AN: DuoChanFan is to blame for this. I was encouraged to binge watch The Untamed, and got sucked into the fandom hard. In the days since- just over 20 I think- I've written over 50,000 words on this story. It's not done yet... but with the pandemic sitting quietly and writing isn't doing me any good.

So Good or bad, I'm starting to post this. I am NOT familiar with the usage of curtesy and birth names. expect me to mangle them in this story, and forgive me for any cringe moments.

I am crossposting this from my AO3 account- ToxicAngel13, so if you see it there don't panic. That being said if any chapters become higher rated than this site allows the entire chapter may not be posted here, or it may be posted in a highly edited manner like I do so with my other crossposted works.

Disclaimer: I own nothing that you know from the show, book ect.

Onto the Story

"Wei Ying... hold on. Don't go.." A familiar voice called, pleading clear in it's tone and even though his mind was fuzzy he tried to focus on it. He knew the owner of that voice was important. That he had let him down too many times before this and he couldn't do so again. He needed to listen to him… to Lan Zhan.

"Wei Ying… Come back." The tone was different now- more pained.. more desperate and he truly tried struggling with all of his might to do just that. Too return to the man calling him. He couldn't leave Lan Zhan again. But he failed, he kept falling down into the abyss. Everything went silent after his husband's voice faded and Wei Ying lost himself.

The nightmare had unsettled Wei Ying, though he hadn't said anything to his companions about it. There was no use in making them worry about him over his mind going wild and playing tricks on him. Those images that plagued him had to be a nightmare because he was walking alongside his siblings and the Jiang disciples right now, at this very moment, towards the Cloud Recesses. His very much alive siblings, and he couldn't accept that it might have been real. It had been too horrible, to dark and final. It had to be Wei Wuxian's mind playing tricks

Still what Wei Ying had seen in his dreams lingered, haunted him. Through that dream he had seen Lotus Pier burn, he had seen Uncle Jiang and Lady Zu dead with their killers disrespecting their bodies. The events that had come after that hadn't gotten better from there, in the nightmare he had given up his golden core for Jiang Cheng, and then had been tossed into the Burial Mound like unwanted garbage by Wen Chao. The Wei Ying who had come out of that place had been a changed man in many ways.

There had been intrigue, a war, Wei Ying's spiral into the depths of Demonic Cultivation because it was his only choice left to defend himself and others, saving the remainder of the damn sect that had seen his family almost eliminated. Wen Ning. Yanli's marriage to the Peacock… her son. A-Yuan. Yanli's death… Wei Ying's final stand and Lan Zhan trying to stop his fall only for Jiang Cheng's sword to come down into the cliff between them. It made Wei Ying sick to think about, but the images still repeated in his head.

The nightmare hadn't ended with his death though. Not that time at least. His spirit had been trapped somewhere for 16 years, until a desperate Jin bastard name Mo Xuanyo sacrificed his life for an attempt to have the Yiling Patriarch take his revenge on his abusive family. Wei Wuxian lived again and was tossed once more into a game that he hadn't understood, but at least he had Lan Zhan by his side. Cheng… the resentment over the deaths Wei Ying had caused was too much for him for a long time. Together he and Lan Zhan had found who had manipulated everything. And then…

"We don't have the visiting pass!" Cheng moaned, drawing Wei Ying from his thoughts almost immediately. Wei Wuxian stiffened. They had lost the tokens in his dream as well. An uneasy feeling welled in his stomach at the coincidence. Suddenly the nightmare felt more like a premonition then his mind going wild and playing tricks. But it can't be, he was not gifted in that area. He couldn't have seen what was to be.

"Hn. Follow me." A short command broke through the growing unease. Wei Ying swung around to see a very familiar Lan walking up the path. Joy battled the bile rising in his throat as yet another similarity to his nightmare came to pass. But it was different this time. Lan Wangji had refused them entrance without the tokens in that terrible dream. Yanli bowed her head as Lan Wangji passed by.

"We thank you for your kindness Second Young Master Lan, and offer apologies for our misfortune of having lost the tokens on our travels." She murmured, always acting the part of a Lady, Lan Wangji nodded to her in return, and then his eyes traveled over Cheng, before resting on Wei Ying. His face did not change, but there was a softening in his eyes that made Wei Ying confused.

