The Untamed Oneshots / CQL / WangXian

Promise Anew

Author's Note: I am starting, and celebrating, a brand-new chapter of my life. I thought it would be fitting if a-Xian did as well.

On a cliff in Cloud Recesses, a lone figure was hunched over busy weaving a lantern. Decked in his signature black robes, red ribbon teasingly fluttering with the sweet, earthy scented breeze, Wei Wuxian softly hummed along to his favourite song, a melody of a guqin and a dizi that was birthed from a love so pure. Wuji filled every pore of his being, beating from his heart and spreading through his veins as he briefly titled his head up to look at the sky. The crisp crystal blue freckled with tufts of fluffy cottontail clouds gave way to vibrant splashes of bleeding gold and bruising lilac and the softest rosebud pink. Stars began creeping out of hiding, twinkling in the navy embrace of the approaching evening, casting an almost revered atmosphere over the sect residing amongst the clouds. Such a beautiful day. Some of the finest work to have flowed from Mother Nature's brush, her paints a blend of perfection beating on Wei Wuxian's skin with the last trickles of warmth from the receding afternoon.

He could not help but think...

For such a long time, especially during his past life some sixteen years ago, it always felt like he was watching through the windows on other people's lives. Their joy and their familial bond, how they rallied together in times of pain or crisis and encouraged their young ones with supportive smiles and proud eyes. Though he had many families in theory – from the Jiangs to the Wen remnants to the cultivation world in general – Wei Wuxian always felt like he was walking next to an invisible border that separated him from those people, a shackled leash around his neck pulling him back whenever he dared tread too close to a life that was not meant to be his. For most of his life, he had accepted the faulty truth that it was inevitable for him to remain on the outside, merely looking in at what could have been if he had still had his parents by his side.

He had spent all that time never even knowing just how blind he had been.

Now, in a new life, during much different times, Wei Wuxian continued weaving his lantern, blinking in the shimmer of the starlight. Now, as a man not only known for walking the path of a single log bridge straight into the dark, but also as the Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation, the founder of a power no one before in recorded history could stomach for a few moments, let alone make that same power bend to his will and yield to his very command, he could suddenly see. From his peaceful solitude surrounded by the serenity that made up the core beauty of Cloud Recesses, his epiphany was crystal clear and unmistakeable...he was exactly where he was meant to be.

For so many years, Wei Wuxian had been chasing a daydream. One of finding a home, being part of a family, of being accepted for who he truly was, flaws and all, and of being loved. He'd been living in such a blur, laughing through his pain, sacrificing every part of his being to protect those he raised on a pedestal in his heart, people that no one could dare harm lest they wanted to face his wrath head on. He had focussed so much on all of the wrong things that he had lost sight of what was truly important.

He had spent all that time never truly seeing things for the way they were.

His parents had loved him dearly, despite his memory of them being akin to a fading whisper of a dream.

Uncle Jiang had loved him, so much so that he – a man of status and power – had lowered himself to the dusty roads of Yiling and looked a dirty orphaned street boy in the eye before welcoming him with a warm embrace and a promise of a sanctuary at Lotus Pier.

His Shijie, her heart kinder and her care stronger than the combined spiritual power of the Twin Jades of Gusu Lan, had loved him. Her Lotus Root and Pork Rib soup was a comfort during his agony and inner turmoil. Her warm, motherly embrace was a safe haven for the lost boy still hidden deep inside his being.