Notes:

cross-posted at a03. Please go there for chapters and fics with higher maturity ratings.

… because someone needs to. Protect Wei Ying, I mean. Man, I'm obsessed.

I'm doing that unadvised thing again—I'm starting a new fic. New fandom too. Woot. Please kudo/leave a comment if you liked! Your support helps me write! For real.

Warning: there's seriously uninformed/certainly unrealistic, unsexy sex in this fic. Because Lan Zhan has no clue what he's doing and given the circumstances, Wei Ying isn't too keen on helping him out figure it out.

Love comes later, though! Happy ending, too. Probably.

Chapter ManagemenChapter Text

Lan Wangji regarded the grim-faced Wei Wuxian sitting stiffly on the bed before him, a far cry from the merrily mischievous youth who'd offered him a jar of Emperor's Smile, the laughing fellow student who'd answered their sage instructor so irreverently—and wondered how they'd come to this pass.

Step by step.

"The Yiling Patriarch is to be executed and the Wen clan exterminated." Lan Wangji recalled how the words from Jin Guangshan had shocked him into silence. Even more disturbing had been the loudly unanimous, howling calls for Wei Wuxian's death. Execution? Could he, Lan Wangji, acquiesce to such injustice as he recognized was being committed? And the Wen clan, were they not demonstrably, in their current condition, the weaker and in need of protection? Was it to such a world that they had sworn their lives to uphold?

The final grain of rice that had broken the donkey's back had been Nightless City. The Yiling Patriarch's show of inexplicable, extraordinary power had confirmed to the surviving clans of the Sunshot Campaign that he was much too dangerous a rogue to let live. Before further damage could be done, if that was possible, Jiang Yanli had rushed into the melee, braving the waving swords all about her in a desperate attempt to save her adopted brother from the men gathered to kill him, and from himself.

Catching sight of her, Wei Wuxian had immediately flown to the ground from his perch on the roof, protecting her from an inadvertent sword thrust and taking the injury himself. It was then that, against Yanli's protests, Jin Guangyao had captured the Yiling Patriarch singlehandedly by coming from behind and looping a string around his neck. Even then Wei Wuxian would have continued to fight, cutting through his own throat before surrendering, if the Moling Su leader had not shouted out that the survivors of the Wen clan were in their custody.

Jin Guangshan strode toward the two men, frozen in tableau, and held out his hand. His face a stark white, lips stained with blood, the Yiling Patriarch gave over the flute and in moments the menacing shadows around them ceased to be.

Or so Lan Wangji had heard. His Uncle had kept him carefully sequestered in Cloud Recess away from the conflict, rightfully doubting his compromised heart. And now, Lan Wangji had regrets that could never be absolved--regrets that he hadn't been at the side of a man he'd come to consider a friend, whose cause he sincerely believed to be righteous. Upon discovering the enormity of the event he'd missed, Lan Wangji had hurriedly come to the trial being presently held.

Standing in Jin Guangshan's grand hall, surrounded by enemies baying for his blood, Wei Wuxian shook off the restraining hands of the guards at his left and right, and laughed.

Uncertain silence followed. Everyone looked to Jin Guangshan for guidance as to how to deal with this awe-inspiring madman.

"Does something amuse you?" the Jin sect leader asked coldly.

"Only that your minds are so limited as to only be able to come up with one option." Wei Wuxian wiped at his mouth but only succeeded in smearing the blood.

Jin Guangshan snorted in disbelief. "And what would you, in your broadness of thought, suggest?"

We Wuxian assumed a chillingly pleasant smile. "You could let the Wen clan go free." He shrugged, chains hanging from his shoulders and arms and legs clanking, continuing, "No need to worry; I don't expect you to let me off."

The hall erupted into angry exclamations at this shameless show of bravado. "You seek your own destruction," Jin Guangshan thundered. Lan Wangji looked at the furious men filling the room. Jiang Cheng was present, and though he had yet to speak, his anguished expression indicated he had strong opinions to voice regarding his adopted brother.

