Lamentations

Chapter 1

He stood on top of the building black smoke billowing out around him.

"Since you are convinced to name me a villain that is what I'll be."

He would be convincing if his eyes were not filled with tears; if the tears did not streak down his grimy face; if his hand were not clenched so tightly around his flute; if his voice did not hold so thinly vailed emotion.

"Wei Ying!" A voice called but it was lost over the yell of the masses gathered below. Angry at nothing but their own inadequacy.

"He has admitted to the crime! Kill him!" A cry took over, the bloodlust overpowering.

Jiang Cheng watched his brother on the building, angry, sad, concerned, worried; all emotions he should not be felling right now. Wei Ying brought this on himself and needed to be stopped.

Fighting his way through, Jiang Cheng came upon his brother surrounded by the dead, eyes red and lifeless, the haze of resentful energy clouded around him.

"Wei Ying!" he called again, and this time got a slight turning of the head. Enough acknowledgement for Jiang Cheng to surge forward. Except as Wei Ying turned and met his eyes, Jiang Cheng hesitated.

This was his brother, the one who had promised to stay with him, could he really kill him? The other suddenly leapt towards him, flute up like it was a sword. Startled, Jiang Cheng raised his own but not in time as Wei Ying brought it down knocking Jiang Cheng over the head, forcing him to the ground dazed.

"Wei Ying!" he shouted, but as he turned wet splashed across his face.

Red. Iron. Blood. Wei Ying looking sad. Falling. Blood. Blood. Blood. Too much. "Wei Ying?" his voice shook. There was a hole in Wei Ying's chest and Jiang Cheng placed his hand over it, the blood beneath surging with Wei Ying's pulse.

The cultivator crowed. "I killed the Yiling Patriarch!"

Out of instinct, Jiang Cheng slashed with his sword, the man falling where he stood. Sound and colour dulled, his sisters voice was far away as he watched Wei Ying cough wetly, blood dripping from the corner of his mouth.

Jiang Cheng didn't really understand what was happening, one moment his brother had been standing, shoving and the next he was on the ground bleeding.

"Sorry I broke our promise," Wei Ying said.

"You still owe me for that," Jiang Cheng replied. "You still owe me a lot of things."

Wei Ying's laugh turned into a cough which brought more blood. His eyes lost their red as it leached from his chest and his smile grew as his heartbeat faded.

"Wei Ying!" he said again, frantic. "You were always invincible why now!?"

Wei Ying's eyes softened as they looked past him, and Jiang Cheng could feel another behind him. He knew who it was without looking, the cold silent aura giving it away.

Focusing on him again, Wei Ying said, "You said nothing I do will affect you anymore, so why are you crying?"

He was. He hadn't noticed. Lan Wangji was a silent force behind him doing his best to keep the overeager cultivators away from the pair. Jiang Cheng knew he wanted a moment but couldn't bare to let Wei Ying go. He had already denounced him once; he wasn't about to do so again.

Red stained purple, darkening it. The ground soaked it up greedily as the power used to supply the corpses faded along with Wei Ying's heartbeat.

"Wangji," Jiang Cheng called, and the man was their immediately, replacing him. He needed to do something. Hands slick with the blood of his brother; Jiang Cheng clutched his sword and defended the pair with everything he had.