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There were so many times over the years that Lan Zhan wonders if it would be better if the handprint on his shoulder had just burned away like it should have when Wei Wuxian died.
Lan Zhan had screamed after his soulmate when Wei Wuxian threw himself to his death off the cliff. Feeling like he wasn’t getting air no matter how hard he breathed he waited at the top of the cliff for the searing pain of the soul mark as it burned away showing that his soulmate, Wei Wuxian, was gone. Instead of feeling the agonizing pain in his shoulder to match what he was feeling in his heart, what had come was only an intense tingle. It was like a limb falling asleep with the sensation of tiny insects crawling over where Wei Wuxian’s handprint marked the skin of his shoulder. He’d heard enough stories about people losing their soulmates and what happened afterwards to know what he was feeling wasn’t normal but It had been impossible to strip his robes off to check his shoulder on the remains of the battlefield.
Behind him were the groans and cries of the wounded from the battle but Lan Zhan didn’t care. His duty should be to help with the aftermath. He should be helping to assess the wounded and making sure to gather those of the Lan Clan that remained in one place to treat the wounded and to begin preparing to gather the dead.
Instead Zhan stood, still looking into the deep abyss that had claimed his soulmate while the skin of his shoulder buzzed and crawled, and waited for that sense of duty to kick in as it always had before. He waited and felt nothing but hollow.
So he took Bichen, and with what little scraps of spiritual power he could muster, Lan Zhan left the battlefield and flew toward the Burial Mounds. His spiritual energy ran dry before he landed so he hit the rock in front of the living areas hard enough to fall and roll onto his wounded arm. Lan Zhan had forgotten the blow he’d taken in the battle. After he rolled into a sitting position he looked at the bloodied sleeve and saw that had started to dry into a mottled mix of colors that were now being soaked with a new layer of bright red. It wasn’t immediately lethal and he could still use the arm so he decided to ignore it.
There was no one in Burial Mounds. The remaining Wens had been hunted down and Lan Zhan had found little A Yuan hiding here while searching for Wei Wuxian before and flew him to Cloud Recesses for treatment of his dangerous fever. That didn’t mean no one would come. Once they had dealt with the immediate aftermath of the battle the clans would come to loot what remained of Wei Wuxian’s belongings and inventions. They had been robbed of being able to take his life by Wei Wuxian taking it himself so they would vent their anger on his home instead.
Lan Zhan did not intend to allow that.
The maddening buzz in his shoulder had faded some but there was still a faint prickling feeling there. He would have some time before the clans would arrive so with some hesitation he loosened his belt and robes not caring that he was leaving behind smeared handprints of blood and dirt on his white robes. All that mattered was baring his shoulder to see the scar Wei Wuxian’s death had left behind.
When your soulmate first touches you they leave behind their handprint on your skin. Wei Wuxian had touched his shoulder trying to shake him awake and let his hand linger there burning a bright red handprint sprawling across Lan Wanji’s shoulder. It was the same cheery red as the ribbon he often chose to wear in his hair and it had stood out against Lan Wanji’s skin and would have been impossible to hide anywhere his robes didn’t cover.
When your soulmate died the loss caused the mark to burn away leaving you with a deep scar that matched the one on your heart. Lan Zhan slipped the robes off his shoulder but then found he couldn’t make himself look. Hesitantly he raised his hand to trace over his shoulder to feel the scar first. He hoped learning it through his touch first might make it bearable to finally look at the ruined skin but to his surprise his fingers touched nothing but smooth skin.
That wasn’t possible. He’d seen the scars left behind on others after the loss of a soulmate and they were deep, twisted things that looked melted and rough just like a burn from actual fire. But no matter how he probed he couldn’t find a scar with his fingers. Finally drawing in a deep breath and holding it, Lan Zhan turned his head to look at his shoulder. What he saw made his breath leak out in a quiet moan.
There was no scar.
Instead the cheery red handprint had faded like it was paint left on a wall exposed to years of sun and wind. The edges were faded and blurred with pieces missing entirely and others so faint he could barely make them out but it was still there and his skin was still whole. He had no idea what it could mean. There was no way Wei Wuxian who had been completely empty of spiritual energy and bleeding inside from grief and broken meridians could have survived the fall but his soulmark wasn’t gone.
Maybe...maybe his soul could come back. Maybe Lan Zhan could find his spirit.
The thought put strength back into him. He could feel it seeping into him like warmth after the feeling returned following a long soak in the cold pool in Gusu. Filled with a new sense of purpose Lan Zhan pulled his robes back into place and pulled his sword. He stood there with a straight back and an unwavering sword in hand when the clans came to claim the blood pool and any remaining items Wei Ying had left behind. He was ice against their fire and refused to move. This was not their place.
They might have suspected that he had no more strength in him than a hollow reed but no one was eager to take Lan Zhan on should they turn out to be wrong. He held himself there an immobile statue of ice until they began to leave. As soon as they were out of sight he felt his knees buckle and he was only saved from another landing on the rocks by bracing himself with his sword and ended up kneeling and somehow not losing his grip on Bichen. There was no way he was going to be able to get back to his feet, much less get back to Cloud Recesses at this point.
“Wangji.” Xichen’s voice let him know he was about to be touched. His brother knew him well enough to know anyone else coming to help wouldn’t be allowed and even his brother might be rebuffed depending on how Lan Zhan felt. The fact that Xichen’s gentle voice held nothing but regret for his brother’s pain kept him from flinching away. With the barest of nods Lan Zhan held out his hand so his brother could help him up. There would be consequences for his actions today when they returned to Could Recesses but the burning empty ache in his heart kept him from caring.
Lan Zhan’s soulmate was dead. He found it hard to believe he would care about anything again.
~~
They never found any trace of Wei Wuxian’s body or his flute Chenqing, but everyone agreed that he had really died in his fall from the cliff.
It was easy at first for Lan Zhan to not care about anything.
Beaten with the Discipline whip after the battle he was left to himself in seclusion to heal and think about what he’d done and said. His uncle Lan Qiren had turned an ugly shade of red that was almost purple when Lan Zhan had asked him ‘what is black and what is white?’ and he suspected that his uncle had considered adding more lashes to the punishment just for that alone.
