Fluffy WangXian Oneshots Book Two

Tied To The Ocean Part 4

Wei Ying doesn't notice the pink pearls floating down to the bottom of the ocean, at first. He's jubilant and joyful and he can't believe he was scared of this, of being able to dive down, so deep that the moonlight can't touch him, and he shoots through the waters with an alarming speed, scattering tuna and herrings as if their vast shoals were nothing.

He is a man on a mission, and he must find Lan Zhan.

His mind is as sharp as his fins as he cuts through the water, hoping that Lan Zhan is okay. This fear of his own, where he's worrying about what will happen to them afterwards is far away into the future; for now, he must go and find Lan Zhan, and make sure he's alright.

Every sea creature recognises the threat of his being and scuttles away in haste as Wei Ying cuts through the current with the ease of a hunting shark.

Wei Ying's memory is bright and sharp and clear, and he sends out a pulse of his thoughts, a request for directions from the sea creatures, anyone who might have seen Lan Zhan swim past.

All the corals and the fishes too scared to answer shy away, closing and shunning his attention, but the barracudas are the most helpful with their shrewd eyes, all looking in the direction of where Lan Zhan must have gone.

No one is stupid enough to lie to him.

He hopes.

*************

A siren's song.

Lilting and heavenly, filling his mind with images of his people, a calling out for a lost daughter of the sea. They do not know where she is, but they can sense the ring around his neck, and Lan Zhan is no longer afraid.

These are his people, or his mother's people. Of that, he is as sure as the sun will rise in the East tomorrow. But he knows they aren't expecting him, that they must be wanting to see his mother.

What if they don't recognise him? Or understand the connection between him and his mother, the bridge between all of them now gone?

It is mind-blowing for Lan Zhan, to think that this connection he had with his mother, and then later, or at the same time with Wei Ying was born from something deeper. And how amazing is it that Wei Ying had found the one person on earth in his close vicinity that was suffering from the same kind of problem?

Wei Ying, who wanted to return to the sea but was scared his freedom on earth would be affected, and Mama Lan, who wanted to return to her people, but she could not. Both were trapped on land, but tied to the ocean and unable to return.

Lan Zhan's mother had given his father her ring, and Lan Zhan is sure that she needed it back because she said she had foolishly trusted him. That could only mean she might have confided in him, and what did he do? Lan Zhan doesn't have all the details yet, but he wants to know what exactly occurred between his parents. It's useless to speculate when important facts are missing, but he thinks he might be onto something.

Down here where everything is bathed in a blue light, swimming in these waters feels like a long-lost dream. Shades of turquoise, shimmering cerulean and cyan waters glimmer all around him, an enchanted world full of wonder, Lan Zhan barrels on ahead, listening to that song.

A long time ago, XiChen had taken Lan Zhan snorkelling around a famous reef known for its vivid and vibrant coral, the beautiful anemones and the clusters of rainbow coloured fish had absolutely kidnapped his brain. Lan Zhan loved every second of that trip, and thought there should be a way to stay down there even if his oxygen tank had depleted.

He remembers it now, that experience making it to the top ten of the highlights in his life, and how he still has fond memories of that vacation.

What is XiChen going to think about this? That their mother was part of an entirely different species, and able to comfortably parse through both types of living. What will his older brother say when Lan Zhan shows him what happened to him tonight?