So he did. "Clan leader Jin!" Jiang Cheng called out, his tone unconvincingly steady. "This defector Wei Wuxian is no doubt a reprobate, but I believe him more mad in idiocy than villainous. Thus, perhaps divine judgment would render some mercy in--"

Wei Wuxian would have none of it. His voice rang out amidst the clamor. "Don't bother, Jiang Cheng. What do men do with rabid dogs but put them to death?"

From the way Jiang Cheng ground his teeth with rage at this parry to his hopeless plea, he seemed almost ready to kill Wei Wuxian himself.

Lan Wangji returned his attention to Jin Guangshan and studied the man's features, made dissolute by excessive food and drink and women. There was unsatisfied greed for power there.

"Control." The mob quieted and Lan Wangji realized only after everyone turned to look at him that he had spoken aloud.

Frowning almost theatrically, Jin Guangyao spoke into the silence. "What do you mean by this, Hanguang Jun?"

Control? The proud Wei Wuxian that Lan Wangji knew would never submit. Yet he could think of no other way to save the young man now glaring at him as though already aware of what Lan Wangji would say next and hating him for it.

"You've spoken of one course of action. There is another," Lan Wangji said.

Notes:

Thanks so much to everyone who's left kudos/comments! You guys keep me writing! I reply to everyone. 3

… in which I make Lan Wangji craftier than he probably is. Does his argument make sense at all? Maybe?

I almost wrote Stygian Tigger Amulet, by the way. Auto-correct didn't help me there. -_-

Chapter Text

"Though we have the stone in our hands, no one can control the Stygian Tiger Amulet but the Yiling Patriarch," Lan Wangji reminded everyone present.

Jin Guangshan's eyes narrowed in speculation. "That is true. What do you suggest, Hanguang Jun?"

That Lan Wangji disagreed with every sentiment he was about to voice, that in his estimation demonic cultivation was a great evil that could not be harnessed by good intentions, didn't matter. He must keep Wei Wuxian safe from the orthodoxy that would triumphantly destroy him.

"Keep Wei Wuxian alive and he can be made to reveal the workings of the Amulet, something we can use to future advantage should the need arise."

Murmurs spread through the hall. Perceiving the uncertainty pervading the situation but sensing possible victory, Lan Wangji pressed on, using ugly words he knew would best sway these men to his side. "We already know what brings the Yiling Patriarch to his knees."

"The remnants of the Wen clan," Jin Guangyao mused. "But perhaps … we could simply destroy the evil that the Yiling Patriarch has wrought in the creation of the Amulet. Then there would be no hindrance to our original plan."

"Hypocrites, all of you." Though Wei Wuxian's voice was not particularly loud, it was clear and authoritative, automatically commanding attention. "You would condemn me for demonic cultivation but enjoy the power it brings?" An amused smirk curled his lips. "I thought better of you, Hanguang Jun."

If Lan Wangji knew foul language in the least, he would have cast every curse he could have at the obstinate fool circumventing the only idea Lan Wangji could conjure to save him. Outwardly, however, Lan Wangji retained a calm demeanor. "In the past the clans have labored to subdue the Yin stones, and yet among us there are those who have secretly desired them and wreaked much villainy as a result. We ought to consider, therefore, some method that allows us to hold captive its destructive capability rather than overlooking it altogether. "

"Interesting," Jin Guangyao murmured. "I would not have anticipated such a proposal from one of the Twin Jades of Gusu."

Taking a cue from Jin Guangyao, Su She nodded vigorously. "The thought has merit."

Jin Guangshan stroked his beard. "Hm."

Even though he felt palpable relief that perhaps he might win the day, Lan Wangji could not help but despair at the gross display of lust for power so evident in the highest ranks.

Realizing Lan Wangji's plan might actually bear fruit, Wei Wuxian became visibly desperate. He snarled and unconsciously the crowd about him stepped back and hands went to the swords at their belts. "No!"

Jin Guangshan waved a hand. "Quiet the prisoner. He has no say in these matters."

The guards obeyed and shoved at Wei Wuxian's back and kicked at his legs so that he staggered and fell. Seeing the dark head, usually held so high, forced to the ground, made something strange curl in Lan Wangji's gut, but he couldn't focus on what that meant right then because Wei Wuxian was fighting hard and managed to struggle to his feet despite the restraints on him.

