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One moment everything is alright.
Sandu is singing in Jiang Cheng’s hand while Zidian crackles in the other, and the last few remnants of those loyal to Jin Guangyao barely even get close to them. Jiang Cheng knows he and Lan Xichen won’t have much difficulties defeating them.
The next moment, everything is very much not alright.
There’s a sword sticking out of Jiang Cheng’s stomach. He didn’t see the man approach him from behind, he didn’t hear the singing of that sword and now he’s paying the price for it.
He let’s out a pained grunt before he jerks himself forward, dislodging the sword that was stuck through his back, and when he stumbles, he turns himself around, whipping Zidian in time with his stumbling and hitting the man square in the chest.
It’s the last thing he does, because he can’t seem to find his footing afterwards, and sinking down to the floor seems like the easier option.
“Xichen,” Jiang Cheng mutters, blood already staining his robes and the ground he’s kneeling on as he bends forward.
Together, they could have easily defeated these man. Jiang Cheng isn’t so sure Lan Xichen can manage on his own.
“Xichen,” he says louder, tries to bring attention to himself, so Lan Xichen knows his back is no longer protected, and Jiang Cheng can tell the exact moment Lan Xichen finally notices what happened.
There’s a shift and suddenly the whole clearing goes cold.
“Wanyin,” Lan Xichen breathes out and he rushes to his side, Jiang Cheng sees that much, before the world tilts and he drops onto his shoulder.
Laying down might be better than keeping himself up. There’s a coldness spreading out from his stomach, and Jiang Cheng presses his hand to the wound. He can feel the blood, hot and slick, seep through his fingers, but he knows it won’t be deadly. It can’t be.
He refuses to die.
“Wanyin,” Lan Xichen says again as he drops to his knees next to Jiang Cheng, hands outstretched and shaking, and Jiang Cheng manages something approaching a smile.
He’s not sure the blood in his mouth is helping.
“It’ll be alright,” Jiang Cheng gets out, and before Lan Xichen can protests, one of the men comes up behind him, sword raised and clearly certain that he gets to end Lan Xichen’s life then and there.
Not on Jiang Cheng’s watch.
“Careful,” Jiang Cheng rushes out and pushes himself up from the ground to slam his hand into Lan Xichen’s chest, pushing him out of the way of the descending sword.
He saved Lan Xichen, like he calculated. He did not calculate that the sword will bite into his own arm.
Jiang Cheng clenches his teeth so he doesn’t scream, but the pain in his arm is almost worse than the one in his stomach.
Lan Xichen stares at him with big, wide eyes, before everything seems to suddenly slow down. And then Lan Xichen explodes.
Jiang Cheng has never seen him change his form this quickly, this explosively, but in one moment Lan Xichen is still staring at him, and in the next there is a writhing, furious black in the clearing. Eyes appear all over Lan Xichen, so many more than Jiang Cheng is used to, and the sound that fills the air is pure and unadulterated rage.
Jiang Cheng was under the assumption that Lan Xichen, while not having a completely fixed form, has a fixed mass, but clearly he was wrong with that. Lan Xichen grows bigger and bigger, right in front of Jiang Cheng’s eyes, and it doesn’t seem to stop.
Jiang Cheng can hear the men scream in terror, can see more than one drop his sword and run away in fear, but none of them make it far.
Lan Xichen reaches out with his tentacles, crushes them with barely any effort at all, like it seems, and some he just slams into the ground, only to leave a barely recognizable mess behind. And all the while the sound gets louder and louder, making many of the men bend over in pain, hands clutched to their heads before at least two drop dead simply from the enraged shout Lan Xichen lets out.
It’s not much of a fair fight at all.
Jiang Cheng has barely pushed himself into a sitting position, arm cradled close to his stomach to at least slow the blood flow on both wounds, when the fight is already over and the last man dead.
Still, Lan Xichen continues to writhe in the clearing, tentacles lashing out at random, and Jiang Cheng is sure that more than one tree is taking some serious damage during this.
“Xichen,” he calls out, but he can barely hear his own voice over the continuous wrathful scream.
He tries to reach out for Lan Xichen, but he’s too far out of reach, even though Jiang Cheng is somewhat protectively surrounded on all sides, and Jiang Cheng very much does not feel like getting up, even though his core works furiously on keeping the wounds shut so he doesn’t die of blood loss.
“Jiang Cheng!” Wei Wuxian suddenly calls out right next to him and Jiang Cheng sighs when he sees Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji at his side. He didn’t even notice them arriving.
“Get him to calm down, would you!” Jiang Cheng snaps at Lan Wangji, hoping Lan Wangji can hear him over the noise, who levels him with a look but Jiang Cheng is beyond caring and just points an accusing finger at Lan Xichen. “He’s going to destroy this clearing!”
Lan Wangji leaves them after one last warning look at Jiang Cheng and going by the pressure change, Lan Wangji changed forms as well.
