#i typed this in some ind of fugue state

[mediocretosubpar-soup]

inspired by this post by @whumpbby and @marudny-robot but posted on its own because of the zhanchengxian vibes that don't fit the original post and the length. this really got away from me.

may i butt in here with the alternative idea of lan wangji and jiang cheng working together to revive wei wuxian?

for this to work three things must be a given a) jin ling must be grown up ideally with a family of his own b) yunmeng jiang inheritance is rock solid, c) the circumstances of wei wuxian's death must be harrowing. (yet another unasked for self-sacrifice would put jiang cheng into the correct headspace, i think)

so, lan wangji and jiang cheng work together to revive wei wuxian and they find out that the best body given the absence of an original body would be jiang cheng's.

lan wangji finds out first. this puts him at an impasse. because he does want wei wuxian back and he swore he would get him back morality be damned. and yet wei wuxian loved jiang cheng, unconditionally, beyond sense and reason. he would hate lan wangji for doing that.

lan wangji decides to test jiang cheng. he leaves the scroll for him to find. if jiang cheng reads it and never mentions it again, lan wangji can still decide to force him into the ritual. if jiang cheng reads the scroll and decides to go along. well, it's his choice, isn't it?

of course, the next day jiang cheng slams the scroll onto their shared table and says, he found a solution. lan wangji is stumped, he didn't expect jiang cheng to choose this. not really. so large is his surprise that he blurts out, why? do you want to die?

jiang cheng looks at him for a long moment, then his mouth twists into a wry smile. "i was always supposed to die for wei wuxian." he doesn't elaborate. instead jiang cheng sets a plan into motion, first he says, we must make sure that the other sects don't go to war with you. only, yunmeng jiang and jin ling will know of lan wangji's involvement, jiang cheng decides, if they find out some other way, they will assume you tricked me somehow. they'll probably still hate you but they won't persecute you or wei wuxian. the other sects can't know because that would damage lan wangji's reputation and your reputation is what protects wei wuxian.

as for wei wuxian, he doesn't need to know about your involvement, jiang cheng reasons, he hates other people doing what he does so callously and you'll be a prime target for his anger. lan wangji still shell-shocked by jiang cheng going with the self-sacrifice just stares. jiang cheng misinterprets his stare and goes, even if he does find out he'll forgive you, he only ever sees the best in you.

jiang cheng writes a few very long letters to jin ling, to his heir, his disciples.

"you're not writing to wei wuxian?" lan wangji asks.

jiang cheng puts down his brush. "it's better if he hears it from you." he explains. "my words, wei wuxian will find a way to twist them. he respects you, believes in you, it's safer for you to tell him if we want to stop him." lan wangji understands. "he'll try to bring you back." of course, wei wuxian loved jiang cheng. the man himself rolls his eyes, "yeah, the bastard thinks he's still indebted to my father."

"wei ying doesn't mention your father often. yet he speaks of you once a day, often more than that."

jiang cheng snorts, can't be anything good.

on the contrary, lan wangji drank vinegar more often than not when wei wuxian spoke of yunmeng jiang and the jiang siblings. adoration in every word about that past life. the vitriol he spared for jiang cheng of today and even for him his voice took on a wistful quality. if jiang cheng offered, would you still stay in gusu? lan wangji wondered in the morning gloom when wei wuxian still slept next to him. his mind only settled when he remembered that jiang cheng held nothing but resentment for wei wuxian and would never offer or ask.

"you don't think he cares for you." lan wangji concludes.

jiang cheng sighs deeply. "he didn't have much of a choice, did he?" he turns back to his writing. lan wangji cuts in, "you know better than to think him so opportunistic." jiang cheng pulls his hand from where it's reached for the brush and redirects his attention to lan wangji. "it's not opportunistic for an orphan to choose safety. maybe he was fond of me back then but he was young and didn't know what the world had to offer." lan wangji isn't going to convince jiang cheng otherwise, unlike lan wangji, jiang cheng has no doubt who wei wuxian would choose.

