LINKDING

Summary: “How could you let him?” she asked abruptly. It came out—menacing. Her own voice hadn’t been capable of conveying anger like that. If she’d tried very hard to rage, it would have been shrill and unimpressive, and if she’d spoken the way she’d tried to just now, it might have chilled the right room but it would still have sounded gentle. A-Cheng’s voice had no softness in it, and both boys went very still. ➤ mdzs/cql canon divergence au, where instead of mxy sacrificing himself to resurrect wwx, jc sacrifices himself to resurrect jyl ➤ jyl and wn and mxy eat soup together about it ➤ and jyl grapples with how she feels about everything that happened. and what she's going to do next ➤ and like. DANG I love it!!! ➤ 5k words in length

summary: <blockquote>“If you died,” Huaisang started, not knowing quite where he was going with this. “I mean, you did die, da-ge, but if someone had killed you… what would you want to happen next?” / In the wake of Nie Mingjue’s death, Nie Huaisang realises how much he’s been left in ignorance. How could the artsy little brother be left to run their ancestral asteroid-mining clan? What other secrets are hidden in his san-ge’s past? And how should he get revenge? Maybe having da-ge’s personality backed up on a server was supposed to help with all this. Maybe.</blockquote> ➤ mdzs space au about nie huaisang and his years-long project in avenging his da-ge ➤ a repeated theme throughout the fic is nhs visiting and talking to back-ups that had been taken of nmj's personality before death, and the way that this makes literal how HAUNTED nhs is by his brother's absence is just sooooooo good ➤ the worldbuilding is great, the things that are changed from canon due to this different context are great, the anguish and monofocus of nhs are great ➤ I AM ALL EMOTIONS ;_; ➤ 8k words in length

Summary: <blockquote>This is alarming; he has always been a solid cultivator, master of his senses and body and spirit, etcetera, as rigorously forged as his sword. Even in his deepest grief Sandu Shengshou will run in a straight line. It is not alarming. Hasn't he, hasn't the entire cultivation world, been through a shock? / Jiang Cheng attends Wen Qing's execution because he must. And then he learns about his passenger.</blockquote> ➤ after wen qing's execution, she ends up sharing jiang cheng's body! ➤ they're both dealing with so MUCH at this point in the narrative, and they're so careful with each other now that they are tied together like this, and it's so gorgeous ➤ 3k words in length

Summary: <blockquote>The truth was they had been friends. Three months is a long time to spend with someone, day after day, sharing meals and weary hours. At the time, Jiang Cheng really didn’t have anyone else and neither did Lan Wangji. It wasn’t only the search that bound them, but the desperation as well: that there might be some mercy in the world left for the two of them. That out of everyone else they’d lost, Wei Wuxian at least should live.</blockquote> ➤ exploring the relationship between Jiang Cheng and Lan Wangji; the three months of almost-friendship when they were searching for Wei Wuxian together, and then the many years of hatred that followed ➤ and yet lwj saves jc's life when he's injured in a night hunt. but they still hate each other. ➤ the deep well of bitterness on both sides, as both feel fully justified in their hate! god it's so good. the vibes in this fic are impeccable. ➤ 2k words in length ➤ thanks by-lookitmychicken for the rec!

Summary: <blockquote>Minutes turned into hours, and the shrills of agony puncturing through the walls of the courier station did not stop. Sometimes they would diminish, even silent for a moment, before exploding into a battered howl, enough to make the wind shiver. Still, Lan Wangji did not move.</blockquote> ➤author's note: <blockquote>So yesterday i may have had a realization on twitter about why, near the end of the novel, wwx says that "you dont like when i say thank you to you" and cited the courier station as a time when he said "thank you", when he never did. I thought it might have been just an overlook by MXTX, but it was still odd considering MDZS had been revised at this point. Then I thought about how LWJ didn't leave, but waited downstairs, and that they might still have had a short interaction that day. So, this happened! It follows right after chapter 62, when LWJ walks downstairs the courier station while JC and WWX stay to kill Wen Chao, so you might wanna re-read that part (if you're able) just to refresh your mind.</blockquote> ➤ oof

Summary: <blockquote>Nie Mingjue cannot do the one thing Jin Guangyao was relying on him to do. No matter how utterly he claimed to reject Jin Guangyao before, he accepts the fucking proposal. Nie Mingjue’s only condition is that they be married according to traditional Nie custom.</blockquote>

Summary: <blockquote>The life and times of Luo Mianmian; or, what happened after she secedes from Lanling Jin sect. As she suspected, the world is far bigger than the great cultivation sects.</blockquote>

<blockquote>Post-canon, Lan Xichen and Nie Huaisang strike up a very unhealthy relationship in order to cope with their grief and unanswered questions.</blockquote> ➤ oof! deliciously fucked up. marked as wip but works as one standalone chapter and hasn't been updated in years

<blockquote>The truth was that Nie Huaisang wanted to be angry like Jiang Cheng, without caring about the consequences. Or: years after Nightless City, Nie Huaisang finds himself in a moment of weakness.</blockquote> ➤ incredible nhs pov

<blockquote>Mianmian sets her drink down on the floor with a clink. “If she’s that perfect, it’s no wonder she can put up with you two.” The room goes silent. Across the room, Wen Qing’s expression has morphed from this might be a crisis to this is absolutely a crisis and we need damage control, stat. Jiang Wanyin bristles, opens his mouth to say something mean in response. Lan Wangji is more worried about Wei Ying, who has gone very, very still beside him. He knows that Wei Ying’s relationship with his adoptive family is complicated—a web of obligations and resentment that might never be untangled; he knows that Wei Ying constantly felt like a burden, and that Jiang Yanli was the only one who offered unconditional affection. / or, lan zhan reflects on sibling relationships while wei ying scrambles to get his jiejie the perfect birthday gift</blockquote> ➤ unfinished, possibly abandoned, but the one chapter stands alone just fine

<blockquote>“She’s read more books than me! She’s told me that gender is a performance so many times. She knows theory words for things and she watches all those YouTube essays. Why is it a surprise to her that all of this stuff is work? None of it is natural or fun.” “None of it?” Wen Qing asks, her tone suspiciously neutral. Yanli narrows her eyes. “What are you saying?” Wen Qing’s eyes shift to the right, avoiding Yanli’s stare. “I guess I think some of it is fun.” Yanli sits back in her seat. “Huh.”</blockquote> ➤ ahhhhh t4t jyl/jzx is so good, and it's so believable the relationship jyl has with gender here!

<blockquote>“I know what you’re thinking,” he insisted, “and you’re a fucking idiot. You think it’s not fair that I have a core and you don’t. You think your life has been hard. You think the worst possible thing has happened to you.” He knew it was true, because he remembered thinking that. He’d lain in bed for days like a fool, believing that nothing could be worse than losing every hope of cultivation. “You hate seeing me because I have something that you don’t, and I —” he choked on the words. “You have no fucking idea.” The other Jiang Cheng’s face grew more and more contemptuous as he talked. “You’re wrong,” he said icily. “I don’t want a single thing you have. Not at the price you paid.” --- Jiang Cheng and Wei Wuxian find themselves in a world where things went differently.</blockquote>