Way too untamed, way too wild

Failed conversation

Lan Wangji almost bumped into Wen Ning on his way out of the cave. The second of the Wen siblings bowed to him a little absentmindedly and he hurried inside, probably to check on the children and put them to sleep. Not that that was much of a task since most of the children were already so exhausted they had been asleep the moment they had laid down on the cave floor.

Lan Wangji bowed back to him and then headed out to the open area in front of the both caves, he need a minute for himself. His mind was in turmoil from everything he had learned until now and even more so from the things he still did not know about Wei Ying. How did the boy really come to live in the Burial Mounds and learn about the demonic cultivation? It was still a mystery to him. One he would however have to solve sooner rather than later, before the cultivation world would learn about the boy's existence and would decide to put an end to it.

He only managed to have a full minute of piece when he heard steps behind himself. He slowly turned around and saw that it was Wei Ying. He was coming out of the smaller cave's entrance and yawning loudly, rumbling under his breath about how it was unfair of Wen Qing to put him to sleep and that he was perfectly fine, thank you very much. Lan Wangji scowled slightly, when he had had a look at the boy's injury, it had not been a small matter, Wen Qing was right to have been worried.

As soon as Wei Ying noticed him, his grumpy face was immediately replaced by a wide grin. Lan Wangji could only see it because of the almost full moon in the skies, it had already gotten almost completely dark. Lan Wangji was alarmed by how pale and frail Wei Ying looked under the moonlight.

The boy did not leave him much space to wonder about anything, he was like a wild water, always running and taking everything with it.

"Lan Zhan, Lan Zhan! Hi, are you still here? Did you get to play with the kinds? They like you very much, I can tell. I am sorry I could not be there, Wen Qing made me take a nap. Haha. But I am here now! Can you stay here for a bit longer? Or do you have to already go back to the town? You live there right?"

Lan Wangji did not even know where to begin answering the boy's questions, he was just a tad too much for him to handle. It had been much easier when Wei Ying had still been wary around him and did not say a word, his expressions spoke for him after all. But he did not regret befriending the boy, that would have been the worst mistake of his life perhaps. Even though Wei Ying was now showing him his true colours, Lan Wangji was happy for that.

If the rest of the cultivation world could see this chatty and innocent, perhaps even a bit naïve, demonic cultivator, they would surely not attack him. Instead, if Wei Ying proved cooperative, they would certainly try to get him to confess all about his use of resentful energy, it could benefit many. Although they had already defeated Wen Ruohan, the battle had been hard and many lost their lives to the demonic cultivator's creations, if Wei Ying had been there, they would have perhaps won much faster and with less causalities.

Now was however not the time for Lan Wangji to consider what could have happened, he could not change the past anymore, all he could influence was the present and the future. And if he could do so, he would.

He looked intently at Wei Ying and the boy stopped in his tracks, returning his look uncertainly. It was more than clear that he was wondering about Lan Wangji's responses to his many questions.

So Lan Wangji took them one by one and tried to reply to all of them: "I stayed here, Wen Qing came to talk to me. I have to go to town later, to get more food."

He was not sure whether Wei Ying had been satisfied with his answers. He knew that he could never deal with such chatty persons, he liked to think his words through and the other part did not give him much time to consider anything at all. It almost seemed like Wei Ying was a few steps ahead of him in the conversation which made it hard for Lan Wangji to follow. But he did not mind too much, and neither did Wei Ying it would seem.

"You have missed Wen Ning giving the milk to A-Yuan, he is the sweetest thing ever! I cannot wait till he starts running around and playing with the other children, they will be overjoyed." The boy was still smiling at him as he asked him next: "What did Wen Qing say? I hope she did not talk about anything boring."

"Not boring," Lan Wangji stepped in, hoping that if he could stop the boy's infinite flow of questions, he would be able to ask some of his own. "She told me how she, Wen Ning and A-Yuan got here. She told me about you."

Suddenly, Lan Wangji knew he had made a mistake. Wei Ying's previously open and welcoming expression was now closed and the boy was looking at him with suspicion. Lan Wangji was not sure which part had triggered him into being on alert around him but some of his words definitely did. All the nice atmosphere and incessant chatting were gone, what remained were the boy's wary eyes and his lips pressed into a thin line.

Lan Wangji was afraid that any further conversation now would be pointless and get him nowhere, nevertheless, he still decided to try smooth situation somehow. And the only way he could think of was to tell Wei Ying the truth why he had come here in the first place: "I came here because of rumours about a demonic cultivator, someone who can manipulate resentful energy. Like you do. I came to investigate."

He had though the explanation would be enough but he had been very much mistaken, the boy now seemed even more angry and his defensive stance from a few days ago was back. He crossed his hands in front of his chest and tendrils of resentful energy started gathering around him, and especially around the entrances to both caves, as if he was thinking that Lan Wangji wanted to hurt either him or the others.

"So you came here to hurt Wen Qing and Wen Ning, to take them away like those other people wanted to?" Wei Ying sounded outraged and Lan Wangji did not blame him. He only now realized that his explanation left more questions open then it had answered. "I will not let you hurt them, nor the other children!" The boy was now shouting and the resentful energy around him become more active.

"I thought you were different, Lan Zhan, but I guess you are the same as all those other cultivators." Wei Ying sounded so broken-hearted that Lan Wangji could not help himself to feel the same. It seemed like all his hard work in building up the mutual trust with the boy was now gone in a matter of seconds.

He did not really try to defend himself, he had a feeling Wei Ying would not believe him at the moment anyway. So he only took a step back and murmured: "I did not come to hurt you. I came to help you. I am sorry. I will leave now. If you still trust me a least a little bit, I will be waiting at the usual place tomorrow morning."

He did not wait for the boy's reaction, in reality, he did not want to see the hatred and hurt in his eyes. He only turned around and started walking back down the path he had come only a few hours prior. He did not mount his sword until he was at a sufficient distance, he was sure Wei Ying was following him and watching his every step.

His heart was heavy. He would have never imagined that the trust he had spent almost a week building up would crumble down in just a moment. He was at a loss about what he should do now. He could not leave things be like this. The children and Wei Ying needed help and he was determined to provide it. Otherwise, he would not be able to wear the title of 'Hanguang-Jun' anymore. 

For those who were still wondering: Wei Wuxian is, just as in canon, only a bit younger than Lan Wangji and Wen Qing - remember, we are after the war so they are basically young adults already. He had lived almost all his life malnourished and influenced by the resentful energy, hence his appearance of a child (or more like a young teenager really).

Hope this clears up any misunderstandings :)