#wulianweek

He survived.

Wu Ming, after the vengeful spirits tried to rip his soul apart; fragmented. The little pieces took a while to find each other and connect, forming a whole once more.

Now he stood under the rain, full bodied and cold as a cadaver. His mask was gone, his entire face in full display. A handsome face that knew no rival, and that red eye. It seemed to glow in the darkness of the night, the one recognizable spot in the haziness of the rain.

“Dianxia” he spoke, voice somewhat rasped, mostly muddled by the sound of the drops hitting the ground.

His Highness' face was wet, Wu Ming didn’t know if it was because of the rain or tears, but His Highness' eyes were reddened. He took a step forward. Wu Ming backed away. They stood still.

Dianxia need not be bothered by someone like him, he thought. Before he could say the words His Highness had shortened the gap and grabbed both his hands. They felt warm, despite the freezing cold, and they were soft.

His Highness interlaced their fingers together, a gentle touch. And his eyes were on Wu Ming, never faltering. It made Wu Ming nervous, if he could still blush, his face would be a flustered mess.

“Wu Ming” His Highness breathed, the soft voice, so faint like a whisper. He drew closer to Wu Ming’s face.

Wu Ming was completely frozen in place as he felt plump, soft skin touch his lips. His Highness had touched him, with his lips, for the very first time in their lives. Wu Ming felt dizzy.

It was around bedtime in Paradise Manor. Xie Lian was alone in bed, having gotten ready a while ago, but just lying awake. He was also waiting for San Lang to return from the Gambler’s Den, some ghost trying to make some trouble since Chengzu hadn’t been showing up for some time. 

So Xie Lian lay down, waiting, except, waiting for San Lang was not the reason why he was awake right now.

Absentmindedly, he would hold the ring of ashes San Lang gave him, the only thing living closest to his heart, every minute or so.  He would stare at it from time to time, and then go back to looking at the ceiling while playing with the ring around his fingers. 

He felt numb. All his feelings were watered down. Like he was somewhere far away from his body with no path for coming back. He doesn’t know how long he had been waiting in bed. Didn’t feel like taking a bath that night, so he only got undressed, put on a light sleeping robe, and got under the covers, curling up on himself, like how he used to when he slept on the streets.

It had been one of those hard days he experienced from time to time. The feelings were so overwhelming earlier in the day that left him completely exhausted by nighttime. They were tolerable now that he had San Lang, but right now, San Lang was not there to calm his raising thoughts.

Thoughts of Wu Ming.

The real reason why he was in this state was because of his soldier ghost. The one who sacrificed himself in order to save him from a decision that he would have regretted for the rest of his life. Wu Ming had saved him from an enormous amount of pain by letting his own soul be torn apart.

Right after Wu Ming disappeared, guilt and regret was all Xie Lian could feel. It took a long time for him to accept the consequences of his own actions. After learning San Lang was the Wu Ming he had lost so long ago brought back a lot of those original feelings. It had been difficult at first, and it took a lot of effort to work through it. He felt guilty that it had fallen on San Lang to help him with the distress; the last thing San Lang had to do was give more to Xie Lian.

Obviously, he apologized as best he could, and even though the Ghost King didn’t seem to harbor any bit of resentment towards him, Xie Lian could not yet comprehend how he was forgiven so easily. It ate every bit of his consciousness. No matter how many times San Lang reassured him, there was always a nagging feeling he couldn’t get rid of that dragged him back to that moment when he lost his last believer.

In the middle of his turmoil, Xie Lian received a message from San Lang on his communication array. 

“Gege, this one apologizes desperately, but it would be a bit more time before I can join you tonight”

Xie Lian took a deep breath, it was alright, he was alright.

“Everything okay, Gege?” came the smooth and deep voice again.

“Yes, San Lang, everything is okay. I’m already in bed, so take your time” He tried to sound as calm as possible, project sincerity even though he knew he was lying. Would San Lang be able to tell?

“Alright, Gege, I’ll be back as soon as possible” and the array closed.

Xie Lian opened his eyes and found himself lying on the ground outside the temple. That was weird because he clearly remembered he fell asleep inside the temple Wu Ming found for them last night.

He got up while looking around for anything suspicious, then he noticed something even stranger, was he taller? He felt taller. His eye level was different than normal.

He took off the mask he was still wearing and with a loud gasp he realized it was Wu Ming’s smiling mask. He did a one eighty turn and headed straight into the temple to find out the inexplicable.

There, where he remembered he lay down last night was his body, sitting in the ground looking at his palms with eyes of terrified disbelief.

Then his body looked up and his eyes widened. “Dianxia?” Wu Ming asked in Xie Lian’s voice.

“Don’t call me that” Xie Lian chided in what was clearly Wu Ming’s voice.

A body swap then, who could have done this? Bai WuXian, who else? But to what end? Maniac.

Before he could voice his displeasure Ruoye peeked out from under Xie Lian’s sleeve, still wrapped in his original body.

The band did a movement Xie Lian could not comprehend but immediately unwrapped itself and flew towards Wu Ming’s body. It circled it a couple times, like a filial dog trying to recognize his owner. However, it didn’t wrap itself around him like he had expected, it was sort of looking at him? Then he would turn to Wu Ming in Xie Lian’s body, then back again, repeating the movement several times. It seemed like Ruoye was confused as to who his owner really was.

Irritated Xie Lian called out his name, the silk band turned to him, it looked like it understood, good. Although, unexpectedly, Wu Ming repeated the name. Both Xie Lian and Ruoye stared at him for several seconds before Ruoye reacted like an enthusiastic puppy who had just been offered treats.

Ruoye immediately flew towards Xie Lian’s body, gave him a “sniff” and rubbed against his cheeks before tuck itself back under Xie Lian’s robes like he had found home.