Chapter Text
Wuxian woke up to someone searching through his robes.
He scrambled several miles back and braced himself-
"SHIT YOU'RE ALIVE I'M SO SORRY!!"
Wuxian looked to see a boy 2 years younger than him sitting and leaning away from him. He wore ragged robes- at first Wuxian thought it was the Wen Sect robes, but dismissed the idea because they were missing the now-hated insignia of the red sun and the base color was light gray, not white. His hair was combed but really could use a thorough wash, and his wide black eyes really did look terrified that the thing he'd thought was a corpse had suddenly started moving.
Wuxian suddenly remembered everything... the attack in the woods, the fight he'd had no hope of winning, Wen Chao's taunting and... being thrown into the Burial Mounds...
"Yup I'm alive...." Wuxian muttered. His head hurt like fucking hell and it felt like he'd broken every bone in his body, but he was still breathing. "No thanks to that fucking Wen asshole..."
"I'm sorry I was scavenging I thought you had no use for your stuff anymore I'm really sorry!!"
"Scavenging?"
The boy nodded and explained, "Usually the dead bodies Wen Chao throws in here still have useful shit on them- pocket knives, matches, paper to burn, maybe some outer robes for extra bedding and blankets. Guy's stupid enough to not search them thoroughly before chucking people in here. So I make the most of it and bring whatever's useful to my camp."
"...how long have you been here for?"
"2 months."
"2 months?!" Wuxian echoed. "How the fuck are you still alive?!"
The boy shrugged. He nodded around the piles of rot and decayed life matter and replied, "I found a stream and even though birds are rare, there are plenty of rats around here."
Wuxian grimaced at the implication, but he was quickly distracted by the pain that shot through every inch of his body, causing him to groan.
"Oh crap- I forgot you were thrown down a cliff, you gotta be hurting all over," the boy realized. He reached forward, then paused and asked, "Do you want me to have a look at you? I have some skills in medicine."
"...okay," Wuxian decided resignedly. "Is there anything else I can do...?"
The boy set to work at once, asking Wuxian to shift around and checking for open wounds. He'd soon found a really bad gash on Wuxian's leg and hurried away to get distilled water and some washed cloth, returning in half an hour.
"I know the broken bones really hurt but we gotta make sure you don't get infected," he explained. "Herbs are rare in this hellhole, if you get infected we're in real trouble."
"Ugh, whatever," Wuxian muttered. "All I really care about is whether Wen Qing and Wen Ning can stop Jiang Cheng from doing anything stupid-"
"You've met Qing-jie and Ning-xiong?! How are they- are they okay?!"
Wuxian gave the boy a weird look.
The boy seemed to realize what he'd said, and he covered his mouth in horror and fear, his black eyes widening. He demanded, "You knew who I was from the start didn't you?! You said that to test me!!"
"I don't even know your name, why would I test you? I'm clever but I'm not a fucking god," Wuxian retorted. He leaned forward to study the boy closely... now that he was looking for it, he could definitely see an echo of Wen Ning's fine, delicate features in the boy's face, and the tiny holes in the boy's robes that were an imprint of embroidery strings that had been pulled out... the base color of the robes were white, they were just so dirty they looked light gray. And if he was related to Wen Qing, his skills in medicine made sense...
The boy shuffled a few steps back and balled up his fists, ready to fight. He threatened, "Don't... don't come any closer! If you kill me, I'll haunt you forever as a fierce ghost!"
Wuxian tried to hold back his bitter amusement in light of the real defiant fear in the boy's eyes, but ended up losing it anyway.
"Why are you laughing?!"
"You think I can kill you?! I thought you had some skills in medicine..." Wuxian sighed and leaned back on his elbows, shutting his eyes and reminding, "I don't have a golden core anymore... I can't fight. I'm useless."
"I don't have mine anymore either, so yeah you could strangle me."
"...you don't have a core either?"
The boy held out a shaking hand.
Wuxian carefully put 2 fingers on the boy's wrist.
His eyes widened when he really didn't feel the telltale spiritual energy running through the boy's system.
"You said "anymore"- who took your core?" he asked.
The boy snorted and replied, "That dog of Wen Chao's. Wen Zhuliu."
"...aren't you a Wen??"
"Oi!" the boy protested. "Do I have to be nice to the assholes who threw me in here just because we have the same surname?? They don't deserve to have the same surname as my dad! If I ever get out of here I'll chase Wen Zhuliu and Wen Chao to the corners of the Earth and torture them to death!"
Wuxian chuckled and remarked, "That's something I'd be down to help you with." He grinned. "Hey, how about this- if either of us manage to find a way out of this hellhole, we'll take the other with us and make Wen Chao and Wen Zhuliu pay together?"
