Wei Wuxian was trying very hard to appear calm. He wasn't pacing the room. He considered this a great accomplishment considering he was about as anxious right now as he was early this morning. After talking with Wen Qing and Wen Qionglin, Wei Wuxian had been pretty thoroughly distracted, and then Lan Wangji pouted. Lan Wangji pouted! Wei Wuxian still became excited and happy all over again just thinking about it. Wei Wuxian was pretty sure that if Lan Wangji wanted to distract him from his anxiety he could probably just pout like that and Wei Wuxian wouldn't be able to think about anything else.
Now, however, Lan Wangji was not pouting. Now Lan Wangji was sitting next to Wei Wuxian, slightly nervous in his own way, as they had tried to explain the situation as clearly as possible to Lan Xichen. Lan Xichen hadn't called them crazy yet. Wei Wuxian supposed that was probably a good thing, but then again Lan Xichen hadn't said much of anything at all. It wasn't as though it was common to sit down with a few disciples while they calmly explained that they had seen the future. No, not just seen the future, they had lived the future. Lived every excruciatingly brutal detail. Wei Wuxian shuddered as images of events yet to come flashed through his mind.
"Wei Ying." Lan Wangji's voice softly pulled Wei Wuxian back. Wei Wuxian blinked a few times. All the eyes around the table were looking at him with concern. Wei Wuxian lowered his head, not wanting to see those looks.
"Sorry..." Wei Wuxian muttered. Lan Wangji squeezed Wei Wuxian's hand gently.
"This is why I will be the one you would perform empathy on. A-Ying does not need to relive any of those events. Not when we only need you to see something from the future to convince you what we are saying is possible." Wen Qing said firmly as she looked at Lan Xichen.
"It's not that I think you are lying..." Lan Xichen began. Wen Qing extended her hand towards Lan Xichen in a gesture telling him to stop speaking. Lan Xichen immediately fell silent, either out of respect or perhaps a growing apprehension of her somewhat brutal lectures.
"Zewu-Jun. You do not believe us. I do not expect you to believe us. We are simply asking for you to perform empathy on me so that we can provide you with evidence." Wen Qing spoke with her same straightforward and confident tone. She was not surprised or offended that Lan Xichen wasn't having an easy time believing their words.
"Is there some other way you could provide evidence?" Lan Xichen inquired. "While I am familiar with empathy as a technique, I have never actually performed it myself." Lan Xichen spoke calmly, but it was clear in his voice he did not exactly like the idea of performing empathy. Wen Qing let out a deep sigh.
"Sadly the only evidence we could give you in prediction of events, would not be for many months and would be the burning of Cloud Recesses. Needless to say, this is an event we would like to alter if possible, but we would require your help to do it." Wen Qing replied. Lan Xichen's brow furrowed in thought.
"There are no events before that one?" Lan Xichen inquired. Wen Qing found herself sighing once more.
"The date of the next Discussion Conference in Qishan? It would be easy to assume that I might already know that information due to my position. The outcome of the archery competition? Not only could that be considered a guess, but slight changes already made by us could be enough to affect those outcomes. As far as minor events go... I can't say my memory is good enough for me to recall the weather of every given day, or who passed or failed tests during classes." Wen Qing's tone sounded somewhat tired. "Zewu-Jun. I am not eager to be the subject of empathy. I am not eager to have my essence be exposed in such a vulnerable way. Nor am I excited to have someone walking through my memories. This is the only way I can think of that will serve as sufficient evidence for you to believe us, and we need you to believe us." Lan Xichen considered her words carefully.
"Xiongzhang." Lan Wangji was staring intently at his brother. Lan Xichen sighed and smiled gently at Lan Wangji. This was an expression Wen Qing could understand very well. It was an expression she herself had. The expression of giving in to your younger sibling.
