[ closed post: the sun shines brightly ]

[lightbearinglord]

It has been a strange handful of weeks, but Lan Wangji can accept strange far more easily than he could accept the pain that rippled inexorably outward from Shen Yuan's death, seeming to leave no one untouched. The parade of visitors was unusual, and thought-provoking, but not painful. Lan Wangji enjoyed meeting most of them. Even Galahad, whose empty politeness made him feel hollow in turn -- there was a quiet satisfaction in bringing him to the rabbits and watching his stunned expression at the simple joy of holding something small and vulnerable and trusting.

As for himself, the memories are so abstract as to be incomprehensible. There is something there, enough something to assure him that Aornis had no hand in this specific strangeness. But he can barely grasp at the details. He remembers embracing Magnus, but that signifies nothing out of the ordinary. He remembers sparring with Gideon; he remembers that he needs to ask Sagramore for fresh poetry. He remembers the loss of Wei Ying, newer and crueler than it typically is these days, but when he came back to himself the next morning, Wei Ying was there, his head tucked beneath Lan Wangji's chin and his ankle hooked around Lan Wangji's hip.

The least enjoyable of his encounters, at the least, provided him with something important. He has not removed the locket from his qiankun pouch. He wants to waste no time in bringing it to its intended recipient. He performs the first of his morning routines -- his meditation, his patrol, Wei Ying's breakfast -- and then goes to look for Magnus at the camp.

Comments

[summerdude]

Magnus lifts his head and grins. "Hanguang-jun!" he says. "Come on up!"

[lightbearinglord]

He recognized Magnus as the correct Magnus straightaway, but a little warm relief blossoms in Lan Wangji's chest regardless. As instructed, he leaps onto the trampoline -- which, of course, despite all his cultivation-directed efforts to land lightly and with dignity, sends him much higher than he intended in answer to his weight. There is nothing for it but to cross his legs midair and let himself bounce several times until it finally subsides back into stillness and he is sitting, slightly ruffled.

[summerdude]

Magnus cackles and hauls himself up once the bouncing subsides so that he can lean against him. "What's up, du--sir--Hanguang-jun?" he asks. "Isn't it, like, Galahad training time? Is everything okay?"

[lightbearinglord]

"I asked Galahad to wait today. I needed to speak with you." For several reasons. There is one practical reason that serves as an excuse for the reshuffling of the routine, but he also needed to see Magnus back to himself, an almost visceral need that he is grateful to have met so quickly. He folds an arm around Magnus and squeezes him lightly.

[summerdude]

"Is everything okay? Is it--" Magnus does a single-hand version of the name-sign they'd come up with to refer to Aornis. He's not asking with a huge amount of urgency? Hanguang-jun probably wouldn't be cuddling him if it was urgent.

[lightbearinglord]

"No," Lan Wangji says. He hesitates, but not for very long. "Do you recall who you were the other day?"

[summerdude]

"Who I was?" Magnus frowns. "Do you mean, like -- wait. Did I have an Evil Twin too?" He'd thought, since he'd met some others in the second round and Alex didn't mention anything, that meant he'd avoided it.

[lightbearinglord]

"You were not evil," Lan Wangji says, a little bemused, "but yes." He gives Magnus a second gentle squeeze. "You were much older than me. You had never given up fighting."

[summerdude]

"Most of the Evil Twins weren't evil," Magnus says. "So, what. My evil twin was just, like, Normal Mode Magnus?"

[lightbearinglord]

"No." And a second hesitation, too, as Lan Wangji tries to think of how to describe the other Magnus without coming across as unkind or petulant. "He was centuries older than me. It had made him calmer and quieter. It was evident that he saw me as a child."

[summerdude]

"Okay, that's weird," frowning.

[lightbearinglord]

"It was weird," Lan Wangji agrees, with the gravity that means he agrees fervently, "and unpleasant." He likes Magnus as he is -- loves him as he is. He loves his clumsy enthusiasm and the way that even years of cyclical death in Valhalla have not dimmed his brightness. "But he gave me something to pass to you."

[summerdude]

"Was he, like... fading?" Magnus is asking, when Lan Wangji's follow-up sentence registers. "What? He what?"

[lightbearinglord]

Lan Wangji doesn't know the answer to that question -- he thinks not, but how could he be certain? So he doesn't answer it. He takes his arm back from around Magnus, but only so that he can pluck his qiankun pouch from his waist, pull it open by the strings, and slip his hand inside. The locket is near the top still, just past the note from Claudius that is still pinned to the mouth of the bag, and easy to identify by its texture. He presses it into Magnus' palm.

[summerdude]

"What's--" Magnus asks, hand closing automatically around the object. The chain slips through his fingers, and his eyes widen. He brings the locket close to his face, running his fingertips over the little etched whorls on the side, speechless.

[lightbearinglord]

Lan Wangji doesn't speak. There seems to be nothing to say. He has already traveled the path in his mind that asks how he would feel if he received a similar memento of his own mother. He has already thought, at length, about Natalie Chase and how much she loved Magnus, not to mention how much Magnus loved her. He puts a hand at Magnus' back, solid between his shoulder blades, and watches him quietly.

[summerdude]

He slides his thumb against the catch and lets the locket fall open, staring. His breath catches, and he slams it shut, clutching it against his heart.

[lightbearinglord]

There is more that Lan Wangji needs to tell him, but he doesn't want to rush this moment for Magnus. He rubs his back, stays silent, and waits to see if he needs anything.

[summerdude]

"He gave you this?" Magnus asks, voice breaking.

[lightbearinglord]

"Yes. He has seen your mother more than once."

[summerdude]

"Where? How?"

[lightbearinglord]

He takes a moment to recollect what the other Magnus told him. "The first time, on the Bragi quest," he repeats, "a decade into his time in Valhalla."

[summerdude]

Magnus is quiet for a long, long moment. "I was getting ready to start that when I came here," he whispers.

[lightbearinglord]

Lan Wangji goes cold, but doesn't allow himself to visibly react. His hand stills at Magnus' back without leaving its place. His instinct is to be silent again, but he also doesn't want to leave Magnus in that silence with this, so he continues: "I asked if you would still see her here. He said that prophecies tend to find ways to come true."

[summerdude]

"They do," Magnus sighs.