When some slipped past,
others remained,
Coming last.
There was nothing to be gained
Only lost
But at what cost?

Wei Ying. The voice reverberated in the shadows of Wei Wuxian's consciousness, slipping through and past him as he lay. He felt the wind whipping past him, glaring at him as he fell. As if he were a puppet whose strings were cut, chopped off. He felt like he was floating, finally free. But the voice in his mind seemed to grow louder, even as the others ceased, and he fell off the single-log bridge he'd walked on. And as he plunged under, he found that he felt nothing, even as murky water filled his lungs, drowning him from beneath.

Wei Ying!

Wei Ying, come back.

I'll stand by you this time.

Please.

Wei Ying, come back. Back to Gusu with me.

Wei Ying, come back, please. We can go wherever you want. I just want you back.

I'm home now, aren't I? But something still felt wrong, like he was missing a part of him he couldn't replace, held back by a thread. If his heart was a piece of ceramic, it was long since shattered. Put together, piece by piece. But no matter how he fixed it, a part of him was always missing, always absent. It'd never be the same, in the end.

Wei Ying.

I'm waiting.

I'm here.

Lan Zhan

Wei Ying.

That was the last thing he remembered before he fell back into the abyss. Then he was nothing again, nobody, no one. There was nothing but silence, and for the first time in Wei Wuxian's life, did silence sing. But when Wei Yings stepped into the River, guided by a silent nymph, his mind melded down into nothing.

And Ying An was created.

He had everything Wei Ying wanted once, a loving family, a healthy family. By the time he was old enough to understand, magic had melted down into nothing. Years of cultivation, long gone. The wisps of cultivation had long since faded, wisps of blue and orange a rare occurrence. Magic had long since been diluted after centuries of blood, and a rare few still dwindled. Still, only the strongest survived. To most, magic was both a blessing and a curse, not to be taken kindly. Most were abandoned at the first sign of oddity. Children were raised by the kindness of the streets, by the other 'Oddities'. It was hard to explain the outcasts living on the fringes of society, with eyes as hollow as they were colourful, wisps of hair covered by heavy hoods. It was to them that Ying An was born, and the memory of cheerful laughter rang through his ears, even on the coldest of nights. The rare but wonderful trickles of milk that had been fed to him, the murmured fairytales that kept him happy, kept him calm, lulling him to sleep. Sure and steady hands that tended to his wounds carefully, cradling him gently as if he was precious.

Even as time passed by, the warmth remained, even as memories of teachers and classmates flooded his mind, though they were nothing but a blur to him now. Faces flashed past his mind like pages of a book, but the memory of two faces lingered in the edges of his mind. He vaguely remembered a pair of brilliant green eyes, not unlike his own, crinkling with joy. A wide grin, a steady smile and brown eyes that reminded him of the forest, of trees standing stoically, leaves rustling to the music of the wind.

He kept those images in his mind like a mantra, clutching them as tightly as he could, even as he was passed from household to household.

But everything changed once he started to remember.

Wei Ying, I'm waiting for you. A heart-shaped face flashed before him. Gilt eyes glanced at him longingly, filled with emotions Ying An could not- dared not identify. Ying An felt his cheeks turning red under the intensity of his gaze, only to realise- Wei Ying? Who's that? And who is this?

The man was dressed in unfamiliar blue robes, not unlike the hanfu Ying An spied in museums. Suddenly, his eyes darted up to the ornament that adorned his forehead. It looked like a thin sheet of silver, hammered into a delicate cloud motif, held together by a ribbon. Without noticing, he leaned forward, raising his hand up to touch it. A hand brushed against his own, only it didn't quite feel like his. "Wei Ying," The man's voice was rough and ragged, like crystal shards dragging across agate, and Ying An couldn't help but shiver. But..Who is he talking to? It can't be me, can it? Not possibly...

But something in his mind whispered back, whispered yes, and he knew.

But that epiphany of his was pushed roughly away, not when fingers dug into his skin, nails biting into his wrists so tightly he could have sworn they drew blood, bringing him back into reality. The other hand shook him roughly, and his head prodded against the wooden table. "This isn't the first time you've done this, young man. Go back to the Principal's Office!"

Hazily, Ying An's eyes blinked open. Where am I? Familiar sneers and pitying looks surrounded him, followed by countless desks. Back in class again...I must have fallen asleep. "What's the big deal? I already know most of the content like the back of my hand," a voice barked back, and it took Ying An a moment to register that that voice was his.

"You dare to talk back to me?" The gorilla of a man that towered over him was furious now, his breaths coming apart like heavy grunts. He glared at Ying An through his tortoiseshell half-rimmed glasses, and Wei Ying- no, Ying An couldn't help but find it absurd.

Letting out an amused chuckle, casually prying his meaty fingers off before grabbing his bag.

"To the Principal's Office!"

"I know, I know," Ying An responded, his silver eyes now a gleaming crimson, as he sauntered out of the classroom. "No need to see me out, Professor."

And with that, Wei Wuxian was back. 

--------
A/N: 1035 words! Reincarnation AU 2 is back, I guess- I've decided to rename this AU, seeing as the name is very close to another story's- so, Illusions and Mysteries of the Past is the new name for this- I'm honestly not sure if I'll be able to update this or write it, there is another scene I've written for this that doesn't quite fit at the moment...so...I have no clue... Tell me what you think of this chapter, and thank you so much for reading! Hope you guys will enjoy this new beginning, though I know it's been short. ♥️💜