-

"we have a problem." jiang cheng states because he doesn't believe in social conventions like greetings and disingenious niceties, a trait lan wangji begrudgingly approves of.

"wei wuxian will have access to his golden core once he's inside my body, he could fuck the whole thing up." yet another thing of jiang cheng's that lan wangji must bitterly approve of. jiang cheng, lan wangji has noted, never refers to the golden core as anything but wei wuxian's. lan wangji insinuated the same thing to wei wuxian only once and wei wuxian's face had gone dark. the next day, he went on an impromptu three months trip after which he acted like the words and their subsequent argument had never happened.

"are you listening?" jiang cheng's brow is furrowed. "listen, i know the plan was for you to find wei wuxian a few days later but if wei wuxian fights me, ...."

"back in the cave, wei wuxian always believed you would come for him." lan wangji says instead of anything reasonable such as i wonder if you're fully commited which would light a zealous fire in jiang cheng to prove him wrong. jiang cheng stares at him. "lan wangji, i've never beaten wei wuxian at anything. we can't fail."

he's not looking for reassurance. what could lan wangji offer him other than insincere (sounding) platitudes. jiang cheng is not a man who leaves things to chance, his planning is meticulous, he has considered the jianghu turning on wei wuxian, prepared enough money and identity passes to dongyin and beyond. he expects wei wuxian to resist maybe even to overcome him, lan wangji is supposed to be the ace up his sleeve.

something churns in lan wangji's insides, he nods his assent anyways.

-

wei wuxian fights, furiously, viciously. but jiang cheng is equally furious and far more vicious.

"didn't you say you wanted to live your life? that you wanted to see the world? what about all those talismans you were going to invent?" jiang cheng mocks the plans wei wuxian made, he must have been listening at every discussion conference at every night hunt. then even more cruelly. "what about the people you left? what do you think happened to your lan zhan?" it's perfect, wei wuxian falters, heart suddenly cleaved in two.

lan wangji has his fingers on the guqin's strings, he plays,

"--"

the summoning array goes dark, the body inside collapses. lan wangji shoots up and runs inside the cottage. the body is lying unmoving on the ground. lan wangji rushes towards it, he's killed them both, what was he thinking?

a fist meets his face, hard enough for bone to crunch and teeth to rattle. it's instinct more than will that responds to the attack, either man would have the right to kill him. he ceases his defense and allows the other man to throw him on the ground.

above him jiang cheng's face twists into a jovial grimace. "husband," wei wuxian says. "what have you done?" lan wangji sags in relief as wei wuxian carefully places jiang cheng's booted foot on lan wangji's sword hand.

there's a flaw in jiang cheng's plan that lan wangji never pointed out.

"we brought you back." lan wangji's never been able to lie to wei wuxian. the boot grinds down.

"we?" wei wuxian tilts his head. "who's this we you speak of, i wonder?" bones are ground into flesh. "you're here hole and hale."

and here's another flaw, lan wangji suspected but wasn't certain of until now. wei wuxian won't forgive him. which is fair, he's not sure he could forgive in wei wuxian's place. wei wuxian leans in.

"how did you do it?" if he presses down any harder lan wangji's hand will be ruined. "how did you convince jiang cheng to...." wei wuxian's voice breaks off.

"i put the notes on the table for him to see." lan wangji says. the next moment, wei wuxian's hands are around his neck. "some notes? as if that would have been enough?" his nails scratch at lan wangji's skin, no pressure on lan wangji's throat. lan wangji is glad for that, wei wuxian would be upset if killed him, he thinks. at the very least, he would be upset if he killed him quickly. lan wangj can't decide if fighting him or staying still would prevent that.

