng seemed surprised at this, before he grew irritated again.

“Figures that idiot wouldn’t keep you properly updated”, he muttered with a pronounced roll of his eyes, “it’s ended. We won. The Wens were annihilated.”

Shouta swallowed at the cold hatred in the teen’s voice.

Hizashi broke in, a waver in his voice.

“All of them? They were a big sect, right? What about the …non-combatants?”

Jiang Cheng stared back, regal and proud. The stern frown he carried was too bitter for his age. It was clear the war had taken its toll.

“The Jin sect rounded up the remaining Wen. They are imprisoned or dead.”

Something like regret flashed across Jiang Cheng’s face, but it was clear he felt no pity.

Shouta gritted his teeth, but pushed the sick dread back to deal with later. Hizashi was pale and silent. Shouta had a million questions he wanted to ask, but one look at Jiang Cheng’s exhausted slump made him set them aside.

“…Are you okay?”, he prompted instead.

Jiang Cheng shuffled a little in his seat. He glanced up, clearly conflicted, and glared at his clenched fists.

Shouta caught his gaze the second time the younger man glanced up, and Jiang Cheng seemed to splinter.

He ducked his head in agitation, blinking quickly. Then he shook his head. One hand came to rub at his cheek.

“I…”, he trailed off, swallowing and taking another cautious look at Shouta’s steady gaze, “Da-ge, I…”

He spoke in broken fragments, building slowly into a coherent story. Some sentences he pushed out, enunciating every word like they had personally harmed him. Others he muttered quickly, as if he was afraid of being heard. More still he cut off before finishing.

He spoke of Wei Wuxian’s heretic cultivation, his refusal to use his sword. He spoke of the pain it seemed to cause his brother and the overwhelming power it yielded. He painted a vivid picture of the post-war situation. The Jiang sect’s revival, under his sole command and responsibility. The fragile relations between the main sects, and the Jin sect’s position of power as the only big sect to have been spared an attack on their home. The fear and mistrust they all held towards Wei Wuxian and the way his brother had all but fanned the flames with his casual, arrogant attitude and dismissals of proper etiquette.

Shouta heard yet more that Jiang Cheng refused to voice. The pressure he felt as a young, inexperienced leader faced with the daunting task of managing a weakened sect and fighting for respect without offending the many more influential political figures that surrounded him. The strong sense of abandonment he felt when Wei Wuxian, who always gave everything for everyone, only showed half-hearted efforts to help Jiang Cheng with their sect’s matters. The frustration and fear he felt for his brother, who disregarded Jiang Cheng’s efforts to remain in good standing with the other sects, and further endangered himself by flaunting his dangerous power.

Finally, Jiang Cheng explained Wei Wuxian’s most recent rebellion.

“That idiot”, he choked, “they say he killed a group of innocent Jin cultivators and fled with an army of Wen prisoners. They say he’s turned traitor.”

The shake of his head made it quite clear how convincing he thought that assessment of the situation was.

“I’m… I was on my way to find him now…”, he sighed, rubbing between his eyes in exhausted frustration.

“I don’t…I don’t know what I’m going to do when I find him…”

Hizashi turned to the kitchen and came back with tea and some chocolate crackers they knew Jiang Cheng was fond of.

There was nothing they could say so Shouta didn’t try to speak, offering instead the simple comfort of company. They drank their tea in a soft, uncomplicated silence.

Eventually Jiang Cheng shook himself and stood. He bowed to them a bit awkwardly in gratitude.

“I should be heading back…”, he paused, groaning, “However I’m meant to do that. Damnit.”

Shouta gave a quick huff, “Wei Wuxian said it was like trying to be elsewhere.”

Jiang Cheng’s eyebrow twitched, but he nodded politely nonetheless. He smiled briefly, small but grateful.

Then he disappeared.

Shouta and Hizashi stared at each other for a long minute. The information they’d just heard sank in with difficulty, like hot coals shoving their way down Shouta’s throat.

“Shit.”, Shouta swore, “Fuck.”, he covered his face with one hand and let the other guide him to rest against the wall.

He muttered a few more choice words under his breath, all too aware of Hizashi’s continued silence.

One word floated to the surface of his thoughts, beyond the tales of war and the sobering thought of Jiang Cheng shouldering so much responsibility so young.

Genocide.

It didn’t mesh with them. Wei Wuxian, the little kid who’d literally appeared into his life when Shouta had been a teenager himself, the teen with endless energy and shameless curiosity, the young man with a happy mischievous smile; Jiang Cheng, the proud young teen he’d first met, always searching for approval, the responsible young man who spoke roughly but acted gently, all bluster and badly-hidden affection; Jiang Yanli, the sweet young woman who laughed at her brother’s antics and cared for them deeply. They’d at best witnessed it, at worst participated.

They were so young. Jiang Cheng wasn’t even eighteen yet. Shouta hadn’t even had a professional hero license at that age. He had had some experience with battle, with hardened criminals, with those who would hurt and kill. Wei Wuxian had killed at the age first year UA students started their studies. Jiang Cheng had lost his family, fought and killed in a bloody war and emerged at the other side to drag the ruins of his home back to its former glory before most UA students graduated.

War, death, it sank its claws into Shouta’s chest. It was the pain of seeing a victim he’d been too late to save. The pain he associated with witnessing another injustice on the street. Shouta had once captured a killer, little more than a child, laughing madly and covered in the blood of their victims. They’d continued to laugh, wide grin stretched across a too-young face, long after the police had arrived. The mad grin had done little to hide the child’s pain and haunted sadness. The sight had seared itself into Shouta’s brain. And yet.

Genocide.

The only one to have acted against that was Wei Wuxian?

Shouta wanted to be surprised, but he wasn’t. The leaders of the Wen sect had built a reputation based on fear and violence. It was terrible that their people would take the fall with them, but not unheard of, especially when the sect in question was more on the scale of a town.

Wei Wuxian had taken a stand, but he’d taken it alone. Recklessly, impulsively, with no regard for his own safety.

Shouta couldn’t disagree with the intent, couldn’t feel that what his little brother had done was wrong, but he was terrified.

If what Jiang Cheng described was even close to the truth, Wei Wuxian had already been challenging powerful people, making enemies, setting himself apart with all the subtlety of a bull in a china shop.

Shouta didn’t have to be well versed in post-conflict politics to know that Wei Wuxian was all but painting a target on himself. He hadn’t needed to hear Jiang Cheng confirm how precarious the situation really was.

Hizashi joined him against the wall, carrying two small bowls of plain rice. It was clear the man had no more of an appetite than Shouta did.

They sat on the floor, shoulder to shoulder.

“I want to help them, Shouta.”, Hizashi murmured, “Damnit, even with all that I – that they – I want to help them but I can’t.”

Shouta leant further into Hizashi’s warmth.

“… Information”, Shouta suggested eventually, chest still tight.

“Shou?”

“We can’t help them, not like we’re used to.”, Shouta stated, hating the truth in his words, “but our world is far more advanced in some areas than theirs is.”

Hizashi let out a low breath, “So… information, huh…”

“… Medicine, maybe”, Shouta continued, “…psychology.”

“Shouta? Think they – think they could have PTSD, or…?”

Shouta hummed unhappily. Not everyone who experienced trauma developed PTSD, but it would be foolish of them not to at least look out for it.

Notes:

A couple of you in the comments called this :)
namely Must_have_been_the_wind and kittenwithclaws

Thanks for reading!
Thanks also for your comments :)

Chapter 22: Weddings and war-madness

Notes:

Part 7: 'Letters and Turnips'

Jiang Cheng should have figured that Wei Wuxian had been lying, not when he’d described that surreal land full of glass and intricate machines, but when he’d denied it.

Even when Da-ge and Mic-ge had started visiting more often (always disappearing in that same, abrupt manner), he’d let the inconsistencies slide. After all, he trusted his brother. If it was anything important, Wei Wuxian would have told him.

He felt like such an idiot now.

His first thought, upon seeing the huge, unmistakeably foreign towers of metal and glass, had been ‘of course’. He hadn’t spared any time for disbelief.

Instead he’d set out, spitting insults under his breath to stem the spark of hurt rooting deep into him. He’d met Da-ge soon after, which was lucky. It was also a stark reminder of two more people that had been content to leave him in the dark.

He’d shaken the bitter thought off as best he could.

The entire experience had ended with him standing unhappily watching the stars above the perfectly normal world he was born in, listening to the quiet sound of the other Jiang cultivators – his cultivators – sleeping.

Meeting his brother was difficult. Wei Wuxian was tired and paranoid. The Burial grounds were little more than a pile of resentful bodies waiting to attack. The pitiful group of elderly and weak men and women his brother had rescued were hard at work clearing space for crops. Jiang Cheng wanted to scoff. Who would grow anything here, of all places? He didn’t scoff, because this was what these people – what his brother was relying on to survive.

He practically begged Wei Wuxian to return with him. To be safe. But of course that would never happen, and he’d known it from the start. Wei Wuxian! If you do this, I won’t be able to protect you anymore! His plea fell on deaf ears.

Cast me out, then.

His brother undoubtedly said such a thing to protect him, to protect the Jiang sect, to sacrifice himself for them. To be heroic. It felt like rejection. It felt like confirmation that everything Wei Wuxian had ever promised him had been a lie. It felt like betrayal.

In the end, they fought and he announced to the world that Wei Wuxian was no longer of the Jiang sect, that he was a traitor to all the cultivation world. Jiang Cheng did what they’d agreed to do and wondered why he was the one who felt cast out.

He left without mentioning his visit to Da-ge and Mic-ge. They would tell the idiot next time Wei Wuxian visited either way. And Jiang Cheng had no wish to bring it up when he still tasted betrayal resting dully on his tongue.

--

Today, Jiang Cheng had given himself an hour in which to test whether he could return willingly.

He blinked and the world turned grey. Great, he grumbled to himself. It was raining.

He took shelter beneath a small tree and tried to decide what he was going to do next. He was considering going back when he saw a silhouette approach. He was quick to apply that stupid (useful) translation talisman to his chest. He would not be caught out in a foreign realm without the ability to communicate.

It was Mic-ge, squinting through the sheeting rain and holding an umbrella above his ridiculous hair.

“Mic-ge”, he greeted, ducking gratefully under the umbrella to join the other man.

“A-Cheng”, the other man smiled, and it was just as kind as it ever had been, “Do you want to come back to our flat?”

Jiang Cheng hummed in assent and they set off at a comfortable pace.

“How are you doing?”, Mic-ge asked.

Jiang Cheng shrugged, unwilling to go into the details of his personal feelings.

“The betrothal between A-Jie and Jin Zixuan has been renewed. They’re planning on marrying.”, he shared.

“Oooooohh!!”

Mic-ge’s pace became erratic in his excitement and Jiang Cheng caught a face full of rain water from the umbrella.

“Did Jin Zixuan shape up then?”, Mic-ge pressed, pale eyes dancing with ridiculous happiness.

Jiang Cheng grunted, “I guess so. A-Jie seems happy.”, he admitted reluctantly, “even if it’s the stupid peacock.”

That earned him a one-armed squeeze. Jiang Cheng threw off the hug before he could be smushed too hard against the blonde’s hard leather top.

He sighed with relief once they reached Mic-ge and Da-ge’s odd dwelling. He shook off the worst of the rain before settling on a raised chair.

“We’ll be going to see Wei Wuxian to let him know soon.”, he added.

Mic-ge grinned at him, “Oh? I wish I could see his horrified face, he never liked that Jin boy”

Jiang Cheng scoffed, “That’s putting it nicely. He did tell you he punched the peacock when we were at Cloud Recesses?”

Mic-ge leaned forwards eagerly, “What, really? What did Jin-bro say?”

Jiang Cheng smirked, “He slighted A-Jie. Idiot.”

Mic-ge gasped and held a hand to his heart, “He dared!”

Jiang Cheng rolled his eyes, “Obviously, the peacock has been eating his words. Preening idiot was so embarrassed he actually ran away after confessing to her.”

Mic-ge laughed out loud, “He did?? Oh God…!”

Jiang Cheng let him laugh it off, lips twitching in amusement.

“Haha… Please tell me you saw that.”

Jiang Cheng shook his head, “No… A-Jie told me about it. She thinks it was cute.”

Mic-ge cooed.

Jiang Cheng grimaced, “Ugh, please no. He built her a lotus pond at Lanling and everything. He’s trying.”

He took one look at the other’s expression and decided to move right on, “Anyway… We’ll be going to Yiling to see the other idiot in about a month.”

“I thought you said soon?”, Mic-ge pointed out.

Jiang Cheng avoided his gaze, “Well, we can’t afford for others to know we’re going to see the ‘scourge of the cultivation world’, so A-Jie decided we should wait for her wedding dress to be ready... She wants to show him, at least, since he can’t exactly… well, he can’t come to the wedding.”

Jiang Cheng still hated that he had to hide this way to visit his brother. But the cultivation world was unstable, and any small misstep could cost them the Jiang sect’s safety. None of them would ever let that happen.

“Wait, what?”, Mic-ge interrupted his glum thoughts, “What do you mean he can’t go to the wedding? The what? I thought you said all A-Xian did was punch the guy?”

What the hell was he going on about?

“Oh no, wait, rewind a sec, A-Cheng, ‘scourge of the cultivation world’? What the hell?”

Jiang Cheng slowly processed the baffling idea that someone didn’t know.

“What? Didn’t Wei Wuxian tell you??”, he snapped, all of a sudden irrationally angry at his brother.

Mic-ge looked at him strangely, “We haven’t seen A-Xian since… well, last time we talked was soon after the attack on Lotus Pier.”

He winced apologetically as he brought it up, as if Jiang Cheng would break at the mere mention of the massacre.

Beyond that, though, had Wei Wuxian really not come to visit them since then? What the hell?

“Why not?”, he asked roughly.

Mic-ge watched him cautiously, “He – the last time we talked he’d come to say goodbye.”, the older man revealed, eyes lined with worry, “He said he was going to do something – I don’t know what, he wouldn’t say – but he didn’t think he would be able to come back, after.”

Jiang Cheng gritted his teeth. That sounded far too plausible.

“That fucking – idiot!”, he fumed, standing and pacing back and forth in the small living space.

Mic-ge waved him back, “We saw him once since…”, he said.

Jiang Cheng frowned at him, “What happened?”

Mi-ge’s expression twisted into one of pain, “He… he flickered? In and out of the park. He… wasn’t in a good way, and there was this dark smoke…”, Mic-ge shuddered, “It was horrible, he didn’t seem to see us, o-or anything. We couldn’t approach him and he just… It happened over three days.”

Jiang Cheng swallowed.

“How long ago”, he demanded, something hard sinking in his chest.

“…months”, Mic-ge uttered softly, “at least four months ago.”

Jiang Cheng collapsed back into the chair.

“He disappeared for three months during the war.”, Jiang Cheng spoke hollowly, “We searched, and searched and – then he just … turned up.”

He loosened his fists, “He came back different.”

Mic-ge pursed his lips, obviously uncomfortable.

“Angrier?”, he suggested.

Jiang Cheng blinked, “Yes, how did …?”

“Jumpier?”, the man cut him off.

Jiang Cheng nodded uncertainly. Mic-ge fumbled for his phone and looked back up at Jiang Cheng worriedly.

“Reckless, self-destructive? Exaggerated startle response?”

Jiang Cheng didn’t answer, but he didn’t deny it, uncomfortable with the accuracy of those statements.

Mic-ge went on, “Did he have flashbacks? Sudden episodes of distress?”

Jiang Cheng stopped him there, the faint memory of his brother shaking and staring blankly into space forcing its way through his mind, “I – what are you going on about?”

Jiang Cheng had been to war. He knew of war-madness, of the fear that gripped some men and kept them from rest, tormenting them. The Lan were rumoured to have developed cultivation techniques specifically to counter it. However, it was rare in cultivators, the very act of cultivating one’s golden core was in itself a form of armour against it.

Mic-ge put his phone down slowly, “We call it PTSD, for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder”

Jiang Cheng frowned, “It’s known as war madness. But cultivators don’t – well, a cultivator as strong as my brother wouldn’t…”

Wei Wuxian hadn’t been cultivating.

It wasn’t the golden core which shielded the mind, but the act of cultivating which healed it. That was one of the lessons he’d learned at Cloud Recesses under Lan Qiren.

Jiang Cheng closed his eyes, pained, “I don’t know much about it. Tell me.”

