Wangji woke up with a start. He was reeling with the events which had taken place yesterday. After some time when he was right in his usual headspace he realized he hadn't any nightmares yesterday. It's indeed been so long since he had slept without a care in the world, falling into slumber without feeling the pain of his past.

He's always thought nightmares were something that never leaves him, especially with someone as introverted as himself. He refused to speak to people regarding any unpleasant occurrences in his past. 

One of them being his vivid memory of his mother falling to her death. It was a memory that would haunt him forever despite what others had said; it wasn't your fault.

How could he think it wasn't his fault when the healer had later announced if they were fast enough they could save her. They couldn't save her because he was stricken where he stood until his brother arrived a while later demanding why he was frozen. 

It was then he had come back to his senses desperately clinging to his older brother's robes asking him to do something, whatever it may be to bring his mother back but it wasn't possible. All because of his panic induced younger self that hadn't thought through.

Wei Wuxian had given him a night of peace and he would be forever thankful although he still didn't care for his demonic-like ways. He shook himself from the negative thoughts way too early in the morning and began his morning routine. 

When he cleaned himself he sat on the bed to meditate but when the minutes ticked by making him extremely restless he opened his eyes and looked about to see what was nudging his sixth sense.

Quickening his steps, he opened the door walking forward only to be slammed with a powerful wave of spiritual energy on his side to a corner, his head plummeting into the mud wall from yesterday. He hissed, feeling the blood at his neck and saw a panicked Wei Wuxian running to his side.

"Hunguangjun? Lan Wangji?" He asked, his heart pummeling against his ribcage as he swiftly lifted the man into his arms and strode towards another house.

Wangji was feeling dizzy, his head lolling onto Wei Wuxian's broad shoulders, whimpering. His right side was numb and he knew he would be feeling it when it starts to go away.

"Hurts." He said, feeling extremely young again. He remembered when a rather tall bulky boy shoved him down the stairs when he was only seven. He had cried to his mother hiding in her robes for a few hours, her hand at his back, gently stroking as she hummed a folk song of Gusu.

He felt exactly like it now and he hid his face into Wei Wuxian's chest, mumbling 'mama' as his head spun and his world went dark. Before his consciousness completely left him he heard a rather desperate murmur of his name; so delicate and fragile.

He registered a few voices speaking right next to him, like the buzzing of the flies. It was irritating but he couldn't get any words out of his mouth and he didn't know why. His head was throbbing so was his neck and his right side. There was also a faint numbness in his left knee. He wanted to open his eyes but they were stubbornly shut against his will.

"Lan Zhan?" The voice was suddenly closer and familiar and he whined. He wanted to see. Hearing wasn't enough so he attempted to lift his hand but they were as heavy as iron. A hand held his own, cooling his warmed hands, probably due to his injuries.

Wei Wuxian's silver lake-like eyes stared at him as his eyelids fluttered open. He struggled to rise but he felt light headed so he quickly halted his movements and let his curious gaze run across every corner of the room. It wasn't his, obviously but guessing from the outlay of the room it was a healing chamber.

There were countless herbs on the shelves, broth's brewing on pots. It was a pleasant sight. He had never been very interested in the healing arts but this space with an abundance of jasmines, lavender, coriander, ginger were very familiar and it gave him a sense of home. 

The smells he smelled everyday in the vegetables he ate, the tea he drank and the flowerbeds he watered simply because he wanted to be occupied were enveloping him in the best of ways and he smiled, wide, almost like a grin and he heard a faint gasp from his host.

"Lan Wangji, I want you to tell me how you feel?" He asked slowly, sitting straight, looking at him expectantly for an answer.

"Battered." Lan Wangji answered without a moment's thought.

"Lan Wangji, if you're trying to be humorous when you've suffered third degree injuries I wouldn't want to know what you'll be muttering in your death bed." the tone was harsh but Wangji understood he wasn't being mean but concerned.

"Hurts, patriarch." He tried again, the title was a habit as if programmed to him although he was asked to use it since yesterday.

