Chapter Text
One morning, he wakes up to find that a Lan disciple is dead and a sect heir is missing.
Everyone is losing their minds and uncle isn’t home. Lan Xichen has to deal with the search party, preparations for a funeral and a desperate Wei Wuxian. His didi can do only so much to keep him off his back -- the boy is determined to find out where his brother is. Lan Xichen can’t even blame him. He doesn’t know what he would do if it were a-Zhan they couldn’t find.
They say that Jiang Wanyin left his bed made. Lan Xichen freezes when he hears it, something nagging at the back of his mind. He shakes himself and tells the disciples to search through the back mountain again.
It’s almost eleven when the news comes.
Someone has murdered all the Wens from the main family. The sect leader, his heir and other son, even a concubine. All gone. Killed in cold-blooded . A butterfly arrives from the Jins less than an hour later. A nephew of sect leader Jin is also dead.
By lunch time, the Jiang sect leader and his wife have already reached the entrance of his home. The letter was sent about six hours ago, Lan Xichen had expected them to arrive earlier, setting flight as soon as they heard about their youngest’s disappearance. He says nothing about their delay as he leads them to his uncle’s office.
He explains the situation. The Violet Spider curses and screams, her husband tries to calm her down and it only makes her yell louder. She keeps reaching for her right hand, as if searching for something that isn’t there. Lan Xichen only sits on his uncle’s mat, feeling like he’s just a boy playing pretend.
They look for Jiang Wanyin for months and find nothing. It’s like he disappeared into thin air, leaving no clues, no trace.
Every time a letter or a group of disciples reaches the Cloud Recesses without news, Lan Xichen feels like a failure. He was supposed to take care of the disciples while his uncle was out, it was his responsibility.
Speaking of his uncle, he’s hardly seen him. He’s been too busy with the rest of the sects, arranging search parties in other provinces (fixing Lan Xichen’s mistakes). Everyone is looking for the perpetrator of such heinous crimes as well as the lost sect heir.
Lan Xichen has been constantly banging his head against the wall. Wondering how. The barriers aren’t easily broken. Quite the contrary, they are specifically made not to be broken. Only people with the highest cultivation levels and knowledge of protection arrays could break through it.
Yet, the thing he can’t wrap his mind around, that keeps him up at night is: the barrier was broken from the inside. He knows there’s a possible explanation, one that many have considered and whisper about in crowded markets and conferences alike. That Jiang Wanyin escaped from the Cloud Recesses, stole Zidian from his mother and went on a rampage. That Jiang Wanyin, wrapped up in madness, killed innocent people for no reason. Lan Xichen always walks away when he hears those rumors.
Time passes and they never find Jiang Wanyin.
Eventually, everyone gives up. The cultivation world silently agrees that the boy must have died that same day. Even sect leader Jiang stops the search. Lan Xichen hears that it caused a feud amongst the sect leader and his wife, but doesn’t pay much attention to it, since gossiping is forbidden.
He thinks of Jiang Wanyin almost everyday, always feeling like he’s holding his breath, waiting for something that will never come.
He’s named sect leader after his father dies quietly in the same house he lived in for years. Lan Xichen doesn’t cry at the funeral, attempts to truly care and fails, only smiles sadly at his brother for losing a stranger they called father.
Wei Wuxian is the sect leader of the Yunmeng Jiang sect and it eats him inside whenever he catches sight of him wearing purple robes. The boy he knew is now a man, the carefree attitude has faded with the time and responsibilities that weren’t his to bear. Now, he holds himself tall, speaks only the necessary words in every meeting, as if continually trying to earn a place he already has. He catches the looks his brother shoots sect leader Wei whenever he joins him at conferences, which is often. Lan Xichen thinks that if love burned, his didi would become a bonfire at every sect leaders meeting.
“You should give it a shot, I’ve seen how he looks at you.” He whispers to his brother once.
Wangji’s eyes settle on the man discussing with sect leader Nie on the other side of the room, “He doesn’t need me.” He says simply.
Lan Xichen never tries again.
Later, he marries the woman his uncle chose for him and has a son that he hugs and sings lullabies to.
Every year, on the same day, Lan Xichen burns paper money for a boy he never really knew. He apologizes for failing him and promises to protect him better in another life if he ever has the chance.