#xiansang

She giggled and floated off, and he left the rest of the compound to the ever-increasing army of corpses as he followed.

The trail ended at what had to be the outpost commander’s residence, since it was much higher quality than the soldier's dwellings. 

He didn't have to search long before finding a small, heavily bound body curled up and unconscious on a narrow backless couch.

At the sight of the greens and greys of Qinghe Nie, he sucked in a breath through his teeth.

Surely not-

His stomach sank when he rolled the figure over and found himself staring at Nie Huaisang.

His friend was in terrible shape, far too pale and his breathing was weak. He was badly bruised in some areas and his skin had been scraped raw and bloody in others.

Remembering what the red girl had said, he carefully tugged the other boy's outer robes open, trying to ignore the sight of even more bruises and scrapes, and pressed his fingers to the dantian.

Oh. Oh, he knew the hollow coldness that greeted his careful probing all too well. He'd felt the same thing in Jiang Cheng after he’d been rescued from Lotus Pier, which meant this could only be the work of one particular Core-Melting Jackass.

But there was something else. Something weird.

Curious, he fed a little more resentful energy into the other boy's body and...

Wow.

He did it a third time and marveled at how, once more, the resentful energy just melted into Nie Huaisang's meridians like honey into hot tea. 

He was a little jealous at how easy it was for Nie Huaisang to absorb it. It sure as fuck hadn't been this simple for him, having to practically let the resentment shatter and reconstruct his meridians over the course of months.

He'd heard before that Nie cultivation was… a little unorthodox, compared to that of the other sects. Maybe...?

A crash from outside alerted him that he was still on a mission. "Jiejie, the chains?"

The red ghost gave a wide grin full of needle sharp teeth, then slashed her claws through the lock. Once the bindings fell away, he laid Nie Huaisang on his back, then sent a much stronger and sharper pulse of resentful energy through his body.

Nie Huaisang jerked and gave a violent gasp, then green eyes fluttered open and stared up at him fuzzily. 

"...Wei-xiong...?"

He smiled, all bright and violent cheer. "Welcome back, Nie-xiong. Ready to help me finish burning this place down so we can go hunting?"

"Hunting for what, exactly?" Nie Huaisang asked, squinting at him warily.

His smile grew. "The assholes who did this to us, of course."

---

Lan Wangji felt numb and slightly lightheaded as he exited the house, having been soundly dismissed by Wei Ying to go liase with his assistant.

The screams echoed behind him and he had to close his eyes and take a deep breath against the sudden wave of nausea that rose up in his stomach.

"Hanguang-jun?"

He opened his eyes in surprise and stepped back from the person who had just... appeared far too close for comfort, and only the realization that it was Nie Huaisang, of all people, kept him from drawing his sword.

...Wait.

"You are Wei Ying's assistant?" he asked, unable to keep his disbelief from leaking into his voice.

Nie Huaisang smiled, and the hair on the back of his neck prickled.

He dismissed it as a consequence of the still-ongoing screaming.

“Eh...sort of? I mean, he really does all the fighting, I just take care of the sabotage. Trying to make it a little easier on him, you know?"

"Easier."

"Mmhmm! Cutting bow strings, poisoning rations, that sort of thing. So he doesn't have to work so hard  at killing them." Nie Huaisang leaned to the side, staring up at the window behind him, then gave a soft whistle. "Wow, they're really getting into it. Must be someone important."

Lan Wangji swallowed hard. This conversation was getting more unnerving by the moment. "Wei Ying told me to find you," he said past the knot of discomfort in his throat.

"Oh? Well, I've already finished my part of the job, so he must want me to start on food. Come on!"

He didn't want to be here. He especially didn't want food, between what was going on upstairs and Nie Huaisang's far too casual remark about poisoning people.

He followed anyway.

Fortunately, the stew that Nie Huaisang cobbled together from the stores he hadn’t laced proved to be harmless, and the other boy had even been polite enough to cook the meat separately so he wouldn't have to eat around it.

The gesture had done little to soothe his uneasiness, however, especially when Wei Ying and Jiang Wanyin returned in high spirits and liberally spattered in blood.

"Really? After I just did laundry yesterday?" Nie Huaisang asked, as if that was the most pressing problem.

"Aw, but it was worth it, Nie-xiong," Wei Ying said in a sweet, affectionate sing-song that he'd never heard directed at anybody before.

Not even Jiang Wanyin, judging by the slightly incredulous look on his face.

"You should have come to watch!" Wei Ying continued, heedless of Nie Huaisang's squawk of disgust when he threw an arm around his shoulders, promptly transferring blood to his clothing as well. "Wen Zhuliu turned such pretty colors when Chengcheng got hold of him with Zidian!"

Nie Huaisang blinked, then looked at Jiang Wanyin. "Did you really?"

Jiang Wanyin smirked. "Made him dance, then took his head clean off," he said, then his expression turned serious. "Wei Wuxian told me what happened on the way back here. Are you going to be okay?"

The question earned a flinch and the other boy’s hand reflexively going to his dantian. 

Ah. That explained quite a bit about why he'd been able to sneak up undetected. Or at least that was what Lan Wangji was going to convince himself.

"I'll be fine," he said, waving off their expressions of concern. "I was lucky enough that Wei-xiong found me before we could make it to Nightless City, so... I'll be fine." 

"Tch. Ever the optimist," Wei Wuxian teased, but Lan Wangji didn't miss the glint in his eyes, nor the way his arm tightened protectively.

Possessively.

Suddenly the stew was far too heavy in his stomach, heavy enough that he lay staring up at the sky long after he should have been asleep.

"Wei-xiong, you've really overstretched yourself this time."

At the sound of the murmur, clearly pitched to avoid waking anyone, he turned his head to find Wei Ying and Nie Huaisang sitting on the other side of the low-burning fire. Wei Ying had tucked his face into the curve of Nie Huaisang's neck and had a hand resting against the other boy's stomach. Resentful energy writhed around them, apparently flowing from Wei Ying's body into Nie Huaisang's.

What... what was...?

"I know, I know, I shouldn't have called up so much for this," came the muffled sound of Wei Ying's voice. "But I have to practice working with larger numbers if we're going to make a difference, you know that."

"True, but if you tear yourself apart, then we won't be able to do anything at all."

Wei Ying pulled back just far enough to give a sharp-edged grin. "Then it's a good thing I have you to make it all better, isn't it?" he asked, raising his eyebrows suggestively.

"You're awful. Horrible, even. An absolute brat," Nie Huaisang said, giving Wei Ying a swat that made him yelp in protest, but his tone was all fondness as he drew away and fixed his robes, then got up to extinguish the fire.

Mind a whirl of confusion and apprehension-

Making him better? With resentful energy? How was that even supposed to work? Could Wei Ying potentially be in danger from what he was letting Nie Huaisang do?