At first no one saw Lan Zhan but his brother. He reluctantly allowed Xichen to tend to his wounds and bring him food but only so others wouldn’t do it. The first time Xichen peeled the bandages from his back Lan Zhan heard the sharp inhale of surprise and knew his brother had seen the faded remnants of the handprint on his shoulder. He sensed Xichen’s hand hovering above it but as soon as his shoulder muscles tensed Lan Zhan could feel the warmth of his brother’s fingers above his skin retreat.
“Wangji…was he…?”
Lan Zhan let out an angry breath through his nose and refused to answer. If he did answer he might have to acknowledge the fact his soul mate was dead out loud. That was far more real than he was ready for. When he didn’t make any other sign that he was going to say anything his brother had remained quiet and applied the medicines to his wounds before rebandaging his back. He was brewing the medicinal tea when Lan Zhan started to slip into the dark realm of sleep. The last thing he remembered was his brother stroking his hair gently like he used to do after their mother died.
“Of course he was. Sleep now.”
~~~
Even before he recovered enough to rejoin the clan his brother started to bring A Yuan with him when he visited. When he returned to Cloud Recesses Lan Zhan had declared to his brother and uncle that his name was now Lan Yuan. They had obviously adopted him fully into the clan because he crept along with Xichen holding his hand in the child version of the white Lan robes. It hurt to see the child that had laughed so freely in the Burial Mounds behave like A Yuan did after his fever and illness. He was so quiet and solemn now, like a proper little Lan.
He suspected it was his brother’s plan to lure him back out into life with A Yuan and it worked. Lan Zhan took himself out of isolation so he could try to teach the quiet A Yuan to laugh again. He wasn’t very good at that sort of thing but he spent time with the little boy and did all the things he remembered his brother doing for him when they were children. Sometimes the little boy smiled at him, in fact the smiles got more frequent but he still didn’t laugh.
Finally one day when they were walking together he ended up leading A Yuan to the little glen where the rabbits lived. He brought them treats and showed the little boy how to sit still and offer them treats to come closer. Seeing the smile that showed up immediately when the rabbits did, Lan Zhan started scooping up rabbits and putting them in A Yuan’s lap until he was buried in a fuzzy blanket with twitching noses and ears.
The laugh was quiet at first but as more rabbits kept getting added and poking around trying to find treats it grew until A Yuan’s giggles filled the entire glen. When he realized he was being loud he put his hand over his mouth and asked Lan Zhan in a worried tone not to tell Lan Qiren.
“Laughing is allowed here. You can run here as well. When you feel you can’t sit still anymore, come here and run and pet the rabbits.”
He was rewarded with more laughter from A Yuan for that. He was happy to sit there and watch the little boy with the rabbits until they had to go clean up for the evening meal. It was peaceful to sit there listening to the delighted laughter and feeling that odd buzz in his shoulder where the faded handprint was. It had faded some as he’d recovered but never disappeared completely and now he was comforted by it instead of disturbed. It was like in some ways Wei Wuxian was here with him to watch over A Yuan.
~~~
The years passed and Lan Zhan went back out into the world. He taught the juniors cultivation and trained them for night hunts. A Yuan was old enough to start using his courtesy name Sizhui and Lan Zhan encouraged his partnership with Lan Jingyi. The other disciple had spent years suffering through lectures when he could barely sit still and no matter how many times he was disciplined he still spoke his mind. To be honest it didn’t take much encouraging to convince Sizhui to spend most of his time with Jingyi. Lan Zhan quietly wondered if JIngyi reminded Sizhui of Wei Wuxian. He might not consciously remember his time with Wei Wuxian and the Wens but sometimes he said things that Lan Zhan knew had to have come from Wei Wuxian.
He still played Inquiry at least once a week trying to reach Wei Wuxian faithfully but deep in his heart he no longer hoped that he would receive an answer. His uncle talked idly of arranged marriages and his brother inevitably steered the talk away from it. Neither were surprised when Lan Zhan traveled as often as he could to either train the juniors or to answer requests for help that came to the Lan Clan.
The Juniors were now doing night hunts on their own with a senior near enough to call if they run into something larger than they could handle. This time they were going to Mo Manor to investigate at the request of the Mo family. It was decided that Sizhui and Jingyi would lead the investigation and originally another senior was tapped to supervise them.
But the morning they were to leave to Mo Manor something happened.
Lan Zhan was preparing the morning tea while Sizhui packed what he would need for the trip to Mo Manor when the eternal buzzing feel of the handprint on his shoulder stopped. Between one breath and the next it was as if the odd buzz had never existed.
Shocked, he'd fumbled and missed his grip on the lid of the teapot as he replaced it and it made a loud clink as the two pieces of porcelain hit together. He raised his hand to his shoulder as if he could feel what had changed through his robes but with a mental shake continued to make the tea. He wouldn’t look in front of Sizhui.
“Hanguan Jun?” Sizhui’s voice was full of barely repressed curiosity. This was something that just didn’t happen. No one fumbled things unless Jingyi was around.
“It is nothing.” He placed the two cups of freshly poured tea in their places and replaced the teapot before standing and turning to leave. Lan Zhan could feel Sizhui practically vibrating with curiosity at his strange behavior but he didn’t ask anything. He wouldn’t have stopped to answer even if he was inclined to. His heart felt like it had stopped in his chest along with the buzz in his shoulder.
Once he was alone Lan Zhan removed his sash and undid ties of his robes with a shocking lack of respect for the material so he could see his shoulder. When he did he was finally able to breathe again. The handprint was no longer faded and patchy. The bright red handprint was sprawled across the skin of his shoulder in its original vivid glory.
He traced the edges of the handprint feeling like it must be a dream. There had been many times when he was recovering from the discipline whip that he dreamed Wei Wuxian had come back to him, that the handprint had never faded, and Wei Wuxian would laugh and tell him he was silly and put his hand out so it covered the red handprint on Lan Wangji’s shoulder. Waking from those dreams had been devastating.
