A Means to an End (WangXian)

Destroying the Amulet

No one spoke. They wanted to, but there was this reluctance in the air. The tensions were high and uncomfortable.

Lan Wangji continued to hold Wei Wuxian's hand, a reminder that he was there for him. His mind was a swarming mess. One thought led to the next in a jumbled mess of utter chaos. One could not decipher the emotions on his face without looking closely, but if someone knew him well enough, they could see the turmoil hidden in his eyes, the way the gold darkened.

Wei Wuxian fidgeted with the helm of his robe with his free hand. He bit his lip roughly, and it drew blood. He waited, shoulders stiff-for yelling, for disapproving glares, for disgusted outbursts. His body was on the edge of fleeing.

Nie Huaisang's hands gripped his fan tightly. He could feel the wood creak under the pressure. If he kept holding it the way that he did, there was a chance of it breaking. His eyes burned with tears that he kept trying to blink away but failed.

Lan Xichen was the most unresponsive, perhaps. His shoulders were slightly hunched forward and eyes were unfocused. He kept picking up his cold cup of tea, bringing it to his lips, but remembered it was cold and set it back down again. He kept doing that in a strange pattern as his mind fought every last one of his instincts.

"Wei Ying," a gentle voice called. Wei Wuxian turned his head towards him, but he was too terrified to make eye contact. "I am sorry," his voice broke.

Wei Wuxian looked up. He saw Lan Wangji's eyes glazed over. A look of pain and sadness so overwhelming that Wei Wuxian wished he could take all of that away. "Lan Zhan, no-"

"I failed you," he whispered.

Wei Wuxian's bottom lip quivered. "N-No! That's not true, and you know it! I-I made bad decisions. I hurt so m-many people! My s-shijie, Jiang Cheng, you, the Wen remnants. I failed all of you!" He tried to plea with Lan Wangji. He didn't want anyone to feel guilty for what happened. He believed wholeheartedly that it was his fault and no one else's.

"Wei-xiong. All you ever tried to do was the right thing. You wanted to protect people and help people, but they took advantage of that kindness."

"No! I-I should have been honest from the beginning! About my c-core and the resentful energy! I know Jiang Cheng could never know, but maybe I could have told someone!"

Nie Huaisang shook his head. "What would it have changed? They wanted your amulet. They didn't care why you chose to create it or the amount of suffering you went through to survive and still help them win the war."

Lan Wangji agreed with him. Sure, maybe telling them what really happened might have helped a little, but the real goal of the majority of the people there was to get their hands on Wei Wuxian's powers, to become the new leading force. They wouldn't have cared about the reason, as long as he was out of the way.

Even Lan Xichen had to agree.

Wei Wuxian chose not to respond. They were only being kind. They did not mean the words they spoke. They didn't fully know what kind of monster Wei Wuxian was, or what he believed he was.

The conversation dropped. There was a stinging pain in everyone's heart. They still were processing everything that they had seen. The future looked dim to them. The amount of suffering that everyone goes through is excrutiating. They all wanted to prevent any of it happening, but they would need to get over the emotional hurdle of what they witnessed first. Nothing good comes from acting out purely on their emotions. They needed to strategize.

"We found the array. It was fully activated," Nie Huaisang said.

"The array..." Wei Wuxian thought. "The one you mentioned to me? Someone created a giant array to create a vortex trap of energy?"