angryhearts | Taken away

Taken away

WHO: Lan Wangji and whoever attended the Halloween party, ota
WHAT: Halloween party, monster crashing party, shades, and aftermath, this night is totally cursed
WHEN: Night of Halloween party, October 31st, and wwx's unbirthday
WHERE: Ballroom, in the hotel
NOTES:CW: Death, gore, body mutilation/maiming, violence, PTSD, mental breakdowns

I. Lost
It was almost nearing the end of the night when the party is almost finished and that's when the monster came crashing. The staff barricades themselves in the staff-only area, and everyone is left to defend themselves against the monster. It's becoming clear, connecting to the stalking scarecrows who are tormenting him for the past weeks, wearing the fashion of his clan, as in a sudden realization as to why he was being targeted by the nightmare of the creature, controlling them.

The shadows are shadowy, nimble, with sharp claws and teeth. Their darkness is like a spiderweb, connecting to each other as a hivemind. Each time he managed to kill one, another takes place after another, and the one he managed to take down will reappear in a few moments, not giving him much room for a break. He kept fighting, but he is outnumbered. The shades took shape of his sect seniors, and one, in particular, looks like his husband, except it keeps whispering, "Get lost" over and over repeatedly during the attack.

"Get out of here and run." He managed to say to the others, warning them to run away for their lives and their safety, before he starts to fight for his very life. Eventually it's a battle to stay alive. Anyone who can manage to help will find it very difficult to fight the shades as a group, as the shades give chase to anyone in the ballroom, taking shape of the people alive or dead they once knew back home, and the group can easily be divided, so help will not come easily to him.

The shade that impersonate his husband whispers, "Get lost" over and over. It's the only words he hears and it's the last word, as the shade attacking him sank their teeth and claws into his flesh, strangulating his throat, mauling him asunder. Much worse is the burning pain is when he's losing blood, pooling on the floor. He's loosing too much and too fast of it as the fight goes on and he knew he was going to die. There's no feeling other than the chaos of fighting, pain, and losing his consciousness to the darkness that is tearing him apart.

Eventually, the pain is no more, and his heart eventually stops. His final words as his last breath left him is his beloved's name. The last thing on his mind is Wei Ying and his smiles, the only light in his life as the pain and warmth of his body left him and faded away into the nothingness...

II. Taken away
After what felt like hours, the monster left. The hotel staff will re-emerge once they're pretty sure everything is safe. There was a mess and it's inevitable for the clean-up.

Lan Wangji's body was laid on the floor. After some time, as part of the clean-up crew, anyone present in the ballroom will see that two hotel staff members will come to collect the body from the ballroom to have him taken away to clean up the mess before the main clean-up crew will come.

[ooc: This is a mingle-post, so feel free to make your own top-levels. I won't be responding as lwj because...Reasons. Feel free to be the one he's trying to save during battle or saving him. There's also an NPC section for hotel staff. As a reminder, attacking NPC staff will have serious consequences!]

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For organization purpose, to serve as a list and reference, please fill out form below to give general idea and summary of NPC staff interaction.

Character Name: Wei Wuxian (novel)
Summary: As soon as they try to take LWJ's body away, WWX is going to attack them and try to stop them. He doesn't want to get left alone and so he will be pretty violent in his efforts to stop them.
Anything else?: how could you....on his birthday.../sob

Character Name: Wei Wuxian (tv)
Summary: Pushing back anyone trying to take Lan Zhan away, refusing to let go, crying a lot, that sorta thing. Might be amenable to negotiation if it means he can go with the body, but otherwise he'll pretty stubbornly refuse.

Anything else?: TT~TT

Wei Wuxian is having a terrible time against the shadows. He really doesn't have anything that is useful against them and he has tried everything from using claws like they are with his shape shifting ability, to trying to control them with chenqing thanks to the fact that he got Lan Wangji's musical ability. But nothing is working and he is at a bit of a loss.

