#ritual fic

[driftwoodskeleton]

Ritual (2697 words) by SomethingClich8 Chapters: 2/? Fandom: Ghost (Sweden Band) Rating: Mature Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Relationships: Cardinal Copia & Reader Characters: Cardinal Copia, Papa Emeritus I, Papa Emeritus Zero | Papa Emeritus Nihil, Papa Emeritus II, Papa Emeritus III, Sister Imperator, Sister(s) of Sin, Era IV Ghouls (Ghost), Era III Ghouls (Ghost), Era I Ghouls (Ghost), Lucifer Additional Tags: Reader-Insert, ghost - Freeform, Pseudo-horror, Involuntary Commitment, Mental Health Issues, Sisters of sin - Freeform You're a Sister of Sin, one of the best at ritual work, often called upon by the Papas themselves to assist with the most complex. One night though, a ritual to call forth Lucifer himself goes very wrong. Lost, injured and alone, can you get a message to the Abbey and set yourself free?

hey look! i updated something! truly a miracle. please enjoy my, admittedly short, second chapter of Ritual:)

[happypeachsludgeflower]

So, in PIDW, there was obviously wife plots that could bring back the dead (mushroom body being one of them), and since we know Airplane is a hack that reuses concepts over and over, there’s probably multiple wife plots that could work, so like, where’s the PIDW fics where Liu Qingge somehow comes back to life, memories of Shen Jiu trying to save him intact, and goes to hunt the asshole down so he can repay his life debt, and along the way accidentally clears Shen Jiu’s name of all his crimes and now everyone is convinced Shen Qingqiu is a saint.

[luxaofhesperides]

Accidental Bride Sacrifice ; requested by @starlightcat04!

Danny has long since gotten used to the feel of summonings. They don’t happen often, but sometimes the right components are put together to force him into answering, and he’d have to go as the new Ghost King.

Which no one told him was a thing! He hadn’t protested too much about the whole Ghost King deal when they finally told him about it after he graduated high school. It gave him a good excuse to ditch life in the living realm and not worry about college or a career, and let him really embrace his ghost side. 

The summonings are a problem, though. They always feel staticky and bad, like a dumpster that just got struck by lightning. The taste of iron on his tongue, a clear sign of blood being spilled, lets him know that it would be one of end the world for us summonings, because some people can’t put in the effort to do it themselves, apparently. 

But this time, the summoning feels different.

Danny pauses, eyes going unfocused in the middle of his conversation with Jazz. He had been looking forward to spending the week with her, now that she’s on winter break, but his luck is as bad as always.

“I’m being summoned,” he tells her, cutting off her rant about a transphobic professor she had. 

“Oh, no. Do you need me to do anything? Should I go with you to beat up whoever it is that’s summoning you?”

Danny tilts his head to the side, considering. The taste of blood is noticeably absent. In fact, this summoning pull doesn’t make him feel sick at all. It makes him feel warm, as if he’s just been wrapped in a hug.

“No,” he says. “I think I’m good. This one feels different.”

“A good different?” Jazz asks, worry clear in her voice.

“Yeah. A good different. I’ll come back soon, okay?”

“Alright. Be careful, Danny.” Jazz pulls him into a quick hug, then steps back to watch as Danny stops fighting the pull of the summoning and disappears into a swirling white rings that flashes into existence behind him, blinding her for a moment, and is gone when she manages to blink the spots out of her vision. 

For a minute, Danny drifts in a void of stillness, traveling through the realms as the summoning draws him closer to the correct realm. And then he’s rising out of the ground in a dark building made of concrete, candles of green flame scattered all over the place.

“Great One!” someone in a hooded cloak cries, raising his arms in jubilation. “Our calls have been answered!”

“I’ll fucking kill you!” a mechanical voice yells from farther back. When Danny looks past the cultists’ heads, he spots a man in a red hood and leather jacket chained to a pole, along with a bunch of other people in strange costumes tied up, desperately trying to free themselves. 

“Silence!” The leader of the cult, or who Danny assumes is the leader, snaps at the hooded man and gestures to the people off to his left. They force another costumed person forward, this one in yellow armor. He can see the blood running down their face from beneath their helmet and from their nose, dark lines of blood cutting through their brown skin. 

The cultists throw the armored person forward, forcing them to kneel. Then they bow to Danny and step back.

“Great One,” the leader says, voice unpleasantly reverent and grating, “Welcome to the mortal realms. We offer you this sacrifice to feed your strength. He will make a fine general for your undead army in your crusade to rid this world of its filth.”

The people in the back begin shouting all together, panicked voices overlapping, and Danny is left staring down at the cultists in shock.

The summoning had felt so nice. What the hell was this? He did not sign up for another ‘end of days’ insane cult. He just wanted to be hugged. 

His silence makes the cultists nervous. They begin to shift uneasily, whispering to each other, and the leader clears his throat, then pulls a large crystal dagger out of his cloak. “We shall prove our devotion to you through an offering of a hero’s blood!”

And then he moves towards the sacrifice and Danny snaps out of his shock to yell, “Wait!”

The entire room freezes. Even the costumed people in the back go still. 

Danny winces, then tries to smother his power, make himself more palatable to the humans of this dimension. “Wait,” he says again, and he sounds closer to human now. If he could, he would drop his ghost form entirely, but he knows better than to endanger himself like that. “What, exactly, did you summon me here for?”

The cult leader stares at him for a moment. “To… To rid the world of filth and allow your loyal followers to spread word of your power. You will be worshiped again, Great One, and serve as a reminder to man that Death shall always prevail.”

“Okay, I get that, but I was talking more along the lines of the summoning. What ritual did you use? What specifically were the summoning requirements?”

Normally, he’d be able to figure it out himself, but these cultists didn’t use a summoning circle. So they did something else, something less visible and therefore harder to figure out, in order to bring him here.

A woman standing off to the side speaks up, stepping forward hesitantly. “I had pieced together a few summoning spells from this book to bring you here. You had to accept our chosen sacrifice to your side in order for the summoning to work.”

