Days went by and new troubles kept Yunlan's mind busy.
What kept him going was having Wei by his side, why weren't they living together yet? Wei always made things harder than they ought to be, why couldn't he just let go and move in with him?

Wei was always thinking of his duty first, but Yunlan didn't want to wait until it was over, he couldn't wait until it was over, what if there wasn't an afterwards for them?

Sometimes that thought risked to drive him insane, he needed Wei close to him.
Despite all his words, Wei already spent more time at Yunlan's place than at his own apartment, he should just make it official and move there for good.

A bigger trouble was thrown at him when his father was taken by the enemy. They never had a good relationship, they fought anytime they talked, but that didn't mean that he didn't care. The old man was his father, his only parent, was Yunlan going to lose him too? He had no clue on this, his visions had told him nothing about his father.

Was his destiny to lose his father first and then Wei?

~~~

Fighting with members of the crow tribe, Wei protected him once again, ending up hurt. It was just a scratch, it should have healed immediately, but it didn't.

Wei refused to talk about it, but Yunlan knew that it was due to his new state of weakness.

They saved his father, but he didn't have time to relax because Wei left him to go to Dixing, to investigate. Yunlan knew that he was hiding something, Wei knew what they were up against, but for some reason refused to tell him.

He had tried to talk to him, he wanted to go with him to fight whatever was coming together, but yielded when another thought entered his mind: 'if I'm not there then what I saw can't happen'.

So he waited, but the wait was killing him inside. Why wasn't Wei coming back to him?
If what he saw when he was a kid couldn't be changed, did that mean that Wei would face that fate with or without him?
Reason told him that if he wasn't there, Wei wouldn't die protecting him, but time went by and Wei still hadn't come back, and it was too much for him to bear. He wanted him back, couldn't think of anything else.

So he went, telling himself that it couldn't be the end yet, there were still images, visions that he didn't quite understand yet.

It was difficult but he didn't care, as long as he could manage to free Wei from that pillar it was definitely worth it. He wasn't afraid to die, sometimes he almost wished for it, so that Wei would be free and maybe safe.

He brought Wei back, and before reaching home they sat on a bench to rest a bit and enjoy the sun. He made stupid jokes as it was his usual, and when he saw Wei laugh he laughed along, thinking that it was worth it, whatever he would be facing next it would be a fight worth fighting, to see Wei smile again.

No, he was too selfish to kill himself, he wanted another day with Shen Wei, and then another one, as long as he could have it.

~~~~~~~~~~

Wei was not here and Yunlan wondered if it could be his chance to learn more from the Hallows, when he heard someone enter.

"Yunlan," said a sweet, lovely voice.
It was... Shen Wei?

Yunlan didn't show it, skilled as he was in hiding his own emotions, but he immediately felt that something was wrong. The way this man called his name, his voice so light and sweet... that wasn't Wei, there was no way his Envoy would call him like that at work.

He played along for a while, to find out for sure what his intentions were, although it was an easy guess. He wanted the Hallows, what else.

When the disguise was revealed, the drama began. Yunlan had his gun and yet he couldn't do anything against Yezun, he watched as he devoured Wang and Sang in front of his eyes. They were but ghosts, and yet it was so painful to watch it happen unable to do anything. How many people would die to protect him?

His Envoy came to save him, of course. He really had to do something about that. He was the Guardian, damn it, why did he always need saving? It should be the other way around!

But he didn't have time to dwell on that, the Hallows activated, maybe they reacted to their presence, who knew why those things did what they did, but one thing for sure, they did activate and suddenly Yunlan found himself somewhere else.

He didn't see anything at first, then he witnessed something and it was like a revelation, everything finally made sense, in a twisted sort of way.

Yunlan was like a shadow in the world as it was a long time ago, and he witnessed the two brothers' lives.
They were so close to each other when they were young, they were each other's world, but during a battle they got separated. He saw their pain and the different paths they took.

Both were strong, stubborn, aggressive and prone to obsessions.

They had been like that towards each other, but once separated they were lost.

Yezun was told that Wei had abandoned him, and was taken away by evil people that treated him badly.

Wei was told that his brother had died, and he never let anyone else enter his heart. He kept fighting to vent his aggression against the enemy, and some people called him a hero, but he knew the truth, he knew he was worth nothing, he had loved that one person so much but he hadn't been able to protect him.

Wei became obsessed with killing those that had taken his brother's life, while Yezun became obsessed with the thought of taking revenge over the brother that he had loved so much and yet had left him alone, filling his heart with hatred because the pain of being abandoned by the only person he cared about was too much for him to bear.

Yunlan saw it all, and when he came back to his senses, finding himself in the arms of a Shen Wei worried out of his mind, he put on a stone face, a smile that said 'don't worry, we're here, we're together, everything's fine' but inside he was screaming.

He was going to lose Wei because when they were little and vulnerable a lie, a misunderstanding had shaped their lives sending them in opposite directions.

'Over my dead body' he thought, and he meant it.

He didn't know why the visions had stopped after seeing Wei falling down covered in blood, but he could see only two reasons. Either he could be able to change that, or he would die with him.

There was no third option for him.

~~~~~~~~~~

Yunlan told Shen Wei that he needed to think and plan their next move, he wouldn't be going home, so Wei went instead, to bring him what he needed to spend days and nights at Sid.

Yunlan took his chance. As soon as Wei was gone, he called Da Qing and gave him a mission.
"Take Chu with you, tell him that we'll take good care of Xiao Guo but this is really important. I need you to find something for me..."

Da Qing wanted to know more, but there was no time to waste. Yunlan told him so, and added, "Everything depends on you now."

He trusted Da Qing completely, and hoped against reason that he could succeed.

Wei came back and together they found the lantern, it had always been there, which explained why the Hallows had reacted the way they did. Unknown to them, the four Hallows were already all in the same place.

Disguised as the Envoy, Yezun officially declared war on Haixing, so now there was no other choice, they had to go on and stop him.