Lan Zhan opens his eyes to a bright white light, blinding him. He blinks a few times, and then another hand squeezes his hand. He looks to his side and sees Wei Ying, but not as a child. This Wei Ying is the same height as himself, perhaps just slightly shorter. His body is glowing, and so is Lan Zhan. He feels strange, as if he's not exactly alive, but not quite dead either.
Lan Zhan returns his attention back to Wei Ying. He's so beautiful, he makes Lan Zhan's chest ache with it.
His face...it's the same face that used to pester him, trying his best to annoy him. Calling out his name repeatedly just for the sake of it, his shining bright smile lighting up the space in between them. His brilliant silver eyes shimmer with love and understanding. And his hair...his beautiful long hair is tied back in a ponytail with a bright red ribbon.
"Wei Ying?"
He nods, emotions making his movements jerky, but before he can say anything, their attention is drawn to the source of the white light.
They are not alone.
"Congratulations," a deep voice says, and it seems as if it's coming out of the bright white light, though they cannot discern an actual person there. "Both of you sacrificed your lives, and your golden cores, in order to destroy a great evil. That was your Heavenly Trial, for both of you. You chose well when faced with adversity, and your reward is immortality. Your child bodies are being preserved on the mortal plane; hence there is a choice for you. Do you wish to return to your youth, or do you prefer these immortal skins?"
Lan Zhan immediately looks back to Wei Ying, wondering what he will say. Does he miss his childhood with his parents? And now with the addition of his siblings, will he want to be their Da-Ge in body as well as spirit? What will he choose?
"If we decide on those kid bodies, does it mean we'll stay that size forever?" Wei Ying, ever and always so sharp, asks the person back.
"That's up to you."
"Hang on a minute," Wei Ying tells them and pulls Lan Zhan closer. "Okay, I don't know about you, but in my head, I'm still twenty. And it's hard with those bodies, needing to be carried and picked up just so I can get on a fucking bed! Not to mention, puberty." He visibly shudders with distaste. He continues in a lower voice, "And not gonna lie, but I miss this. The height definitely, and Suibian. I know you miss Bichen."
"Mn."
"And if that's not enough to convince you, then think about this." Wei Ying gives him a wicked smile and a devilish wink. "If we're like this, we can get married. Now. Like, now-now."
It doesn't even take a second for Lan Zhan's brain to catch up, and he's pulling Wei Ying, well, they're both drifting more towards the Celestial person.
"We want to be like this when we go back." He sounds so sure, so confident, and Lan Zhan is giddy on the inside, because four very important words are echoing in his heart and melding into one: wecangetmarried, wecangetmarried, wecangetmarried.
The Celestial Person laughs. "As you wish. But I must ask you, is there anything else you would like? As there are two of you, and your request is aligned. I'm sure it's allowed."
"Can you show us anything we want to see?" Wei Ying asks them, a note of uncertainty in his voice.
"I am the Master of Time. The Past, the Present and the Future, are open windows to me. What do you wish to see?"
"I have one regret," Wei Ying replies hoarsely, turning to Lan Zhan with tears shining in his beautiful starlight eyes.
"A-Yuan," Lan Zhan says at the same time as him. He tries to remember if he saw the child when he had returned to Nightless City in that first life, when Jin GuangShan had killed the rest of the Wen Remnants and hung their bodies off the gate.