“Hold up that book for me, please?”

She does, and Danny flies down to grab it from her hands. “Point out which lines you used,” he says, already reading a few of the words written down. It’s definitely ghostspeak written down, which should be near impossible for living humans to translate without being skilled in magic.

“Ah, these ones.” She points to each line, reading them out for him, and Danny starts understand what, exactly, went wrong.

“Is there a problem, Great One?”

Danny returns the book then floats over to the sacrifice and picks him up. The costumed people make alarmed noises, but quietly quiet down again when all Danny does is move him away from the cultists.

“Okay,” he says, “So. The lines you used to summon me were not translated properly. What you interpreted as ‘accepted to stay by the king’s side in loyalty and strength’ is not meant to be, like, him being part of my undead army or whatever. It’s a royal marriage vow.”

“They married us?” the sacrifice shouts, disbelieving. The cult leader buries his face in his hands and sighs.

“My deepest apologies, Great One. We meant no offense. We simply wanted to aid in your destruction of this depraved world.”

Danny scrunches his nose and shakes his head. “Yeah, that’s not gonna fly with me. I do not do the biding of random people, especially those who are ready to murder innocent people for no reason. Frighty, if you would.” He snaps his fingers, calling up Fright Knight who always enjoys getting to torment the people who summon Danny for murderous reasons.

Fright Knight appears in a swirl of darkness and screams. Shadows swallow the room, and when they recede, no cultists remain.

“Thanks, Frighty. Have fun with them. I need to figure out all… this.”

Fright Knight bows to him, then disappears. Danny lets out a breath, then floats down lower to be eye level with the sacrifice. “Hey,” he says gently, with a smile, “I’m so sorry they did this to you. I’m Danny. What’s your name?”

“Du— Uh, Signal,” the sacrifice says, sounding rather dazed. 

“Signal,” Danny repeats. “Like… a traffic signal?”

“No. I mean, maybe? But it is Signal. That’s my hero name, not my real name.”

“Oh, you’re a hero!” His getup makes more sense now. Danny checks him over for any signs of injuries. So far, only his head and nose seem to be injured, but his wrists are tightly bound behind his back. Carefully, Danny calls upon his ice and shapes it into a sharp knife, then cuts through the zipties.

He helps Signal up to his feet, floating by his shoulder. “All good?”

“Yeah, man, all good. Let me just get the others free.”

“Oh, I can do it!” Danny flies over to the other costumed people, who must also be heroes. All it takes is one link in the chain being frozen and broken for the entire thing to go lax, allowing them to free themselves. Hooded guy spares Danny a single glance, then hurries over to Signal to check on him. The other three, a man with a blue bird across his chest, a blond girl with a yellow bat outline on her chest, and a guy with bandoliers and a golden bird emblem, all watch him warily as he floats back towards the center of the room.

“So,” the blue bird man says, “If they summoned you with a marriage vow, and you accepted, does that mean you’re planning to steal Signal away from us?” He’s smiling, but it’s not a nice smile.

“No! I had no idea they did this! I am so sorry you all got caught up in this. You most of all, Signal.”

Signal shrugs, nudging hood guy away from him. “Nah, man, it’s all good. This is definitely the better outcome.”

“I don’t know, being married off isn’t really a good thing.”

“Hey, at least they married me off to a decent guy.”

“You don’t know that,” Danny says, “What if I’m secretly evil?”

“If you were secretly evil, you’d be destroying the world right now. I think you’re fine.”

The blond girl waves at him, demanding his attention. “Quick question! They were calling you ‘Great One’. Are you a god or something?”

“Not really? I’m the Ghost King. So I’m a ghost who rules over other ghosts and also a majority of the Infinite Realms.”

She nods as if this is all totally normal for her, then shoots Signal a grin. “Congrats on bagging a king! Not the worst way to spend a night, right?”

“Can you break the marriage?” blue bird man asks, the lines of his shoulders tense.

Danny awkwardly rubs the back of his neck, not looking any of them in the eye. “I honestly don’t know. I can look for a way! But I genuinely have no clue. This was unexpected.”

“But you accepted.”

“I didn’t know what I expected! It just felt like a hug, and I wanted a hug! I thought I was being summoned for something nice for once!” Danny curls up, bringing his knees up to his chest, and hides his pout behind his hands. He knows he’s being childish, but he can’t help but be upset that he couldn’t have this one good experience from being Ghost King. 

It’s always responsibilities and death cult summonings and fighting ghosts who don’t think he should be king. Sure there have been some good things, but they’re comparatively few when looking at all the other stress and pain that comes with the crown. Sue him for wanting to have a nice night for once. Hell, at this point, he’d take being summoned to help with some kid’s homework, because at least then he could have a quiet night helping someone.

“Hey, man, can you come down here?” Signal asks. 

He wants to stay out of reach, hiding himself away for a bit longer, but Signal is his new, surprise, accidental husband, so Danny lowers himself to the ground and peeks through his fingers to look at him.

He tenses when Signal hugs him, soft and warm and comforting. It takes a moment for him to realize what’s going on, and then he’s melting into Signal’s embrace, dropping his hands to wrap them around Signal’s back.

Distantly, he can hear the other heroes talking quietly amongst themselves. He blocks out the sound as much as he can, determined to enjoy this hug while it lasts.

Which is… fairly long. Signal makes no moves to end the hug, so Danny closes his eyes to really savor the moment. 

“So,” Signal murmurs into his ear, “As newlyweds, how about we get to know each other a bit better before we start working on fixing all this?”

“Really?”

“Yeah. Let’s ditch these guys and take some time to ourselves.”

“I promise I’ll get this fixed,” he says, just to make sure Signal knows. “Genuinely, I am so sorry to have married you through an old Realms vow when you had no say in it.”

“Hey, if it lands me a very nice, very attractive king, then I don’t mind at all. I could have done without the murderous cultists, though.”