"Much better. Thank you Hunguangjun." He said, standing up to pick a colorless concoction. He picked up a spoon and walked over closer than earlier and motioned Wangji to open his mouth.

He expected it to be bitter on his tongue but it wasn't. It was sweet, not as sweet as the candy at a market place but it had another faint taste of something very medicinal. As it drained down his throat his head wasn't as throbbing as before and his injuries were soothed, temporarily.

"Allow me to apologize. If it was just a random whack you wouldn't be suffering as much but you had a first hand interaction with my energy and it blocked your meridians for a while. It'll take over three days to completely retain your original vigor. It was an accident. I didn't expect you to be up that early in the morning."

Wei Wuxian looked down like a wronged child, warming him a little. He understood the other was genuinely upset about what had happened.

"It's alright. Let the healer know the medicine was different but better than what I'm used to."

Wei Wuxian's eyes sparkled. "It was good?"

"Yes. Thank you. If the patriarch allows me, I will speak to the healer myself."

"Okay, go ahead." He said, grinning ear to ear. He was beautiful, Lan Wangji's mind supplied cheekily but he pushed it down hiding his blush behind a cough.

"Where is your healer?" He asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I'm the healer. I made it for you."

Lan Wangji looked flabbergasted. Wei Wuxian, the demonic cultivator, was a master of the medicine? What kind of cruel joke was he playing at now?

"What? You don't believe me Hunguangjun?" He asked, ambling to the table to pick up some herbs he had never seen before and sat back down on the wooden stool next to him with a pestle and mortar grinding the herbs together in practiced precision.

He worked on them before dropping some cinnamon oil into the mix and grinding again until it was suitable for use. He came towards Wangji, turned his head to the side and applied the mixture he'd created. It gave him a cooling sensation and numbed the pain to a bare minimum.

"Thank you, patriarch."

Wei Wuxian nodded, spinning around to rinse the instruments before wiping iit and keeping them in its proper place. He turned once he was done and scrutinized Wangji until he squirmed under his gaze and turned away, his cheeks tainted with a lovely pink.

"Do you know what your problem is Lan Wangji?" Wangji turned, interested in the sudden change of topic and it was initiated by Wei Wuxian himself. Lan Wangji watched him as he gathered his thoughts in order to speak. Wei Wuxian rubbed his nose several times and grumbled under his breath.

"You aren't really you. You are like a doll with strings. You're programmed to follow without any thoughts of your own. You don't question authority. Did you realize how monotonous you are?

I've commanded you to call me patriarch and you do so like it's second nature. You agree without thinking much. You fought me because suddenly everything you've learnt has fallen apart and you're walking on broken eggshells. You require discipline and I feel so sad that you do."

Wangji blinked- once, twice and closed his eyes, the words drilling into his brain. He was almost losing his breath but he couldn't care and the tears- those treacherous beads of water falling down his temples were his undoing. He sobbed openly, head turned to the side as he resolutely avoided Wei Wuxian's presence. He wasn't loud but his clenched fists, trembling body and the faint gasps of breath were enough indication- if any.

Then suddenly Wei Wuxian was there beside him, close and surrounding his whole body like an armor. He knelt next to Wangji's head, hand on Lan Wangji's chest caressing to calm down his rabbiting heart, another at his forehead, fingers on the sides of his forehead, massaging.

Wei Wuxian spoke no words, asked no questions but he didn't leave him alone to find his ground alone like every other time when Lan Wangji was back at cloud recesses after his mother's death when everyone seemed to leave him alone to be happy with his own company, his mind where his thoughts were the loudest, trying to break free.

He was restrained from projecting his thoughts and desires, his needs and wants. Whether it was intentional or not wasn't something he would ever know but still the outcome had been the same. Now, when someone unabashedly pointed it out he felt like he was drowning in a sea, falling off a cliff and unlike yesterday there was no hand to hold him back, to keep him from drowning or falling into an endless abyss.

