Wen Reian

2005 years after The Long Night

Lêung Shãn

Reian woke up very early like it was any other day, except with a sudden surge of joy as he recalled that in the afternoon they were heading home. Finally, after so many days of living on their own, they all could return to their family and friends in Jingshén... and Wen Reian could return to the King.

Rubbing his eyes and yawning as he got dressed, Wen Rei noticed that Jin Yu and Xie De weren't in their beds, while Sun Xieren was still sleeping soundly.

Their routine was as follows; one or two of them would wake before the others, go downstairs and see if the Innkeeper had heard of anything around town that might be of interest to four newly-of-age cultivators.

Like that they had managed not only to help a lowly farmer clear the malevolent spirit that had been scaring his goats, but also return a little girl's doll that some teenagers had stolen.

While the ladder had required more social skills and running than the other, and not nearly as much magic, the four of them including Wen Reian were content that while they were here, they'd done their best to leave the place a little better.

Thumping down the stairs one at a time as sleep and the light of the early morning beckoned Reian to curl back up in bed, he caught the gaze of Xie De, sitting on the bench in the front room, seeming to be tapping his feet in agitation. When he saw Reian the boy jumped up, shaking his head-

"Have you seen him?!"

Reian blinked, "Seen who?"

Xie De looked as if he was a few seconds from shouting, his face red and fingers clenched. When Reian realised Jin Yu wasn't with him, he frowned...

"I just woke up. Wasn't he with you?

Pacing back and forth, Xie De's tension was not only visible, but tactile. Wen Reian could see and feel exactly how nervous his friend was, which only made the knot in his chest grow.

"I think he went out before the sun rose to get us all breakfast, but he hasn't returned. You didn't see him come back? I've been waiting, I even went out looking-"

"Calm down..." Reian held a hand up, all at once very awake.

Jin Yu doesn't get lost. If he's really been gone for that long something must have happened.

"I'll come search with you. If A'Yu does come back, Xieren is upstairs. I'm sure it's all fine, he probably just got distracted by something."

When Reian tried to smile in reassurance, Xie De only frowned. The older boy had a keen sense of when danger was near, and Reian had learned to trust him, however, the thought that something bad had happened to Jin Yu was practically inconceivable to Reian. He just couldn't believe it-

Not here, not today. We've only just started to come out into the world, he couldn't have gotten lost here!

Practically running, the two headed out side by side, the freezing air causing Reian's cheeks and the tip of his nose to turn red, quickly followed by his ears. He really didn't like the thought of Jin Yu being out here for so long in this weather...

No matter where they looked for A'Yu, there was no sign of him. Concerned and frustrated, they continued on, probably looking like wandering children with their constant turning around, scanning the few crowds that were out at this time.

Wen Rei dashed past a few people standing huddled together near a snowy alley, and was about to run back to Xie De with nothing, when he overheard the group's conversation and his feet lurched to a stop.

"-poor boy..."

"I know. Did you hear the screaming earlier?!"

"Yes, the ones who found him said the man was still absolutely wild. Raving on and on about his son, while the boy laid there unconscious..."

"Why did it take so long for the Guardsmen to show up?"

"When do you suppose they'll clean this blood off the street?!"

"Was the father taken into custody-"

"Hey! Stop!!"

Reian didn't even realise but the shouts all around him suddenly were because of him. He'd pushed his way through, heart beating painfully fast and only growing more incessant when he spotted the crimson stains on the snow, blood pooling in the cracks on the ground, creeping slowly towards his feet.

"Hey, kid! Get outta there-" someone called.

Turning toward the voice, Wen Reian searched empty faces and empty eyes, all staring at him with a mixture of shock and pity. He didn't mean to shout but he did...

"Who was here?! Who was hurt?"

His voice broke, and then he saw Xie De practically elbowing his way through the crowd to get to him, his expression the same as Reian's.

Jin Yu... it can't be A'Yu. It can't be him-

"Wen Rei!" Xie De shouted at the same time as a stranger called back;

"The orphan! The one from Jingshén,"

At that moment, before Reian was able to process those words, Xie De was grabbing him by the shoulders, hands and voice trembling and he tried to shake sense into his friend.

"Wen Rei, look at me! It's A'Yu! They took him to the hospital-"

Reian was aware of several people's pitiful stares as they realised that Reian and Xie De were the orphan's friends...

