As Spring Will Surely Come 1/10

Title: As Spring Will Surely Come

Fandom: Modao Zushi/MDZS (Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation)

Rating: Adult (Explicit sex scene)

Pairing: Lan Wangji/Wei Wuxian

Characters: Lan Wangji, Wei Wuxian, Lan Xichen, Lan Qiren,

Tags: Hurt/comfort - physical and emotional, post canon, happy/hopeful ending, Lan family feels, bit of case fic,

Word Count: 38K

Warnings: Mental health issues - depression, flashback, nightmares. Near drowning. Physical injury - dislocated shoulder. Physical injury - cuts/bruises. Illness - stroke.

Summary: Now in their forth year of marriage Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian are settled into their life together in the Cloud Recesses, looking forward to a quiet, cozy winter together in the Jingshi. A night hunt at a haunted water mill, old injuries and family illness make it a very difficult winter instead.

Thank you notes Thank you to RM_offline for betaing for me again and seeing me through another big bang, and for finding where most of the missing part had vanished too. Sorry for any random commas, grammatical weirdness and any other oddness in this that come from me continuing to prod and poke the story right up to the very last minute before posting. Also a big thank you to the wonderfully talented Yuyu (https://twitter.com/yuyu_finale/ ) who who chose this story to do art for. And to people who follow me on Twitter & Mastodon who’ve been seeing random disjointed fragments of this for months. Finally the story is here.

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(  Although it is approaching mid morning the air is cold, last night's frost still clinging to the ground as Lan Wangji walks along the winding, woodland paths of the Cloud Recesses )

As Spring Will Surely Come 2/10

Part 2 ( It is a crisp, bright afternoon as they leave the Jingshi and walk down to the edge of the Cloud Recesses, the last traces of morning frost having melted away. )

As Spring Will Surely Come 3/10

Part 3 ( The mill is dark and silent. The only sounds are those of nature; the soft rippling of the mill stream, the whispering of the rushes and willows along the water’s edge and the occasional call of night birds somewhere further out on the river. )

As Spring Will Surely Come 4/10

Part 4 ( Ice cold water rushes in again over his face and shockes back to consciousness. )

As Spring Will Surely Come 5/10

Part 5 ( If there are dreams or nightmares that night Lan Wangji remains unaware of them, exhaustion keeping him deeply asleep until mid morning. )

As Spring Will Surely Come 6/10

Part 6 ( They stop twice more on their journey home, both times at Wei Wuxian’s insistence, never staying in the air for more than half an hour at a time. )

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Part 7 ( The days that pass after their return home to the Cloud Recesses and his uncle’s visit feel oddly empty and disconnected. Not that those terms particularly describe the lingering sense of strangeness that has settled over him. )

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Part 8 ( Although it is well after the time that he should be sleeping, Lan Wangi is still awake, only recently having finished work allocated to him by his uncle. Beside him in bed, Wei Wuxian is reading the second in a series of texts about musical cultivation. )

As Spring Will Surely Come 9/10

Part 9 ( The first week that follows Lan Qiren’s stroke passes in a blur, to the point that Lan Wangji cannot separate one day from the next. He wakes early and spends the whole day at his uncle’s house trying to assist in any way he can. )

As Spring Will Surely Come 10/10

Part 10 ( The spring sun is shining brightly as Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian take the path that leads down from the Jingshi to the clearing where the rabbits can be found, taking the long way round before they head out for the day. )