Slowly he realized he wasn’t going to wake up. Knowing this was real he pulled off the robes he’d been wearing and changed into ones that were more suitable for travel and fighting. By the time he returned to drink the tea with Sizhui he had pulled himself back together and was ready to find Wei Wuxian. There was trouble at the Mo Manor, and Wei Wuxian tended to be wherever there was trouble…he would start there.
“When you go today I will be your superior. If there is trouble you will use the signal flare to call me.”
This time the fumble was Sizhui nearly dropping his teacup. First Lan Zhan had almost dropped the teapot lid and now he was usurping another senior’s place in supervising the junior’s night hunt? He watched Sizhui struggle as he apparently searched for a way to ask what exactly was going on with the man he considered both his older brother and father. Finally after opening and closing his mouth several times Sizhui nodded. “Yes Hanguan Jun.” Then he gulped down his tea and with another quick nod left the table to collect his things.
Xichen did his best to conceal his surprise when Lan Zhan showed up to brief Sizhui and the others. This was definitely not when they planned but when their uncle started to protest Xichen quelled him with a look and wished them all well on their assignment.
~~~
Despite the soul mark reappearing on his shoulder, Lan Zhan hadn’t actually expected Wei Wuxian to appear. When Sizhui and Jingyi had called him in to help he definitely hadn’t expected to find traces of the Stygian Tiger Amulet. But there was no sign of Wei Wuxian when he arrived.
Sizhui and Jingyi told him about the odd Mo Xuanyu and his antics as he helped them with the sword spirit. Couple that with the way the man wore a mask everywhere and he suspected that the person they were dealing with wasn’t Mo Xuanyu at all.
He’d been unable to give chase immediately but he had ideas where Wei Wuxian might go next. The juniors were obligated to a night hunt on the slopes of Dafan Mountain which suited him. The location was one Wei Wuxian had a connection with and the juniors were going there. Wei Wuxian might decide to follow them and help them out again.
Of course night hunting with the other clans meant that Jiang Cheng would be there. After the events on the cliff when Wei Ying had died, Lan Zhan had never willingly spoken to Jiang Cheng. That meant when they ran across Jiang Cheng and Jin Ling he only glared at the man while Sizhui spoke for him and when they were waiting back at the base to let the juniors conduct the hunt he sat silently at a table and stared pointedly past Jiang Cheng’s ear while he waited for word from Sizhui and the others.
They had waited there for a long time. Jiang Cheng refusing to move because he didn’t want to look uncomfortable. Lan Zhan, not moving because he liked to make Jiang Cheng uncomfortable. It was a stand-off that Jiang Cheng always lost because of his impatience. This time he snarled out questions to the waiting clan members about why hadn’t they heard anything from Jin Ling before he gathered up his sword to storm off.
Lan Zhan didn’t want to give him satisfaction of following him so he took his own way up. The others were taking the paths but he wanted to get to whatever might be happening before they did so he maneuvered the sword and flew with Bichen to get a better look. Once he was skyward he could see a commotion that he headed toward and before he got very far he could hear the haunting melody coming from a flute.
It would have seemed like a dream but even in a dream there was no way he would imagine the song he’d composed about his soulmate being played half out of tune on a flute made of new cut bamboo.
Lan Zhan landed close enough he could approach on foot. The flute player was too busy to pay attention to him as he directed Wen Ning with his music. Why was Wen Ning here? He was supposed to be dead and cremated sixteen years prior. Obviously there were lies within lies still echoing from long ago and they were awake now that Wei Wuxian was.
Because only one person aside from possibly Sizhui and Xichen would know the melody being played right now. As soon as Wen Ning turned and took a leap over the people watching to make his escape, Lan Zhan reached out and wrapped his fingers around Wei Wuxian’s wrist. It was where he’d left his mark years ago. Of all things when he’d grabbed Wei Wuxian’s arm to shove it away and keep him from touching his headband he’d left his own silvery blue handprint on the other’s arm marking him as one of the few that had the right to touch that headband.
Wei Wuxian turned his head in surprise at being caught. The touch should have let him know who was there so he shouldn’t have been surprised…or maybe he was just surprised that his Lan Zhan had caught up with him. He hadn’t exactly been making it easy after all.
Neither of them were given a chance to say anything since that was when Jiang Cheng and the others caught up to them yelling for Jin Ling. When the others spoke up telling the clan leader that it was Wen Ning that had attacked them he could see Wei Wuxian casting nervous glances at his sworn brother and feel him making small tugs at Lan Zhan’s hand trying out his grip. It seemed his plan was going to be to run again.
Of course, as soon as the others pointed at Wei Wuxian and accused him of calling Wen Ning out, those small tugs grew sharper. Knowing it would draw more suspicion than they wanted, Lan Zhan let go of Wei Wuxian’s arm. Running now with Jian Cheng’s attention on him was only inviting lashes from Zidian.
Purple energy crackled around Jiang Cheng’s hand and without needing to think about it Lan Zhan stepped in front of Wei Wuxian and deflected the incoming lash with a sharp chord from his guqin. The two energies met with a clash that set everyone around them stumbling in the shockwave.
“Lan Wangji how dare you!” Jiang Cheng was furious. The plan was to keep his attention away from Wei Wuxian by not answering and irritating him further. Unfortunately Wei Wuxian made the poor decision to make a break for it and once he was out from behind Lan Wanji, Zidian lashed out again and slashed across his back and sent him sprawling.
Of course he’d got to his feet and accused JIang Cheng of beating him because he was rich and could get away with it. As always he was a master at infuriating his sworn brother the way no one else could. Jiang Cheng was off balance because Zidian should have revealed if the body was being possessed by Wei Wuxian.
“Tell me. Who are you?” This time Jiang Cheng sounded more desperate than angry.
And this time Wei Wuxian couldn’t answer him because he collapsed unconscious on the ground.
~~~
Lan Zhan hadn’t let Jiang Cheng anywhere near the fallen ‘Mo Xuanyu’ after he’d passed out. Luckily he was too taken aback by the fact that Zidian’s strike hadn’t worked against Mo Xuanyu. His suspicion that he was possessed by Wei Wuxian had been wrong and that had left him shaken enough that Sizhui and Jingyi were able to distract him while Lan Zhan pulled him off the ground and onto his sword so they could return to Cloud Recesses. By the time Jiang Cheng had realized what he was doing it was too late to do more than shout after their retreating forms and listen to the many apologies From Suzhui about the Lan Clan’s need to leave the hunt early.
