[MDZS] The Dragon and the Fox

Wei Ying

The little fox boy ran around the compound with glee, not caring who or what he nearly ran into. His playful giggles and laughter stopped abruptly when he ran into the one person he dreaded most: Madam Yu. She glared at him for a good, long while. Wei Ying felt jitters through his body as he waited for her next move. Luckily for him, she was in a good mood that day, or else he would have been dragged to the "punishment room" and flogged there. She walked around him. He breathed a sigh of relief only after she had rounded the next corner.

Wei Ying continued to run around the corridors, until he bumped into someone else. It felt like hitting a brick wall. He was caught before he could fall further. He opened his eyes to see his friend standing there. "Lan Zhan!" He hugged the other.

Lan Zhan was taken aback for a moment from the sudden gesture of the boy. He hesitated briefly, returning the hug along with a pat. The little boy smiled brightly at him. Lan Zhan felt his heart skip at seeing the smile.

Lan Zhan was around fifteen and Wei Ying was turning eleven. Wei Ying wasn't very tall, but he was slender like a woman with beautiful dark locks which hung past his mid-back while in a ponytail. Lan Zhan was tall for his age, even being slightly taller than his brother. Xichen, only being around two years older than Lan Zhan, found it adorable how his little brother wasn't so little at that age.

Wei Ying continued to hug Lan Zhan, until a certain someone interrupted his moment of peace. Jiang Cheng ripped Wei Ying away from the other.

Jiang Cheng: "Wei Wuxian! What do you think you're doing to the guests?" he scolded the fox. "Don't you know you have chores to do?"

Wei Ying crossed his arms and pouted. "First off! I'm saying hello to my friend! Secondly! I did all my chores already, so you can go fuck yourself, Jiang Cheng!"

Jiang Cheng: "Don't call me that! You aren't my brother! You'll never be my brother! Since when did the esteemed Lan Wangji become friends with a nobody like you? You can tell he hates you!"

Lan Zhan stood there with a stoic look on his face as if the argument meant nothing to him. Only, it did. He immediately shut the Clan Heir up with a glare that would slice through anything - even metal. Jiang Cheng shut his mouth immediately, shooting a glare at Wei Ying to say, "This isn't over with," and ran off to most likely tell his mother.

Lan Zhan went to touch Wei Ying who shied away from him. Lan Zhan wondered why the boy was flinching. Wei Ying closed his eyes, readying himself for the hit he thought he'd receive. "Wei Ying..." Lan Zhan spoke softly. He gently caressed the other's hair, petting him. Wei Ying was startled a bit by the foreign touch, but he soon realized he was safe. He slowly opened his eyes to find nothing save kindness in the other's eyes. "Wei Ying is safe..."

Wei Ying at once clung once more onto the young dragon. Lan Zhan continued to pet him. Xichen smiled, clearly amused at the display of affection his brother was showing in public - something Lan Zhan never did. Wei Ying purred rather loudly, leaning into the touch, longing for more of it. Oh! How he wished it would last forever! Sadly, it wasn't meant to be.

Madam Yu was ruthless. After learning of Wei Ying's "seduction", she severely punished him, flogging him with her ring-whip, Zidian. Wei Ying suffered many days and nights from it. She constantly cursed him and made him work incessantly, even going so far as to brand him openly with the symbol of their clan, the nine-petaled lotus, deeming him a slave rather than a family member. She branded him on his neck where no one would see it, his hair hiding it from view.

Wei Ying hid his pain and other hurt from everyone. He didn't wish for sympathy. He simply wished to be free. The day he turned fifteen, he had his wish granted.

Standing over the bodies of the Jiangs, Wei Ying growled menacingly at a lone figure a few feet in front of him. The figure was cast in shadow. Wei Ying felt all the anger and hatred he'd held back over the years rise through him, heating his body.

The man laughed menacingly. Wei Ying felt dizzy. His head throbbed. He didn't know what was happening, only that the next moment everything went dark. When he awakened, Jiang Cheng was running at him, clearly angered at having seen his parents killed. Wei Ying ran away from there, not because he was afraid of the other, but because Jiang Cheng was a wolf spirit. Wei Ying was deathly afraid of dogs, since he had witnessed his parents being murdered by a pack of them.

He ran away to a place deep in the woods. The place was peaceful and quiet. A small stream flowed through the clearing. He decided to make that his home. He bathed himself in the stream and decided to try hunting for fresh game. However, a sinister growl was heard nearby. Wei Ying froze at the sound. The growling grew louder as the beast drew nearer. Wei Ying swiftly hid in a tree to hide himself. He remained as still as possible. A gray wolf emerged from the tree line. It sniffed the air, made a face of uncertainty, and turned away, heading back to where it had arrived from.

Wei Ying exhaled a breath he didn't realize he was holding once the wolf disappeared. His stomach growled incessantly and rather loudly. He looked up at the sky to the afternoon sun and realized it was too late for hunting, so he searched through the trees, finding several fruits. He gathered as many as he could and proceeded to eat them. He tried one, but it was hard and bitter as it wasn't ripened yet. He threw it away and gave up on eating anything for the night. He would hunt in the morning. He fell asleep, curled in on himself.