Danny huffs out a small laugh. “Oh, for sure. Thanks for being so cool about this. Want me to fly us out of here?”

“Yes please,” Signal says. Danny smiles and tightens his grip on Signal, then lifts them both up. “I’ll see y’all later! Have fun with the rest of your patrols!” he calls out to the other heroes, who start shouting at him.

Danny flies them right out the roof before the other heroes figure out a way to kick his ass. The city they’re in is smoggy and dark, tall buildings rising up into the cloudy sky, and police sirens ring through the air. There’s no where that looks like a particularly nice spot to land for a conversation, so he asks Signal where he’d like to go and follows his directions from there.

They end up phasing through a building, then into the floor, which leaves them in what Signal calls The Hatch. 

Danny takes a quick moment to freak out over being in a hero’s secret hide out, the composes himself and finally pulls away from Signal.

“So,” he starts, looking around The Hatch and taking in the giant computer, the workstation, the motorcycle farther down the way, “What did you—Woah!” Danny spins around, slamming a hand over his eyes the instant he realizes that Signal is taking off his helmet, leaving his face bare.

It’s not like he’d know who Signal is anyways, being from a different dimension, but it’s the principle of the matter.

Signal laughs when he sees Danny’s attempt to keep from looking at him. A warm hand wraps around his wrist and gently pulls it away. “It’s okay, Danny, you can look,” he says. “It would be pretty weird if my own husband didn’t know my face.”

Slowly, giving Signal to change his mind, Danny opens his eyes. He moves his gaze up, going from Signal’s armor to his face, his very cute face and his warm brown eyes, and Danny stares for a moment. 

“Hi,” he whispers.

“Hi,” Signal says, fondness coloring his voice. “My name’s Duke. Are all Ghost Kings as cute as you?”

“Duke,” Danny repeats. “Hi. Um, no. The last one really sucked, actually, which is why I fought him. He was so bad the Infinite Realms didn’t want him anymore, so though I technically didn’t beat him in single combat, it was enough for the Infinite Realms to kick him out and get me on the throne.”

“Man, I can not wait to hear more of your stories. Think we got time for that while we search for a way to undo that marriage vow?”

Taking his chance, Danny says, “Sure! It’s a date.”

He’s awarded by Duke’s bright smile and idly wonders how long he can keep them married. Hopefully long enough for them to get into a real relationship where he can propose properly. And then he can get Jazz’s blessing too—

“Oh shit,” Danny realizes. 

“What? What’s wrong?”

“I need to tell my sister or she’s going to actually kill me.”

Duke winces. “And I should probably tell the others before Spoiler makes a mess of things… B is not going to be happy with me.”

They share a despairing look, already dreading the amount of scoldings they’re both going to get. He’s not looking forward to it.

“...Put it off until tomorrow?”

Duke nods. “Yeah. That’s a tomorrow problem. For now, how about a late dinner?”

“Sounds perfect.”

. . .

[send me a ghostlights prompt!]

[beaulesbian]

[myokk]

Eloise at her debut ball during the winter solstice🥺🤲

[that-weird-thing-in-the-woods]

Visiting the in-laws

••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

As Danny and phantom walk ( or well float in Danny’s case ) through the keep to one of the more used drawing room where Pariah dark and Clockwork were waiting for them to arrive they would have been here earlier if Phantom didn’t drag his feet when getting ready to leave their lair and the actual getting here

“My love, Why don’t we just return back home and sleep for the rest of the day” Phantom ask to Danny in a almost pathetic voice but Danny retorts “No this is the third time you tried to get out of meeting my parents Phantom.” And that’s when Phantom knew he was in trouble

“But my Love-“ “No we are going to visit my fathers no let’s go” Danny says in a tone with little to no room for arguing

So as they walk ( float ) to the drawing room Phantom looks like a kicked puppy a few moments later they are in front of the door when Phantom goes to say something but he is interrupted by the door opening and Danny floating in and saying hello to Pariah Dark and going to sit next to Clockwork and start talking about random things

Due to there jobs as Ancients and the Ghost King it doesn’t leave much time for them to meet together like this to often and with Phantom trying not to visit them often

As Danny and Clockwork talk Pariah Dark and Phantom immediately start to bicker the other and start to quietly fight with the other while looking back at their lovers from time to time to make sure they don’t see them until a few minutes later Phantom and Pariah Dark start to fist-fight

And back to Danny and Clockwork they just talk about how funny their lovers are with soft smiles and got back to talking about flowers.

••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

The link to the OG post!

[give-me-a-minute-to-think]

just rewatched your name and cried my eyes out so fuck it, payneland your name au

edwin is of course in 1916, while charles is in 1989

they figure out they're in separate timelines much sooner, inevitably. probably even right away.

they are having a significantly harder time in each other's bodies than the movie characters.

you'd think edwin would have much more troubles getting used to charles' life and the, like, invention of the television and shit, but even tho charles knew some things about the start of the 20th century and had access to history books, he's adjusting rather poorly to the time's etiquettes

so edwin is talking posh and proper and charles' friends are making fun of him, and charles is embarrassing edwin at latin class because he doesn't know any. they start off pretty pissed at each other.

but soon enough, they both agree to just keep their mouths shut as much as possible during switches, and everyone around them just starts to shrug it off and accepts that every now and then they will be a bit weird

edwin is improving charles' grades and making teachers send him pleased looks; charles is talking back to simon and the other bullies, making them think edwin is a feral lunatic yes, but also resulting in them bothering him less

things go on like this until suddenly one day they stop switching. charles tries to search what could have happened and discover the disappearance of the 6 boys. he's heartbroken and doesn't know what to do. the time pass. he forgets edwin's name. he forgets what it is that he lost.

a few weeks later, his friends attack this kid from pakistan, and charles has been so weird these last months that they kinda lost patience for him. when he interrupts their fun, they don't let it slide.

when he's up in the attic shivering, edwin shows up. for him it's been 73 years, and he forgot charles a long long time ago.

neither of them recognizes the other, not consciously. but they both feel like they found something at that moment, something important that they cannot allow to lose again.

