Chapter Text
“‘-and so, we are sending this missive as an earnest request: please send cultivators to our village so that we may finally be rid of this curse.’ Well!” With a flourish, Wei Wuxian tucked the note back into his robes, “Seems straightforward enough. We can spare a week or so to check things out, right, Lan Zhan? According to this letter, we won’t be able to leave until it’s dealt with anyway.”
“Mn.” Lan Wangji nodded, already in the process of going over their inventory for the upcoming excursion. They were packed for travel already, having just finished a night hunt with the juniors by the time the missive from Cloud Recesses reached them.
The younger members of their group were tired and aching to finally sleep in their rented rooms at the inn when the messenger came to give them the plea for help. They all ended up seated in Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian’s room to discuss the contents of the letter.
“You’d think they’d send someone else rather than bothering to message us specifically, especially since we just finished a night hunt.” Jin Ling grumbled, arms crossed.
Lan Jingyi huffed, “What do you mean “us”? This is very clearly meant for Hanguang-Jun and Wei-qianbei, not you!”
“You-!”
Lan Sizhui stepped between them, tone placating, “Jingyi, Jin Ling, calm down. Let our seniors decide on whether they want us to join them once more.”
“Besides!” Ouyang Zizhen piped up, “I think the main reason why our seniors got asked to help is because we’re right next to the cursed village!”
Wei Wuxian laughed, “You’re right about that! You have good knowledge of the local areas!”
Ouyang Zizhen smiled shyly, a pleased expression on his face.
Wei Wuxian tutted, “Sorry to disappoint you, children, but this is a curse that Lan Zhan and I will deal with on our own.”
“We never asked to join you!” Jin Ling sputtered.
“And yet, Little Mistress, you clearly want to...” Lan Jingyi dodged the ensuing swipe from Jin Ling.
Lan Wangji ignored the bickering around him and merely inclined his head, “We should leave at sunrise.”
“Exactly my thoughts, Lan Zhan!” Wei Wuxian grinned, hands reaching up to clasp the shoulders of Lan Jingyi and Jin Ling, “These sheltered young masters need to rest as well. Maybe on their way home they can help more people!”
“I agree, Hanguang-Jun, Wei-qianbei.” Lan Sizhui said, “This last night-hunt, though strenuous, didn’t last very long. Some more time spent helping the common folk can only be a good thing.”
Wei Wuxian clapped, “Well said, well said!” He turned to look at the other juniors, “Well, Lan Zhan and I are going to turn in for the night. Make sure you all get some rest. Wouldn’t want to hear about you falling off your swords from exhaustion!”
“Like you can talk in that respect.” Lan Jingyi huffed out.
Ouyang Zizhen nodded excitedly, “Yes! I’ll send a letter back to my father. He wasn’t expecting us to be done any time soon anyway, so I’ll have time to do a few more things before going home!”
All eyes on him, waiting for his own decision, Jin Ling grumbled, “Same here, same here...”
“Wonderful!” Wei Wuxian cheered, shooing them out of the room, “Make sure you’re all rested up, alright? Lan Zhan and I are setting out bright and early, so you’ll probably miss us!”
Upon closing the door, Wei Wuxian sighed and leaned back onto Lan Wangji’s chest, “Ahhh, I know early is best, Lan Zhan, but I already regret it! I’m still so awake now, it will take me a long time to fall asleep, you know.”
“Wei Ying should get some rest.” Was Lan Wangji’s response, though his hands travelled down unabashedly along Wei Wuxian’s form.
Smirking, Wei Wuxian lifted himself up to wrap his legs solidly around Lan Wangji’s middle, elated when he felt Lan Wangji’s arousal already standing firm, “But I’m still wide awake, remember, Lan Zhan?” He leans forward to whisper into Lan Wangji’s reddened ear, “Unless my husband has a good way to tire me out?”
Lan Wangji slammed a silencing talisman onto the door before tossing a laughing Wei Wuxian onto the bed.
__________________
The next day, the couple set out early as planned. The trip wasn’t a long one, the sun barely changing its position by the time they arrived at their destination.
Upon entering the village, Wei Wuxian immediately hummed, “That was definitely a barrier…” He turned and pressed his hand against what was indeed a barrier around the village, “An extremely powerful one at that. We could probably break it with time, but it may be easier just to figure out what’s causing this curse.”
As they continued further in for a while, suddenly Lan Wangji turned around and let off a weak burst of energy. In response, the two heard a barrage of yelps as a familiar group of four stumbled out behind them.
Wei Wuxian cried out, “You four?! What are you doing here?” He waved off their protests, uncharacteristically stern as he reprimanded, “You should know better than to rush into something you were specifically not asked to handle.”
