Leo's Brainrot

A throwaway place for various ideas I'll likely never get around to writing. Find me on Ao3!

[leopeiros]

The One in Which Time Travel, but.. Wrong?

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coming back for another MDZS au that may or may not border on crack taken seriously. I’ve probably gotta stop doing this, but it’s far too fun.

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When Wei Wuxian dies, the resentment he once controlled turning against him and cannibalizing his body, mind and spirit, he does not expect anything other than.. well, he does not quite know. Perhaps he expected to be able to finally rest, sung to sleep by his failures, but resting nonetheless. He does not think there is an afterlife for him, chock full of resentment as he is. He does not think he would be able to reach it, tethered instead to the very grounds of the burial mounds he’d tried so hard to escape the first time he found himself there.

He does not know what he was expecting, truly. But he knows it was not this.

Lotus Pier looks identical to his memories, a snapshot in time. They had tried to rebuild it as close as possible, but there were still details that slipped through the cracks. Not like this. It stands before him, bold and immeasurable, exactly as it once was.

There’s a gentle knock on the door to his room, and Jiang Yanli- his Shijie, who’d been dead in his arms mere days prior, slips through. There is a bowl of lotus root and pork rib soup resting on the tray in her arms, and it’s almost too much to take in. When he looks at her, it almost feels as though he’s looking through her.

“A-Xian, how are you feeling today? I know the healers came by earlier, but I’d like to see you myself.” She sets the tray by his bedside and looks to him, eyes sad but hopeful.

When he does not respond, she doesn’t sigh, but it is a near thing, he can tell.

Jiang Yanli- Shijie- he does not know what to call her, this sister whose corpse he knows the shape of, the feel of it in his arms -brushes a hand against his forehead, frowning at the heat that still lingers.

When he first awoke in this time long passed, it had been to raging fire that coursed through his veins, boiling him alive from the inside out. His golden core, that once familiar presence in his chest now achingly foreign, sputtered and fought and tried with all its might to soothe the sensation that held him deep within its grasp. The healers that visit him have talked among themselves when they thought him asleep, and they are grim when they whisper that the strength of his core is the only reason he still remains alive, and even then only because Jiang Cheng had experienced such a churning sensation of dread that he’d crept to his brother’s room in the dead of night to assure himself of his well-being. Had his condition not been discovered until the daytime, he likely would not have pulled through.

He’d had the time to think on it, after it all stopped feeling like a cruel dream. It must have been the resentment flooding into his younger body that caused it. After all, the only reason he could control it as well as he did was due to his lack of golden core. Lan Zhan was right in one thing, resentment does not mix well with one’s core. The stronger the core, the worse the effects once flooded with resentment, as the core tries with all its might to purge itself of the foreign energy. The resentment had mostly dissipated by the time Jiang Cheng had discovered his state, leaving behind only the side-effects of its presence. He knows this because it would have been commented on had it remained.

Even now, close to two weeks after the whole ordeal, he is on strict orders of bed rest. At least until the lingering fever abates. The healers aren’t sure his core will recover from the damage it wrought on itself, though they’re starting to become more hopeful as his condition steadily improves.

He has no doubt that it will. It’s survived much worse than this, even if those things haven’t yet happened. It was a core that rebuilt a sect, after all. Even if it wasn’t his anymore by that point in time.

(it survived being torn from his chest despite the fifty fifty odds, after all.)

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Wei Wuxian gets sent to the past after his death in the Burial Mounds.

It is a gift, but also a curse. Why hand him a good thing when he’s already given up? When all he sees when he looks at these people are their corpses? He does his best to work with what he’s got, but it drains him. Living amongst these people he’s already mourned.

He improves what he can, with what limited information he has on hand. Tinkers with Yunmeng Jiang’s defences to ensure it will never have to fall, introduces countless talismans he’d invented in the former future, and gets to work recreating both his compass of evil and the spirit attraction flags.

But in his heart of hearts, he knows he cannot stay.

And so when it comes time for the indoctrination camp, he prepares to disappear. He places a tracking talisman on Suibian, layering a concealment talisman on top to obscure it. He goes through the motions, letting things go relatively the same as last time, but this time around making sure to draw attention to the fact that with a broken leg, Lan Zhan wouldn’t be able to swim very well. He suggests having one of Yunmeng Jiang’s disciples help swim him out, as their sect has some of the strongest swimmers.

