Work Text:
The first time I came down from heaven without permission...
...I got lost.
In the middle of a forest in the middle of what I knew was Yunmeng, I met a young man dressed in purple; he was a 3-tailed fox...he was very...beautiful, now I know. At that time, I was 8 human years old, it didn't seem important to me.
"Hey, little dragon~ are you lost~?", the teasing tone in his voice I still remember; brings joy to my heart.
Wei Ying helped me, took me to his clan leader; I waited on the earth world for two days before my older brother and uncle found me.
After that event, I returned to the earth on a few occasions; Wei Ying and I became friends. One day, uncle said that I shouldn't go down any further and that no one would accompany me. The doors in Gusu were closed for decades...
When I turned 100 years old, my brother told me about the war in the earthly kingdom. He told me that the Wen clan decided to subdue the other clans, and... the dragon clan decided not to intervene.
I forced the doors of Gusu, I left my home.
On earth things are very different than the last time I was here.
Yunmeng Jiang is no more, not like it used to be.
Jiang Wanyin remembers me; his parents, friends and the disciples he grew up with, were all killed. Her sister lives as the wife of a peacock prince to the north land. And Wei Ying…
Wei Ying has not returned to Yunmeng; Jiang Wanyin has said that he walked away from the common world after Lotus Pier was destroyed; he says that Wei Ying is not who he used to be.
Throughout my journey on earth, I have heard about Wei Wuxian, they call him the YiLing Patriarch, they have said that he was a key player in the war against the Wen...
...yet there is fear and contempt in those who tell me his story...
As if Wei Ying didn't belong to this world anymore.
.
.
.
The deserted land without leafy trees where foxes can play; the air is cold and unpleasant, this is nothing like Lotus Pier.
“What are you looking for here?”
The image in front of me is not like the young man who once smiled me carelessly.
“…”, but it's him, even if I'm late, “Wei Ying ...”, his pupils scarlet, different from the clarity of a fresh summer’s rain his eyes once were, “…don't you remember me ...?”
The unknowing in his eyes, as if his mind is clouded in the middle of the darkness from YiLing and covered by resentful energy.
“Wei Ying, I am lost again.”
I've missed you, Wei Ying.
I still miss you.
Dragons are greedy.
I...
"Are you... Lan Zhan?"
...I will take you with me to Gusu, high up at heavens.