Chapter Text
"Wei Ying" Lan Zhan pushes out, blood splilling quickly from the deep cuts on his chest.
Wei ying sees him fall and unleashes a cry of agony while rushing toward him, letting the juniors finish off the demon they'd been fighting.
He begins pouring spiritual energy into his husband as soon as he makes contact with him.
But it's no use, he'd already lost too much blood. Lan Zahn was dying, and there was nothing Wei Ying could do.
"I'm here love, it'll be ok, I promise" he lies, tears streaming down his face, continuing a steady stream of spiritual energy.
Lan Zahns blood is covering his hands and robes as he tries to apply pressure and stop the bleeding. He's dying, wei ying can't believe it, how could lan zhan, the love of his life, his reason for living, die.
"wei ying. will be ok." he sputters out between coughs, making the bleeding worse.
"I won't." he sobs "I cant live without you, I can't do it." he says, as he pulls his love closer. He can feel his spiritual energy waning, he can't give him anymore, but the bleeding still hasn't stopped.
"Wei Ying" his voice is a whisper now barely audible, and Wei Ying has to lean down closer to hear him. "I love you."
Those are the last words Lahn Zahn says before he dies.
Wei Ying feels it, feels his husbands soul leave his body, still warm and slick with blood, He screams.
He's not sure how long he sits there, crying and screaming while holding his lifeless husband. Eventually a hand lands gently on his shoulder and the scream suddenly stops. Lan Sizhui kneels beside him, crying himself as he moves to hold both of his fathers.
The remaining juniors look quietly on at this little family, now torn apart, and their hearts hurt to see it.
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He isn't sure how many days have past, he knows they've already buried his husband, and gone through the traditional mourning period. Time isn't real for him right now though. He feels weightless, as if there's nothing tying him to this realm anymore.
How was he supposed to live on without Lan Zahn? He'd already lost so much, and the universe had decided to take this from him as well.
They should never have gone on that night hunt, but Wei Ying had insisted, wanting one more hunt with the juniors before they officially became sect leaders and had no more time for night hunts for fun anymore.
And look where that had landed them, His husband dead and him alone, again.
he laughs to himself bitterly 'Its always my fault, I'm the cause of so many deaths, maybe this is retribution.' he thinks
Its just a few days later when he leaves, despite Sizhui's pleas for him to stay.
He wanders for a while with Wen ning following, not knowing where he's going, until they ends up in Qinghe.
'Huaisang, of course' he thinks when he realises where they are. If anyone can help him it would be his sworn brother.
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Nie Huaisang folds his fan up gently upon hearing the knock on his office door. "Come in." he calls standing up from his desk to greet his visitor.
Wei Wuxian enters, smiling brightly as usual. But Huaisang can see that the smile doesn't quite reach his eyes, which have dark circles under them.
The man looks as if he hasn't slept in days, but Huaisang chooses not to comment on it. Instead he moves to pull the other man into a hug, squeezing him tightly. Wei wuxian returns the embrace, hugging him tightly in return.
"i'm sorry to hear about Lan Zhan." he says when they separate. Wei Wuxian's smile drops at that and he looks down.
He looks as if the life has been sucked out of him, and he might collapse any moment.
Huaisang quickly ushers him to the small sofa in the corner of the room, and sits beside him as the man practically falls into it. "I... I just don't know what to do without him" he whispers, and Huaisang can hear the utter despair in his voice.
Huaisang worries, having never seen his friend like this, as if he'd lost all hope. The man who is usually almost bursting with energy seems to have no life in him as he sits with his head in his hands, long dark hair falling to cover his face.
Many years had passed since wei wuxian's return, and everything that came with it. Long enough for them both to be old men having lived full lives, though not without many regrets on both their parts.
But huaisang can see that there's no way Wei wuxian plans to live on without his beloved.
"I've been thinking about it actually." he says, gently rubbing his sworn brothers back. he was never truly good at comforting others, but for Wei Ying he tries.
"You're not the only old man with many regrets." His says as his mind wanders briefly to his brother and Meng Yao, before he'd become Jin Guangyao, and how he couldn't save either of them.
Wei wuxian looks up at him, a glint of hope shining in his eyes. "What are you planning?" he asks, though a little wary. Huaisang can't exactly blame him for that given his track record with plans.
Since he's seemed to regained a bit of his energy Huaisang ushers him over to his desk where he'd previously been working. He then pulls a second chair over for him before sitting in his own chair.
Pushing aside the letter to Lan Xichen he'd been working on and pulls forward what he'd been researching.
Wei wuxian peers at the papers, eyebrows furrowing as he reads them over, before his eyes light up and he looks up at Huaisang. "This is genius," he says, slightly awed, before continuing to read.
Huaisang smiles to himself, pleased. He may have built up a reputation as an idiot, earning himself the title of 'Head shaker' as a tribute to what most people saw as a fact. But he was glad Wei Ying had seen past that long ago.
"I can't take full credit actually," he says pulling something out from one of the drawers of his desk, a stack of papers and two notebooks.
Wei Wuxian's eyes light up in recognition. "I couldn't have made it without you- or without your rather infuriating notes. They were a nightmare to get through by the way." Huaisang says glaring at him after the last statement.
Wei wuxian smiles at that. 'it's nice to see him smile' Huaisang thinks smiling in turn himself.
"That's what you get for going through a poor old mans personal things." Wei Ying says, faking offense.
