The meaning of protecting you with my life

Out of time

Wei Wuxian's mind was in a haze, he could not tell how long he had been trying to understand the powers of the Yin iron and to take control of it. He knew he was slowly running out of time, Wen Ning had confirmed as much for him when he snuck in to visit him with some more food, water and medicine two more times.

The final siege should have been happening any hour now; he had lost count but Wen Ning had said it was supposed to be tomorrow during his last visit which meant today since Wei Wuxian had fallen asleep once since. And he still could not find any way how to overpower Wen Ruohan and secure a clear victory for the allied forces, not even starting to talk about destroying the Yin iron itself. Once more, despair was growing in his chest.

However, he could not and would not give up. Wen Ning had reminded him that there were still people out there who were counting on him to finish what he had promised to do. There were Jiang Cheng, Jiang Yanli, Uncle Jiang and Madame Yu who he had to protect and help them to get a bright future without a war in it. There were all the people participating in the Sunshot campaign who could lose their lives if he failed, even though they probably did not even know about him or his self-imposed mission. There was the Dafan Wen clan to which Wen Ning belonged and who Wei Wuxian internally promised to protect when Wen Ning had been so kind to him. The Dafan Wen sect disciple had saved his life, now it was Wei Wuxian's turn to return the favour; he had already told Wen Ning to find Uncle Jiang, Nie Mingjue and Lan Xichen after the battle and request that his clan would be not treated the same way as other Qishan Wen sect prisoners.

And then there was Lan Zhan. Wei Wuxian felt bad for ignoring him all this while and pushing him away. Even though Lan Zhan did not agree with his methods and the use of demonic cultivation, if it could save his life, Wei Wuxian would choose this path all over again. He did not know why but thinking of Lan Zhan was helping him keep his mind sane even through all of Wen Ruohan's attempts at breaking him.

Wei Wuxian had remembered the song Lan Zhan had sung to him in the cave of the Tortoise of Slaughter and he started humming it himself. It was not the first time he was doing it, he had found out that it was calming him and helping him keep going. It was gentle and soothing and he wondered what it was used for when spiritual energy would be infused into it. Perhaps it was some kind of a healing song, at least he believed that because it had that effect on him.

With the song finished, he felt a bit stronger more encouraged for another attempt at controlling the Yin iron. His eyes found those powerful pieces of metal and he concentrated on them. He knew he was close; he could already feel it deep in his guts. It was just the matter of time before he would breach the last defences and understand the resentment the Yin iron had been emanating. Once he would succeed at that, he would be able to find a way how to control it while not losing his own mind.

His concentration waivered when the door to the room opened slightly and Wen Ning came inside. He quickly and quietly closed it behind himself and run towards Wei Wuxian's prison cage. By now, Wei Wuxian could tell that it was small, barely large enough for him to curl into a ball and high enough so he would be able to sit, if he had any energy left for that, that was. It also had a massive lock on the door. He did not want to think about it but the image of a feral dog being kept in one of those was insistently coming up in relation to his prison. If it was not scaring him out of his mind, the parallel would have been hilarious.

At least it was close enough to the Yin iron, although it was a double edged sword. While he could study it and see it all the time, Wen Ruohan made sure that Wei Wuxian would be under constant attack by the resentful energy, probably hoping to break his will sooner. When that would happen, he would truly become a dog, one that the Qishan Wen sect leader would have full control over.

Wen Ning scrunched on the ground next to the cage, his face red and gasping for breath, he must have been running. His eyes were the image of urgency and Wei Wuxian became immediately alerted, something must have happened or been happening right now.

He did not have to prompt Wen Ning into talking as the Dafan Wen sect disciple was already relaying his message, the nervousness making him stutter even more than usual: "Young Master Wei, it is time. The allied forces are approaching the city; they are already almost at the gates. Please hold on just a little longer, help is coming!"

Wei Wuxian gave out a sigh of relief he had not known he had been holding inside in anticipation of bad news. Although it was bad news still! The final siege was upon them and he had not yet gotten to the core of controlling the Yin iron. He really was out of time now.

He had no energy to spare to reply to Wen Ning or discuss his plan with him, he could only nod and he continued concentrating on his task. After all, Wen Ning had told him himself, with regret and apology dripping off of his every word, that Wen Ruohan was holding onto the keys of the cage himself and that the Dafan Wen sect disciple could do nothing to open the door on his own. Wei Wuxian could not be saved but the same could not have been said about all the rest of the people currently fighting against the Qishan Wen sect leader.

His determination tripled when images of his family, his friends and of Lan Zhan flooded his head. It was soothing to see them like this, smiling, not bothered about matters of war, happy. Yes, Wei Wuxian knew what he was fighting for and he would not fail. He would not allow himself to fail.

He dove deeper into the raging resentful energy of the Yin iron and was fighting his way towards its source. He was out of time and this was his last chance. Now was the time, now or never.