Compassion from The Enemy
Also, this is my first fanfiction. Ever. So, it might be a tad underwhelming.
Lu Meng had always hated snow. Too cold. Too soggy. It slowed him down and the biting freeze made his mind numb. And there was a lot more snow to come. Sun Quan, having made efforts to save his brother, Sun Ce, and his father, Sun Jian, from death, and making it so the strategists Zhou Yu and Lu Su survived the Jing altercation, was marching on Xuchang. In winter. IN WINTER! Lu Meng scowled in annoyance under the extra robes he had put on to try and fight the bitter weather. Lu Meng looked from his feet, seeing ahead was Xuchang, seeing that the men at the front of the marching formation were stopping to set up camp.
Lu Meng quickly entered the war tent, inside stood Sun Quan, Zhou Yu, Lu Su and Zhou Tai, Lu Su turned to meet his younger student, "Lu Meng! There you are. Come, Xuchang will require a strategy to take, will it not?" Lu Su said, Lu Meng nodded in response, taking his spot beside his mentor, Lu Su. Zhou Yu as the first to speak, "Xuchang is large and has many houses made of wood. A fire attack would be most useful." He said, pointing to a series of red blocks on a map that had been set up. These blocks were enemy officers and high value targets. Lu Su brought his hand up to stroke his chin, "But they'd have enough water to put it out. Xuchang does have a floodgate-based pond." Lu Su added. Lu Meng spoke up, "I will serve as a distraction alongside Zhu Ran, Ding Feng and Han Dang. We will feign a frontal assault, allowing the fire attack unit to flank around and drain the pond and start the fire on Xuchang Palace." Lu Meng said, a small but tired smile appearing on his face. Sun Quan raised an eyebrow, "Are you sure, Lu Meng? You'd be charging towards warriors like Zhang Liao, Xiahou Yuan and Xu Huang." Lu Meng nodded, adamant in his plan. Lu Su slowly began to nod, "It will distract them from even attempting to attack our main camp, it works out…Yes. This plan should work Lu Meng." Zhou Yu simply nodded. The plan had been set. Now it had be carried out
The gates opened, and the red clad soldiers charged, the assault of Xuchang had begun. Lu Meng, Han Dang, Zhu Ran and Ding Feng were moving to east of Xuchang's main gate, a side main gate that houses a spare courtyard and the way into the residential district of Xuchang. They quickly defeated the gatekeeper, they stormed in with their red armour-clad troops. Lu Meng had a large grin on his face until he spotted something at the other end of the courtyard, it was blue, so Wei affiliated, he squinted his eyes to see if he could make out…but he was two slow. That thing was Xiahou Yuan, readying an arrow, which had now been fired and struck Lu Meng in the stomach, piercing through his armour. Lu Meng cried out in pain, grabbing onto the arrow and collapsed from the shock of the wound. The other three feign assaulters, Ding Feng, Han Dang and Zhu Ran quickly move to help Lu Meng, "Master Lu Meng! Damnit!" Zhu Ran shouted in frustration. Han Dang and Ding Feng moved to attack the incoming Xiahou Yuan and Wang Yi and Zhu Ran attempted to tend to Lu Meng, "Master Lu Meng! Stay with me!" Lu Meng stared up at Zhu Ran, or the fuzzy red blob that was apparently Zhu Ran, Lu Meng coughed violently before slowly beginning to lose his sight, 'Is this what death is like?' Lu Meng thought solemnly to himself, 'How pitiful for me to die at the final battle. How pitiful.' And with that, Lu Meng closed his eyes.
'By Confucius…Everything hurts…' Was the first thought that came to Lu Meng's head as he slowly opened his eyes. He was on a bed, wearing simply infirmary bottoms and his former arrow wound was bandaged up. He groaned quietly, bringing his hand up to his head, he hadn't had such a bad headache since he drank too much after Hefei, "Oh! So, you're awake." Lu Meng snapped his gaze to the voice, it was a woman, brown hair, blue and white dress. He recognized her, Cai Yan, or Cai Wenji as she preferred to be called, a beauty famed for her kindness and poetic ability. Cai Wenji approached Lu Meng and reached out to him, instigating Lu Meng to draw back, "Get away from me you Cao Cao loving wench! I've been captured and brought to a Wei Infirmary, haven't I?!" Cai Wenji recoiled at Lu Meng's outburst, he was obviously suspicious of a Wei citizen helping him, but she stood strong, proceeding to answer him with complete honesty, "I'm the one who's been captured. Xuchang was taken by Wu forces yesterday afternoon." Lu Meng stared at Cai Wenji, analysing her, looking for signs of deceit. He eventually responded, "If we've taken Xuchang, then bring me the Wu Commander called Lu Su. Then I'll believe you." Cai Wenji slowly nodded and turned to walk away, glancing at Lu Meng as she left.
Lu Meng had decided to read a book that had been left in his infirmary room whilst he waited for Cai Wenji to return, it was poem book, written by Cai Wenji, and he found every single one of the poems to be heart moving in some way. He was astonished. Lu Meng himself had dabbled in the art of poetry but had found it too difficult for him to get into. After finished the book, he laid on the infirmary bed quietly, choked by the silence of the room. Until the infirmary door opened, and two figures entered. One smaller on in blue, one taller one in red. He instantly knew who they were, it was Cai Wenji and Lu Su, she had brought him here as promised, "So, Lady Cai was correct. Thank you for informing me." Lu Su, bowing in respect and thanks to Cai Wenji, she humbly returned the sign of respect. Lu Meng quickly questioned Lu Su, "So we captured Xuchang? And what happened to me whilst I was out?" He asked, Lu Su replied with the answers, "Yes, we captured the city. Xuchang Palace is but ash now. Regarding your second question, from what I can gather, Zhu Ran sent a messenger to the main camp, where I was. I was informed, and I raised a small group of troops to come and secure your position and when I arrived, Zhu Ran was being helped by Lady Cai here. She single handily helped save your life Lu Meng. Now I believe you owe her an apology for your outburst towards her earlier." Lu Meng gagged, apologize to a Wei citizen? Lu Meng didn't care that she saved his life, she had served Wei willingly and didn't deserve an apology for anything, "No." Lu Meng said, a harsh hatred in his voice, Lu Su crossed his arms and shook his head disapprovingly and Cai Wenji looked down, defeated, "Lu Meng. You either apologize or I'll put a fate worse than, in your eyes that is, on you." Lu Su threatened only to get violently head shaking from Lu Meng, "Never." Lu Meng hissed, "It's your choice Lu Meng. And you chose the hard route. I doubt you know this due to being unconscious, our Lord didn't annex Wei but rather set up a Three Kingdoms alliance. And political marriages are being arranged between Wu, Shu and Wei to strengthen this alliance. And Lady Cai here has offered herself to be married to strengthen the alliance. Can you guess where I'm going with this?" Lu Su asked. Lu Meng took a moment to think before his face contorted in horror, "You wouldn't dare Lu Su…" Lu Su only chuckled in response, "Oh I would Lu Meng." Lu Meng became panicked, "Actually, on second thought, I might just say sorry." He was cut off by Lu Su, "Too late Lu Meng. You and Lady Cai are to be politically married." Cai Wenji's eyes widened, "Uhmm…Lord Lu Su…Are you sure?" She asked, watching the full out panicking Lu Meng, who appeared to be having some form of mental breakdown at this, "Honestly Lady Cai…I'm not sure…"
Author's Note: So...yeah. This is probably a mess.
Please leave a review. I need some guidance regarding this. Maybe some words to point out any shortcomings.