His costume has been torn to pieces, blood can be see on his arm and leg from attacks that he couldn't avoid and he is starting to tire. This is really putting a damper on the day after it had started out so well.

Finally out of frustration he tosses one of the lit pumpkins at the creature and watches as it bursts into flames and disappears. "Fire! They are weak to fire!" He is now running around the room trying to kill as many as he can with all the fire he can get his hands onto.

Just as he takes down a few more, he sees Lan Wangji struggling against several of them. Wei Wuxian rushes to his assistance taking down several but not before he sees one do that final nasty blow to the other man. He screams in anger and tosses another candle at the one that attacked, watching it burst into flames and disappear.

He slides to a stop and falls to his knees. "Lan Zhan..Lan Zhan!" He tries to figure out which of the wounds are the worst but he can't be sure as there is blood everywhere. "LAN ZHAN."

Tear are already coming to his eyes as he hears the man call his name softly, "Don't you leave me! You said you'd never leave me!!" Sobs start to come, making his shoulders tremble, "You aren't allowed to die! Please...please don't go...what am I going to do if you go away?"

He wraps his arms around the other man, lifting him up and pulling his upper body into his lap and holding him tightly. "Please wake up..please..." He buries his face against them, letting the tears fall. His heart is breaking. They have only been married a month and Wei Wuxian has promised to protect him in his vows. He has failed him as a husband already. He doesn't know what he is going to do without the other man around. Even the knowledge that he could be back in a few days is not enough to make him feel any calmer or better.

He rocks back and forth, holding onto the other man tightly. Anyone who comes to try and unwrap him from the body will be met with a flurry of fists and anger as he is determined not to be left alone. The fear in his heart about being alone, the PTSD from his own death making him terrified and the anger of the whole situation making him violent. Any who get near...proceed with caution.

The sound of Wei Wuxian shouting his brother's name catches his attention from where he's in the middle of trying to keep a handful of sealed barriers around some of the shadow creatures.

His focus is dropped from them in an instant when he sees Wangji's unconscious form in Wei Wuxian's arms, and he runs over without a second thought.

He drops to his knees on the other side of his brother's body, heedless of any danger he might be in - it isn't as though he believes without a doubt that Wei Wuxian wouldn't lash out at him, it's only that he doesn’t care. He doesn't try to pull him from Wei Wuxian's arms, but he does try to press his hand to his brother's chest - feeling for any sign of his spiritual energy, trying to funnel whatever he'd gotten back of his own into his brother.

"Wangji."

At first everything has him blinded to anyone who gets close. He lashes out, trying to push away. His emotions making everyone into an enemy no matter who they are. He doesn't have much in his powers to do any harm other then the force of his fists. But with a body in his arms it is hard to have any sort of strength in his punches.

He stops his movement when he notices who it is. Looking at the man through tear filled eyes as he struggles to gather any sort of calm that might be left in him. His grip on Lan Wangji never loosens, ready to fight even his brother if he tries to take him out of his arms.

"Save him...help him...please." He is begging even though in his heart he knows that it is already too late. The blood covers the costume he wears and the man in his arms hasn't moved in several minutes.

He stares at Lan Xichen desperately. Needing any sort of reassurance that what is happening is a lie, a dream, can be fixed...anything to make losing his husband not actually happen.

Lan Xichen doesn't let the attempts to fend him off deter him. Either Wei Wuxian will realize who he is and stop, or he won't - his brother is one of the few things that will cause him to disregard any attempts at talking and move straight into action.

A useless action, as it turns out, because even with only a fragment of his spiritual power unlocked, he can tell that there is nothing there for him to funnel it into. His brother's chest is still, and there is no pulse when he presses his fingers to his wrist.

Lan Wangji is dead.

Desperation takes hold, and for a moment - for a moment everything else loses all meaning. The hotel, the rules of this place, the people in it, even the fact that this is not, technically, his Wangji, all of it fades away. He thinks only of the fact that his baby brother who finally had his chance at happiness, who deserved the world, has now been taken from it. The one truly good thing he has ever done in his life has been to protect Wangji the best that he could, to be there for him in any way possible, and now he has failed even in that.