Mic-ge did. He said not everyone had the same symptoms. He listed the ones that were known anyway, and Jiang Cheng bit his lip against the familiarity of the words. Some, of course, were impossible for Jiang Cheng to confirm or deny. Wei Wuxian had always been very good at hiding when it truly mattered. Others rang like warnings to his ears.

“Thank you for telling me”, he whispered when the man finished reading the list of symptoms and sparse advice written on his odd device.

Mic-ge gave him a half-smile, kind and pained all at once. It reminded him so much of Wei Wuxian that Jiang Cheng scoffed and looked away. The strange sadness that had hung over them both dissipated slightly and Mic-ge laughed softly.

“So… why can’t he go to A-Li’s wedding?”

Jiang Cheng huffed.

“I told you last time, didn’t I? He ran off with a bunch of Wen refugees… He’s considered a traitor now, the Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation, the Yiling Patriarch…”

He takes an angry breath, “Anyone who willingly associates with him is guilty by association. Lotus Pier is not yet strong enough for that kind of backlash, and he knows it.”

Mic-ge’s expression is enough for Jiang Cheng to know he doesn’t have to explain any further.

They slowly ease into other topics, the renewed trade picking up in Lotus Pier, A-Jie’s wedding preparations and the new disciples Jiang Cheng was trying his best not to throttle.

Soon, however, Jiang Cheng had to leave. He tried to bow but was pulled into a soft embrace. It was with a small smirk that he focussed inwards and let his core bring him back to the side of the lake.

He promised himself to ask his brother about his lack of contact with Da-ge and Mic-ge when they saw him in Yiling. And break the idiot’s legs if he was just hiding from them out of something idiotic like misplaced guilt. He had the sinking feeling, however, that this was all linked to the idiot’s demonic cultivation. Mic-ge had said that the idiot’s latest visit had been during Wei Wuxian’s three-month absence, coinciding exactly with the time Wei Wuxian learned demonic cultivation. Jiang Cheng clenched his fists, took a deep breath and let it out.

For now, he had a wedding to plan. They’d always agreed that A-Jie should have the best wedding. And he would make damn well sure that she would.

Notes:

More Jiang Cheng!

Thanks for reading!
Thanks also for your comments :)

Chapter 23: Where emotion will take you

It was a slow day in the Burial mounds. Wei Wuxian had made a nuisance of himself trying to help Uncle Four plough the space they’d cleared for much-needed crops. Then he’d spent some time coaxing shy little A-Yuan to smile, something that had almost worked this time. Then he’d collapsed moodily near the entrance to his cave.

Being back here wasn’t good for him. He thought he’d made his peace with the place but his heart still beat a little too fast sometimes and he woke up seeing smoke and death and smelling blood.

There was a lot from his first time in the burial mounds that Wei Wuxian didn’t remember. He did have such a bad memory after all (he was glad for it here). He had no wish to delve too deeply into those months of his life, but one thing that did stand out clearly was Da-ge’s face, staring out at him through a veil of dark, dark smoke.

He’d found a bag of rubbery sweets much later on, after he’d finally grasped the basics of demonic cultivation. He’d chalked them up to some very creative wishful thinking, a mirage that refused to be dispelled, like the voices that called for him, that supported his spirit when he was beaten down – down –

Except the bag of sweets, unlike Jiang Cheng’s shouting and Lan Zhan’s deep timbre, had remained. Even now, it rested in a corner of the Demon-subdue palace.

He would’ve kept on believing it was an illusion if it weren’t for Wen Qing pointing it out.

“And those?”, she’d asked archly, disapproval at Wei Wuxian’s mess practically pouring out of her.

“Ah-Aah? You can see them too?”, he’d said incredulously, “but then…”

And that brought him to his current line of thought.

Maybe not all of what he’d seen had been a product of his own broken mind – nevermind why that was more than plausible.

If he’d truly managed to travel between realms while surrounded by resentful energy, that meant it was possible, even without a golden core.

Energy was energy, after all.

He focussed inwards and let out a small, echoing whistle to pull up some of the energy deep into his chest. He focussed. Resentful energy didn’t flow the way spiritual energy did. It writhed and fought, potent with wild, restless emotion. Wei Wuxian let it writhe, guided it to tangle angrily where his core should have been.

His eyes closed in concentration, he brought forward that feeling to be elsewhere – to be with Da-ge – to –

He crashed into something hard and something fleshy and bony. Wei Wuxian yelped, flailing his limbs awkwardly around him.

Someone was swearing underneath him, his words incomprehensible but his tone so familiar.

He was roughly shoved sideways, landing flat on his back with a small ‘ompf’ of protest. Peering down at him, tired eyes wide and incredulous, was a scruffy man with black hair hanging inelegantly in his face and a white length of fabric wrapped around his neck.

He didn’t bother getting up from his sprawled position on the ground, so pleased he could barely speak past his wide grin.

“Da-ge!”

--

Shouta stared.

On one hand, he was infinitely relieved to see his brother alive and grinning that stupid grin again. On the other, he had just been slammed into the ground in front of his new first year class by a bony body appearing out of nowhere.

“Brother”, he sighed, rubbing his eyes in equal parts fondness and exasperation.

There was a very unsubtle gasp from the students gathered behind him. Shouta furrowed his brows. He had liked his reputation.

Wei Wuxian propped himself up and peered past Shouta, eyes lighting up with mischief. He quickly pulled out a blank talisman, scribbled over it, and applied it.

“Disciples!!”, he gushed, “Big brother, you never said you had your own horde of little disciple heroes – this is great!”

Shouta was very tempted to let Bakugou roast him. He glared at the class.

“1-A, meet my brother, Wei Wuxian. He’s…”, he hesitated, then gave up, “nevermind. Wei Wuxian, these are my students.”

Wei Wuxian scrambled up and positively beamed at the twenty teenagers nervously (or angrily) staring at him.

He hummed and assessed them briefly.

“Go on then, what’s he like as a teacher?”, he lowered his voice as if Shouta wasn’t standing right behind him.

Not a single student dared answer. Shouta smirked into his capture weapon.

“Aaah… come on!”, Wei Wuxian tapped his nose with one hand, then pointed decisively at Bakugou, “You!”

Of course, Shouta thought with despair, of course he would pick the one kid glaring at him hard enough to set him on fire.

Bakugou snarled defensively, “Ah? How the fuck should I know, fuckwad. This is our first fucking day.”

Wei Wuxian had the gall to tut disapprovingly at the boy’s crass response, “No, no, no, that can’t do! So ill-tempered, and vulgar! How will you ever find yourself a wife with an attitude like that?”

Shouta groaned. At least three of his other students audibly choked. Shouta grabbed Wei Wuxian by the back of his robe and glared at Bakugou in warning.

Bakugou clenched his popping fists, expression a twisted mask of fury.

Shouta twisted his brother around like he was a badly behaving toddler.

“Stop antagonizing my students.”, he sighed.

Wei Wuxian smiled, unashamed, but he saluted nonetheless in assent. Letting him go, Shouta gave his brother a quick once over. Dirty, thin, but overall unharmed.

He bade goodbye to the last of his class’ fearful respect and pulled his brother into a hug. Wei Wuxian’s arms raised haltingly to grip him back.

“It’s good to see you”, Shouta grunted quietly, sincerely.

Wei Wuxian huffed a small laugh.

“Aa-ah… Between you and Jiang Cheng…”, his voice shook, and he fell silent.

When Shouta pulled away, Wei Wuxian winced, holding onto his chest with a grimace.

“What’s wrong?”, Shouta asked, thoughts racing. He should have taken his brother straight to Recovery Girl.

Wei Wuxian waved his concern away, “Ah, it’s just, this – gh”, a bit of blood forced its way past his lips.

“Shit”, he whispered, before pasting a reassuring smile on his face, “Ah, Da-ge, don’t worry, it’s just my new –”

Then he disappeared.

Shouta clenched his fists and glared at the newly minted class 1-A.

“We’re going to be testing your physical limits today.”, he gritted out, daring any of them to interrupt.

The class was good, overall. He very grudgingly did not expel anyone.

--

Three days later, it happened again.

This time, Shouta was napping, slumped across his sofa when two feet landed on his hip, and a body tumbled on top of him. He suffered through another minute of elbows and knees digging into his stomach until finally he was faced with apologetic grey eyes.

A hastily applied talisman later and Wei Wuxian started speaking.

“Ahahaa.., I really need to figure out how to do that better. Sorry, big brother.”

He looked around, “Is Mic-ge home?”

Shouta grumbled and pulled himself upright.

“Radio show.”, he explained.

Hizashi would be upset to miss him again. Shouta picked out his phone and opened the camera, snapping a quick photo and sending it on.

He gave Wei Wuxian another searching look, “Are you okay? Not going to start bleeding again?”

His brother laughed a little awkwardly, “Ah, well, aah…I’ll be fine?”

Shouta pinched the bridge of his nose.

“Explain.”

Wei Wuxian pouted. It didn’t lessen Shouta’s expectant glare at all.

“Fine! I – uh, I’m using a different type of energy to travel here. It’s uh… difficult to control. More… restless.”, he said, “Not a huge issue, though, I’ll be fine!”

Shouta pursed his lips, “Resentful energy?”, he guessed.

Wei Wuxian jumped.

“What! How did you? I mean – ah…”, he lifted one hand and paused guiltily, “…um…?”

Shouta snorted, “Jiang Cheng told us. Turns out he’s gained the ability to travel here.”

He didn’t mention his suspicions, simply watching as Wei Wuxian laughed sheepishly and glanced away.

“Ah, right, haha… so he told you?”

Shouta hummed.

“Everything? The- I mean – you know what? Nevermind.”

Shouta raised one eyebrow at that.

“He says you’re protecting a group of refugees?”

Wei Wuxian blinked.

“Aah, yes. Wen Qing, she’s a doctor, really scary lady, and her brother Wen Ning, you remember? – mmh, well anyway they’re friends. There’s also Uncle Four, … uh, about fifteen other men and women, Granny and little A-Yuan.”

His voice turned fond by the end. Shouta struggled to keep the dismay off his face. A doctor, a handful of able-bodied people, and a child. Running off with an army, indeed.

“Where are you living?”, Shouta asked.

“Oh, the burial grounds.”, his brother grimaced, “Not the most pleasant of places, but… we’re managing. They’ve started clearing space and ploughing the land. We’ll be planting soon. We’ll make it work.”

He sounded like he was trying to convince himself of that fact. Shouta took in the hollow cheeks.

“Money?”

Wei Wuxian made a face, “We have a little leftover, but not much.”

He moaned dramatically, “I am a poor man now, big brother! A poor man indeed”

He coughed and rubbed his chest. Shouta frowned.

“You’re hurting yourself to come here.”, he stated.

Wei Wuxian avoided his gaze, which was answer enough.

“Go back.”, Shouta said, “Don’t push it, we’ll have to figure something out but don’t overdo it. Go.”

His brother frowned mulishly at the living room wall before sighing in resignation.

“Fine”, he muttered quietly, “Bye, big brother.”

Shouta wasn’t given any time to respond.

--

Wen Qing was waiting for Wei Wuxian when he returned, needles in one hand and an expectantly raised eyebrow. Wei Ying danced around the topic for all of three seconds before her scowl grew fierce enough to convince him to talk. He explained as best he could, futilely trying to hide the blood staining his mouth. She was not impressed.

Notes:

Thanks for reading, kudos, bookmarks and comments!! :)

Chapter 24: UA correspondence room

A talisman setup to relay objects – letters. Wei Wuxian had decided to renew the work he’d left unfinished in UA’s training grounds, but focussing on the smaller steps. Unlike last time, his goal wasn’t on allowing people to travel, but objects. His motivation was simple: neither Wen Qing nor Da-ge would allow him to hurt himself every time he travelled. He needed a better way to keep in contact. And this was it. Or it should be.

The benefits of being confined in the burial grounds, Wei Wuxian mused, was that they provided him with endless hours in which he could experiment as he pleased.

In Lotus Pier – last time – he had had to juggle his research with his duties as head disciple, all while working under the looming threat of the Wens’ approach. This time he could focus fully on the problem. It took a lot less time than he had anticipated to finally reach a solution.

He stared at his handiwork with a mix of pride and melancholy. It still wouldn’t work on people, but… another week and he thinks he could… maybe… He put the page down and breathed through his nose.

It’s too late. It’s too late. It’s too late. Leave it. Let it go.

He left his cave. He needed a distraction. Maybe A-yuan would want to play with him.

--

The next day, Shouta dodged Wei Wuxian when his brother appeared in the staff room. He’d gotten very good at that, since Wei Wuxian had become prone to appearing at any time of day.

Two weeks had passed full of surprise visits and increasingly serious conversations. Hizashi had joined them in being a voice of reason.

Wei Wuxian better have come with a solution to his self-harm problem, and not just to chat again.

The young man smiled in greeting. Shouta could see the strain of staying away in the tenseness of his expression. It was taking less time to reach this point every trip.

“I got it”, Wei Wuxian said, wasting no time.

Shouta nodded, and led the way. They’d already decided where to place the array.

Wei Wuxian stumbled into the training ground he’d been offered so long ago, one hand gripping his chest. He turned to the nearest wall, and drew some complicated symbol in the air before slapping seven different talismans onto it. He was panting by the end.

He turned to Shouta, “Guess this is… goodbye, then, big brother”, he choked out. His eyes were shining wetly.

Shouta blinked back tears of his own, heart aching.

“… Take care of yourself…”, Shouta said gruffly.

They shared a final hug. Then Shouta was alone.

--

A note arrived the next day, written in barely legible traditional Mandarin.

Decoding it took fifteen minutes of deciphering: Does it work?

Shouta sat and pulled out his phone. He typed his message, translated it, and copied the characters he was shown.

‘Yes, are you alright?’

He tapped the talisman with his finger and the array activated. He sighed in relief.

Da-ge, it’s working! Wen Qing says my handwriting is terrible so she’s adding her own message at the end.
This one is Wen Qing. Please write often. Wei Wuxian is a menace when he is bored.

It took half an hour to decode the second letter. He was glad it worked.

Quickly, he sent on another reply.

‘Wen Qing, thank you for bearing with my brother. Brother, please write neatly so I can translate it accurately. You write worse than Midoriya, and his finger was broken yesterday. Be well.’

He smirked as he sent it, and left the room locked until next time.

--

When Jiang Cheng next visited, Shouta explained their new system, watching the young man scoff and roll his eyes to hide his small smile.

Jiang Cheng had started to relax when he came over. It was obvious to Shouta that his time with them was a much needed escape from his daily duties. He spoke of his sister settling down in Lanling with her soon-to-be husband, of the new recruits he was training, of the all-time high numbers of resentful spirits cropping up all over Yunmeng (a side-effect of war, he said).

Shouta relayed some of that information to Wei Wuxian, and updated Jiang Cheng of Wei Wuxian’s news as well. He offered to send letters on from Jiang Cheng, but the young man refused every time.

“He won’t want to hear from me.”, he’d justified at first, ignoring Hizashi’s knowing look.

“I have no news he wants to hear, anyway.”, he’d grumbled.

“I’m not going to write him a fucking letter telling him how well everything is going, and I’m not begging him to come back either.”, he’d finally snapped after one too many pointed suggestions.

Shouta had heavy suspicions as to Jiang Cheng’s new ability to travel between realms. Jiang Cheng avoided questions of how he came to be able to travel to see them, but Shouta suspected he was not consciously aware as to why.

He sighed. If the brothers wouldn’t communicate he could at least provide some news between them.

Notes:

Letters!

Thanks for reading, kudos, bookmarks and comments!!

Chapter 25: News from the Burial Mounds

Hi, Da-ge, Mic-ge! Today A-Yuan called me Xian-gege! He’s so adorable!! Granny let me play with him for the afternoon and we had a great time together until Wen Qing interrupted our fun. She insists we should plant turnips. I prefer potatoes but she won’t listen to me… To be ignored by one’s friends, such cruelty! No matter, I think everyone is getting sick of fruit from the base of the mountain anyway. Even turnips are better than that.
There’s still a lot to do to keep this place protected, but I still have enough talisman paper to do it! I hope you can read my writing on this bark. I promise I’ll write on paper next time I have any to spare!
Say hello to your adorable students for me, Da-ge!
I’ve been playing some of Mic-ge’s songs on the flute, but only A-Yuan appreciates them.
Wei Wuxian

--

Wei Wuxian,
Bark is not the easiest surface to read off of. If this works, you’ll have a stack of paper and some ink to keep you going. There should also be some more nutrient pills from Recovery Girl to share or add to your evening soup. How are you doing for funds?
Wen Qing is right. Turnips grow faster and better in weak soil.
How old is A-Yuan?
My students are idiots, as usual. They have little sense and no self-preservation skills. Remind you of anyone? There is a new member of the staff this year. You never met him (thankfully), but he might actually be worse than you in the self-preservation department, and he doesn’t have your smarts to compensate. He is exhausting.
Hizashi (Mic) is telling me to write what he wants to say too, but he can write his own letter.
Stay safe and listen to Wen Qing.
Shouta.