This time, when the Xuanwu awakes, Wei Wuxian is alone in facing it.

When rescue inevitably comes, there is a dead Xuanwu, and no sign of Wei Wuxian.

Two weeks later, the swords stolen from the disciples at the indoctrination camp are quietly delivered back to their sects. When questioned, nobody saw anyone out of the ordinary. It is a mystery that remains unsolved.

Some time after, the threat of the Wens quietly fizzles out as the main branch begins to disappear one by one until at last Wen Rouhan fades out of the public eye. His presumed death is made official four days later when a distant cousin ascends to the position of Sect Leader.

The downfall of the main branch remains another unsolved mystery.

(a month after that, a nameless inventor begins being whispered of; a genius former cultivator who utilizes his power to help the common people.)

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When Wei Wuxian is summoned into a body not his own, bloody array beneath him, his first thought is not of revival.

His first thought, rather, is an aching why must I always be interrupted in the middle of inventing before he finally takes stock of his surroundings.

And that’s when the chaos begins.

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Mo Xuanyu, when he bleeds his last and closes his eyes, does not know what will await him. He knows it is death, knows this to be a finality. But he does not know if it will be kind. Perhaps he’d be content just to rest, knowing revenge will be had.

He does not know what he was expecting, truly, but he knows it was not this.

Here he exists, in a body not his own, secluded within a ragged cabin on a mountain. Pages upon pages of scribbled notes and diagrams and arrays surround him, and.. he recognizes some of them. He’s seen some of these before, in the same place he’d found the array he’d utilized to bring the Yiling Patriarch back into the world. These notes, however, look far more refined than what he now recognizes had been merely prototypes and thought experiments.

The biggest difference he notes the moment he gets his bearings about him, is the golden core in this body. It is infinitely more powerful than his own, which means this person has to have started cultivating from a young age. There is an odd scar on it, of a wound to this core that has since been healed as much as it possibly could. It is interesting in part because Mo Xuanyu has never heard of something that could injure a golden core, aside from the brief mentions of Wen Zhuliu he’d come across in the odd scroll or two.

Taking another look around the cabin, Mo Xuanyu can only wonder what on earth he’d gotten himself into, and despair his horrid luck.

Was it too much to ask for to just be able to rest??

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Wwx ends up staying in the original timeline after he’s brought back, and things generally stick to canon there. He’s not too upset about this considering he didn’t truly feel like he belonged in the alternate timeline. Mxy, on the other hand, is having the time of his life running from everybody who seems to recognize the body he’s inhabiting. And what’s this about him being Wei Wuxian?? Wasn’t he supposed to be ugly??

this turned more into an excerpt than an outline, but oh well. this blog isn’t here for consistency, after all. 

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[leopeiros]

Dick Grayson, and Love.

I’ve been having thoughts. Thoughts about Spyral and Dick and having your heart stopped in your chest. About the damage that can do. Thoughts about Dick, surviving Spyral by the skin of his teeth, all to get back home.

Thoughts about a heart too weak to continue as a vigilante. Thoughts about if he’d ever tell anyone why he stopped.

Dick Grayson loves. Wholly and unabashed, unafraid of anyone who might witness. He loves, because what is worth a life without it? It burns his insides to embers with its intensity, rebirthing itself anew with every little interaction he has with the people he surrounds around himself. He does not mask the adoration in his eyes when he looks at his family or his friends or his lovers, does not hide how they soften every time he looks their way. He loves, because life bereft of it is a lonely, hollowing ache. Because life without barely counts as living at all. 

He learns all of his favourite people’s favourite things, because what else should his memory be used for if not for them? He learns them the way he learns the trapeze, watching and loving and wishing with all of his heart to share in the joy it brings. He learns with no net to catch him, ensconced in the knowledge that he does not need one, not when there are reaching arms waiting to clasp around him should he falter.

It swallows him whole, love. And he does not fight it, not even when it scorches his body and leaves scars on his skin. He does not fight it, even when hugs he is given start to feel like restraints, or when the rain brings the ghost of a woman who wanted too much of him. He does not fight the way it consumes him, because why would he? 