He could barely see Xie De in front of him now, Reian's eyes blurring and focusing again as he watched almost in slow-motion, his older brother shouting for him to wake up.

All he could remember, all he could think about, was the tears in Jin Yu's eyes the day he'd fallen off that ledge in Wúmeng. His quivering hands and the sound of his broken apology for getting hurt, and forcing Reian to come to his aid.

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"I'm sorry..." he said, as his tears fell quietly.

I'm sorry, I'm sorry-

Jin Yu was always apologising for things that were not his fault. Always softly, like he didn't dare to be heard. Reian was recalling the first time the boy ever spoke to him now, several years after his arrival, around the time he turned nine years old...

"I'm sorry..."

His first words to Wen Rei, and all because A'Yu had tugged on Reian's sleeve to play with him on a day when Reian was grumpy over failing an assignment. He'd glared at his little brother, upset to be bothered while he was feeling so ashamed and frustrated.

"Not now!" He yelled.

The boy's eyes grew wide, his little hands coming together nervously...

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry Wen Reian..."

Reian remembered how quickly his anger had vanished, replaced with awe at hearing Jin Yu's voice for the first time. He stood, ashamed for yelling and even more ashamed for how A'Yu flinched when he came closer.

Wrapping his arms around the boy, still a bit shorter than him, Reian felt tears spring to his eyes, instant and bitter regret swirling through his chest and constricting his heart.

"No, A'Yu... I'm sorry. I didn't mean to shout, and I'd love to play. Hide and seek?"

When he released him the boy smiled shyly, nodding.

He didn't speak the rest of that day even though Reian kept waiting. Slowly, over the next few months, Jin Yu astonished everyone by expanding his spoken vocabulary by full sentences every day. Those in Jingshén never gossiped or laughed at him as he learned, as they too had their own demons to face.

And Xie De and Wen Reian were Jin Yu's family in all things...

They laughed under their covers as they tried to go to sleep, cried when one got sick, cheered each other up when they were sad or lonely. Shared everything; clothes, toys, secrets, memories.

Xie De used to say with a huge ridiculous grin as they climbed trees in the orchard-

"The only difference between us is our names, ages, and my good looks!"

They were always together. You couldn't separate them. All the Masters knew it too, never sending them out alone, or putting them in separate classes. Without all three it was impossible for them to concentrate.

Not only were they brothers, but they were each other's teachers, students, and best friends. Reian felt that if one of them was missing, a part of him wasn't there.

He'd never wanted or even imagined what living in a world without one of them would feel like. It would be similar to losing one's sight, or hearing, or sense of touch-

But worse than that. It would be losing a brother...

Xie De and Reian were inside the hospital in minutes, having run so fast their lungs were burning and they gasped with every breath.

"The boy!" Xie De shouted at everyone within earshot, healers and patients alike staring blankly at the two of them.

"The boy who was hurt! Where is he?!"

When the people in the front room ignored them for the most part, some looking down or exchanging mournful glances, Wen Reian immediately started running.

Shaking, his gasps for air turned to sobs as he peered through every window, into every room, desperately searching for Jin Yu.

Within his heart, Reian was clinging tightly to a little ribbon of hope. It was a small thing, but in these moments it was all he had. The hope that no matter how badly his friend had been hurt, he would be able to heal him, and everything would be fine.

Xie De was still screeching from the front room, his normally loud voice turned up to an almost ear-shattering volume...

Reian heard a few people telling him to be quiet, but then he caught sight of a few healers approaching Xie De. Dashing back, Wen Rei caught the last few words as they spoke to his friend.

"...won't wake up."

Reian met Xie De's eyes, and within them he saw his own terror reflected.

Xie De's fists tightened by his sides as he spoke to the two healers with wild eyes-

"If you don't take me to him right now, I will keep screaming until someone kills me!"

As the healers exchanged a nervous glance, Reian grabbed a hold of Xie De's wrist, and tugged on him...

"Xie Ge!" he hissed, "All the emergency rooms are on the second floor. He must be-"

Before Reian could finish speaking, the taller of the two healers, as stoic and upright as the other and dressed in light blue robes, interrupted with a frown.

"Your friend is in unit 205, but you shouldn't see him now."

Xie De of course almost exploded. Reian could feel it from his body and he clung onto him to keep the boy from lunging at the men.

"Who said that! Who says I can't see him?! Wen Rei, hurry! Go!"