Listener!
A-Yuan sounds like the cutest, best, most musically-gifted nephew in the world. Can you send us a drawing? I still have that one you drew of Shouta wearing fancy robes (Shouta rolls his eyes at me every time I bring it up, it’s great).
Did you know that you can plant some distractor plants near your crops to attract pests away?
Shouta really likes his students this year, he hasn’t even expelled one so far! It’s a new record.
Be cool!
Mic-ge

--

Da-ge, Mic-ge!
I sold the rest of my spare talismans in town, so we have enough to last us until the turnips are ready to sell. Did you know I’m famous now? They call me the Grandmaster of Demonic cultivation, the Yiling Patriarch. Very fearsome indeed!
Mic-ge, thanks for the advice! I didn’t know you could do that to keep pests away, but I don’t think that’ll be a problem. There’s still resentful energy here, no matter what I do, so not many pests actually come this way. And we’re not short on hands to get rid of them!
Wen Qing still won’t let me do anything interesting. Rude.
A-Yuan is three, I think? He really likes butterflies, food and music.
The (very serious) Grandmaster of Demonic cultivation – Wei Wuxian.

--

Listener!
Shouta says you should listen to Wen Qing. We’re also both very glad to hear you guys are doing ok.
Shouta can’t write right now because he got caught up in a bad villain attack. One of the villains has a portal quirk and they attacked Shouta’s class during their field trip on campus. It was scary! Luckily no-one was killed, and none of the students were badly hurt. Shouta spends a lot of time scolding you for not looking after yourself, but this time it can be your turn, ok? He faced the villains on his own until help arrived and now that he’s meant to be resting he keeps getting up and trying to go to work.
Why is Wen Qing stopping you from doing anything ‘interesting’? Are you hurt??
Listen to your doctor!
Mic-ge

--

Da-ge and Mic-ge,
Da-ge! Please look after yourself! Mic-ge sounded really worried. I’m glad your students were safe. Write back as soon as you can… You should revise your defences, set up quirk barriers?? I don’t know. Why did they attack you? Please stay safe…
And don’t worry, Mic-ge, it’s nothing, Wen Qing is just fussing.
A-Yuan found a really pretty shiny stone yesterday, he carried it around with him all day. He’s the cutest!
The turnips are growing well, although there’s still plenty of work to do around here.
Speaking of which, Wen Qing found me, so I’m going to run. She keeps giving me chores!
Your little brother – Wei Wuxian.

--

Listener!
Shouta is allowed to write but his penmanship is terrible right now because his arm is still healing. The villains attacked to target one of our teachers, All Might. Shouta says he told you about him, ‘the new irritating one with no self-preservation’ are his words. He scoffed when I told him you said he should rest. He’s really bad at taking his own advice!
Jiang Cheng came over again and yelled at Shouta for over an hour for being reckless. He’s doing well, and he says your sister is doing well also.
Tomorrow is the Sports Festival! We’ll be watching the kids compete against each other – it’ll be exciting! Shouta hasn’t said anything but he’s acting all smug and confident so I’m sure his class will give us a good showing.
I don’t believe you when you say Wen Qing is fussing over nothing. Tell her to write us or I think I’ll believe you are dying.
A-Yuan sounds adorable!!
I don’t know if this will travel well, but I’ve added a little basket of sweet potatoes and carrots to share.
Stay safe!
Mic-ge

--

Mic-ge, tell Da-ge I’m insulted he listens to Jiang Cheng but not to me! I’m the scary one now! It’s unfair.
Thank you for the potatoes and carrots, but please don’t fe
What’s the Sports Festival like? Is it like archery tournaments? Sword fighting? Tell me who won! I bet it’s one of Da-ge’s students!!
Also you fuss just as much as Wen Qing.
Your brother – Wei Wuxian

Wei Wuxian accidentally bruised his ribs. It is healing well, but he is reckless and forgets he cannot heal as fast as he expects to. The extra food was appreciated.
Wen Qing

--

Little brother,
Listen to your doctor. And please try not to get yourself hurt. If you are going to worry about others you cannot expect others to not worry about you.
The Sports Festival is a series of games and battle trials for the students to prove themselves and catch the interest of experienced heroes. You were right, it was Bakugou (the explosion kid) who won, but there were other promising candidates as well.
Stay safe, and do your chores. Please relay my thanks to Wen Qing for looking after you.
Shouta

Listener!
Bruised ribs aren’t nothing! Between you and Shouta I’m going to have so many grey hairs...
One of Shouta’s students won the festival, yes, and while he never said a word he was very definitely smug. He also really liked one of the other students, a kid from the general education department. I think he might kidnap him for his class.
You’re welcome for the vegetables! And don’t be ashamed of asking for help. You’re only one person!
We included more paper, and some nutrient tablets to add to your food.
What does A-Yuan like to play?
Stay safe and be cool!
Mic-ge

--

Da-ge! Mic-ge!
Guess what! My sister is getting married!! I know, I know, you told me already, but I was reminded again today.
Married to the peacock, ugh, but still! I wish I could
You’ll never guess what happened yesterday! First, I met Lan Zhan in town. You remember Lan Zhan, he’s the beautiful unparalleled second jade of Lan! You met him that time we were stuck in the cave, when he had hurt his leg.
Anyway, you know how he doesn’t say much? Well I was in town and A-Yuan had run off (he was fine, don’t worry), and when I found him he was hugging Lan Zhan’s leg and crying so loudly! Lan Zhan looked very lost, standing so still and frozen! There was even a crowd of people trying to give him parenting advice and scolding him for not knowing how to comfort his son! It was the funniest thing I’ve ever seen!
So anyway, after I rescued him we went out for lunch and he even bought A-Yuan some toys. Who knew the great Light Bearing Lord was such a softy!
And after that, Lan Zhan helped me with Wen Ning. Wen Ning woke up, finally, and he’s fine now! I’m so glad!
Lan Zhan didn’t stay for dinner though, which is probably good because I’m sure we couldn’t have given him anything more than a small bowl of plain soup, even if this one had meat in it.
Tell me how things are going with you?
Your little brother – Wei Wuxian

Notes:

Aizawa and Mic: have some advice and general news, + a basket of fruit and veg
Wei Wuxian: did you know Lan Zhan came to visit!?

Thanks for reading, kudos, bookmarks and comments!!
:)

Chapter 26: Class 1-A

Shouta treasured the correspondence with his little brother. He often checked for new letters every morning and evening, and carried them with him to store safely in his desk and share with Hizashi.

Occasionally, Wei Wuxian would send more than just a letter, including ink paintings, little wooden trinkets he carved himself, shiny rocks from A-Yuan and the occasional turnip. The turnip was usually a sign that Wei Wuxian was begging for more sweet potatoes from them.

Turnips are so boring, Da-ge! Mic-ge, you get it, right? Wen Qing just sighs at me every time and tells me to shut up and go ‘do something useful’. I’m bullied!

Today was one such day and Shouta had left the turnip to sit on his classroom desk for lack of a better location to place it. He watched with amusement as his students stared at it, and at him, as if expecting some sort of trap.

Eventually, Uraraka lifted one hand.

“Yes?”, he addressed her.

“Uh, sir, why do you have a turnip on your desk…?”, she spoke quickly, obviously embarrassed.

“It was a gift.”, he stated, and moved on, “Iida, can you collect today’s assignments?”

And that would have been that, if it weren’t for Hizashi barging in at the end of class. The blonde took one look at the large turnip and beamed.

“Aah, so we did get a letter today! And he wants more interesting food – don’t worry, Shouta, I bought a bunch of stuff again on my way in this morning for them.”

Shouta sighed at the small group of students eavesdropping at the door.

“Ano… Sensei?”, that was Midoriya, blushing bright red from having been caught out, “Is this… about your brother?”

Shouta raised an eyebrow and resisted the urge to close the door in their nosy faces.

“Yes.”, he didn’t expand.

Iida butted in next.

“My apologies, Aizawa-sensei, we couldn’t help but overhear! We would like to express our worry over situation and offer our help!”

Midoriya and Uraraka nodded enthusiastically, while Asui blinked owlishly in agreement.

Shouta would have loved to be surprised, but he wasn’t. It had only happened a few times while he was teaching, but Wei Wuxian had made a point to interact with 1-A whenever he saw them, hounding them with questions and sharing not-so-secret stories which casually ruined Shouta’s stern reputation.

He grumbled under his breath before answering, “He’s living somewhere isolated. He has… little variety in his food, so we’re sending him extra supplies.”

By the next week Shouta had been coerced into sending on an eclectic mix of food items that were dumped on his desk at the start of lessons. Depending on the day, there was chocolate, rice or assortments of fruit. There was even a cake one day which smelled so delicious half the class spend the lesson drooling at it instead of paying attention. Shouta swore he saw Bakugou sneak a packet of spices to the pile as he left for lunch.

Shouta wanted to be more exasperated than he was, but Wei Wuxian found the gifts hilarious.

Where did you tell them I was? Am I stranded in a desert? They don’t have to send me rice! We may be poor but we’re not that poor!

That cake was so good! I think we’ve spoiled A-Yuan. He threw a huge tantrum when we told him there was no more.

Wen Qing confiscated the chocolate… She’s angry because I gave too much to A-Yuan and he wouldn’t sleep for ages. But now I can’t have any either, and that’s just rude. Send more?

Whoever sent the spices is now my favourite, although I think Wen Qing might kill them if she finds out. I think half of the Wens actually cried while eating… I might have added a bit more than they could take. Even A-Yuan told me I was mean.

Wei Wuxian sent gifts back. The first was a painted picture of Shouta teaching a group of disciples in the art of the sword (Mic-ge will tell me if you don’t give it to them so you’re not allowed to fake it!), which 1-A insisted to frame and hang on the wall. A few more paintings followed, with some small carved pieces and even a small jar of home-made fruit wine from Uncle Four which Shouta told his class about but refused to share.

Come on, Da-ge, they need to learn how to drink at some point!

Shouta remained firm in the opinion that that time could wait until they were no longer his responsibility. The mere thought of his class getting drunk made him shudder.

He did, however, send a bottle of spiced sake on in exchange.

Da-ge, I forgive you, that rice wine was so good! Did I tell you you were my favourite older brother? Can you send just one more bottle? Please?

--

Not everything was good, however.

A few days after hearing about Wei Wuxian’s invitation to his nephew’s one-month celebration, Shouta left for summer camp.

Another villain attack, students injured left and right, Bakugou kidnapped.

There was no space to breathe, no time to act. Shouta cursed his helplessness. Flashes of Wei Wuxian’s pale, bruised face assaulted his mind. Shouta wished he could guarantee Bakugou be returned safely.

Instead he stood in a press conference, trying to prevent Bakugou, a teen with too much power and not enough deference, from being demonized. Jiang Cheng’s voice rang in his mind, “He’s a traitor now, the terrible demonic cultivator, a wild dog to be controlled or killed…”. Shouta stood firm, Bakugou’s future would not be taken from him.

 A mass attack at Kiyoshi Ward, incredible levels of brute strength and power thrown carelessly into buildings. All Might’s fall.

Brother,
Hizashi says he kept you updated. I’m glad. I’m fine. Bakugou has been recovered and UA is preparing additional security measures to protect the students. The situation here is precarious, but we expect it to settle down within the next few months.
Enjoy the one-month celebration of your nephew, and be cautious.
Stay safe.
Shouta

--

Da-ge! I’m glad that you’re all safe. Mic-ge didn’t tell me anything until it was already over, otherwise I would’ve- Mic-ge told me they tried to paint Bakugou as a villain, bastards, and you spoke on his behalf. I’m glad. I wish
Wen Ning will be coming with me when I go to Carp Tower, so I’ll be safe, don’t worry! I know I said already, but I’m still so excited that I have a nephew!! Shi-Jie had a baby! And I’m going to meet him!! Jin Zixuan, that peacock, actually invited me! Can you believe it? The fearsome Yiling Patriarch, invited to visit the prestigious Jin sect… Sometimes I think it’s too good to be true, but the letter was sent by Lan Zhan, and everyone knows the great Light Bearing Lord doesn’t lie.
I’ll be heading off in a few days, stay safe!
Give a hug to your students from me, especially to Bakugou! He’s just like Jiang Cheng but with explosions, so angry all the time! He needs a good hug.
Be safe!
Your little brother, Wei Wuxian

Notes:

Class 1-A can't let Aizawa's brother live without chocolate and cake!
(If you weren't worried already, I'm sure this will... reassure you... ...? *hides*)

Thanks for reading, kudos, bookmarks...!!!
And thank you so much for your comments :)

Chapter 27: Ambush

Notes:

Part 8: 'Time out'

Warning for angst... You were all entirely correct to be worried.
I've mixed in some mdzs-canon in with cql canon (because cql canon here doesn't make all that much sense), but the events should be clear.

Wei Ying gasped for breath, trying to push down his emotions before he lost control. ‘Wen Ning will be coming with me so I’ll be safe’ he’d said to Da-ge. ‘Sometimes I think it’s too good to be true’, he’d written.

And now he’d punched Wen Ning, but for what? For protecting him? For being controlled? Why should Wen Ning apologize? Wen Ning may have been the sword, but Wei Ying was the wielder.

Jin Zixuan was dead. He had given Wei Ying a chance, had come to intervene with his cousin’s ambush, had received Wen Ning’s hand through his heart for his troubles.

He had to do something. He had to fix it. A laugh tore from his tight throat and past his dry lips. He pressed a hand to his face to muffle it and tasted tears.

Wen Qing and Wen Ning were watching him sadly. Just like when he’d been so homesick he’d lost his temper at A-Yuan for pulling out the first lotus shoot. They’d helped, last time, somehow. They have a lotus pond now. He’d even drawn it just to show Da-ge. It wasn’t the same as Lotus Pier, but…

He’d held so much hope. He thought this was a sign the cultivation world was starting to accept – to accept him back. He’d thought – he’d thought wrong.

His sister’s husband – his new nephew’s father – had paid the price.

He sagged where he stood.

He couldn’t take Wen Ning’s apologies.

“It’s not your fault”, he rasped harshly, knowing – they all knew it was true. He could see the guilt eat at Wen Ning nonetheless. Wei Ying did that. It was his fault.

“What am I going to do now? What am I meant to do now?”, he asked, lost, heart thumping painfully against his ribcage.

Wen Qing had a look in her eye, like someone who had made a decision. Serene but sad. Guilty but decisive. Wei Ying put the pieces together a split second before she immobilised him.

“A-Ning and I will go to Carp Tower for punishment.”, she told him softly, kindly, as if that wasn’t asking for a painful death.

“Wait – no, I – “, he stuttered, the horror and shock stealing his words.

His surroundings grew fuzzy and dream-like.

I can talk to them, prove it wasn’t me who cursed that man, I can –

“The truth doesn’t matter anymore, they will not listen”, he heard her say.

But –

There was more, he knew, but his mind cut straight to her last words.

“Sorry, and thank you”

The world faded to black.

--

When he awoke, Wen Ning and Wen Qing were long gone, and there was an army of cultivators at the entrance of the burial mounds. Granny explained the situation to him with a shaking voice, A-Yuan curled in her lap, silent.

His wards broke, like a finger snapping and a punch in the gut.

He staggered outside, finding the remaining Wen refugees grouped defensively together holding onto their farming tools tightly.

Three steps out and he stumbled, fell onto the hard ground. He could hear the approaching cultivators.

“Run!”, he shouted, because what did they think they were doing?

“RUN!”

They startled at the sound of his voice but they did not run. He knew why. There was nowhere for them to run to. There was one safe entrance into the burial mounds. Running further in would kill them just as quickly as a sword to the chest.