[ingravinoveritas]

Bonus clip of Michael on the WTAWTAW podcast talking about his experiences with gender expression as a teenager in Port Talbot and mentioning his crush on John Taylor again. Transcript of notable highlights below:

Michael: "So when I was 12, 13--early '80s, the time that Allie is talking about--and I saw girls with lip gloss and wearing rah-rah skirts and leg warmers and stuff, [whispers] and I was a little bit jealous. Course, never said that, never said that. In Port Talbot if I'd mentioned that, my life would've been hell. But I do remember being quite...attracted by the trappings. A lot of trappings for girls. We didn't have stuff like that for boys. There were rituals for girls, doing your makeup, doing your hair." Michael: "I mean, my first crush--I said this on a thing I did called The Assembly recently--my first crush was a man called--ah, John Taylor from Duran Duran. Ohh, he was the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen. The way I processed it was, like, I'm gonna try and look like John Taylor, try and make my hair like John Taylor." Michael: "And they always used to have a bit of lip gloss going on, didn't they? Those New Romantics. But like I say, I couldn't really try that out in Port Talbot."

This goes directly back to things I have written about on my blog previously, about Michael having these feelings and not being able to express them because of where he grew up and the hateful climate that Section 28 fostered. This is why it is so difficult for someone of Michael's generation to label themselves, because none of that is lightly shaken off.

Even hearing the way Michael talks about it in the podcast, you can tell that this is not a joke, but a longing for something that he still remembers so vividly, because it meant so much to him at the time, and still does. Also, Michael has now mentioned his crush on John Taylor twice in the span of two months after not saying anything about it for years, and if that doesn't tell you where his heart and mind are right now, I'm not sure what does. Neither he nor David need a formal announcement to make it clear who they are, because they've already been telling us...

[blorger]

“Why were you nervous?” Draco scoffed. “Well, I did sort of…suspect…” Draco deployed a few skeptical blinks’ worth of silence. “It wasn’t meant to be a surprise.” Harry considered trying to play this off. But one was meant to be honest with one’s husband. “But you were doing all this sneaking around…preparing for this big proposal…” “Proposal?” Draco’s disbelief deepened into something worse. “Harry. I proposed at midsummer. As is customary.” “Oh,” Harry said. “I woke you up at sunrise and pledged that my love was as clear as the longest day! And asked you if yours was as profound as the longest night! And you said yes!” “Well, it is,” Harry said, blushing. “We stayed in bed all day! From sunup to sundown! As is customary!” “I thought you were just feeling a bit,” Harry laughed helplessly, “insatiable. Listen, I’m not the only one who misunderstood. Ron and Hermione thought—” “—that I was seeking their permission?” Draco hmphed in disdain. “Typical. Utterly.”

from Elaborate, Correct, and Assiduously Observed by peu_a_peu

[dnfity]

dnf being the only person to go through each others DND. and dream posting so many pics of george sleeping and dream mentioning multiple times on stream that he’s leaving to wake george up and george not denying that they share a bed and dream posting a picture of george in his bed and and

and george sitting/sleeping/hanging out on the bed in dreams office while he works and dream reading a tweet on stream and agreeing with it about george just walking into dream's bedroom whenever he feels like it when he gets to florida just to see what dreams doing and dream gifting george the silk pillowcases he uses bc george liked them and george recognizing when dream is tired and acknowledgizing that he needs rest and watching shows over discord together to keep their sleep schedules in sync and george soundboarding dream saying "i love u" in his sleep long before they ever did youtube and and

[uhhlifeig]

Candle - Dec. 9th - word count: 519 - @wolfstarmicrofic

Sirius adjusted the collar of his shirt for the tenth time, his reflection in the small mirror by the fireplace looking back at him with equal parts nerves and determination. 

He had been waiting for this opportunity for a while.

A small round table stood in the center of the room. Two elegant plates rested side by side, surrounded by polished silverware. A candelabra sat in the middle, its many candles casting a golden glow that danced across the walls.

The scent of roasted duck and rosemary wafted from the kitchen, mingling with the faint sweetness of freshly baked bread. 

Sirius had spent the entire afternoon ensuring everything was just right, from the perfectly folded napkins to the table he had set half an hour ago. 

He had even fire-called Effie to get the recipes just right.

When the door opened, the noiret nearly jumped out of his skin.

“Moony?” he called, trying to sound casual.

“I’m home, annwyl,” Remus replied, stepping into the room. He froze, amber eyes widening as he took in the scene.

“Sirius,” he said. “What... what is all this?”

The dog animagus shrugged nonchalantly, or what he hoped was nonchalantly. “Dinner. For us. Thought it’d be nice, you know, something different.”

“You made all this?” The werewolf’s eyes darted to the kitchen, then back to Sirius.

“Effie taught me,” Sirius admitted. “Figured I’d give it a go. Thought you deserved something... fancy.”

Remus’s mouth dropped open. “You’re telling me you spent all day cooking, just for me?”

“Of course. Why wouldn’t I?”

“I love you so much, cariad.”

“Love you too,” Sirius smiled, pulling out the chair for his boyfriend. “Now come and sit down before the duck gets cold.”

Remus chuckled, sliding into the chair. Sirius poured them each a glass of wine before taking his own seat across the table. 

“This is incredible,” the younger man said after a bite of food.

The gray-eyed man grinned bashfully. “Yeah, well, I had a good teacher.”

They ate slowly, savoring every bite.

After a while, Remus leaned back in his chair. “You know,” he said, his voice soft, “you didn’t have to do this. I don’t want you to go through this much trouble for me.”

“It wasn’t trouble. You- you do so much for me, Moony. I just wanted to do something nice for you.”

“Sirius Black, you absolute sap,” the dirty blonde said, smiling affectionately.

“Guilty as charged,” Sirius replied, smiling. “But you’re stuck with me, so...”

“I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

“Well, you’re about to be stuck with me for the rest of your life. What do you say to that?”

