Come Back to Gusu

2. Prologue Part 2

I survived. Somehow. Wen Chao was dead. Wen ZhuLiu was dead. Lan WangJi was... disappointed. At least that hasn't changed. I've been a disappointment to him since I first climbed over the walls. For a few breaths he'd been certain Lan Zhan was going to kill him. For some reason, that made him start laughing. Just think. I survived being eaten by a water abyss and the Xuanwu of Slaughter. I survived my home burning, and being half choked to death. I survived giving up my Core and being thrown into the Burial Mounds. Only for Lan Zhan to glare me to death.

"What's so funny?" Jiang Cheng grumped.

"Nothing," Wei WuXian chortled. "I'm just happy to see you again. It's been too long."

"We're headquartered at the Unclean Realm for now. We can stay here tonight and fly out tomorrow."

Wei WuXian swallowed a spurt of fear. He doesn't know. Of course he doesn't know I can't fly! He wanted to laugh, to cry, to scream. Suibian was at his side and was as useless as a shoe to a man with no legs. "I... can't. Not yet," he lied. "My spiritual energy is too low after all that time."

Jiang Cheng stirred the fire. "Were you really thrown into the Burial Mounds? I don't want to believe it, but... the soldiers at the Indoctrination Center were so sure."

Wei WuXian didn't nod or shake his head. "Would it make a difference if I had been?"

"Of course it makes a difference!" Jiang Cheng shouted. "There are so many people who think you just wandered off to play for the past four months!"

"I did what I had to do to survive," Wei WuXian talked his way around the question. Their birthdays were so close together, and yet.... He felt years older. Perhaps it was from giving up his Core. Or perhaps it was those months spent trying to survive. Had he really spent only three months in there? It felt like years!

~*~

I'm cold. So cold. So tired of it all. Alcohol was a pale imitation of a Core. QingheNie's wine was good and there was plenty of it. It numbed the aches, numbed the cold, numbed the insults hurled at him for not carrying his sword. 'I can't!' he wanted to yell at them. I gave away my Core. I'm going to grow old and die while you all look young and healthy. "I did what I had to do to survive."

"Wei Ying.... Consuming so much alcohol is not healthy."

Wei WuXian looked at his friend with blurry vision. One of the great things about not having a Core anymore was he got drunk a lot faster than before. "Go away Lan Zhan. I'm drinking."

"You should stop."

"There's lots of things I should do," he agreed pleasantly, and drained the jar. "You're not my parent nor my sect leader. Half the time I don't even think we're friends. Stop telling me what I should be doing. I already know what I should be doing."

"And what is that?" the second jade sounded slightly exasperated.

"I should find another jar!" Wei WuXian stood and swayed for a bit. "Wow. Was that an earthquake? Strange how the ground under my feet was shaky, but you didn't move at all.... Why do you suppose that is?" He was quite proud of the fact that he wasn't so drunk as to be slurring words yet. Walking, on the other hand, was going to be a challenge given the number of earthquakes happening beneath his feet.

"Where is your sword?"

Wei WuXian's face twisted in thought. "I hope it's where I left it. It would be awfully horrible for you and Jiang Cheng to go through all that trouble to get my sword back only for someone to steal it again! What do you think, Lan Zhan? Do you think there's a thief here who stole my sword?"