Uncle Four. Aunty Fu. Elder Xing. Everyone. Granny. A-Yuan.

Not A-Yuan.

He rushed back the way he came, almost crashing into Granny.

“Let me take him somewhere safe”, he choked out, “I can only take one.”

He thought. He’d never tried to take anyone. Not with resentful energy. Not with how risky it was.

Granny just smiled at him, a sad understanding in her eyes. He hated it. He hated that he hadn’t thought ahead, hadn’t overcome his fear and developed his array to transport people.

She handed A-Yuan over.

For this, Wei Ying needed every scrap of resentful energy he could gather. He rushed them behind a rock formation, near the blood pool, where resentful energy was easy to gather.

Crouched there, he held A-Yuan close and pulled. Dark smoke rose and snuck around his arms like poisonous vines. He guided it into the empty space in his chest, coiled it tightly. Added more. More. He ignored the sound of screams outside, sweat running down his forehead. Only when his chest felt like it would burst from the energy he had gathered did he finally focus it all to fuel A-Yuan in one big jump.

He could have cried in relief when he landed somewhere else with A-Yuan still in his arms.

His Da-ge swore from beneath them, and he scrambled off quickly, not bothering to wipe his face.

“A-Yuan”, he said, patting the small boy on the cheek softly, “A-Yuan, are you okay?”

A-Yuan nodded, eyes wide and scared.

“There, there, you’re safe now, okay? A-Yuan, do you trust me?”, Wei Ying soothed.

A-Yuan gave a little ‘Mmh’, holding onto Wei Ying’s arms like they would protect him from the world. Wei Ying rooted for a talisman, quickly writing the translation spell and sending it to Da-ge.

Wei Ying finally looked up, seeing his Da-ge staring at them cautiously. There were other people around, but Wei Ying ignored them. He sent Da-ge a strained smile.

“Here, A-Yuan”, he said with all the cheer he could muster, “Can you see that man? That’s my big brother, Uncle Shou Ta!”

A-Yuan peered up at Da-ge, bottom lip trembling slightly.

Da-ge gave the boy a little reassuring nod, “Hello”

“I have to go now”, he said, giving A-Yuan a last reassuring squeeze, “but I need you to stay with Uncle. Can you do that for me?”

The longer he stayed the more of the resentful energy he’d be using that would otherwise be used for A-Yuan. If his theory was correct, of course.

He quickly handed A-Yuan to Da-ge, forcing himself to ignore A-Yuan’s big teary eyes.

“Xian-gege!”, the child whined, tears building. Wei Ying tried to look reassuring rather than terrified.

“It’s okay, A-Yuan, I’ll be back!”, he said, hoping it would be true, “Brother”, he turned to the worried man, “I – look after him. There’s a-an army. The sects are attacking. I don’t – I’ll be back.”

Da-ge’s eyes were wide and scared, but Wei Ying didn’t stay to hear his answer.

A-Yuan didn’t pop back with him, and as he’d hoped the resentful energy he’d gathered stayed as well. If he was right, it would last at least a handful of hours. If he was right.

Wei Ying snarled and gathered more, marching out to face the –

The Burial mounds were empty.

He was alone.

Notes:

...

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Chapter 28: What's left behind

Lan Zhan held on with every last drop of his strength. He would not let Wei Ying fall. Please, no. This cliff in Nightless City should not be where Wei Ying died. Wei Ying did not deserve to die. Lan Zhan did not want him to die.

“Lan Zhan”, Wei Ying whispered, quiet and so tired.

How could Lan Zhan have let it come to this? How could he have ignored the risk of an ambush? How could he have let them set siege to the burial mounds? His heart shook with the thought of the Wen refugees, dead. A-Yuan, dead.

He’d fought his elders, but they had left anyway. It had changed nothing.

“Wei Ying.”, he said, a plea, a promise.

“Lan Zhan… I left A-Yuan with Da-ge.”, he whispered, “I said I’d go back, but… I… A-Yuan will not be there much longer…”

“Wei Ying”, he said again. He didn’t want to hear a goodbye.

“Someone needs to tell Da-ge…”, Wei Ying whispers. And Lan Zhan knows about the array, knows about the letters. He’d seen it all a year back when he’d visited the burial mounds.

Wei Ying should tell his Da-ge himself. He tried to convey that through his gaze alone, gritting his teeth against the pain tearing through his arm.

Footsteps. It was Jiang Wanyin. Relief. The man’s sword was out and his expression was twisted and harsh. Terror.

“Wei Wuxian! … Go to hell!”, he shouted, hatefully. Lan Zhan saw the sword strike but couldn’t do anything to avoid it.

He watched as the sword struck the rock. The rock shifted.

Wei Ying suddenly shoved himself back. His hand slipped out of Lan Zhan’s grip.

“Wei Ying!”

Lan Zhan stood, horrified, feeling his very being twist and crumble. No, no, no, no, no.

He stood there numbly even as his own sect members wrestled him away.

--

Hizashi watched with no small amounts of concern as Shouta paced back and forth, carrying a crying toddler.

Shouta was obviously panicking.

From what Hizashi had gathered, Wei Wuxian had turned up with the kid in tow, at the very least visibly agitated and tense, stuffed the kid in Shouta’s arms and left. Class 1-A had seen the entire event happen, but none of them had understood exactly what the issue had been.

Shouta had a translation talisman on his chest. Hizashi had no doubt he knew more than he was letting on, but whether it was for the benefit of A-Yuan (who else would that be?) or for his worried class, he hadn’t said a word.

A-Yuan, for his part, was crying and babbling at Shouta with a soft little voice, “Xian-gege, baba, weishenme-”

Hizashi had no idea what the kid was saying, but he could guess.

Kaminari had barged straight in to the staff room, shouting ‘Sensei’s brother brought his kid and he’s crying, help’. Hizashi had rushed to join them, and after a quick assessment of the situation, dismissed the students and pulled Shouta to the letter room.

Evening fell, and the kid nodded off on Shouta’s shoulder. There was still no sign of Wei Wuxian.

Shouta sat against the entry wall, still holding A-Yuan, eyes tired but alert. Hizashi rested nearby.

Around three in the morning, Shouta let out a ragged curse.

A-Yuan had disappeared.

They stared at each other for a few seconds, and Shouta sprang straight for the paper and pens.

Brother,
A-Yuan disappeared. Are you both safe?
Shouta

Two days later, they received a reply.

To the honourable Shou Ta,
This one is Lan Zhan, courtesy Wangji. I have retrieved A-Yuan from the burial grounds.
Wei Ying I regret to inform you I’m sorry Wei Ying is dead. He wanted me to tell you.
I will contact you further when I am next able.
My condolences I’m sorry Please tell me he’s with you
Lan Wangji

There was no alert from the park that day. Or the next.

--

Shouta did not take a single day off work, but the shadows under his eyes prompted even the loudest students to stay silent.

They held a small ceremony in the park, once it became clear that Jiang Cheng was not going to be visiting any time soon (was he dead also?). They placed a small headstone by the bench they used to meet at.

“Wei Ying, courtesy Wuxian
Beloved little brother and friend”

Words were not Shouta’s forte, and he left the epithet at that.

The letter room remained empty.

Notes:

Pretty sure my notes for this section were 'Drama in mdzs, Aizawa is worried and he's holding a kid'.
Sad times, but contact remains.

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Thanks for your comments!!

Chapter 29: Of brothers

It was with a writhing mix of crushing relief and disappointment that Shouta met Jiang Cheng in the park. The automatic notification didn’t tell them who arrived, after all, and with a month without contact, a small part of Shouta had hoped that this was Wei Wuxian, back again.

It wasn’t.

Jiang Cheng looked exhausted. He had dark bags under his eyes and stood tense and straight, as if convincing himself not to leave. His gaze was fixed on the headstone. He wore a white sash around his waist.

They sat.

Jiang Cheng hadn’t said a word. Shouta’s last shred of hope crumbled.

“…How did he die?”, he asked softly.

Jiang Cheng flinched.

It wasn’t fair to ask this of Jiang Cheng, but Shouta needed to know. It had been a month. He held a hand out in comfort but the younger man immediately leant away.

“Don’t”, he whispered. Shouta took his arm back.

“Wei Wuxian…”, he spat the name like it had personally offended him, “…lost control.”

Shouta stayed quiet, a sinking feeling in his gut.

Jiang Cheng’s fists tightened in his lap, “There was a … an ambush.”

“At the burial mounds?”, Shouta clarified, but Jiang Cheng shook his head no.

“Qongqi path. He was surrounded on his way to Lanling Jin.”

Shouta’s gaze turned to examine a small leaf, half-dead but still sticking to a low hanging branch.

“Jin Zixuan went to intercept. The cultivators who returned all reported the same thing. Jin Zixuan was murdered by the Ghost General, under the control of the Yiling Patriarch.”

The leaf fluttered in a light breeze.

“Wen Qing and Wen Ning came to Lanling Jin of their own volition, asking for punishment.”, Jiang Cheng gritted out, “It didn’t go well. Wen Ning went crazy and attacked, I don’t know ...”

Another dead leaf fell on the first, balancing lightly for a moment before falling further, fluttering softly to the ground. The first leaf lay still.

“They – We – The sects went to lay siege to the burial mounds.”, Jiang Cheng muttered, “Wei Wuxian wasn’t there. Only… Only a handful of Wen refugees.”

The breeze was picking back up, but the leaf was still. Wei Wuxian’s harried, angry, terrified face was dragged into Shouta’s mind. The last time he’d seen his brother alive.

“As soon as they realised he was not there, they – we left. The Wens were killed.”

The breeze reached the leaf. It jerked one way, the other, and back, tethered to the branch.

Jiang Cheng sat silently for a long moment.

“There was a gathering at Nightless City. To… celebrate the end of the Wens. To announce Wei Wuxian as an enemy of the cultivation world. All the sects were expected to attend.”

Jiang Cheng took a deep breath, “Wei Wuxian … arrived. He – it – he was laughing, half-mad, angry. They accused him of, well, anything, everything. Someone shot an arrow at him. He attacked.”

The leaf was falling one way then the other, struggling in the wind.

Jiang Cheng shuddered, “Corpses.”, he licked his lips, “And those who fell rose to join their ranks. It was –”

The branch waved in the wind, leaf flicking this way and that restlessly.

“Then – A-Jie… A-Jie was there. She’d followed… She was shouting. She was still wearing her mourning robes.”

Jiang Cheng’s voice had become rough.

“She – Wei Wuxian had come down to find her too. I could hear him shouting. Then – a corpse slashed her across her back – I told him to call them off but he – he didn’t, couldn’t, wouldn’t, I don’t… I don’t know.”

The branch swung wider and the leaf twisted on itself.

“I – I caught her. All she wanted wa-as to see Wei Wuxian. I – he was there, but I-it-some bastard tried to stab him. A-A-Jie t-took the blow.”

Jiang Cheng was shaking.

The leaf spun further on itself, jittering violently.

“She died in my arms, and Wei Wuxian – he ran off, I don’t know, the corpses were still attacking. It was a fucking blood bath and what was he doing?”

The leaf’s stem was half-way loose, hanging just by one edge. The wind had died down.

“He fucking threw himself off the cliff.”, Shouta’s heart froze.

Another breeze, little more than a breath. The leaf twitched, detached from its branch. Fluttered unceremoniously to the ground.

“Even when Lan Wangji caught him, he fucking told him to let go. I – How dare he – I wanted him to fall.”

A tear rolled down Shouta’s cheek.

He grabbed Jiang Cheng’s arm.

“Do not say things you do not mean.”, he warned, voiced choked.

Jiang Cheng let out a sound between a laugh and a sob.

“Wh-why the fuck shouldn’t I? He – He said – we were… A-Jie is dead. He said he could control it and I trusted him and now A-Jie is dead and he’s dead and my nephew is an orphan and – I – what am I meant to think?”

Shouta’s own arm trembled. He tore his eyes from the dead leaf, lying in the dirt, and stared at Jiang Cheng’s tear-stained face.

Jiang Cheng turned his face away, “I’m – I’m not… I couldn’t find his body. After he fell”, Shouta flinched, “I went looking. I keep thinking – what if he’s not dead?”, his eyes drift to the simple plaque, “But I know he’s dead. I saw it happen.”

His tone had turned angry and bitter, “They think I killed him myself.”, he spat, “But I couldn’t, not even then, and I hate it.”

Somewhere beyond the emptiness eating at his chest Shouta noticed Jiang Cheng didn’t specify what he hated.

“Jiang Cheng.”, Shouta whispered, because no matter how the young man felt, what had happened, Shouta wasn’t letting another little brother go.

“You’re allowed to mourn him. He was your brother too.”

Jiang Cheng snorted, weak and angry, “How can I mourn him? He destroyed everything. A-Jie died because of him, because he wouldn’t stop, he wouldn’t listen. And he’s dead, he’s dead, he’s dead as well. He fucking promised. He promised.”

Jiang Cheng was sobbing in earnest now, curled over his knees.

“What right do I have to – everyone is fucking rejoicing. They’re happy he died. Why can’t I be happy? Why do I have to feel this fucking empty hole biting– ”, he gripped his chest.

Jiang Cheng closed his eyes tight, tears dripping down his chin. A small gust of wind ruffled the trees. The leaf Shouta had been watching was carried out of sight.

“Why did they leave me?”

It was barely more than a whisper.

Shouta swallowed past the lump in his throat and pulled Jiang Cheng into his side.

“I’m here”, he murmured softly, his own tears spreading over his cheeks, “I’ve got you.”

--

This time, Shouta took a week off. Hizashi had not reacted well to the news. Shouta had not relayed the entire story, just the barest minimum. That the cultivation sects had lashed out, and Wei Wuxian had fought back and lost control. That Jiang Yanli and her husband had died in the crossfire. That Wei Wuxian had fallen off a cliff. The look in Hizashi’s eyes made it clear he knew exactly how voluntary the fall had been.

That Lan Wangji had tried to save him.

Shouta had somehow convinced Jiang Cheng to see them regularly.

It was as if they had reverted back to when Jiang Cheng had first started to visit. He was awkward and hesitant. Scared.

If it had been left to Shouta and Jiang Cheng, they would have likely avoided the topic of their brother for as long as they lived. Hizashi, however, refused to follow that unspoken rule.

“Oh, this was his favourite tea, you know!”

“Remember when he tried to figure out how to use my music player and started taking it apart with the kitchen knife?”

Sometimes, it fell flat, sending them into a deep uncomfortable silence.

Increasingly, it prompted reluctant smiles, fond recollections, light-hearted teasing.

“You know, Mic-ge, he drew you being chased by a butterfly, after that hunt with the bees. A-Jie convinced him you wouldn’t appreciate it, but it was – well, it stayed in his room for years.”

“Here, you know he couldn’t stop telling us how much you liked the rice cakes, even though you just shouted you hated them.”

“Lotus Pier is quiet without him.”

--

When Shouta saw Eri, lost and alone, accustomed to cruelty and yet so naïve to the world she lived in, he remembered, unbidden, the echoing hum of the child he’d first met in a creepy alleyway.

Eri was nothing like Wei Wuxian, and nothing like his students. She was quiet and shy, uncertain and afraid of her own shadow. She didn’t smile, didn’t know the name of colours outside of white, red, black and blue, didn’t know what a sweet was. She was uncommonly kind, earnest and careful. She broke through his every barrier within a week.

By the time it was suggested Shouta act as her primary caretaker Shouta had already settled into the role of her parent. Hizashi’s first meeting with Eri had immediately confirmed he was on-board.

“Give me a hey!”

Eri raised her hands and awkwardly wiggled them, solemnly staring at him as if to check she was doing it right. Hizashi beamed.

Eri was to stay in protected locations for the time being, either the hospital or, soon, UA.

Shouta wondered sometimes how Wei Wuxian would have reacted to the news. He could imagine the laughter, the teasing, the unbridled joy. He liked to think Eri would have liked him too.

Notes:

Let Jiang Cheng mourn! He's nowhere near perfect but ---- still!
Also let people heal :)
This chapter was the most difficult to write for me (all the sad).

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Thanks for your lovely comments!

Chapter 30: Golden core

“Jiang Cheng? There was something I wanted to ask you”, Shouta gave the younger man a friendly pat on the shoulder as a greeting.

Jiang Cheng had small bags under his eyes, but he gave Shouta a look that translated roughly to ‘ask already then’.

“Do you have a golden core?”