"No need for thanks. Follow me and rest." Lan Wangji replied, repeating his request as his attention returning to her before he continued past the gate and up the stairs. The Jiang siblings and Wei Ying shared a bewildered look before they followed with the disciples accompanying them trailing after them.

The nightmare kept him restless at all times, even days after their arrival, and finally one night he made his way to the roof top. While he had no wine, and no intention of sneaking out to get any lest that part of his nightmare repeat itself, he desperately needed away from Jiang Cheng so he could think. Wei Ying knew that even though that dream was terrible, he needed to remember the parts of the that took place here in Gusu, so he could compare them to what would happen in the waking world. If the similarities kept lining up, then he needed to prepare some sort of plan of action.

The things that had happened in that cursed dream would not become his future. He refused to fail everyone in the way that he had in that hellish nightmare, but most of all he refused to lose his family. Not again, even if the first time was just a nightmare at the moment. Wei Ying was doing just that when he felt someone sit next to him. Wei Ying watched with wide eyes as Lan Wangji pulled two bottles of Emperors' Smile out.

"You are in Gusu. Stay." Lan Zhan murmured, passing over the bottles, pressing them into Wei Ying's suddenly boneless hand when he didn't immediately take them. Wei Ying was too caught up in staring at the other Cultivator to really appreciate the gift just yet. Because this didn't happen in the nightmare- except when Lan Zhan was trying to get him back to Gusu in the height of his so called Demonic Cultivations of resentful energies. Never this early though, and there had been nothing to instigate this request so far in the waking world that he knew of. He hadn't seen Lan Wangji except in passing since his arrival.

"Lan Zhan?" He asked, his voice barely audible. "The nightmare I had before my siblings and I arrived as not just a dream was it?" Lan Zhan shook his head, a grave look on his face.

"Not a dream. When I lost you again I followed. Woke up here, in the past, waited for you to come. I stand with Wei Ying always. There will not be a third time." He replied, his words making Wei Ying's gut twist as he remembered the last thoughts he had in the nightmare. Of course Lan Zhan would have chosen to follow him, instead of being left behind like he had been the last time.

"I didn't want to leave you again. I had finally come home." He blurted out, needing for the other man to know that. At the Burial Mound he had chosen to die, as twisted and broken as he had been. This time hadn't been his choice, he sighed before opening one of the bottles and chugging it down as the realization of what this meant set in. Lan Zhan hummed at his words, before wrapping an arm around Wei Ying's waist and leaning closer to him.

"I know this." Lan Zhan replied softly, reassuring Wei Ying that he knew the other man hadn't meant to leave him alone . Wei Ying chuckled suddenly, setting the empty bottle off to the side.

"Eh Lan Zhan, we will cause such talk if we are not careful. The precious Second Jade of Lan holding the Number One Disciple of Jiang in the middle of the night. Tongues will wag over how I am corrupting you in no time." He said cheerfully, laying his head on the other man's shoulder all the same as he opened the second bottle and took a sip, feeling a little bit more centered at the contact. Lan Zhan had been his rock for so long, long enough that he was equal to safety, even in this uncertain time. The hand around his waist tightened at his teasing.

"I will marry Wei Ying again. Talk will be worthless." He assured him. Wei Ying snickered at that.

"At least tell me when you do it, instead of years after it happens will you? Pshh so embarrassing to find out so long after it happened. All the wasted shameless opportunities I never knew would be welcomed. You were so cold to your poor husband. Shame on you!" He whined a playful note in his voice. Lan Zhan just snorted at that.

"You copied the Lan rules many times. Should have known." He replied, pressing his face into Wei Ying's hair as the other teen started giggling at his response.

"Lan Zhan, you know my memory is like a sieve. Do not blame me for not realizing that you married me without saying a word. For shame Lan Zhan, for shame. You even stole a kiss from me without saying a thing." He protested just as soon as the laughter had died. This felt nice. Felt right. They had a difficult path ahead of them, but for once they could be two men in love, without a care or the guilt that had tainted them before.

"Mn." Was all he got from that teasing though. That was alright because Lan Zhan was holding him, and that said everything that the stoic teen couldn't express. He took a shaky breath, before sipping some more of his wine and deciding to enjoy this moment. It would have to end soon- they were out after curfew and he would not be able to follow his husband back to his rooms.

