Series: Mo Dao Zu Shi
Genre: Time Travel/ Fix it, hurt/comfort, everyone who deserves to live does, meng yao bashing, jin Guangshan bashing, Yanli/Mingjue/Xichen as sworn siblings, Jiang Cheng x Quin Su, MianMian x Wen Qing, Wen Ning x Huaisang, save Xue Yang, save Mo XaunYu, Wei Ying and Lan Wangji plus a whole flock of little ones because I cannot deal. Brothers resolve their bull shit, they need to talk it out i'm not sorry.
Prompt: Jiang Cheng and Wei Ying find themselves 15 again and decide to take advantage of their knowledge and fix their future.
Jiang Cheng P.O.V.
Jiang Cheng groaned, blinking for several moments as his eyes adjusted to the room, the last thing he remembered was getting into a fight with his martial brother during a night hunt, a night hunt he'd been tricked into going on by his nephew. "I'm going to break his legs the next time I see him..." he thinks irritably, after all, he wouldn't have gotten caught up in whatever nonsense Wei Ying had pulled if he'd been at home. After his eyes adjust, he realizes that he isn't even in Gusu, atleast, not the Gusu that currently exists. The next realization to hit him is that there is another bed across from his, it's currently empty -it's occupant had apparently rolled off the bed in their sleep, he's more than a little unsettled by the appearance of his brother in his original body, Wei Ying's hair is a mess and he's in just his inner robes, which are slightly askew. "WHAT THE FUCK." is his second thought, "Am I dreaming?" is his third.
Wei Ying stirs to wakefulness not too far behind his brother, and immediately looks around the room as if he's seen a ghost, which is a sentiment that conveys immediately to Jiang Cheng that it's not just him whose consciousness has been transferred. Wei Ying's eyes finally lock with his, "A-Cheng... sorry, I woke you up, didn't I?"
Jiang Cheng glares at him "Cut the crap Wuxian, I know I'm not the only one." he ignores the way his brother flinches at his tone. "I don't know what the actual fuck you did during the night hunt, but suddenly we're back here."
"Temper A-Cheng, you'll give yourself a Qi deviation one day" Wei Ying tuts, now seemingly unaffected by Jiang Cheng's tone." I had some of my experimental talismans on me, they must have activated when you whipped me." He says it as if it is the obvious answer, not another set of questions.
"Why -for fucks sake- did you have a fucking time talisman on your PERSON during a night hunt- you know what, I don't want to know."
"In case a night hunt with Jin Ling turned into a trap... it's was only supposed to rewind a few minutes."
"Glad to know you think so highly of me." Jiang Cheng snorts rolling his eyes, this was the 4th time in a month that Jin Ling had tricked them into doing something together. Apparently, he thought they needed to fix their relationship. "Did he ever think that maybe we are happier without fixing it..." he thinks that but in reality, it couldn't be farther from the truth, Jiang Cheng had gotten so used to being alone that he'd forgotten how it felt to be loved.
"Don't think so highly of yourself" Wei ying responds, "Jin Ling is a danger magnet, he almost lost his head to an eight legged bear last time."
"Would have served him right" Jiang Cheng huffs, irritably "If he won't improve, he might as well."
"You don't mean that." Wei Ying says, "You raised him, you're the reason he is the way he is."
"Yeah well YOU are the reason why he wasn't raised by his parents." Jiang Cheng snaps, ignoring the way his chest aches. "Even if you weren't the one who caused Zixuan's death, you were still the one to blame... if you didn-"
"A-CHENG" Wei Yings pitch rises in warning, startling Jiang Cheng into silence. "I KNOW... I KNOW you blame me, but don't you DARE drag the Wen remnants into this."
"And why shouldn't I?" Jiang Cheng growls, his eyes are stinging, he ignores it. "GIVE me ONE GOOD Fucking REASON." He emphasizes every other word. "Give me one reason why I shouldn't blame the ones that destroyed everything, took everything." he sounds hoarse as he continues to speak, eventually falling quiet because his throat hurts.
"Because it wasn't their fault." Wei Ying says, his voice is softer, he can see the way that Jiang Cheng's eyes are reddening. "I was the one who was arrogant enough to think I was in control..." he pauses briefly, sighing before he continues "I was the one who foolishly thought I was the only demonic cultivator." Wei Ying had in truth long ago given up being upset with Jiang Cheng, there was truly no one to blame for his brother's mental state but those who were long past, it was time to move on. "I'd rather that I bear your hatred alone." There is a long silence between them before anyone speaks.
