Who You Are

Chapter 83 - Lan Xichen's Promise

After Wangji calmed down enough, Xichen managed to convince to head to Yiling. Once there, Xichen ordered a room at an inn, and let Wangji relax for a little while. After that encounter with Jiang Cheng and his break down, Wangji needed a little while to really recollect himself. When they arrived to the inn, Xichen situated Wangji on the bed. He wanted his little brother to rest for a while to recover a bit from what happened.

"Ge?" Wangji called out for Xichen, "you are not leaving right?"

Xichen could see the desperation in his little brothers eyes. Reading the book inside Wangji's eyes, Xichen saw worry, abandonment, pain, and loneliness. Wangji worried that his brother would leave or disappear.

Xichen knelt down beside the bed, "I won't going anywhere. I won't leave you," he reassured his little brother, "that is my promise. I will always be by your side, as long as you want me there."

"Please doesn't leave me too," Wangji begged. Tears were welling up in his eyes, and Wangji tried to choke them back.

"I will not leave you, ever," Xichen continued to reassure his little brother.

...

"Xichen, I admire your love and care for Lan Zhan," Wei Ying told him, "it's heartwarming to see."

Xichen could read Wei Wuxian's eyes. He could read that Wuxian wished for such a bond with a family member. He wished for an other brother or sister...wished for an older sibling's care and trust. Wuxian once had Yanli, but to what extent did she really love and comfort him. He knows Yanli loves her Shidi, but making meals and attending him while sick wasn't good enough, in Xichen's opinion.

Wei Wuxian was an only child, he grew up in a place where he felt unwanted, and didn't even consider it home. Wuxian took Cloud Recesses more as a home then Lotus Pier ever was. It actually ached Xichen's heart knowing Wei Wuxian never had a proper sibling's love and attention. To have a brother to talk to. He spent so much of his time worrying about trying to impress the Jiang family, or keep himself from getting scolded, beaten, or even thrown out. He never had someone like Lan Xichen in his life. Xichen made a vow then and there, that he would be there for Wei Wuxian, just like he would for Wangji.

"A'Xian, I want you to know that you can consider me as an older brother. You are married to my little brother as it is. Don't think of me as just an in-law. I really want to have that sibling companionship with you as I do with Wangji. You are as much my brother as he is, and that is the truth," Lan Xichen told him wholeheartedly, "so if you ever need someone, a brother, even, you can come to...please come to me. I would be happy to call you Didi, as I do Wangji."

Wei Wuxian nodded as tears of happiness escaped his eyes. Xichen pulled him into a hug, only for Wei Wuxian to thank him for his kindness and cry happily into his shoulder. Wangji was very happy to see such a moment between the two. It was something that he hoped would happen as his relationship with Wei Ying continued. To see Xichen fully accept Wei Ying now, here in front of him, it made him feel like his life was finally complete.

...

Wangji grabbed his brother's arm and pulled him to sit beside him on the bed. Xichen complied, and sat there comfortably with his back against the headboard of the bed. Wangji then moved to lay on him. His body wrapped around him from the side while his head rested on Xichen's chest. This was the first time in a very long time, that Xichen had comforted his brother in such a way. In the past, Lan Wangji without himself from many people, and never wanted to associate with touch. Now, Wangji needed his brother's comfort.

Lan Wangji just laid there on Lan Xichen's chest and let his tears fall. As Wangji laid there, Xichen placed his left hand on the back of Wangji's head. His fingers tangled into Wangji's hair, gently grazing his fingertips across the scalp. As he gently rubbed his fingers through his hair, Xichen emitted a small amount of spiritual energy through the tips of his fingers and through to Wangji. Doing this, is was a way to help him calm down and relax further. The slight warmed from the energy that radiated from his fingers caused Wangji to further melt onto Xichen's chest, and fell asleep.

Asleep, Xichen was afraid to even move, as he didn't want to wake him up. As he laid there with his little brother, a green tinted messenger butterfly flew across the room to him. Each sect had a messenger butterfly, the color coordinated with the sect it came from. Green associated from the Qinghe Nie Sect, gold was Lanling Jin Sect, Purple was Yunmeng Jiang Sect, and a light blue butterfly associated with the GusuLan Sect. Since the butterfly was green, it had arrived from the Nie Sect.

Xichen reached his hand out and let the butterfly land on the palm of his hand, letting the message play out for him:

Er-Ge,

It's Nie Huaisang, when you get this, I ask if you can make time to come to Qinghe. Lately Da-ge has been having more and more temperament changes, and he even coughed up blood the other day. I fear he may have been poisoned or something of that sort.

Please help me if you can.

Getting this news was a shock to Xichen. Da-Ge, or Nie Mingjue, has always been able to control his emotional outbursts. Xichen knows that Nie Mingjue cares for so many and is only angered if he finds something urgent or something suspicious. His temper was always changing throughout Wei Wuxian's hardships, but it was only because he didn't know what was going on, or why Wei Wuxian was changing so much. There were many reasons for that.

Hearing that Nie Mingjue was under the weather, or even ill, sent some red flags through Xichen's mind. He wouldn't just suddenly lose control of his temper, or have any sort of backlash to his spiritual energy. He knew something was wrong. So, he sent a message to Nie Huaisang, saying that he will be there in a few days to see what is wrong.

In the meantime, Xichen had to deal with his little brother. There was also the rumor of walking corpses being spotted just outside of the burial mounds, and on the outskirts of Yiling. So when Wangji was up and feeling a bit more refreshed, he and Xichen would go check out the mounds. Plus, as they were already in Yiling, they will check out the rumors of the corpses as well.

...

"Corpses huh?" Wei Ying asked, "did you assume it was me?"

"No," Xichen said, "you were known to be dead. Plus the corpse that you always made were stronger then the ones that we encountered after your death."

"Even when I was found to be alive again, did you have your doubts about me?" Wei Ying asked, "please be honest, I can handle it...plus it is in the past. I just want to know your thoughts on that."

"I did not have my doubts, especially since you were around Wangji pretty much the entire time after you were reassure. I just assumed they were just lingering corpses of yours that never got taken care of, but they were not yours. Plus, the matter with Da-Ge, some people were even pointing fingers at you for it, how could you have if you weren't around at the time of his death?"

Hearing this, it actually made Wuxian happy. It means that he trusted him to a certain extent at the time. It probably wasn't much, but it was enough trust to allow Wei Wuxian to be grateful for Xichen. So, Wuxian nodded to Xichen's answer.

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You know, I am unintentionally trying not to cry while I write, but that is not going too well..I cried again writing this chapter...so much tears 😭 😂