“I- I apologize, Wei-qianbei!” Lan Sizhui stammered, standing up and dusting off his robes, “I should have protested more against following you, but I…”
He trailed off, unable to give a valid excuse as the other three stood up around him, looking sheepish.
“It- It was the Little Mistress’s idea! He was planning on following you alone, after all.” Lan Jingyi revealed, making Jin Ling whirl on him angrily.
“You-! So quick to throw me to the dogs, huh?”
“Guys, guys, we’re already here, let’s not get into any more trouble than we’re already in.” Ouyang Zizhen pleaded, still avoiding his seniors’ eyes.
Lan Wangji hummed, “A hundred copies.” There was no bartering his decision.
Lan Sizhui and Lan Jingyi wilted under his harsh stare.
Wei Wuxian sighed, mind racing. It was not ideal to have the juniors there with them, so the best course of action would be to deal with the curse as fast as possible before they see anything they shouldn’t.
Mind made up, Wei Wuxian nodded to himself, and got everyone’s attention, “Alright, well, since you’re all here now, there’s nothing to be done. Let’s head further in to the village and try to fix this curse of theirs as fast as we can.”
He and Lan Wangji shared a look of trepidation before they turned and continued onward, juniors in tow.
The village was decently sized, small in population but with wide empty fields meant for farming. Very few people were moving about, and those that were had large bags under their eyes and moved about sluggishly.
Wei Wuxian paused for a single moment when they went further into the village, and immediately Lan Wangji’s eyes darted to him.
Wei Wuxian laughed, “Ah, Lan Zhan, you noticed, hm? Yes it’s a bit loud here, but it’s not too bad.”
Jin Ling scoffed, “Loud? What, the crickets? People are barely having conversation here, what do you mean it’s loud?”
Jin Ling was right. The inhabitants of the village, usually making conversation at all hours of the day, were barely talking loud enough to be considered whispering, if they spoke at all.
However, as the group walked past, a certain sheen of hope started to glimmer in the eyes of the villagers, their gazes drawn toward the cultivators’ stately robes and swords.
Eventually, they made it to a quaint inn in the middle of the village, where the matron led them to where the village head was waiting for them at a table.
Upon seeing Lan Wangji walk through the doorway, the village head hastily stood up and bowed in greeting, “Ah, Hanguang-Jun, I did not realize that you would be the one to receive our missive. Thank you for making your way here to help my village.”
Lan Wangji shook his head, “No gratitude is necessary.”
After exchanging standard pleasantries, everyone settled around the table.
Wei Wuxian leaning onto the table, making sure his robes hid any sign of last night’s activities as he smiled at the village head, “So, what exactly has been ailing your village, xiangzhang?”
“Terrible things...” The village head spoke waveringly, the dark circles under his eyes a perfect match with that of his people, “As stated in the missive, it’s unequivocally a curse.”
“The people on the streets...they seem so lifeless.” Ouyang Zizhen murmured, frowning in sympathy at the people’s plight.
“After what this curse makes us see, and how it keeps us locked in this village, it’s only understandable that they do. We barely managed to get a messenger outside the border to take our letter.” The village head agreed.
“What do you see, xiangzhang?” Lan Sizhui asked.
The man frowned, hesitating, “We see...visions, I suppose.”
Lan Jingyi frowned, “Visions...?”
“Visions perhaps is not the perfect word, but in essence, we’ve been witnessing awful things done not only to our loved ones, but done by them as well.”
“How horrible...” Lan Sizhui said, “To have to see your loved ones in such a state...”
“If you don’t mind me asking, can you describe a scenario that you have witnessed, xiangzhang?” Wei Wuxian inquired.
“Ah...” The man looked down briefly, “I can describe one. It’s difficult to really get across the sensation, but one moment I was simply walking through the market, and the next it was as if I had witnessed my son being trapped in a cave and unable to move or call for help for hours on end. I was mortified at the vision, but didn’t realize the implications of it until I told my son about it later.”
“Implications?” Jin Ling asked with a pensive frown.
The village head nodded solemnly, “Yes, the implications of it arose when I told my son about what I witnessed, including specific details. I laughed it off at the time as residual anxiety when he was lost a few months back, but at my mentioning of certain details, my son said that it happened exactly as I described it.”
“Could it not just be a coincidence? I mean, suddenly being able to witness something that didn’t even happen to you...” Lan Jingyi questioned skeptically.
Wei Wuxian clicked his tongue, “Now, now, don’t be too sure! After all, do you not see me regularly conducting Empathy? That in itself is the sharing of memories.”
“But you have to deliberately reach out to the dead for Empathy to work, don’t you?” Ouyang Zizhen asked.
