Eighteen

"No family."

"What do you mean no family?" Wei Wuxian asks him, "Did something more happen other than the burning of the Cloud Recesses?"

"Brother is missing, Father is dying, and Uncle is in a coma." a tear falls from Lan Wangji's eyes, "No family to go home to… no home to go to either."

Wei Wuxian stares around the cave to see they were the only ones left in the cave. So without worry, Wei Wuxian runs to Lan Wangji and pulls the younger man into an embrace which shocks Lan Wangji. For a moment Lan Wanji wanted to push him away but couldn't; instead, he rested his head on Wei Wuxain's shoulder letting his tears free, and Wei Wuxian said nothing but held him, letting the man cry.

When Lan Wangji falls asleep from being excreted the past days he's been in the clutches of the Wen's. Laying him on the ground, Wei Wuxian removes his outer robes and covers Lan Wangji in them to keep him warm. Though Wei Wuxian was worried about his leg, afraid that it might heel crooked which could cause Lan Wangji some future problems, so he rolls up the robes and pant leg on his broken leg to take a look. Wei Wuxian did teach the first base of medicine but if he was, to be honest, he didn't know much about God's heel without trouble, and humans progressed their medicine over the years.

Though he could use him on spiritual energy to set the bone, maybe not all the way but on the right path. Gathering twigs and branches he can find around the cave, Wei Wuxian rips off his left long sleeve and uses it to tie Lan Wangji's leg together after he used his spiritual energy to set it again.

After feeding Lan Wangji some more of his energy, to ease Lan Wangji's pain, Wei Wuxian turns his attention to the Enormous Tortoise, "It's been awhile A-Wu."

Xuanwu bows his head to Wei Wuxian and a voice that was carried in the wind through the entire cave could be heard saying, "Father, I've been waiting for your return, to come to claim what is yours."

Wei Wuxian walks over to the water pool and reaches a hand out to his last living son, where Xuanwu lowers his head and lets his father's hand rest on his forehead. "I know you have my son." Wei Wuxian starts to silently cry, knowing what his son wants.

"Please Father, it's been eons." Xuanwu sounds truly tired, "I want to see my divine beast siblings again. I miss my sisters and brothers."

"It's okay A-Wu you can return home to them, go back to the heavens, this world has no place for you divine beasts anymore." Wei Wuxian encourages him. "Tell your other siblings and grandparents to wait a little longer for me, but I will one day return to the heavens as well."

Xuanwu lets out a loud groan that caused the caves to shake a bit but if anyone knows the beast as well as his father, they would know he was delighted to be able to go home now. Wei Wuxian rested his forehead on his sons as Xuanwu started to turn into millions of pink blossom petals until Wei Wuxian couldn't feel him anymore under his touch. Looking up Wei Wuxian was met with an empty pool of water covered entirely in blossoms. Bowing to his sons remains Wei Wuxian crumbles to his knees crying in pain at the loss of his last living son. He knows he will be able to Xuanwu along with all of his other divine beast children, but it doesn't hurt any less watching them leave him to join the others in the heavens.

He always got to see all of his children again in their next life, but he can't forget his failure that caused their deaths to begin with instead of them being able to live as long as him. None of his children can ever join him in the heavens because of his mistakes, though he did come up with a situation, for them to be able to be reborn over and over again, they have to die over and over again, all because of him.

It hurts like no other for Wei Wuxian wishing he could go back to when he had his first ten children and done better.