He refuses to shield his heart out of fear that people might hurt it. If they are to hurt it, they are to witness it first. Look it in the eyes and see how it sings. 

He has danced with Donna in his living room to music from a thrifted vintage gramophone, cooked cultural dishes for Wally on his stove, and slept away nightmares with Roy on his bed. He keeps photographs of his friends in every room. There’s a sweater Kori gifted him in his closet for the days where the rain is too much to bear, there are candles from Raven littered around the apartment, and he lights them when he burns his dinner and needs to clear the scent. There’s a tea set Alfred gifted him that he brings out when the man drops by, and he makes sure to keep all of Damian’s favourite snacks in the fridge. The couch is stained with Jason’s blood from where he popped open his stitches laughing too hard at the show they were watching. Tim’s favourite brand of coffee is stocked in moderation, alongside a calming tea for when he needs to coax his brother to sleep. Bottles of nail polish are strewn about his bathroom for whenever Steph pops by to visit, and Cass left behind a pair of ballerina shoes the last time she dropped by.

He calls Bruce on both bad days and good, secure in the knowledge that he will always pick up the phone unless physically incapable, and if he physically cannot, he will have Alfred answer it and talk to him anyway. 

He loves, and he loves, and he loves. 

He loves, and he does not cower behind his hate. There is no time for that, not when that time could be spent loving instead. 

It spills out of his lips like a prayer, said to anyone who will listen. I love you, I love you, I love you— and it follows him like an echo. It follows in every hug he is offered, every stitch in his skin; every joke he is told, every letter of his name. It is in his muscles, trained for a circus that travels the globe. It is in his veins, bleeding for a city he calls home. It is in his bones, that he breaks in defence of those he calls his own. 

It is in his every action, every word that he says. 

He is love, because what else could he be? What else would he ever want to be?

It is first word of every new language he learns, because he learns for the people he loves. He learns Arabic for Damian, Tamaranian for Kori, Kryptonian for Clark and Kon and Jon. All to say I love you in the most sincere way he can manage. 

There will never be enough words in any of the languages he knows that could describe his love for the people around him. 

But it doesn’t need to be described. 

It is witnessed. 

By every person he loves, and who loves him in turn. 

So Donna will dance with Dick in his living room, and Wally will watch Dick cook his cultural recipes until he learns how to cook them for him. Roy will drop in whenever Dick calls with ghosts in his dreams and tears in his eyes. Kori will listen when Dick opens up about grasping hands and recount stories of her own in a quiet solidarity, and Raven will gift him more candles when the others are used down to the ends of the wick. Alfred will schedule a visit at least once a month to make sure Dick is taking good care of himself, and he will shoo away his hands when they reach to brew the tea. Damian will burst in unannounced and demand he be taken to the zoo he knows Zitka now calls home, and pointedly ignore the well-worn parenting books Dick had bought when he first started taking care of him. Jason drops by whenever he’s too injured to patrol so Dick can have eyes on him and not fret like a worried mother-hen. Tim curls up on the couch with a cup half-filled with calming tea on the coffee table, and snuggles into his brother’s arms when he carries him into the guest room. Stephanie lounges on the floor and looks up increasingly more complicated nail art tutorials for Dick to follow, and Cass shows him every new dance move she learns. 

He is love. He is love and he is loved. 

And there is nothing else he’d rather be. 

So he will sing to the plants he keeps in his apartment, and he will get tips from Ivy on how to keep them healthy. So he will dance while he cooks, and laugh when his socked feet cause him to slip and fall on the floor, and his lunch ends up caked to the ceiling. So he will sing and he will dance and he will laugh because what more is there to do? So he will cry and taste his tears and think of the ocean that shares their flavour, and he will find beauty in it because what else is there to learn from that? So he will love with everything he has, because why else is he here, if not to love?

What would be the point?

To be born in a world so beautiful, filled with so many unique people, and not love?

What would be the point?

Life is beautiful and painful and far too short not to love with everything he has. 

Love; that burns him up

Love; that burrows inside

Love; that he shares, willing and freely

Love; because what else could be the point?

(Love; that is flowers on a gravestone.)

(Love; that is irony.)

(Love; that is far too strong for a heart so weak.)