“What?” Remus uttered, bewildered. “What do you mean?”

“I mean, well-” the noiret got up and dropped down to one knee, pulling out a small velvet box. “Remus John Lupin, will you marry me?”

The werewolf was sitting, shocked, hands covering his mouth. Sirius looked closer, and there were tears glinting on his face. “Really? Of fucking course I will, Sirius!”

Remus wasn’t the only one crying now. 

“I love you, more than you’ll ever know, mon amour.”

[very-bad-poetry-captain]

Okay but this line from Firestorm by L.A. Graf is driving me insane?? What do you mean Spock lifted McCoy's foot instead of just asking him to move it??? What was the logic behind that??

[mortal-kingss]

just a sketch but be on the lookout 🕷️

update: they have been rendered… mwahahahhaah

[weirdducky17]

⛧ Shepherd Leading The Blind ⛧

⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘

As his vision darkened around its edges and sockets ached in a dull repetition, he could not help himself from silently cursing at his elder brother from whence his eyes were gouged out. The phantom pain of feeling them being pried out of his skull haunted him day by day, the culprit slept not too far from his own tent in this damned cult.

He could only mourn the sensation of being able to properly see, his crown only being able to suppress his agony and delay his visual impairment. Now his crown replaced by cotton felt bandages to merely hide his disfigurement, his green envy barely showed on his expression. His godhood lingering in how he must carry himself, head high with no weaknesses visible to exploit.

He was the God of Chaos.

Now rendered as the blind and weak bishop, the first to fall from the Lamb's blade.

Yet even as his gaze was muddled by blurry images of followers meandering around his form, his other senses were sharpened. His hearing, sense of smell and taste seemingly enhanced to make up for his lack of vision. He could recognize the scents of every follower that carried delicious meals to and from the kitchen , the heavy footfalls of the workers constructing the newest lamp posts people kept chiming about.

Everything was clear to him.

Everything was something familiar.

Comforting. Peaceful. Quiet.

... Safe.

Was that something he can even indulge in? Was he allowed to bask in such undeserved tranquility that was reserved to the ones with such a pure faith in their own God? He's lived for many millennia, even as their reality as other worldly beings weighed heavy as the crown that once sat atop their heads.

He used to be happy once.

A Monster like him.

Can he experience that happiness once more?

The scent of blessed pine and the subtle hint of death overpowered the masses that surrounded him. Other scents dulled to make way for this special one. His branches twitched at the soft footfalls of hooves crunching against the cobblestone path, heading in his direction. The soft jingle of a bell rang out. The gentle yet firm touch of a hoof rested upon his clawed hand that held crushed seeds within his fingers. Their mere godly presence dulling the ache of his sockets.

"Lovely morning, Leshy. Has my radiance blessed this day of a bountiful harvest?" A teasing tone yet held an air of reverence in every word they spoke.

". . . And may your brilliance nourish our crops to provide an abundance of fresh produce to further our flock's survival." A soft giggle left them.

"I'm glad someone can match my energy on such a peaceful day."

"Do not get ahead of yourself, Little Lamb..."

"No need to worry thyself about how I may casually address you. After all you are my follower, I am your Leader. I am a person you can rely on, dear Leshy."

"Anyway! The camellias I managed to harvest from Darkwood are growing nicely in my personal garden and I just happened to prepare some tea for two, would you be a dear and join me to 'Smell the Roses'?"

"Do I have a choice in the matter, My Leader?"

"Nope!"

"I see..."

Even has his vision darkens and warps to incomprehensible shapes only he could bear witness too, he could only mentally scold himself as his clawed hands clasped around the Lamb's dainty arm. The pads of his fingers grazing across the many scars and mangled skin left by the many foes they threw at this determined creature, a testament to their strength and courage.

Soft. Gentle. Kind.

So Kind to the very core, even if the way they held themselves were the exact opposite.

He could not help himself from feeling that green envy once more, gnawing at his mortal soul. It was not a surprise that the red crown got so attached to this Little Lamb.

He could feel a sharpened dagger like gaze directed at his back, it was not any jealous loyalists that revered the Lamb with the utmost respect. Nor was it that damned spider, Webber, that was highly favored in the cult grounds. This was much different, familiar even. The same gaze that cursed him to death.

Narinder.

... pfftt—

He could eat his heart out. The Little Lamb chose Him to accompany them after all, not phased by his elder brother's poisonous glares.

The smallest bit of happiness bloomed in Leshy's repulsive, mortal soul.

[withthewindinherfootsteps]

So we know that Wei Wuxian's treatment after his death was horrible. Even if nothing could impact him directly, there was still neverending slander, hatred, misinformation, theft...

But, for a while after he died, the sects did try to impact him directly – namely, frequently trying to resummon his soul. And today I'll explore the possible reasons for this, their likelihoods, and why I'm so, so thankful that Wei Wuxian's soul managed to resist the summons. Because, spoiler alert (or, you know. maybe not)... none of them are good.

(Long meta ahead)

In my opinion, there are four likely motivations for this: confinement, coercion, torment, and potentially destruction.

Out of all of these, confinement is probably the most likely motivation, at least for most sects (Jins and Jiangs excluded, though it was likely what the Jin sect said their motivations were – but I'll get to them later). This one is the most simple – we know spirit-trapping pouches exist, and we know the sects also placed 120 stone beasts on the Burial Mounds to prevent Wei Wuxian's soul from escaping. Therefore, this seems to be the most likely motivation – and fortunately for Wei Wuxian, probably also the best case scenario, though it still certainly isn't a good one.

For the second, coercion – this is where the Jin sect come in (more specifically Jin Guangshan with the help of Jin Guangyao). Due to their wealth and resources, they're likely the sect who played the largest role in the soul-summoning rituals. We know what they're willing to do to try to gain power – keeping Wen Ning under the pretence he was burned to death and trying to control him with the nails, and working with and helping Xue Yang torture people to help him refine his demonic cultivation, in order to have the Yin hufu fixed. Along with working with many other cultivators, alongside Xue Yang – Jin Guangshan really, really wanted that seal.