It is infinitely unfair, that he should live while the best half of the twin jades does not.

He looks up, eyes landing on Wei Wuxian.

"The ritual that brought you back. How do I-"

He cuts off the moment he hears himself saying it, shame burning hotly through him. Everything floods back in, and Lan Xichen - pulls his hands away, rests them in his lap. He cannot hope to regain all of his composure, but he can hold himself very still.

"Wei Wuxian," he says, very quietly, his voice breaking just a little.

Even if Wei Wuxian had his mind clear enough to give Lan Xichen the steps to doing that ritual, he never would do it. He never really intended for anyone to use it and yet it had happened and he had been given that second chance. But he also knew that Lan Wangji would never forgive him if he let his brother sacrifice himself.

As the man says his name, Wei Wuxian's heart drops to the floor. He knows that there is nothing that can be done. That the man he loves more then anything else in any world is gone. "No...no..." A sob chokes him as his arms tighten around the man, drawing him up so that he can bury his face into his neck. Breathing in that scent that is so familiar to him, now intermingled with a scent of blood.

He repeats his name over and over against his skin as if that might be enough to make the man remember where he is, to draw him back from the darkness he is trapped in.

He can't do this. He can't let him go and he never will. He will stay in his arms until he opens his eyes again. Wei Wuxian won't let anyone have him. He will sacrifice himself if he has to so that he can come back with him. He can't be alone. He refuses to live without Lan Wangji by his side.

"You promised I'd never be alone..."

Wei Wuxian sobs, and Lan Xichen's mind goes blank. His brother is dead, and the man he just welcomed into his family is breaking in front of him, and there is nothing he can do.

There are, apparently, more people than he'd previously thought who can bring someone back from the dead, but he is not one of them. And he knows, oh, he knows of Wei Wuxian's self sacrificing tendencies, and the desperation shifts, becoming a more crystallized fear.

He reaches back out, pressing his hands over Wei Wuxian's arms - not trying to pull him away, just holding on, too.

"Is whatever you are thinking something that will bring him back?"

He lifts his head up, moving his face away from where it was buried against him. His cheeks stained with tears, his eyes red and puffy. Wei Wuxian had never known the heartbreak of losing this man, but he had made Lan Wangji endure his death twice. It's only fair that he should have to feel this pain for once. But perhaps he had selfishly hoped that he never would have known it.

At Xichen's words, he tries to keep his voice from shaking too much. But it is hard as it quivers with each word. "I..I can't bring him back. But I can't live without him."

He doesn't want to. If he had a dagger it probably already be in his heart. He wouldn't have felt the pain of it, his whole body numb and already dead inside.

"Send me with him...we can stay together...I just have to die too." He isn't afraid of death since he has experienced it so many times already. He's more afraid of being alone.

There it is. On instinct, he almost closes his eyes to try to compose himself more as he takes that in - but no, he cannot retreat into himself. There will be time for that later.

The only hope they have is for the Carpenter to bring Wangji back to them, as he repaired Lan Xichen's arm and brought Wei Wuxian himself back. What Wei Wuxian is suggesting - how many times can one be brought back, without suffering some manner of ill effects? Will they even choose to bring him back, with how angry it may make those in charge here? Will they simply keep both of them dead and locked away?

Lan Xichen doesn't know. What he does know is that Wangji would not want Wei Wuxian to sacrifice himself like this, for nothing - and that Lan Xichen cannot bear the thought of losing them both.

"Did you wake up alone in your room, when they brought you back?"

Wei Wuxian looks at Xichen desperately. He knows the other man is going to try and stop him but he just doesn't know if he can simply accept letting go.

"Lan Zhan was there..." He had moved into the room to wait for him. To take care of Lil' Apple and make sure that he wasn't alone when he arrived. But he would have been alone..had been alone when he died. And already he has failed his husband by not protecting him. How can he possibly let him be alone in death?

