The Nine-tailed Fox feels guilty

tw: blood and gore

Shu Luan releases Wu Yun and lets out a guttural growl at Lan Tian's presence. Lan Tian steps into the water with this whip held high. Shu Luan advances towards him, and it's as if whatever illusion he was maintaining that allowed him to keep Shu Luan's appearance melts away. His slick hair starts falling away from his scalp in sickening clumps, his skin disintegrates like rice paper submersed in water, leaving behind reddened sinew and flesh that froths before disappearing to reveal the gleaming white bone beneath.

Shu Luan's bright golden eyes are the last remnant of humanity in the stripped bare skull, until they fall out, as if pushed from the inside into the lake water.

The creature who was using Shu Luan's skin is nothing more than a stringed skeleton, animated by some unseen force. It's jaws clack menacingly as it advances towards Lan Tian, and he opens them to reveal the dark insides of his throat that suck in all the light from around it, as if it's being consumed inside its exposed marrow.

Lan Tian dodges the skeleton's open jaw and clawed fingers, and hits him on the back of the head with the whip's handle, making it stumble.

He turns the whip around in his hand in one deft movement and wraps it around the skeleton's neck, tightening it around the exposed vertebra until they give out with a sickening crunch.

The head separates from the neck with a crunching noise and falls in the lake water. The rest of the body disintegrates as soon as the head leaves the neck. The bones fall down like dry leaves being blown away by a swift wind.

Wu Yun watches in shock as the bones sink underwater. It's hard for him to believe that mere seconds ago that terrible creature was wearing such a familiar face.

"Did you let it touch you?" Lan Tian asks, sneering at a lone tibia, before it, too, sinks beneath the still waters.

"No, he...it tried, but I didn't let it get close enough."

Lan Tian nods. "I don't know what those things are, but they try to get close to your face, like they're going to kiss you. I don't think anything good would happen if they succeeded."

Wu Yun shudders at the thought of that lipless mouth coming any closer to him. If he trusted anything in this secret dimension he would dive into the lake water to wash away the thought.

"You saw one of them too?" Wu Yun asks, wondering if the walking skeleton Lan Tian saw also resembled Shu Luan.

Lan Tian nods. "I did. What did this one look like?" He points with the handle of the whip towards the place where the skeleton sunk.

"You couldn't see it?" Wu Yun is somewhat relieved by that. He doesn't want to explain to Lan Tian who Shu Luan is.

"No, when I looked at the lake I just saw you struggling against a skeleton. I think their illusions only work on whoever they're trying to attack."

They walk out of the lake, struggling to move with their wet robes dragging them back. Once they're finally on the margin, Wu Yun turns to Lan Tian and asks the question that has been burning on his tongue:

"What did the one you see look like?"

"I think that's why I was able to tell right away something wasn't right. It looked like someone I never met before, but he kept talking as if I should know who he was, and then tried to kiss me."

Wu Yun's chest squeezes, and he looks away from Lan Tian.

"What did it look like to you?" Lan Tian asks, his voice low.

"The same as it did to you, some unknown person."

Lan Tian takes notice of his evasive words, but doesn't press him.

They walk back towards the denser part of the forest until they find one of Lan Tian's whip marks in a tree trunk.

Wu Yun runs his fingers over the scarred wood. "Have you seen Wan Mi?"

Lan Tian shakes his head. "When I noticed I couldn't see either of you, I continued walking and calling out your names, but that skeleton found me first. I don't know where she could be."

"Maybe coming here was a blessing in disguise, we should take this chance and leave her behind."

Lan Tian laughs, a shy sound that escapes out of his lips unbidden. "You don't really mean that."

"No, I don't. I promised her I would take her to the Kunlun mountains, I keep my promises."

Lan Tian shoots him a knowing look from the tail of his amber eyes. "I'm sure, that's the only reason."

Wu Yun doesn't deign him with an answer.

The forest stretches on forever, Wu Yun feels like he's been walking for an entire day, and the view hasn't changed. Lan Tian keeps marking up trees as they walk, but they have no idea where they're going. They've walked in a straight line for several li, they should have found something by now.

"I wish you'd leave," Lan Tian says.

Wu Yun turns to him in shock, but Lan Tian isn't even looking at him, just staring dazedly ahead, as he's been doing for the past hours. Wu Yun shakes his head, convinced that boredom and exhaustion are making him hear things.

"You've brought me nothing but trouble, this is all your fault," Lan Tian says again.

Wu Yun whips his head around and is met once again with Lan Tian's serious expression. "Why are you saying those things?"

Lan Tian gives him a questioning look. "I didn't say anything."

"I just heard you! You said you wanted me to leave and that all of this was my fault!"

Hearing those words in Lan Tian's voice hurts more than Wu Yun cares to admit. Something acidic and sour burns in his stomach, making him feel as if his insides are on fire. Bile burns the back of his throat and nose.

