DISCLAIMER: I don't own anything except for the plot and the original character. It would be a dream come true if I owned DW...goes off into a daze
Part 2: Revival and Death
"Da…It's all right. I think…" Xiao said to her sister, still trying to comfort her. They had just returned to the main camp and told Sun Jian all about the incident. Da had become very depressed and was crying into Xiao's shoulder. Zhou Yu was the one to tell the death to Jian. The Wu leader was very upset that his son had gotten killed.
"I know that he couldn't be dead…he's just not the son I know if he is…he's just too strong." Jian said as he slammed his fist on the ground. Zhou Yu had no reaction to this, but he turned and walked off.
"Zhou Yu! Where are you going?" Xiao asked when she finally noticed that Yu was walking off. Yu didn't reply. He was to covered up in his thoughts. He had been so close to Sun Ce…and he knew him better than any other warrior except for Da. His sworn brother was just too stubborn to give up that easily.
'It's…impossible. I guess what they say about the impossible happening…is true…No! I shouldn't think like that! I bet Sun Ce is still alive, but waiting for a chance to get out of there with out getting detected by the enemy…or maybe…' Zhou Yu though to himself as he walked with no fixed destination. He wandered around the Wu main camp for at least thirty-minutes until someone had recently arrived. It was Lu Xun!
"Hey! Why are you looking so down Zhou Yu?" Lu Xun asked, without the knowledge that Ce had just been killed. Yu gave no answer, but merely walked past him in his own frustration of not being able to help his sworn brother.
"I wonder what happened…maybe I should go see Lord Sun Jian and ask him what's got Yu so down." Xun said to himself. He swiveled his horse to the left and galloped to see Jian.
When Xun finally got there, he saw that Jian wasn't looking himself either. He saw Da crying into her younger sister's shoulder and Ce not to be found. It was then that he realized that Ce was gone.
'No way! Ce can't be gone! He's just too strong! He was the only one to beat Gan Ning in the training arena…this isn't right.' Xun thought as he continued to watch the two Qiao's weep for the loss of a great friend and a husband.
Then, he dismounted and walked over to Jian. "What…happened." He said without knowing what he just said. Jian looked up at him surprised to see that Lu Xun had arrived.
"Was…Ce…" "Yea…sadly…" Jian quickly interrupted Xun. Xun looked over at the two Qiao's, still mourning. "Do you think that Da will be all right?" Xun said as he broke the moment of silence that had occurred. Jian didn't answer. He didn't really know if she would be all right, especially when she had been so close to his son.
The young strategist left Jian's side and went over to the two weeping beauties.
"Hey guys…are you all right?" Xun sad with sympathy. Xiao suddenly jumped when he started to speak.
"Uh…I don't really know. Da…are we all right?" Xiao said absent-mindedly. Da shook her head slightly, while still keeping her face tucked into Da's shoulder.
"I guess…we're not okay. I don't know what we will do now." Xiao answered after getting an answer from her elder sister.
Xun sat next to them and tried to cheer them up a little bit.
Meanwhile….
"Huh? Oh my! Is that man hurt?" A random woman came from out of nowhere. She ran over the body of Sun Ce. She waited for a while, when she decided to check for a pulse. "Wow! I'm surprised that you're even still alive! Look at these wounds!" The lady said as she jumped back a little after feeling the slow pulse that was sure to be very near death.
"I'll be back. I will get my daughter to help you out." The woman ran off in the opposite direction, knowing that he wasn't going to respond.
About a half an hour later, the woman came back with a girl who was about 18. She looked at the corpse in front of her and then looked back at the woman.
"What are you thinking? He's dead! I mean, I can't bring a dead man back to life! I'm only human and I am only a normal doctor! Didn't I tell you hat before?" The young lady said annoyed that the foolish lady brought her here.
"No! He's not dead. Go over there and feel his pulse points. I swear that he's alive…but just barely hanging on." The woman said as she pushed her daughter over to the body.