"I don't hate you" Jiang Cheng says, his voice is soft. "Sometimes it would be easier if I did." he continues a little louder, "Do you know how many years I spent carrying your flute around?... How many times I visited your old room?" his volume is still rising but there is a definite tremor in his voice, and tears are streaking down his cheeks. "DO you EVEN know HOW much I MISSED YOU." Wei Ying doesn't respond; he doesn't know how to. "You promised we would always be together..." his words trail off and he truly breaks down, Wei Ying does the only thing he can think of and gets up and straightens his robes, and goes to Jiang Cheng's bed side and sits down next to him. Jiang Cheng fights back briefly as Wei Ying pulls him into a hug then caves, sobbing against his brother's chest. They sit like that for a while before Jiang Cheng's sobs finally quiet.
It's probably around 1 am seeing as the moon is still high in the sky, they finally move apart, sitting in awkward silence for another moment before either speaks. "It seems like we really have a second chance here, maybe we can save everyone this time." Wei Ying offers hesitant to get his hopes up about how long the effects of the charm could last.
"If we don't suddenly wake back up in our timeline." Jiang Cheng agrees "But first" he punches Wei Ying in the arm hard.
"Ouch!" Wei Ying whines rubbing his arm, "A-Cheng! What was that for!?"
"NO MORE SELF SACRIFICE." Jiang Cheng almost yells at him, barely keeping his tone quiet enough to avoid waking anyone. "I SWEAR TO GOD Wuxian, if you try to give me your core or anything similar, I WILL KILL YOU MYSELF."
"Aiya, so violent A-Cheng." Wei Ying whines, "It's my job to protect you, I didn't have a choice before."
"BULL SHIT" Jiang Cheng spits, "You are my BROTHER, NOT my fucking BODYGUARD." he looks at Wei Ying with one of those 'if looks could kill' glares hes famous for "I don't care what my A-Niang told you. SHE IS WRONG."
Now it's Wei Ying's turn to get teary, "You are the sect, Heir." is all he manages to say.
"And You are the head disciple, don't think less of yourself because of what A-Niang says." Jiang Cheng pushes, right, he's going to have to get his parents to actually fucking talk to each other. "You always told me to ignore her and you were right... so it applies to you as well moron!"
"I'll try" Is Wei Ying's only response, "We're going to see Yanli again soon..." he says quietly after a moment's silence.
"She's still alive, they are all still alive." Jiang Cheng says, and it feels like a weight is lifting off of him, suddenly he's laughing and so is Wei Ying, maybe they can make this work.
Jiang Cheng walks over to the dresser and gets a piece of parchment, pen and ink from a drawer, Wei Ying gives him a questioning look as he sits down on the floor and begins to write. "What are you doing?"
"Writing down what happened before in order." Jiang Cheng says, "We have several years of events to live through again and I don't want to forget anything that could be important."
"My memory is terrible, so I'm afraid I can't help too much." Wei Ying says, moving to sit down next to him, he watches as Jiang Cheng starts recording events. "A-Cheng, the incident in Caiyi town wasn't the first time I experienced dark energy... or heard voices"
"What the-"
"I experienced the dark energy first when the corpses gusu uses for training got out." Wei Ying Continues, talking over Jiang Cheng "I've always heard voices, sometimes I can't tell if they are real or if I'm imagining them." He admits, "They put awful thoughts in my head and images, I think that is why the burial mounds didn't really affect me."
Jiang Cheng has stopped writing and just stares at his brother for a long time, suddenly something that happened the summer before they came to gusu sticks out like a sore thumb and Jiang Cheng wonders why he never saw it before. "Last summer... when you told Fuqin and I you went for a swim drunk..."
Wei Ying turns pale as a ghost almost immediately and looks at the ground "A-Cheng it's been a year since that there's no reason to-"
"OH MY GOD." Jiang Cheng gasps, "You were... You were trying to kill yourself! Dad and I actually believed you all this time."
"Forget it, it's not that Important- it's not like it was the first time anyway..." Wei Ying's response is under his breath and Jiang Cheng barely catches it.
"WEI WUXIAN!" Jiang Cheng almost shouts again, this time he's shaking for another reason, not anger, but fear, suddenly so many odd occurrences are clicking into place, giving him a better look at his brother's real heart than he's ever had before. "What happened the first time!? How many times have you tried to-" he breaks off mid ways through asking 'how many times have you tried to die.' his throat feeling like its closing up.
"I tried to cut my wrists, Shijie caught me in the act." Wei Ying mumbles, "She went to the infirmary and came back with bandages, she begged me never to do such a thing again."
"That was when you said you had hurt your wrist and couldn't practice." Jiang Cheng realizes, "That's why Yanli was bringing you food at night and staying close to you." he suddenly understands a little better why even his sister had favored Wei Ying, his brother had been practically screaming that he needed help and no one had known how badly except for his sweet sister.
"She was afraid I'd do it again if she left me alone for too long... she was right." Wei Ying sighed, it had been 4 months before he'd tried to drown himself, Yanli had been staying with her grandmother in Meishan at the time of the second attempt.
