An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
Title: The Heart of a Lan 💙
Universe: Canon Compliant (The Untamed / MDZS)
"Xiong-zhang, are we cursed?"
The question hits Lan Xichen like a cold wave. "What makes you say that?"
"I heard Shifu say it," his little brother answers dutifully. "He says our family is cursed."
Those of the Lan bloodline have always been passionate people. Lan Xichen sees the proof in his brother and himself as they age together.
Recommended by: @shamelesswngxian (mod)
Words can not possibly describe the relief he feels when he sees his little brother with his guqin in his lap. He steps into the clearing. "Wangji."
Lan Wangji looks up, the wariness on his face quickly giving away to surprise—then relief, and joy. He bows deeply, and his voice shakes a little. "Xiong-zhang."
"You've been well, I hope." Lan Xichen smiles at him. "I knew it was you the moment I heard Inquiry. Although," he looked at the spirits, aqueous and glowing in the air, "from their response, it sounds like Young Master Wei is still missing."
Worry returns to Lan Wangji's brows, furrowing them. "He's been gone for three months."
Lan Xichen rests a hand on his arm. "Young Master Wei is resourceful and clever," he reassures him. "He will find a way."
It is not enough. Lan Wangji looks unconvinced, and glances at his guqin as if he plans on starting yet another session of Inquiry. Yet he restrains himself. "I will find him," he says it as an oath.
Later, years later, Lan Xichen will think back to this exact moment and realize that this is where it all started. Whatever happened to his brother and Wei Wuxian when they were trapped in Xuanwu cave had drastically changed Lan Wangji—stirred his blood, awoke a devotion within him that would make their sect elders froth at the mouth and rage: not this again.
But, for now, Lan Xichen knows no better, and he thinks nothing of his brother's earnestness.
"I know you will," he tells him, fully believing him.
Lan Xichen hurts. He wants to rush over and pull his brother away from the Yiling Patriarch. He wants to drag Lan Wangji back to the Cloud Recesses and force him to cultivate in seclusion until he becomes so much of an untouchable immortal that he forgets petty troubles like love and devotion. He wants to turn back time and discourage his uncle from ever choosing Yunmeng Jiang's Wei Wuxian as one of his disciples.
His brother has the heart of a Lan. His blood will always burn. But now that the worst has happened and Wei Wuxian is dead, Lan Xichen hopes that Lan Wangji can start to heal, in both soul and body.
He pities his uncle. Lan Qiren tried his best to raise his nephews with the highest discipline and restraint—not just to be exemplary members of the Lan Sect, but also to avoid the fate of their father, who locked himself away because he was stuck between his heart and his morals.
"Xiong-zhang," his little brother asks him, "are we cursed?"
After all these years, he finally has an answer for the then five-year-old Lan Wangji: I am, little A-Zhan, but you are not.
Ever since Wei Wuxian came back, Lan Wangji has remained by his side, firmly believing in him and staying true to his values. Even during the Second Siege of the Burial Mounds, when the cultivation world once again marched against Wei Wuxian, Lan Wangji stayed by him with a clear conscience and a faithful heart.
"Those of the Lan bloodline have always been passionate," he smiles at his curious little brother. "We are extremely devoted. Like all things in life, that devotion can be good or bad, depending on whether we control it or let it control us."
The heart of a Lan is a curious thing, both a blessing and a curse, a strength and a weakness.
He thinks of his brother, reunited with his love and travelling the world. He thinks of his mother, alone in her gentian-lined house. He thinks of his father, bound by love to protect his wife yet bound by honor to despise her.
Finally, he thinks of Nie Mingjue and Jin Guangyao, his sworn brothers, now both among the restless dead and banned from the cycle of reincarnation. He thinks about the former's strength and the latter's generosity, now immaterial and lost to time as the world moves on without them.
There's nothing left for him.
Lan Xichen crosses the threshold.
The door shuts behind him.
This is a heartfelt fic told from LXC’s POV that follows him all the way from his childhood right up to his adulthood. The story is captivating and beautifully written, drawing excellent parallels between Lan bros and their father.
LQR is just an uncle who tries to save his nephews from their Lan hearts. He can't save them from their fate but he's a man who tried to do what he thought was the best for them.
