Mo Xuanyu knelt in the shabby shed. He quivered ever so slightly, fearful yet determined. This would be it. He couldn't back down now. The world so far had never been kind to him. 

 

  He had been beaten down, insulted, ridiculed for everything under the sun in the world. Cut-sleeve trash, lunatic...all the same. He had no love for the family that hated his existence, they had no love for him either.

 

 It was better off this way, to finally put an end to this suffering. He would no longer be used as a pawn or tool by anyone, longer beaten down like a dog, treated less than human. No more bullshit. 

 

He drew out the sharp dagger, holding out both of his arms with his skin bare. He drew a quick breath, grit his teeth and squeezed his eyes shut. 

 

Swiftly, and deeply, arms turned so his palms faced up, he cut his flesh open from his wrists to his forearms, swallowing and wincing at the pain. He eased out a shaky breath. The cuts were long and quite deep. Blood flowed easily, non-stop. 

 

  Touching fingers to the wet, warm feeling of blood dripping heavily from his arms he rushed to do the ritual with haste. 

 

  He had heard all the rumors, and tales spoken or whispered, accusations against a man long dead, a man he was going to summon in his place. Yes, it would all end. 

 

   His mind went hazy from dizziness, and black spots dotted along his vision. Ah, finally. Mo Xuanyu felt his body sway, tipping sideways and he could feel another presence but saw no one. He couldn't focus on anything.

 

Relief filled him. Finally, finally....it was all over....

  Everything went dark. 

 

                                   ~~~~

 

"My, my. What have we here?" A voice muttered with a hum low in his throat. He stared at the pale, quiet form still bleeding before him. 

 

    It took a moment before the knowledge had sunk in. He had been summoned back to life. However...there was only one ritual he created to for that to be possible-if his memory is correct, this person before him had been trying to sacrifice his soul, offering up his body to him, with whatever reason. 

 

Yet this should be impossible. He remembered with clarity, exactly how he died, he remembered most of everything in the past, some moments were a bit hazy.

    His body was mutilated by corpses, they had torn and ripped into him with fervor; literally eating and devouring him alive. And all because of the backlash trying to destroy that which he had created. 

   The Yiling Patriarch frowned. He could dwell on the details later. First...he had to save this young boy before him. Little fool. The child had meant to die but, it appears that wasn't exactly necessary, he couldn't let him die, not in front of him. He felt a tug on his soul, felt the flickering of a bond. He was alive, and now bound to this fellow. The Yiling Patriarch sighed and knelt before the dying boy, hurrying to his aide.

 

                        ~~~~~~~

  Mo Xuanyu sucked in a breath. Blinked. 

  He quickly snapped up in a sitting position, shocked. He glanced around in a daze and patted his body down.

  He was...alive. No. This wasn't...it couldn't be...he was supposed to be dead...

 

   "Well, well. Look who's finally come to. Surprise." A voice spoke with what sounded like forced cheeriness. 

 

   Mo Xuanyu froze, eyes wide. He had an inkling he knew the man who stood before him. A man that was dead - should still be dead - since ritual hadn't worked like it was supposed to.

   The figure before him smirked, head cocked to the side, studying him intently. 

  "What..but how ..you-" The man waved away what he was about to say. 

 

   "You can already guess who I am. Your ritual did work after all, despite some mistakes. And you would be dead if I had not stopped the bleeding, and used our bond to keep you tied to earth. We have much to discuss, child. " The Yiling Patriarch grinned, eyes flaring a bright red, with his long wily raven black hair swaying in the breeze that entered from outside. 

 

Mo Xuanyu tried to scramble to his feet. The Yiling Patriarch huffed in annoyance, pushing him back down.

 

 "Just sit and listen." He sighed tiredly. 

 

Mo Xuanyu didn't move again. He was all ears.

 

                        ~~~~~~~

 Mo Xuanyu gaped in shock. The ritual really worked...just not the way it should have - which means he had unknowingly, accidentally - tweaked the ritual somehow, he had done something wrong. He scowled then. He just always had to fuck something up without meaning to. 

 

  "Why?" Mo Xuanyu croaked hoarsely. The other man turned back to him. "Hmm?"