"They weren't supposed to be read by anyone but me so forgive me if I didn't go into extreme detail." he continues, taking the notebooks and papers from Huaisang and looking through them as well.
Huaisang nods at this and watches silently as Wei Ying looks at his work again, sometimes going back to his old notebooks as if double checking things.
After a long while he pushes the papers away, rubbing his eyes, and turns to look at Huaisang again. Thankfully he no longer looks empty, huaisang notes.
"This... could work, It'll take time for sure but we've got plenty of that on our hands at the moment." he states.
"It'll take both of us, and Wen Ning if he'll help, as the array requires a substantial amount of resentful energy." Huaisang says.
"The array should bring us back, but-" he pauses for a second before continuing, "but I've found no way to control how far back we go."
Wei Wuxian's eyebrows furrow again upon hearing this, and he looks through his notebooks again quickly before nodding to himself.
"There might not be a way to control that, but Wen Ning will help, if I ask." his voice falls for a second and for a moment he's that broken man again,
“As long as Lan Zhan is safe." he says before composing himself again and standing.
Huaisang stands up with him, pulling him into another hug again before pulling back and fixing him with a hard stare.
"We'll get back, you'll see Lan Zahn again, but first you need to sleep." Wei Ying begins to complain before Huaisang glares at him, and the refusal dies on his tongue. Huaisang smiles brightly and begins leading him out the door.
"I've already got a room prepared for you, next to mine, no one will bother you." Wei Ying looks surprised at this for a second before smiling at him.
"Ah my sweet Xiong, always taking care of me." he says before Huaisang rolls his eyes and pushes him into the room they've arrived at, hopefully to sleep.
He continues on to his room before calling a servant to have a sleeping draught sent to Wei ying's room, hopefully that will allow his sworn brother to finally get some sleep.
'He needs it, but so do I.' Huaisang thinks before changing into his night clothes and going about his night time routine.
As he takes his greying hair down from his braids and ponytail and brushes through it he thinks.
Soon he would be able to see his brother again, hopefully they'd be able to go back far enough to prevent everything Wen Ruohan had done and save him.
Slowly his mind turns to Wen Ning, he and the man had grown close since Wei Ying's return, and even more so since the two had become sworn brothers.
As if summoned by Huaisang's thoughts Wen Ning appears on the balcony and the far end of Huaisangs room, black veins lacing under his pale skin.
He wears his usual black robe, not appearing to have aged a day since his death and consequent resurrection.
He turns to smile at the man gesturing for him to come in. "Have you talked to Wei Ying?" he asks once the man fully enters the room.
Wen ning nods and goes to stand beside Huaisang, looking at him through the mirror for a moment, eyes softening, before turning to look him head on.
"He say's you'll need my help, to preform the array, but-" his breath catches on the last word and he closes his eyes for a moment, before opening them again,
"But i don't want to loose you." it feels vulnerable, this confession, and Huaisang smiles despite himself.
He looks at the man before him for a moment before taking his hand. His fingers buzz and his heart flutters silently at the contact.
"There's no need to worry A-Ning, you're not loosing anyone, you'll be coming with us."
Wen Ning breathes a sigh of relief at this, looking down at their hands for a moment, then looking into Huaisang's eyes.
His eyes hold more emotion than Huaisang though a fierce corpse could hold, probably because Win Ning was more than a regular fierce corpse.
"Thank you." he whispers before pulling his hand away and exiting, jumping down from the balcony he had entered from.
Huaisang knew he was going out to guard them, and to avoid frightening any other members of the Nie sect that were up at this ungodly hour. Members which were mainly servants as the night had turned late enough to be almost day.
Nevertheless he felt a pang in his heart as the man left. 'Stop that, we've got other things to focus on right now.' he chastises himself before putting his brush down and moving to lay down on his bed.
He thinks of his brother, and Wen Ning, and, surprisingly, Meng Yao again as he closes his eyes and begins drifting off to sleep.
They had so much to do before he could see his brother and hopefully fix things, but they wouldn't be able to without at least a few hours rest.
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Wei Ying is sitting on the bed in the room Huaisang had made for him, deep in thought, when a servant arrives.
She tells wei ying Huaisang has asked her to bring him a sleeping draught, with orders to take it soon.
He smiles slightly and accepts before thanking her and she leaves, closing the door behind her.
he stands there momentarily, lost in thought. Huaisang has always been there for him, even more since he'd been brought back and they grew close again.
Then, many years ago now, Huaisang had asked Wei Ying to become his sworn brother. Wei Ying had, of course accepted, and they were sworn together a few months later.
He sets the vial on the table, brought quickly from his thoughts, when he sees something in the corner of his eye, he turns suddenly, bringing the figure into view, to see Wen ning.
"A-Ning you scared me don't do that!" he says laughing shakily, before moving to sit on the bed again.
Wen ning smiles and nods "I'm sorry, did speaking with Master Huaisang help?" he asks, tilting his head slightly to the side.
Wei Ying quickly begins explaining the array and how it worked, at least in theory as it hadn't been used yet, and how they'd need his help.
Wen Ning nods as he explains and simply states, "Anything i can do to help, i will." before moving to grab the forgotten vial of sleeping draught on the table and pushing it into Wei Ying's hands. "You need sleep." he says.
Wei Ying takes it and drinks obediently, 'He looks sad, but why?' he thinks as the, surprisingly strong, draught starts to take effect. 'Maybe he misses A-Zahn too.' is the last thought that passes through his mind as Wen ning passes out the balcony and sleep overtakes him fully.