✧𝔻𝔼𝕍𝕆𝕋𝕀𝕆ℕ~ 𝒶𝓃𝒾𝓂𝑒 𝑜𝓃𝑒𝓈𝒽𝑜𝓉 𝒸𝑜𝓁𝓁𝑒𝒸𝓉𝒾𝑜𝓃~✧

✧Lan Zhan- Blinded pt. 5✧

A/N- The picture above I can't- why must it hurt me like this? Also it's been a long time since I wrote in this book so pardon me if my writing is shit. I mean of course it would be because it's always bad but like- this time it's not my fault.

YOU AND XICHEN were ready to pounce on the Wen boys that hurt your brother. But you had a problem.

Lan Zhan didn't want you to hurt them.

"What if they hurt me again because you hurt them? T-they said that... that they'd k-kill me... if... if I told a-anyone," he had stammered, forcing words out through sobs.

It had taken an hour of Xichen stroking his brother's hair and speaking to him in a low voice, promising him no one would ever hurt him again, that made your hesitant younger brother finally condone what you were doing.

And dragon fruit cakes. A lot of homemade dragon fruit cakes. Lan Zhan loved those small fluffy pink bundles. When he received them, he would squeeze them playfully with his hands before hesitantly nibbling like the bunnies in Cloud Recesses' wide open mountains, his eyes smiling in joy and his lips curled up in a precious little-brother smile that warmed your heart to see.

He had eaten about five of those and received about an hour of talking from Xichen before allowing you and his older brother to go fight Wen Chao and his lackey, Wen Zhuliu, who would be a decent person if he didn't follow Chao around blindly like a servant. Zhuliu was of noble stock, and as much as Wen Chao tried to erase it from him, he knew the values of not hurting others for personal gain. But he just couldn't stop following Chao around... poor guy.

As you and Xichen approached the cottage where the Wens were housed for the lectures, you could hear Wen Chao saying disrespectful things about you and your family. According to him, Lan Quiren was an old and bitter grandpa that would never understand the newer generations, Lan Xichen was a coward and obeyed Quiren because he was afraid of punishment, you were the daughter of a prostitute and your only future was to follow your mother's trade, and Lan Zhan was a disgraced, disabled cut-sleeve.

When you heard the harsh things he was saying, your temper raged inside you like a fire. You placed your hands on the hilt of your sword and were ready to unsheath it and slice the windows of the house open, jumping in and slitting the throats of everyone sitting there and insulting your family so easily.

Xichen, however, was not going to allow you to do that. He knew the values of secrecy and stealth, and he gently laid his hand on yours, pushing your sword back into its hilt. His own sword, Shuoyue, was sitting motionless in its hilt, ready for the fight. Xichen rarely used his sword to fight, preferring instead to use his flute, which he had named Liebing. Liebing was a useful tool, but in fights Shuoyue would serve him well.

Your sword, Ningtian*, was completely different than Xichen's Shuoyue. You had fought with it many times, and preferred it to your guqin, which you had accurately named Paoqi*. And right now, you wanted nothing more than to attack everyone in sight with it.

( * means translations will be provided at the end of this part.)

"When can we charge, Xichen?" you hissed, wanting so badly to hurt someone.

Xichen took a deep breath, closed his eyes, opened him, then responded with the one word you had wanted to hear the most.

"Now."

The two of you leapt up to your feet and charged through the door, knocking a perfectly innocent tea table down to the ground and breaking the legs off of it. The three people in the room: Wen Chao, Wen Zhuliu, and Wen Chao's obedient and annoying little concubine, Lingjiao, were all shocked to see two of the Lan siblings they had just been insulting appear in front of them, and they were scared by the anger you had in your eyes and your aggressive demeanors.

Well, Lingjiao and Chao were. Zhuliu was calm as the rivers in Gusu's mountains, flowing serenely without a care in the world. He took one look at you and Xichen, scoffed, and calmly stepped towards the two of you with his fists raised, weaponless except for his two hands.

"You made a mistake facing us!" you blurted out, not knowing whether you were right or wrong, just wanting to act confident.

Zhuliu stayed silent and continued to step towards you. You knew he was targeting you based on the look in his eyes. It was a mix of emotions, but you could identify rage in that mix. His fists were tense, and his lips were pulled together in a stoic, straight face. He looked like your uncle Quiren when students were misbehaving, except more dangerous.

Much more dangerous.

You drew Ningtian from its sheath, ready to fight. Hearing your pulse rushing in your ears and your heart banging against your chest, you thought that was bloodlust. You hoisted your sword above your head and dived at Zhuliu's muscular chest, swiping your sword down at his breast.

He simply scoffed and spun around on one foot, avoiding your wildly swinging sword by a long way. You saw now why he didn't need a sword to parry blows; he had a true skill in dodging. But was he skilled at attacking?

You were about to find out.

"Y/N, meimei, no!"

You heard Xichen's voice crying out in a panic, and then your world became a supernova of pain.

Zhuliu, being the tactical genius he was, had waited until you raised your arms above your head to strike again, then had slammed his hand right into your solar plexus. It would have already hurt due to the solar plexus being a very sensitive spot, but what you didn't know was that Zhuliu had a peculiar power that made him valuable to Chao.

And that was his core crushing power, which he had just used on you.

You heard Xichen crying out in rage and pain, and then heard the unholy screeches of Lingjiao and Chao as they got bisected by Shuoyue, the two halves of their body lying on the floor as Shuoyue's cold metal surface steamed with warm blood.

"It would be wise for you to run," Zhuliu's monotone voice said to Xichen.

And your brother listened. He picked up your body, which was broken in more ways than one by now, and raced out of the Wen cottage, not stopping his wild run until he reached your cottage, where he collapsed onto his knees and you helplessly fell with him.

Your pain was getting worse and worse, but a welcome numbness was beginning to spread in waves up your body. Darkness was filling your eyes, and your ears felt like they were submerged underwater, hearing nothing.

"Meimei... meimei, xingxing!* Meimei!"

Xichen was screaming, but you couldn't hear it. All you heard was silence as your body was plunged into darkness. As you lost all your senses, your last thought was one of worry.

I hope my brothers don't worry about me when I don't wake up...

Translations:
Ningtian (níngtiān, 宁天) means 'peaceful sky.'
Paoqi (pāoqì, 抛弃) means 'abandon, forsake.'
Meimei (mèimei, 妹妹) means 'younger sister.'
Xingxing (xǐngxǐng, 醒醒) means 'wake up.'

A/N- This oneshot wasn't as bad as I thought it would be! I hope you guys liked it! The last part to this storyline is coming soon! I hope you're excited! See you in the next part!