"Is there anything else I should know about." Jiang Chengs voice sounds tired and hallow, it's a lot of information to take in all at once. Wei Ying shakes his head, and Jiang Cheng stares off into space for several minutes, trying to process it. He eventually returns to writing down events, committing what Wei Ying had just revealed to memory. He makes it to the part about the archery contest hosted by the Wen sect before Wei Ying speaks up again.
"That's when I met Wen Ning for the first time." He reminded Jiang Cheng, "I got lost before it started and came across him practicing, he's a good kid, just really nervous."
"You're going to want to save them still aren't you?" Jiang Cheng states more than asks.
"Of course! The Dafan Wen were just as trapped as the rest of us before the war." Wei Ying answers, "And Qing-jie is a brilliant doctor, she'd be a great asset to have on our side."
"How do you know she'd change sides." Jiang Cheng asks, after all at this point that 'brilliant doctor' is one of Wen Ruohan's right hands.
"She is being black mailed, Ruohan is keeping her people and her brother as hostages, if she say's the wrong thing they die." Wei Ying explains, "If we can free them, there is no way she will stay loyal to him."
So thats how it was, the famous doctor effectively had her hands tied. When Jiang Cheng thought about it he couldn't say his own decisions in such a situation would be any better than hers. "So she took a personal risk when she helped us escape and kept us hidden"
"Exactly, that's why I couldn't abandon her when she came and begged me for help." Wei Ying explains.
"You will still need to speak to him this time then." Jiang Cheng says pointedly. He makes a note as he continues down the page to remember to save the Dafan, he still has mixed feeling about all of the Wen but he knows he would have died last time if not for the quick thinking of Wen Qing and her little brother. "We also need to be sure he doesnt become a fierce corpse."
"I agree with you on that." Wei Ying says, "I never intended for him to become a weapon in the first place, I reacted out of anger when I raised him." he admits looking guilty, "Wen Ning is a gentle soul, he never wanted to be like that."
Jiang Cheng looks a little incredulous at that statement, of course he has to admit, even his nephew had grown quite close to the ghost general, seeing him as someone to pity rather than blaming him for his fathers death. "Jin Ling takes after his A-Niang in that way... I wish I could forgive that easily." He finishes writing down the events and then goes back adding notes about Meng Yao's involvement as had been discovered later. Next to him Wei Ying moves and stands up looking around the room. "What are you doing?"
"Looking for a clue as to when we were sent back to exactly..." Wei Ying says he trails off as he fumbles through a stack of books and scrolls laying on top of the dresser. "I think I know where we are now, tomorrow will be fun!" Wei Ying chuckles, he pulls something out of the stack, it looks like a regular poetry book at first glance.
"Oh no, what happens tomorrow." Jiang Cheng can't help but feel apprehension over Wei Ying's glee, said brother comes back to sit across from him and holds a random page of the 'poetry book' open, he immediately looks away, of course. Tomorrow is the day Wei Ying pranked Lan Wangji with the gay porn... just his luck, remind him how he ever missed his brother's orientation. "I think I'd genuinely rather eat your evil congee thanks."
"You should have seen his face A-Cheng" Wei Ying bursts into laughter, it's a sound that Jiang Cheng had totally forgotten, and hadn't realized how much he'd missed. "Oh! That's right even this early on Er-gege already had feelings for me, maybe I shouldn't... I want to see it again though"
"Just tell him you fucking like him." Jiang Cheng groans, "If you don't I'll-" he'll what? He has to think about it for a moment before it hits him to take a very lan zhan approach. "I'll find a way to confess for you."
"Uh, ha? A-Cheng!" Wei Ying starts to splutter, "You can't! You wouldn't! Unfair.." Wei Ying whines, his face turning every shade of red, he dramatically covers his face with his hands.
"The only thing that's unfair is the amount of dog food the two of you made all of us endure." Jiang Cheng teases, "That's why I never agreed to meet for lunch after the first time."
After that more teasing follows, they finish writing down events and making notes with about an hour to go before the first bells alert everyone to get ready for class, they both realize that outside of Wei Ying needing to go to the Library to finish his copying work, there was really nothing important. To Jiang Cheng's surprise, while Wei Ying did grab the book he intended to prank Wangji with, he actually behaved in class and paid attention, for once not incurring the wrath of Lan Qiren. He also noticed that his brother headed for the library without being dragged there as he had been the first time around. "he must have matured after living here for five years..." He thinks.
WriterNotes:
I'm currently working on this as I can, it will probably take me a long time to finish it. I currently work two jobs and am working on my first original story—thus this is a back burner when I have time. Please be patient with me. I really love these characters though, especially Jiang Cheng, who I'm devoting quite a bit of attention to in this. Some characters may be a bit OOC, I'm trying to write them as accurate to how I see them.