Chapter Text
I.
Wen Ning is not conscious, not really. People that Wen Ning doesn’t know try to talk to him but it slides in one ear and out the other. People try to hurt him just to get a reaction but it doesn’t hurt, not anymore. Thinking is hard and doesn’t really work. Time is meaningless. His body has no needs. Wen Ning just…drifts.
Until he hears it.
The first flute note is like someone yelling in panic, and Wen Ning turns his head toward it. It’s the first time he’s moved in weeks, and it startles the guard assigned to watch him. But Wen Ning doesn’t notice because he is beyond that.
The second note is a call for help, achingly familiar through the fog and one Wen Ning could never deny even if he was physically capable. Wen Ning breaks the chains holding him in a single motion and breaks through his cell wall before the guards even understand what’s happening.
Wen Ning has to go. Wen Ning is being called. There is danger. Wen Ning is needed.
Wen Ning fights.
He is sent away in a flurry of notes, a thank you and a stay safe.
Wen Ning hides, but he knows where the person who called him is. He follows, drawn on only base instinct to be closer to this person.
Wen Ning screams when the nails are pulled from his brain. It hurts. Being conscious again hurts. He blinks, trying to get his bearings straight. Standing in front of him is a young man dressed in black with blood on his fingers and a flute at his waist.
“M-Master Wei,” Wen Ning breathes out. It comes out broken. It’s the first he’s spoken in…however long it’s been since he and his sister gave themselves up and the Jin tried to use him as a weapon instead of killing him. He clears his throat, trying to get it to work right.
This young man doesn’t look like Wei Wuxian, but Wen Ning knows. He can feel him, in his head and in his heart that doesn't beat.
“Master Wei!” Wen Ning says, and falls into his arms.
“Wen Ning! Oh, Wen Ning, what did they do to you while I was gone?” Wei Wuxian says, and grabs Wen Ning’s face so gently and stares into his eyes.
They’re interrupted shortly after, and Wen Ning is sent away again. But he doesn’t go far. He can’t, he won’t leave Wei Wuxian behind again.
II.
Wen Ning rows the three of them quietly through the lotuses. The lights from Lotus Pier are almost out of sight now. Lan Wangji does not look up from Wei Wuxian’s unconscious body, holding him close. He holds Wei Wuxian like he’s precious – a sentiment that Wen Ning agrees with wholeheartedly. He has started to be able to read Lan Wangji, over the time that Wen Ning has spent following along on their murder mystery investigation, and he can tell that Lan Wangji is very worried.
“Hanguang-Jun, I’m sure Master Wei will be fine,” Wen Ning says eventually to reassure him, breaking the silence of the lake. Wen Ning is worried too, though it’s less about Wei Wuxian’s physical well-being than his mental well-being. Wei Wuxian has survived much worse physically, but mentally…well, the last time Jiang Wanyin and Wei Wuxian fought like that hadn’t exactly ended well.
Lan Wangji finally looks up at Wen Ning.
“You stood up for him,” Lan Wangji says.
Wen Ning huffs in irritation. “What right does Sect Leader Jiang have to go around bleeding all over people like that? Sometimes you have to cauterize a wound in order to move on,”
Lan Wangji is staring at him, still holding Wei Wuxian tight. Wen Ning slams the oars into the lake a little harder than he’d meant to.
‘What right does Jiang Wanyin have to cry, when he’s been able to rebuild Lotus Pier and raise his nephew?’ Wen Ning thinks bitterly. He does not like feeling like this, it’s not who he is. Of course Jiang Wanyin’s hurts are real, of course Wei Wuxian isn’t entirely innocent in their fight, but he thinks about how he would feel if Wen Qing was suddenly revived, and finds his usually infinite well of sympathy rapidly drying.
Wen Ning just needs to sleep, maybe, to let his mind rest even if his body doesn’t need it. It has been a long few days. Weeks. Years.
Lan Wangji is still staring at him, his gaze piercing like he can see all the concern and uncharitable thoughts that Wen Ning has been thinking. It would be enough to make Wen Ning blush, if he’d been alive. Whatever Lan Wangji was about to say, he seems to reconsider, and just says “Thank You,”
“Ahhh, I shouldn’t have said those things though. Master Wei will be so mad at me when he wakes up, it was supposed to be secret,” Wen Ning says.
He hopes Wei Wuxian will understand.
“Wei Ying deserves people who will stand up for him,” Lan Wangji says, and gives Wen Ning an approving sort of nod that makes Wen Ning’s back straighten in pride.
That’s when Wei Wuxian starts to stir, and their attention is focused on him.
III.
Everything moves so fast, from the Burial Mounds to Guanyin Temple to going back to Cloud Recesses to lick their wounds. It takes a while for Wen Ning to find a moment without Lan Sizhui near – not that Wen Ning wants Lan Sizhui to leave him alone. He’s not sure he wants to let the boy out of his sight ever again. But he gets the feeling that what Wen Ning needs to do might embarrass him, and he wants to make sure this is done before they leave to pay respects to their dead family. So he waits until his cousin is talking with Lan Jingyi and slips away.
He finds Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji separate from everyone else, standing on the Jingshi’s porch speaking in low voices and bodies leaning towards each other like moths to a light.
“Ah! Wen Ning! I see you finally escaped the children! How are you?” Wei Wuxian asks when he notices Wen Ning’s approach.
Wen Ning smiles. “It wasn’t much of an escape, really. And I actually came to speak to you, Hanguang-Jun, if I’m not interrupting?”
“You are not,” Lan Wangji says, which is very generous of him. Wen Ning knows that he and Wei Wuxian have a lot to discuss between them.
“Hanguang-Jun, I wanted to thank you,” Wen Ning says, trying to keep his voice steady. “For what you did for A-Yuan,”
Wei Wuxian, who was watching as curious as a cat, lets out a shaky breath but does not interrupt. Lan Wangji frowns slightly.
“Unnecessary,” Lan Wangji says, and Wen Ning shakes his head furiously.
“It’s very necessary!” He protests. “When we – When we had to leave him behind –“
Wen Ning’s voice catches in his throat. His eyes burn at the memory.
“We didn’t know what would happen. We could only hope that – that he would survive. Somehow. And then you – you found him and you brought him with you and now he’s grown so well,”
Wen Ning can feel the tears now. He hadn’t realized he still had tears in his dead body left to cry. He bows, hoping to hide them.
“Hanguang-Jun, you saved him. You saved my family, I –“ Wen Ning can’t speak anymore, he just stays there, bowing and crying and grateful that the only people to see it are Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian.
Wen Ning hasn’t really had a chance to mourn before now, and the dam of death and distraction that has held it all in check has burst. All the emotions come flooding out and make a mess of what he’d been trying to say.
“Oh, Wen Ning,” Wei Wuxian sighs fondly, and then there are arms wrapped around him. It makes Wen Ning sob harder. Wen Ning fights it down, though, with a few harsh breaths he is able to look up again.
“I am in your debt, Hanguang-Jun. Anything you ever need, I will do,” Wen Ning says finally.
Lan Wangji looks like he doesn’t quite know what to do, he gives Wei Wuxian a look that makes him laugh.
“Ah, Wen Ning, have mercy on poor Hanguang-Jun, he’s not used to things like this. Besides, I thought you only pledged loyalty to me, huh?” Wei Wuxian says, giving Wen Ning a playful shove.
He manages to smile as Wei Wuxian theatrically bemoans the lack of loyalty, after everything he has done for Wen Ning, too! Wen Ning knows the two vows will never come into conflict.
Lan Wangji looks less panicked now, instead gazing at the two of them with fond eyes.