In Cloud Recesses he took off the mask which told him what he already knew. This was Wei Wuxian, he hadn’t possessed Mo Xianu but how he was back Lan Zhan didn’t know. Right now all that mattered was he was back. He didn’t honestly care how it had happened.
When he checked the unconscious Wei Wuxian there was the expected wound from being whipped with Zidian but there were also three recently healed over large gashes in his arm as well as one still gaping open unhealed but not bleeding. It was obviously not a normal wound.
When he checked the other arm he expected to find his own handprint of silvery blue around Wei Wuxian’s wrist. He used to see it there peeking out from under the tight bound sleeves Wei Wuxian would wear and every time he did he would feel an avalanche of mixed feelings. Wei Wuxian was so different from him, and he hated Gusu and Cloud Recesses. He told Jiang Cheng in front of Lan Zhan that if he had to live in Gusu with their 3000 rules he would die. Hearing that had made him bleed a little inside. How could Lan Zhan show him his soulmate mark and ask him to be with him if Wei Wuxian hated where he came from?
It had taken a long time to figure out things were a lot more complicated than that and that Wei Wuxian was kept apart from him by larger reasons than he didn’t like Cloud Recesses. So many times back then the world and the war had kept them apart and he’d always told him if Wei Wuxian ever did come back they would forget all those things and he’d tell him everything.
But now that he was back…the soulmark was gone. Lan Zhan let his fingers touch the warm skin where the mark should be and had to fight back an urge to lift Wei Wuxian’s hand and press kisses to it. It wasn’t fair, Wei Wuxian was still his soulmate but Lan Zhan was no longer
Wei Wuxian’s.
~~~
It was so easy to fall back into the rhythm of traveling with Wei Wuxian. Despite the devastation of finding out that the soulmark was gone they still had to solve the mystery of the sword spirit and who had recreated the Stygian Tiger Amulet and that meant working together to find answers. It didn’t even occur to Lan Zhan that he could stand back and not help him handle it.
Their travels kept intersecting them with the juniors. Sizhui and the others took easily to being around Wei Wuxian…except for Jin Ling but he was prickly enough Lan Zhan wasn’t sure he actually was polite to anyone and since he wasn’t trying to cut ‘Mo Xuanyu’ off at the knees every time he saw him he was actually being the Jin Ling version of polite. They trusted Wei Wuxian and listened when he told them things and Lan Zhan could see his soulmate drinking it all in. If you didn’t know Wei Wuxian the way Lan Zhan did you would assume he was happy.
But when Wei Wuxian thought no one was looking, the smiles faded. Lan Zhan caught Wei Wuxian rubbing at his arms whenever he was trying to pick apart the knot of the puzzle they were working on. He could tell what was worrying him depending on which arm he was rubbing. Sometimes it was the one with the open and unhealing wound but more often it was the one that should have marks on it that didn’t.
And so they traveled, and every time they learned something they were handed another mystery in its place. It was difficult to stay one step ahead of everyone while investigating. Jiang Cheng found out it really was Wei Wuxian returned and the threat of his telling everyone the Yilling Patriarch was back was a constant worry. On top of all of that Lan Zhan was keeping things from his clan. He guessed that Xichen had figured it out but he was concealing the truth from the others.
The stress of it all constantly nagging at him finally made him snatch one of Wei Wuxian’s cups of wine and down it hoping it would knock him out or make him say all the things on his mind. It was a mistake.
The next day all he had was a raging headache, despite the multiple cups of tea and soaking his head under a cold pump, and vague memories of Wei Wuxian touching his shoulder where the soulmark was and feeling a yearning to touch back that almost drove him out of his mind. The problem was he wasn’t sure if those memories were real memories or wine dreams.
The one thing he knew wasn’t a dream was the fight he’d had with the Ghost Faced man they found in their room when they returned.
For once Wei Wuxian was the first one up and ready to go. By the time Lan Zhan had pulled himself together and came out to join him there was already more tea and Wei Wuxian had obviously eaten. Facing this scene he wanted to go back inside and hide himself away for the rest of the day. Unfortunately Wei Wuxian saw him as soon as he came out of the inn.
“Lan Zhan, you’re awake.”
He’d paused halfway down the stairs at the front of the inn but there was no escaping this. Lan Zhan took a deep breath and descended the rest of the way. “Last night…I…”
“You didn’t do anything last night!” Wei Wuxian cut in far too quickly for that to be true. “You just talked a lot.”
Lan Zhan felt like a pit had opened up in his stomach. He’d talked? He hadn’t been able to look Wei Wuxian in the face before now but now he looked up at him feeling horrified. “What did I say?”
“Well there wasn’t anything to it, really all you were saying was you…” And that sadistic Wei Wuxian let the pause drag out long enough every ugly possibility of what he could have said went through Lan Zhan’s mind. “...you like rabbits!”
It was possible he said that but he could tell by the way Wei Wuxian was going on about how he likes rabbits too that it hadn’t just been that. He squared his shoulders and faced Wei Wuxian. “What exactly did I do?”
“Nothing, nothing! I was just teasing you.” Wei Wuxian laughed and wrinkled his nose at him with the smile that had made him so hard to ignore even back when they first met in Cloud Recesses before he put his hand lightly on Lan Zhan’s shoulder over the soulmark. He could feel the reaction to the touch clear down to his toes..
Wei Wuxian was lying. Even though the elation surging through him from the touch on the soulmark he could tell that. Whatever he’d done the night before must have been worse than he thought.
~~~
“Yilling Patriarch, ever since you jumped off the cliff at Nevernight the Jin clan collected your sword and not long after that it sealed itself.” They’d been investigating in Koi Tower but now everything was turning against them. Jin Ling had his sword out next to Jin Guangyao and his teeth were bared in an expression of disgust. Jiang Cheng stood behind them both with his expression wavering between triumph that Wei Wuxian had finally been caught and worry for what would happen to him.