“Not necessarily, sometimes particularly strong spirits have put me through a forced Empathy session. But that’s one thing,” Wei Wuxian set his gaze back to the village head, “what makes this different from Empathy is how the memories are coming from the living, and at a distance at that.”
“One more difference.” Lan Wangji remarked.
Wei Wuxian nodded, “Right. The other difference being that this memory sharing may only seem to occur between those who know each other decently well, are we right?”
“You are.” The village head agreed, “The only memories we have seen have come from the living, and specifically those we know well.”
“I see, I see...” Wei Wuxian murmured, “And how many times a day do you receive these memories?”
“Twice a day at most, though some go without any on occasion.” The village head answered, “You only just missed the most recent one, they tend to happen right as the sun rises and right as it’s setting.” He shook his head, standing up, “Ah, but that’s as much information as I have, unfortunately.”
“We thank you for your assistance, xiangzhang.” Lan Sizhui said, standing up with the others and giving a bow of gratitude.
“I don’t mind at all, I just want my village to be alive again.” With a final farewell, the village head left the inn.
Wei Wuxian looked at everyone and grinned brightly, subconsciously grinding ink for Lan Wangji to use as the other took the time to write down what they knew so far, “Well now! It looks as though we’ll have to spend a few days looking around the place.”
“At the very least, people are not being physically harmed from this, though the damage on one’s psyche must be awful...” Ouyang Zizhen sighed, sympathetic.
“Where would we even begin to investigate this?” Jin Ling asked, “Do we really need to look into every single spot we can?”
“I’d imagine we’d have to talk to the villagers and see if there’s more tying their experiences together than we already know.” Lan Sizhui hummed.
Wei Wuxian nodded emphatically, “Correct! It’s good to focus on what ties these experiences together so that we have a better starting point to find whatever may be causing this curse of theirs, but merely talking to the villagers isn’t the best way to figure this out.”
“It’s not?” Lan Jingyi blinked, “Then, what is?”
“Experiencing it.” Lan Wangji intoned.
“Experiencing it?!”
“Yup!” Wei Wuxian agreed, “After all, you heard what the village head said. It was hard to describe such a sensation, so of course the easiest way to know what he’s talking about is to undergo it ourselves!”
Ouyang Zizhen hesitated, “But...we may see some pretty unpleasant things, wouldn’t we? And have our own experiences shared, with no knowledge as to what ones they may be until after the fact?”
“That is correct.” Wei Wuxian agreed, his eyes and tone softening, “I won’t lie to you, this was the main reason why Lan Zhan and I planned to take on this curse ourselves. We have seen things that are best left unseen. And I’m sure there are things you yourselves wish to hide. I wish I could say that you could leave if you’d like, but as long as that barrier is up, we’re trapped here until it or the curse is dealt with.”
The boys stand still for a while, internally processing what was going to happen. After all, having your memories shared with people already sounded unpleasant enough, but having to see others’ own memories on top of that made it even less appealing. However...
Lan Sizhui stepped forward, “As I said earlier, I wish to help these people. This sounds like it will be more difficult than other endeavors we’ve done, but I can’t help but want to give aid while I can.”
Lan Jingyi quickly followed suit, “Yeah! The people out there looked like they needed help. Plus,” He nudged Lan Sizhui and sharing a smiled with him, “I said I’d stick with Sizhui, didn’t I?”
“I want to help too!” Ouyang Zizhen declared, “It sounds scary, I won’t lie, but...I’ll miss out on a lot if I back off when I’m scared. Even if we were able to leave, I would have still liked to stay and help. These people are a lot like how my own will be one day.”
Jin Ling huffed, “I always wanted to join in anyway, I knew the risks. Besides...” He trailed off to a mutter, “If I had to share my memories with anyone, there are way worse people to share them with.”
The blinding grins sent his way made him look to the side.
“Alright then!” Wei Wuxian announced, tracing his fingers over where Lan Wangji’s hand had moved to his waist as they both looked down at the boys, trepidation still present in their forms but carefully hidden from the juniors, “Then all of us should meet up in mine and Lan Zhan’s room at the first signs of sunset. There, we’ll get through the first set of memories and go from there, alright?”
With a round of agreements, the boys dispersed, going their separate ways throughout the village.
When they were out of sight, Wei Wuxian sighed heavily.
“Wei Ying…” Lan Wangji trailed off, drawing Wei Wuxian close.
“I know, Lan Zhan, not much we can do to change this now.” Wei Wuxian bit his lip, worry etched into his brows, “There’s so many things that they should never see, that no one should see..” He looked into Lan Wangji’s eyes, his own determination reflected in them, “We just have to break this curse sooner than later, huh?”
They set off, aiming to investigate before they were to finally experience first hand the curse that they had been warned so thoroughly about.