The young lady felt Ce's neck pulse point and jumped up in surprise. "OH MY GOD! He really is alive! However, he may not be for long. I mean, look at his wounds and on top of that his pulse isn't very strong anyway." She told her mother.
"Now Xiang Cui! Don't think like that! I am sure that he will make it if you helped him." The lady scolded. The young lady, apparently named Xiang Cui, had a stern look on her face. "Even if I could help him, we don't know who he is or where he came from."
Just as they were about to try and drag him somewhere not so open, Sima Yi and Zhang He came back. Sima Yi didn't believe that Sun Ce was dead, so he had to come see for himself.
"Uh-oh! This looks like its serious business!" Cui said to her mother. Her mother nodded and together they quickly pulled him out of sight.
"I don't see him anywhere! You really are retarted aren't you?' Sima Yi said in distaste. Zhang He looked confused. He knew that Sun Ce's body was here…and yet it wasn't here.
"I swear…I am telling the truth!" Zhang He explained worriedly. He began to search all over, but couldn't find him anywhere.
"Your such a fool." Sima Yi said as he left. Zhang He was still trying to find the person that he knew he and Xu Huang had killed. After a few minutes of searching, he gave up, feeling hopeless.
"Whew…that was a close one." Cui whispered as her mother agreed. "He's obviously not on their side. We just have to travel to the other side of this battlefield. I think that might be where he comes from." Cui explained. "First, we have to get him revived though." Her mother reminded her.
"All right…we need to get bandages though. If we don't go to the main camp of the other side, then we won't be able to help him out." With that, Cui began to get up off the ground, but her mother pulled her back down.
"We won't be able to get there without anyone noticing us." She pointed out. Cui agreed.
"I guess, that I will go to the main camp and get bandages. I will just say that they were for you…"
"Now why would you do that?" Her mother interjected. "Because, I want it to be a surprise so that I will look like a hero." Her mother let out a deep sigh and watched her daughter run off to the Wu main camp.
"You better hurry up and get back here…I don't even know how to defend myself, let alone an unconscious guy whose about to die." She said, letting her thoughts worry her even more than she was now.
At Wu's main camp…..
"I can't believe that this battle is still going." Yu said to himself as he continued on his pointless journey. "I should probably help moral support, even if I really don't have much left…" He said. Then he went back to the battlefield to help fight off the enemy. Then a thought ran through his head. 'I know…this will be for Ce.' Then he dashed off to fight.
"Da! You're going to have to stop crying sometime soon, I know that this is hard…I think, but anyway, we are going to have to get revenge for Ce. Plus, you're making my shoulder wet and it's making me cold." Xiao encouraged. She was still trying to get her sister to stop being so depressed. Lu Xun had already left to fight the enemy and put in a part of his effort for Ce.
"I know…but…I just…can't…stop thinking about him…." Da said with a teary voice along with more tears falling from her eyes.
Xiao let out a sigh. "Come on. I'll be there for you and so will Zhou Yu and Lu Xun." Xiao continued to push the courage scheme a little longer. Da shook her head vigorously, as she knew what Xiao was trying to do.
"But, you have to help me. Plus, don't you think that Ce might want you to be happy and go on with your normal life, even if he wasn't there to help guide you and protect you?" Xiao said. She noticed that Da had stopped crying. 'Yea! It worked!' Xiao thought to herself as she smiled. Then Da began to cry even harder than before.
"You're right! That's what he would've said if he was still here!" Da complained. Xiao let out another heavy sigh and continued to hopelessly cheer her up.
With Xiang Cui…..
"I don't get it! How can people find their way around a huge empty field like this?" She told herself. Just then, a boy on a horse ran past her, almost knocking her over. He had a fancy hat with gold trimming and his clothes were the same way.
"HEY! Watch were you're going stupid!" She said as her temper flared up. The boy stopped abruptly and ran back to her. His horse reared up when he go to her.