 

He spoke again. "Why? Why did you save me? You could have just walked away and let me be." Mo Xuanyu spoke with bitterness. Wei Wuxian, The Yiling Patriarch, studied him. 

 

   Mo Xuanyu flinched under his gaze but lifted his chin defiantly, with a scowl on his face. 

 

   Wei Wuxian didn't speak. But he moved. 

 

He had pulled Mo Xuanyu to his feet, and stared down at him a little. "Is that really what you want? Would you like me to help you, then?" His eyes sparked red with bit of lingering madness glinting in them. He lifted a slender hand, resentful energy wriggling lively in his palm. 

 

   Mo Xuanyu flinched, his heart spiked and he backed away from the man in front of him. The man's eyes were grey again, and soft. He sighed. He was looking at Mo Xuanyu with a gaze he couldn't seem to read. 

 

 "I do not know about your life or circumstances, however you still live, and I am here, we are bound together in this life. If you want your revenge, you will have it.

     Honestly, it would have been better if you hadn't summoned me, I was fine with staying dead, and I am not the resentful ghost you presume me to be. Yet here we are. 

    Now we must make the most of it." Wei Wuxian shrugged. In an instant, his demeanor changed, and his face was bright, and grey eyes sparkled.

 

Wei Wuxian grinned widely at Mo Xuanyu with a wink. "Let's go have some fun." 

 

 The former Yiling Patriarch made a move to go outside then paused, looking back a Mo Xuanyu with what looked like pleading eyes.

 

  They had already exchanged names and so Wei Wuxian spoke to Mo Xuanyu in a pleading tone, and Mo Xuanyu's lips twitched upward, just a smidge. 

 

"A-Yu - my appearance - ah...could you go out and find me a mask possibly? A change of clothes..?"  

 

 Mo Xuanyu shook his head, hiding the shock at the Yiling Patriarch speaking and calling him A-Yu. "I have no money." 

 

The Yiling Patriarch sighed, "We're broke." He looked as though he wanted to cry and then a loud noise startled both of them and they looked at eachother. It came again. 

   Wei Wuxian glanced at his stomach with a laugh. "Being able to feel hunger again...so strange..."  He murmured. shook his head, giving Mo Xuanyu a bright and cheery smile.

 

 "Whelp. We best get to it then. We will pay your family a visit and then get some food once all that is cleared up. " 

 

Mo Xuanyu followed him.

 

Would Wei Wuxian help him get revenge?

 

     He bit his lip worriedly, looking at the broad figure walking assuredly and tall, unwavering in his gait. Despite the rumors about him, and what seems like occasional lapses of sanity maybe? The Former Yiling Patriarch seemed like a good man, though a bit wild. 

    

    However, Mo Xuanyu made mistakes trusting the wrong people, thus him trying and failing to die and now he and the Patriarch were somehow bound to one another. Still, Mo Xuanyu wouldn't let his guard down again.

He wouldn't make the same mistake a third time. Never again.

                            ~~~~~~

Once they had entered the residence, Wei Wuxian wasn't exactly welcomed - since no one had known he was coming and he - to them - a stranger showing up out of the blue, is seemingly rude and suspicious. 

   Not that Wei Wuxian cared what these people thought of him. Knowing Mo Xuanyu and his reactions, he could see the boys face, tight and pale, could feel his anxiety and tension. Wei Wuxian narrowed his eyes. He would not like these people, he knew that much.

 

   "Ah, hello, hello!" He smiled at the Mo resident servants and saw just beyond them, the Lady of the residents speaking with young boys clad in white robes. Wei Wuxian stiffened. He could see the cloud motif on them. 

 

   Was his luck really that bad?

 

A servant was speaking to him. "Who are you and why have you come?" 

 

 "Ah-haha. Well, you see - I had heard of some strange happenings in the area and thought I might speak with Lady Mo on the matter. My name is Xuan Yinlin. I am what you could call, a rogue cultivator. I only wish to offer my services." He bowed his head slightly, trying to show sincerity. Wei Wuxian sneered silently.

 

  "Hmph. Wait here." The manservant walked away. From the distance, he watched the manservant speak to the Lady and her eyes turned to Wei Wuxian. She stood excusing herself for a moment, he was sure, with young junior GusuLan Sect cultivators. 

