It was dark. Profoundly dark. Darker than black. Darker than time.

The darkness moved, circling in a burning vortex, pressing closer all the time.

Frozen motionless in his mind's eye, Wei WuXian was unable to stir. No escape to be found. Unable to leave. The darkness could not be stopped nor pierced.

Wei WuXian's body was frozen in place, an unyielding block of ice. No muscle could move. Not a finger could twitch. He didn't feel he was breathing. The cold was absolute and all-encompassing.

The wind picked up, buffeted him where he crouched. Despite the agony of the deep freeze within his tissues, the wind roared as a furnace, fiery air blasting around him in the dreamscape. Heat as deep as the cold that froze him in place. Two absolutes, fire and ice, that were so entirely at their limit they seemed to become one, the pain from either indistinguishable from the other.

Where am I?

Voices.

Many voices. So very many voices. Old and young. Fresh and faint. Gravelly, spring-like, croaking or lilting. Too many voices. All at once. Impossible to understand.

Emotion. So much intensity. A devastation of want. Of intent. Of pressure. Of determination. For what?

What is happening?

What wants to happen?

Can't breathe. Too cold. Too hot. Too windy. Too terrifying. Too much. Too everything.

"L... L... L... Lan Zhan!"

Many useless efforts and finally a dry throat screaming a terrified call had Lan WangJi folding Wei WuXian into his arms immediately, warm and safe and strong and loving.

"Wei Ying. I am here."

"Lan Zhan Lan Zhan Lan Zhan. Er-Gege. My HanGuang-Jun." Hands shaking and barely under control reached for Lan Zhan's warm body, shocking him with their iciness. Wei WuXian's cracked voice whispered, barely audible, "I am so glad you are here. That one...that was the worst yet. I couldn't see anything. It hurt, my love, it hurt so much..." He cried softly for a moment, as Lan Zhan rocked him gently within the safety of his embrace.

"They wanted something."

"Who?"

"I... I don't know."

"What?"

"I don't know."

Lan WangJi's warm arms and stroking hands soothed Wei WuXian. Racing hearts gradually slowed and eventually Lan WangJi was able to coax Wei WuXian to lay back again, to rest above his heart, the steady beating lulling his racing pulse. Finally, sleep overtook them once more.

The nightmare repeated the following night, as it now did every night.

Always the encompassing dark, the fiery wind yet frozen body and voice after voice, calling. Asking? Telling? Alone. So utterly alone. The dark became impossibly darker and the cold yet more infinite. The wind whipped like invisible fire around him. There was no comfort. There was need in the voices now, heard in their unintelligible mutterings. And an indescribable, exquisite agony deep within Wei WuXian's centre, far beyond pain.

By now Wei WuXian actively avoided sleep. He had dark shadows beneath his eyes, which Lan Zhan grieved to see. His appetite was failing with his growing exhaustion, but his enthusiasm for the hunt still rose and he loved his days in the Library, chasing information. Often at night he would wait until Lan Zhan was asleep, then go back to work at the desk in the Jingshi, still tinkering with a permanent silencing spell or going through the day's notes from his research.

Time passed, as it always will, and now they counted in weeks how long Lan QiRen had been in stasis. Healer Zhang stopped giving regular updates as there was never any change. He promised to send word if there was any news and so saved the messenger the long walk between the Hanshi and the Cold Cavern.

One evening, during their regular meeting, Wei WuXian offered a small spark of hope to the Twin Jades.

"We received some records from a larger Family today that look promising. At one time they were apparently a minor Clan, but things did not go well for them, and the Wen depredations signalled their end. Wang Xiu and I found some leads we're going to follow up in the morning. It seems they experienced an unusual Qi deviation, and we hope to learn more about non-standard deviations."

"Thank you, WuXian," said Lan XiChen. "It's good to have any hope at all these days. Uncle has been in stasis so long and hope is what can keep us going. I'm starting to worry about you, though. You aren't looking well. Is everything alright?

Wei WuXian exchanged a swift glance with Lan WangJi, pasted a bright smile on his face, and gave a quick laugh.

