Lan Wangji was in pain. Maybe because of the strain in his bones and core from excessively using his spiritual energy to fight off those walking corpses.
Scabs were starting to form on his cuts from how long he was walking. It felt tiring to just keep his eyelids open. His hands and legs trembled violently as he tried to sheathe Bichen whilst trying to do the same for Wangji.
He shakily inhaled. His face knitted into a tight expression as he refused to let out a groan of pain while he tried his best to gently lay down Wei Ying in a spot where he considered safe.
"Lan Zhan, are you...okay?" The latter asked peacefully whilst his beautiful eyes now with no spark stared in the wrong direction.
No. Wangji was not okay. His eyes watered and for the first time in his life, he wanted to lash out, scream and cry, all in hysterics. Be noisy.
No, the strain and the pain, the sharp sting couldn't even compare to how broken he felt when he experienced--
This. This was surely the cause of his pain. Wei Ying was distorted because of him. He forever lost his vision because of him.
His heart stung and burned harder than the trees that they set fire on.
As he breathed heavily, not knowing how to give a response; He struggled to make a sentence that might tell sorry for him, kowtow in gratitude and that begs and cries for forgiveness.
But, surely he couldn't even make a single sound, a heavy lump of guilt was stuck in his throat.
"I...amokay, Wei Ying" He croaked out, not realizing that he blurred his words together.
Wei Wuxian read his emotions as his features morphed into a sudden, sincere sympathy.
"That is...You know, Lan Zhan? If it weren't for you there...The silence and darkness of it would surely leave me wondering if I was dead or alive..." Wei Wuxian chuckled as if it was funny.
He was doing this on purpose, he somehow knew of Lan Wangji's guilt and took no mercy in increasing it tenfold.
However, Lan Wangji accepted his punishment with his head hanging low, tears blurring his eyes.
Ah, how much he wished that that sudden blurriness would leave him blind, crippled. Like Wei Ying.
A "Hm." was forced out, trying to give the man a reply.
"Ah, Lan Zhan, where are we?" Wei Wuxian inquired softly. His eyes were downcast, clinquant raindrops puddled in his long eyelashes. They glittered sublimely. He didn't deserve this sight of Wei Ying.
"Wei Ying...We are at Qinghe borders right now, no one in--" Lan Wangji took another shaky breath knowing that he couldn't speak properly with the growing buzz in his ears. Searing pain in his heart disrupts his speech, he restrains himself from clawing at his throat.
"--Sight. T..the dawn is here...and--" He tried to speak normally but it stung to even say the word that Wei Ying would never be able to experience again.
"Is it pretty?" Wei Wuxian asked again, his voice gentle. He wore a small, lovely smile on his face.
All the air that might have been remaining in his throat was knocked out.
"Yes," Lan Wangji sobbed out.
"It's very beautiful." 'Just like you,' He wanted to say.
"Please describe it for me," Wei Ying suddenly softly asked him.
"Look for me through your eyes, Lan Zhan.", Wei Ying calmly suggested, his tone vulnerable and assured. He closed his eyes, maybe finally realizing that he had no reason to open them again.
The anguish nearly pierced his head, as he clammed tightly on his clothes to not alert Wei YIng.
His heart muscle squeezes as it feels itself stabbed and twisted around.
Those words lacerated him, as a whole; he couldn't take it anymore and started to sob pathetically. It was like hot metal melting through his skin.
"It's!-- Sniffle-- Wei Ying! --Sob--- I-" Lan Wangji cried out, feeling utterly useless as he couldn't bear even looking into the dawn-tinted sky after he caught how lovely it was. The buzz only grew, but it became numb.
A lone tree with only one surviving flower blossoming on it was the only thing in sight.
His shoulders shuddered, as his hands trembled with every sob - out of emotion, too much sensation.
He hung his low as every disgusting - pathetic noise he never knew he had, was involuntarily forced out of his throat and heart. Eyes clenched shut as his heart raced.
"It's pretty, isn't it? Pity how there's only one flower left..." Wei Wuxian abruptly voiced out.
How could he know that?--
Lan Wangji rushed his head up. Bloodshot golden eyes widened in surprise as he opened his mouth - daring to speak but couldn't because of the shock.
Wei Wuxian turned his head back to him as his cherry lips curved upwards in a sympathetic smile.
His eyes stared at him. Eye to eye, they met. For the first time, he felt the metaphorical wall he put between them crash down and disappear for good.