Jiang Cheng frowned, “Of course I do.”, he snapped, “I am still a cultivator.”

Shouta hummed, thinking.

“What happens when someone loses their golden core?”

Jiang Cheng shuffled, rubbing his chest.

“You become mediocre. You can’t wield your sword, you can’t cultivate. You can’t heal… It feels empty”, he patted his thorax, “You become weak. It’s not something I’d ever wish on anyone.”

Shouta watched the younger man’s jaw tense.

“Wei Wuxian said he used his spiritual energy to travel here. Something happened. He told us he would never be able to return. When he did, it was using resentful energy instead.”

Jiang Cheng had frozen, avoiding Shouta’s gaze.

“Jiang Cheng”, Shouta prompted, “Do you know why you suddenly gained the ability to travel here?”

“Shut up.”

The younger man stood stiffly, arms straight at his side.

“You don’t know what you’re talking about.”, he said roughly, flicking his robe sleeves back and purposefully avoiding looking towards Shouta.

Shouta sighed, “So he did do something…”

Jiang Cheng whirled around, “I said shut up!”

A ring on his finger sparked purple. He seemed to realise what he was doing and he staggered back, eyes quickly dropping to the ground.

“I… I don’t know what you’re saying.”, he whispered, shaking his head as if to throw off a great weight.

Shouta watched him struggle to keep his composure. He knew, or he suspected, then. And it frightened him.

Gently, Shouta said, “Would it matter if he did?”

Jiang Cheng stopped shaking his head and shrugged, biting his lip.

“I – I don’t – why would he? I didn’t ask him to, I didn’t want him to.”

The young man was panting. He glared up at Shouta, defensive and afraid.

“You don’t understand, brother”, he spat, “it’s not just – it’s part of who you are, your very centre. Losing it… it’s like losing warmth you never noticed you had. It’s – it’s too much.”

“Why are you so scared of it?”, Shouta prompted slowly. They both knew that Wei Wuxian was reckless and self-sacrificing enough to have done it anyway.

Jiang Cheng laughed hollowly, “I was trying to protect him, damnit! I thought, I was looking for him, I saw the soldiers reaching the inn we were hiding in. I lost my core because I let them catch me.”, one hand went to tug at his hair, “I don’t regret it, after everything, I’d protected my family but – now, what you’re suggesting… even that, it was for nothing? Why – I –”

“Your actions weren’t erased.”, Shouta stated, “Your conviction makes you who you are. You know – knew – Wei Wuxian. He was always too stubborn and too self-sacrificing. Nothing you could have done would have prevented that.”

Jiang Cheng ducked his head.

“I know.”, he murmured, “I just – I wish…”

Shouta huffed.

“Feel like yelling at some students?”, he asked, “Because I assure you I have some truly lost causes this year. I need backup to stop them from running to their deaths faster than I can train them.”

Jiang Cheng scoffed, “I have my own disciples to train, thank you.”

Shouta raised an eyebrow, “Do yours break their bones to make a point?”

Jiang Cheng coughed, “They what? What the fuck are you teaching them?”

Shouta groaned, “I’m trying. They’re all awful.”

He sent a not-so-subtle pleading look at Jiang Cheng, who scowled but very clearly didn’t say no.

Shouta grinned, and the younger man leant back, “Great. I’ll okay it with Nezu, but you’re definitely coming to supervise my brats.”

--

“Class, this is Jiang Cheng. My other little brother.”

Aizawa-sensei was smiling. Uraraka Ochako shivered.

They were set to teams of two. Their task was to capture an item. One team protected the item, the other had to retrieve it. Both teams operated under hero rules, so they were to minimise property damage and avoid harm to the robot dummy civilians scattered around the training grounds.

Mina and Tsuyu were first to go as the retrieval team, while Deku-kun and Kirishima-kun were on the protection team.

They watched as Pinky carefully melted an entryway into the building, while Froppy circled around and climbed up the other side. Deku and Red Riot rearranged the room and guarded the entryways, as well as securing the item so that even the floor melting would have no effect on its safety.

After ten minutes of each team dancing around each other, they fell into battle. Deku made good use of his speed, deflecting Pinky’s acid projectiles and countering Froppy’s tongue, leaving Red Riot to take them down from behind and secured the capture tape. All in all, Ochako felt energized. She cheered with everyone else when their friends emerged.

Sensei’s brother scowled deeply and shook his head.

“You!”, he snapped, pointing at Deku-kun, “Your name?”

Deku faltered but answered, “Ano… I’m Deku, sensei!”

The man scowled further, “You waste too much energy. Don’t block attacks that won’t even hit anything! Do you want to maximise your chances of injury??”

“And you!”, he turned on Kirishima, who swallowed audibly, “You might be able to take some attacks without injury, but that is no reason to stand there like a thrice-damned boulder. Learn how to dodge!”

He then raised his eyebrows at Ashido, “Your tactic was good but your movements are telegraphed and sloppy at best.”

He turned to Tsuyu, who blinked at him serenely, “You’re too quick to send your tongue out. It’s a huge target. Work on finding better positions from which to attack.”

Ochako glanced at Aizawa-sensei. He was smirking.

Jiang-sensei huffed, “Next!”

By the end of the session, not a single student had escaped his biting criticism. Ochako swore he practically turned purple in anger when Kaminari overused his quirk. As soon as the blonde recovered the man was off.

“What the hell was that! That was a deliberate act of pointless self-sacrifice. What did it gain you, huh? Do you have a death wish?! If you’d been fighting an enemy you’d have died on the spot! Learn control and learn restraint.”

Kaminari was standing straight and looking a little pale, but luckily the man seemed to notice and relented with a very put-upon sigh.

“You have potential, but remember to fight smart, idiot.”

When Kaminari just stared, Sensei’s brother slowly patted him on the head, as if he wasn’t sure how to go about reassuring him.

And with a last curt nod, Jiang-sensei marched back to Aizawa-sensei, bowed and disappeared.

--

“Complain and I’ll get Jiang Cheng to supervise”, became Aizawa-sensei’s favourite threat from then on.

Notes:

Finally, some revelations!
Also Jiang Cheng gets to yell at some students.
Next is Part 9: Of Fathers and Heroes.

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Thank you also for your comments - they're far too kind :)

Chapter 31: Light Bearer

Notes:

Part 9: 'Of Fathers and Heroes'

Shouta had slowly stopped checking the post room every day. He did still visit regularly, if only to remember his brother’s antiques, keeping an eye out for letters, trinkets or vegetables.

It had been almost six months since he had heard of his brother’s passing. It hurt, but he had come to accept the room would be forever empty. Yet today, it wasn’t. Resting innocently in the centre of the array was a crisp, white letter. He picked it up with shaky hands.

To the honourable Shou Ta,
This one is Lan Zhan, courtesy Wangji. I previously indicated my intention to write you once more. I hope I do not overstep, and that this letter finds you and yours in good health. …. A-Yuan has been upset and a little ill, but he is recovering swiftly. I have been unable to search for Wei Ying and I fear this will …. continue until three years from now.
Respectfully yours,
Lan Wangji

Wei Wuxian’s friend. The man who had tried (failed) to save him. The one who had visited Wei Wuxian at the burial mounds. The one who had taken A-Yuan in.

Shouta picked up a pen and some paper.

Lan Wangji,
This is Shou Ta

Shouta paused, unsure how to continue the conversation. Unsure if he should, or if he wanted to. But this was someone who had been precious to his brother, someone who had seen Wei Wuxian die, someone grieving. Someone who was apparently limited in what they were able to do. He slowly typed into his phone translator and transcribes it as neatly as he could.

Lan Wangji,
This is Shou Ta (written Shouta). We are all fine. Your letter is appreciated. Are you and A-Yuan safe and well? Are you hiding from something?
Let me know if you need help.
Thank you for informing us of Wei Wuxian’s passing. Please also accept my condolences. He considered you a close friend.
Sincerely yours,
Shouta

--

To the honourable Shouta,
This one is Lan Huan, courtesy Xichen. I am Lan Wangji’s elder brother. Wangji has tasked me with writing on his behalf, since he is too injured to keep his hands steady. I expect he did not wish for you to know that, but he is in no condition to conceal it.
Wangji wishes to update you on Lan Yuan’s condition. The boy is healing rapidly from his fever. He seems to have forgotten the worst of his past. It is likely for the best. He still frequently asks for his ‘Xian-gege’, however.
Wangji and Lan Yuan are both in Cloud Recesses, and are safe. They are not running or hiding. Wangji is grieving. He will be in seclusion for the next three years, to atone.
Respectfully yours,
Sect leader Lan, Lan Xichen

--

Sect Leader Lan,
Thank you for agreeing to write on his behalf, and for informing me of his and A-Yuan’s conditions. Was Lan Wangji injured in battle? What crime drives him to three years of seclusion? I have been led to believe in the past that seclusion is usually voluntary. Please understand, he has recently lost someone dear to him, secluding himself is not healthy.
I’ve included some tablets which help the body recover energy. I’ve also included a small chocolate bar for A-Yuan when he is well enough.
Yours,
Shouta

--

Shouta,
Wangji will not tell me who you are, although I can guess you are related in some way to Wei Wuxian. Wangji trusts you so I too will extend my own trust. Wangji was severely punished for standing against the elders of our sect in defence of Wei Wuxian. His injuries and the seclusion he faces are both consequences of this. I can only hope you had no hand in any of it, or that you were ignorant of the repercussions if you did. Wangji will contact you directly when he sufficiently recovers. I beg that you do nothing to hurt him more than he has been already.
Respectfully yours,
Sect leader Lan, Lan Xichen

--

Lan Wangji,
I hope this letter finds you recovering well. I have had some contact with your elder brother. It seems he is very concerned for you. Will you be able to receive letters during your seclusion?
Thank you for everything you did on behalf of Wei Wuxian. I am sorry.
Respectfully yours,
Shouta

--

To the honourable Shouta,
I have recovered well enough to write. Please do not thank me. My brother worries and he is angry that I was hurt. I apologise if his letters to you were harsh.
A-Yuan is settling in well, he is a polite and obedient child. I confess I have not been able to look after him as consistently as I would prefer to. My brother has been helping. I promise you he will not grow up alone or unloved.
I have replicated the array, and my brother will not report it. I will be able to receive and send letters during my seclusion.
Wei Ying told me you had students. He seemed very fond of them.
Respectfully yours,
Lan Wang- Zhan

--

Lan Zhan,
Just call me Shouta. I am not surprised he told you about them, they spoiled him rotten. I told them he was living somewhere isolated, and they took it upon themselves to send along food, including treats and spices. He sent gifts back, which were just as appreciated. The treats attached are also from them, for A-Yuan and yourself. I told them my brother died in a villain attack. They know you only as A-Yuan’s new guardian.
Let me know if you wish for any items you would not otherwise receive during your seclusion, and keep writing.
Shouta

--

To Shouta,
You may inform your students that A-Yuan enjoyed the sweets. Thank you for your offer, but I am adequately provided with scrolls and mundane tasks for the sect. I also have my Guqin and space to practice my swordplay.
Wei Ying was very fond of you but he never explained how you met. I would appreciate Please tell me  I miss him.
Respectfully yours,
Lan Zhan

--

For almost a year, Shouta exchanged odd, stilted letters with Lan Zhan. Neither of them were particularly exuberant, the letters remaining centred around facts and updates on their respective lives. Once Shouta thought to mention Eri, a lot of this communication revolved around their respective charges.

Lan Zhan,
Eri has slept two consecutive nights in her own room without night terrors. She’s still scared to go to sleep but your talismans, despite the lack of ghosts to dispel, have been helping.

Shouta,
Do not send any more chocolate. A-Yuan found it before I saw and ate it. He has been unmanageable since.

Over time, they started discussing other topics. Shouta found Lan Zhan to be an intelligent correspondent, with many questions on exploring the cultural differences between their worlds.

Lan Zhan,
You are right, some heroes encourages self-sacrifice over critical thinking. It is one of the most difficult aspects to approach when teaching here. I have students who I know are smart but fail to understand that a well thought-out plan should not involve near-death for themselves. We also see a good number of heroes who prioritize showing off over efficient villain captures. The rules and regulations attempt to curb the latter but make little effort to prevent the former.
Eri wants me to send you this picture she drew of you to thank you for helping her with her nightmares. I told her you wore white but she prefers to use many colours if she can.

Shouta,
Cultivators must focus on discipline and perseverance to achieve a strong golden core, but most seek this power in pursuit of immortality. I do not know of many who seek simply to protect others. Wei Ying was one of the few.
A-Yuan has started asking me why I never appear outside of my quarters. He is fascinated by Eri’s drawing. The grass construct I’m sending on is his best attempt at a grass butterfly, for you and Eri. He regrets its lack of colour.

Lan Zhan,
I do not think Eri understands what the construct is meant to be but she treasures it nonetheless. She’s slowly started arguing with Hizashi, which is great progress.

Shouta,
A-Yuan made his first friend, one of my cousins named Lan Jingyi. It is my understanding that Jingyi appreciates colour as much as Eri. They tried to create coloured ink to paint, using the Lan garden flowers. My uncle was furious. I imagine Wei Ying would have praised their creativity.

--

And more recently, Shouta understood that his correspondent was becoming restless.

Shouta,
I am analysing Wei Ying’s array. If I can modify it, would my visiting your realm be amenable to yourself and others?

Lan Zhan,
If it is possible to modify it, I would be glad for you to visit. I do not know how dangerous these arrays are. I will trust you to be careful.
If you need assistance from this end I am willing to do what I can to help.
Eri was kind enough to help choose a colouring set for A-Yuan and Lan Jingyi. Do not worry, it washes off most surfaces with water.

Notes:

Lan Zhan is back :)

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Thanks also for your lovely comments!

Chapter 32: Fatherhood

The first time Jiang Cheng met Eri, he was carrying Jin Ling in his arms and trying hard not to panic at his nephew’s loud cries.

His visits had become sporadic, the heavy responsibility of running a sect coupled with caring for his one-year-old nephew had left him with very little time. He had thought his nephew might appreciate a change of scene. This was obviously a mistake.

He’d very carefully made sure Jin Ling was on his soft bed before traveling over, cautious of his nephew returning unexpectedly.

He was patting Jin Ling on the back gingerly when Da-ge arrived.

With Da-ge was a little girl, maybe seven, with startlingly white hair, a horn and red eyes. They stared at each other for a long moment before A-Ling let out another loud wail.

Jiang Cheng blushed furiously. He tried every trick in the book. He rocked A-Ling in his arms, bounced him lightly, hugged him tight, whispered reassurances… A-Ling kept crying.

At his wits end, he flashed a grimace at Da-ge and started humming. A-Ling’s cries petered out into huge sorrowful hiccups, then to sad sniffling, and finally – finally, he settled into Jiang Cheng’s embrace. Jiang Cheng let out a relieved breath.

Da-ge was very clearly not-smirking.

The little girl pulled at Da-ge’s trousers, and the man gently knelt by her.

“Who’s he?”, she asked quietly, sneaking wide-eyed looks at Jiang Cheng, “Is he holding a baby?”

Da-ge nodded seriously, “Eri, this is Jiang Cheng, my little brother.”

Jiang Cheng watched her assess Da-ge as if to decide if he was speaking the truth. She turned back to him and examined him in a similar manner.

“I’m Eri.”, she said simply.

Jiang Cheng blinked at her, “…and I’m Jiang Cheng.”, he answered. Jin Ling gargled in his arms.

“Uh… This is A-Ling.”

Eri stepped up to stare and Jiang Cheng obligingly lowered himself so she could peer at Jin Ling properly. She scrunched her nose, frowning. A-Ling scrunched his nose back.

“He’s not very pretty.”, she decided, despite her clear fascination.

Jiang Cheng’s jaw twitched.

“He will be, one day. He’s just a baby now, but he’ll grow up big and strong.”

Eri frowned lightly but was apparently too polite to voice her doubt in the matter. Jiang Cheng stood back up.

“Brother”, he greeted carefully. Ever since he’d told the man how Wei Wuxian had died, Da-ge had seemed more reserved. Jiang Cheng himself had been hesitant. He had expected Da-ge and Mic-ge to cast him out. He had all but invited it, yet it hadn’t happened. Instead, they’d built something new. They were, with A-Ling, all the family he had left. Still, whenever he spent too much time away that uncertainty came back.

“Jiang Cheng”, Da-ge greeted back with a small nod, “…join us for lunch?”

