remnants of you 🔞(Angel Devourers #2) WangXian FF

66

After the girls left, Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian walked to the office to find it locked from the inside. Wei Wuxian looked at Lan Wangji in question, but the latter only shrugged. He didn't know who was inside either, but the last person he left there was…

"Xie Lian."

Wei Wuxian was getting more confused. 

"Why would Xie Lian lock the door?" He asked no one, but then he remembered Hades.

"Hades. Who's inside?"

"Mistress. Inside the office are Master Xie Lian and Master Hua Cheng. Would you like me to open the door for you?"

"Yes please."

The door was opened right away, and Wei Wuxian suspected that he really did not want to see what was going on inside, so he knocked the door hard and yelled that he was coming in. And just as he thought, he saw both Xie Lian and Hua Cheng together, with their clothes not properly fixed. They were each sitting on the edge of the couch, acting nonchalantly, while Hua Cheng's face was flushed beet red. When Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian entered, he avoided their gazes and instead he coughed, poured a glass of whiskey, and drank it in one big gulp. 

Xie Lian just smiled at Hua Cheng fondly, then he looked at Wei Wuxian.

"So, I heard your kidnappers are not dead. Since when did you become soft?" He smirked and poured three fingers of whiskey into his empty glass.

"Well, I also heard that you sent the swine infestation into the dreamland. Since when did you become soft?" Wei Wuxian smirked back at Xie Lian. "By the way, Qingqiu was right. Jin Su shot me and after I spat out the bullet, I remembered everything." He took Xie Lian's glass and emptied it.

"Everything?" Xie Lian's brow lifted. Now he's curious.

"Everything." Wei Wuxian nodded. "And I need your help to fuse the… core."

"You finally remember where you put the core?" Xie Lian put down the glass and he was ready to go for an adventure to retrieve the core. Judging from Wei Wuxian's personality, he would not put it somewhere safe, rather like right in the middle of Mariana Trench, or maybe inside the invisible barrier he cast on Moai Island. Either way, he was so ready for anything.

"Yes." Wei Wuxian smiled so softly it made Xie Lian pause. 

No way. 

"You… gave it to him?" 

Instead of answering the question, Wei Wuxian looked at Lan Wangji and touched his arm.

"Lan Zhan, I gave you a silver lighter with your initials engraved on it before. Do you still have it?" 

Lan Wangji was stunned. That lighter was Wei Wuxian's core? He quickly took it out of his pocket, he never went anywhere without it. It was some kind of a talisman for him. Talisman. Of course.

"Thank you, baby." Wei Wuxian then gave the silver lighter to Xie Lian. "This. Just need to open the Abyss and take out the core and the skeleton key. I hid it there all this time with this lighter as a key." 

Wei Wuxian could not perform the simple feat because he was still incomplete. But with the other half of his core back, added the skeleton key, he would be back to who he was before all… this.

Xie Lian looked at the very different Wei Wuxian with the one he had in mind. This Wei Wuxian was softer, not as hard or as edgy like he was before. And some part of Xie Lian was glad, because he could finally remember. He knew the feeling of wanting to protect someone precious to him. Just like Xianxian… just like this new feeling that bloomed unbidden inside his heart. A new feeling, but not one that was unwelcomed. He cast a glance at Hua Cheng and smiled.

Then he took the silver lighter and cast an array to open the Abyss, the hidden dimension that was exclusive only to Wei Wuxian and Xie Lian, and where they kept their most valuable possessions. They did not usually need a key for that, but this was a special case. It was like a safety box within a safety box, with the silver lighter as the key. Not a minute later, Xie Lian took out the other half of the talisman, and some kind of small skeleton head with writings on them. He looked at it in amusement, so did Lan Wangji.

"So, by skeleton key, you literally meant a skeleton?" Xie Lian did not understand Wei Wuxian's weird sense of humor. It's… weird. But Wei Wuxian only cackled as he took the skeleton in his hand.

"I'll show you later. Now can you put me back whole?"

Xie Lian nodded and he started the array that should put the core back into Wei Wuxian's body, and he added the extra protection to not let anyone be able to separate them, or even Wei Wuxian's soul away from his body. The whole process took about five minutes and when he finished, Wei Wuxian's hair glowed, no, his whole body glowed with silver light.

Lan Wangji watched the whole process with awe, he did not realize that the person he loved was this… otherworldly presence, and his heart beat faster by the thought of Wei Wuxian being an alien or something akin to that.

Wei Wuxian closed his eyes for a moment, then he smiled. He opened his eyes and looked at Lan Wangji, who saw that Wei Wuxian's eyes were now glowing. 

"I feel like… myself now." Wei Wuxian sighed. "Damn that fucking Qi Rong who ambushed me back then with his half ass problematic array." He took the skeleton and quickly cast an array over it.

"Qi Rong?" Xie Lian frowned. "I had that thought already, from that green glow of his mediocre array, but how could he cast one onto you?"

"Long story. Can I do this first?" Wei Wuxian finished his array, then he looked at Lan Wangji and grinned. "Lan Zhan, watch. This is why I am the Grim Reaper, King of the Hacker World." He then subtracted some kind of foreign writings from the skeleton, which flew right into his head and his eyes glowed again.

"Show off." Xie Lian scoffed. He knew that the writings were some kind of code to let Wei Wuxian control the internet and everything online within ten klicks of his vicinity. It was terrifying. And that was the technology that Qi Rong was after although he doubted that the vile man knew how to use it. After Wei Wuxian absorbed everything, he kissed the skull and put it on the desk, while Lan Wangji and Hua Cheng dropped their jaws in amazement.

"I'm connected to the main hub and it is online… now." He tapped at something in front of him that no one could see. "So, if you're amazed now, you should see what Xie Lian could do with his...hmpff…" Xie Lian stopped Wei Wuxian's rambling with his hand and then pinched his nose.

"I swear if you say more, I'll tell Lan Wangji about that." Xie Lian hissed and Wei Wuxian's eyes widened. 

"Fine fine, I won't say anything. Now back to Qi Rong. What even that crazy bastard was doing here? Have you found him?" Wei Wuxian asked Xie Lian about Qi Rong's whereabouts. He had suspicions that Xie Lian already found him out and maybe string him upside down and let him bleed out.

"He's really slippery, that bastard. I found his hiding place, but every single time he escaped before I got there. Makes me wonder if he planted a spy among us."

"Maybe we should check for mediocre arrays around here, he will surely leave a trace." 

Hua Cheng was speechless with all that's happening in front of him. Although he expected that Dianxia and Wei Wuxian were simply extraordinary beings, he did not realize the extent of their true capabilities, and he shivered from excitement.

Lan Wangji, on the other hand, thought about what else he did not know about Wei Wuxian, and if his fear of Wei Wuxian would someday leave him would come sooner rather than later. Fortunately, it seemed that Wei Wuxian could see the turmoil inside his head, as his eyes softened and he climbed into Lan Wangji's lap, ignoring Xie Lian and Hua Cheng who quietly snuck out of the office to give them privacy.

"Baby, what's wrong?" Wei Wuxian snuggled into Lan Wangji's warm embrace, just like he used to do when he was Mo Xuanyu. "And don't say that it's nothing, because I can see that you feel something." 

Lan Wangji put his arms around Wei Wuxian, and he nuzzled into his neck, inhaling the sweet scent that was all him before he answered.

"I'm… I'm fine. Just let me hold you like this for a while." Lan Wangji tightened his hold on Wei Wuxian's waist and buried his face deeper into his neck.