But he also knows that he was comforted by his soul twin. That he had received comfort from him. But he can't expect that from the others. The circumstances are different now. They are married and he can't possibly intrude upon them.

His hands slide up Wei Wuxian's forearms, shifting to cover his hands instead. Still, he makes no move towards trying to physically separate him from his brother, just holds him there.

"Do you know what it will do to him, if you are not there when he wakes? Because I do."

He has seen it. He might not have been the one to see this version of Wangji through the first years of living without Wei Wuxian, but he doubts the pain he was in was very different from the Wangji of his own world - and he did see this Wangji, when Wei Wuxian died here.

It is not only for Wangji's sake that he's arguing, of course. It is for his own, when he does not want to lose Wei Wuxian either, and for Wei Wuxian himself. Dying is not a solution for having to face your world crumbling down around you - someone stopped Lan Xichen from making that choice when he contemplated it himself, and he cannot let Wei Wuxian do this.

"Stay with me, Wei Wuxian. Wait for him with me. Please."

Wei Wuxian chokes on another sob as it tries to come up his throat. He drops his eyes to look down at the man in his arms, afraid that if he looks away again that he might disappear. "But what if.." He finds the sentence hard to finish, but he has to. "What if he doesn't come back."

His voice is barely audible. He can hardly manage the words but it is the fear that is gripping his heart perhaps even stronger then the fear of being alone for those days as he waits. His entire body starts to tremble as that fear starts to take a hold of him, causing him to clutch even harder at the man in his arms. He will never let go. If he can simply keep his eyes on him then he will know for sure that he will come back and not simply disappear from his life completely.

He wants to believe that in three days the man will return to him. That he doesn't have anything to fear and that he can simply wake up in Lan Wangji's arms again. But the hotel is so unpredictable. How can they really be sure of anything?

"He will."

The moment he says it, he realizes that he believes it. Lan Xichen is not one for empty promises - even if lying were not forbidden, it is not in him to be so blatantly dishonest.

It is not only because he doesn't want to allow himself to consider any other alternative than that Wangji will be back. It is the mostly likely conclusion, from what they know of those in charge here and what their motivations are, from all of their previous actions.

"Those who run this hotel are capable of many things, most of them contradictions. The only thing they have been consistent on is never causing us lasting physical harm. They need us, and we are no good to them dead."

Wei Wuxian lays his forehead against Lan Wangji's and closes his eyes. He wants to believe that to be true more then anything.

"I won't let them take him.." Because he doesn't trust the hotel anymore. He doesn't want to let the man out of his sights. He will be there when Lan Wangji's wakes up. He will make sure they don't do anything more to harm him. He won't be alone...

"It they take him, they are taking me with him."

His voice is stern. Harsher then it has been for many minutes. Wei Wuxian has always been stubborn and he is going to be very stubborn about this.

His eyes follow Wei Wuxian's head down, landing on Wangji's still face, and his breath hitches. The sob catches in his throat and he ruthlessly shoves it back down, locking his grief away in a part of him that he doesn't get to access, at the moment.

He does not have time to fall apart.

Instead he forces himself to focus on Wei Wuxian, on the tension in his body and the edge in his voice.

He doesn't argue, not yet. His voice is gentle as he asks, "Why?"

"Because I was alone when I died...Locked in a place away from everyone. I won't let him feel that. I'll be there with him no matter what. That way I know that he will come back."

When he was about to die the twins words echoed in his head. About how alone he was and how there was no one there to help him. Lan Wangji will never be alone. He will never feel that fear of being away from the ones he loves. He will be locked in Wei Wuxian's embrace the entire time and know that he is loved. And he will fight anyone who tries to tear him away.

There is a piece of Lan Xichen's heart that breaks a little, when Wei Wuxian speaks of being alone as he died, but now is not the time to try to comfort him.

Later, if they both survive this, if Wei Wuxian does not hate him for what Lan Xichen is prepared to do if he cannot convince him with words, perhaps Wei Wuxian will let him try then.