“Of course Jiang Cheng couldn’t have known it was Wei Wuxian, I have just remembered that Mo Xuanyu spent time with a book of the Yilling Patriarch’s. It had a spell called the Sacrifice Summons…your Zidian couldn’t detect a possession because he isn’t possessed he is Wei Wuxian.” The clan leaders were starting to be swayed by the things that Jin Guangyao was saying. Of course he was only telling the truth, that was how he manipulated people, it was the pieces of truth he revealed that were so damning.
It was Wei Wuxian that got them out of the room without casualties. He’d pulled a talisman and used it filling the room with dozens of bits of light that zoomed into the others. They had been able to break the seal around Cloud Recesses once and the others had to reel backward away from their stings. It gave them time to flee the room and make it to the main staircase of Koi Tower.
When their way was blocked he grabbed Wei Wuxian’s arm and pulled him with him in a leap over the heads of the others but before they could make it to the bottom more guards came up from the bottom of the staircase and hemmed them in.
That was when Wei Wuxian shoved him away.
It pulled his arm out of Lan Zhan’s grasp and he turned to stare at his soulmate feeling like he’d just been kicked in the chest. The hurt of being pushed away had stolen his ability to breathe. When he saw Wei Wuxian turn to Jin Guangyao and the others Lan Zhan could practically hear things spinning in his head as he looked for a way to get them out of the situation so for the moment he stayed where he was to watch.
“Yilling Patriarch, at this moment, why do you still wear the mask?” Jin Guangyao was smiling as he descended the steps toward them. He stopped enough steps away to be outside of Lan Zhan’s immediate reach…he wasn’t stupid after all…and waited.
With a sigh that only Lan Zhan could hear Wei Wuxian reached up to untie the mask. The guards surrounding them took a step back just seeing his face. The mask slipped from Wei Wuxian’s fingers and clattered to the steps, very loud in the sudden silence.
“Oh Yilling Patriarch you are so worthy of the name. Look at you make us all look like idiots, not only was Jin Ling fooled but Hanguan Jun was fooled by you.” Jin Guangyao was playing his role to the hilt.
In that instant he saw what Wei Wuxian’s plan was. It was what his plan always was. He had pushed Lan Zhan away to stand alone and now he smirked and nodded. “You are right…”
“He is not right.” Lan Zhan said it loudly enough the entire gathering heard it. He saw the anger flash across Jin Guangyao’s face as he went outside the planned script. Obviously he’d expected Lan Zhan to save face and allow Wei Wuxian to take the blame for everything.
Instead Lan Zhan stepped up next to Wei Wuxian to show clearly where his allegiance stood. He smiled, something many of them had never seen, and while he was still speaking loud enough for everyone to hear he was speaking directly to Wei Wuxian. “I have always known he is Wei Ying, my soulmate.”
“Lan Zhan!” Wei Wuxian gasped and turned to face him and he saw the smile that was only there for him.
Lan Zhan drew his sword and turned to face the others with his smile fading into sternness. Wei Wuxian frantically grabbed his wrist to get his attention. “Lan Zhan you don’t have to do this. I’m used to this, just say I fooled you and we’ll leave. They won’t dare to say anything bad about Hanguan Jun.”
“Wei Ying.” He turned away from the others to look at his soulmate as if no one else was there. “Do you remember what you said to me before in the burial mounds?” It was many years ago where he’d visited with Wei Wuxian and A Yuan in their home in the Burial Mounds. Things were so dark and there was so little hope on the horizon for his soulmate and the little family he’d gathered to try to protect. Even with all of that he smiled and twirled Chenqing as he walked away. He’d called back over his shoulder in the gathering gloom of twilight, “Who cares about the wide busy street? I’ll stick to the single log bridge until dark!” He’d danced off into the dark with A Yuan turning it into a strange song as they went. At the time Lan Zhan didn’t understand it but he did now.
“The feeling of sticking to the single log bridge until dark definitely isn’t bad.” Lan Zhan would walk this narrow bridge into the dark with Wei Wuxuan with no regrets.
Wei Wuxian let out a surprised sounding laugh and shook his head. “Oh Lan Zhan.” He laughed again and the tight grip he had on Lan Zhan’s wrist turned into more of a caress. “All right Lan Zhan, you have one more chance. After you go through this door with me there’s no turning back. Hanguan Jun’s reputation will be ruined.”
He wasn’t seriously expecting Lan Zhan to back out obviously since he turned at the same time Lan Zhan did so they were now standing back to back ready for the attack that was to come. “So are we going to fight?”
Lan Zhan let out a soft snort of derision. Once he’d chosen his path he was ready to start walking it. “You talk too much.”
He felt the quick laugh Wei Wuxian let out against his back rather than heard it so he was ready when Wei Wuxian barked out, “Let’s fight!”
The attack was quick. Guards from all sides came at them and they were hampered by trying to disable them rather than injuring them, although Lan Zhan was sure there might be some broken ribs among those he hit with the flat of Bichen. He had to keep switching sides protect Wei Wuxian and kicked several of the guards away to give them room to breathe. A glance at the clan leaders assembled behind Jin Guangyao showed none of them seemed ready to join in the fight so as soon as there was room they both leaped forward over the guard lower on the stairs and started to jog across the landing. For a brief second Lan Zhan thought they were in the clear.
Until Jin Ling arrived and stopped Wei Wuxuan with his sword pointed directly at his chest.
“Are you Wei Ying? Are you Wei Wuxian?” His voice trembled but Lan Zhan couldn’t tell if it was rage or if he was conflicted.
Wei Wuxian kept his sword at his side and looked earnestly at his nephew. “Jin Ling, I will tell you about it all later? All right?” Then he stepped forward.
Lan Zhan honestly thought it was alright until turned and saw the blood dripping from Wei Wuxian’s mouth and realized that Jin Ling had stabbed him. Horrified, he almost lashed out with Bichen but at the last second used his palm to drive Jin Ling backward instead. “Are you all right?”
Wei Wuxian was clutching his side, muttering under his breath but finally nodded. “I’ll be fine. Let’s go.”
