Backlash Part 1

Chapter 4: The Infirmary

Wen Qing had spent the better part of the afternoon confirming her situation. She had woken up in the Cloud Recesses with her brother anxiously by her side. He was alive. Properly alive. Wen Qing had been too overwhelmed to speak. The last thing she remembered was fire. Smoke stung her eyes and choked her throat, but she still remembered the faces of all those cultivators who watched her burn. All things considered she was happy that she woke up in Cloud Recesses. Not just because she was alive, but because in all those righteous sects the only voices to speak for her and her brother were Lan Wangji and Lan Xichen. Lan Xichen had been opposed to the cruelty of the punishment and had tried to sway the sects to investigate the incidents. Wen Qing wasn't entirely sure if he said these things because of his own beliefs, or because his brother had spoken up first.

When she asked her brother what happened he said he found her unconscious after he finished his archery practice. She prodded just enough to be certain that he didn't know about the things she remembered. The things that it seemed were going to happen in the future. Her first thought had been Wei Wuxian. She travelled through time, or at least she thinks she did. There was a chance that it had been a strangely vivid dream. She would actually really like it to have been a strangely vivid dream. Before knowing Wei Wuxian she would have been certain that was the answer. However, with Wei Wuxian... it just felt a little too much like something he would do.

Wen Qing sighed as she paused in her step. She'd find Wei Wuxian first. She wanted to believe it was a dream. She knew, however, that she wouldn't be able to believe it until she spoke with him. If he didn't remember the events she remembered. If he seemed like the same reckless carefree idiot bouncing around the Cloud Recesses. She bit her lip as her anxiety made her turn uncomfortably..

'A-Ying. I hope it was a dream. I hope what happened to us, and especially what happened to you... I hope it was all just a nightmare, and that you're okay.'

"He did what!?" Wen Qing was immediately pulled from her thoughts but the sudden disruption. The shout was quite a ways away, but she recognized the voice.

'Jiang Wanyin. With that tone, he can only be talking about A-Ying.' Wen Qing felt her anxiety spike immediately and he placed a hand on her chest to force herself to slow down. 'Don't jump to conclusions. He yells in a similar manner almost daily.'

A purple figure flew by at a run. A short while later Jiang Yanli appeared, walking quickly down the same path with Lan Xichen at her side. Her eyes were red with tears. Wen Qing had seen her upset before. Namely when Jin Zixuan had been excessively conceited. However she had never seen Jiang Yanli in such a state of grief as this. A sinking feeling made itself at home in Wen Qing's stomach. Something is wrong with Wei Wuxian. It was the most obvious explanation. Wen Qing tried to calm herself. It didn't necessarily mean it had all been real.

'But if it was real and A-Ying travelled back in time.' Wen Qing knew how broken Wei Wuxian had been before she left to hand herself over. To say it had been bad was an unfortunate understatement. One could easily assume that after those events it was probably worse. She had hoped A-Yuan and the others would be enough to help Wei Wuxian through it. It was perhaps a foolish hope now that she thought about it clearly. Wen Qing found herself following after Lan Xichen and the Jiang siblings at a quick pace. Best case scenario was that something was wrong and she might be able to help. Normal unrelated reckless Wei Wuxian things. Worst case scenario, Wei Wuxian had travelled back in time. Possibly in a very bad mental state with the intention to do something irreversible.

Wen Qing bit her lip hard and walked a bit faster. She stepped into the infirmary just in time to hear the loud crash as a Lan disciple was thrown into the wall in front of her. The air was filled with a familiar chill and half heard whispers. She turned to where the person had been thrown from. She was already expecting to see thick clouds of resentful energy. She turned and found her concerns realized. Resentful energy was churning and dancing through the air like black smoke. Wen Qing frowned. She restrained a disappointed sigh.