 

   She marched toward him. Mo Xuanyu trembled and Wei Wuxian could sense his chaotic feelings. Despite no one being able to see him, Wei Wuxian angled his body slightly and placed himself in front of Mo Xuanyu, shielding him. 

   Mo Xuanyu shivered and stood staring at the broad back of the person in front of him, strong and unyielding. Standing firm. Mo Xuanyu felt gratitude and some relief but shoved those feelings down. He couldn't fall for any of it. Not again. 

    She waved him to the side of the east hall, out of viewing eyes. Internally, he smirked. She was really one of those kinds of people.

   "My servant spoke to me of why you are here. However, since I had not had a notice for your arrival. I am afraid you must leave, we have no need for your services." She sneered haughtily, nose practically in the sky. 

    Normally he would be shameless and in the past he was never known for 'behaving', however he was here for a reason and he would not leave until he saw in through to the end. For better or worse. 

  And despite not wanting to be brought back in the first place, nonetheless, it was thanks to Mo Xuanyu that he was alive in the world. 

    And he wasn no longer as wild and foolish he was all those years ago, though he couldn't help himself but to cause mischief every now and then.

     And he wasn't a villainous ghoul at all, and would rather not go through and annihilate the Mo family, despite Mo Xuanyu suffering because of them.

    Another problem was, he had no idea what would happen if he didn't go through with it. The ritual worked, however strange it was, how he had his body intact, living and breathing- the consequences of not completing the ritual could be quite terrible. 

   He discreetly glanced at Mo Xuanyu and his wounds that were not completely healed, though he tried to do what he could. The boy still had lost a lot of blood, and if the ritual was completed, it could harm them both, devastatingly so. 

    Wei Wuxian had to see this through, for the both of them. He couldn't allow Madam Mo to send him away. 

   "Hmm. If Madam Mo would allow this one, unless necessary, I promise not to do anything to interfere with you and the younger cultivators." He nodded to where the young Lan Sect boys were still sitting and waiting. 

 

   "It will be as though I am invisible, it couldn't hurt for me to be here, no?" He gave quite the charming smile. 

  Madam Mo scowled and scrutinized him. He stood unrivaled by her gaze. 

   "Hmph. Fine. Just stay out of the way." She stalked away, he followed closely behind, a smirk in his eyes. 

 

    Wei Wuxian stood, leaning against a pillar, staying quiet and listening intently to the conversation.

   Still focussed on the discussion before him, he spoke to Mo Xuanyu mind, the boy stood next to him. Still invisible. 

       -How are you holding up?-

Mo Xuanyu glanced at him and huffed. 

          -Just fine. But-

Wei Wuxian glanced at him from the corner of his eyes. 

         -Yes? But what?-

Mo Xuanyu took a shaky breath.

     -I want you to remove the talisman.-

 Shocked appeared in Wei Wuxian's eyes and disappeared into a blinding smile in his mind. 

    -Alright. I will. But not yet.-

Mo Xuanyu looked at him, inquisitive. Mo Xuanyu still nodded.

    -Okay. If you think that's best.- 

 

   Wei Wuxian was getting rudely stared at by the Young Master, Mo ZiYuan. He wanted to teach the brat a lesson, knowing how he might have treated Mo Xuanyu and his attitude. 

   Wei Wuxian looked at the young GusuLan cultivators in their white robes, that always reminded him of mourning robes. He sighed inwardly. Is this called being unlucky, or is it something to do with fate? 

    He focused even more on the younger generation of the Lan sect set up familiar looking flags around the Mo family residence. Ghost Attraction flags. Attracting, ghosts, resentful spirits, corpses - an evil beings that might exist and roaming the area.

   His lips twitched. The nerve...it seems that while the cultivation world despised him, they still decided to use his inventions for themselves. He bit back a laugh.

   Mo Xuanyu looked at him with worry, feeling unease at the fluctuation of the man's emotions, that seemed slightly unstable. Because of their bond, they could feel each others emotions, and sense each other. 

    A strange closeness Mo Xuanyu had never experienced before, to a man he helped come back from the dead, a man he is just getting to know. He stood next to Wei Wuxian and watched other young cultivators set up flags, flags the Yiling Patriarch had created. 

 

    He heard Wei Wuxian speaking to him quietly, and felt his hand on his back. He removed the invisibility talisman. 