There’s a second, much more soothing noise filling the clearing and even Jiang Cheng can tell that it has a calming quality to it.
“Let’s get this looked at,” Wei Wuxian cheerfully says, and while Jiang Cheng is beyond glad that he can hear something else than Lan Xichen’s scream, he leans away from Wei Wuxian.
“Thanks, but I’ll wait for the healers in the Cloud Recesses,” Jiang Cheng tells him, completely immune by now to the pout Wei Wuxian sends him.
“You could die by then!” Wei Wuxian calls out, and Lan Xichen immediately grows agitated again, even going so far as to push Wei Wuxian away from Jiang Cheng as if he needed protecting from his own brother.
“Xichen,” Jiang Cheng tries again, now that Lan Xichen is a lot closer, and when he’s cradled close by one of the many tentacles, Jiang Cheng puts a soothing hand on him.
Lan Wangji appears next to Wei Wuxian again, in his human form and his hand on the hilt of Bichen, levelling Jiang Cheng with a look that can cut through ice.
“What?” Jiang Cheng snaps out, beyond tired that they really have to do this here, now, while he’s bleeding out and in pain.
“Do not touch him,” Lan Wangji threatens him and Jiang Cheng slides his hand possessively over Lan Xichen’s tentacle.
“Or what?” he demands to know, because he doubts Lan Xichen would even let Lan Wangji get close to him right now.
“Do not hurt him,” Lan Wangji changes tactics, and Jiang Cheng sighs.
Lan Xichen told him that Lan Wangji is apparently convinced that one day Jiang Cheng will kill them all for daring to be different, and while this is a conversation he is dying to have with Lan Wangji, he really cannot be bothered right now.
“Why don’t you just fuck off,” Jiang Cheng snaps at Lan Wangji, prompting Lan Xichen to push his own brother further away from Jiang Cheng.
And while Jiang Cheng is greatly enjoying that, he knows Lan Xichen will feel bad about that once he has a clear head again.
“Xichen,” Jiang Cheng tries again, and while this time at least his voice can be heard, Lan Xichen isn’t reacting to him at all.
“A-Huan,” he tries again, and that finally gets Lan Xichen to still.
He shrinks down to the size Jiang Cheng is used to and almost half of the eyes disappear as Lan Xichen wraps himself around Jiang Cheng, continuing to protect him from a danger that is no longer there.
“You’ve been a very good, protective monster, but now I need you to change back,” Jiang Cheng lowly tells him as he pets the tentacle around his middle, but Lan Xichen lets out a high whine that tells Jiang Cheng exactly what Lan Xichen thinks about leaving him defenceless.
“There’s nothing here that’s a danger to me, not anymore, you made sure of that,” Jiang Cheng says, and he blinks in surprise when Lan Xichen flinches.
“What?” Jiang Cheng mutters and he instinctively curls his good arm around Lan Xichen’s tentacle when he tries to retract it.
“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” he demands to know, but Lan Xichen only lets out the same sound again, so Jiang Cheng slaps him lightly.
“Change back and use your words,” he says with a stern glare, and he is entirely unimpressed when Lan Xichen doesn’t react to that at all.
Before Jiang Cheng can explode, he takes a deep breath, aggravating his stomach wound in the process again, and while it hurts like a bitch he’s rewarded when Lan Xichen comes closer to him again.
“A-Huan, I need you to change back to fly me to the Cloud Recesses. I need medical attention and I cannot fly my own sword,” Jiang Cheng tries, keeping his voice soothing and even and he knows he has won when a shudder goes through Lan Xichen’s form.
He still fights the change for a while longer, but in the end, Jiang Cheng is held close by a very human Lan Xichen.
“I’m sorry,” he mutters, and Jiang Cheng frowns up at him.
“For what?” he demands to know and Lan Xichen doesn’t meet his eyes.
Jiang Cheng doesn’t like it.
“That you had to see that. That I lost control like this. I don’t—” Lan Xichen trails off and Jiang Cheng blinks in surprise at him.
“You think I’m afraid of you?” he incredulously asks, because he can damn well fill in the blanks, and Lan Xichen’s eyes snap to his.
It’s all the answer he needs.
“You think I wouldn’t lose my entire shit if you were hurt?” Jiang Cheng presses out. “Just because you turn into a bigger and badder version of yourself doesn’t mean I wouldn’t act in the same way, just on a smaller scale.”
“I killed them all,” Lan Xichen mutters and Jiang Cheng looks around the clearing.
They are all very much dead, yes.
“And good riddance,” Jiang Cheng harshly gives back and then raises his good arm to cradle Lan Xichen’s cheek in his hand. “I am not afraid of you and I am not judging you. Now, please, can you get me to a healer, I do feel a bit faint,” Jiang Cheng says and suddenly Lan Xichen becomes animated again.
