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They tripped over each other. They tried to stay on their feet for as long as they could. Lan Wangi´s arm was losing blood but the pain in his soul was bigger.
He’s okay, he kept repeating over and over as a mantra, he´s okay and he´s with me.
They kept running, farther away from the ongoing battle as possible. Lan Wangi held Wei Wuxian together; the man was physically fine but kept staring somewhere through the horizon, whatever was going on in his mind, was torturing him. Wei Wuxian held Lan Wangi together; he was tired, physically and emotionally, his arm bleeding like crazy. So, they kept running, then walking, then limping, as they grew tired, stumbling into each other, making sure that the other one stayed on his feet.
Neither knew how or how much it took them but they reached Cloud Recess. Lan Wangi guided them through the place and out again. Wei Wuxian let himself be guided, limp as he was. They reached it, the Jinshi. Tucked far from the main buildings, hidden from sight, a little private space.
“It isn´t much,” said Lan Wangi as he lay Wei Wuxian down on the bed. And I know that it can´t conceal us from the world as I want, he kept that thought for himself, “but it is a safe space and it is ours now.”
They spent the first couple of days treating each other wounds, old and new. Wei Wuxian would cry at night and during the day when he thought that Lan Wangi couldn´t notice. He cried for everything and nothing. For his sister, his brother, his aunt and uncle, for the Wens. He cried for himself. Lan Wangi washed their clothes and got them food, treating Wei Wuxian with the care and love that he was sure he longed those past months.
The days passed and both started to heal. The sun shone brighter or that seemed to Lan Wangi as he enjoyed the presence of Wei Wuxian´s smile back on his face. At night they shared the bed, guarding each other from nightmares of things that could have happen and things that did.
Lan Wangi spent the time that he didn´t spent by Wei Wuxian´s side with his brother and uncle. He didn´t vow to them and the rules, he didn´t repent for his actions during the war.
“….and I will not turn up Wei Ying. Your disciple was right, when she heard that laugh during her stroll at the back of the mountain. It was his and it is the best sound that I have ever heard, so you better get used to it, uncle.”
Lan Qiren was furious. “A war criminal… a criminal. That Wei Wuxian is a man that killed and made puppets, he used demonic cultivation as a mean. I will not bare to have him living on my mountain, concealed as the most innocent man on Earth.”
Lan Xichen´s smile widened as Lan Wangi stood his ground against punishing Wei Wuxian or turning him in to any clan.
After some consideration and more shouting from Lan Qiren, everyone agreed on the deal.
“Wei Wuxian will be concealed from sight,” said Lan Qiren as if the name made him want to throw up, “he is NOT allowed to cross the river and any suspicious activity will make him be send to trail…. If the fault is big enough, he would be handed out to any of the clans.”
Lan Qiren set his eyes on Lan Wangi for the first time since the discussion started to get heated. “And you, Wangi, will have to pay for your and Wei Wuxian´s faults done during the war.”
He returned home feeling disappointed but relief that Wei Wuxian was safe.
He went on a trip, travelled back to the Burial Mounds.
Lan Qiren gave him permission to go and get Wei Wuxian´s things, but Lan Wangi suspected that it was a test to see how Wei Wuxian would behave without Lan Wangi there to clean up his mess or excuse him.
The place was greyer than he remembered, maybe Wei Wuxian really lighted up everywhere he went. He retrieved some clothes, scrolls, talismans and… A-Yuan.
The boy was tucked between some tree roots, hidden away from immediate sight but his difficult breathing and Lan Wangi´s meticulous search found him.
Faster than he has ever flown, he went back to Cloud Recess. The boy was sick and burning with fever, but the good care from the hospital wing turned him into a healthy and smiley boy in no time.
Lan Wangi´s time divided into tending to Wei Wuxian, keeping A-Yuan company and getting beaten as punishment. His silence was paying for Wei Wuxian and A-Yuan´s stay at Cloud Recess.
Lan Qiren was not happy about it, another dangerous mouth to feed and guard. After his screaming round and Lan Xichen´s round of calming words, Lan Wangi´s punishment increased.
If there was ever a time in which Lan Wangi had loosen his posture and yelled at his uncle, this was it.
“I will never let you speak sick of his son! I am not going to plead you into accepting him as who he is and know that I don´t care; I can protect both of them well on my own. I will accept this punishment and any other you think along the way but I need you to let him stay. Nobody will know his origin, he will be presented as my son and treated like it. But please, if there is any good in your heart, teach him like any other disciple.”