   "Who let that cut-sleeve lunatic in here?" Mo ZiYuan snarled, charging forward. "You little bastard! Just who do you think you are to come here, huh? Freak! Disgusting little madman! Mom! Mom!" He shouted and called. Mo Xuanyu paled and stumbled back.

     "Go crawl back to where you come from, you waste of space! No one wants you here! You don't belong here!! You cut-sleeve lunatic!"  Mo Xuanyu's cousin ranted, raising hid legs and fists to punch and kick him, but was stopped. 

    Madam Mo gaped at his idiot suns display in front of the cultivators, and she scowled at Mo Xuanyu's presence. She tried appeasing her son. "Now, A-Yuan, calm down. We have guests." 

    He sneered. "So! Ma! Kick this waste out, he bothers me! Disgusting freak!!" 

   "A-Yuan, enough. Go sit down. We will discuss this later." She hissed to him quietly, vicious. She pulled her son and stopped, realizing the rogue cultivator holding onto her son had not let go. 

   "Ow! Ow! Ma! He's hurting me! Get him off!"  The Young Master cried. Wei Wuxian squeezed his arm in a death grip; his face had an eerie smile, his eyes cold and hard. Madam Mo flinched away, backing up. The feeling this man was giving her was ominous. 

    Suddenly the rogue cultivator released her son, and turned to the cut-sleeve lunatic nephew of hers. She scowled in his direction and stalked off. Her son ran off, crying and cursing. 

    "Well. That was fun." Wei Wuxian chuckled. 

   He turned to the young gazes of the GusuLan members and laughed nervously. "Ah, what a spectacle, carry on, carry on." He heard their murmurs and turned to look at Mo Xuanyu who looked frozen. 

    He sighed. He sent a tendril of his emotions and energy, soft and warm, sending them to wrap around Mo Xuanyu's racing heart. 

    -It's alright.- He murmured to A-Yu repeatedly in his mind until he felt the boy calm down. -I'm here. Your not alone.- He finished. He watched Mo Xuanyu quiver, and take a deep shaky breath and let it out.

 

    It was late in the night. Wei Wuxian kept watch on the sidelines while the young Lan cultivators worked and took turns watching for any suspicious activity. They wanted to capture walking corpses in area.

    A shrill scream echoed.

 Everyone ran towards it. 

   Madam Mo was wailing, holding a dead body in her arms, sobbing. "A-Yuan, my child..." 

    Wei Wuxian studied the corpse. It was indeed the former Young Master of the Mo Family. He had everything seemingly suckes dry, out of him, life force and energy gone. 

   "It's all that lunatics fault! Bringing misfortune with him!" Madam Mo snarled.

    Wei Wuxian shielded Mo Xuanyu from her sight. 

   "No. It's not my fault. I didn't do anything to him." He retorted back. Wei Wuxian gave him a proud smile. Mo Xuanyu flushed, embarrassed for some reason. 

   "Correct. Madam Mo, A-Yu was by my side the entire time. So your accusation is invalid. If you want to blame someone, don't look at him or the young Lan sect members. Your son is not a child, he knew what he was doing." Wei Wuxian crouched down and pulled out the Ghost Attraction flag. " He brought it on himself." He finished, and while still crouched, noticed No ZiYuan's missing hand. 

    Madam Mo flared with anger, taking a swipe at his face.

He dodged the swipe.

   More screams echoed from behind them. 

   It seems whatever the flags attracted was quite fast at work. Wei Wuxian frown, watching others run towards them. A servant recounted in fear what they witnessed before running over.

    There were already three bodies...incredible. Wei Wuxian smiled, intrigued. Being the former Yiling Patriarch, it would not escape him that there was something quite dangerous and deadly moving around the Mo family residence. 

   He had sense something earlier, but wanted to wait for it to show itself.

   He went around looking over the other two bodies, the husband of Madam Mo and the manservant of the former Young Master Mo. Both had missing arms as well.

    Peculiar. 

Ah. Wei Wuxian felt it. He dodged, escaping an attack from...He stared. It was a hand. Brimming, full with resentful energy. A very powerful hand. 

  He stayed back, letting the younger cultivators try and subdue the hand, shouting orders at each other. 