"Very well." Lan Xichen agreed. Wen Qing tried not to show how relieved she was. There technically was the option that he might have just agreed to act like he believed them because of Lan Wangji, but Wen Qing didn't want that. It was probably unfair of her, but she didn't really trust Lan Xichen's resolve. For her own peace of mind, Wen Qing needed Lan Xichen to believe them with no doubts. She really felt like empathy was the only way they could do this.
"Lan Wangji and A-Ying will supervise the empathy. A-Ying is skilled at empathy, if anything goes wrong he would be the first person to notice." Wen Qing stated firmly. "A-Ning will be here in case anything goes wrong and we require medical intervention."
"What medical intervention can you provide for empathy?" Lan Xichen asked in confusion. He had never heard of such a thing.
"Zewu-Jun," Wei Wuxian drew attention back to him. "The most common reason for something to go wrong in empathy is when the practitioner is not calm. I don't expect this to be a problem, but as a precaution having A-Ning available is a good idea. If something were to happen he would be able to administer calming medicines that combined with the intervention of the individual supervising could help pull you out more quickly and safely. Lan Xichen nodded in understanding.
"The two most important things when performing empathy is to remain as calm as possible, and to maintain a strong sense of yourself. Most risks in empathy come from a breakdown of one of these two points. Honestly if you are strong enough in one of those points you can actually compensate for weakness in the other, but I can say personally that isn't the most pleasant experience." Wei Wuxian added the last part almost as an afterthought. Wen Qing was looking at him with an unhappy gaze. Wei Wuxian was not necessarily a master of calm, but he had a strong sense of self. It was an undervalued sense of self, but it was resilient and intact.
Wen Qing stood up, effectively disrupting further discussion regarding that comment. She was nervous, but she needed to do this. If she didn't do it, Wei Wuxian would do it. She could not ask him to revisit the memories of the future. If Lan Xichen ended up visiting some of the darker parts of Wei Wuxian's future, it would be worse than a flashback or a nightmare.
"Shall we get this over with?" Wen Qing asked. There was a collective silence followed by several deep breaths and nods. Some time later Wen Qing was sitting on the floor opposite of Lan Xichen. Wei Wuxian had insisted on once more explaining the process of beginning empathy and the most important factors in ensuring there were no mistakes. Wen Qing took that time to meditate and calm herself for a few minutes.
To proceed smoothly she had to relinquish control. Lan Xichen would be the one to initiate empathy, direct where they went in the memories, and end it. Wen Qing's job was to be calm and allow him to do it. She focused on a memory she felt would probably be a convincing one. She could make sure they started there at least. If she was lucky perhaps the first memory would be enough and Lan Xichen would end empathy immediately after. There were some memories she did not particularly want him to see. Either for privacy, to keep promises, or because she honestly just didn't think it necessary to subject Lan Xichen to the experience.
"Jiejie?" Wei Wuxian called, pulling Wen Qing from her thoughts.
"Are we ready?" Wen Qing asked. She looked at Wei Wuxian and then at Lan Xichen. After several confirming nods they began the process. Wei Wuxian diligently observed them as empathy began. Everything proceeded normally and the longer it went on the calmer Wei Wuxian felt. Then there was an odd jolt, and a shift in the facial expressions of the two participants in empathy.
Lan Wangji watched, uncertain what Wei Wuxian was doing. Wei Wuxian's eyes turned red and he seemed to be carefully observing something in or around the two people in empathy. Wei Wuxian's frown deepened and he turned around retrieving one of the talismans he had prepared ahead of time. He activated the talisman and placed it on Lan Xichen. Wei Wuxian's form began to waver and Lan Wangji immediately grabbed him. Wei Wuxian's eyes widened abruptly and he backed away from Lan Xichen immediately.
"Fuck." Wei Wuxian cursed.
YOU ARE READING
Backlash Part 1
FanfictionAt the moment of his death, Wei Wuxian is sent back in time. He wakes up in the Cold Spring of Cloud Recesses during the time when he was there to study. Traumatized and exhausted Wei Wuxian attempts to end his life, only to be stopped by Lan Wang...
