Chapter Text
Pursuing the Boar Yao through the forest of Gusu was proving to be a greater hassle than anticipated. The beast had been quite cooperative in communicating its grievance. It had seen its babies killed by humans and made to watch after accidentally breaking a fence, all to be injured and left to die. This clearly didn't work out. Unfortunately, when asked for its wish in order to let go of its grief, it wanted to see the whole village razed to the ground and refused to communicate any more with them, charging before fleeing.
That had been three days ago. Three days of pursuit, and thankfully no more casualties than a few fences. Lan Sizhui was starting to see the signs of exhaustion on both his friends and himself and was starting to regret their insistence that they could fully take care of it. Right about now, the assistance of a more experienced cultivator would be great. Unfortunately for Sizhui, he was the oldest here and de facto in charge. Jingyi had protested the notion and insisted that it was because he was the “mom” of their little group. Which… as much as it pained him, was not entirely wrong.
Finally the beast had been cornered in a cave. One that was deceptively small from the outside but seemed to sprawl out way further. Now that they had the Yao stuck between the four of them and a rock solid wall they would be able to attempt suppression since liberation was out of the possibilities. Assuming his role as the de facto leader of the hunt, Sizhui directed his friends to take position for the array they would use. One of them at each cardinal point, channeled spiritual energy through their swords plunged in the ground. The biggest risk was the creature escaping the array before the circle was closed. But soon enough the circle was perfectly formed.
Thinking them safe, Sizhui was about to relax his attention when he realized that the Yao was not stunned in place but collecting its energy. Its malicious eyes strained on Jin Ling. He felt the world slow down to a stop. In that instant, he knew couldn't let anything happen to him. Firstly because that was his friend and if he could avoid any of them getting hurt, the price meant little to him. Secondly, because this was the first time they had the opportunity to go on a hunt without backup from older cultivators. It was their moment to prove that they didn't need babysitting anymore even if in the past year and a half supervision consisted of mostly a few seniors staying back at an inn and waiting either for the hunt to end or a distress signal. But there they had none. A distress signal would be basically useless because the closest sect was, at least, four shichen away by sword.
Exchanging a quick look with Jingyi, Sizhui poured spiritual energy in the array before dropping his position but letting his sword embedded in the ground, confident that his friend would take over in directing the energy in the right way. With a burst of adrenaline, he crossed the distance to Jin Ling at the same time the beast started charging. The tusks collided with Sizhui's side in a disgusting noise of lacerated flesh and bones cracking. The last thing he felt before everything went dark was a violent surge of spiritual energy.
This was not the first time in his life Lan Jingyi was asking himself what he did to the world to deserve ending up in situations. Though, when compared to others, never before had he seen his life flash before his eyes like that; now, his brain helpfully reminded him that he could see absolutely nothing; all courtesy of the cave just collapsing on them. It was incredibly rude. Still, he didn't light up a talisman. The last images before the darkness replaying in a loop in his mind.
Sizhui asking for his help. The moment he understood why. The beast charging toward Jin Ling and impaling Sizhui instead. The panic submerging him and being freed in a violent burst of energy. A similar burst coming from Zizhen and Jin Ling. The crushing fear followed by a physical feeling of being crushed to the ground after the cave shook for a moment. That last image of a still and bloody Sizhui. So no, Jingyi didn't light a talisman. Call him a coward but he'd rather face ghosts on his own than ever witness his friend like that again.
Unfortunately for Jingyi he hadn't thought loudly enough to keep Zizhen from lighting one. At least he looked okay, a few scratches here and there but mostly not harmed. Not taking stock of his own appearance, he was fine thank you very much, Jingyi let his eyes wander to the pile of white, gold and vibrant red. Jin Ling didn't look well but he didn't look injured either, which good, but he was still pale. Sizhui… Sizhui wasn't waking up. And his robes would be utterly ruined, supplied Jingyi's brain in an attempt to be helpful.
Getting up with a wince. He might have been too hasty saying he was fine. Jingyi made his way near his friends, trying to assess the situation. Which would be much easier if his ears stopped ringing. By the time he was at Sizhui's side Jin Ling had broken through his daze and had started applying pressure on the wound, hiding it from sight. Taking a wrist in his hand, Jingyi started pouring whatever spiritual energy he had left into Sizhui, feeling his own nausea worsen the more he gave, not caring one bit.
“I'll sort the medicine we have,” whispered Zizhen, his voice booming in the oppressive silence around them.
Not long after that… or maybe it was quite a while after… Jingyi was unsure of how long had passed… Nonetheless, his energy flagged, his golden core was completely depleted, his head was swimming and he felt nauseous. Maybe the rocks had hit him harder than he thought. Feeling the cold dampness of the cave to his bones without his core heating him up, he silently settled snuggled against Sizhui. Something they used to do a lot as toddlers in the Lan’s nursery, something they were punished for quite a few times. Still even if they did it way less, they never really stopped the action too comforting to deprive themselves from it. And at the end of the day, the people whose opinion mattered didn't have any problems with it. And like that sleep took him away from the cave and into a meadow full of bunnies.
Blood. So much blood. The gold of his sleeves was turning crimson. The sticky liquid covered his hands in a lukewarm sensation that spread cold through his whole body. The Lan white of Sizhui’s robes had disappeared. Only red remained. His friend was unconscious. His ears rang loud with the sound of his own blood rushing in his brain. The same blood that he should have been losing right now. That he would have been losing. If his stupid friend hadn't taken the hit for him. Why would he do that? Did he look so weak that he needed someone else to sacrifice themselves for his protection?