"Wait-"

Pushing past the two, the young cultivators ran to the stairs. Reian's eyes watered further as the acrid scent of disinfectant hit him. It was cold too...

A'Yu shouldn't be here-

Still holding onto each other, Xie De and Reian scanned every door they came across, until with great relief and fear, they found 205.

Xie De tried to yank the door open, but it was locked, so Reian stood up on his toes and peered inside the little circular window, straining to get a glimpse.

Unable to name half of the things he saw, and struggling to see past the dozen people inside, his breath caught and he stumbled as he finally latched eyes onto Jin Yu.

Xie De was also trying to see inside, both of them breathing hard and struggling to contain their sobs...

"A'Yu-"

Reian heard Xie De's quiet whisper, feeling as his heart swelled with fury and despair. His brother, his little brother, lay there in the middle of a tiny bed. Strangers went back and forth between his head, stomach and arms as they tended to wounds that looked as if they had only just stopped bleeding.

Dizzy at the sight of the boy's chest, black and blue and only rising on one side, Wen Reian's vision once again swam with tears...

Jin Yu! I have to get in there, I have to be with him-

Reian cried loudly, clawing and punching at the door, calling out Jin Yu's name and pushing his whole body against the door until Xie De's arms came around him and they both fell to the ground.

"Wen Rei!"

Reian sobbed, unable to stop long enough to breathe as he felt Xie De pulling his head onto his shoulder, stroking his hair, squeezing him tightly with equally shaking hands.

Reian could barely hear the older boy as he whispered to him, only able to feel the hotness of his face and the suffocating tears that were impossible to stop.

"I am so sorry!" Xie De shook his head, "I'm sorry! I should have been with him, I should have looked out for him! It's my fault, it's all my fault Wen Rei! I'm so sorry-"

When Reian was finally able to speak through his tears, all he could say was-

"I have to be in there!"

He burst into more sobs as Xie De rocked him back and forth like they were children again and Xie Ge was soothing Reian after a fight...

"I have to! You know, don't you Xie Ge?!" Reian gasped, "I can heal things now, I can heal anything!"

His friend held him tighter, as if what Reian was saying was only proof of his madness and pain, instead of actually true. Pulling away from him, Wen Rei wiped his face and said as calmly as he could through gasps-

"I really can, Jin Songcai has been teaching me ever since Yi-jun woke up, he's been visiting me in my dreams, and said I can heal anything that has a soul, so I need to be with Jin Yu!"

Before he'd finished his sentence, Reian was crying again, standing up shakily and banging on the door until his hands stung.

"Let me in! Please!"

He could sense that Xie De was about to pull him away again but before he could, the door swung open so fast that Reian was knocked to the ground. Xie De helped him sit up as they both looked incredulously at the man that had stepped outside.

He was a little older, and Reian's stomach churned at the blood covering his sleeves and clothes...

"Oh, I'm sorry!" He exclaimed with a gasp, "I didn't see you-"

In the back of his mind Reian had the stray thought that the man's accent didn't sound Northern. If anything, he added a soft trill to the end of his words like people from Wúmeng did.

Reian scrambled to his feet-

"Jin Yu, is he okay?!"

The man blinked at them, his expression darkening ever so slightly...

"Are all of you from Jingshén?"

Both boys nodded.

The healer sighed, "I suppose that makes you his family... Alright, I'll be honest with you. This boy has only been in my care for a little under an hour. We've stabilised his energies and stopped the bleeding, but I don't know what else we can do."

Reian was shivering-

"Is he in pain?"

The man looked at him. Wen Reian was frozen by the amount of regret and sadness in his eyes. It practically made his heart stop.

Grimacing, the healer in front of them lowered his gaze...

"No, he is not in pain. He is not waking up."

This time it was Xie De tripping over his words-

"But when he does, you'll make sure it won't hurt, yeah? He won't suffer more?"

"Boys..." the man said firmly. "Please understand that I will do everything in my power to make your friend comfortable. But in thirty years, I've never seen anyone hurt so seriously in as little time as he was. He is stable now, but he has internal bleeding, fractures, a punctured lung... there is a good chance he will not wake up. That being the case, I'm going to fix him up as best I can, and then allow you inside."

Reian wasn't aware of his own breathing-

"To see him?" He whispered.

The healer sighed...

"To say goodbye."