Chapter Text
The Nightless City
"Wei Ying." Lan Wangji's voice trembled slightly.
"Lan Zhan, you should know by now that cleansing is useless to me." Said the man with red eyes and a cold sneer.
"Wei Ying. You have to stop." Wei Wuxian couldn't hear how Lan Wangji's voice wasn't as steady as usual.
"I always knew you found me disagreeable. It was inevitable that we'll fight each other for real one day." Wei Wuxian replied softly, devoid of any inflections. He lifted the flute to his mouth just as a loud cry went out into the chaos.
"A-Xian."
Terror like he never knew before washed over his heart.
"Shijie." Wei Wuxian jumped down from the roof and dove into the mayhem. He didn't notice the people coming at him. Neither did he see Lan Wangji deflecting all those attacks and guarding his back.
"Shijie!!"
"Wei Ying. Stop the corpses." Lan Wangji's hold on his elbow was tight. His voice, as close to panic as he's ever heard it. But in his half mad, half unconscious, and terrified mind, the only thing Wei Wuxian wanted was to get to his sister. With a powerful shove he broke Lan Wangji's grip and cried out.
"Shijie!"
Wei Wuxian and Jiang Cheng found her at the same time. And the ghost at her back, raising its sword.
"NO!" Wei Wuxian screamed. But he had already lost control. They don't listen to him anymore. She was too far away for either of them to reach her on time. Wei Wuxian desperately tried to play a tune to make that single corpse stand down. He frantically grappled with his madness to focus on that single objective: NEVER Shijie. Not her. Anyone but her. But the corpse refused to listen. It had stopped listening a long time ago.
Lan Wangji, who'd been providing assistance to another cultivator, looked up at Wei Ying's scream and his heart stopped at the sight. Jiang Yanli was going to die. The person Wei Ying loved the most in this world. Gentle, kind Jiang Yanli who's never hurt a soul in her life. Jiang Yanli, Who loved her brother and cared for him and simply believed in him like no one else. He remembered that one time in Qinghe when she approached him with her concerns about Wei Ying's well being.
"A-Xian will never do anything unjust. I know this. But I'm worried for him."
Her unwavering faith in the goodness of her brother. This is a loss Wei Ying would never recover from. This will destroy whatever little control he's got left and obliterate him with its backlash, all in one fell swoop. Wei Ying. Lost to the darkness and resentment and hate.
Wei Ying.
Wei Ying of the brightest smile. Wei Ying who is as fair as he is arrogant. Wei Ying, heartbroken. Wei Ying without his smile. If Jiang Yanli dies tonight because of him, Wei Ying will never smile again. Lan Wangji is certain of this. He flinched away from the mental image. All these thoughts passed through his head in the fraction of a second and Lan Wangji made a quick decision. With all his spiritual power, he gave a mighty leap and in an impossible act of defiance and love, crossed over to where Jiang Yanli was about to be run through by the sword. He shoved her away just as the corpse brought it down, cleanly splitting down his neck, heart, and lung. He hadn't expected to survive anyway. But if the wound hadn't been so grievous, maybe spiritual power would have been able to keep him alive. He was the strongest cultivator of their generation aside from Wei Ying. But it didn't matter because the wound was, indeed fatal, and he was bleeding out, and he knew for a fact that he was dying. At least, it wasn't Jiang Yanli. His, would be a loss that Wei Ying can bear. As much as they'd grown apart this past year, this shouldn't be an unrecoverable loss for him. Lan Wangji was expendable. Jiang Yanli wasn't. Wei Ying should never lose his smile.
Lan Wangji closed his eyes.