Lan Wangi left without waiting for the answer that arrived an hour later at the Jinshi.
Wei Wuxian had given up all hope of ever coming to terms with Jiang Cheng but the relatively peaceful life with Lan Wangi at Cloud Recess was making him start enjoying life again. He never thought that life could be better, he had done some horrible things after all and deep down believed that he deserved punishment. He never believed of getting a better life, until he knew about A-Yuan.
The letter delivered to Lan Wangi had made him cry of happiness as never before. The boy was alive, alive and here. Alive.
He apologized to Lan Wangi for reading his correspondence, which he dismissed, and pleaded, begged to his love to bring the boy back to him. He needed to see A-Yuan for himself, know for sure that he was physical and not just another desire of his heart.
The forest around the Jinshi filled with two different laughs. The boy enjoyed the presence of his Xian-gege, they ran outside all day and play inside when it was cold or raining.
Lan Wangi enjoyed watching them. A-Yuan in his new Lan robes, which Wei Wuxian claimed that made him look cute, and Wei Wuxian never robbed completely right.
The days passed faster and as A-Yuan learned how to act as a Lan, Wei Wuxian grew increasingly stressed. As soon as most war things were taken care of and the roads were declared safe again, classes would start, which meant less time with A-Yuan in the Jinshi.
And the day came. A crying Wei Wuxian said goodbye to the boy and promised him to greet him back with a nice dinner, telling him to be good. A-Yuan, on the other hand, bid him with the brightest smile that Wei Wuxian have ever seen on the boy, promising him that if Rich-gege came back every evening, so would he.
If only he came back in one piece, thought Wei Wuxian.
For months, Wei Wuxian had seen how fragile Lan Wangi had become. At first, he gave it to his battle wounds being not totally healed. But his own started to disappear and so he started to suspect.
The first night that both felt comfortable enough to let pleasure take them as it pleased was great. But those nights started to become further away.
Lan Wangi stopped been naked or half naked whenever Wei Wuxian was in the Jinshi and even came a day in which he only allowed Wei Wuxian to touch him in certain parts of his body.
Wei Wuxian wasn´t worried for their relationship, the little smiles that Lan Wangi shoot him were as fond as always. Neither was A-Yuan´s presence all day at the Jinshi what made them stop being physical as Lan Wangi´s tiredness and tearful eyes came way before the boy.
Lan Wangi was being punished for Wei Wuxian´s sake and he couldn´t do anything about it for this was the safest place they had, if any at all. Any intervention from Wei Wuxian would make Lan Qiren madder and Wei Wuxian was sure that Lan Wangi would accept any kind of punishment willingly, dismissing it with an “I am okay, it is nothing.”
So, it came a day in which Wei Wuxian decided to put a stop to all that silent suffering. There were two occasions that made Wei Wuxian take the reins of the situation and free his family.
A year had passed already since Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangi´s arrival, A-Yuan better known now as Lan Yuan had become healthier and stronger, learning quickly and becoming the best student in his class. The boy would come every afternoon running to the awaiting arms of Wei Wuxian, always eager to tell him everything that he learned that day.
A few months into class, Wei Wuxian was tending the bunnies when he heard some familiar cries. Some boys were making fun of A-Yuan for appearing out of thin air and having no mother. Not only that but they had pushed him into a mud puddle.
Wei Wuxian wasted no time and rushed to aid his son, caring him into his arms and shouting at the older boys for being nasty. It didn´t take much for as the boys recognized in him the Yilling Patriarch from their parent´s stories and ran away, terrified.
He went back with the boy in his arms and tended him, relieved that he wasn´t hurt. He used calming words and changed him into clean white robes.
That night, Lan Qiren and Lan Xichen paid their first visit to the Jinshi. The parents wanted an explanation for the Yilling Patriarch´s presence and an apology.
Lan Qiren was furious but not as furious as Wei Wuxian who ignored Lan Wangi´s calls.
“I was only protecting my son.” He claimed without letting the men get close to A-Yuan. Staring directly into both Lan Qiren and Lan Xichen´s eyes, furious and patient. “You better stay away from A-Yuan.”
Lan Qiren´s goatee started to tremble but Lan Xichen intervened never losing his smile. “I´ll personally make sure that the boys received their punishment.”
He turned to Lan Qiren and Lan Wangi, “the parents will get an explanation and,” now kneeling and looking at A-Yuan who has hiding behind Wei Wuxian, “A-Yuan will get an apology.”
He rose again and his stare went back to Wei Wuxian. “But the boy needs to keep attending classes.”
