Ok I'm on break, finally catching up on months of sleep debt, so it is time for: fic crimes.

So: Orpheus and Eurydice AU, in which LWJ is Eurydice, WWX is an unhinged Orpheus, and Hua Cheng cameos as Hades. LET'S GO.

LWJ dies. It doesn't matter how (a curse, a simple curse), or when (a revoltingly sunny day), or who did it (dead, long dead). All that matters is this: LWJ, unnaturally cold and still in WWX's arms. Dead, his soul trapped in hell bc WWX was too stupid, too slow, too weak.

His first life belonged to the Jiangs. WWX had repaid them with bloody destruction and the sacrifice of the best of what he had to give. His second life belongs to LWJ, and he'd vowed that he would never repeat his mistakes.

And yet. LWJ is dead, and WWX still draws breath.

He doesn't take LWJ's body back to Gusu for burial. He wraps LWJ in talismans to protect him from decay, and summons Wen Ning. Their bond holds true. Wen Ning comes.

They find nothing in the Cloud Recesses library, even in the forbidden section. So they go to Qishan instead.

The Wen library is older than the Lans', with less consideration to the... orthodoxy of its texts. During the war, Nightless City was looted to a skeletal husk. But the looters didn't get everything, Wen Ning says. The deepest treasures remain hidden, and open only for Wen blood.

And a dead Wen is still a Wen.

Here, they find the curse, and they find options. A trapped soul cannot enter the reincarnation cycle. Cannot be summoned using Inquiry, or connected using Empathy. But a trapped soul can be retrieved. If the retriever is willing to make the trip.

In the Burial Mounds, the barrier between life and death is gossamer-thin. WWX places LWJ's body inside a protection array, with Wen Ning as guard, and follows the paths of the dead.

At the gates of the underworld, he is refused entry. He expected that, and takes out Chenqing.

(Imagine being the poor guard on duty that day, just minding his own business. Then up rolls this murder twink who goes full Inanna/Ishtar at the Gates of the Underworld on him) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inanna#:~:text=Inanna%2FIshtar's%20most%20famous%20myth,of%20the%20Underworld%20and%20struck

Guard: look, I'm just doing my job
WWX: If you do not open the gate for me to come in,
I shall smash the door and shatter the bolt,
I shall smash the doorpost and overturn the doors,
I shall raise up the dead and they shall eat the living:
And the dead shall outnumber the living!

Guard: ......... ok go in, jeez.

WWX enters the underworld and immediately realizes that he might have miscalculated. In the living world, resentful energy was something feared, and his use of it had horrified and appalled everyone around him. But here, resentful energy is everywhere, in the air, under his feet.

In the underworld, the resentful energy obeys other masters.

It doesn't matter. He's come too far to turn back now. He keeps going, through the levels of hell (he can't help listening for LWJ's voice among the screams, and is sick with relief when he doesn't hear it).

(Lan Zhan is good, so good; even in hell, his soul would shine like a noon-day sun, too bright for anyone to touch)

In the heart of the underworld, WWX meets its ruler, the Ghost King. He slouches on his throne, looking distinctly unimpressed. "Why are you here, mortal?"

"I am here to retrieve the soul of my beloved," WWX says.

The gathered dead jeer at him. The Ghost King does not. "Everyone here is someone's beloved," he says dismissively. "Why should yours get to cheat death?"

There's a lot WWX can say. That LWJ is the best that humanity has to offer, and deserves more than an ignoble death. That WWX loves him, the way parched earth loves rain, the way green loves love sunlight. That after all they'd suffered, they deserve more time.

He says none of those things. Instead, he straightens his spine, lifts his head, and says, "Because *I* am here to retrieve him."

Now the Ghost King laughs. "You? You have no power here. No allies. No great merits to your name." He leans forward, his one-eyed gaze piercing.

"I know who you are, Wei Wuxian. I know what you have done."

Suddenly, there is weight on WWX's neck. His power sluices away like rainwater, leaving him naked and unarmed. A low growl echoes in the space behind him, the sort that comes with sharp claws and devouring teeth.

Terror comes alive in WWX's heart, a thrashing thing that slams against his ribs.

"Consider it mercy," the Ghost King says, with a voice that WWX can feel in his bones, "that now is not your time of dying. Leave."

The pressure fades. The terror behind him recedes.

WWX is shaking all over. It takes effort to raise his arms before him, to stop the chattering of his teeth. "Wei Ying. Wei Ying gives thanks for this mercy. And regrets that he cannot accept."

The room goes silent. "I could kill you," the Ghost King says, almost conversational.

WWX smiles crookedly. "Then Wei Ying gives thanks that he is allowed to stay, to continue searching for his beloved."

The Ghost King smiles too, with teeth. "I could kill him. Shatter his soul into a thousand pieces."

New fear ices WWX's heart. But he knows this game now. Knows how to play it, if not how to win.

"Then Wei Ying gives thanks that the Ghost King would tell him how many pieces there are, so that he would not miss one."

The Ghost King stares at him. And then starts to laugh.

"All right," the Ghost King says. "Let's have a gamble, shall we?"

The deal is this: WWX has one chance to retrieve LWJ's soul. But a curse-trapped soul isn't easy to find, and to get to it, he'll need to pass through three trials: one of pain, one of patience, one of faith. Lose, well.

The Ghost King waves a hand, and a scale appears.

"Make your bet," he says, nodding at the scale.

"What do I bet?"

The Ghost King shrugs. "Something that matters to you -- not your life," he adds, when WWX opens his mouth. "I said something that MATTERS to you. You'll know when it's enough."

WWX considers this. He has no possessions to offer, no knowledge that would interest someone like the Ghost King.

But the Ghost King said: something that matters to HIM. Something whose loss would hurt.

In the underworld, the spirit takes on physical form. As does memory.

It's how the Ghost King was able to carve terror from WWX's mind.

He does the same now, cracks himself open and scoops out the woodsy scent of LWJ's skin, the cool silk of his hair, the taste of his kiss. He places it all on the scale.

It moves, but doesn't balance. Not enough

He takes out more -- LWJ's small, radiant smile, the music of his laughter, the warmth of his gaze, the utter safety of his hands.

The perfect way they fit together, two halves of a whole, finding home in each other's hearts.

Still not enough.

He digs deeper still, and finds, at the core of him, something shining, flawless, untainted by grief and loss. A fall, and arms coming up to catch him, erasing all memory of pain from every other fall he'd ever had before this. The soul-deep certainty that he'd never fall again.

The scales balance.

When he looks up, the Ghost King is gazing back at him, expression thoughtful.

Then he reaches into a pocket and tosses WWX a compass. "Follow it."

WWX drops to his knees in the easiest bow he's ever made. "Eternal gratitude, your majesty."

The Ghost King snorts, then looks away in obvious dismissal. WWX bows once more, then gets up and backs away, head lowered, hands still clasped before him.

He turns when he's he's halfway across the room. His clothes return to him as he continues to walk, following the compass.

At the threshold of the throne room, he feels a gentle brush against his ear.

"For what it's worth," comes the Ghost King's voice, "good luck."

(HC totally goes home to XL and is like "Dianxia, you would not BELIEVE what happened today" and tells XL about the whole thing with WWX, and XL goes all starry-eyed and like "You see, San Lang, there are people in the world who are good and true" and HC grumps, "Yeah I GUESS")

Breaking for dinner! TBC later this evening