"Of course, everything's great with me! I'm probably just up too late reading. The old records are quite fascinating, you know! Some of the stories – oh my! We asked for Qi deviation tales alone but the anonymity and getting things up from the shadows seems to have inspired some people to include everything they've ever concealed. People being what they are, it's hard to stop reading some nights at all!" Thus, Wei WuXian deflected Lan XiChen's concern, as he hoped to ease one small part of his burden.

Back at the Jingshi later that evening, Lan WangJi took a hard look at his husband while they changed into their night robes.

Wei WuXian was definitely getting thinner, and he had no spare flesh from the start. His ribs were now clearly visible and his hipbones more prominent. Was it the skinniness of his body that made him look just a bit taller? His very fingers were slimmer, making them seem impossibly long. The dark circles under his eyes were clearly visible. And was that a wince?

"Wei Ying. What's wrong?"

"Hmm? Oh, nothing, nothing, my love. I just seem to have an...uhhhnnn" Wei WuXian groaned as he was interrupted by a surge of pain, sending him to his knees.

Lan WangJi was immediately beside him, lifting him to their bed, running his hands over his body to check for injuries.

"That is not nothing, Wei Ying. What happened?"

Breathing deeply to ward off the last of the fading agony, Wei WuXian replied "I don't know what it is, Lan Zhan. I'd tell you if I could. It's just a fleeting thing, my dear, a moment of pain, no more. Perhaps it's because I am too short on sleep. Or perhaps because I find food unappealing of late. No matter. It will pass."

Wei WuXian looked at Lan WangJi, whose deep concern was visible in his eyes. "My husband, it's already passing. I can't bear you to look at me with those eyes. It's nothing, really. Won't you come to bed? It's time to retire and I want your kisses to comfort me if a nightmare should visit tonight."

The lovemaking was more tender than usual that night. The men had kept their promise of everyday and the days and weeks that passed had found their hearts and bodies ever more closely attuned. The oil worked wonders and any pain during their coming together was now solely the deliberate and welcomed pain of mutual desire, markings given and received from each other. Lan WangJi was determined to love his Wei WuXian clear into sleep and safeguard him from nightmares as best he was able, little enough though that was. Wei WuXian, for his part, was determined to keep Lan WangJi from worry and did his best to prove he was alright.

That night the nightmare intensified.

Once more a frozen Wei WuXian was hunkered down alone, feeling as if ice pierced his very soul, while a wind born of fire raged, encircling him in a whirlwind of pure heat, incinerating the very air he needed to breath. The voices were back, more closely aligned now, almost intelligible. They were speaking – speaking to him? What were they saying? He couldn't tell, couldn't hear, couldn't move, trapped within the moment that felt so real and so endless. Feelings brushed across his frozen skin, fed into him, drifted over his heart. Sorrow. Regret. Love. A resurgence of the sorrow and love. Regret, growing stronger, until it overwhelmed, and Wei WuXian passed out from the intensity, both in his nightmare and in his sleep.

Lan WangJi had been alert for some time, monitoring the soft sounds and movements of his husband as the nightmare took him. When the movements became thrashing and the cries rang out, only to stop abruptly, he sat up, alarmed. Lighting the candles, he looked at Wei WuXian, breathing raggedly, his hair glued to the sweat around his face, his robes tangled and caught about his limbs.

"Wei Ying?"

No response. Lan WangJi fetched a small basin of water and a soft cloth. Gently he cleaned his husband's face, his neck, his hands, and untangled hair and robes. Finally, he was rewarded with a small sigh, and Wei WuXian opened his eyes.

"Lan Zhan, Lan Zhan, you are too good to this feeble man, yeah? You are too good..." and an exhausted Wei WuXian fell into sleep.

After checking that it was a natural sleep, and Wei WuXian was breathing well, Lan WangJi put away the basin and cloth. He climbed back into bed, drawing Wei WuXian into his arms as always and pressed a gentle kiss to his forehead.

"Nothing is too good for Wei Ying."