Broken Enough

" Familiar...? "

Lan Wangji stepped out of his home that very morning, his vision obstructed by the sun rays bathing his skin. The air felt thinner than it was before. It has been many years, time flew since the death of Wei Wuxian, or as other's called him,

Yiling Patriarch...

He remembered that night as clear as that day, the day he saw that face riddled with pain, with marks and bruises. Wuxian looked absolutely crestfallen when he saw the mob before him. Lan Wangji remembered the nights before they had orchestrated the sudden attack on Wei Wuxian.

He was home that day, not really his home but it was his home after everything burned. He heard of Yiling Patriarch, heard of that name as they rattled with the sounds of war on him.

He was told, just like the rest that Wei Wuxian was the one to blame, that he burned down Cloud Recesses, that he taken Yunmeng Jiang Clan, injuried the powerless, killed the innocence.

They said he was insane, his eyes turning a demonic red, resent energy pooling from under his robes, a menacing look on his face. And Wangji, well...he found himself believing it.

"Everyone who follows in that manic does in their path. Everytime they step to close to the stone they get crushed! Why must we let that happen when we can throw him off of Nightless City, rid him of his evil doings, putting the cultivation world back into order!"

The deafening sounds of cheers for the death of him was loud. Wangji hadn't been there but he heard it from where he watched. He can see the hatred, the pain everyone of the clans felt. The only clans that never joined was the Nie Clan, especially after the disappearance of Nie Huaisang.

He didn't want to join such a rally, for inside of him, his heart couldn't take that step in completely wishing death upon him, so he stirred cleared.

Or so he thought....

For when he woke up the morning, the world had seemed dimmed, his body ached his paralyzed heart cried out in agony, as if his body experience something so horrific that it made him weep. He couldn't remember, nor did he know he was crying.

He tapped his face that morning, confused on why his face was wet, why his heart hurt. His head lifted and all of a sudden he got flashes of Wei Wuxian, his bright smile and then the memory changed to nothing but dullness, blood dripping from his lips, brows beging to crease like fragile paper that became crippled.

His eyes opened, his body shuttered as if he was cold, his hand reached out to him and he....went backwards into the background.

"Wei Ying!" He'd shout out, standing off from the bed and reaching to absolutely nothing...he was seeing nothing but he saw something, something rather worrying.

He stepped out of his room, cleansing himself of his crying before and searching for his brother to see what exactly happened that fateful night.

"Xiongzhang," he hastily carried himself through the halls, the reports of the rebuilding of Cloud Recesses were under way. Lan Xichen looked to his brother. "Wangji, glad that your awake. Are you okay?"

"Xiongzhang, where is Wei Wuxian?" He asked.

Lan Xichen looked conflicted, like he knew the news himself. Looking around him, he swallowed and gently takes Lan Wangji's arm. "Come with me."

"Mn,"

Lan Xichen had taken him into a room, closing the door and sealing it so no one outside can hear them. He began to discuss what happened, or what he remembered. His brother confirmed his worst nightmare to him... something he wanted to avoid yet those words uttered from his lips and a wave of guilt and pain hits him like an arrow through its target.