Suddenly he wanted the skin to skin contact, to feel the cool of Wuxian's palm against his own warm ones. So he held his hand up somehow trusting that this man whom he claims to dislike will be there for him, to hold him to stop him from going too far.

He wasn't sure how much trust he was exhibiting from such a fractional action but Wuxian's cool and steady grip on his own halted the myriad of dangerous alternatives in his mind. It brought him tranquility, a sense of quiet he hadn't felt in years it was brimming inside him; the light. His eyes fluttered close, exhausted and before he slept he felt the soft touch of lips at the back of his hand; tender, safe. 

He woke up again to the night, owls screeching at the heights, wings of bats flapping as it flew further away. Lan Wangji was still resting on the bed at the healing chamber. This time with the exception of the medicinal fragrance there was an additional smell of dough and porridge with a hint of spice. 

He couldn't sit up on his own so he resorted to letting his eyes wander across the room. At night the healer's den looked stunning. The candles lit at different heights, the dark a faint hint at the ceiling of the cave. The shadows made from the different objects falling across one another in the cave was a beautiful sight.

"Done staring, Hunguangjun?" A voice murmured from a particularly dark corner. Wangji blinked to adjust to the lighting, squinting and then the figure moved forward, a gentle look painting his features. The calm demeanor putting Lan Wangji at ease.

"Patriarch, when I woke up earlier I heard another voice." It wasn't a question nor was it a statement, Lan Wangji hoped for an answer. Maybe just maybe.

"Oh that was uncle four. He brings me the herbal plants that grow in his garden; a little far from here but nothing for an amazing cultivator like you. I can take you there when you recover if you want." He said, bringing forward a tray with porridge and buns.

Wei Wuxian helped Wangji to sit, leaning against the headboard. Wei Wuxian slipped a pillow behind his head to avoid any further alterations on the injuries.

"Eat, yeah? You should be starving by now." Wuxian sat at the edge with the bowl and spoon in hand. Lan Wangji stared but didn't open his mouth when Wuxian brought the spoon to his lips.

Lan Wangji's fingers reached the sheets beneath him, twisting as if to hold back. The other noticed so he kept the bowl on the table and expected Wangji to speak but the white robed man did nothing.

"Hunguangjun, what's troubling you?"

Lan Wangji turned, not quite meeting Wuxian's gaze but rather the seams of his clothes. "Patriarch, water?"

Wei Wuxian chuckled briefly. "I don't bite Hunguangjun. You can ask for what you need."

He was instantly given water and he gulped it down with great thirst. He tilted the cup for more and he was given another cup brimmed to the top. He drank it down as well. When he requested for a third Wei Wuxian glared, taking the cup away and bringing the spoon to his lips with the porridge. Lan Wangji drank it down obediently, wincing at the taste. "Is something wrong?"

"A little spicy." He answered.

"Too much?" Wuxian asked, ceasing to feed him anymore.

"Just a little, patriarch."

"Your flavor is too bland Hunguangjun. I'm disappointed." He said, feeding him once again.

When the porridge was over it was the bun. It smelled delicious. His lips broke into a smile. "It's nutmeg and cardamom. Good for your injury. So was the spice earlier." Wei Wuxian informed him and he nodded, biting into the bun. It was mashed vegetables and- herbs?

"Yes, there's herbs as well." Wuxian said, realizing his thoughts. Wangji nodded again and continued to chew while Wi Wuxian played around with another concoction for him. When he had fed him another bowl of the afternoon medicine he was lifted into Wuxian's arms and they set off, to his room of course. Lan Wangji laid his head on his shoulders, nodding off after filling his stomach.

When he was laid on bed, Lan Wangji had tinkered a little of his confidence so he asked, "Did patriarch cook?"

Wei Wuxian turned to him, glancing briefly before going back to whatever he was doing behind the screen divider. "Yes, Why?"

"You can cook." He said matter of factly.

Wei Wuxian came back with a large bowl and towel. "Is that a compliment Hunguangjun?"

