Chapter Text
He did not dare look back at the fires the burned the Cloudless Recess, instead he followed his Uncle's word running as fast as he could, his little brother held to his back, making sure that no Wen soldiers followed behind them as he sped into the forest. Lan Xichen tripped up a few times but never dropped Lan Wangji as he carried the injured 8 year old farther and farther away from their home. He couldn't stop the tears as he hadn't realized they were falling and that no hand could wipe away, all the while pushing forward.
Don't stop! Cannot Stop! Must Run! Must Get Away!
The moon shown bright casting dark shadows like wanting hands along the path as he made through the trees, never stopping even as his lungs burned and his chest heaved. He didn't see the small cliff until he was already tumbling down it trying his best not to hurt the small one on his back. Lan Wangji let out a small noise but he didn't wake up. Lan Xichen only took a second to check that he had not made his brothers leg injury any worse than it was before correcting his place on his back and continuing to run, but the fall had given pause enough for his adrenaline to finally begin to falter and his running turned into jogging, which turned into walking, which then became barely a snails pace.
How long had he been running for? It felt like days and only half an incense time all at once, almost as if time didn't exist in this nightmare. Oh how he wished this was all just a nightmare.
It was then, by a river, that he saw the Temple. It was large and beautify built with ivory walls that shined in the moonlight. He didn't pause to read the plaque but hobbled his way in and after crossing the threshold, collapsed upon the cold stone floor. Lan Wangji slightly tumbled off his back and now lay beside him in fetal position his eyes never opening, the sight only making Lan Xichen quietly cry to himself before lifting himself up slowly and gently dragging his brother to the place in front of the altar, it was only then that he noticed not one but two divine statues just beyond it. A man with a hardened face of icy waves and a woman whose smile was as free as a summer wind. Lan Xichen looked at them for a few seconds more before returning his gaze back to his brother. It was then that a terrible fear took hold of him. Lan Wangji's face was an unnatural pale more so than the boy had ever looked and sweat poured from his temple in large drops. Lan Xichen felt his little brothers head and blanched. He was hot, so very, very hot. The small boy had a terrible fever and most likely suffering in quiet pain from his broken leg. Lan Xichen let out an involuntary sob as he pressed his face into his brothers chest pulling the small form closer to him, cradling his little brother.
1st their mother two years ago then their father and home in one night, and possibly their uncle as well? Lan Xichen couldn't lose Lan Wangji too. He had lost too much, too many people, his little heart was breaking. And so with nothing else he could do, he prayed.
Please! He's my baby brother! Save him! Someone, Anyone! I'll do Anything!!! ANYTHING!!! Please...
He sat there his body shaking like a leaf in a harsh breeze holding tightly to Lan Wangji, hiccupping and gasping for breaths, slowly combing his brothers hair with his shaking fingers. He hadn't heard the footsteps till they were next to him.
He shot his head up fear taking hold, for a moment believing one of the Wen Clan had found them. Instead a man stood there, although his face was delicate and handsome his eyes were cold like an icy rain, his long white robes flowed around him like ocean waves and in his hand was a intricate fan, closed and held tightly in his firm grip. When he spoke his voice was like smooth like fine silk but sharp as a double edged sword.
“What is your name.” it was said as less of a question and more as a demand. Sensing the power in the mans presence alone, Lan Xichen carefully but quickly placed his brother to the ground before standing and giving a bow, fist to hand.
“My- my name is Lan Huan, courtesy name Lan Xichen.”
“Lan Xichen, when you said you would do anything for your brother, did you truly mean Anything.”
The boy froze, he distinctly didn't remember saying those words aloud, they had been said in his mind to the heavens above to any god that would listen. He raised his head slowly, looking up at the man in front of him his body quivering and yet his answer was slow and full of determination.
“Yes. I will do Anything.”
The man watched him silently for what felt like a long time, his eyes narrowed as if sizing him up, before finally speaking.
“How old are you?”
“11.”
“Lan Xichen do you know what I am?”
He looked at the man, a cold sweat making its way down his back he lowered his gaze as he answered.
“A... a god...”
“Mn.”
The man lifted his fan to his face opening it gracefully, the image of waves on it as it opened, and began to fan himself.
“Lan Xichen, I will show you and your brother a kindness this day, however that kindness comes at a price.”
“Name it.”