   "A hand?" Mo Xuanyu stared, seeming intrigued as well. 

   Wei Wuxian nodded. "It appears so. It has to come from a corpse, which had been cut to pieces, and is searching for its body, using living ones like a host, possessing and sucking the energy out of them and then jumping to the next person." 

   Mo Xuanyu shuddered. "That's actually kinda creepy, especially with the way your speaking of it."

  . Wei Wuxian laughed aloud and ruffled Mo Xuanyu's hair with a smile, offhandedly. 

 They both froze at the action, both embarrassed. Wei Wuxian cleared his throat, laughing nervously-"Ah, that - I -"

 Mo Xuanyu shook his hand. "Just don't. It's fine really." He gave a quick smile to Wei Wuxian, and nodded to the young Lan sect members. "Are you not gonna help them?"

    Wei Wuxian shrugged, "Not if they don't need my assistance. They are quite skilled." 

   He looked to the one makes Lan Shui. Very capable and bright. He had spoken with him earlier and the young boy offered a kind smile.

  He had been raised well. 

They had almost had it subdued, until it lashed out violently, pushing the young Lan cultivators back. The resentful energy raged and swarmed. 

   Wei Wuxian cursed, moving to intervene. 

   One had already sent a flare signal for help, and he cursed internally, wanting to run away so he didn't run into familiar faces. However, he stayed and held his grown.

   "A-Yu, stay here." Wei Wuxian spoke, eyes aglow with such bright and burning crimson, crackling with energy. He stalked forward, with  whistle, the corpses of the Mo Family rose up beside him.

   Wei Wuxian grinned, pointing to the hand. "Go shred it." The corpses lunged into motion. A body shoved into him, livid. "What are you doing?" Madam Mo shrieked. 

   He glared her. "Step aside." His voice came out in a growl, she stumbled back from Wei Wuxian red eyed, eerie gaze. Watching the whole thing in horror. 

  The Lan juniors jaws were slack, eyes wide and focused on the corpses fighting the hand, standing back. 

   Madam Mo was far on the side now, and the corpse hand was swift and already on her. Wei Wuxian cursed. Maybe he was a bit rusty. He amped up his own resentful energy, in circled around him like a wild black flame, dark tendrils spreading out. 

    Madam Mo had been overtaken by the hand, and the corpses were all now fighting each other. However it didn't seem to be enough. He waved the corpses of the Mo family off and stalked forward in a flash of darkness, and held Madam Mo and the hand down.

    "Quickly now! Subdue it!" He barked at the young Lans. He wasn't even using all the power of his resentful energy, but the amount he was was enough to frighten the children. He grimaced. 

   Lan Sizhui, Jingyi, and the rest of the little Land rushed to do as he said. 

   Music rang out and Wei Wuxian froze. Damn. He was too caught up. 

  Please don't be who I think it is...

He used his peripheral vision to look at the newcomers. 

   His throat closed up and his chest tightened.

   It was none other than Lan Wangji. 

The Lan Juniors cheered. “HanGuang-Jun!”

 

                     ~~~~~~~

 Fuck, fuck, fuck. Why was his luck so bad?! 

   And was he exposed to explain this?  How the hell could he?? 

   He heard Lan Wangji walking towards them, having subdued the hand.

  He cringed and swallowed. Why me??

 

   Mo Xuanyu had been watching everything from where he stood on the side so he wasn't in the way. He could feel Wei Wuxian's chaotic emotions and was puzzled. 

    Seeing that everything was okay now, he walked over to him. Their bond felt stranger and stranger. He could feel Wuxians heart, like it was pounding in his own chest. Their bond went both ways. 

   He murmured to Wei Wuxian, "Are you okay?" 

   He felt an intense gaze on both of them and for some reason, wanted to shield the former Yiling Patriarch, a protective urge swelled in him, though looking at the intense man-handsome and in white robes, all pristine like an immortal descending, the man has molten golden eyes and stared in what looked like shock mostly, and other expressions across that immovable face.

    He was staring solely at Wei Wuxian, who had his head bowed, avoiding him.

 

 It was barely a whisper loud enough to be heard, and yet Mo Xuanyu knew he was probably the only one that heard it, and the tremor in the man's voice.

   A name.

"Wei Ying."