The boy chuckled too. He replied, "We'll see."
"Okay but what I meant was if you're a Wen, why the fuck are you here? Is Wen Chao such a bastard that he kills his own family? And I forgot to ask, what's your name?" Wuxian added as the boy opened his mouth.
The boy answered, "My name's Wen Kexing. And... well I've never really been considered "part of the family". I'm from the side family Dafan Wen. I was supposed to be my dad Wen Ruyu's apprentice, but he died when I was a kid- he and Mom both did, I think it was something about their friendship with the Laoling Qin Sect."
Wuxian nodded. He'd heard of the Laoling Qin Sect- it was 1 of the newer minor sects. In sharp contrast to his younger brother Qin Cangye, the former sect leader Qin Huaizhang had been outspoken and stubborn, leading to multiple clashes with the Wen Sect until... Qishan Wen had done what they did best to dissenters.
"So after I became an orphan, Wen Chao and most of the rest of the Wen Sect treated me like a servant- only Qing-jie and Ning-xiong were nice to me in the whole sect. The Qishan Wens even beat me sometimes, if I was ever caught trying to talk to someone who wasn't a Wen. Most of the people from the other sects despised me too- but there was this guy from the Qin Sect that was really nice to me."
"Zhou Zishu."
"He saw me getting bullied by a bunch of Wen disciples and jumped in to stop them- he even fought 1 of them when the guy wouldn't back off. Then he turned to me and asked me if I was okay. He stayed and talked to me for hours, until he got called away. I think it may have been the best time I'd had since my parents passed."
The impatient side of Wuxian was wondering if he really needed to know all this, but the kinder side of him acknowledged that Kexing probably hadn't had anyone to talk to in ages now- of course he was keen to ramble on to the first person he ran into.
The kinder side of him won, and Wuxian kept listening silently.
"So when I heard Wen Ruohan wanted to exterminate the Laoling Qin Sect, I saved him. I saw him herding an 11-year-old- okay well he was carrying the kid unconscious but details. Point is I saw him running away, so I helped hide him from the Wen soldiers."
"I really had no clue the kid with him was the sect leader's son."
"So you rescued the son of Sect Leader Qin accidentally?" Wuxian concluded. "When Wen Ruohan wanted to exterminate the sect? And that's why he had Wen Zhuliu take out your golden core and throw you in here?"
"Yup."
"...holy shit," Wuxian murmured. I hope I don't see Wen Qing and Wen Ning here anytime soon. As long as they and Jiang Cheng don't get caught it should be okay...
"What about you?"
"Ah?" Wuxian asked, snapping back to reality by Kexing's question.
"Who are you? What did you get thrown down here for?"
Wuxian considered his situation, then shrugged- wasn't like Kexing had shown him any hostility and if he was on good terms with Wen Qing and Wen Ning hopefully they shared a moral compass. He began, "I'm Wei Wuxian of the Yunmeng Jiang Sect-"
"Wei Wuxian?! The 4th best-looking cultivator in the sects?!"
"...why is this the first thing you think of when you hear my name, do you realize what situation we're in right now," Wuxian stated flatly.
Kexing laughed and reassured, "Relax, I wouldn't touch you even if you were the best-looking of all the sects. My heart was stolen by Zhou Zishu ages ago, I only want him in this life."
I didn't ask but I'm glad you're so devoted. Wuxian swallowed those words and continued, "If you were already here 2 months ago you wouldn't know, but the Yunmeng Jiang Sect was... was massacred by..."
He found himself unable to continue. His hands were turning white, he was shaking, he was gonna throw up. Images began filling Wuxian's head- of the dead bodies of the couple that'd raised him, the shidis he'd trained alongside for nearly 8 years. Of the place that'd taken him in and given him happiness burning and going up in flames, of Jiang Cheng wailing for the parents that could never-
"Shit- hey! Wei Wuxian!"
Something shook his shoulder, causing Wuxian to shriek, "OW!!"
"Sorry," Kexing apologized, and he meant it- the guilt in his eyes wasn't hard to notice, and his voice had turned serious and gentle. "Hey- I got the big picture of what happened, you don't need to keep going. How about you fill me in on the details some other day? Meanwhile I can take you to where I've set up camp- basically the only place close to being clean in this dump. I also keep more medical supplies there so it'd be easier to heal you if I can reach them without running back and forth all the time."
Wuxian laughed quietly and agreed, "Okay. Don't have another choice."
"This might hurt, hold it in for a bit."
Despite his bones and muscles screaming in protest at being moved, Wuxian let Kexing lift him onto his back and carry him to whatever shelter this hell would have to offer.