The Tamed

Lan Wangji's calamity

Lan Wangji stared blankly at the empty teacup in front of him, not saying a word.

This out of norm behavior made Lan Xichen a little concerned. Others' might not be able to tell but he's an expert of decrypting the micro-expressions of his younger brother. "Anything troubled you, Wangji?" He asked.

"No." Lan Wangji said impassively.

Lan Xichen sipped his tea, knowing that it was a yes. "I heard there's a Young Master Wei in the lecture hall." He began to speculate.

"Mn."

And Lan Xichen got the answer of the source of his brother's trouble. Wangji is going to have a same aged friend soon; he was pleased with the thought. "How do you find him?" He asked.

"..." Lan Wangji stayed silent.

"I see. He must be an interesting person."

Lan Wangji's mouth twitched but he still keep his mouth shut. The conversation stopped there. Both didn't mind the usual silent breakfast, the only difference was Lan Xichen had a pleased smile on his face through out the time.

Amidst the silence, Lan Wangji was lost in his deep thoughts. He had woken up an hour earlier than his usual 5am Gusu Lan sleeping pattern from a nightmare. It never happened to him before and yet, he was awakened rudely by the horrific dream with a uncharacteristic panting of breath and a racing heart raced that made his chest throb painfully. He tried meditating but he could not concentrate enough. He didn't want to force it lest he wanted to end up with Qi deviation. Therefore, his only option was to go to the cold spring once again to clear his head. And it was concerning that his last visit was less than 9 hours ago. The same person caused both visits and he still could not calm himself down entirely.

In his dream, someone was playing a flute. The melody was eerie and shrilly, a summoning of resentful spirits. The air was thick with the awful smell of blood, Sulphur, and decayed corpses.

Lan Wangji looked around, his heart quickened at the sight of chaos and bloodbath. Some are fighting what resembles hundreds dense black smoke but most are killing each other. He recognized some of these people and majority were not behaving like their usual selves. It was as if they were clouded by greed and driven by killing intents. Manic. Evil. Willing to cut and slice, step over each other to get their hands on some kind of taunting floating iron piece that filled with heavy resentment.

The tune suddenly stopped and that absence of that unsettling music caught his attention. He searched for the person responsible for it and he saw a man laughing at the sight of massacre. Strangely, the man was also crying at the same time. Lan Wangji could see how broken the man was and how his eyes were full of sorrow and despair. And how the man was standing too close to a cliff. His blood ran cold. He knew this person.

A grown-up Wei Wuxian. Ravaged and injured. Blood seeped down from mouth. Tears were rolling on his cheeks while he was watching vacantly at the bloodbath commotion that was happening and a black flute fell from his hand.

Lan Wangji felt his mouth moved on its own and his body felt like it was not his to control. "Wei Ying." He called out softly like he was genuinely terrified that his word would hurt the man further, "Come back." He pleaded, his heart throbbing painfully in his chest.

Wei Wuxian looked at him briefly before shutting his puffy eyes, refusing to meet Lan Wangji's eyes.

Lan Wangji felt his own heart were breaking apart at that. Shredded to pieces.

More tears rolled down the Wei Wuxian's cheek as he took another step backward closer to the edge.

Lan Wangji had no extra second to register the shock of seeing Wei Wuxian who was determined to take the final step to his death. He lunged and flew himself forward as fast he could. Desperately trying to pull the man back into safety. Into his arm. He somehow managed to grab one of Wei Wuxian's hands with his injured arm. Blood gushing down from the deep slash wound as he kept his grip on Wei Ying tightly. He could feel the pain registered in his brain, but he did not care at all.