Lan Wangji didn't respond. Wei Wuxian proceeded to remove his robes until his pants and began to wash him with the warm water which had the smell of sandalwood. when he had finished he was about to shrug off the pants and Wangji reddened instantaneously. 

Wangji stuttered. "I can do that on my own patriarch."

"And injure your side? Don't move." He commanded and the other obeyed without so much as a hum.

When the torment was finally over Lan Wangji was shivering although he was washed with hot water. Wei Wuxian frowned, hand going to Wangji's forehead and neck. He was warm- too warm for Wuxian's liking.

He quickly wiped him over and shrugged on a robe and pulled the covers to his chin. "Lan Wangji, stop thinking. You're aggravating your condition. Do you wish to die a slow death? Demonic energy is not a good component in your body. Now, calm down."

Lan Wangji couldn't stop the next question tumbling out of his curious mouth. "Then why does patriarch use it?"

Wei Wuxian glared, his eyes blazing with a phoenix-like fire and Lan Wangji trembled under his gaze. The silence in the room was only broken by the anxious breaths of Lan Wangji and the cracking of knuckles courtesy to Wei Wuxian.

"Hunguangjun, speak one more word and I will leave you to die a painful death." The voice dark and brutally honest.

Lan Wangji had an urge to smack himself. Their acquaintance was less burdensome throughout the day and he had to say something as stupid as that.

"I'm sorry." he whispered, turning on to his side only to wince in agony, screaming.

The pain was excruciating, his lungs were paralyzed as he struggled for breath and the fire spreading across his body, blooming sweat from every pore of his skin.

Wei Wuxian quickly laid him on his back, slowly not to hurt him any further. He touched the side and there were black tendrils looming out of his body and Wangji cried, his cries muffled against his palm but it hurt, so so much. It was killing him and he didn't know what to do. Mind running haywire his thoughts cascaded into a bleak stream of galloping thoughts and his injury flared further.

"Hunguangjun, you need to calm down. Hunguangjun." He said, holding Wangji's shoulders, trying to stop him from moving so vigorously.

Lan Wangji couldn't hear. There were noises in his head and it was painful. He was drowning, choking so badly. He heard a voice but that was it he couldn't make out the words. It was like attempting to cut a tree with a blade; too small to help.

"Lan Zhan, come back. Lan Zhan, focus on my voice. Come on."

Then, he heard. He heard Wei Wuxian's voice slicing through the barrier of his mind, clearing his incoherent thoughts. "Lan Zhan focus on my voice. Come back, Lan Zhan. Come back. You're alright. I'm here Lan Zhan. Come back."

Wei Wuxian kept on repeating the same phrases, over and over again until his mind cleared of any distracting thoughts and when his eyes finally cleared of the mist Wei Wuxian was kneeling next to him, his face close to his, hands on either side of his cheeks brushing away the tears that spilled.

"Lan Zhan?" Wei Wuxian ran a hand down his uninjured side almost reverently focusing Lan Wangji's attention solely on him without leading him astray.

"Mn."

Wei Wuxian pulled back, sighing and he observed that the black tendrils have gone.

"Are you okay now? Any discomfort other than the wound? Your head?"

"There were voices in my head. So loud. It was cold." He said in a trance and for the first time since he saw Wei Wuxian he saw a tear sliding down his cheek, helpless and desperate.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I should have been more careful." Wei Wuxian apologized a number of times to Lan Wangji, his eyes rimmed red, lips bitten into.

When he had finally sought out his emotions Lan Wangji was completely alright except for the pain he's felt since he woke up after the injury.

"I'm fine now, patriarch."

Wei Wuxian nodded disappearing suddenly, appearing just as instantly with more herbs and bandages and some other tools he used to clean the injury and dress it later after the vial was applied successfully into his body. Wei Wuxian wiped his face and neck again with a wet towel. 

He gave him water twice with more of the concoction along with another slippery vial and slipped into bed beside Wangji, stroking his head lulling him to a slumber just as peaceful as yesterday. 

Yaay, part 4 is up as well. 

Weird human wants to know what it was like. ^_^

~Rovena.