"did you tell him, i was better than him?" wei wuxian hisses as if he hasn't said that a thousand times. lan wangji doesn't think pointing it out would help. but wei wuxian's eyes take on a hysterical gleam. "and the fool believed it, didn't he? all your lies. of how he couldn't make anything out of himself without me, how he was only ever half as good as me? how everyone always preferred me?" wei wuxian jerks his hand back and brings it down in a swift strike.

the hand stops an inch from lan wangji's face. zidian sparks to life, whacks wei wuxian in the chest hard enough to knock him off lan wangji. the whip wraps around wei wuxian in tight coils. lan wangji sits up, avoids looking at his throbbing hand.

jiang cheng's face glares at him familarly. "lan wangji," its mouth spits. "how dare you mess this up? a wrong note? of all the things, i expected to go wrong, you weren't even in my cards." jiang cheng hangs his head. "trust a lan to screw me over." the body goes stiff. and then hisses, "you planned this together?"

jiang cheng laughs, "what did you expect us to just accept your magnanimous sacrifice? fuck you, wei wuxian. you fool. you idiot."

"and your plan was to kill yourself? great job, jiang cheng, very original."

"aren't you the one called a genius? how could we, the mediocre brained possibly come up with an alternative when your first solution to every minor inconvenience is falling on a sword?"

"minor inconvenience, we were trapped! we all would have died! you and lan zhan had better chances of getting out. it was obviously the best choice."

"you decided." wei wuxian and jiang cheng focus on lan wangji. "you never asked us what we thought."

wei wuxian glares at him. "i didn't need to. i could tell what you were thinking. between the two of you, the choice would have been jiang cheng. you because you love me. jiang cheng because he's still hung up on the golden core. i wasn't going to let that happen."

in lan wangji's head a youthful rage sprouts again, he can't open his mouth, he doesn't know what will come out.

"maybe so. but if only you were open to discussing anyone but you, who knows maybe the rescue parties would have found us before we got to a decision. too bad, we'll never know, wei wuxian because you went and tried to do everything on your own."

"that's a bit of a leap, no one even knew we had been on a nighthunt. there is never going to be any situation in which i'm going to let you die for me, jiang cheng. do you hear me? i don't care how you feel about it as long as you're alive to so."

"it still could have been me then." lan wangji interrupts their spat. one of them frowns at him like shufu frowns at imbecilic sect heirs. lan wangji thinks that must be jiang cheng.

"lan zhan, don't be ridiculous how is that any better? you think i wouldn't be devastated by your loss? where would i even go without you?" wei wuxian asks as if current events left any doubts.

"you could have brought me back. if you called, i would come." lan wangji states earnestly.

"unbelievable," mutters jiang cheng. as if he wouln't have helped wei wuxian steal the remains of the yin tiger seal, just like he followed them into the temple. and then the body keels over.

-

the ritual drained jiang cheng's spiritual reserves. it's only sleep. lan wangji drags them over to the comfortable cot to rest and hovers over them, whistling inquiry while feeding qi into jiang cheng's body.

a groan. lan wangji blinks, tilts and jerks up right. a dark eye slides open, blinks twice to focus.

"lan wangji, why the fuck haven't you taken care of your hand? what the fuck is wrong with you?" jiang cheng calls back zidian and drags himself from the bed.

"stay down." he snarls at lan wangji. he stumbles over to a cabinet from which he drags a medical kit. he comes back and begins pulling out supplies. "you didn't even cool it. can you bend."

"it's not broken." jiang cheng shoots him a dark glare. lan wangji refuses to cower under it. "no just bruised like.... what the hell was he thinking."

"i enabled you on a suicidal endeavour." lan wangji says. "i never expected another reaction." jiang cheng has a very narrow minded view of wei wuxian but even he isn't bold enough to deny that wei wuxian had been upset. "he would have gotten over it." which is a bold statement after hearing wei wuxian swearing that he'd do whatever it took to ensure jiang cheng's safety. jiang cheng peers closer at lan wangji's neck and huffs, "made a right mess." whether he's talking about lan wangji's neck or the entire day, lan wangji can't say.