Lan Zhan didn’t even look back. He’d chosen his path.
~~~
Lan Zhan had sent a messenger to his brother when Wei Wuxian coughed up blood and passed out. He needed more healing than Lan Zhan could give him on the road while they were on the run. He was still astonished that they’d made it as far as they had before he’d had to give in. The stab wound was deep and they’d slogged through rain that was quickly turning the ground into deep mud in what felt like a nightmare. In the end Lan Zhan had been mostly carrying Wei Wuxian with his feet barely touching the ground as he walked and he still couldn’t manage to make it any further.
Xichen had given permission for him to bring Wei Wuxan to Cloud Recesses. He would have brought him there anyway but it was good to have permission. It meant Xichen would run interference to keep people away while Wei Wuxian healed.
Wei Wuxian had been treated and Lan Zhan had played the guqin for him every day to help with his recovery but it still took him several days to awaken completely. Several times he came half awake in pain asking for water or tea but Lan Zhan doubted he would remember any of those awakenings.
Today he was playing for him as usual when he heard a muffled sound of pain and saw Wei Wuxian trying to sit up in bed. This time he looked like he was waking up for real so he left the guqin and walked over to the bed to help him make it upright. “You’re awake.”
“Yes.” He didn’t look happy about it but he was definitely awake.
“How is your wound?”
He watched Wei Wuxian immediately get a grin on his face and he made a skeptical noise. “My wound? It’s fine.”
Not believing him in the slightest, Lan Zhan flipped his shirt open so he could check the bandage. It was still clean and dry so it wasn’t bleeding any more but when Wei Wuxian had moved to try to avoid Lan Zhan the move had turned into a wince of pain making him hold himself still.
It allowed Lan Zhan to pick up his arm and push his sleeve back to show the remaining open wound with the three scars. “The Sacrifice Summons?”
Wei Wuxian pulled his arm out of his grip and hastily pushed the sleeve down. “Yes.”
“Is there a way to break it?”
“No. All of Mo Xuanyu’s enemies have to die to break it. Once that happens the curse will lift on its own. But the last one…” Now that the wound was covered Wei Wuxian moved his hand to cover his other arm where the missing soulmark was so it would be difficult for the sleeve to be lifted.
“Jin Guangyao.” Lan Zhan reached out to touch his fingers to the back of the hand holding down the sleeve. “I already know. You don’t have to hide it.”
The hand jerked under his fingers and Wei Wuxian looked away from him to the side. Lan Zhan could see his throat move as he opened his mouth as if to speak but no sound came out. He felt like he was hyper aware of everything while he waited.
“It’s the Sacrifice Summons.” He had to lean forward a little to hear Wei Wuxian. Being that close was intoxicating, he could see the jump of the pulse in his throat and smell the faint scent of sweat overlaying that smell that was Wei Wuxian. It made him think of what it would be like for both of them to be sweaty and covered in each other's scents. Thoughts like that made it very difficult to concentrate on what was being said and he had to drag his mind back to the present.
“The Sacrifice Summons…?” Lan Zhan didn’t understand. Maybe if he knew more about the summons he would. Maybe if he was thinking a little less about different ways that Wei Wuxian could get sweaty it would help as well.
Wei Wuxian sighed and held up the arm with the wound on it, still without looking at him. “The spell is performed and the person summons the spirit into their body in return you must fulfill whatever wish they had. In this case Mo Xuanyu’s wish was for me to kill all of his enemies. He told me he wanted me to destroy them all but he wasn’t very good about leaving me names so until now I didn’t know the last person he wanted destroyed. My soul isn’t free to have any other attachments until the matter is resolved.” His throat moved as he swallowed again and Lan Zhan could see him blinking back his emotions.
Now he understood but it didn’t make it any easier to hear. Lan Zhan didn’t know how to reassure him with words. Instead he picked up Wei Wuxian’s hand and put it on his shoulder where his own mark was. That finally made him look back.
“Lan Zhan…” Understanding slowly dawned on Wei Ying’s face and he started pushing at Lan Zhan’s robes to try to see the skin underneath. It was a strange echo of the time they were trapped in a cave and Wei Wuxian was trying to get him to undress so they could dry out.
They weren’t going to get anywhere with Wei Wuxian trying to undress him. It also wasn’t helping with the way his mind kept going sideways to things he shouldn’t be thinking about with Wei Ying injured and all these things they needed to solve before they could even consider anything else. He doubted the ritual of the Sacrifice Summons wouldn’t also have consequences if it wasn’t fulfilled.
“Wei Ying.” He caught and removed Wei Wuxian’s hands so he could loosen the sash and ties to show his shoulder. It kept everything from getting damaged but somehow still didn’t keep him from imagining Wei Wuxian doing it. He slipped the robes off his shoulder so the red handprint showed but kept it from slipping down further so he wouldn’t see the scars from the discipline whip. He wasn’t ready to talk about that.
At first all Wei Wuxian did was look at the mark. It was uncomfortable sitting there with his skin bared despite the fact he’d just opened Wei Wuxian’s shirt to check his wound. That sort of thing had never bothered Wei Wuxian. Abruptly, Wei Wuxian reached out to touch the mark. He didn’t think he would do it and his hands were busy keeping his robes from slipping too far so there was no opportunity for Lan Zhan to stop him.
“I can’t believe it.” Wei Wuxian’s fingers were cool where they traced over Lan Zhan’s skin. There was a tone almost like reverence in Wei Wuxian’s voice. The soft touch tickled and he could feel goosebumps trying to raise on his skin until Wei Wuxian spread out his fingers and lay his hand flat on the handprint like he was checking it to make sure he fit. In all these years since he’d been marked he’d never been touched on the mark without clothes in the way and the shock of it went straight through Lan Zhan. He couldn’t think or breathe and ended up letting go of his robe to grab Wei Wuxian’s wrist to push his hand harder against the mark until his brain made one final desperate attempt to regain control and he somehow pulled Wei Wuxian’s hand off his shoulder and shrugged his shoulder back into his robes.