(Dick Grayson, strapped to a bomb, heart stopped in his chest.)

(It returned, but it skipped and it stuttered.)

(Dick Grayson returns from Spyral with a heartbeat that doesn’t know where it begins and where it ends.)

(Dick Grayson returns to Gotham.)

(Nightwing remains a suit in a case.)

(Dick Grayson loves wholly and unashamed, because he does not have time to do anything but.)

(He loves, and he loves, and he utters a word to absolutely no one.)

(Dick Grayson sits alone in a hospital, listening to a doctor tell him his heart could stop at any time.)

(Dick Grayson, who decides if it must stop, it will stop while it is busy loving the people around him.)

(Because what else, really, would life be for?)

[leopeiros]

Merlin, but Voltron

Both my Merlin and Voltron fixations returned simultaneously, so what better way to feed them than to detail out an entire Voltron au for Merlin. (BBC Merlin)

Main Roles

Protagonists

Firstly, Merlin and Gaius are taking the role of Allura and Coran respectively. Balinor, therefore, takes the place of King Alfor.

Arthur takes the place of Shiro as paladin of the Black Lion.

Gwaine swaps with Keith, piloting the Red Lion.

Lancelot becomes the pilot of the Blue Lion. (this one made me giggle a bit)

Leon, Elyan, and Percival, unfortunately for all those who enjoy them, are getting sidelined at the current moment. Mostly because there's three of them and only two lions to juggle between them, and I can't accurately assess their characters well enough to chose who would get which. (jokingly, i considered making them the mice)

The Green Lion instead goes to our lovely lady Morgana.

Meaning the Yellow Lion goes to Gwen, the most rational person now in space.

Antagonists

This gets a little more.. vague, than I'd prefer, mostly because the antagonists of the BBC Merlin series are a tad more spread out than a single race or kingdom/empire. Therefore, while Zarkon is still the predominant threat of the au, his generals and whatnot will be antagonists recognizable from BBC Merlin.

Backstories

Merlin

Merlin was the illegitimate, and only, child of King Balinor. He was recognized into the family the moment his father learned of his existence. Merlin was born with the same incredible talent for manipulating and controlling quintessence as his father. But with his father busy most of the time, he was mostly taught to control these powers by one of his father's most trusted advisors; Gaius. When the war began, Balinor put Merlin in stasis against his will to keep him safe before scattering the Lions across space.

Arthur

Arthur grew up with his mother and father. His father, Uther, was the primary benefactor of the Galaxy Garrison location that Arthur attends. His mother, meanwhile, was a talented pilot before she and her crew went missing during a space mission gone awry. After this incident, Uther pulled his funding near-immediately, and was the main reason behind the coverup, having pushed for the Garrison to look as little into the disappearance as possible and to instead mark it as pilot error. Arthur, snooping inside of his father's study one day, discovered this tidbit of information. Wanting to figure out the reason behind his mother's disappearance, he enrolled in the Galaxy Garrison behind his father's back.

Guinevere 

Gwen began attending the Galaxy Garrison after her brother, Elyan, went missing on a mission to space. She had suspicions that the Garrison was involved in covering up what truly occurred, or at least willfully conducted a shoddy investigation. She enlisted the help of her childhood friend, Morgana, to help her investigate.

Morgana, Gwaine, & Lancelot

Ward of Uther Pendragon, Morgana began investigating both the man and the Garrison at the request of her childhood friend, Guinevere.

Regarding Gwaine and Lancelot, I have no real backstory for them yet, considering I'm making this up as I go at an ungodly time of night. Might try and figure out something for them later, but no promises on that front.

Miscellaneous Info

Morgana's mother, Vivienne, is Altean. She was not on Altea when it was destroyed. She was initially captured by Galra soldiers, but one took a liking to her and hid her away. When they were close to being found out, her Galra lover put her into stasis to hopefully be freed when the war was over. He then died creating a diversion away from where she was hidden. Unbeknownst to both of them, she was pregnant when she was put into stasis. Bla bla, Morgause is born. Morgause is taken in by Haggar as she shows great potential. Vivienne later flees and crash lands on earth where she meets Uther Pendragon after disguising herself as human. Affair occurs, Vivienne gets pregnant with Morgana. After Morgana is born, Vivienne admits to Uther that she isn't human, and Uther doesn't take it well. He hands her over to the Galaxy Garrison for research purposes, but does not reveal that he had a child with her. She probably dies while with the Garrison, idk.