Having his own thoughts voiced like that by Lan Tian feels like a knife being wedged between his ribs.

"I didn't say anything, I promise you I didn't. I would never say those things," Lan Tian's voice is steadfast, and his amber eyes, when Wu Yun musters up the strength to look up at them, are brimming with tenderness.

Even seeing his earnestness Wu Yun flinches away when Lan Tian tries to touch his shoulder.

"Let's continue walking, I'm probably just tired."

He doesn't hear anything else for a while longer, and he has almost convinced himself he imagined the whole thing when a whisper makes the hair on the back of his neck stand on end.

"Wan Mi is probably dead, and it's your fault," the voice is Lan Tian's again, and it sounds sweet despite the cruelty of the words.

Wu Yun stops walking and closes his eyes. "Please stop," he whispers.

Lan Tian notices he's staying behind and turns around to ask, "What's wrong?"

Wu Yun doesn't even hear his question, instead: "Jiang Tanmei is never going to recover, and it's your fault too! Why weren't you strong enough to kill that Prince?" Lan Tian says again, his voice is so gentle and smooth, it's like being hit with rocks covered in silk.

He covers his ears with his palms, and bites down on his lower lip so hard it bleeds. He hopes that if he ignores the words they will just go away.

Lan Tian runs towards him and tries to pry his hands away from his ears. "Please tell me what's happening, I want to help you!"

Wu Yun refuses to dislodge his hands, and shuts his eyes tightly, trying to keep the voices away.

"Madam Ou died because of you! Because you thought you couldn't trust her to keep her mouth shut and not raise a panic in the village," Lan Tian goes on, listing all of Wu Yun's darkest thoughts as if he's reading them off his cracked open skull.

Lan Tian pulls Wu Yun against his chest. Instead of trying to get Wu Yun's hands away from his ears, this time he places his own over his. "Whatever you're hearing it's not real. Don't listen, please don't listen."

Wu Yun feels a warm chest under his cheek, but his mind is still struggling to keep away the cutting words wrapped in Lan Tian's silken voice, to register his presence.

"Old Ou is laid up on a bed, and he'll remain that way forever, because of you!"

Tears start streaming down Wu Yun's cheeks and the metallic copper tang of blood from his split lip fills his mouth.

Lan Tian runs his hand over Wu Yun's cheek, overwhelmed by the sorrow twisting his fine features into a mask of grief and pain. He can't stand seeing him like this, so overcome by an invisible enemy that Lan Tian can't help him fight.

"Open your eyes, please open your eyes." Lan Tian begs, while Wu Yun shakes his head, still trying to make the voices stop.

Lan Tian takes hold of his face, holding it between his palms like something precious. He touches his forehead to Wu Yun's, and whispers, "Open your eyes and look at me."

Wu Yun feels soft hands touching him, and despite his confusion, blinks away the tears and opens his eyes. He sees Lan Tian's amber eyes, startling close to his own. "I can't stand it, they're saying awful things and it sounds like you're saying them to me."

Lan Tian runs one hand through the loose strands of hair around Wu Yun's face. "Don't believe them, I would never say anything bad about you."

His words are so heartfelt, but Wu Yun still isn't sure if he can trust their kindness. "But what if they're saying the truth, and I only bring disaster to everyone around me?"

"Listen to me, I'm glad I met you. I don't regret meeting you, I don't even regret turning into a human, because you were by my side." Lan Tian says.

"Do you mean that?" Wu Yun asks, closing his eyes so Lan Tian won't be able to see the turmoil behind them.

Lan Tian rubs his nose against Wu Yun's and takes in a sharp intake of breath. "I swear it."

Wu Yun pulls away, the accusing voice has grown silent. He rubs at this eyes with his wide sleeves, feeling pathetic and embarrassed that some disembodied words borrowing the voice of someone he cherishes could break him so completely.

He looks up at Lan Tian, his amber eyes brimming with worry, and tries to sketch a smile for his benefit, it pulls at his tender bottom lip, and stains it crimson with fresh blood.

Lan Tian looks down at the red tails of Wu Yun's sharp eyes, and his bloody lips, and can't help thinking he has never looked more beautiful. He's instantly overwhelmed with guilt over having such indulgent and shameful thoughts, when just moments ago Wu Yun was in distress.

He tears his eyes away, looking at the hem of Wu Yun's robe where he hopes he won't notice any charming, tear-stained, features.

"Can you pretend nothing of this happened?" Wu Yun says, still mortified at his own weakness. "We can just blame it on this horrible forest."

Lan Tian doesn't want any lingering unease between them, and is quick to assent. "Let's focus on finding Wan Mi and getting out of here."

Wu Yun considers making another quip about leaving her behind, but the memory of those ruthless words makes the joke die on his lips.

Instead he says, "I'm going to kill whoever created this cursed secret dimension."