✧𝔻𝔼𝕍𝕆𝕋𝕀𝕆ℕ~ 𝒶𝓃𝒾𝓂𝑒 𝑜𝓃𝑒𝓈𝒽𝑜𝓉 𝒸𝑜𝓁𝓁𝑒𝒸𝓉𝒾𝑜𝓃~✧

✧Lan Zhan- Blinded pt. 3 ✧

THE FIRST DAY of lectures had arrived. And you were nervous, not for yourself- female cultivators were not allowed to attend the lectures- but for Lan Zhan.

Despite his telling you multiple times that he would be fine, you still found yourself entreating Xichen to watch his didi extremely closely during lectures when the two of them headed off. Although Xichen playfully said that you were younger than him, you shouldn't order him around, right after he seriously said, "I'll protect him with my life."

Your gege's promise was enough for you to trust that Lan Zhan would not be harmed. When Xichen promised something, he never failed. So you had no reason to worry about your younger brother's safety. Xichen was a good, albeit a bit cowardly, gege. He'd keep his brother safe the best he could.

Secure in this knowledge, you spent the sunny morning and afternoon studying philosophy outside and eating refreshing fruits when you took breaks from studying. The lectures of the Lan clan were legendarily long. And when they said legendarily, it was not a lie. There was a legend written about the longest lecture ever given at the Cloud Recesses being a year long, but that was just a legend. It was definitely not true, but said legend was one of the reasons why the Lan clan were renowned for their love of studying and teaching.

Five hours into the lectures, you were dozing in the warm sun when you heard a great commotion. You opened your eyes to see a group of junior disciples carrying the body of a grown disciple towards your house. You were immediately up on your feet, thinking it was Xichen. When you noticed the blue clothing of someone running next to the juniors, however, you knew that it was your younger brother that had been injured.

When the juniors reached you, you were worried to see the amount of blood on their clothing. It looked as if someone had thrown a bucket of blood on them. Their usually impeccably clean white outfits were now dyed crimson as the outfits of the Wen clan.

The Wen clan! They must have been the ones who hurt Lan Zhan! Those bastards could never satisfy themselves with just torturing people into submission, they had to go the extra mile and torture them until they died. Those damn bastards! If you ever saw Wen Chao again, you'd-

"Meimei!"

You were thrown out of your thoughts by Xichen screaming. Your elder brother never screamed. He was a paragon of Lan virtues, silent, studying, and stoic. You knew that it had to be his brother's pain that was making him this way. He would usually never be this emotional.

"What's wrong, gege? How did Wangji get injured?"

You hated it, but in front of other disciples you had to be formal and use your brother's courtesy name. It showed good manners and respect, a trait every Lan disciple, especially women, should have. You wanted nothing more than to scream your younger brother's birth name out loud and hold his broken body in your arms, sobbing like a normal sister. But you had to hold it together, especially since your brother was not.

"Wen- Wen Chao, he- he..."

Xichen could barely get the words out. He knew this wasn't like him, and he hated himself for it, but his brother being injured had just activated another side of him. He hated this side of him, but it was only natural.

"Gege, please! Tell me!"

You were panicking more now that your brother wouldn't even tell you what happened to Lan Zhan. How was he hurt? Why was he bleeding so much? Could it be healed, or would your beautiful brother die?

"They- they- they threw him in the river,"
Xichen gasped, tears running down his face. "His skull is fractured. We need healers, quickly!"

You hadn't even heard your brother's last sentence, that was how fast you ran. As soon as you heard your brother was injured, you knew a healer was needed. You didn't care if all of them were in lectures, you would pull one out of lectures if you needed to to take care of your precious didi.

You ran until you reached a lecture that your uncle Lan Quiren was teaching. He enjoyed teaching healers, and he would definitely let one go if his nephew was injured. You only hoped he was in a good mood today...

Thankfully, after you explained everything to your uncle, he let not just a healer, but the best healer of the Lan clan go with you. Running together with the healer, you reached your cottage, where Xichen had laid Lan Zhan down on your bed, staining your sheets with blood (which you didn't care about). The healer immediately started working on your brother's head, sending you and Xichen out of the room while he worked.

As soon as you and Xichen were alone, Xichen began to cry again, holding onto you for stability. Soon, you were both crying and holding each other, struggling together, loving together.

"I'm sorry," Xichen sobbed. "I broke my promise. I'm sorry!"

"I love you," you sobbed, holding on to your brother tightly. "I couldn't care less what promises you broke. Just stay with me now."

You held each other in your arms, comforting each other. After a few moments of that, the healer came out and said, "Your brother is out of danger. It may be a while before he awakes, though. Stay by him and talk to him, he might regain consciousness faster if he hears you. Let me know if it seems like he has any issues speaking, hearing, or can't walk straight or at all. Those are all symptoms of brain damage. From what I sense, there is no damage to his brain, but I could always be wrong. You're two very lucky siblings. Your brother could be dead right now if he didn't get help."

After saying that, the healer left, heading back to the lecture and leaving you and Xichen alone. The two of you went into your room and began to talk to your brother, feeling like idiots but kind idiots nonetheless. Xichen stroked his hair, and you held his hands.

"I love you, brother," you whispered. "Wake up soon."

Little did you know, you would be waiting longer than you thought.

A/N- Part four is coming soon! Honestly it feels so good to be writing long stories again! I hope you guys enjoy my writing! Love y'all, see you in the next chapter!