“It is apparent that you both had a path of cultivation set out before you, if so I will see to it that it continues, and with that I request that upon your aging of 17 you will become one of my junior officials, and reside in heaven to follow my every ask and order. Do I make myself clear.”
Lan Xichen watched his little brother, his breathing slow and hitched.
“Do I make myself clear?”
“Yes.”
With that the man snapped his fan closed with a flick of his wrist the noise echoing through the temple.
“Then I Shi Wudu Master of Water will save your brother.” The Man bent down and lifted Lan Wangji into one arm and after sliding his fan into his sleeve took Lan Xichen by the wrist and turned to leave, and as they stepped over the temple threshold the outside the world fell behind them...
2 months...
It was late and the moon light held a peace in it that gave the world a tranquility unmatched... and yet Jiang Yanli didn't feel it. She sat still in the small fishing boat her eyes down cast watching the two sleeping figures whose heads rested in her lap, neither knowing or seeing the tears that pooled at the corner of her eyes, her small frame shaking as she halfheartedly hummed to herself, not even noting when the boat stopped, having washed itself up onto a near by river bank.
Jiang Yanli, go, dont look back and keep them safe. You must go on.
She had seen the fires that took the Lotus Pier, engulfing a once beautiful place in a whirlwind of inky black smoke. At the time her, Jiang Cheng, and Wei Ying had been wrapped in their mother, Madame Yu's, whip Zidian which now had returned to its ring form which was now on her little brothers finger. She looked at the two sleeping 8 year-olds whose faces were tear stained and a fading from hours of crying. They had run their throats ragged calling out to Madame Yu and Jiang Fengmian even hours after they had long since lost sight of their old home. Oh how Jiang Yanli's heart ached for little Wei Ying, it had barely been a year ago when the small boy had been brought to Lotus Pier by Jiang Fengmian and he had only just gotten comfortable when the Wen Clan had arrived, claiming the Jiang Clan as Traitors with no rhyme or reason.
All that time they had been floating down the river Jiang Yanli had refused to cry, not IN front of her charge. Even after they passed out from exhaustion, even after Zidian had released them, even now she quietly held those tears back.
“Little miss?” Jiang Yanli didnt have the energy to be startled so she only slowly turned her gaze up to the man that had just bent down next to the boat, his white cultivator robes licked by the waters ebb and flow.
“Little miss are you alright?” He spoke in a voice that was soft and kind, his gaze even softer as a gentle smile played on his lips. His skin was unblemished and smooth like jade, his long hair partly pulled back in a bun and his features delicate and yet strong.
Jiang Yanli didn't speak for a good while her voice caught somewhere in the back of her throat. But when she did speak, it was a croak.
“Th... their... their gone....” The tears that she had held back began to pour like a waterfall as she began to heave, her little shoulders shaking and her breath catching causing her to gasp for air as if she were drowning. The man's soft eyes suddenly widened and he carefully took her hand in his own, his other gently placed on her shoulder.
“Its alright little one, your safe. Its going to be okay.” His words were gentle and soothing like a lullaby and Jiang Yanli broke. She threw herself into the mans arms and screamed into his shoulder, wailing, but even in her broken state she muffled her cries. Of course, she didn't want to wake the other two. The man seemed taken aback for a moment but then just as quickly he placed one hand on her head and the other to her back gently rubbing it and just as gently shushing her. They stayed like that for a little more than an incense time, before sleep overtook her.
Xie Lian looked down at the small girl in his arms, she was maybe only 10 years old and yet she cried in a way no child ever should, a cry of absolute suffering.... a familiar cry. A cry he once screamed, a cry of loss. He moved his gaze to the small boat where two small boys lay curled up fast asleep, just as disheveled as the girl in his arms. His heart dropped at the sight of these three small children, they looked like... well, they looked like hell. Making up his mind he carefully lifted the girl onto his back and reached into the boat lifting one boy in each arm. He adjusted them a little before turning away from the river and walking back to the road he had stepped off of when seeing the small child bent over in the boat.
“Your safe now.” He whispered as he carried them into the night. “I promise.”
It was in those months The Wen Clan of Qishan had taken it into their right to annihilate the Jiang Clan and the Lan Clan, putting a fear into the cultivation world, for a time after that Wen Ruohan sought out the heirs of both clans. Rumor spoke of a lone cultivator caring for three children but no one could find its source... as for the Twin Jades of Gusu.... they had vanished... like a shell in the tide....