In the scuffle that followed, one of the guards struck their prisoner in the stomach, aggravating an already grievous wound. Lan Wangji had already started forward to intervene when crimson blossomed at Wei Wuxian's mouth and he slumped into Lan Wangji's arms.

Jin Guangyao looked at his father. "What is your judgment, Father?"

Still contemplative, Jin Guangshan said slowly, "I will think on it. In the meantime, Hanguang Jun, I would require surety of the Yiling Patriarch's obedience to my dictates."

Lan Wangji lowered Wei Wuxian's limp body to the ground with as much carelessness as he could manage, and nodded. He'd expected as much. "I give my word that he will do as commanded, else I will suffer the same consequences as he."

Notes:

I know both Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji might both come across as irrational and biased, but I figured that neither have the benefit of sixteen years of hindsight, so they'd still have individual tunnel-vision.

Also, surprise! Please leave a kudo/comment if you can. 3

SPOILER ALERT:

They'll get along better and understand each other in the coming chapters. Really. But things don't get easier.

Chapter Text

As Wei Wuxian was not allowed visitors and no one aside from his foster family wanted to assist the Yiling Patriarch in any way, regardless, Lan Wangji took on full responsibility for his self-appointed charge and the following days were full of excruciating worry. Wei Wuxian ran a fever so high that he hallucinated, his unnatural rest tormented by nightmares of his foster sister having been killed during the fight at Nightless City because of him.

Aside from treating the wound itself, Lan Wangji played his guqin to soothe Wei Wuxian's troubled soul, still terribly darkened by the demonic cultivation he had practiced.

At last, Wei Wuxian's fever broke to a manageable degree and Lan Wangji was able to leave him for a time without excessive concern. When he returned, Wei Wuxian was shakily trying to get up from the bed. Sighing internally, Lan Wangji quickly pushes him back down. Predictably, Wei Wuxian didn't accept the manhandling with particular grace and shoved back, meager as his strength was then.

"You can't leave this room," Lan Wangji warned him. "A council of the sects have yet to decide your fate. Until they have, you are to be kept here."

"No one tells me what I can and cannot do." Wei Wuxian tried to glare at Lan Wangji, but he was already wavering and couldn't quite manage the effort, and only fell back onto the bed, once again unconscious.

The next time he woke, Wei Wuxian was no more rational than before. "I will not be a prisoner," he bit out.

Lan Wangji had to hold back a sharp retort. Why was Wei Wuxian so unreasonable? Didn't he realize this was the only way in which everyone could live? "You are not."

Wei Wuxian didn't bother continuing that line of conversation. "I need to know what happened to the survivors of the Wen Clan. Wen Qing and Wen Ning? Is ShiJie all right?"

"The Wen Clan remnants are situated in relative comfort in a compound created specifically for …" here Lan Wangji had to consider how to best present their circumstances so Wei Wuxian would not fly into a rage.

"I am not a fool, Lan Wangji," Wei Wuxian said coldly. "I can guess. What is it, a quarantined area intended to intern the diseased?"

"Yes, but currently there are no sick being held there, only—"

"Only the weak, the elderly, women, and children."

"They are safe," Lang Wangji insisted.

Wei Wuxian breathed deeply. "Wen Ning and Wen Qing?"

"In prison," Lan Wangji had to admit. "But they are not maltreated."

"Beyond their accommodations and fare, I'm sure they rejoice in the mercy granted them," Wei Wuxian said flatly.

"Jiang Yan Li is well. She worries for you." Lan Wangji gazed for a long time at Wei Wuxian, who looked back with a sardonic curl to his lips, hoping to convey his sincerity. "I wish only to help you."

"And why would you want to help the villainous Yiling Patriarch?" Wei Wuxian sneered, the expression unfamiliar on his face, fair even when drawn and blanched. "What is it you want from me?" He gestured at himself. "I have nothing to offer you."

Lan Wangji said nothing for a few moments. "I have regrets," he finally admitted, "about what happened at Nightless City."

"Why should you?" Wei Wuxian asked, voice tight. "You weren't even present."

"I should have been," Lan Wangji said, very quietly. "I should have been at your side."