“Well,” Lan Qiren stood up, “you are lucky this time, Wei Wuxian. But know that you are not allowed to put a foot out of line from now on.” And he bid goodbye only to his nephew, living the Jingshi with Lan Xichen trailing behind.
Since then, on, Wei Wuxian didn´t heard of another incident, as Lan Qiren had called it, of any kind done to his son.
The second occasion that fuelled Wei Wuxian, independent to how well they were treating A-Yuan now, were Lan Wangi´s wounds. A year had pass and yet his wounds seemed to get worst or at least they were not healing.
Wei Wuxian forced Lan Wangi to tell him. It took a lot of stares that meant everything from Lan Wangi and hushed screams from Wei Wuxian to finally make him speak.
“Uncle advised me to go into seclusion, but I couldn´t bear it. I can´t leave you alone when everybody thinks that you are a menace. 300 lashes for your faults. 40 for me protecting you and 40 more for keeping you here. And… and 60 more for not attending the clans´ meetings and talking foul of you as Uncle wanted, as a service in exchange for A-Yuan´s stay and protection. If I stayed here, with you, there wouldn´t be anyone to protect you and give A-Yuan what he needs.” Lan Wangi finished as both men crumbled in tears.
It was horrible. The skin on his back was black and green, pealing form lack of care, and angry red where the wounds had been reopened. Wei Wuxian was sure that the bleeding resumed every time Lan Wangi took a bath, having to take off the bandage placed over the still bleeding skin.
Wei Wuxian screamed as he tended the wounds; Lan Wangi cried silently trying not to flinch too much; A-Yuan was in the woods looking for fireflies.
Wei Wuxian decided that he couldn´t take it anymore, not now since his worries turned out to be true. He couldn´t keep on living nicely and happily knowing that Lan Wangi was suffering for his sake. Nothing could make him stay, not even A-Yuan´s stable life.
So, they decided to leave. The cultivation world was at peace, or at least more peaceful than the last time that Wei Wuxian had stepped foot outside Cloud Recess. They could go somewhere safe, away from the main roads and the clans´ constant movements.
They packed what they needed. Wei Wuxian decided to say goodbye to Lan Qiren by spitting on his face all the resentment that he felt since they arrived.
“You called me a criminal. You beat your own nephew nearly to death.” He didn´t let Lan Qiren interrupt him. “And if it wasn´t because we pleaded you to do it, you didn´t worry at all about A-Yuan who is innocent to everything that happens outside or between us. You feel like you are the wisest and best person on Earth, don´t you?”
Lan Wangi didn´t say anything.
They travelled for days, and tried to make it a fun adventure, taking any worry out of A-Yuan.
If there was a place that any person in their right mind would avoid and yet not a target anymore for suspicious activity, those were the Burial Mounds. The place was in ruins. Turned out that the clans´ threats about searching the place for any trace of the fled Wei Wuxian had become a reality.
Both men worked hard to make it into a good home.
Wei Wuxian cleaned up the cave and Lan Wangi made two beds and a table. If Wei Wuxian grew plants there before, why not now? Their days returned to their peace and happiness from before Lan Qiren´s rage aroused.
The hard part was explaining to A-Yuan why his grandma and relatives weren´t there to welcome them, and why they couldn´t come back from the journey they took. If tears and cries were heard in the Burial Mounds, those were A-Yuan´s.
Eventually the boy started to feel better.
Lan Wangi took in the job of teaching A-Yuan cultivation while Wei Wuxian tended his little garden and made the cave cosier. Pleasure came back to their relationship after Lan Wangi´s wounds started to heal and he felt better about his body.
Years passed and Lan Xichen visited twice. One to ask them to return to Cloud Recess and the second one just to make sure that they were okay and A-Yuan was healthy.
The cultivation world only got the news that the Second Lan Master had abandoned his clan to live in seclusion and to not be taken in account as help of any type.
Yilling, on the other hand, enjoy the little visits paid by him. It wasn´t often when they needed to buy things, as most things were harvested or made by Wei Wuxian, but A-Yuan was a growing boy and needed new clothes from time to time. Sometimes either of them needed scrolls and ink. Once Lan Wangi bought a new guiqin with the excuse of forgetting his at the Cloud Recess, which was a lie.
And so, A-Yuan turned into a well taught boy, close to his teenage years now. His sword play was admirable, his reading and writing were something to be jealous of, and his personality, one of a respectful boy when being respected, brave, caring and happy. Lan Wangi was proud of his son. Wei Wuxian cried and claimed that it was unfair how fast A-Yuan had grown.