No, he was not mistaken as the once lost spark came back to Wei Ying's eyes. He was looking straight at him, no mistake in the direction of where he sat.
Waves of relief flooded over him; Suddenly, there's too much noise. the buzz near his ears hurts but it's subsiding, his face feels warm. the edge of his lips feels like they might be pulled onto a smile.
And so they did.
He continued to beam as he let Wei Ying see the tears stream down his cheeks. His cheeks felt sore but, for Wei Ying to be saved, it was the least of his worries.
The sobs were also accompanied by incoherent mutters of sorry's and thank you's.
A delicate hand glided across his wet cheeks and as he, saw the man in front of him for who he really was.
The physical touch ignites a new kind of relaxation to his bones.
He was not some attractive Machiavellian like he thought that he was,
He-
He was Wei Ying.
"You tell me how it's your fault, and I'll tell you how you're wrong." Wei Wuxian told him, as he blessed him with a lovely smile.
The hand started to transfer a warm feeling through his meridians, and Lan Wangji felt overpowering surges of power surf within him.
His eyelids fluttered like he couldn't keep them open anymore, as he finally had enough energy to feel tired.
His whole body went limp and the final thing he saw was Wei Wuxian looking down adoringly at him.
----
Wei Wuxian gently dried away the lone tear that still lingered on Lan Wangji's cheek. His heart was yet to return to his normal, slow heartbeat. He could still feel the paranoia itching below his skin.
And despite the pain that is vibrating through his body, despite the flashes of pinpoint agony as if he's just been whipped yesterday, Wei Wuxian feels something clash against the suffering. A new kind of feeling that sends butterflies to his stomach, it was like a soothing balm being rubbed to his open wounds; his heart.
He stayed strong, he acted strong. For the beautiful mortal in front of him to not fully crumble in distress. He does not know why but seeing his remorse for him, makes him feel that someone else is also willingly sharing his pain with them. And it gives him a bit of courage.
So, he tried. He tried to ignore the hot licks of flame in his veins. He tried to ignore the fact that all he did was lie to Lan Wangji, he did not regain his sight fully. All he did was use his qi to sense the direction he was in, to make him believe his white lie. A farce.
He feels something heavy, warm on his shoulders. Something that had been unknowingly anchoring himself back to reality. He turned his head to his side and saw white at the corner of his eyes.
He flushed as he realized whose's it was. But they had to move, so he had to get back up soon.
"Your grace," He called out.
Seconds later, purple smoke came into his view. He guarded the sleeping Lan against the smoke with his sleeve, to let him breathe without any hindrance.
"Your highness!" A panicked voice surged out of the smoke, revealing a fine man in the Sanren sect uniform.
Fang Zhi rushed to his side as he checked for any injuries on his master, in a panicked state, he forgot both about courtesy and the human that slept on his master's lap.
The smoke started to dissipate as the pair came into view. Fang Zhi gasped offendedly at the sight of the sleeping human, blissfully ignorant of the fact that he got the privilege of resting his head on the heavenly crown prince.
Wei Wuxian shook his head in disapproval when he saw Fang Zhi glare spitefully at the sleeping figure of Lan Wangji. He could understand why the human thought of Lan Zhan as a threat but struggled to understand why he would seem so-
Insecure.
But no, he had no time for this, he could no longer fight to keep his eyes open to hold back the darkness.
"Your grace, last thing before I faint, take care of Lan Zhan too..." Wei Wuxian said that as he finally allowed himself to close his eyes. He held up pretty well, even though his whole body felt like it was about to explode into bloody bits and scraps. Even though he was terrified of what would happen in the dark.
"Your highness-" Fang Zhi got abruptly cut off as the prince lost consciousness.
---
Lan Wangji bleakly opened his eyes to a familiar roof. It was the guest room's roof of Gusu Lan. The hot metal became a dull ache that rooted from his head and reached his tip-toes.
"You might want to lay down, Lan-er-Gongzi." A sour voice echoed around the room.
He quickly noticed the venom laced in that voice, not recognizing it at all.
His vision sharpened and he retreated to the back of the bed, ready to defend. He was met with the sight of a handsome, sharp man who came towards from an alcove in the corner of the room. He had the same empyreal glow as Wei Ying. But, his features were tapered, his jaw-line, eyes. All of them seemed so piercing.
Wait, was it directed to him, or was it always like this?
'Tch, as self-important as the rumors. What I told you was your good.' Fang Zhi tried to swallow back those words which were on the edge of his tongue.