“We…there are things…”
“You’re right. We need to finish solving this first.” There was contrition in Wei Wuxian’s voice and he pulled his hand back in an exaggerated show that he was going to keep it to himself. “But Lan Zhan…” He grinned with that little wrinkle of his nose at Lan Zhan. “I think you might have liked it.”
~~~
So many things happened so quickly after that. First they ran into Wen Ning on their way to the Burial mounds. There they found the juniors being held captive in the caves to lure the clans into a trap. It was revealed that Su She, formerly of the Lan clan who had left to form his own cultivation clan, was the ghost-faced man they had run into several times before. He had managed to spring the trap and play a song that sealed the spiritual power of the clans while they were pursued up the mountain by puppets. In order to get everyone out of the trap Wei Wuxian had sent the juniors, Wen Ning and the clans to make a run for it while he and Lan Zhan stayed behind to lure the puppets to the blood pool where they could trap them.
At least if he wouldn’t give up his habit of making himself the target to save others Wei Wuxian had learned he had better plan for Lan Zhan to be beside him pulling off his crazy ideas.
It meant when they all came limping down off the mountains around Burial Mounds they were all in rough shape. The spiritual power was slowly starting to return to those that had been sealed and Wei Wuxian was almost completely drained as well as physically exhausted. Lan Zhan and the Juniors that had been trapped in the cave were the only ones left that could protect the group and Lan Zhan wasn’t at his best after the battle with the puppets.
The only plan everyone could agree on was to retreat and rest at Lotus Pier. The home that Wei Wuxian hadn’t seen for over sixteen years. The home that as far as Jiang Cheng was concerned he wasn’t welcome at.
All this time chasing answers since Wei Wuxian had been brought back and somehow as soon as they got to Lotus Pier all the evidence they needed was dropped into their laps without warning.
Leaving the others to argue over what was supposed to be done next Wei Wuxian had led Lan Zhan away from the main pavilion to walk around Lotus Pier. Lan Zhan watched him as he walked his old home and saw the sad smile that lingered on his face. Every new smell and sight seemed to be greeted like an old friend. Occasionally Wei Wuxian would reach out a hand and trail it over a rail or decoration and he plucked a few leaves from a plant to bruise with his fingers so he could inhale the scent as they walked into the family ancestral shrine.
Lan Zhan could only be there with him while Wei Wuxian confronted all these memories. He stayed by his shoulder as they walked and knelt beside him in the shrine to pay honor to his sister and adoptive parents.
“I used to spend a lot of time here, Madam Yu used to send me here often.” Wei Wuxian let out a soft huff of amusement. “Of course I have never met another woman that was as irritable as she was…” He caught himself possibly realizing he was criticizing the dead and bowed to the shrine again. “All my fault of course. My fault.”
Lan Zhan waited until he was sitting upright again. “Won’t you speak to Jiang Cheng?”
“I don’t know. There is so much misunderstanding between us. It isn’t easy.” Wei Wuxian shook his head. “Besides. I did those things. I created the Stygian Tiger Amulet even if there’s other people at fault like Jin Guangyao I am not without blame am I?”
“Wei Wuxian!” The peace of the shrine was shattered by Jiang Cheng sweeping in radiating anger. “Do you think you belong here? That you can just go wherever you want and bring other people with you?”
As soon as he’d come in the room Lan Zhan’s gaze went forward and he refused to give any sign that he acknowledged Jiang Cheng’s existence but it was very difficult when he continued to berate Wei Wuxian who was explaining he hadn’t taken Lan Zhan anywhere that was secret that they’d just come here to offer incense and they were leaving.
“You should kneel down before them and apologize for ruining their peace! You were already kicked out of our clan. How dare you come here and bother my parents and my sister!”
Unable to stand by Lan Zhan started to step forward but Wei Wuxian stopped him with a hand to his midsection. “Lan Zhan. Let’s go.”
“And Lan Wangji, one of the Twin Jades of the Lan Clan who colludes with you and brings down the reputation of his clan, he really is destroying all of his honor partnering up with the Yilling Patriarch…”
“Jiang Wanyin!” Wei Wuxian stepped forward to grab his sworn brother by the robes and shook him before either her or Lan Zhan could react. “You take it back!”
Lan Zhan watched the color start to drain away from Wei Wuxian’s face. He was still exhausted and drained from the fight at the Blood Pool. Even yelling at Jiang Cheng wasn’t putting any color back in his face which was starting to look drawn and haggard. Finally he saw Wei Wuxian look up at the shrine where Jiang Yanli’s name was and with a deep breath and a shake of his head he let go of Jiang Cheng and staggered back.
He was immediately there to catch his arm and support him. “Wei Ying?”
“I’m fine. Let’s go.” He obviously wasn’t fine but Lan Zhan wasn’t going to argue with him in front of Jiang Cheng so he just nodded and started steering him out of the shrine and down the walkway toward where the boats had docked earlier. If he could get him there Wei Wuxian could sit with Sizhui and Wen Ning to recover.
They didn’t make it very far before Jiang Cheng cut them off and grabbed Wei Wuxian by the front of his robes. Lan Zhan snaked out a hand and caught Jiang Cheng’s wrist gripping it hard enough he could feel the bones grinding together a little beneath his fingers. “Let go.”
It was gratifying to see the man look at him with a little bit of fear. Jiang Cheng was a clan leader and Cultivator but he was still afraid of Lan Zhan. When he hesitated to let go of Wei Wuxian, Lan Zhan used his other hand to knock his arm up and away so he lost his grip on the robes.
Wei Wuxian reeled on his feet before Lan Zhan got an arm around his shoulders again. There was blood coming from Wei Wuxian’s nose and he was looking vaguely around him as if he was confused.
“Wei Ying?” The blood was a bad sign, he shouldn’t have been so spiritually drained with what they did that he’d damaged himself but that’s what it was looking like. He needed to get him where he could transfer some spiritual energy to him so Lan Zhan pushed past Jiang Cheng so they could get somewhere they could rest.
The crackle of energy alerted him so even as Jiang Cheng yelled at them to stop he was turning with Bichen in hand to deflect the slash from Zidian. The crackling whip of purple energy made his arm numb but was deflected off to the side. He turned back to Wei Wuxain just in time to see him crumple and managed to catch him before he hit the wood of the walkway.
