#this is going to be a xichen pov !! get ready for twin jades angst !!

[uisgeart]

Wangji My Brother | Part 1/?

Uploading these as I make them, I’ll create a master post once it’s complete!

-> Part 2

[grapefruitsketches]

And when I break it’s in a million pieces (2/5)

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Rated T

Twin Jades post-canon case fic, POV Lan Xichen, angst, hurt/comfort

Chapter 2 - For fytheuntamed’s Untamed Fall Fest Day 9 - Nostalgia

Also available on AO3 

“Is there something wrong?” Xichen asked, after the fourth time his brother glanced at him, frowned and then turned back to face the winding path ahead.

“I’m worried about you.” Wangji was just as blunt as ever, even if over time, beginning when Wangji had first met the man who would become his husband and particularly since that man’s return, Wangji seemed more comfortable when his feelings were the subject of said bluntness. Gone were the days of yes or no questions about why Wangji’s eyes seemed sad to Xichen, or of guessing that there might be something more to his younger brother’s anger and frustration than just the inherent rule-breaking.

Xichen admired that in his brother, but sometimes being direct was not the kindest option. He smiled, “I’m fine, really, Wangji. I did keep up my training, after all. No need to worry.”

“Hmm,” was the only response he got, doubt as evident in his tone as though he had rolled his eyes.

But Wangji’s worries felt deeper to Xichen. They were not close enough to the woods yet for Xichen’s actions to be in doubt. There must be something else. Xichen externally maintained a peaceful expression but internally wracked his brain, trying to figure out what might be bothering his brother, before landing on something he should have thought of before.

“How is my brother-in-law doing?” Xichen asked quietly. At the very least, Xichen appreciated the effect of this question, of referring to Wei Wuxian as such, on his brother. If there was anything that was going to make his brother’s mouth twitch into a soft smile, it was the reminder of his and his husband’s vows to one another, alongside Xichen’s acknowledgment of Wei Wuxian as a part of their family.

The little smile, the shy glance down even after all this time, the slight reddening at his ears. “Wei Ying is… good,” Wangji said, “He wrote that his visit to Yunmeng went as well as could be hoped.”

“And what does ‘as well as could be hoped’ mean?” Xichen asked, smiling.

Wangji shook his head, “That was… not clear. But he and sect leader Jiang have been getting along better recently,” he smiled gently, even softening the faint note of bitterness out of his voice at Jiang Wanyin’s name, “Sizhui told me that sect leader Jin has made some progress in convincing sect leader Jiang to invite us to the Lotus Pier New Year’s celebration this year.”

Xichen’s eyes widened, “That is big.”

Wangji nodded, smile still fixed to his face but growing distant, “Mn, walls like that should not exist between brothers.”

Xichen winced internally. He wasn’t sure if that was meant as a slight, but it certainly felt like one.

Wangji went on, “He should be on his way back to Gusu now, actually…”

“Oh?” Lan Xichen’s stomach sank. He had assumed that Wei Wuxian would be away for weeks to come – plenty of time for him and Wangji to deal with whatever was haunting this village and be back. He hadn’t realized that by insisting on going – by prompting Wangji to follow – that he was prolonging the spouses’ separation, delaying their return to their well-earned happiness by each other’s side.

But Wangji, still exercising this strange new delicacy around his older brother, only nodded, twitched the corner of his mouth up into a slight smile, and continued walking.

They went on in peaceful silence a while, the farmlands outside of the village passing them by. The serene and gentle surroundings clashed oddly with the images the stories of the disappearances elicited.

Lan Wangji interrupted the silence, “What do you think the victims have in common, Xiongzhang?”

“Well,” Xichen considered, happy to settle into this familiar kind of night hunt conversation, “We know a few things. Each one of the victims seemed to have suffered some sort of shock not long before they disappeared.”

Wangji nodded, “The fire. The marriage breakdown. The loss of a child.”

“Yes, which leaves us with two options: either these events were created by whatever is targeting these people, as a prelude to their disappearance, or…”

“A recent shock is part of the victim profile,” Wangji finished.

Xichen sighed, musing, “I’d say it would be more common to be the former, but given that the couple moved here following their child’s passing, that would mean that whatever it is would have to have a much larger range than usual.”

“What do you think of the ones left behind?” Wangji asked, without a change in his tone, but making Xichen’s heart stutter in sympathy nonetheless. He had not stopped to think of what leaving his brother to interview all of those mourning, anxious parties might him of. He blinked his eyes closed for a breath, taking a moment to silently chastise himself for his inattention.

“I think it’s very normal for people to blame themselves, when someone they care for has suffered,” he said, carefully avoiding being too specific with his words, “But I don’t know if there’s anything that could have been done to prevent this from happening.”

Wangji shook his head, “No, I was wondering–“

Xichen had stopped suddenly, throwing an arm in front of Wangji to stop him from taking another step, and Wangji stiffened, readied himself at the interruption. “It starts here,” Xichen said with certainty, hand twitching and ready to draw Shuoyue at a moment’s notice.

Wangji nodded, also positioning himself to better reach Bichen, but asked, “You think it might reach this far out from the trees?”

Did his brother not notice it? Xichen blinked, looking around him. He realized, with some confusion, that he could not see, could not detect any obvious signs of… it. He just knew. He knew that the roots, that the spirit’s power, reached out to here.

“Y-yes.” Xichen said, certain about what he felt, and unsure why his brother could not.

Wangji, to his credit, showed no signs of skepticism, though Xichen figured that from his perspective, even if Xichen was mistaken, there was no harm in being over prepared.

“Let’s proceed with caution,” Xichen advised.

His brother nodded, drawing Bichen fully and positioning himself in front of his older brother on the path towards the woods, wordlessly instructing his brother to stay close by his side. Xichen sighed, but focused ahead of himself rather than arguing with his brother’s protective stance.

He could sense the forest’s power, but Wangji could not. Xichen tried to slot the new information into what they already knew. It targeted those with difficult events in their past. It seemed indifferent to when those things had happened, and it just so happened that most of the people they interviewed seemed to be closest to that person. Seemed to have also been implicated in that same event.

If Xichen hadn’t been so concerned with keeping up with his brother, he would have stopped dead in his tracks. Suffering. Grieving. Hardship. Someone close – someone like a brother – letting him down, not believing him at the last critical, moment. Just as they stepped into the forest proper, Xichen realized. Wangji was the perfect target.

And as suddenly as the thought came to Xichen’s mind, before he could move to do anything to protect Wangji, darkness swelled. The light vanished far too quickly for how close they still were to the clear and sunny fields behind them. Xichen tried to reach out for Wangji’s arm, but met only empty air, and a vague, far too distant cry of “Xiongzhang!” Xichen shouted back, but received no further answer. He only heard a faint giggling ringing out from somewhere in the dense wood that he could no longer make out the details of.

Lan Wangji had disappeared. And Lan Xichen had failed to keep him from being taken.