Who You Are

Chapter 38 - Side Effects of Resentment

He heard many voice all around him, voice that he can recognize and some voice that he couldn't recognize at all. The air, so thick with resentment, Wei Ying could barely breathe. Minutes, hours, possibly even weeks later, his eyes cracked open to be met with darkness, as far as he could see it was just darkness and swirling dust, dancing with the wind.

Wei Ying whimpered, the voices called, creepy, airy voices slithering beside his ears, Wei Ying flinched, 'Wei Wuxian you owe us.'

'Don't you want revenge, A-Xian?' It taunted, taking the voice of his Shijie. Wei Ying sobbed, whining in the pain it caused as his heart started to falter, his pulse slowing, his life force wilting like the rest of the Burial Mounds.

Wei Ying's eyes fluttered and he continued to cry as motionlessly as possible, his state heartbreaking. Tears leaked from his eyes cascading through the dirt on his face, disrupting it in their paths, leaking into all the cracks in his skin and into his skull.

Wei Ying whimpered, revealing the fact that some of his teeth had fallen and shattered in the fall, the shards now making a home in the bottom of his mouth. His jaw was lopsided, dislocated making him look like a puppet, his chest was rising up and down like waves showing that he had essentially been flattened in some places, and his legs were bent and turned in crazy directions.

"Wei Ying..." Said boy's eyes snapped open, if anyone were powerful enough to infiltrate the Burial Mounds, it'd be Lan Wangji, "L-Lan Z-zh-An'?" He slurred, trying to move but he just wound up injuring himself further, he cried out, "L-Lan An?!" He wailed, "S-Save me..."

...

Lan Zhan watching could barely do so any longer, and they'd just started. But watching the boy he loves suffer so greatly, watching him die, it was too much to bear. He already bared the pain of mourning for him, he doesn't want that again.

...

"Wei Ying..." Wei Ying sobbed, writhing in agony from being pushed down yet once again, he rose.

He couldn't move, not much anyway, and so looking up and around revealing the horrifying sight of his battered skull, Wei Ying's eyes locked on a sword. He knew this sword, it was the sword he found in the Xuanwu's cave. Wei Ying frowned, whimpering again, he began to crawl with his family in mind. One voice within the whole voice that call out to him caught his attention.

"Wei Ying."

"Wei Ying."

"Wei Ying."

Wei Wuxian look to his right he see a similar sword that was in the Slaughter Xuanwu cave. He crawl toward the sword, on his way there he heard screaming, man and women screaming all around him. He push many bone out of the way to get to the sword. On his way toward the sword a voice taught him.

"Wei Wuxian, do you want revenge?"

"Wei Wuxian let's do this together."

"Do you want to stay together?"

Wei Wuxian look at the sword with hesitation, wondering what will he do? Will he take the sword or will he not take the sword.

He keep on hearing, "Do you want revenge? Do you want revenge?"

Without anymore hesitation Wei Wuxian grabbed the sword. The voice continue to said, "let's do this together?"

Crawling through the rough, dead grass leaving a trail of blood behind, Wei Ying trembled, reaching with his broken hands and wonky arms for the sword and once he finally got it, resentful energy spewed like an explosion. It was challenging him. Wei Wurian took the sword hold it up in the air and then stabbed it to the ground.

The last voice asked, "Wei Wuxian, do you want revenge?"

Wei Ying smirked, "Yes."

Wei Ying curled up around a blade of resentment, surrounded by corpses and shadows and cold. However, when he awoke, the resentful energy had seeped into his robes and through his clumped, bloody hair, touching his skin and patching him back together. Wei Ying whimpered, frowning, he tried to shake it off as its uncaring caresses literally moved around bones and organs, fixing him up with shadows as glue. It was when he noticed his teeth were all back in place, likely only being held there by energy.

"Wei Wuxian," It called for him, making him shiver, yet writhe in agony as it worked.

"S-Stop..." He pleaded, beginning to sob, "AHHHH!" He screamed as it placed his lungs back together, shuffling pieces around, "Stop! Stop!" He pleaded.

Wei Ying gasped, scrambling backwards he instantly began to sob, "N-No!" He wailed, reluctant to look.

Jiang Fengmian, the fake version, and Madam Yu advanced toward him with menacing looks in their eyes, "You brought destruction to Lotus Pier!" Madam Yu shrieked.

Jiang Fengmian spat at him, "Should've left you to rot on the streets," He growled

Who appeared next both confused and shocked Wei Ying. Lan Xichen smiled his signature, calm smile, but it made Wei Ying shiver nonetheless, curling up further in fear. He never thought he'd be scared of such a character. Zewu-Jun was always lovely to him, he carried a fragrance of kindness and love to him, so to feel so petrified of him now was unsettling.

The shadow Lan Xichen laughed softly, shaking his head as if glad Wurian was in such a state, "You know," It began, "At first, I had encouraged Wangji to pursue you as a friend at the very least but looking at you now, and knowing what you have done, I fear I made a mistake. You are nowhere near good enough for my brother."

...

Lan Xichen didn't know how to feel about this, "No!" Lan Xichen shouted.

Lan Zhan gulped, "Wei Ying..." He called softly, "Are you okay?"

Wei Ying's eyes remained closed as he shook his head, "Trying to be," He replied honestly, continuing to thaw from his memories.

Lan Xichen sniffed before suddenly hugging him, "You're more than enough for my brother... you're perfect and I wouldn't want anybody else for him."

Wei Ying froze for a moment, his hand awkwardly hovering before he began to sob.

He hugging Lan Xichen back, "Thank you..." He whispered, hiccuping, he let out a loud breath and clutched Lan Xichen's broad arms, "as it shows just how much impact resentful energy has on you. It really gets inside your head and makes you go insane...I guess that's why I was so difficult to deal with in the past...I'm sorry."

"Don't be, we should have really studied resentful energy a bit more properly so we could have assessed the issue better," Lan Qiren stated, "when you brought up resentful energy in class, I threw you out. I should have really sat down and explained to you what it would really do. It is different with everyone though. I am sorry I was so tough on you at the start of all this. I am sorry that I judged you so harshly. If you really want to, I hope you would really think about staying in Cloud Recesses with Wangji and we can help you with whatever you need."

"Thank you," Wei Ying said.

Knowing there is still a lot to come, he was starting to feel more welcome by the Lan's. Lan Qiren was the one person he worried about in the Lan Sect. Just having him at least to tolerate Wei Wuxian was a challenge already.