Mordred will probably be an Altean/Galra hybrid as well.

Ygraine and Elyan (and possibly Leon and Percival) were part of this AU's version of the Kerberos mission. Ygraine does not survive this, but Elyan does. (Or, alternatively, she does survive, and a few chapters later sacrifices herself for her son or something, as things like this tend to go.)

Aithusa has two potential applications in this AU. Either an A.I/Robot like Pidge's Galra drone, or an actual creature. Either option works. Either way, Aithusa's favourite of the bunch is obviously Morgana. No clue what to do about Kilgharrah though.

In the end, this AU is just a funny little idea I had, generally inspired by A Casual Tuesday - Spagoleon - Voltron: Legendary Defender [Archive of Our Own] which is a DRv3 Voltron AU. It's far more fleshed out than this fledgling au though.

[leopeiros]

The One in which Lan Qiren Doesn't Bully A Child

Au where Lan Qiren is an actually decent educator.

By this I mean that despite Wei Wuxian’s general.. Wei Wuxian-ness, he spots the talent the boy has from a mile away and makes a split second decision to nurture it rather than overlap his grudge against Cangse Sanren over her son.

It doesn’t particularly change anything. Perhaps it garners an opportunity for Lan Wangji to get closer to Wei Wuxian. Perhaps Lan Wangji is instead jealous with all the extra time Lan Qiren spends with Wei Wuxian, considering Lan Wangji wants to be the one spending that time with Wei Wuxian.

But maybe it did change things.

Because what if it did.

What if, Wei Wuxian, creativity stifled by the Jiang, is taken under Lan Qiren’s wing. What if at Cloud Recesses, he’s finally allowed to talk about the inventions inside his head, the ideas he’d love to experiment with if only someone would let him. Because Madam Yu certainly won’t. What if Lan Qiren encourages Wei Wuxian to create, offers to help him patent his ideas through the Lan sect because the Jiang would never think of doing such a thing for fear of offending their Sect Madam.

What if, they actually talk about resentful energy as a medium after enough rapport between the two of them is established. What if they have a complex discussion on morals and corruption regarding it.

Wei Wuxian still loses his core. Still invents demonic cultivation.

But during the war, he does not deny Lan Wangji playing to him. Allows himself to be cleansed of resentment during the lulls between battles. Smiles oh-so-gently when Lan Qiren defends his actions against the other sects. Smiles even wider when this inspires Jiang Cheng to do the same.

In this au, the moment Wei Wuxian returns from the burial mounds wielding resentment like a weapon, he goes straight to Lan Qiren. The only real trusted adult in his life. And he lets himself break, utterly and entirely. Begs the man to play inquiry on him, so that he might be assured that he didn’t die in the burial mounds and come back wrong. Begs him to believe that he’d had no other choice, because for all their conversations, resentful energy had remained purely theoretical for a reason. Begs him to purge the resentment from his meridians, so that he might think clearly after so many months with the dead screaming in his ears.

Of all the individuals Wei Wuxian might know and trust, Lan Qiren is the first to know about his lack of core. He offers the information freely, desperate for any reasoning that would prevent Lan Qiren from looking at him like he’s disappointed him. Because oh, having an adult that likes him is a different kind of drug entirely, one that he is loathe to lose. Between starts and stops he describes, haltingly, the absolute fear that consumed him at the thought of losing Jiang Cheng. The desperation that took hold of him as he rummaged through Wen Qing’s research in a frenzy. The aching realization of what he must lose in order for Jiang Cheng to be able to cultivate once more. Quietly, how he doesn’t regret it at all, seeing Jiang Cheng work so hard to revive Yunmeng Jiang in the midst of war.

Lan Qiren smacks him over the head, calls him a veritable fool, and immediately sets to work regulating the resentment within him.

