Lan Zhan's Untamed (Lan Zhan x Wei Wuxian)

Past ~ Part 2

"Lan Zhan!" I follow his trails and even though I knew it's in vain I still hoped that he could hear my voice.

Burial Mountain.

He's kneeling on the charred ground, frozen, unblinking at his palms, where seconds ago he had held my Red Ribbon, were now scattered into ashes in the thin air.

I reminisce our conversation outside Yunping City where he gave me the Red Hairpin. It was this very moment he had described and even though I was aware of the pain he'd been through, I never realised the intricacies of it.

My reverie is broken when I hear his wail. Lan Zhan who was silent as a still water now had waves of emotions coursing through him. Clawing through the mud like a mad man, he was trying to find any remnants of mine.

Something.

Anything.

Hours later giving up on his search, he dragged his exhausted body out of the Burial Mountain. His fingernails were broken. His skin was bleeding. I have never seen Lan Zhan in disarray but here was the man who came to mean so much to me, a shell of who he was. His eyes which I have always fell in love with looked so lifeless.

Probably for the very first time I was truly scared for his sanity.

What have you done Wei Ying!?

I watch him enter a liquor shop. I watch him buy Gusu's Emperor Smile. I watch him drink every single drop. I watch him look at the moon. I watch sigh. I watch him cry.

All I can do is just watch.

Trudging back to Cloud Recess he drags his lifeless soul to a storage room where he tries to find something frantically. Trashing around all the contents, he finally stills when his fingers curl around an iron object. On closer inspection I realise it is the same rod from the Wen Clan that marred my chest. A burst of energy fuels his body and he quickly strides towards the kitchen which is remains abandoned at this hour. He lights a fire and places the iron rod in the heat. Once satisfied he watches the red embers blazing the iron and to my horror it was his smile that made me realise what he was going to do! The scar on Lan Zhan's chest is from this very moment.

No!!!

No Lan Zhan!!!

I scream.

I try to hold his wrist but I was unable to and in the next moment the rod is placed on the surface of his chest. Marked forever.

It's his grin, his low maniacle laughter, his peaceful eyes that would haunt me forever. He had given up. My Lan Zhan had given up.

"Wei Ying, separated by lifetime, united by a mark" he whispers as a tear escapes his eyes and I close mine.

Lan Zhan.

I hear ZewuJun's scream and my vision fades out.