For now he holds his gaze steady on Wei Wuxian.

"He is already dead. He can feel nothing. It will not help him to try to go with him, Wei Wuxian, whether you are dead or alive. Either they will separate you when they bring you back or they will lock you away, and he will be alone."

He lifts his head and shakes it quickly. That word sears into his heart. He can't be alone. Not ever. But no longer does he know if the fear is the one of Lan Wangji waking up alone in a foreign place, or his own at being left behind.

"He won't be alone. I won't let him be alone! I'll never let him go!"

Wei Wuxian's voice is raised, panic gripping it as he continues to shake his head. Even though a small part in the back of his brain, he knows that Lan Xichen is right and that there is no way they will let him go with him, he can't help how he feels.

"He'll know...he'll know I failed him..."

His hands squeeze Wei Wuxian's where he's covering them, though he is not completely sure if that's to try to get through to him or to steady himself.

He does not let himself say that Wei Wuxian is not the one who failed him. He knows exactly how he would feel if someone tried to tell him that he did not fail to protect his brother right now.

"The only thing he will care about is that you are the first thing he sees when he opens his eyes again. And you cannot do that if you do not stay."

The tears start flowing once again, feeling defeated and helpless. The sheer number of emotions he has felt in the last few minutes starting to exhaust him. Which means the fight inside of him is also starting to crumble.

"How can i possibly be there if I don't even know where he will wake up?"

He woke up in Lotus Pier, but that is his room. Lan Wangji has been living there with him but technically his room is Cloud Recesses. What if he picks the wrong place? What if despite all his efforts, Lan Wangji still opens his eyes to find no one? Wei Wuxian is at a loss of what to do and with each minute that passes he is becoming more and more broken inside.

"I woke up in my room both times, regardless of where I was before. It was the same with you."

He lets go of Wei Wuxian's hands, now, but only to pull the sleeves of the bathrobe he'd worn to the party over one of his hands and cup Wei Wuxian's cheek. He doesn't really try to dry the tears, just - holds it there.

It's instinct, more than anything else.

"He will wake up in his assigned room, and we will both be there."

His hold on Lan Wangji loosens slightly but not enough to put him down yet. He nods slowly and looks up at Lan Xichen. He isn't going to leave that room for even a second. But there is a small piece of relief that he also won't be alone while he waits.

He lets out a rather shaky sigh. It is probably for the best that it was Lan Xichen that was there to try and talk him down. Otherwise there is no telling where or how he would have ended up.

"We will..."

The strange happenings around the hotel seemed as if they were building up to something, but this morning everything had dropped off to nothing. In his mounting paranoia and the frequency of voices echoing in his ears, he'd taken some teas with him as a precaution, and when the party started to turn, he was glad he'd kept them in his basket alongside his talismans.

As things worsened, he took them, helping others to the exits while still more residents tried to hold off the new shadow creature. He ran more than attacked, for obvious reasons. The things chasing him wore the faces of people he held most dear. The power of his borrowed core thrummed with an old familiar strength, and at least that is enough to keep him safe, to help him move swiftly, and to push back when he needs to.

Wei Wuxian is used to fighting side by side with his world's Lan Wangji, and aside from the time they'd been powerless and overwhelmed by staff here, has never seen him lose a fight. He makes use of his golden threads technique, now that he has a core to power it, and tries to hold off shadows where he can, sparing an occasional glance for friends and allies.

He doesn't see the moment that Lan Wangji falls. He's just there one moment, and the next he's not; fallen somewhere in the chaos. It's not until he hears his soul-twin screaming that he feels a cold weight hit his stomach. Even without approaching, he can see how much blood there is, how hopeless the situation looks, and that alone nearly enough to send him into qi deviation.

Wei Wuxian lashes out with talismans, spells, and qi, daring anything untoward to get close to Lan Wangji or his soul-twin.

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Taken away

NPC staff interactions

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