The other man stared at him. It seemed Wei Wuxian was about to respond, but instead he looked away toward the reflective surface of a bronze mirror in the room, and caught a glimpse of white at the corner of his eye. Bewildered, he raised a hand to his head and entwined Lan Wangji's headband in his fingers in place of his usual red ribbon.

"What is this?" Wei Wuxian asked in astonishment. Feeling at the intricate silver decorations on the clasp, he tugged but the tie refused to come loose. "Lan Wangji!"

"It's my headband," Lan Wangji explained. "Everyone who sees it will know that you are under my guardianship. I promise, no matter what the Council decides—"

"Guardianship." The word is so softly uttered that Lan Wangji almost doesn't hear them. "You once said only your parents, your wife, or your children could touch this."

"Yes, but …" Lan Wangji was about to go on to say that to him, Wei Ying was worth all those, but Wei Wuxian spoke first.

"I'm none of these. What does this supremely generous gesture make me, to you, then?"

Stunned at the sarcasm, Lan Wangji could not immediately answer.

Wei Wuxian's laughter is infused with pained disbelief. "In wearing a collar belonging to you, ought I to happily wag my tail when you return at the end of the day to pat me on the head for being a good dog?"

Shocked at the accusation, Lan Wangji couldn't even bring himself to open his mouth in response, and so Wei Wuxian only saw the other man's customary blank expression. Close to total collapse, he clenched his fists, uncaring of the blood starting to leak from the corner of his mouth from the strain.

Lan Wangji started forward in alarm, but Wei Wuxian held out a hand to ward him off.

"No? So again, I ask you. What does this make me ..." Wei Wuxian gritted his teeth with suppressed fury, agony swelling up once more at his wound, already swaying in fatigue from standing for only some minutes. He gave the white band entwined in his hair a final yank but still it would not come off. "... if not your property?"

Is it that time of year for winter? No idea. But makes things worse which is … good.

I know, I know, WWX isn't being the BAMF he usually is but excuse it because he's really messed up in the head right now. Also, Lan Zhan plays a guqin, not a zither, I think. My bad.

I'm not too happy about how I wrote this scene so I may go back and rewrite it later. Soon. Yes.

Please leave a kudo/comment if you liked! So much 3, as always.

Chapter Text

Winter came early that year, but as for most of the time Lan Wangji had been caring for Wei Ying inside his rooms, the dropping temperature and snow mounds blanketing Cloud Recess did not much capture his attention.

Though Lan Wangji wasn't typically fond of noise, he found Wei Ying's continued silence disquieting. At last he'd been able to clearly explain the circumstances, that Lan Wangji had wished to save his life and that of the Wen clan. He did not explain that with the responsibility came direct culpability should Wei Ying's behavior be less than ideal, but the other man understood and murmured, "Another anchor."

Worse still, Lan Wangji realized that he could not dispel the darkness hovering in Wei Ying's body from the latter's use of demonic cultivation. Ordinarily, the Golden Core inside his body ought to have responded to the inflow of positive energy Lan Wangji transferred to him, but doing so was like calling out expecting to hear a response but receiving nothing, not even an echo, in return.

And still the Council could not be assembled to make up its mind, with the additional excuse that the intemperate weather made gathering difficult.

Moreover, it seemed the darkness had become an addiction of some kind. Disallowed from practicing the art and yet for some reason incapable of receiving Lan Wangji's strength, still suffering from a serious injury, worried over the fate of the Wen clan and the condition of Jiang Yanli, fretting at being confined in Lan Wangji's rooms and unable to act to alleviate those concerns, Wei Ying's health declined precipitously.

Lan Wangji would have heartily accepted recriminations, accusations, shouting, if only Wei Ying would improve. Instead, he said nothing and faded more and more into a shadow of his formerly exuberant self.

Finally, an idea came to Lan Wangji as he gazed hopelessly at his failing companion, now sleeping fitfully, as his fever had risen once more. He could consult the books in the Forbidden Library. Surely, even if the current circumstances had no exact precedent, he could glean some information regarding what to do.

Having decided, he checked on Wei Ying to ensure his comfort so far as he could, and left the room, locking it behind him so that others could not enter.