The start of this semi-mentorship is not entirely without agenda on Lan Qiren's part, because who in their right mind wouldn't want someone with Wei Wuxian's level of genius in good favour? The Jiang are fools to not want to nurture this talent, to let grudges impact this brilliant mind (ironic, simply for the fact that in the main timeline, Lan Qiren did just that). Patenting the inventions through the Lan sect means having them attributed to them, rather than Wei Wuxian or the Jiang; Wei Wuxian may be receiving majority of the profits, but the reputation gained is solely attributed to the Lan. But then he starts to realize just how bored Wei Wuxian is with the curriculum. He's almost offended at first, until Wei Wuxian begins to seek him out personally for answers to questions he tosses about in his mind; questions not answered by the library he parses through with voracious speed. It challenges his mind almost as much as it challenges Wei Wuxian's, and they end up spending hours debating theories together.

After a while of this, Lan Qiren begins to notice the way his nephew looks at Wei Wuxian. By this point in time, he's managed to grow rather fond of Wei Wuxian, so it's no real blow to his sensibilities to invite Wangji to their impromptu study sessions (along with Lan Xichen, for subtlety's sake). Wei Wuxian may be a tad bit more distracted from their conversations with Wangji there, but watching his nephew look at Wei Wuxian in awe when he delves into advanced topics like a fish to water at the drop of a hat is well worth the slight slow-down of their talks.

Even with the inventions that he helps the boy patent, it does take a while for Lan Qiren to fully grasp Wei Wuxian's skill with talismans. The way he creates them with ease, fully understanding the effect each component of them utilizes as it's patched together under his careful scrutiny; the only thing slowing his creation of them being the need to figure out a problem exists in the first place. It's almost terrifying. The day he finally realizes Wei Wuxian's sheer mastery of the art is the day the boy invites Nie Huaisang along, having been chatting with his friend before spotting Lan Qiren and ambushing him with a question. Nie Huaisang offhandedly mentions something to do with how Inquiry is the only real way to get the truth out of someone with full certainty, and Wei Wuxian immediately leaps into the topic. While scribbling on stray talisman paper, he begins explaining how he'd thought of that, actually and while talismans wouldn't quite get the intended effect, a properly constructed array could potentially work as a form of living Inquiry. He chatters on about how he thinks the array would have to be structured, how big it would have to be, and how the only downside he could think of would be that there would have to be people making sure the individual being questioned didn't leave the array. He then presents the talisman he'd been working on whilst talking; one that could detect falsehoods and would glow to indicate when one had been said. When Lan Qiren asks him how long he'd been thinking about the mechanics of the talisman for, that's when Wei Wuxian admits that he'd come up with it on the spot. Lan Qiren is both suitably impressed and weary at the revelation.

Either way, it's a happy ending for all involved: Wei Wuxian tells Jiang Cheng about the golden core transfer far sooner at the urging of Lan Qiren, Jiang Cheng defends Wei Wuxian much more readily with the encouragement coming from another prominent sect defending his methods (and ends up swearing brotherhood with him, because I find that idea positively lovely), Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji don't take over ten years to admit to having feelings for one another, Wei Wuxian creates many revolutionary inventions that shape the future of cultivation and night-hunts, and ends up with the support of the Lan, Jiang, and Nie. The Jin are standoffish, but do purchase his inventions. Jin Guangshan and Jin Guangyao might be planning something or other, but Wei Wuxian has a veritable army of protective individuals on his side, so that's not going very far.

(Wangxian have no need to elope in this time, and so their wedding is a very extravagant affair. Jiang Cheng and Jiang Yanli watch with pride and Wei Wuxian very nearly cries. Jiang Cheng gives Lan Wangji an incredibly threatening shovel talk [somehow, Jiang Yanli's is infinitely more gentle, and yet a thousand times scarier] They officially adopt Wen Yuan together with the blessings of Wen Qing, who is taken into the Lan clan as one of their best healers. The rest of the Wen remnants are safely residing in Caiyi Town, and a wildly successful apothecary opens up that's affordable but high quality.)

(Wei Wuxian probably invents something to cut travel time down immensely because he wants to bother Jiang Cheng in Yunmeng as much as possible. Jiang Cheng is very vocal in his protests regarding this, but secretly enjoys the visits as much as Wei Wuxian does.)

[leopeiros]

The One in which Wei Wuxian Died

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Got an idea for an au in the dead of the night which I might flesh out later. Idk. But for now, here’s what it amounts to.