And so, Jin GuangShan sought after all those who imitated Wei WuXian in cultivating the ghostly path and gathered them under his rule. He spent a great amount of money and resources and these people, ordering them to study and analyze the structure of the Tiger Seal in secrecy so that they could replicate and restore it. - Villainous Friends extra, EXR

(Note that working with these cultivators very likely happened after Wei Wuxian's soul had failed to be summoned, since this happens some time after Wei Wuxian's death, whereas the soul-summoning ceromonies presumably started happening very close to it.)

In the previous paragraph, he's also quoted as having 'lusted after' the Yin hufu, which we already knew but it's nice to have a direct quote as evidence.

Now, would Wei WuXian willingly work with the Jin sect in doing this? No. We know that, and, given Wei Wuxian's actions in his first life (refusing to hand over the Tally, not being afraid to stand up to the sects, etc), I’m pretty sure Jin Guangshan knows that, too:

He beat around the bush a couple of times, using all his skills, yet Wei WuXian didn’t give in no matter what, and it made him run into a bunch of obstacles. - Villainous Friends extra, EXR

So this could actually make things go two ways. One, I'm wrong and that wasn't actually part of the Jin sect's motivations, since they know they wouldn't be able to control him (and in that case, had they managed to summon him, I could imagine them putting him in a spirit-trapping pouch and doing something similar to what Jin Guangyao did to Nie Mingjue's head. Which, also, not good). Two, it was a part of their motivations, and they hoped to find a way around that. After all, there are other guidao users out there now, and Wei Wuxian would now be a gui*. Also, cultivators can obviously harm ghosts – see the very existence of Night Hunts, and I'd include Xue Yang's talisman-caused destruction of A-Qing as well (while he isn't a traditional cultivator, talismans can be used by everyone).

Now, would either of these methods actually work? I'm inclined to think not really (and I expand on the former method in a note below). Would that stop Jin Guangshan/Jin Guangyao/the cultivators they employ from trying? Especially considering Jin Guangshan's lust for power?

I'm inclined to think no, too.

For the third, look no further than Jiang Cheng's reputation of capturing and torturing demonic cultivators after Wei Wuxian's death, due to thinking they could be him. And this does happen – Jin Ling knows and talks about it, and there's not real motivation for him to negatively lie about someone he loves. Also, when they come across each other at Dafan Mountain, we're told this in Jiang Cheng's inner voice:

A moment ago, Jiang Cheng was certain that this person was Wei WuXian, and all of the blood in his body started to boil. Yet, now, Zidian was clearly telling him that he wasn’t. Zidian definitely wouldn’t deceive him or make a mistake, so he quickly calmed himself and thought, this doesn’t mean anything. I should first find an excuse to take him back and use every possible method to get information out of him. It’s impossible for him to not confess anything or give himself away. I’ve done things like this in the past anyways. - MDZS Chapter 10, EXR translation

This mainly shows that he's tortured people before, rather than that he's tortured people because he thinks they're Wei Wuxian, but this reason is confirmed by Jin Ling in Chapter 24. Of course, the reason is also mentioned in this chapter, and there are other moments in the chapter that illustrate my point better**, but they come from second-hand sources which I know are easier to deny. Do take note of Jiang Cheng's expression both times he comes across 'Mo Xuanyu' (after he suspects he's Wei Wuxian) in Book One***, though:

After a moment, the corners of Jiang Cheng’s lips pulled into a twisted smile. His left hand started to unconsciously stroke the ring [Zidian] again. He spoke softly, “… Well, well. So you’re back?” - Chapter 10, EXR Although his face had always been clouded, marked with arrogance and satire, it seemed as if every corner of it had come alive. It was difficult to determine whether it was vengeful wrath, fathomless hatred, or raving ecstasy. - Chapter 23, EXR

This does seem to line up with what people say his attitude to Wei Wuxian is – there doesn't seem to be any happiness at seeing him again at all. The only time a word that could suggest that ('ecstasy') is used, it's accompanied by 'raving', and considering the context and the other possibilities of his expression, it's... probably not due to happiness at being reunited.

So, considering 1) this, 2) his contribution to the Siege specifically intended to kill Wei Wuxian, and 3) that at the time of frequent soul-summoning Jiang Yanli's death would be even closer for him, I feel pretty confident in saying that yes, this is likely a motivation for the Jiang sect in trying to re-summon Wei Wuxian's soul after his death. And, as mentioned earlier, cultivators can harm ghosts (and we know Zidian is able to remove souls posessing a body from that body, and that Jiang Cheng used Zidian on 'Mo Xuanyu' in Chapter 10. If it wasn't able to restrain/harm ghosts, or other methods weren't able to, why would he risk Wei Wuxian's soul escaping?).

And finally, option four: destruction. We're heading into much more speculative territory here, so don't consider this on par with the first three. But consider this:

We know there are some spells, like Xue Yang's talisman used on A-Qing and the body-offering ritual, that can ruin the returning soul’s reincarnation cycle by destroying it. Therefore, soul destruction is possible.

The 'main'/supposed reason for summoning Wei Wuxian's soul back is to stop the "cultivation world, or even all of mortal land" from being "faced with the most insane damnation and revenge, sinking into nothing but chaos and despair" when Wei Wuxian inevitably returns. While, as mentioned above, I severely doubt this is the motivation for certain sects – and to me is likely a rumour which the Jins (again, especially Jin Guangsha) fanned the flames of to justify summoning Wei Wuxian back for their own purposes**** – there are other sects which would take it more seriously.

Although likely disrespectful, people already thought it served Wei Wuxian right to die without his body intact by the time of the second siege – something believed to negatively affect your reincarnation in your next life*****. This is only the logical next step, and I'm pretty sure the vast majority of people would believe that, again, it would serve Wei Wuxian right, or would at least lead to less harm of the world in the long run.