Lan Wangji only intended to be gone a short while, but the day had grown much later due to the sheer number of materials he had sifted through, when he returned to find Wei Ying gone.

Immediately he set out to find him, his mind deeply disquieted by visions of Wei Ying running into the Clan Leader. Lan Wangji was so distraught he nearly allowed a group of disciples to run into him as he rounded a corner. They had been newly inducted into a higher rank from the initiates, and as Lan Wangji mostly dealt with elders, he was not overly familiar with their faces and did not know their names.

"Hanguan Juan!" they chorused. "We were just looking for you."

He inclined his head in greeting but inwardly chafed at this show of politeness. "What can I do for you?" he asked with barely veiled impatience.

"Oh no," one of them smiled. "We've come to return something of yours."

Something of his? Unreasoning dread grew in Lan Wangji. He could not recall having misplaced anything.

Another young man reached behind him and pulled out a blindfolded, gagged, and bound Wei Ying before forcing him to his knees and keeping his face to the ground.

"We saw that he wore your headband, and so we knew to bring him back to you," he said proudly. "Otherwise, with him being the Yiling Patriarch, we would have sought our Clan Leader."

They didn't know about the indecisive Council. The results, that Lan Wangji had taken Wei Wuxian into his charge until further notice, had not been publicized. Furthermore, because Wei Ying had been meant to remain secreted away, there had been no reason to explain in too much detail.

Lan Wangji stared, unable to believe his eyes. Clad only in his undergarments, Wei Ying was barefoot despite the falling snow, and he was trembling uncontrollably. Before he could stop himself, Lan Wangji shot out a hand and grabbed the man holding Wei Ying down, squeezing his upper arm until he yelped and jumped back in surprise.

Freed of the weight on his neck, Wei Ying wavered, trying to get to his feet but only succeeding in stumbling forward into Lan Wangji's legs.

"What did you do to him?" Lan Wangji demanded, gently pulling his friend up to lean against him. Always slow to anger, his temper had reached a boiling point even as he needed to know what had happened.

The disciples looked puzzled. "We came across him making a ruckus at the gate. He kept crying for someone called ShiJie," one of them said carelessly, not having realized the sudden chill in the air that had nothing to do with the weather. "Who would have thought the Yiling Patriarch cared about anyone?"

"Seven of you," Lan Wangji whispered, barely able to speak. "And you had to bind him thus."

The self-satisfied smiles on the disciples' faces began to falter as they sensed Hanguan Jun was not pleased with how they'd handled the situation.

"Seven of you were necessary to hold one sick and injured man." Now that Wei Ying was so close, Lan Wangji could see the dark red imprints of callous fingers on the pale bared skin of the other man's shoulders through his torn shirt, that his wound had begun bleeding sluggishly again, that his hands and clothes were muddied and soaked as though he'd been thrown about onto the ground.

Such rage infused Lan Wangji then that he would have flown at the Gusu disciples and torn them apart with his bare hands had his brother not arrived that moment and grabbed his arm.

"You will not help him this way," Lan Xichen told him softly. "I will deal with them."

For the first time in his life, Lan Wangji wanted to scream at his brother but saw that in the distance Lan Qiren was headed their way and the small remaining coolness in his thoughts recognized the precariousness of his position should he murder everyone responsible.

Grasping Wei Ying's waist, he carefully fitted a hand to cradle Wei Ying's head in preparation to lift him, only then numbly noticing that he'd entangled his fingers in the band he'd given Wei Ying and bloodied it.

Once they arrived back in his rooms, Lan Wangji collapsed against the doors, Wei Ying still in his arms. Still shaking with fury, he undid the tightly wound bindings on Wei Ying's wrists and gently pulled away the gag and blindfold.

Wei Ying had been struggling feebly but now blinked up at him, murmuring, "Lan Zhan," before his eyes fluttered closed and he went still. The heat rising from him was scaldingly high. He must have been out of his mind with fever and Lan Wangji couldn't think of what to do, who to ask for help.

We came to return something of yours.

Am I your property?

Tears fell down Lan Wangji's face as he stared at the blood-stained, once pristine snow-white of his headband wreathed in Wei Ying's tumbled hair, and wondered if such was the worth of his promises.