Still he couldn't stop applying pressure on the wound. He couldn't do the same as Jingyi and push all his remaining spiritual energy in the wounded boy and pass out. He couldn't do the same as Zizhen and actually do stuff. He could just keep his hands there, the blood soaking his hands, his sleeves, Sizhui's clothes, the ground underneath them. He was distantly aware of Zizhen moving around and talking. But he didn't hear any of it. He didn't see any of it. There's only the sound of his blood rushing in his veins. The wetness of Sizhui's blood seeping between his fingers. The iron smell filling his nose. The red, the crimson red blood covering his field of vision.
He should have probably been panicking or crying or something… but he felt nothing. He didn't have the space for emotions, everything was only made of raw sensations. Thoughts had no place here. He felt barely aware of his own body. The world a blur of reds, a ragged breath, the give of flesh under flesh. He did not register when the blood flow slowed down. Neither did he register the blanket placed on his shoulders. He only knew that the world was a blur of coldness and warm blood.
At some point he stopped feeling his hands. They moved but he hadn't done it, and then he moved and he hadn't done it either. He vaguely felt that his hands were no longer sticky with his friend's blood. He vaguely felt something fluffy and warm against his body. His eyes were open but whatever they saw didn't seem real. His ears were buzzing full of nothing. His body felt like even if he tried, it wouldn't respond to him. This state overwhelmed him for long enough that the fall into sleep was barely felt.
Ouyang Zizhen started silently collecting every qiankun pouch they had, stopping only to give a pat to poor Fairy pacing around her master without Jin Ling even noticing. Zizhen hadn't really paid attention to his friend's spiritual dog during the hunt, she was used to staying out of the way as much as possible once her help wasn't directly required. But as things were right now he didn't have time to dedicate to Fairy.
And so Zizhen started working. He was conscious that the babble he let out, while making an inventory of their resources, wasn't heard, but the silence was stressing him out, and speaking helped with the organizing. It took him a while to sort through everything and rearrange it by categories. One bag for dried food, one for fresh food, one for medicine, one for camping gear, one containing a pouch for each of them to safely store their personal effects, and one pouch with the things Jin Ling had brought for Fairy. He had the inane thought that he had seen people be less spoiled than that dog, even in well off families. But Fairy was a good dog, and for all that Jingyi called her fat to rile up Jin Ling, she was in fact really healthy, and better trained than when they met her. Something that didn't help Wei-Qianbei be more comfortable with her but allowed them an easier time with non-cultivators. If only by virtue of not having to apologize for her enthusiasm in greeting people.
Anyways… he was done with the inventory. And the idea of doing nothing else made him antsy. Pacing for a bit, he decided to start building a camp. Or what could pass for a very barebone version of one at least. He started by making sure even if they were stuck inside, they still had sufficient ventilation for a small fire. It would be stupid to die from too much smoke, but they needed both the light and the warmth or their core would have a hard time recovering from the exhaustion. Thankfully he was able to locate a spot with an opening in the ceiling that should work, and quickly put together a pit before realizing that they didn't have enough branches around for more than tonight. With a sigh and a mental note to look for wood when exploring the rest of the cave tomorrow, he swiftly lit up a small fire.
The warmth didn't have the time to settle in his hands, that a whine from Fairy distracted him, calling him back to his friends. It was clear the spiritual dog was worrying for her master. Her head in his lap, but Jin Ling not registering her presence and trembling. From what exactly, Zizhen couldn't say but he wasn't about to take any chances and grabbed the blankets and bedrolls from the things he had organized earlier. He draped one of the blankets on Jin Ling’s shoulders, earning not even a jolt of surprise from him. Then he bundled Jingyi in a second one before installing his own bedroll and one extra for Jin Ling.
A scratch between Fairy’s ears later and he picked the medicine bag, he knew there was enough in there to bandage Sizhui for the night. It wouldn't be treating him per se, but at least it would prevent him from bleeding out while his core worked to heal the tissues. Were he less tired, he might even have ambitioned to stitch him up. But as it is he was starting to feel the toll of the day both physically and emotionally, doing stitches would be too risky. Unless the wound turned out to be life-threatening, cleaning and bandaging would do for now. Zizhen gently took out Jin Ling’s hands from Sizhui's injured side, not trying to move him more than that at the moment.
Some clean water and a ripping of the already ruined Lan robes later, and he was able to assess the situation a bit better. The tusk had caused some substantial lacerations, and what looked like a few broken ribs but thankfully no organs were visibly damaged. With a relieved sigh, Zizhen meticulously bandaged his friend's torso. Once done, he cleaned his own hands and Jin Ling's, before dragging the other to his bedroll. He was still catatonic but at least he was laying down, even if he wasn't asleep. Progress.
A little weary smile made its place on Zizhen's face when Fairy came to cuddle with her unresponsive master. He looked around the cave they were stuck in for the time being, everyone but him was cuddling in some way. He could most likely snuggle on the other side of Fairy to sleep. If he was able to sleep, which seemed unlikely, he was feeling jittery with nothing to do anymore. He knew that theoretically he could go explore the rest of the cave. He was also extremely uncomfortable at the idea of leaving his three mostly unconscious friends alone, even with Fairy around. It seemed somewhat unsafe for everyone involved, and with how much the feeling that something wasn't right was settling in, there was no way he would leave. So pacing around and fidgeting, stopping only to check on the others it was.