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Wei Wuxian, post-canon, happily married to Lan Wangji, is not in fact getting along with his in-laws. And by in-laws, I mean Lan Qiren. Lan Qiren is convinced that Wei Wuxian is the devil incarnate that stole away and seduced his well behaved nephew, corrupting him. Nothing new from the man who held a grudge against a literal fifteen year old. He does not hide the fact that he believes things would be better off had Wei Wuxian not existed in the first place.

Wei Wuxian, who is in fact a talismanic genius, decides that if Lan Qiren wants a world where he doesn’t exist so badly, he’ll help the man out. He then spends the next few weeks developing a talisman (or array, if that works better) that will allow Lan Qiren to view an alternate timeline in which Wei Wuxian does not exist. He promptly presents it to Lan Qiren, explains the concept, and laughs as he tells Lan Qiren to use it whenever he wants to relax.

Most importantly, Lan Qiren is a spectator to this timeline. He is unable to influence it.

(While Wei Wuxian perhaps no longer blames himself for certain events, like the Wens attacking Lotus Pier, considering they likely would have done so no matter his perceived slight, he does not think through the effect his not being there would bring about during other such events. So while self blame is not as prevalent as it once would have been, he does not think the world would find detriment in his absence. He is wrong.)

Now, with the initial setup out of the way, let’s dive into this alternate timeline, starting with the first divergence; Wei Wuxian himself.

In this timeline, Wei Ying, nearing six years old, succumbs to a fever brought about by infected dog bites after his first encounter with them on the streets. (His little spirit is very happily enjoying spending time with his parents in the afterlife. he’s probably the only carefree individual in this timeline.)

Lotus Pier, despite Wei Wuxian having never stepped foot within it, is still wrought with tension. Jiang Cheng still develops an inferiority complex, and Jiang Yanli still takes it upon herself to parent her little brother in the absence of any real parenting from Madam Yu and Jiang Fengmian, who are too busy fighting with each other to pay much attention to their children aside from using them as ammunition for their ire. While the main family is dealing with this infighting, the Jiang Sect stagnates and weakens under the mismanagement of their appointed Head Disciple until Jiang Fengmian finally catches wind of this during one of Madam Yu’s night hunts when she’s not around to distract him. A new Head Disciple is chosen, but the damage will take time to repair.

Cloud Recesses is relatively calm, the year Wei Wuxian was meant to attend. With a few distinct differences. Jiang Cheng and Nie Huaisang are not friends without Wei Wuxian to act as a buffer between Jiang Cheng’s headstrong personality and Nie Huaisang’s far meeker disposition. Lan Wangji does not spend the year falling in love with a troublesome rule-breaker, and continues to seclude himself away behind an icy disposition. Su She drowns during the confrontation with the Waterborne Abyss. The students come, study, and leave. Jiang Yanli and Jin Zixuan’s engagement remains intact by the end of the year. Lan Wangji does not come out of his shell, and Lan Xichen continues to worry about his brother.

Wen Chao still performs poorly during the archery competition. The Lan sect is still burnt down. The indoctrination still occurs. Mianmian is branded on the face. The disciples manage to escape with few casualties, but the Xuanwu of Slaughter remains alive. Lan Wangji will never regain full mobility of his leg despite the strength of his golden core.

Lotus Pier still burns. Jiang Yanli, safe in Lanling at the time, becomes the sole survivor of the main family. Without Wei Wuxian there to temper his impulsivity, Jiang Cheng joins back in the fight after being sent away and dies alongside his parents. The Jiang sect dissolves with so little members left with no one suitable to lead them. Jiang Yanli officially marries into the Jin sect the year after.

The Sunshot Campaign is still formed, but lacking the support of both the Jiang and the Jin (whose contribution is so minimal it barely counts for anything), it was doomed from the beginning. The Wen storm Qinghe Nie whilst the Sunshot Campaign gathers its forces, and Wen Xu takes Nie Huaisang hostage to force Nie Mingjue to come fight them. The Sunshot Campaign is thusly defeated, and as it’s figurehead, Nie Mingjue is beheaded.