The family spend their days laughing and learning from each other, each one doing their job. Until the little boy arrived.
What was he doing alone so far away from home? Neither knew, but after the shock washed away, specially from A-Yuan´s immediate hospitality, Jin Ling was welcome to dine with them.
Wei Wuxian couldn´t help the tears that gather in his eyes. He kept looking anywhere but Jin Ling. He tried to keep a happy and friendly face, especially to contrast Lan Wangi´s eternal frown, and tended the boy as he would any other.
In another life, he thought to himself.
Jin Ling told them that he had been spending time with Jin Guangyao and the rest of the Jin Sect, as was the deal with his uncle, “…but I grew tired of their snickering and ran away. In no time I noticed that I was lost but I kept wandering trying to find a known place or Yumeng. I am always welcome there, so It is a great place to go to.” He claimed he wasn´t afraid of anything, but being younger than A-Yuan, Lan Wangi and Wei Wuxian kept for themselves how little he knew about the world and scary things.
The boy stayed with them for a week.
Lan Wangi went to town to leave a notice that if anyone was looking for Jin Ling, they were to be told that he was okay and to come and see Lan Wangi.
The boys spent the days playing. Jin Ling became amazed by how much Lan Wangi knew about cultivation. The time when they weren´t in class, they explored the Burial Mounds, never away from adult supervision.
Lan Wangi´s soft ´Wei Ying´, made Jin Ling´s eyebrows knit in thought and confusion.
“Are you Wei Wuxian? My uncle says that you are bad and that you killed many good people. If that is the case, then why are you hiding in a place like this? If you ask me, you should be terrorizing some town or something, You don´t seem scary at all.”
“Ah, well, that is because I am not bad…” The rest of their conversation was kept a secret as they darted away from Lan Wangi and A-Yuan. But Wei Wuxian made sure to tell him how good his mother had been.
At the end of the week, Jiang Cheng´s signature yelling brought them out of the cave.
He had travelled with a little army after having a row of yelling with the Jins, and a, private, session of crying in fear of his nephew. After hearing where Lan Wangi was staying, he had decided to enter the Burial Mounds on his own, ready to send a signal in case he needed backup. He had never trusted Lan Wangi, but seeing that this was the place where the disappeared Wei Wuxian could be staying, he was wary of the man.
The four of them went out of the cave to greet their visitor.
Jiang Cheng´s fury decreased a little when Jin Ling ran to his side. A hug between nephew and uncle followed by a hushed “I will break your legs when we get home, you should never disappear like that” were witnessed by the family.
Now, with his worries at stake, he took in his surroundings. The Burial Mounds looked clean, comfortable even. Everything seemed to have life.
He greeted Lan Wangi; Wei Wuxian, the battle inside him between hatred and longing restarting; and the boy. It had to be the same boy but older and surprisingly polite, considering with who he was living with.
“Would you like some tea, uncle Jiang?” The boy, Wei Yuan, invited him.
“Wow,” came from Wei Wuxian who was still standing next to Lan Wangi at the cave´s entrance.
“I don´t think…”
“Please, uncle, please.” After being terrified for a week, Jiang Cheng couldn´t say no to Jin Ling´s pleading eyes.
“Okay, but just tea and then we…,” his sentence was interrupted by Jin Ling´s cheerful screams.
They sat down and drank tea, conversation being easy specially between the two boys that didn´t seemed to have met just a week ago. The adults talked, mostly Wei Wuxian, and exchanged news about the world, mostly Jiang Cheng.
Jiang Cheng sent a quick message to his cultivators saying that he was okay, he had found Jin Ling, who was okay, and the two of the would be staying the night with Lan Wangi after Jin Ling had plead him to stay, that he didn´t write.
As the boys were getting ready for bed and Lan Wangi went to a retired place to meditate, Wei Wuxian and Jiang Cheng walked the other way.
They talked at first, exchanging embarrassing parenting stories, later remembering past days until their conversation ended in cries and hugs. They talked about their fears during and after the war, how much they missed Jiang Yanli and then apologized even for things they thought hadn´t hurt the other one. If there was any resentment or fear still inside after that, it was each other´s business.
The new day came. Jiang Cheng and Jin Ling left. Before that, they promised to visit and welcomed them into Lotus Pier whenever they wanted.
And so, they kept their promises, watching both boys grow into teenagers. Jiang Cheng kept his angry stare and sneer; Lan Wangi smiled only for Wei Wuxian and A-Yuan; and Wei Wuxian continued to be his playful and curious self. But now they had a future to look up to and they would.