These are a collection of one-shots that have been requested by my readers. I hope you enjoy reading them as much as I enjoyed writing them. Happy reading!
This prompt was requested by Riiza on archive of our own. Thank you for the prompt, I hope I have done justice to the moment between them.
Prompt: When Wei Wuxian returns from the burial mounds as the Yiling Patriarch, Lan Zhan asks him to go back with him to Gusu. Would things have turned out differently if he had been clearer?
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The sharp cry of the music pierced through the night sky. It sounded like the call of the devil itself. There was silence all around the battleground, just for a minute. Jiang Cheng stood there frozen with hope and something akin to fear.
Lan Zhan could not understand the expression on Jiang Cheng's face. He stood there in waiting.
There it was again, the shrill cry of the note. It sounded higher than the last time. But unlike the last time, this time there were a series of musical notes following the first one. It was like the call of the siren. Corpses seem to flood the complex from all directions. They seem to lose their limbs as they crawled inside the complex.
Lan Zhan finally understood the look on Jiang Cheng's face.
Wen Chao fell down before crawling his way out of the place. He could not walk without assistance as both his legs were broken. He seemed to be covered in bandages and unhealed wounds that he looked half dead already. A man that was almost dead wanted to live.
Lan wanted to scoff at the irony of the whole situation. Wen Chao himself would've killed over thousands of men and even more alongside his father. Yet, he wanted to live.
Lan Zhan was not a vindictive man. All he could do was think that this was all very poetic.
He strained his eyes to see a shadow looming over one of the entrances of the complex. Lan Zhan waited in hiding with a fire lit in his heart. He looked at Wen Zhuliu taking up a defensive position in front of Wen Chao. The man who no longer looked like a man but like one of the undeads crossing the complex. They both did not move from their hiding place.
They both waited with batted breaths.
The shadow emerged wearing a dark robe that looked as black as the night itself. It had the walk of a well-trained warrior. Curt and disciplined, at the same time confident. Like it knew it could win this battle. There was a corpse of a beautiful woman walking by its side and a child that crawled around him like he was its lifeline.
Lan Zhan's breath stopped when he looked at black flute hanging by the creature's waist with a red tassel. He could recognize that tassel anywhere. He's been wandering all over looking for the exact man that was standing in front of him.
Wei Ying!
He finally took off the hood of his dark robes revealing a pair of sharp, red eyes. Eyes that were devoid of any emotion. This was not his Wei Ying. This was not the man that stole his heart when he was fifteen. This was not the man that had left him breathless with his smiles. There was no hint of any of those smiles left.
Lan Zhan dared not blink.
Wei Ying smiled. Showing rows of sharp teeth. He looked sinister.
He looked like hell had spat him out for vindication.
Lan Zhan wanted to cry at the loss of this man. But before he could let his emotions take control, Wei Ying had the core melting hand down on his knees, gasping for breath. The man finally fell unconscious. Wei Ying turned towards Wen Chao.
He took a hold of his neck before he could move. He lifted up Wen Chao with ease and looked at him dead in the eyes before speaking.
"How does it feel to finally see a ghost in real?" He asked in a deep, dark voice that sounded foreign. Wei Ying's voice had gotten deeper over the period that Lan Zhan had not seen him.
Snap.
Wen Chao's head lolled to one side, with eyes wide open with fear. He looked like a man who had seen the devil himself.
"Wei Ying!!"
Jiang Cheng rushed to greet his brother. Wei Ying's eyes seem to gain a little bit of the light lost. He watched the two brothers fall into an embrace. He slowly emerged. He walked over to Wei Ying. His fingers twitched. Like they wanted to hold the man in front of him. Like they longed to do so.
He watched Jiang Cheng ask him questions in rapid fire. He watched Wei Ying struggle to answer them. This was not his Wei Ying, his brain seems to remind him again. Wei Ying was not capable of cold murder, but this one was.
He did not ever think that he will miss Wei Ying being a chatterbox. Yet here he was. He did not like the quieter version of the man. He looked grown up, mature and worn out. He was not a day older than 21 though. Neither of them was.
Wei Ying, what happened to you?
He finally turned to lock eyes with Lan Zhan. His eyes said nothing but they seemed to seek silence.
"Not going to patronize me, Lan Zhan? Go on."
"Wei Ying, go back to Gusu with me."
In an instant he watched Wei Ying's eyes harden into molten steel. "Lan Zhan. Leave."
"You cannot keep doing this Wei Ying! Go back with me!"
"This had nothing to do with you master Lan. Its a family issue."
"...He's right Second master Lan. This does not concern you. Stay out of this."
"You think the clans will let this pass?! Look at yourself Wei Ying! you're covered in blood! It is not too late to turn back!"
"Who do you think you are?!! You think you can walk into my life and tell me that my choices are bad? You weren't there second master Lan. You. know. nothing." Wei Ying exploded in red hot anger. Lan Zhan felt like he had been slapped. Lan Zhan knew he misunderstood the whole thing when he referred to him as -second master Lan and not Lan Zhan.
"Wei Ying........I..."
Lan Zhan wanted to scream and cry and hold this man close who held so much sadness in him. "I... I'm worried about you.."
Wei Ying's eyes widened slightly. He stood there waiting for him to continue.
"I... I.. looked everywhere for you...." "And here you are.."
".. Here I am.." Wei Ying whispered with disbelief in his voice. He looked at Lan Zhan's eyes for a long moment before turning away. He tilted his head and said "But I cannot go back with you Lan Zhan. I have duties as a member of the Yunmeng Jiang sect."
After a moment of silence, he whispered "I do not belong in your world."
Saying this he walked away and never turned back. Jiang Cheng followed him almost instantly without saying anything anymore.
Lan Zhan looked at his retreating back and wondered what he had done wrong. He stood there with a distressed expression and tears that were in but refused to fall.
Unbeckonest to him, Wei Ying was just as much distressed as he was. And Lan Zhan could not hear the rapid beating of Wei Ying's heart.
------------------------to be continued......
I based this prompt on the novel and not on the series because I am aware it's slightly different.
I welcome my readers to send in their idea for prompts. Happy reading!