Jiang Cheng smiled, “Of course. Will Mic-ge be able to join?”

Da-ge took his black, square phone out and pointed it at Jiang Cheng and Jin Ling. The man smirked, pressing something on the device and putting it away.

“He will now.”

--

“Eri! How is my cutest little listener!”, Hizashi shouted as soon as he arrived home.

The unmistakeable grumbling of Jiang Cheng greeted him, “Shut up, idiot, you’ll wake A-Ling!”

Hizashi dropped his stuff and rushed to meet them. He waved at Shouta, got side-tracked hugging Eri, and finally beamed at Jiang Cheng.

“Ahah! So! Do I get to meet little A-Ling??!”

Jiang Cheng snorted but adjusted his arms to reveal A-Ling, round face and tiny hands curled over a golden blanket.

Hizashi squealed as quietly as he could. He turned to Eri, who was watching him, politely puzzled.

“Eri, look! It’s your cousin! You have a second little cousin! Isn’t that exciting??”

Eri raised her hands and wiggled them experimentally. Hizashi gave her another hug.

Jiang Cheng was frowning, “A second cousin? Who’s the first?”

Hizashi opened his mouth and paused.

He laughed a little nervously, “Well, uh… Ah.”

Shouta walked in at that moment.

“Lan Zhan adopted A-Yuan after Wei Wuxian died.”

Jiang Cheng scowled but nodded, appeased by Shouta’s easy manner.

Hizashi, for his part was still a little worried that Jiang Cheng would lash out at the kid for being a Wen. One of the Wens Wei Wuxian had fought to protect, no less. It seemed that he had worried over nothing.

Jiang Cheng stared down at his nephew, eyes soft. There was a distant sadness in his eyes, but no hatred, and no anger.

Hizashi scratched the back of his neck.

“Sorry. I was worried you’d be angry.”, he explained regretfully.

Jiang Cheng shot him a look. One of those exasperated, long-suffering looks he had usually reserved for Wei Wuxian. He rolled his eyes and turned his gaze back to little A-Ling.

Hizashi smiled.

Jin Ling disappeared.

Eri gasped.

Jiang Cheng groaned and swore under his breath.

“I’m going!”, he shouted to Shouta.

He turned to Eri, “It was nice to meet you.”, waved at Hizashi, and disappeared as well.

--

Lan Zhan,
Jiang Cheng passed by earlier with Jin Ling. Hizashi has no concept of how to remain discreet, so Jiang Cheng is now fully aware of A-Yuan. He showed no sign of caring, and I doubt he would act on it. Any progress on the talisman array?

--

Shouta,
Jiang Cheng is not someone I like, but I do not imagine him putting his sect’s relationship with us at risk for a matter such as this one. I thank you anyway for the warning.
A-Yuan loves the colouring crayons, thank you. Lan Jingyi discovered that white walls make very good canvases, and has shared this wisdom with A-Yuan.
Please add these talismans in the positions detailed below. Precision is paramount.

Notes:

Visiting family :)

Thanks for reading, kudos, bookmarks...!!
You guys comment the nicest things and I'm just going to hide my face for a while to cope.
Thanks for all your comments :) !

Chapter 33: Silent Hero

It was a morning half-way through the coldest winter months that Lan Zhan finally tested his modified version of Wei Ying’s array. A-Yuan was with Xichen and would return in the evening.

He stepped into the carefully cleared space and knelt to activate the array. A flash. He looked up to a field, surrounded by tall walls and an odd transparent roof. The air was different, drier and warmer than Cloud Recesses.

A thrill swept through him. This wasn’t just something new, something he could do while forced into seclusion. It wasn’t just a taste of freedom. It was a piece of Wei Ying.

“Good morning”

Lan Zhan blinked rapidly, startled. He turned, sharp gaze scanning for the one speaking. An odd white rodent stood on its hind legs, wearing tailored cloths. It tilted its head at him. Belatedly, Lan Zhan offered it – them? – a bow.

“Well met.”, he offered, “I am Lan Zhan, courtesy Wangji”

The rodent smiled, showing off a row of human-like teeth, and answered in perfect Mandarin.

“Well met. I am Nezu.”

--

Jin Ling grew up with frequent visits to Jiang Cheng’s Da-ge in Tokyo. He was immediately taken with the older, patiently kind Eri. He was also, unfortunately, taken with many of the odd plastic toys Mic-ge bought him.

“No”, Jiang Cheng said firmly.

“But, Jiujiu”

“No”

“I wanna –”

“No”

“Jiujiu!”, the toddler stamped his feet petulantly. Eri, standing behind him, looked on curiously.

Jiang Cheng very carefully breathed through his nose.

“No.”

A screech. Jiang Cheng’s fingers twitched. He resisted the temptation to hold a hand to his head. He held the boy against his side and nodded with as much dignity as he could muster. Mic-ge was grinning and Da-ge was definitely pretending not to be amused. Jiang Cheng sighed, and left just as Jin Ling disappeared. Without the shiny toy. Well, without one of them, anyway.

--

Even with half his time spent in Lanling, Jin Ling spent a half-day every week with his other family in Japan. It was tedious and required far more organisation than Jiang Cheng would have liked, but he wasn’t blind to the scorn his nephew sometimes received for being an orphan. Jin Ling adored his Japanese family and Jiang Cheng wouldn’t take that from him. Not even when he was being a brat.

“Just hold still, damnit”, Jiang Cheng cursed, grappling with a squirming Jin Ling.

“Jiujiu! Let me go! I want – I want to go see the others!”

“A-Ling! You will stay still or we will return to Lotus Pier. Don’t test me.”

Jiang Cheng was perfectly aware that they were already in Yurei park, and that he had already expended the energy necessary for Jin Ling’s customary visit. He would find a way to send Jin Ling back if he needed to.

Da-ge was waiting for them, smiling Eri by his side. Beside Eri was Lan Yuan, polite and serene, despite being at most four years older than Jin Ling. As always he was dressed in Japanese fashion, without forehead ribbon. Jiang Cheng had never actually seen the boy in Lan robes. He shrugged, grumbled and released his nephew.

Jin Ling shot forwards, pausing only briefly to right his robes fastidiously (just like his father), before jumping up at Eri and Lan Yuan.

Jiang Cheng pulled a translation talisman out. Jin Ling may have learnt Japanese with insulting ease, but Jiang Cheng was too busy.

“Uncle kept saying we would come when he was done but then he kept on working forever!”, Jin Ling was saying.

Eri, taller and more self-assured, patted Jin Ling on the head, “Well, you’re here now.”, she laughed.

Lan Yuan leant forwards happily, “Cousin! Look, look, Uncle Shouta gave me a new figurine!”, he waved a small white figure in the air, matching with his shirt (proudly proclaiming ‘LIGHTBEARER’ in English script).

Jin Ling was already gawking.

Jiang Cheng turned to Da-ge with a roll of his eyes, ignoring the children’s conversation.

“I need to head back.”, he muttered, irritated.

Da-ge shrugged in easy assent, “Take care.”

Jiang Cheng smiled slightly in return and left.

--

The visits continued over Jin Ling’s childhood. As far back as he could remember, he had known cousin Eri, tall and white-haired and so incredibly smart. Almost as cool as her was cousin A-Yuan, who also spoke Chinese and who’s dad was an actual hero. It’s true that Uncle Shouta and Uncle Hizashi were also heroes, but they were different.

Uncle Hizashi, for example, was a terrible babysitter. He never remembered that Jin Ling hated the prawn flavoured noodle soup, and he always took lots of photos instead of helping with their games. Uncle Shouta just slept through everything. That was okay, though, because they could do whatever they liked and play ‘don’t wake the giant’ in the living room.

A-Yuan’s father, though, Jin Ling had only seen a handful of times. He was tall, always dressed in white, and didn’t speak very much. A-Yuan told him all about how his father saved all those people from that bad villain with his Guqin. It sounded awesome.

Even when LightBearer spent some time with Uncle Shouta and Uncle Hizashi, he was quiet and difficult to read. He never yelled at A-Yuan and he sat so straight and proud. He always seemed untouchable, something beyond a normal uncle.

A-Yuan was always LightBearer when he was a hero in their games. Jin Ling was his own hero, the GoldSword, which he imagined was his father. Sometimes he pretended to be Jiujiu instead, so he could have a cool whip.

Jin Ling learned a lot from his cousins. Cousin Eri taught him how to do a cartwheel, and how to make birthday cards with lots of glitter for Uncle Hizashi. Cousin A-Yuan taught him sword forms Jin Ling had never been able to do before, and showed him some of the prettiest calligraphy. Cousin Eri told them scary stories with happy endings, full of brave heroes and terrible bad guys. She taught him that even when everything seemed horrible there was always a hero out there to help. In Jin Ling’s experience, that hero was usually Jiujiu, and he didn’t really fit Eri’s descriptions of the best hero. In Jiujiu’s defence, Cousin Eri was almost always describing either Deku or Lemillion and no-one was as nice and smiling as them.

Cousin A-Yuan came up with ghost stories that almost sounded like night hunts, which had both Jin Ling and Cousin Eri on tenterhooks until he finally got to the point where LightBearer arrived (which meant that everyone would be fine soon).

When Jin Ling got hurt, Cousin A-Yuan sang him little songs to make him feel better, and when she got old enough Cousin Eri would heal his bruises with the lightest of touches.

When A-Yuan was sad Jin Ling tried to sing him songs back, but his voice wasn’t very even and the songs always came out wrong. It still made Cousin A-Yuan smile though, even when Jin Ling got so embarrassed he threatened to break everyone’s legs. When Eri was sad they made her cards, with bright colours and green and yellow heroes that never failed to cheer her up.

All in all, Jin Ling loved his cousins. They never talked down to him for being an orphan (after all, they had all been orphans at one point), and they never got scared of him when he got angry either.

It was just a pity that Jin Ling wasn’t allowed to tell anyone back home about them.

--

Cousin Eri was going to be a hero. Jin Ling thought this was the coolest thing ever. Jiujiu disagreed.

“No, Jin Ling, you will be the Jin sect leader one day, not some bleeding-hearted hero. Heroes get people killed.”

Jiujiu sounded angry.

“But, Jiujiu”, Jin Ling whined.

“No, A-Ling. Anyway, being a cultivator is better than being a hero.”

“But Uncle Shouta is a hero! Uncle Hizashi is a hero! Even Cousin A-Yuan’s father is a hero!”

Jiujiu scoffed.

“Lan Yuan’s father is a cultivator.”

Jin Ling blinked, “Nu-uh, he’s a hero.”

Jiujiu sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose.

“A-Ling. What do you think a hero is?”

Jin Ling beamed, “They’re like KA-POW! They fight bad guys and save people in trouble! They’re cool!”

Jiujiu pursed his lips, “And don’t cultivators fight monsters?”

Jin Ling thought about that, “Jiujiu… Are cultivators heroes?”

Jiujiu groaned, “Absolutely not.”

Jin Ling frowned, now very confused.

Jiujiu waved him forwards and set a warm hand on Jin Ling’s shoulder.

“Cultivators are better.”, he said seriously.

Jin Ling liked the idea of being like a hero, but better. He opened his mouth to ask more, but Jiujiu cut him off.

“That’s enough, A-Ling. Ask any more and I’ll break your legs.”

Jin Ling closed his mouth. He didn’t want his legs broken, even if Jiujiu would never do that.

Notes:

Lan Zhan: forced seclusion? Fine. *becomes a hero in another dimension instead*

Some differences between Lan Yuan and Jin Ling going to bnha Japan:
Unlike Jin Ling (who takes the Jiang Cheng express to Japan), Lan Yuan isn't likely to disappear unexpectedly, so he can properly relax without worrying about suddenly finding himself back in Cloud Recesses wearing jeans. Also, Jin Ling has less time where he can just disappear for a few hours (he's a sect heir, people notice when he's missing, and he spends half his time in Lanling), while Lan Yuan and his father can justify spending a lot of time 'meditating' (and that's if you ignore the several years where Lan Wangji wasn't 'in seclusion' anyway).

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Chapter 34: Blame the donkey

Notes:

Part 10: 'Try again'

Ok, important note:
I've gone the CQL route, since that's what I'm most familiar with, so Wei Wuxian as Mo Xuanyu still looks like Wei Wuxian. But it's still technically Mo Xuanyu's body. Think of it like the body reflecting the soul inside :)
(In CQL, there's a whole thing about Mo Xuanyu wearing an odd mask and lots of makeup all the time so people really just recognize him based on the mask... it helps that even in mdzs they look very similar)

Wei Ying awoke inside a soul exchange array, the echoes of a voice whispering in his mind.

Kill them for me, Wei Wuxian, Yiling Patriarch. Kill them all!

Good to know his reputation had outlasted him.

Wei Ying blinked heavy, tired eyelids and wondered why anyone ever missed having a body. His limbs were stiff and awkward. His mouth was sticky and dry. His flesh felt bruised. His arm hurt.

He examined it. Four slices, painful and weeping slightly. He stared at them for a long moment. Four marks for four people he was meant to take revenge on, he guessed. Wei Ying wondered why they didn’t just… hire someone. Like everyone else with murderous intentions who didn’t want to get their hands dirty did.

Perhaps his summoner was too poor. Or perhaps death was part of his summoner’s wish. Wei Ying tried not to think too hard about that.

A day later and Wei Ying had somehow gotten rid of three of them without actually intending to. It was very convenient. True, the Mo family had been particularly horrible people, but Wei Ying wasn’t in the business of killing others on demand.

Either way it was three less wounds to worry about.

He wondered what he was meant to do now. He couldn’t exactly go back to Lotus Pier, and he had no wish to return to the burial mounds. On a whim, he’d tried to see if he could go to Da-ge’s realm. It hadn’t worked and he’d buried the pain at that deep down with the longing he’d felt at finally seeing Lan Zhan again.

He let the donkey choose their course, trying to shake off his melancholy and enjoy the warm summer air.

He should have known not to trust the donkey.

--

Jin Ling winced at the sight of Jiujiu’s angry glare. If there was anything Jiujiu hated more than demonic cultivation, it was seeing Jin Ling humiliated in any way. This man had used a talisman invented by the Yiling Patriarch, and he had used it to thoroughly humiliate Jin Ling. Somewhere beneath the frustrated anger Jin Ling felt a spark of pity for the stranger.

The pity didn’t last long, because a group of Lan cultivators arrived right then. And at their head was…

“Cousin Yuan??”, Jin Ling blurted loudly.

Cousin Yuan blinked at him in surprise, before grinning.

“A-Ling!”, he waved, ignoring the gaping disciples around him. When Jin Ling kept staring wide-eyed, Cousin Yuan hesitated, a small concerned frown wrinkling his brow.

“Sizhui.”, Jiujiu greeted curtly. Jin Ling gaped. Cousin Yuan bowed politely back at Jiujiu, like he always did.

“W-wait!”, Jin Ling yelped, “since when are you – ”, he switched to Japanese, “since when are you not from Japan like Eri?”

Cousin Yuan slowly opened his mouth, one hand raising to scratch the back of his head in a move they both learned from Uncle Shouta.

“You didn’t know?”, Cousin Yuan smiled a little sheepishly.

“Of course I didn’t know! You never told me!”, Jin Ling hissed angrily.

“Jin Ling. Sizhui.”, LightBearer said blandly. Jin Ling straightened, embarrassed to be chided by a hero.

“Sorry, Hanguang-Jun”, Cousin Yuan ducked his head in a quick apology.

Hanguang-Jun. Light Bearer. Jin Ling felt like someone has just lifted a layer of cloth from his mind. Of course Hanguang-Jun was LightBearer. Of course Cousin Lan Yuan was a Gusu Lan cultivator. Of course. So many little things suddenly made sense. Jiujiu’s insistence that Cousin Yuan’s father was a cultivator. Cousin Yuan’s sword fighting training. His stories.

Jin Ling felt his face heat, bright red. How had he not seen that before?

“L-LightBearer”, he stuttered, eyes wide.

Trying to manage the mortifying realisation, Jin Ling stepped back beside Jiujiu. Jiujiu took one look at him and scowled harder.

“Hanguang-Jun.”, Jiujiu greeted with a barely-hidden sneer.

Jin Ling winced at Cousin Yuan, who shrugged back, unbothered. The man who had started this was, unsurprisingly, long gone.

More importantly, they had done what to his spirit catching nets? Cousin Yuan didn’t hide the guilty amusement from his lips well enough.

