MDZS Oneshots / The Untamed / WangXian

The Shadow of You (Vol. 5)

"Who are you?" Wei WuXian retorted in offense, stepping closer. His eyes flicked over the man's shoulder only to find the Wen had fled on his sword.

"W-Wei WuXian?" The man was noticeably in shock. Suddenly, he'd been cornered by none other than the famed demonic cultivator of Yiling. He gulped, Adam's apple slipping down his throat as his thin lips grew even thinner and his hairline glimmered like a maiden's string of pearls.

"Wow." Wei WuXian twirled his ChenQing in amusement. When it stopped, its tail end pointed right at the man. "We have the same name."

Enraged by his flippancy, the man moved to slap his dizi away with an open palm. Wei WuXian sighed. I hoped to avoid a fight. He leapt back gracefully, scarlet robes billowing around his ankles like a rose's gown of petals.

"ChenQing doesn't appreciate being touched."

The white-robed man scoffed. His feet seemed to sink into the bed of mud as if his anger weighed heavily upon his shoulders. "How much did you see?"

"How much? Oh, not much really, just a traitor being traitorous—"

He lunged, lead by his sword's gleaming point. Again, always on the tip of his toes, Wei WuXian nimbly jumped out of the way.

"Manners! Don't forget your manners! With all that white, aren't you a Lan? Or..." He recognized the man now—Su She, curtesy name Su MinShan. He was a self-proclaimed defector who, in actuality, was shamefully exiled from the Cloud Recesses. And the reason Lan Zhan was captured and humiliated during the Wen raid. "Or do you just like to play dress-up?"

"Wei WuXian, I was going to spare you for saving my life back then, but you're just an arrogant bastard!"

He swung again, but his callousness bred negligence. Wei WuXian had ducked and Su She instead struck wood. Sap rinsed the steel. His sword was rooted in the thick bark of a tree and he couldn't pull it out.

Wei WuXian eyed the blue glare of spiritual energy rippling across his blade.

"You don't want to use your weapon. Surely the sword-glare will draw unwanted attention from camp." Tonguing his lips, Wei WuXian dampened them in a balm of spit and rose his dizi to the dip in his chin. "But I don't have to worry about that."

Yet, before he could blow even one note, Su She interrupted.

"Don't you? Wei WuXian, what if I tell them you're the traitor? Do you really think those men will believe someone like you over myself?"

"You forget who my brother is. Anyways, aren't you already a known traitor?"

Su She smirked.

Behind himself, Wei WuXian heard the distinct shink of a sword being drawn. His hackles rose. The Wen. He whirled around, blocking the sword's thin edge with his dizi, but Su She had unstuck his blade and now returned for another blow.

Wei WuXian shoved ChenQing, knocking the Wen and his sword back, but he was too slow to dodge Su She's sword. Only, it didn't strike him, it struck ChenQing. His flute flew from his hands and the two men didn't give him the chance to retrieve it. Dodging one blade was hard enough, but two was beginning to feel like a losing battle.

Stuck in the ribs by a boot, Wei WuXian was suddenly grounded. He spit wads of grass and dirt from his teeth, stomach fraught with sick that he refused to spill. Even as footsteps approached him, his tired eyes didn't open until Su She squawked, "Z-Zewu Jun!?"

Wei WuXian blinked in disbelief. White boots of sculpted ice stood guard before him, like sentries of an immortal's palace. Shuoyue was steaming with blood. The Wen's head and his body were no longer joined by a neck.

It was Wei WuXian's turn to awkwardly squawk, "Zewu Jun?"

"Wei Gongzi, are you alright?" Lan XiChen asked softly with his broad back still to Wei WuXian.

"I—"

"Zewu Jun, he's a Wen informant!" Su She pointed a blameful finger right at Wei WuXian who had sat up and was nursing his head.

"You swine!" Stunned, Wei WuXian couldn't find any words in his defense as Su She pulled the roll of papers from his sleeve and fanned them out.

"I caught him handing over these sensitive documents!"

Wei WuXian shook his head. His hands felt fatally empty without a flute's glazed body to hold.

But Lan XiChen glanced back at him then and assured him with a smile. Turning back towards Su She, he said, "Su MinShan, forgive my impudence but your treachery in the Cloud Recesses has not been forgotten. You believe me foolish enough to trust your word?"

"I believe you smart enough not to trust his."

"Then perhaps I'm not as smart as you think I am."

Smiling, Lan XiChen nudged the dizi towards Wei WuXian with his foot being that none could touch it. A couple cultivators from various Sects had come from the camp, drawn by the sword-glares, and apprehended Su She. It was just the two of them now.

"Thank you, Zewu Jun," Wei WuXian quietly mumbled as he stood up. He dusted off his dizi and stashed it back in his belt.

"You were worried I wouldn't trust you." Lan XiChen, ever observant, had sensed the other man's dread. Such instincts must be how he understands his brother.

"Ah, well, to be fair... I've never really been well-received in in this world."

Undisciplined, disrespectful, untamed—all were words that followed him. Wei WuXian did not think it possible for him to be viewed any other way. Especially now, walking the crooked path. Of course he worried, despite what he'd told Su She earlier.

"If I may, Wei Gongzi, you left a great impression on me the very night we met."

Huh?

"Really?"

"Indeed. Such is why I encouraged WangJi to befriend you. Though, it seems he went a step further, hm?" Lan XiChen has a cheeky grin on his face. His lips were pinker than Lan Zhan's, and so he had a boyish glow to him.

Feeling the warmth of a blush, Wei WuXian turned his head. Are Lan Zhan and I that obvious?

•••

Not me turning 19 tomorrow. Y'all I literally started on wattpad when I was 10 (writing 1D fics of course) it's almost been a decade 😭