This time when Zidian lashed out again he had no way to defend and turned so he would be protecting Wei Wuxian’s body with his own. Just before the lash hit a flurry of black robes rushed past them and took the blow.
He was surprised to see Wen Ning picking himself up off the walkway with Wei Wuxian’s sword in his hand. It had been handed to him back in the burial mounds so he could use it to help the others get out and down the mountain and he was still carrying it.
Lan Zhan wasn’t willing to leave Wei Wuxian alone so he watched Wen Ning and Jiang Cheng as Wen Ning insisted he take the sword and unsheath it. That didn’t make any sense. They’d tested the blade after Jin Guangyao said it had sealed itself and it had been true. Why would he be forcing Jiang Cheng to try to draw it when he couldn’t?
As soon as Jiang Cheng grabbed the hilt and pulled on it in a fit of rage like he was trying to yank the whole sword and sheath out of Wen Ning’s hand the blade slid out of the sheath and flashed with light.
The entire world came to a halt and all Lan Zhan could hear was the blood pounding in his ears. Jiang Cheng could pull the sword. The sword saw him as Wei Wuxian. How could it mistake Jiang Cheng for his soulmate?
“It unsealed itself.” Jiang Cheng’s voice was almost pleading with them for that to be true.
“No.” Wen Ning was angry, he didn’t often get angry for himself but for Wei Wuxian he could be furious. He could also be very deadly. He told the story of how Jiang Cheng thought he’d had his golden core, the source of his spiritual power and a piece of the soul, repaired but really Wei Wuxian had given him his own so he wouldn’t give up.
That was why Wei Wuxian had started on the path to becoming the Yilling Patriarch. It was why he’d turned to things like the Stygian Tiger Amulet and other means that cultivators shouldn’t use. He’d given up a piece of his soul to save his brother. Another sacrifice he’d made gladly for someone he’d loved.
And it was why the soulmark on Lan Zhan’s shoulder had never burned away. There was still a small piece of Wei Wuxian left in the world after he’d died and it had kept his mark alive.
He could hear Jiang Cheng pleading with Wen Ning and accusing him of lying. His soulmate was unconscious in his arms with blood still slowly leaking from his nose and he couldn’t listen to this anymore. With a silent snarl of anger he thumped Bichen’s hilt on the walkway and used it to help push him to his feet without losing his grip on Wei Wuxian.
Cradling his soulmate in his arms with Wei Wuxian’s head rocking gently against his shoulder as he walked, Lan Zhan left Lotus Pier and swore he would never go there again.
~~~
Of course just because they’d had all the evidence they needed to prove Jin Guangyao’s guilt dropped in their laps that still hadn’t made it easy to catch up with him. It was only a random piece of information that guided them to the Guanyin temple where they fell into another trap. Of course they expected this trap. What they didn’t expect was Wei Wuxian’s idiot nephew to run straight into danger so they had to jump in to save him. It put Wei Wuxian right into Jin Guangyao’s reach and the garrote that ended up around his neck.
When the choice came to either seal his own spiritual power or to watch Jin Guangyao hurt Wei Wuxian there wasn’t any choice at all. He didn’t even need to see the thin threads of blood trickling out from under the garrote to know that Jin Guangyao would kill him without any regret. He had sheathed Bichen and struck the chi points that put a seal on his spiritual power without argument.
Firmly in the trap he’d sat shoulder to shoulder with Wei Wuxian against one of the pillars in the Guanyin hall and watched the show unfold. Jin Guangyao planned to retrieve whatever he was digging up out of the back of the hall and disappear and Lan Zhan wasn’t sure how they were going to stop him since he had them all under his control.
At least until they triggered a trap digging up the coffin they were after and he started to lose a grip on everything. Their mysterious benefactor that had given them the evidence was still working behind the scenes.
“Something strange is going on Lan Zhan. Be ready for an opportunity.” Wei Wuxian had mostly been quiet other than to taunt Su She and Jin Guangyao’s other conspirators.
“Mn.” Lan Zhan was watching but no opportunity had come up yet.
A loud crash of thunder rattled the temple and suddenly the door was kicked open revealing Jiang Cheng in a dramatic flash of light with his sword drawn. “Showoff.” Lan Zhan silently agreed with Wei Wuxian’s assessment. Unfortunately for all the flashy entry he didn’t help them much. He started the fight but Jin Guangyao finished it and Jiang Cheng ended up joining them in the ‘prisoner’ section of the temple as he channeled spiritual energy to heal his wounds.
The fight finally came down to Wei Wuxian being given Chenqing by Jiang Cheng so he could subdue the sword ghost and bring down the Guanyin temple. Outside for a long time they didn’t know what had happened inside and if Jin Guangyao was dead or not. Until Wei Wuxian pulled his sleeve back and Lan Zhan could see the last open wound start to heal over and close. The conditions of the Sacrifice Summons were finally met.
Without caring who was watching, Lan Zhan put his hand on the sides of Wei Wuxian’s face and pulled him in for a kiss.
~~~
They were standing outside of the Guanyin temple while the others investigated the wreckage where Jin Guangyao had made his last stand and lost. The juniors had all crowded around Wei Wuxian to make sure he was all right but seeing the bloody mark around his neck from where he’d been held hostage and his newly branded soulmark they’d eventually moved off to gossip and speculate with each other off to the side.
Wei Wuxian looked at Lan Zhan and pointed at the silvery blue handprint that stood out against the golden skin of his face. Lan Zhan’s hand had marked him with a new soulmark when he’d pulled him into that kiss just after the temple collapsed. “You did this on purpose didn’t you?”
Lan Zhan lifted his hand to place it over the handprint and smiled watching Wei Ying close his eyes and lean into the touch. He looked like a smug cat when he did that. “Of course I did.”
“So possessive Lan Zhan, what am I going to do with you?” Wei Wuxian turned his face so he could kiss Lan Zhan’s hand then grinned at him. “Come on, let's kiss in front of your uncle again. His teeth were grinding so hard I could hear them last time.