Wen Reian

2005 years after The Long Night

Jingshén

Yi-jun caught Wen Rei as he practically fell from his horse. The King gripped the boy around the waist firmly, hugging him, running his fingers through his hair and asking gentle whispered questions if he was okay. Reian didn't answer.

It had been three days since Jin Yu woke up. In that time, Reian had sent a letter to Jingshén, explaining what had happened and why they'd need to delay their return. When they got the news, Master Hao as well as Yi-jun had insisted on going to meet them in South Jiezhî, only relenting when the hospital officials guaranteed them a transport back home. Two horses for the boys, and a cart for Jin Yu, who still wasn't strong enough to walk.

Wen Reian had rode behind them in silence all day, the tightness in his throat that haunted him at night, easing the moment Xie Yi-jun tucked him safely in his arms...

"Oh, Wen Rei!" The King gasped, only letting him go when the boy mumbled that he couldn't breathe.

Of course, everyone had come out of the castle when they'd arrived, several people going to help Jin Yu to his bed, and even more swarming Xie De and Sun Xieren with questions, leaving Reian and Xie Yi-jun alone.

"Will Jin Jin ever walk again?!"

"He looks perfectly fine to me! Just a little scraped up..."

"Nah, that boy's tough as nails! Give him a few days-"

Xie Yi-jun was scanning Reian now as if he'd been the one injured instead, wide eyes blinking down at him and softening the darkness that was threatening to strangle Reian's heart.

"Boys, enough!" One of the masters called.

"All of you back upstairs, and I don't want to hear any running in the halls with A'Yu trying to sleep, yes?!"

A chorus of; "Yes Master!" Followed by everyone filing slowly inside, each whispering their own ideas of what the older boys had gotten up to on their trip.

"Reian," Yi-jun sighed, holding the boy's limp hands delicately...

The King frowned, "Are you really okay?"

Wen Reian smiled. Maybe it looked strange because he felt Yi-jun's aura shift slightly.

Reian couldn't say if he was okay or not. All he knew was that he hadn't slept in days in fear of someone knocking at their door and dragging him out into the street, to jail, or worse...

I've killed someone, I've killed someone, they're going to find out! These thoughts kept him awake at night as his mind replayed the horror.

But with no body left and hardly anyone to miss him, Reian's crime had gone undiscovered. Now he feared it would be a secret he took with him to his grave. Not even Jin Songcai would know about it, and he knew everything about Reian. The healer had disappeared from his dreams entirely, like Reian's one sin was all it took to be ignored.

"I'm just really tired." He said, which was the truth.

Xie Yi-jun's gaze softened at once. They were on their way up to the King's bedroom when Master Hao caught Reian's eye from the stairs. Wen Reian immediately looked away...

Even Xie Yi-jun can tell there's something wrong with me, he thought, heart racing.

Master Hao, who has known me all my life will have no trouble telling what I've done.

As they passed the man, all he did was speak to Yi-jun about some news that had come from Wúmeng that they could discuss in a day or two, nothing serious.

Like that, Reian was free...

He closed the door to Yi-jun's room behind them and quickly got in bed. The King chuckled, noting it was only barely sundown, but soon curled up beside Reian anyway and hugged him close.

With his head on the King's shoulder and his hands wrapped around the man's arm, Wen Rei's eyes began to close. He felt he could relax enough to finally get some sleep...

Within thirty minutes, he was woken from a fitful dream of Jin Yu in the hospital, to the heart-wrenching sounds of his own screams.

Xie Yi-jun woke too, quickly going to soothe the boy's terrors, wipe the tears off his face, kiss his quivering lips...

Reian's pain that pulsed through him, turned in a split second to lust when their lips touched. It crawled through his veins, it made him want to weep.

Some other thing to make my heart race besides this awful, awful fear-

"Mph!" The sound was Yi-jun grunting softly, Reian rolling on top of him and caging his waist with his knees.

"Reian..." the King sighed, holding the back his head and trying to keep up with the boy's frantic, sharp-tipped kisses, not complaining or pulling away even when Wen Rei began to cry.

Overwhelmed by his emotions, both terrible and good, Reian could hardly control his bursting into tears as his fingers untied Xie Yi-jun's robes.

Yi-jun caught his hands, not saying anything but leaning the boy's head against his chest softly. Reian cried, hunched over like that for some time, his heart still madly racing, until he drifted off again and Yi-jun placed him back under the covers.

Wen Reian's dreams were awful places to be. He was alone. Or he was hurt, or he was hurting someone... and usually he'd wake up terrified, having to be consoled by a clueless but gentle Xie Yi-jun who was never too far away.

For several days it was like this, Reian hardly going into his old room, the fear of seeing Jin Yu's eyes, just like his father's, so painful and sickening that it made Reian want to disappear.