So Jin Ling waited until they were setting off their own way and met Cousin Yuan’s eye.

“I’m telling Eri”, he said. Then he ran to catch up with Jiujiu’s retreating back, smirking in satisfaction.

--

Jiang Cheng had had a sneaking suspicion Lan Wangji had been off gallivanting in Da-ge’s realm for a few years. The first time he’d considered this frankly ridiculous notion had been when Jin Ling had insisted against all reason that Hanguang-Jun was a hero. The stuttered, all-too-recognisable hero title slipping from his nephew’s lips had been all the confirmation he had not wanted.

Jiang Cheng was not sure if he was more irritated he hadn’t put the pieces together sooner or that Jin Ling actually idolised Lan Wangji. He sighed.

How did that man even find the time to become a hero at all?

Infuriating.

--

Somewhere between choking at the sight of Jiang Cheng, regal and commanding, and beating himself up over mocking his own nephew for being an orphan, Wei Ying realised that there was no way he could face his Da-ge and Mic-ge again.

Jiang Cheng had been visiting them before Wei Ying died. They would have heard. They probably hated him.

Then Jin Ling started speaking a very familiar language. And one of the Lan disciples answered.

Wei Ying was confused. On one hand, this confirmed that Jin Ling knew Da-ge and Mic-ge. It confirmed that his family had stayed together.

He had no clue what the young Lan had to do with it. Cousin Yuan…

Wei Ying slowly smiled.

“Lan Zhan, ah, Lan Zhan”, he muttered, chest tight, “Look how much he’s grown!”

It took everything he had not to keep following the Lan disciples after that. It took everything for him not to call out, see if his little A-Yuan remembered him at all.

But Wei Ying was the dreadful Yiling Patriarch. He’d killed so many people, orphaned his own nephew. Jiang Cheng hated him. Lan Zhan… Wei Ying shook his head. Lan Zhan was good. He was just. Of course he took A-Yuan in. Wei Ying couldn’t hope for more.

Burying his regret, Wei Ying shuffled to the river and wondered where to head to next.

Turning back and rushing after the disciples was entirely the donkey’s fault (again), for pulling his attention to the spirit grass. Wei Ying couldn’t let them get in trouble. Leaving them alone wasn’t an option.

Even if it meant he was almost outed in front of his nephew, his son A-Yuan, his brother, and Hanguang-Jun himself. Hanguang-Jun, who was staring at him intently, who held his wrist firmly, and who apparently had no intention of letting him go.

Shit.

Notes:

Confusion ~
Also, yes, Wei Wuxian has lost the ability to pop - his old body had that 'quirk' (which the core has too because it's literally a part of him) but this new body doesn't :( ... not that it matters so much, since Lan Zhan has it all figured out by now.

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Chapter 35: Turnips

So it turned out that Lan Zhan didn’t hate him. Instead, Lan Zhan protected him. Offered him rice wine. Brought him back to Cloud Recesses and didn’t punish him. Strange things could happen in thirteen years, it seemed.

Lan Zhan showed him a very familiar array. He didn’t press, but the quiet intensity of his stare suggested he was waiting for something – a reaction.

Wei Ying studied the array. It had been modified, he saw. Ingeniously, if he did say so himself. If it worked (and let’s be honest, if Lan Zhan made it, it did), it allowed for people to travel through it. It was everything Wei Ying had imagined having before – before.

He took a step back, gaze fixed on the centre. If he just stepped in… No.

The air smelt of blood. He could feel the phantom tightness of Zidian’s strikes. He was hiding on the roof, staring at the dead bodies of his sect siblings, the bloody remains of Uncle Jiang and Madam Yu. He stumbled back and closed his eyes.

“Wei Ying?”

Wei Ying imagined that Lan Zhan sounded at least a little worried. He tried to grin, to laugh it off, but he was still struggling to breathe so it didn’t really work.

“It’s fine, Lan Zhan…”, he said finally, wrestling the memories away before he broke down completely, “I’m fine.”

“Mn”, Lan Zhan answered calmly, “Would you… write them a letter? I have yet to inform them of your return.”

“Aah…”, Wei Ying said, reluctant but unwilling to explain his misgivings, “… how are they doing? Da-ge… Mic-ge…?”

Lan Zhan didn’t answer for a long time, until Wei Ying relented and looked back at him. Lan Zhan was frowning lightly, mouth slightly open.

Finally, the man huffed and turned away, “…Ask them yourself.”

Then he left Wei Ying alone in the Jingshi.

Wei Ying thought about staying, his eyes rebelliously edging to the array before he forced them away. He swallowed and stepped outside, his thoughts a messy jumble of contradictions.

--

Aizawa Shouta sat back behind his desk as Eri marched angrily into the room.

“…Rewind.”, he greeted, moodily pushing his paperwork to one side. In all his years as a teacher, and more recently as headmaster of UA, he had grown a special hatred for the new year preparations.

“Dad.”, she answered, huffing slightly, “Tell Papa to stop calling me every time I don’t immediately answer his texts. It’s ridiculous!”

Shouta raised an eyebrow, amused, “Why would he listen to me?”

Eri groaned and crossed her arms in a move she definitely learned from Uravity.

“Dad! You know he does.”

Shouta shrugged, unmoved. Thankfully, he was saved from answering by his phone ringing insistently on the desk. He picked it up and raised an eyebrow. The mail room had an alert.

“Something arrived in the array.”, he told Eri.

She perked up immediately.

“LightBearer? Cousin Yuan?”, she jumped to her feet.

Shouta shook his head, “Inanimate.”

She pouted, but still rushed off to find it. Just over ten minutes later, she returned with a slight frown on her face and a small turnip.

Shouta froze. Then he forced himself to snap out of it.

He took the turnip from Eri’s hands with misty eyes and a thick throat. He turned it over in his palm. It had nothing on it, no marks, no writing. It was a perfectly average turnip.

It stayed on his desk for the rest of the week.

--

There was no explanation about the turnip. The only message Shouta received from Lan Zhan was a short missive stating that he would be away for a few weeks.

Hizashi was just as confused as Shouta, although, tellingly, he left the turnip lying on Shouta’ desk, even as he compulsively tidied the messy piles of paperwork.

Lan Yuan, when he came over for their weekly family get-togethers, was just as lost as they were. He spent most of the day apologising to Jin Ling who had spared no details in how rude his cousin had been in hiding his own origins.

“I’m so sorry, A-Ling! I thought you knew!”, the teen pleaded, a small twitch of his lips betraying his amusement.

Eri giggled behind her sleeve and Jin Ling huffed and grumbled exactly like a younger, golden version of Jiang Cheng.

“So who sent it then?”, Hizashi pressed. Shouta had let him take the lead, unwilling to admit to his own curiosity.

Lan Yuan scratched the back of his head, “The turnip? Um… I’m not sure. I don’t think Father would. But the array is in Father’s Jingshi.”

He thought a bit longer, “Maybe Mo-qianbei?”, he suggested dubiously.

“That crazy man?”, Jin Ling scoffed, supremely doubtful.

“…well, I can’t think of anyone else who’s been in the Jingshi.”, Lan Yuan said.

“You make it sound like they’re LightBearer’s private quarters.”, Jin Ling muttered, frowning.

“…they are?”, Lan Yuan smiled awkwardly.

There was a pause.

“Does Lightbearer usually let crazy demonic cultivators into his private quarters?”, Jin Ling asked, scowling deeply.

Lan Yuan coughed, “…um, no? But Father really, uh, likes this one?”

Lan Yuan was blushing faintly, shifting from foot to foot uncomfortably.

Shouta felt the first stirrings of suspicion.

“Tell me about this ‘Mo-qianbei’.”, he asked intently, staring between Jin Ling and Lan Yuan.

It turned out that ‘Mo-qianbei’ had a history with the Jins, and was known as a madman who had made inappropriate advances to Jin Ling’s paternal uncle (his own half-brother, no less). More recently, he had been present at a night hunt which had killed all of his immediate family, then in the forest where he had seemed to have forgotten all about Jin Ling and proceeded to run away as soon as Jiang Cheng and LightBearer arrived. He seemed to constantly wear a distinctive mask over his face. Finally, and possibly most damning, he had appeared again to help the disciples, in the process of which he had summoned the ‘Ghost General’ Wen Ning with a makeshift bamboo flute.

“He’s not Wei Wuxian, though”, Jin Ling said, curtly. Hizashi’s lips twitched into a frown.

“Explain.”, Shouta turned to the boy, inwardly reeling that this was apparently very much possible.

Jin Ling shrugged, “Jiujiu hit him with Zidian. Zidian would have expelled the spirit if this was a soul possession.”

Shouta held a hand to his temple in exasperation, and Jin Ling hastened to add, “It was barely shining, Jiujiu had it as weak as it can be.”

Shouta sighed, “Fine, alright. Thanks.”

He met Hizashi’’s eyes and read the same illogical hope hiding there. They sent a sweet potato back that evening. Just in case.

--

Over the next few weeks, Shouta heard more and more about this mysterious Master ‘Mo’. He was scared of dogs. He had saved Jin Ling from a crypt full of murderous sword spirits. He was shameless and annoying, and he laughed a lot. It turned out he was faking his craziness all along.

Jiang Cheng was a lot easier to get information out of than his nephew.

“What? Oh, right. Yes, it’s Wei Wuxian. You didn’t hear?”

Shouta’s heart simultaneously summersaulted and sank at the same time.

“No”, he said, hardly daring to believe his ears.

Jiang Cheng’s ring let off some purple sparks and he gritted his teeth, “That idiot!”

Shouta stood straighter, “Are you sure?”

Jiang Cheng laughed, “Of course I’m sure! I know my brother when I see his stupid face.”

Jiang Cheng sat down, “Lan Wangji didn’t tell you either?”

Shouta shook his head, then let out a huff, “He sent a turnip.”

Jiang Cheng frowned.

“A turnip? What the hell?”

Shouta smiled, old fondness warming him, “Wei Wuxian used to send them when he lived in the burial mounds.”

Jiang Cheng rolled his eyes, “Of course he did.”

He didn’t sound angry, but Shouta could still hear the tension.

“What’s wrong?”, he asked, and Jiang Cheng deflated.

“He thinks I hate him.”, he muttered, “I messed it up when I – realised it was him.”

Shouta sent the younger a look.

“… I let Fairy sit next to him.”, Jiang Cheng mumbled, angry and guilty, “He kept trying to run off!”

Shouta rubbed his eyes, “Where is he now?”

“With Hanguang-Jun. Like always.”, there was a note of wistfulness in Jiang Cheng’s tone.

“Of course he is”, Shouta said fondly, “Drag him here when you have the chance?”

Jiang Cheng barked a laugh, “Sure, Da-ge.”

Shouta found himself in a constant state of painful, hopeful expectation after that.

Notes:

Wei Wuxian is both awkward and a little traumatized...

Thanks for reading, kudos, bookmarks...!!
Thanks also for your comments!!

Chapter 36: Come back

Wei Ying was exhausted. Someone was trying to frame him again, and now he had been publically revealed to everyone at Carp tower. Thankfully, they had escaped largely unharmed. Zewu Jun had even allowed them to hide in Cloud Recesses.

Wei Ying still couldn’t make out why Jin Ling looked at him the way he did. The vulnerable, strangely hopeful scowl wasn’t what he had expected from the boy whose parents he had killed. None of this had been what Wei Ying expected.

“What do you think, Lan Zhan”, Wei Ying asked, “is Jin Ling more like my Shi-Jie than I thought?”

Lan Zhan stared at him. Eventually, he hummed.

“I mean, I thought he’d… be angrier?”, Wei Ying continued, waving one hand in the air.

Lan Zhan frowned then, and Wei Ying took it to mean confusion.

“I can’t imagine Jiang Cheng had many kind things to say about me, and – well – I – you know what I did.”

Lan Zhan kept frowning, “Mmh.”

Wei Ying shrugged.

“Shouta. Hizashi.”, Lan Zhan said finally, “Jin Ling knows of you. So does Sizhui.”

Wei Ying avoided his gaze, fiddling with his robe.

“Aah… That’s…”, he winced, “Probably still not complimentary…”

Lan Zhan was silent for a long time, “No.”, he said finally.

It didn’t sound like an agreeing ‘no’, but Wei Ying shook his head in an attempt to subdue the painful seed of hope in his stomach.

“They mourned. They remember Wei Ying.”, Lan Zhan spoke again, “They miss their brother.”

Wei Ying swallowed past the lump in his throat to meet Lan Zhan’s intense gaze, hopeful and scared all at once.

“…Truly?”, he whispered, uncertain and raw.

“Mn.”, Lan Zhan nodded carefully.

Wei Ying ran a hand over his head in an attempt to soothe the restless energy curling beneath his ribs.

“You should visit.”, Lan Zhan suggested. He paused, and Wei Ying watched the other stare hard at him before adding, “When you are ready.”

Wei Ying let a small grin flick across his face. When he was ready. He could do that.

“Yeah… Thank you, Lan Zhan.”

A soft look, “No need.”

--

It turned out that Lan Sizhui did remember him, not that there could have been much to remember – he had been four when Wei Ying had died, after all.

“Xian-gege”, Sizhui murmured, wondering, careful, hesitant.

Wei Ying’s heart beat so hard he was left breathless.

They were on the path leading out of the Burial Mounds. Lan Zhan and Wei Ying were making their way down to join the rest of the cultivators who had come to kill him a second time. Wei Ying wondered idly why he was so unconcerned at the thought of facing a group of highly trained cultivators who’d just tried to kill him. It was probably something to do with Lan Zhan’s steadfast presence by his side.

That was when Lan Sizhui had come barrelling up the path to meet them, wide eyed and concerned. Until now, Wei Ying had assumed the boy must have forgotten his past, but hearing that name, ‘Xian-gege’… that changed everything.

 “…A-Yuan”, he smiled, relief mixing with fondness and an awkwardness he wishes he could do away with. It was his own fault, though. He had left A-Yuan all alone. He had died.

He sagged a little to one side, exhausted from luring the corpses away from the demon-slaughtering cave. Lan Zhan held him up.

“Xian-gege”, Sizhui said again, a shy smile of his own growing over his face. The teen hesitated, then jumped forwards to help Lan Zhan steady him.

Wei Ying couldn’t even pretend to contain his joy. He ruffled the teen’s hair and laughed.

“A-Yuan… look at you, Aiya! Such a proper young man!”, he blinked his tears back, “How long were you going to hide that you remembered me, aah?”

Somehow, that made Lan Yuan blush and scratch the back of his head. He didn’t look scared or upset, though.

“I didn’t mean to hide it, Xian-gege…”, his little A-Yuan mumbled, cheeks pink.

Wei Ying laughed harder and hugged the teen.

“Aaah! I’ll forgive you just this once, A-Yuan. You hear me – just this once! Don’t go expecting more favours from your Xian-gege, you rascal!”

Lan Yuan’s flushed, pleased smile was something Wei Ying would always treasure.

Wei Ying was unsurprised to find Lan Yuan stay behind to spend time with Wen Ning once they’d arrived at Lotus Pier. It was odd seeing the two of them together. Wen Ning had barely changed at all, while A-Yuan had grown so much. He fought off his regret and summoned a smile instead. They looked happy, and that was all that mattered.

--

“Wei Wuxian.”, Jiang Cheng snapped, and Wei Ying couldn’t help but flinch.

He guessed he couldn’t avoid it any longer. Now that they had returned to Lotus Pier after the fiasco at the Burial Mounds, it was impossible to avoid interacting with Jiang Cheng. That hadn’t stopped him from trying.

Since he’d first met his brother after Mo Xuanyu had summoned him, he had tried his best to stay out of his way. Jiang Cheng hated him – and who could blame him?

So far, it seemed that Jiang Cheng was set on acting almost polite but distant, shooting Wei Ying oddly assessing glares that Wei Ying didn’t know how to decipher.

Wei Ying rose from his kneeling at the Jiang family memorial and carefully lifted his head to meet Jiang Cheng’s harsh frown. Lan Zhan moved to stand next to him, a pillar of silent support.

His heart beat heavily in his chest. His gaze zeroed in on his brother, to the tight edges of his lips, the unwelcoming frown. He swallowed.

“Jiang Cheng.”

Jiang Cheng scoffed, “Done running? Finally going to stop avoiding me?”