For these reasons, I could definitely see this as an option for some sects, especially the sects who consider themselves more 'righteous' (cough cough the Nies under Nie Mingjue cough cough). After all, evil is evil and good is good, and the evil deserve what's coming to them. And what better way to prevent that than from preventing his soul from returning at all? So for the Nie sect – and likely some of the smaller sects involved in the Siege, since among them, additudes probably vary – yes, I do think it could be a motivation.

I’m not as sure about the Lans being willing to go this far, and that’s largely for two reasons. One, Lan Wangji’s presence and his relationship to Lan Xichen, who does (not always, but he does) let this affect how he treats Wei Wuxian. An example of this is that, when Wei Wuxian's return is made public, Lan Xichen does let him hide and shelter at the Cloud Recesses instead of trying to pursue him, likely majorly due to Lan Wangji. I'd argue that the aftermath of the Nightless City also acts as an example of this, although it definitely isn't perfect. But though he, Lan Qiren and the 33 elders do come to find Lan Wangji and do not let him continue to shelter Wei Wuxian (after they see Lan Wangji's feelings), Lan Xichen doesn't use this opportunity to kill/capture Wei Wuxian, despite Lan Wangji being in a worse condition due to having fought 33 elders, Wei Wuxian being catatonic, and Lan Qiren likely supporting this outcome (especially considering he was the one who led the Lan sect in the Siege – chapter 68, Wei Wuxian's POV). And he did let Lan Wangji take Wei Wuxian back to the Burial Mounds after:

After he went out of his way to send you back to Burial Mound and returned in such low spirits to receive his punishment, how long he kneeled before the Wall of Rules! - Chapter 99, EXR

Again, this was right after the Nightless City massacre – there isn't any goodwill towards Wei Wuxian at this point in time.

Of course, the Lan sect did participate in the siege after Lan Xichen knew of Lan Wangji's feelings towards Wei Wuxian, which Lan Xichen was no doubt a part of (although Lan Qiren lead the Lan sect in the siege, Lan XIchen had to have at least known/given his support, if not participated.) And it should be considered that Lan Xichen letting Wei Wuxian shelter at the Cloud Recesses was after Wei Wuxian had been back for a while, and had not caused the downfall of the Cultivation World, like many suspected he would after his death. And of course, as stated previously, his handling of the aftermath of Nightless City wasn't perfect either (though please note that his main motive here was to protect Lan Wangji from being potentially executed, rather than anything about Wei Wuxian himself). So caring about Lan Wangji doesn't mean he won't harm Wei Wuxian. But I do think he could find bringing Wei Wuxian's soul back to completely destroy it a bit excessive. There is, though, the chance that the elders of the Lan Sect would react to this differently, and of course they would have a sway on both Lan Xichen and the Lan sect as well.

The second reason is smaller, but there seems to be more focus in the Lan sect than in others when it comes to letting ghosts rest peacefully/helping them move on. And that could definitely lead to more resistance to the idea of summoning a soul back to destroy it as well, which could especially impact the elders. So I'd assume that the Lan sect would be the most likely sect to summon Wei Wuxian's soul back just for confinement, or just for some way of making sure any resentment is disippated, his spirit moves on, and he can't cause more harm to the world (eg via Inquiry)******. Not that he would or does as a ghost or as a reborn person, but that's unfortunately not relevant to this.

But yes, as a motivation for the Nie Mingjue-led Nie sect? Absolutely.

So, these are the main motives I suspect to be behind the attempted summoning of Wei Wuxian's soul after his death (and if I've missed any, please let me know – I'd love to have a discussion). And, of course, none of them lead to anywhere good. Because of course it wasn’t enough to besiege Wei Wuxian, murder the 50 non-combatants he was responsible for (and throwing them into the blood pit as a mark of disrespect because why not?), and lead to his death via him getting torn apart. It wasn’t enough to steal all his inventions, and use them commonly while still slandering him with no reprieve – or to steal his notes and give them to people like Xue Yang to study (Villainous Friends, again) and to use for their own, extremely extremely harmful, purposes. Of course, the cultivation world has to try to harm Wei Wuxian after death as well ((:

We don't know whether Wei Wuxian rejecting the summoning ceremonies was conscious or unconscious, but if it was the former, these are very likely reasons he refused to return in this way. If it was unconscious – for example, maybe during the frequent soul-summons his soul was in a weakened state due to him dying from a backlash of resentful energy and getting torn apart, and it healed over time but not before the soul-summoning rituals stopped – well, I can only be thankful.

Finally, let me leave you on the thought that – although it may well have happened since we don't spend much time in the immediate aftermath of the Sunshot campaign – there isn't even any textual mention of this happening to Wen Ruohan. Who, while not being a guidao user, was still very dangerous, still an extremely powerful cultivator, and still had a lot of reason to feel resentment. So.

:')

Thank you for reading!

--

*Considering what we see of how Wei Wuxian's guidao functions – redirecting the ghosts'/corpses' resentment into doing something they'd want to do, eg attacking people, and directing it towards a target – I'm not sure using it to force a spirit to do something 1) extremely specific, and 2) explicitly against their will would actually work. Iirc the closest thing we get to this in text is Wei Wuxian using the corpses of Wens to attack other Wens in the Sunshot Campaign, but he's still just directing their resentment to a target of his choice, and fierce corpses do tend to be on the less concious side of things (hence why Wei Wuxian had to awaken Wen Ning's consciousness). Considering how Wen Ning attacks Wei Wuxian and the Burial Mound Wens before his consciousness had fully awoken, I... really don't think those fierce corpses were able to differentiate (or didn't care).

Meanwhile, ghosts seem to be a bit more in control of themselves – see A-Qing, and Wei Wuxian's own descriptions of his ghost self.