Following this, Jin Guangshan openly allies himself with Wen Rouhan, whilst both the Lan and Nie are absorbed into the Wen sect. Anyone who protests this is executed or used for more of Wen Rouhan’s experiments regarding resentful energy.

It is during this lull in activity that Jin Ling is born to Jin Zixuan and Jiang Yanli. Things are peaceful in Lanling for approximately two years until Wen Rouhan sets his sights on completely conquering the cultivation world and targets the Jin sect. Jin Guangshan dies after his core is crushed by Wen Zhuliu. Following a promise made to Jiang Yanli, Jin Zixuan flees with Jin Ling after Jiang Yanli is captured to buy them time to escape (the only reason it is not Jin Zixuan buying time for Jiang Yanli and Jin Ling is that he has a better chance at being able to protect their son, given Jiang Yanli’s weaker cultivation). She is brought to Nightless City after Wen Xu takes an interest in her.

After an entire year on the run from the Wen, Jin Zixuan is finally caught in Yiling. He puts up a significant fight to protect Jin Ling but is ultimately injured. This is where Xiao Xingchen and Song Zichen show in the narrative. They help Jin Zixuan fight off the Wen soldiers, but Jin Zixuan is dying. He entrusts Jin Ling into the care of the two rogue cultivators, making them promise to keep the boy safe. The two agree. So they leave Jin Zixuan in Yiling and travel to the safest place Xiao Xingchen knows; a place he knows accepts orphaned children. He takes Jin Ling to the Celestial Mountain, upon which resides none other than Baoshan Sanren.

(Jin Zixuan, for his part, does not die. Wen Qing, who although has since been called back to Nightless City to resume her work as Wen Rouhan’s personal physician, occasionally travels to Yiling to check upon the supervisory office still under her management. Wen Qing, who has developed a tentative friendship with Jiang Yanli, chances upon Jin Zixuan and beyond all odds, recognizes him as Jiang Yanli’s husband from before her capture. She promptly smuggles him into the supervisory office to treat him. His core is irreparably damaged by a poison made from resentful energy that Wen Rouhan has Wen Qing helping to develop. If left unchecked, it would continue to ravage through the meridians until the pain immobilizes the affected cultivator, leading to eventual death. To prevent this, Wen Qing surgically removes Jin Zixuan’s golden core.)

That’s where my subsequent timeline ends, but there are still ideas for this that I have. Because without Wei Wuxian, the solution for this timeline’s happy ending is far more complicated.

These new circumstances, however, lead to some pretty interesting dynamics that can be explored. My main idea obviously centres around Nie Huaisang, who with the loss of his brother is most certainly plotting the downfall of Wen Rouhan. But the most interesting dynamic I can think of would have to be between Meng Yao and Mo Xuanyu. Meng Yao, who did not stab Wen Rouhan and therefore was never acknowledged by Jin Guangshan. Meng Yao, who with Jin Guangshan dead, has no way to obtain that approval, and so therefore does not align his entire being with being the perfect son. And Mo Xuanyu, who without Wei Wuxian to invent demonic cultivation, might just end up as the founder in this timeline (because he’s pretty and tragic and I adore him).

Either way, the main rebellion would likely consist of Nie Huaisang, Meng Yao, Mo Xuanyu, (perhaps) Lan Wangji, Wen Qing, Wen Ning, Xiao Xingchen, Song Zichen, Jiang Yanli, and Jin Zixuan. (And if this lasts long enough, Jin Ling as well.) I say perhaps for Lan Wangji due to his injured leg, though he could still contribute utilizing musical cultivation.

Oh, and the Xuanwu of Slaughter is still an issue in this universe. Unless they can weaponize it against the Wen, which would be pretty cool.

(Wen Chao does in fact become the Wen’s very own version of Jin Guangshan, leaving illegitimate heirs all over the place.)

Of course, none of this is set in stone. If anyone wants to play around with this au, you’re totally free to do so however you’d like. I’m sharing this mostly in case anyone else finds it interesting, and because I’ll probably never actually write a fic for it. This mostly just started out as a brain teaser trying to figure out what would happen if Wei Wuxian wasn’t part of the plot, considering that although he did contribute quite a lot to the canon events, a lot of things were set in motion long before he was even born (like Jin Guangshan’s corruption and Wen Rouhan’s plans to conquer the cultivation world).