Fandom:The Untamed (TV)
Characters: WeiWuxian, LanZhan
Length:754 words

Disclaimer: I don't own the characters or main events in this story. They belong to Mo Xiang Tong Xiu, as interpreted by Chinese TV. This is a simple scene expansion, because I like climbing inside people's heads and having a good rummage around.

No warnings required.



THE DEBT

WeiYing never thought that relief would be his first reaction upon awakening in Cloud Recesses. It's thousands of rules always felt stifling in the past, but now he catches a glimpse of the reasons behind them. There is no clamour of voices to block the echoes of memory, only the whispered sigh of wind through a bamboo forest, a thread of delicate birdsong, the rush and trickle of water. It is restful to a soul that has been battered too hard.

The air is clear and cold, stinging WeiYing's sinus', but sun warms his back as he follows a path, without really seeing it. Turning a bend, taking a flight of steps downward, it feels, for a moment, as though he has strayed into memory. Frigid air rises in pale curls from the surface of the small pool and his eyes find at once the dark hair, threaded with its delicate blue ribbon, a set of square shoulders, and an arrow-straight back.

The sight recalls an earlier time. Then, Wangi's back had been blackened by bruises, the mirror of WeiWuxian's. Then, HanGuangJun had hurriedly stepped away from the brash and undisciplined youth, sent to disturb his peace. Events have knocked much of that brashness out of WeiWuxian.

Even as his thoughts run on, WeiWuxian has been moving down the steps, drawn by some invisible chord, to the figure in the pool. He knows LanZhan has seen him. This time there is no stepping away to hurriedly don clothing; instead a slow turn of his head, to slide a coy, almost coquettish, look over one shoulder. Nobody sneaks up on the mighty HanGuan Jun.

Nobody canes the mighty HanGuan Jun.

WeiYing's thoughts and steps stutter to a halt, his burgeoning smile, the greeting in his mouth, frozen before they can reach his lips.

Yes. Those really are the ridges of many cane scars on LanZhan's shoulder blades, and there are shadows of more, below the water. WeiWuxian lived with the Wens for long enough to know the patterns left by the application of two bound bamboo canes. As though inviting him to see the full horror, LanZhan turns and WeiYing's breath stops, as the mark of a Wen iron is revealed on the otherwise clear flesh of LanZhan's chest...in the very same place that WeiWuxian's old body had once borne it. WeiYing blinks. How?

He is reminded again. Nobody sneaks up on HanGuan Jun. Nobody detains him for long enough to administer a beating...unless he allows it. Who would dare to dole out such a punishment? Why would it be necessary, and why would LanZhan agree with that necessity?

LanZhan's eyes flick away and he rises from the water, wading to the heap of clothing folded on rocks nearby. WeiYing hardly registers the movement, mind listing the many times LanZhan has placed his body before his when any hurt loomed. Even as his head asks how those marks arrived, his heart supplies an answer that he fights not to hear. His head may not know the details, the how, the where, or the when, but his heart knows the underlying cause. How many had warned him that demonic cultivation has a price? WeiYing has bitter memories of how that bill was paid, and by whom. He thought he had seen the whole of it, but it seems that somebody has left him a tip.

Now HangGuang Jun strides toward him, the dampness of hair and hem only sign of his immersion in the pool. All the scars are hidden. His beautiful face is returned to the still, blankness that the tender WangJi so often takes refuge behind. WangJi would have been hurt by the horror on WeiWuxian's face, so HangGuang Jun has come to the rescue. WeiYing will have to be careful in his efforts to prize open the facade, and for a moment words will not come. Does he truly want to know? Yes. The bill must be tallied in full if they are ever to move on, and WeiYing has already tried the other path. He will never be able to repay the debt, but he will not shrink from knowing its full extent.

Only LanZhan ever had the power to stop the ready flow of WeiWuxian's words and, had he but known it, no silencing spell was required. Now, all WeiWuxian's most eloquent arguments and interrogations flee before the shutters drawn over those pale eyes. It seems there is no relief to be found in Cloud Recesses, after all.

END