“Of course, my heart,” he says as he carefully picks Jiang Cheng up from the ground, cradling him close to his chest as he steps onto Shuoyue.
Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian are still watching them, Jiang Cheng can tell, but he barely spares them a glance. He cannot tear his eyes off Lan Xichen.
There’s not a hair out of place, no blood marring his features, even though the clearing looks like a giant decided to dig it over. Jiang Cheng knows, rationally, that he should be afraid of Lan Xichen and what he is, what he can do, but even now, he cannot bring himself to do that.
Lan Xichen did this to protect him and Jiang Cheng cannot find it in him to mind that.
“Wake me when we’re there, okay?” Jiang Cheng mutters as he rests his head on Lan Xichen’s shoulders.
His golden core kept him together until now, but Jiang Cheng can feel it being drained, knows that the pain and the blood loss will finally get to him, and he’d rather be not awake for that.
“No no no, my love, you have to stay awake,” Lan Xichen whispers, pressing kisses to his forehead. “No sleeping until we reach the Cloud Recesses.”
“Tired now.”
“You can sleep later, I promise, but right now you have to stay awake,” Lan Xichen says, and it’s the pure panic in his voice that forces Jiang Cheng to open his eyes again.
“You’re a menace,” Jiang Cheng complains and while Lan Xichen still seems strained and worried, he smiles down at him.
“Tell me all about it,” Lan Xichen cajoles and Jiang Cheng narrows his eyes at him.
He knows exactly what Lan Xichen is doing.
“You’re rude for not letting me sleep, and stupid for thinking I would be afraid of you, and idiotic for thinking I don’t love you more than my life, and also rude,” Jiang Cheng says, though he’s aware he’s babbling more than forming actual sentences.
“For not letting you sleep, noted,” Lan Xichen gives back with a chuckle and then they are already descending.
“Time to sleep then,” Jiang Cheng mutters and snuggles closer to Lan Xichen.
This time, the darkness claims him.
~*~*~
When Jiang Cheng wakes up, he’s in the hanshi, Lan Xichen hovering at his side and generally looking like he didn’t sleep at all in the last however many days it has been.
“You’re an idiot,” Jiang Cheng says with a groan and Lan Xichen nods.
“And rude, I remember,” he immediately says and Jiang Cheng smiles.
“Good,” he gives back and then holds his hand out for Lan Xichen to take. “I’m okay.”
“I was scared,” Lan Xichen lowly says as he presses a kiss to Jiang Cheng’s palm.
“I could tell,” Jiang Cheng says with a nod and cups Lan Xichen’s face when he seems worried by that. “And I don’t mind,” Jiang Cheng says, again if memory serves him right.
He tries to push himself up, but pain laces sharp and bright through him and he falls back onto the bed with a hiss.
Lan Xichen shoots up from his stool and Jiang Cheng can tell that his control seems to still hang on a very thin thread, because there are definitely tentacles coming out of his back.
“I’m okay,” Jiang Cheng says again, because he’s not dead, and really, that’s all that matters.
“You might have not been,” Lan Xichen gives back, and Jiang Cheng rolls his eyes at him.
If they dealt in might have’s and could have’s they would both lose their sanity.
“But I am, and thanks to you,” Jiang Cheng tells him, his voice leaving no room for argument. “What’s the damage?”
“Stab wound in the stomach, deep cut on your arm. You’ll heal up just fine, I’ve been told, as long as you keep to your rest,” Lan Xichen informs him and Jiang Cheng smiles at him.
“I very much feel like standing up. Maybe I need someone to make sure I stay in bed,” he teasingly says and he really hates the surprised look on Lan Xichen’s face.
They had already been past this uncertainty on Lan Xichen’s part, and Jiang Cheng will not allow it to come back.
“And by someone I mean you, and preferably not in your human form,” he clearly states and Lan Xichen ducks his head.
“Are you sure?” he asks and Jiang Cheng sighs.
“Are you going to deny the patient the one thing that will make sure he heals up just fine?”
“The one thing?” Lan Xichen asks, confusion clear on his face and Jiang Cheng rolls his eyes.
“My boyfriend and his many many very good at hugging tentacles,” he gives back and Lan Xichen huffs out a laugh.
“You’re shameless,” Lan Xichen whispers, but he’s getting up and Jiang Cheng knows he has won.
“Shamelessly in love maybe,” he says with a shrug, because what does he care about anything else but Lan Xichen by his side.
“I love you, too,” Lan Xichen says and catches his lips in a soft, slow kiss, before he slides under the covers with Jiang Cheng.
He doesn’t change, not completely, but there are a few tentacles coming out to wrap around Jiang Cheng, causing him to go boneless against Lan Xichen’s chest.
“This is the best,” Jiang Cheng mutters as his eyes already drift shut.
He has a lot of sleeping to do, and with Lan Xichen wrapped securely and warmly around him, it’s easy to get started on that right away.