"What does Dian Xia even see in him..." Fang Zhi mumbled lowly.
"Dian Xia." Lan Wangji beckoned him.
Ah, so he could speak, after all, Fang Zhi mused as he walked closer, towards the mortal.
"Lan-er-Gongzi, I checked your scalp for injuries but there wasn't any. Was there an internal concussion?" The sanren senior disciple's hard-edged words suddenly got out of him; it wasn't actually a question, more like a bite to Lan Wangji's ego.
"What?" Lan Wangji asked, irked. His cold glare even had Fang Zhi speechless for a hot minute.
"Wei Ying. Where is Wei Ying?" Lan Wangji asked coldly for the second time, this time Fang Zhi wasn't aphonic. Instead, like a button being pressed, waves of anger flooded through him. His throat was clogged with the screams of curses and horrible things that would come out of him; Only if his master wasn't in the room next to them. His body responded to his emotions and failed to stay still, his hands jerked and trembled violently as he raised his palm at the mortal.
"I asked where is Wei Ying?-" Voice raising in volume. His speech got abruptly cut off by a harsh, stinging sensation in his right cheek. His head now angled sideways from the impact of the slap.
"Do you know how he even is?" It wasn't a question, it was the case of the situation.
"..." Silence dawned upon the atmosphere of the room.
"If you are not unable to walk on your own, then leave." 'Out of our lives, out of his life. Just disappear. Leave.' Fang Zhi ordered him with venom dripping off every word. It was the kind of tone that would have anyone else scrambling away even if both of their legs were broken.
But Lan Wangji would not move a muscle, he stared hard at the man before him.
"I want to know how he is after...I want to know how he healed so quickly." Lan Wangji tried to reason, but it only ignited more of Fang Zhi's burning rage.
His hands itched to fight, to slaughter, to asphyxiate, to tear him apart. To run a sword through him a hundred times, his right instinctively reached for FengZu.
"There's nothing YOU can do." He addressed in a stentorian manner. Lan Wangji's hands shook with rage, as he tried to counter back. Breath heavy, he laid there. Silent.
Fang Zhi's eyes glared brutally at the mortal unbefitting of his highness.
"It's okay if you don't blame yourself because I sure do" Fang Zhi lowly spoke in a taut tone viciously.
"No, no, I-I" Lan Wangji sputtered on as his heart pounded with dread.
"..." Silence finally paid homage to the room.
"This way." Fang Zhi spoke tightly as he turned on his heels to walk towards the door connecting the two rooms.
Lan Wangji's eyes lit up with hope as he scrambled on his feet.
They reached the other room, scented with calming lavender incense, a translucent aced screen dividing the bed and the two people who came in.
Elegant white curtains hanged at the black borders of every pillar in this room, monotone whimsical paintings and stacks after stacks of records were kept at the petite niche in the corner of the room.
The barely caught silhouette of Wei Ying was seen, his heavy breathing echoed in the empty room.
"I called the Wen healer, she told me that the spell was actually supposed to kill the victims" Fang Zhi informed him.
"My master is strong, but the effects of the spell, blindness cannot be altered in the thirteen-day timelapse it takes to recover from it." He continued, purpled eyes glittered with emotion.
Finally, he added, "If the victims of it did not die during the forest carnage scheme, they will simply die from being in too much pain. Whether it be physical or mental." Tone, weakly after he himself digested what he just said.
Lan Wangji flinched back in shock and worry, was that all a dream?
It must be so because even when his vision was blurry due to his endless crying, he could see no signs of pain on that beautiful face.
"This is because of your selfishness." Fang Zhi accused him with a hateful glint in his eyes as if he had killed his mother; Lan Wangji's mouth ran dry as he nodded meekly, accepting what he said as the cold, hard truth.
But wasn't he always a cold, hard thing, himself?
"So, whatever you thought of him recovering so suddenly as if---"
"Ugh! Shut up! Both of you, imbeciles!" A throaty voice suddenly came from the other side of the panel.
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<3 Heyyy!! Surprise, surprise!!~~ <3
Christmas is super near btw!
But how are you guys?💗
I hope you all are doing well and lively. It's super short I know, my ending chapter notes from my part but all I can ask is questions after questions since I never really interact much on here, nor on any other platforms.
So, thoughts on Fang Zhi and Lan Wangji's interactions? If so, do share it with me!! <333
And, Have a gorgeous day ahead of you! I love you all so much!! 💌