You've Changed | Wangxian |

Chapter 11

Lan Xichen's POV

"We think we can see your brother."

My heart began to beat in anticipation. He was back. Was he hurt? Where had he been all this time?

"It's okay. Please hurry and take me to him." I responded.

The disciple led me over past the entrance towards the forested area surrounding the base. We walked for about five minutes through thick undergrowth. We approached a group of Lan disciples who seemed very anxious. 

"Where is he?"

They all looked at me again with that worried look in their eyes. No one spoke only pointed in the distance. For the first time I properly took in the surroundings. We were in a slight clearing within the forest. In front of us there was a steep drop of around 20m. 

I squinted towards the direction they were pointing in to see a small section of stained and torn white robes peeking out from behind a bush. 

"Is that him?" I asked slightly impatiently.

"We think so" replied a disciple. "It appears as though he has passed out as we haven't seen him move. The only issue is we can't easily get to him."

"Why don't we go down on swords?"

"We intended to originally however its too narrow and the foliage is too dense so it would be very hard."

I thought it over for a while. At this point we had no clear indication of what state Wangji was in. On one hand, he could just be passed out after getting disoriented from the fight and trek home but on the other hand, he could be dying or dead already: we had no way to assess the situation so I made a hasty decision.

"I'll go. I'm more practised than you and he's my brother. I don't want to risk harming him by waiting. If I can't get him out, some of us will return and get help from the others."

I unsheathed Shuoyue and quickly descended. The disciples had been right, the particular area Lan Wangji was in was very narrow and virtually inaccessible so I landed a bit further away. Then, I cut through the foliage until I got to him.

It was Wangji alright but he was almost unrecognisable as the brother I knew so well. I had always been proud of my ability to understand Wangji and never once had I seen him like this. My brother was always orderly, stern and emotionally withdrawn (he hadn't even cried when our mother died), but looking at him now all that composure had disappeared.

His eyes were red and puffy and no doubt he had been crying. His hair was matted and tangled and most significantly, his headband was wonky. His robes were covered in rips and tears and thick, sticky blood seeped through in large patches covering the majority of his clothes. It looked as though he had been struck badly in the shoulder and in his lower abdomen but otherwise it wasn't too bad. 'It could've been worse' I thought. His face and arms were covered in small scratches, inflicted by the outstretched trees. 

I shook him and shook him but he wouldn't wake. I checked his breathing before hastily hauling him onto my back. I hoped that any infection hadn't spread too far and that he would be fine with a little rest. I jumped back onto Shuoyue before navigating back up the cliff. I briefly stopped to inform the disciples to go back before riding my sword back. 

When we got there, I took Wangji to the infirmary. Some disciples went round and gathered all the doctors and medics before informing people that Hanguang-jun had returned. 

That day was tense as I sat beside Wangji and held his hand but he didn't wake up. The doctors cut away the infected areas of flesh in large lumps and I winced and felt my brothers pain for him. His wounds were stitched, cleansed and dressed and he was issued with medication. I hadn't noticed before but he had developed a fever so I watched over him and placed cold towels on his forehead. I felt useless but I convinced myself that every little helped. 

The first night I didn't sleep. Anxiety coursed through me as I protectively watched over my little brother. At dawn, Jiang Yanli made me go and rest promising to wake me if anything happened. Through out the past few days exhaustion had piled up and it didn't take long for sleep to overcome me. The next day was the same. Wangji showed no progress. The day was overbearingly hot and the night incomparably long. Finally, on the third day things began to change.

It was night and his fever still hadn't broke when he began to move. Quickly after, he began to groan and cry out unintelligible words in his sleep. It got worse as he was caught in an inescapable nightmare.

Tears rolled down his face and I could hear him cry one thing over and over.

"Wei Ying! Wei Ying I'm sorry!"

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Author's Note:

Sorry for not updating sooner, I have been quite busy. I really just want to quickly get to the reunion and the Wangxian plot I planned. I will try to upload more often when I find time. I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Please vote and leave any suggestions or opinions... in the comments.