I'll be fine
"What have you done, Wei Ying?!" - the question was lurking in the corners of his mind. It was disturbing. It made him hover too close to consciousness and it was an unpleasant experience. Vaguely, Wei Wuxian was aware that he said something, he should have kept to himself.
"Wei Ying?!", the desperation in the voice hit him hard.
"Lan Zhan… I'll be fine…", he needed to assure the man whom he loved.
"What has Wei Ying done to protect me?", the question came from behind. Slowly the wounded man realized that he was half sprawled on Lan Wangji chest, who was sitting behind him and supported him in a half-lying position. Some part of Wei Wuxian was screaming that he should avoid such close physical contact. Bruises and cuts on his back were confirming this, but in the meantime he needed to feel safe. And the only thing which could grant this feeling was Lan Zhan's touch.
"Lan Zhan", he mumbled, pleased. The pain and the cold seemed to slowly disappear. The soft darkness was welcoming.
"Wei Ying?!"
There was no strength in him to answer. The symbols he had managed to draw connecting the cuts and burns on his hands started to finally work. His mind was screaming at him that he needed to do something. Something truly important.
"Wei Ying!", Lan Zhan was close to panic.
"It's better for him to sleep than to talk.", the healer informed him calmly.
But the Second Jade shook his head in disagreement.
"Healer Liu, I am afraid that my brother might have done something truly stupid.", Jiang Wanyin stated, "He has a tendency to perform idiotic self-sacrifices. I am not aware what he's capable of, especially when he's convinced he's acting to save someone… significant to him."
Lan Zhan twitched but did not avert his gaze from Wei Wuxian.
The healer moved closer to check on the wounded man. Both cultivators were watching her like hawks. She was not used to such scrutiny, especially from her sect leader, as the man rarely seemed really worried about a patient under her care. The only person who might have provoked such a reaction was Jin Ling, but the boy had never been in a truly bad condition during his stay in Yunmeng.
However, the condition of her current patient was dramatically worsening. She cursed under her breath, as she did not understand it. The man was in critical condition, he might not survive - that all was true but she had never expected it would happen so quickly.
"He's dying, yet I cannot find the exact reason!", she was convinced that this man would be fading even without all his injuries. His heart was simply shutting down. Jiang Liu was checking his energy, and it was fading too quickly to remedy it.
Lan Zhan quenched his own panic, as it was helping nobody there. He focused solely on Wei Ying, trying to find the reason for his condition.
It cannot be obvious. Wei Ying knows they wouldn't let him die easily. They wanted to use him against me. Is my Wei Ying so ready to discard his second chance? Think! He chose death in Nightless City, but the grief dulled his senses. Wei Ying would sacrifice his life for me but only if he saw no other way. There were too many unknown factors to be sure there's no other way.
Lan Wangji felt the seal on Wei Ying's core disappear. The energy was suddenly reaching for him. It seemed somewhat surprised that its aim was so close. A gold-twinkling redness surrounded the Chief Cultivator. The familiar bright laugh was vibrating around him.
"Lan Zhan!", a beloved voice or its memory.
Lan Wangji felt tears falling down his face. He gathered his soulmate in his arms and hid his face in Wei Wuxian's hair, still smelling of blood.
"Lan Zhan!", this time they were guqin strings whispering his name.
"Wei Ying!", he cried, unable to reach his instrument.
Wei Wuxian fought the urge to melt into his beloved. Even for him it would be shameless.
My body in his arms. It truly fits him. If only I knew he saw me as his lover not only as his closest friend! I wasn't thinking clearly while I was in my body. The injuries were affecting me too much! Focus! My aim was to reach Lan Zhan so I can speak to him… Tell him where I am held. But I am held in his arms at the moment… And my spell has worked - my body seems dead… Ah…
The guqin is working.
"Lan Zhan, please don't cry! I'll be fine. The spell should work a few hours. Please don't organize my funeral during this time! I'll be fine. I promise! I won't leave you again! I love you!", his soul fingers did not truly listen to him when he added the last note.
Lan Wangji slowly and gently put his body on the bed and knelt near the guqin. His fingers stayed a little longer entangled in Wei Ying's hair.
"Want to help", he replied.
Wei Ying felt overwhelmed, drowning in his own emotions. He would never believe if he was told that at the same moment he might feel so immense pain and love, so much anxiety and determination. He felt like a guqin string so tense that it was close to break. There were so many things he wanted to say, the limitations of the instrument were tormenting.
Focus! Focus on the enemy. Then on the way to heal you. You don't want to die. Focus!
"There were five persons. Four of them seemed to know each other, their leader - likely a stranger they had known from orders or letters. All men."
The string was vibrating with pain, and Lan Wangji was struggling not to stand up and get out to start the hunt on those who hurt his soulmate.
"They were wearing farmers' clothes but they had swords. Nothing recognizable to me. Only the leader had a bracelet of dark green gems. It had a spiritual significance. Maybe a token or other kind of tool. I can't tell."
Lan Wangji was carefully listening to the melody giving him the detailed description of Wei Wuxian's tormentors. He knew he would have to write it down and pass it to Jiang Wanyin. However when even a more abundant description of used talismans and tricks was following the first report, he mentioned a brush and paper and noted down all information. He gave up, however, when Wei Wuxian wanted him to draw the symbols according to his hints.
"Wei Ying needs help.", he nearly felt the invisible ghost roll his eyes in impatience and irritation. But his own heart froze when he watched the lifeless body on the bed. It was breathing only because of the healer's efforts.
"I'll be unconscious and useless."
"The Inquiry is not precise enough. Empathy?"
The thought of Empathy frightened Wei Wuxian.
No, no, no! You can't know what has happened!
No!
But… if your life is at the stake?
"It will hurt you!"
"Wei Ying, empathy is rarely a nice experience."
However rarely you're so involved with the target of the Empathy.
"How to help you?", HanguangJun asked. He needed to pass this knowledge to the healer, as he could not be sure how strong the Empathy might influence him.
"Heal the cuts and burns on my hands."
Finally a solution.
"Empathy or healing?", he asked against himself.
"Empathy. You need the knowledge. And now out of my body I am more conscious. That's really funny", the guqin gave a strange tone like it tried to chuckle.
"Healer Jiang, his hands must be healed to make him breathe on his own, though first he wants to show me his tormentors and their methods.", it was the first time Lan Wangji said something aloud since the beginning of their conversation.
"It's madness! I want my brother breathing and alive and not performing rituals while he's dead, dying, whatever he is doing now! Heal him now!"
"Sect Leader Jiang, Wei Wuxian is convinced his information is crucial. We cannot disrespect his wish."
"His dying wish?!", Jiang Cheng spat.
"No, you idiot. Less talking. The more you talk, the longer I am dead. Tell him, Lan Zhan!", Wei Wuxian was furious and afraid.
"Wei Ying insists on sharing the information. Please, let us proceed.", Lan Wangji translated the guqin melody.
"Keep him breathing. I'll tell you when to heal him.", Jiang Cheng murmured resigned.
"Thank you!", the instrument came alive one last time, before it disappeared and Lan Wangji sat on the floor in meditation pose. He could swear he was feeling the light touch on his half open palms.
A/N
Thanks to my awesome Beta - Legate_of_Apples :)