this changes everything. ⟲ wangxian

ep.

And we walk together into the light
And my love will be your armour tonight

We are lion hearts

And we stand together facing a war
And our love is gonna conquer it all

We are lion hearts.

THREE DAYS LATER

There is a soft-spoken hum in the air. The whisper of change.

The snowy white rabbit on Ah Xian's lap wriggles playfully, bouncing, little pink feet poking into his lap of black silk. Her nose twitches, red eyes gazing out towards the sunset in a mesmerised glare. She is terrifying. Ah Xian grins. He cuddles the little creature against him, and the bunny's ears perk up gleefully.

"You're adorable. Yes, you are..."

He strokes back the creature's soft mane—only to be nudged by the nose of another snowdrop, another longing for love.

The sound of rustling robes makes Ah Xian raise his head. There is a moment, and then the skirt of a snowy white robe swirls into his peripheral vision. Lan Zhan lowers himself to the position next to Ah Xian. He is busy reading a scroll he went to acquire: the daily report.

"Anything new?"

"No," murmurs Lan Zhan, frowning eyes never leaving the words on the parchment before him. "Gossip... the slander of the Yujing Gu Clan..." his frown deepens. "Some disgusting remarks on our names."

This captures Ah Xian's interest. He arches an amused brow, "Oh? Remarks on our names?"

"Yes."

"Like what?"

"Cut-sleeve, faggot, fairy, twink." Lan Zhan rolls the scroll shut with a distasteful thunk.

"Twink," Ah Xian tastes the word on his lips, voice mockingly thoughtful. "That's a new one! Never heard of it before. Have you?"

"Does it matter?"

"Twink, twink, twink... it's kind of cute, actually. I swear these people have nothing better to do than talk about others."

"It is human nature, unfortunately. There is further talk of the clan leaders intending to replace me as Chief Cultivator."

Ah Xian starts. "Really?" There is a beat of silence. Humour dissipated. "I didn't know."

"It is fine," reassures Lan Zhan. "It's only a title."

Lan Zhan gets to his feet and helps Ah Xian up. "Come. We are losing daylight."

The two cultivators gather their belongings, bid the rabbits goodbye, and set off down the pebbled path out of the meadow hand in hand. They stroll through the campus grounds, past the trimmed lawns and intricately carved gazebos, the whitewashed walls and maple trees, their branches teeming with gorgeous red and gold leaves. As they pass by the Great Hall, Ah Xian can't help but look over his shoulder at the large pavilion, the place where Xichen and Gu Meiyou's true colours were shown; the place where Lan Zhan almost made the worst mistake of his life; the place where everything had changed.