The Untamed Oneshots / CQL / WangXian

Mafia's Mistake (Vol. 2)

The second instalment of the Mafia's Mistake series. As requested by Jheril19 who wanted me to make another part.

"Lan. Wang. Ji."

Said man cowered with the barest of flinches, eyes downcast and lingering on the tips of red flats that entered his line of vision. His stomach churned, a strange taste of curdled milk rising bitterly in the back of his throat. He realized that it hurt to swallow.

"I don't give a damn about your status. Lift your head and face me like a man." The voice left no room for argument, not that the Second Warrior of Gusu Lan would dare disobey lest he sought an early grave resulting from a painful death.

Calling on his teachings, Lan Wangji squared his shoulders. It was disgraceful for one of Lan to bow down to others, after all. Then, he lifted his head, barely glimpsing the cold aura radiating from the doctor, the frigid swirl of her brown eyes, the icy distaste set in the snarl of her mouth, before his head whipped to the side.

Wen Qing had a slight frame. Dainty and deceiving. The woman was a healer worth her weight in gold and she was proud of that. Heal, save, help. It was like her life motto. Tenderness was something only her brother was privy to. And mercy? Mercy was a cruel joke of a snake that looked as if it might consider sparing you. That's exactly what Wen Qing was: an experienced snake, poised and ready to strike when her prey least expected it.

Wangji had not expected it.

Lifting a cool hand to his face, he brushed his slender fingers in feather touches over his cheek, feeling the heat blooming in a five-pointed star.

Wen Qing had slapped him.

Hands on her hips, she flipped her hair over her shoulder irritably. "What do you think you were doing? He's an innocent person, Lan Wangji. Innocent," she spat, eyes shooting icicles straight through his jaded armour. "How could you just let your comrades waltz around this part of the manor when you knew full well there's a patient here? And not just anyone, no," Wen Qing gave a bitter laugh before jabbing him in the chest, punctuating every word. "It. Had. To. Be. That. Rat. Of. A. Su. She."

"My apologies. I made a mistake." A weak excuse that left a foul taste in his mouth. The esteemed Second Warrior of Gusu Lan wasn't supposed to make such mistakes, wasn't supposed to succumb to such weakness.

"Take your apology and shove it!" She exclaimed, furiously gripping the back of his collar and dragging him to the bed. Wei Ying was motionless, chest rising and falling at irregular intervals, an oxygen mask covering part of his face. His hair was matted against his forehead with a fever that had sprouted from infancy to a raging heat and dewy drops of tears decorated the tips of his lashes. His pallor was sickening, his stillness too much alike to a corpse.

"Look at him. Does your half-assed apology make his condition any better? Does it take away the trauma he now has, the utter fear he feels, when he should be healing?" Wen Qing seethed in his ear before pulling him away. Wangji stumbled a step or two when she let his collar go. She had a lot more strength hidden in her than was visible to the naked eye.

Lan Xiched rushed into the room, appalled by the sight that greeted him. Bloody sheets were discarded in a heap on the floor. Their best healer was fussing over an injured boy that he was sure had taken a turn for the better earlier that day. And his brother had a rosy handprint branded on his cheek.

"What on earth happened?" He breathed, struggling to make sense of the puzzle pieces but not finding a perfect fit.

Wen Qing stood, rising with the spirit of a goddess of righteousness sent to wipe all evil from the world, to protect the weak and innocent, and it frightened the mafia leader to the extent of a shiver running down his spine. "Ask that buffoon next to you," she growled, grabbing their sleeves and "accidently" pinching their arms in the process, though Xichen suspected it was done more out of spite than anything else. She proceeded to shove both brothers out of the room before grabbing hold of the door handle. "Send a-Ning here. And don't even think of coming back without my consent..." She let the words hang suspended in the air, uncompleted but threat still very evident. 'Or else I'll kill you,' was left unsaid.

***

Wei Ying felt sluggish, like he was wading through a sea of red liquid, the name of which he knew but would rather not speak.

He tried to open his eyes, something telling him that it was important that he see, but succeeded only in fluttering his lashes, the lacy butterfly movements tickling his cheekbones.

"-ongzi? Gongzi, can you hear me?" A timid voice called, sounding distorted by the distance of echoing miles.

A warm hand was at his pulse, pressing down and feeling. The touch felt so familiar, so soft and comforting. It reminded Wei Ying of someone that patiently sat with him and taught him how to write, of soft hugs when he fell and scraped his knee. It reminded him of loving smiles when he was paralyzed with fear by dogs and his favourite warm soup on a chilly day. It reminded him of family. It reminded Wei Wuxian of home.

Thinking it was his favourite family member by his side, he fought with all his might, used every ounce of strength he had left, and pried open his orbs to the world.

Distorted, misty objects swam in his vision. The ceiling looked misshapen, the walls and sheets and nearly everything else came together in one crème blur. It was like the entire room was viewed through the hall of mirrors at a fair, warbled and unnatural. Nothing looked right. Even the navy curtains were a beast of blue that hovered over him, ready to pounce and devour.

Knives stabbed behind his eyes, a drizzle of rain wetting his face from the window. Only he deducted that the window was actually closed and he was sweating, face aglow in fever.

Wei Wuxian hurt.

Eyes brimming with tears, he sought his comfort and the person he knew would give it to him.

There! To his left, sitting on the edge of the bed and looking at him, lips moving but voice lost to his ears. Her hair was held back by a clip, unlike her usual pretty braids, but she was there with him.

Wei Ying willed his mouth to move, his tongue feeling swollen and heavy, cradling the lump of words in his throat, before he managed the faintest of smiles, painted in a painful grimace, and whispered, "Shi-Shijie..."

He embraced the darkness when it came to claim him once more. He was safe with his Shijie by his side, after all.

Wen Qing however, gaped at the boy in shock. His fever had spiked dangerously and apparently he was hallucinating, his foggy state of mind morphing her features into those of whoever he calls his Senior Sister.

Clenching her fist, she stood and threw her brother the cloth she'd been using to cool his forehead. "A-Ning, look after him for me. Jiejie has to go find Lan Xichen immediately." She dashed out the door before he could reply.

Cloud Recesses manor was a large place with more twists and turns than a maze, built to strengthen the mind and keep track of your surroundings.

Idiotic mafia members, Wen Qing thought along with a few colourful curses of how this was wasting her time.

Turning another corner, she ran down the stairs and literally bumped into someone in the foyer in her haste. The doctor scowled. "Watch where you're going, you--" She stopped short when she saw the very man she was looking for.

"Xichen," she began, ignoring his startled look. "He's getting much worse. His fever is borderline inferno and he's hallucinating. We might need to move him to my family hospital before--"

She was interrupted by an ear-splitting cry, pained and long and enough to make her heart bleed at the anguish it exuberated, birthed from the throat of an innocent life thrust into a whole new world of cruelty.

And then, all hell broke loose.