Wei Ying winced but couldn’t answer. He tried to smile but it fell flat. He braced himself for the storm.

“So you greet them but ignore everyone else?”, Jiang Cheng sneered, glancing at the memorial. He stood tense and straight, “Who even allowed you to take a stranger here?”

Jiang Cheng’s eyes narrowed at Lan Zhan. Wei Ying stiffened and pursed his lips, the urge to claim Lan Zhan was as good as family pressing on his tongue. Lan Zhan, for his part, seemed supremely unbothered.

A muscle in Jiang Cheng’s jaw pulsed.

“Why haven’t you said anything to Da-ge and Mic-ge? They didn’t even fucking know you were alive – again.”

Wei Ying took a step back, clearing his throat, “I… wasn’t ready.”, he muttered. He wanted to lean against Lan Zhan, as if the other man’s strength would leech into him from proximity alone.

“Not ready?”, Jiang Cheng scoffed, “So, you send them a fucking vegetable and let them think what they will?”

Zidian sparked on his wrist. Wei Ying blinked rapidly, pushing past the unconscious tensing of his shoulders. He wanted to leave. He turned his head and whispered a small “Let’s go” to Lan Zhan, carefully not looking at his brother. Lan Zhan followed him without complaint.

“Do you think of anyone but yourself?”, Jiang Cheng accused angrily, dogging their footsteps, “Gallivanting around with the great Hanguang-Jun, without a thought!”

Wei Ying gritted his teeth, whirling around to glare, “What do you want me to tell them? Why would they even want to see me, huh?”

His eyes prickled with tears, but he wouldn’t back down. Lan Zhan placed a careful hand on Wei Ying’s arm. It was grounding.

Jiang Cheng practically snarled, “They’re – we’re your family, dumbass!”

The world stopped.

“Wh-What?”, Wei Ying stuttered, too quietly. Lan Zhan’s hand squeezed his arm gently.

Jiang Cheng continued as if no-one had spoken, “You go and fucking die on us and you don’t – you don’t have the decency to tell us you’re back? Did you even think about how we would feel? This is just like you!”

“J-Jiang Cheng…?”, Wei Ying whispered, watching his brother’s face screw up in anger and pain. He sagged into Lan Zhan, feeling suddenly weak.

“Did you think we’d be happy if you just – disappeared? Stop trying to be a martyr, you fucking dumbass.”

Wei Ying opened his mouth to speak but his throat felt swollen and he didn’t know what to say. If it hadn’t been for Lan Zhan holding him up, Wei Ying thought he might have fallen.

Jiang Cheng scoffed again, bitter and choking, “Nevermind, just – go, do what you like.”

He turned to leave, back straight and tense. Wei Ying reached out, confused, upset, angry, happy, scared, wait-

He could hear his heartbeat in his ears. Had he messed it all up already? Jiang Cheng moved further away and Wei Ying couldn’t understand.

He thought he was crying, but he wasn’t sure.

He thought he shouted for Jiang Cheng, but his chest hurt and his nose bled and he fell-

Warm arms caught him and the world went dark.

--

Lan Zhan disliked Jiang Wanyin. The man was too angry, too quick to accuse, and he had hurt Wei Ying, both before he had died and after he had returned.

It had become clear in the man’s raging that he missed his brother, deeply. That he was hurt. Lan Zhan understood but it wasn’t enough to forgive the man lashing out.

Wei Ying had needed to hear it, Lan Zhan thought, regretfully. Wei Ying needed to understand that he had been missed, that he had people who cared. That his family cared. That Lan Zhan cared.

Lan Zhan cradled Wei Ying’s unconscious form and gently wiped the blood off his face.

Jiang Wanyin had turned back at the thump and cursed. Luckily for Lan Zhan, Wen Ning intervened. Lan Zhan had never seen the corpse so determined, intent and pleading.

“Take it.”, Wen Ning repeated, holding Wei Ying’s sword out in front of him.

“Fuck off.”, was Jiang Wanyin’s coarse response. Zidian flared but Wen Ning would not be dissuaded.

Jiang Wanyin drew the sword and stared at it with poorly-hidden resignation. Lan Zhan’s gut churned. The sword – it had sealed itself after Wei Ying had died.

Wen Ning lowered the scabbard.

“You know”, the fierce corpse murmured. Lan Zhan clenched his jaw. Know what?

Jiang Wanyin cursed and threw the sword back at Wen Ning.

“Of fucking course I know. That idiot.”, the man’s hands shook lightly, but he fisted them and glared at Wen Ning, “Was it you? Was it you who allowed him to – to –”

“Golden core transfer”, Wen Ning said softly. Lan Zhan’s breath stuttered out of his chest in a silent gasp. Golden core transfer? Transfer? The rumours of core-melting hand injuring the Jiang heir. The sword, Suibian – the sword that Wei Ying had never wielded again. Lan Zhan bowed his head against the lump in his throat. He held Wei Ying closer, mourning as he knew Wei Ying wouldn’t have let himself mourn.

“I’d hoped I was wrong.”, Lan Zhan heard Jiang Cheng rasp.

Lan Zhan slowly absorbed the revelation. He needed to leave, he – he needed to take Wei Ying somewhere away, if only for just a moment.

“Let us go.”, he said finally, meeting Wen Ning’s sad gaze.

Jiang Wanyin, for all his earlier bitter words, let them leave without further protest.

--

“Wei Wuxian.”, Jiang Cheng snapped.

Wei Ying winced but looked up, cautiously hopeful. The ruins of Guanyin temple lay behind him and he was still trying to decide what he was going to do next.  He was a free man, now the truth had been revealed. He could roam the land as a rogue cultivator, convert to farming, do – do whatever. He snuck a glance at Lan Zhan who was resting nearby. He might not even be alone.

“Jiang Cheng?”

His relationship with Jiang Cheng was still fragile. New revelations had brought them to a more even footing, but Wei Ying wasn’t sure what to expect. Did Jiang Cheng want to move on with his life without Wei Ying messing it up? Days ago, Wei Ying could have answered that without hesitation. After Jiang Cheng’s words at Lotus Pier however…

So when his brother grabbed his shoulder, Wei Ying felt a swell of alarm and hope in equal measure. He watched as Jiang Cheng shared a frankly suspicious nod with a frowning Lan Zhan. Nothing too terrible, then. Probably.

“You’re coming with me.”, Jiang Cheng grunted, pulling him upright.

Wei Ying yelped, and suddenly the air was hot and humid. He knew this place. He knew this park. A lifetime ago, this had been his sanctuary. Always a thought away. It felt smaller now, familiar yet unknown, like something pulled straight from hazy childhood memories. He let himself take in the details – the thin grass, the bench where he would lounge with Da-ge and Mic-ge by his side, the path to the city, the high-rise glass buildings…

He looked back down and spotted a dark plaque. ‘Wei Wuxian’ was written at the top. Wei Ying spotted the symbol for little brother below it before he tore his gaze away.

Jiang Cheng stood a few steps down the path, watching him hesitate behind a light scowl.

“This way.”, he said.

Wei Ying swallowed, and stepped behind him.

Notes:

Everyone to Wwx: You have family and we like you.
I always feel like I had something else to add but I never remember what when I'm posting... :|

Thanks for reading, kudos, bookmarks...!
Thank you for your beautiful comments :)

Chapter 37: New beginning

Shouta awoke to the sound of UA’s automatic visitor access alarm. It was half-way through his afternoon nap, and when he opened his eyes to squint at his phone screen all he could do was groan at the flashing red blur demanding his attention.

He folded himself into sitting and reluctantly squeezed onto his desk chair, still wrapped in his sleeping bag.

Blinking sluggishly, it took him three tries to focus well enough to make out the humanoid shapes standing at UA’s entry gates. One he immediately recognised as Jiang Cheng. The other… his chest emptied itself of air.

Shuffling awkwardly and fiddling anxiously with a black flute, was Wei Wuxian. Shouta’s little brother. The one who had died – had been dead for fifteen years.

Shakily, Shouta typed out a message to Hizashi.

‘He’s here.’

It would have to be enough.

Shouta allowed them in and climbed out of his sleeping bag, tiredness forgotten. His heart beat erratically against his ribs. He rushed out his office and to the main doors, ignoring the odd looks he received from his staff.

And then finally – finally there he was. Shouta stopped running. He stood, the thumping of his heart too loud in his ears, and just looked.

It was Wei Wuxian. The young man glanced at him, eyes flicking back to the ground, then up to Shouta’s face as if he was scared to look but unable to stay away. Slowly, he brought a hand up to his face and rubbed his nose.

Shouta took a step forwards. And another. Wei Wuxian was standing very still, muscles tense and a pale smile stretched painfully over his face.

There was a line of blood around his neck, made obvious when the young man swallowed. Because of course he couldn’t go any length of time without some injury or another.

Shouta swallowed against the tightness in his throat and reached out. Slowly, gently, he let his hand drop on Wei Wuxian’s shoulder, half expecting his brother to disappear on contact. Half expecting this to be an elaborate hoax. The dark cloth under his hand was smooth and warm. He could feel the body beneath it, tangible and real and so tense. He looked from the shoulder to the young man’s face. His little brother’s eyes were wide, as if scared, flicking anxiously between Shouta’s hand, his face, and Jiang Cheng.

Shouta dragged in a soft breath and gently tugged Wei Wuxian forwards. His brother squeaked in surprise.

Alive.

Wei Wuxian was alive.

Shouta wrapped his arms tightly over his brother’s shoulders and held him close. His fists gripped the dark robes on his brother’s back.

Wei Wuxian stood immobile in his arms for a long moment. Then he slowly let his head dip and rest against Shouta.

“Da-ge”, Shouta heard him whisper. Shouta tightened his hold.

“A-Xian?”, another voice interrupted.

Wei Wuxian jolted in Shouta’s arms. Shouta regretfully let him go, looking instead to Jiang Cheng, who was frowning awkwardly to one side. Shouta joined him and set a hand on the man’s shoulder in thanks.

“A-Xian.”, Hizashi had reached them, Eri trailing behind.

Wei Wuxian ducked his head in a jerky nod, a shaky smile twitching at his lips and a wet glimmer to his eyes.

“Oh my god, A-Xian”, Hizashi said faintly, before launching straight at the other and dragging him into what looked like a very violent hug.

Wei Wuxian’s arms shook briefly, but he hugged Hizashi back. When he was released, however, he crumpled.

Shouta sprang forwards, joining Hizashi and Wei Wuxian on the ground. Jiang Cheng and Eri hung back, hovering behind them.

Wei Wuxian held a hand to his face, tears flowing over his cheeks.

He sniffed when they asked him what was wrong, rubbing uselessly at his eyes. Wei Wuxian lifted his head and stared at them for several beats too long. Then he huffed, ducked his head, and huffed again. Before long, he was laughing little choking laughs, snorting inelegantly as he tried and failed to muffle it.

He looked up again, cheeks red, and pulled Hizashi and Shouta in again, embracing them as tightly as he could and burying his face in Shouta’s shoulder.

“Da-ge… Mic-ge…”, he murmured quietly. He followed it up with more Chinese that Shouta barely caught, and was surprised he understood, “Thank you”

It took a few more tears and a handful more minutes of confusion before Jiang Cheng took pity on them all and slapped a talisman to Wei Wuxian’s back.

Wei Wuxian jumped a bit at the sudden contact, but laughed his tension off with an undeniably awkward smile.

“Ah… right. Of course. Big brother, Mic-ge… I’m back.”

Shouta put a hand on the young man’s shoulder and squeezed fondly. Hizashi was grinning from ear to ear, hands flicking back and forth between Wei Wuxian’s hair, his shoulders, patting down his robe.

Wei Wuxian accepted the treatment with grace, wiping the last of his tears. He peered up at Jiang Cheng who was scowling half-heartedly at a point above Wei Wuxian’s shoulder, and finally seemed to notice Eri.

“…Big brother…”, he said, a mischievous smirk growing on his face, attention skipping from Shouta to Hizashi and back to Eri again, “Who’s this?”

--

It was a beautiful afternoon. Shouta’s family was grouped together under the shade of the park’s largest tree to avoid the heat of the sun.

Shouta wanted to grumble about the heat and the fact that he was awake at all, but he was pulled out of his thoughts by the sound of loud, raucous laughter. His family was never quiet, but this sound was one he’d missed.

“Hanguang-Jun- haha! Really, Lan Zhan?!”

Shouta raised an eyebrow at the sight in front of him. Wei Wuxian was laughing so hard he was half-way to the ground, held up only by Lan Zhan’s tight grip. The white-clad man was staring at Wei Wuxian with visible exasperation, ears tinged pink.

“Father is LightBearer here”, Lan Sizhui added helpfully, smiling innocently over Lan Zhan’s small glare, “the Number 5 hero in the ranks.”

“And that’s only ‘cause he’s not always here.”, piped Jin Ling, looking simultaneously entertained and annoyed at his big uncle’s obnoxious guffaws.

 “It’s not that funny, idiot.”, Jiang Cheng snapped from where he was sitting back with Hizashi.

Wei Wuxian managed to raise his head at that and stare straight at Jiang Cheng. Shouta could see Jiang Cheng attempt to keep a straight face before his jaw twitched and he broke eye contact, clearing his throat and avoiding Lan Zhan’s gaze.

Wei Wuxian crumpled again in another fit of laughter.

“Wait – wait”, he gasped, “Don’t tell me – do they – do they sell stuff with your face on it?”

As if she had been waiting for that single moment to appear, Eri skipped past Shouta carrying a suspiciously familiar old box.

“Here it is!”, she announced proudly. Lan Sizhui’s face lit up with an expression of deceptively polite mischievousness. Shouta coughed in his capture scarf to cover a laugh. He could tell from the beginnings of a scowl on Lan Zhan’s face that the man had guessed correctly what the box held.

And sure enough, as soon as Wei Wuxian saw the insides, he wheezed and collapsed to the ground in hysterics. Lan Zhan had abandoned holding him up. The number 5 hero glanced away in a manner which meant he was rolling his eyes hard and settled elegantly beside Hizashi in resignation.

“Hah-Hahaha- Figurines! Lan Zhan! They – you – there are figurines of you!”

Wei Wuxian undoubtedly did find the entire situation hilarious, however Shouta wasn’t blind to how carefully the young man handled the hero merchandise, running a gentle finger over the figurine’s long hair, nor how his smile softened the longer he sifted through the box.

Shouta looked at him then, and thought back to the little kid he’d first met, humming in a dark alleyway. He thought back to the boy he’d gotten to know, the teen who’d become his brother. He thought back to the young man who’d suffered and fought and died. He thought back to the week before, when Wei Wuxian had cooed over Eri for so long he had embarrassed Hizashi.

Shouta stepped into the shade and settled by Hizashi’s side.

He watched Jin Ling groan at Wei Wuxian’s theatrical retellings of their most recent night hunt, frowning in such a perfect imitation of Jiang Cheng that they almost appeared as twins. Wei Wuxian immediately pointed it out and had to duck behind Lan Zhan to avoid two equally half-hearted blows. He watched as Lan Zhan softly pulled Wei Wuxian against himself and tugged the other in for a quick kiss, and the bright grin and light blush on Wei Wuxian’s face as he was released.

It didn’t take long for Hizashi to whip out the photo books, much to Wei Wuxian’s delight and everyone else’s horror. Only Eri knew to give Shouta a disgruntled look as well, remembering his suggestions the night before.

Jiang Cheng finally relaxed fully, joining in with Wei Wuxian’s teasing of his nephew, much to Jin Ling’s betrayed gaping. Eri giggled and casually brought up incidents that had the no doubt deliberate effect of throwing Lan Sizhui under the bus as well. Lan Zhan, softer and happier than Shouta had ever seen him, made no attempt to save his son’s reputation. Shouta moved to lean against Hizashi, who was grinning ear to ear.

Shouta closed his eyes and basked in the chaos that was his life. He fell asleep to loud cursing and louder laughter, and he knew someone would shake him awake, knew that he would grow irritated soon and retreat to a more peaceful napping spot, but for now he would stay.

Notes:

The end! For now, anyway...

Thank you so much for all the support you gave this fic!! A lot of you had really good ideas and thought up some fun interactions that I haven't really explored ~ if you ever want to write them just let me know so I can read them!
Maybe at some point I'll write some ficlets for things that happen 'behind the scenes' of this one - we'll see.

Thanks for reading, kudos, bookmarks and of course your comments !!
Hope you enjoyed :)