[hunches over himself, eyes on his hands clenched in his lap. the fuzzy memory of a bad dream floats through his consciousness, of Lan Wangji wandering alone through the Burial Mounds while bleeding out. the thought of it being real sends his pulse racing in alarm.]

...It...already happened a long time ago, Er-gege. If you had died back then, I wouldn't get to be here with you now.