They would make it through this though, and Wei Ying would not lose himself to Demonic Cultivation. He acknowledged that it was a tool to use, but it was so very dangerous. Without his golden core he had become unbalanced quickly, but he had his core now and he didn't plan to lose it again. Giving that gift to Jiang Cheng had cost him so much- from his balance… to certain things that he would want in the future with his husband. He closed his eyes as that admission came to him.

Wei Ying hadn't thought of having children when he made that sacrifice, and if he had fallen in love with a woman it would have never been an issue. Mediocre man and woman couples had children all the time after all. It was only Cultivators- and their golden cores- that allowed a man to have a child with another man, or a woman with a woman even. And both needed to have a core to contribute to the union. His gift to Cheng has made sure that his union with Lan Zhan would never bear biological children, but he hadn't regretted that until later on, after he had come back in a body that had a weak core that would never be enough to give them that gift.

Wen Yuan, later Lan Sizhui had been a god send, even if he had arrived at the most inconvenient time and his family had come together in separate bits. First while his mother was hiding the Wen's and being persecuted by the other sects, and then when his father had pulled him out of those caves. Lan Sizhui had been a teenager when his family was made whole, but that hadn't diminished a thing. This time… Yuan would get to keep his Wen parents if everything went well and maybe later Wei Ying would gift his husband with children of their own blood to raise.

"I'm getting ahead of myself." He mumbled, gulping down the rest of his wine and trying to put his thoughts back on the track that they needed to be on. There would be time later to think about the things he could do after the danger had passed. Lan Zhan and Yanli would lock him up if he became with child before the war was through, and then he wouldn't be able to help prevent anything. Wei Ying swore to remind himself of that fact when his relationship turned physical.

"You should sleep soon, can tell you have not been. We can plan tomorrow, there is time." Lan Zhan suggested, not letting go of him even though the statement implied that he should. Wei Ying snorted, wrapping his arm around his Lan Zhan's waist to keep himself in place in case his husband tried letting him go. He wasn't ready to part from Lan Zhan yet, but he probably would never be.

"I don't wanna. You're here, if I have to go back to my room I'll have an empty bed and Jiang Cheng snoring." He whined in verbal protest, burying his face in his husband's neck.

"Only for a time. Once I have courted and married you then you will be by my side again." Lan Zhan promised seriously. Wei Ying whined again, this time not liking something else.

"No courting Lan Zhan. I liked that we skipped all of that pomp and circumstance before, it was nice. No one in my family had to approve, and I really think Master Lan QiRen had a Qi Deviation when he finally figured it out. That was fun. Having to ask Madam Yu if I can marry? That is not. She hates me, and I don't mean in the 'He's a troublemaker and I need to be firm.' way like Lan QiRen. She's pretty sure that her husband was in love with my mother and then he brought me into their home when he found me after my parents died Night Hunting." Wei Ying grumbled darkly, remembering the sting of the Zidan across his back. He had faced that whip too many times to count, and while he pushed it behind him as the past he never forgot it. Lan Zhan's arm tightened just a little more at his words, knowing what he was remembering as he spoke them.

"I will handle receiving Wei Ying's families approval. Wei Ying will not need to." He assured him, and even though he knew it wouldn't be that easy Wei Ying felt the tension that had risen fade a little with that promise. Madam Yu had died before they had settled the issues her inability to show him the slightest care had caused- she had died after beating him. While Wei Ying had mourned her, a part of him had been glad she could cause no more pain. Then his relationship with Jiang Cheng had soured and he had taken up hitting him with Zidan. History had repeated in the worst of ways, though he had been able to mend some of the bridges with his brother at least.

"It won't be easy. If I want it, she will be against it." Wei Ying murmered. His husband just hummed softly, and Wei Ying felt a kiss being pressed against his hair. It made him smile, and blush a little because he had been so oblivious the first and even second time around. Wei Ying had been so focused on the intrigue, the adventure, that he hadn't seen what was right in front of him. And that blindness had kept him from Lan Zhan's affections for an absurdly long time. Wei Ying counted himself blessed that Lan Zhan had held steady in his feelings and had been waiting for him when he had finally understood all of it. And then Wei Ying had gone and died again.

"I stand by Wei Ying." Lan Zhan reminded him firmly. This time Wei Ying hummed as the warmth of his golden core and Lan Zhan's embrace directed him towards sleeping. Silence passed over the two, and without meaning to Wei Ying gave into the urge to sleep- it wasn't like a roof was the most uncomfortable place he had ever slept after all. He didn't wake as Lan Zhan put him to bed either.