That, alongside ghost!Wei Wuxian being able to resist his soul-summoning and the fact that pretty much all of the new guidao users are a lot weaker than he was, does make me think that this this wouldn't work. I do wonder about Xue Yang, since his methods are pretty different as well, but he's more of a modao user than a guidao user (he controls living corpses rather than dead people) and I don't think you can insert physical nails into ghosts?? Though if he was specifically instructed to figure out some way to control ghost!Wei Wuxian (who's probably kept in a spirit-trapping pouch in this scenario), he might be able to do something at least. Though also he was also struggling to piece Xiao Xingchen's ghost soul back together, so he may struggle with those areas?

Well, whatever the potential outcome, I'm so so happy once again that Wei Wuxian's soul managed to resist the soul-summonings...

**Mainly this:

Everyone in the cultivation world knew that the young leader of the Jiang Clan watched out for Wei WuXian in an almost crazed manner. He would rather catch the wrong person than let go of any possibility, and took anyone who seemed like they held the soul of Wei WuXian away to the YunmengJiang Sect, inflicting severe torture on his victim. If he wanted to take someone back, the opposition would surely lose half of their life. - Chapter 10, EXR

But I have heard people say 'you can't prove that it's just more rumours' before, and I wanted my evidence to be as watertight as possible.

(And, off-topic... isn't it really sad how Jiang Cheng, in the present day, is described as young? Because, for a clan leader, he is. And another thing he is, is close in age to Wei Wuxian – who was killed 13 whole years prior :') )

***And do note that the only other time they run into each other before Wei Wuxian's identity is revealed to the world apart from this is their brief interaction at Jinlintai, where he can't just act however he wants. The next time they run into each other after it, Jiang Cheng is literally taking part in another siege against him, and still extremely hostile ("surrounded by hostile energy, face insidious, staring straight at him" – from EXR chapter 60). Then he loses his spiritual powers and can't do anything. By the time he regains his powers, Wei Wuxian, Lan Wangji and the Wen remnants' corpses have saved everyone during the Second Siege, and though public opinion hasn't properly shifted quite yet, it will soon after Sisi and Bicao tell the story of Jin Guangyao, and voila, a new scapegoat (do note that he doesn't completely bar Wei Wuxian from entering Lotus Pier after the Second Siege, though). Plus, throughout it all, Lan Wangji is still constantly present, which makes it hard for Jiang Cheng to really do anything. And then he's finally faced with the Golden Core reveal, which does alter his motivations towards Wei Wuxian (obviously the resentment is still there – read chapter 102 – but it's also mixed with other complex emotions, and he seems to start being able to move away from that a little in Chapter 103). I still definitely wouldn't describe Jiang Cheng's attitude towards him as positive, but it isn't at the point it was at the start of the novel (eg Chapter 10).

But even if his attitude does change, or would for whatever other reason apart from the reveal, that still doesn't change an initial motivation so isn't relevant to this meta. We know his intentions at the start.

****It's also possible they may have originated it, but I think WWX's reputation was bad enough for it to form naturally. Though you can trace a major part of that back to them, too.

*****That belief isn't outright stated in MDZS, but the fact people are specifically talking about the status of WWX's body in the aftermath of his death suggests that this belief does have some grounding in the MDZS universe, at least? And we know MXTX has included it in TGCF (though that doesn't mean it's definitely in MDZS), so she has used it in her works. If this isn't the case in the MDZS universe I am sorry (although that could also mean there's less importance placed on not disturbing the reincarnation cycle in the world of MDZS...? Which would work towards my original argument) – I don't want to spread misinformation that something is definitely true, I just think there's evidence to suggest it is true, which isn't the same thing.

******Again, I think this would depend on who ends up having more influence over who in the Lan sect. After all, normal resentful spirits only do what they do because of their resentment in death, whereas Wei Wuxian is 'dangerous' because of who everyone thinks he was in life – so him being reborn naturally could also 'cause a lot of harm to the world' during the time period this version of him would live in, unlike the resentful ghosts they appease. This could definitely lead to many advocating for confinement, I think.

[wangxianficrecs]

🔒 Hoards and treasures by apathyinreverie

🔒 Hoards and treasures

by apathyinreverie (@apathyinreverie)

T, 21k, Wangxian

Summary: If it hadn’t been for Wangji’s definite preoccupation with that one particular guest disciple, Xichen might never have noticed the… discrepancies. Kay's comments: Was craving some slightly dark Lan Clan and revisted this story recently. I really loved the angle that something was clearly a little off with Wei Wuxian's education. He's a celestial fox, who should have been seen as a boon by the Jiangs and yet, something was wrong. Not friendly to the Jiangs and the Lans are darker, since they are dragons and give in to their hoarding instincts. Featuring a smitten Wangxian during the Cloud Recesses Study Arc. Also, really fun to have the story from Lan Xichen's POV! Excerpt: He bows to Xichen like they were equals, like they were both heirs to one of the major sects. When Wei Wuxian certainly isn’t. Come to think of it… Xichen tilts his head in thought. Wei Wuxian bows to Xichen just as Jiang Wanyin does, the exact same angle and depth and time holding the bow. Almost like Wei Wuxian might have copied said bow straight off his brother. Almost like he might not have been taught differently and was certainly never corrected in his behavior. It is at that point, after their first few interactions, a few conversations full of bright, genuine laughter and just slightly off manners, that Xichen starts noticing the discrepancies. The discrepancies of someone supposedly raised amongst gentry – alongside an heir to one of the major sects, no less – but who so clearly doesn’t have the expected ease of a firm and steady education, certainly not in regards to sect politics. It is something anyone of the main houses would be expected to know, but which Wei Wuxian simply doesn’t, committing faux-pas after faux-pas, though never grave enough to be confronted about it and also clearly without intent, but rather because he simply doesn’t seem to know better.

pov lan xichen, canon divergence, shifters, not jiang family friendly, dark gusu lan sect, dragon lan wangji, fox wei wuxian, cloud recesses study arc, manipulation, smitten lan wangji, fluff, adorable wei wuxian, romance, courting rituals, falling in love

~*~

(Please REBLOG as a signal boost for this hard-working author if you like – or think others might like – this story.)