I'll Fix Everything | Wangxian

Chapter twenty

You're all going to absolutely HATE me but I just have such a soft spot for Nie Huaisang he's so lovely I'm SOBBING.

Wei Ying's heart was racing in his chest as his pulse filled his ears making his head pound. It felt like soldiers were marching in his fingers making them twitch as his pulse ran wild, approaching his sister with cautiousness.

He'd missed her so much.

He'd missed her so much it hurt.

"Shije..." He almost whined, wanting to collapse to his knees and wail and cry for her to hold him and hide him with her long sleeves.

He wanted to hide.

-Jiang Yanli took a deep breath in, her little brother was still painfully numb, so numb it made her feel like she couldn't breathe, but even the tiniest bits of feeling were so powerful, "Oh Xianxian... my Xianxian, Shije will protect you from now on..." She said softly, her smile heard through her silky voice. It was so gentle, treating him so delicately, it sounded almost fairy-like.

Wei Ying smiled slightly, looking forward to curling up and making himself tiny before letting her hug him and hide him in her embrace. It would be nice to feel protected once more.

***

Grinning just a little as he was rushed inside, Wei Ying allowed Yanli to sit him down even if her touch made his skin sting.

It hurt to be touched, truly, it hurt.

When everything had shattered and been stuck back together by resentful energy, it didn't mean he was healed. At any moment, he could fall to literal pieces once more, so, being unhealed, Wei Ying was in constant pain.

It hurt to breathe, it hurt to smile and let air hit his previously shattered teeth, it hurt to walk on shattered legs and severed nerves; it hurt to play Chenqing with a broken jaw and throat hoarse from screaming, it hurt to let hands touch him and aggravate the cracks in his bones. But it hurt more to not be touched.

Wei Ying craved touch even if it hurt. He'd gone so long without affection that even if it was excruciating, he needed to be touched.

Lan Zhan's heart yearned, listening to these thoughts and feeling these feelings however minuscule, he longed to reach out and caress.

Jiang Yanli smiled widely, tears of joy and relief trickling down her round pink-painted cheeks, "A-Xian... you're safe..." She murmured as if trying to convince herself the image in front of her was reality.

Wei Ying nodded, shifting to relieve some of the pressure on his troubled legs, she spoke again, "You're... You're thinner..."

Wei Ying smiled softly, squeezing her hands, "Shije," He began, stitching a teasing smile onto his features, "You too."

Yanli giggled, shaking her head another tear fell, splintering Wei Ying's wounded heart and he reached out to swipe it away, the sight of her tears making the thread holding his smile up wither and break.

Jiang Cheng smiled softly, unable to stop his own tears he let them fall without shame as Yanli spoke again, "These three months, where have you been?"

There was a pause as Wei Ying's face fell, flashes of blood and shadows and darkness, his own screams echoing in his head along with his own pleas for death.

He remembered how living things would be silenced by his teeth, how at any moment, he could fall to literal pieces, how the Burial Mounds used his weaknesses against him.