At last, sticking these days to Xie Yi-jun like glue as he was the only person that made Reian feel safe, they went together into the library to speak with Master Hao.

"Wen Rei..." The man frowned, taking one of Reian's cold hands and holding it for a moment.

The boy swallowed, feeling like his master's caring tough was much more than he deserved...

Seeing to want to inquire about his health, but being able to read both the signs from Reian and from Xie Yi-jun, Master Hao nodded softly, letting Reian go before moving to stand by the fire.

"I know I shouldn't trouble you with this Yi-jun, but there seems to be something strange occurring in Wúmeng that I believe only you know anything about."

Beside him, Reian felt the King stiffen-

"Me?!"

Master Hao nodded, "Forgive me if this is too presumptuous... I've been receiving letters from my old friend Cai Yimu about a disturbance they've been having recently, regarding a Naga."

For several moments there was silence. Wen Reian finally broke it when he saw the confused and pained expression on Xie Yi-jun's face.

"A Naga..." Reian frowned, "Like-"

"I know very little about these creatures." Xie Yi-jun stated, crossing his arms.

Master Hao nodded quickly, "Then I shall send somebody else."

Reian blinked. "Send?"

At the same time, Xie Yi-jun sighed and shook his head-

"Are you sure about what it is? They were almost extinct seven hundred years ago and lived in the Southeast... what would one have business doing in Wúmeng?"

Master Hao shrugged, "I know only that there have been sightings near The Howling Cave. My friend is growing increasingly worried..."

As Reian thought, hearing the interaction between the two, and all the words and questions he could see Xie Yi-jun was keeping inside, the boy didn't even realise he had spoken out loud until he noticed the two pairs of eyes on him, each blinking in surprise.

"Reian, are you sure?"

His Master had spoken first, in response to Wen Rei's voice calling out; I will go...

"Now hold on just a second-"

Yi-jun began nervously listing several reasons why he shouldn't go, graciously not mentioning the nightmares Reian was having that were making it hard to focus...

He knew he should want to stay. He knew he should spend his time beside Jin Yu, being here for him while he recovers. But all Reian could think about when he saw his friend was his bruised and broken body lying on that table. His uneven breath-

And the old man's screams in the alley...

Smiling as best he could, Reian nodded to them both.

"I'm sure. I want to go, and Yi-jun shouldn't be made to go alone."

Beside him the King seemed to want to continue arguing but he quickly closed his mouth, a blush slowly rising as Reian stared at him.

Before Master Hao could agree or disagree, Xie Yi-jun was chuckling softly...

"I would feel much safer if I was accompanied by such a skilled cultivator-"

As he said this, the King reached out behind Reian and pinched his behind playfully, Reian's eyes growing wide as he glared up at the now snickering King.

You!

He'd made Yi-jun promise not to be silly like this around any of the others, but Reian also had the feeling that Master Hao was aware of far more than he wanted to imagine...

"Very well," his Master said, wisely choosing not to comment.

Master Hao's kind eyes found Reian's again briefly before they left, as if he was asking once more if he was okay.

Wen Reian didn't know what was happening to him. He wasn't sure if he should think of it in terms of okay, and not okay. At the current moment he wasn't seething with hatred and murdering people in cold blood. Was that okay?

Walking the halls of Jingshén, Reian was aware everyday of his shame and nervousness as it began to eat away at him. He was starting to feel as if his every breath, every laugh, every footstep was somehow ringing with guilt, alerting the others to what he had done. Reian wished more than anything right now, that he could be somewhere else.

Sit alone with my thoughts for a while, be away for a while...

Be with Xie Yi-jun-

Reian's heart leapt at the idea of being alone with the King. Hope stirred in his soul shyly, wishing to believe that if anyone was able to remind Reian who he was and who he wanted to be, it was him.

"It's settled then." Master Hao nodded, and with that, Xie Yi-jun and Wen Reian were officially dismissed.

The King caught Reian's hand after they left, whispering so sweetly into the boy's ear;

"I will wait for you again tonight..."

Reian had spent the last few nights sleeping in Yi-jun's bed, in his arms. He didn't feel like the same person. His own room felt wrong, sleeping in the space between Xie De and Jin Yu.

The only time that Wen Reian's anxiety calmed enough to sleep, was when he was listening to Yi-jun's heartbeat, breathing him in. He was his talisman, his dreamcatcher...

Perhaps it was because the King was as close as Reian ever imagined someone could be to understanding what he'd been through. Xie Yi-jun had experienced losing himself, and he had fought tooth and nail to return from it. Reian knew because he'd been there-

The boy only prayed every day, every night, as he slept fitfully beside the King, that he too would have the same courage and strength to eventually find himself again as well.

However long it takes, I must return...