"WHO ARE YOU TO CALL ME STUPID!" He copped the attitude right back at her.
"Why should I tell you! You almost killed me back there!" She said, referring to how close he was to running her over. "Besides, who do you think you are, yelling at a girl?" She continued.
"I am Lu Xun of Wu! I am the strategist so you really can't call me stupid!" He retorted. She was taken aback when she heard that he was from the clan of Wu.
"Oh…I didn't know that I was speaking to such high authority…sorry about that. Sweatdrop Do you carry bandages with you and maybe some ointment too?" She said, embarrassed that she yelled at someone that could easily kill her.
"I do, but I don't think I will give it to you." He taunted. She started to get mad, but kept it down. "Please? It's for my mother. You see, the enemy that you are facing hurt her really bad and…now she's near death. I want to help her." Lu Xun looked at her with slight sympathy. Then he decided that he would give it to her. He tossed a roll of bandages and a small container of healing ointment.
"Oh thank you so much!" She said as she began to run the direction that he was headed.
"Hey! Wait a second!" He said as he veered his hoarse back on track. She stopped for a second and watched him as he pulled up next to her.
"Do you want a ride? You seem like you're going the same way that I am." He said politely. She looked at him and blushed a little. "Sure, that sounds like it would get me there faster."
She mounted the back of the horse and they rode off to their destination point.
"So…what is happening here anyway? It looked like a big battle was going on, but no one was on the battlefield." Cui said with her voice jumping up and down as she galloped on the horse.
"Well, I think that they are regrouping their forces, just like Lord Sun Jian ordered as well." Lu Xun explained. "Oh…I see. So then, you're planning on waiting for reinforcements?" Cui questioned. Lu Xun nodded.
After about fifteen minutes of riding, they caught sight of someone on the battlefield. "…Hmm? What's Zhou Yu doing out here?" Lu Xun said curiously. Cui shifted herself to the side of Lu Xun to see who it was. The man called Zhou Yu looked like he was looking for something.
Lu Xun pulled his horse up next to Zhou Yu. "What are you looking for?" He asked, dismounting his horse.
"Remember how Sun Ce died?" Yu began. Lu Xun sadly nodded his head. "Well…I was coming out here to say a pray for him, but…his body isn't here anymore. It just…disappeared." Yu continued. He looked at Xun with a confused look. Lu Xun was surprised, he never saw Zhou Yu look confused before!
'Uh-oh…that must be the guy that we found lying on the battlefield three-quarters of the way dead.' Cui thought as she began to look around nervously, hoping that they wouldn't think that she knew anything about it.
"Uh…I have to get going! Thanks for the ride!" Cui said shakily as she began to run ahead of them. She clumsily lost her balance, but regained it quick enough to where she didn't fall over. They watched as she ran from view.
Meanwhile, with Xiang Cui's mother….
"Man, she better hurry. Who knows how long this man can survive for…" Cui's mother said as she looked down a Ce, who was still lying there motionless.
Just as she began to lose hope, she heard heavy breathing coming from Ce.
"Have…you woken up?" She backed away slowly. Then she immediately went back to his side. "If you are awake, then please tell me who you are and where you belong." She ordered. She was waiting, when his eyes slowly opened, then he tried to speak, but had no energy to even talk. She sighed and told him that she was there to help and that her daughter went to get bandages and healing ointment. 'Hurry! Cui, if you don't get back soon, then…I don't know what'll happen…'she thought to herself as she did the best she could to keep Ce awake.
"Hey! I'm back!" Cui yelled from about a few yards away. Her mother quickly turned to her and replied, "Cui! He's awakened!"
"What? Really!" Cui replied as she stopped by Ce's side. She saw that he was breathing heavily and his eyes were partially opened. "Hey…don't worry. I'm going to help you so hold on!" She said determinedly. She quickly took the bandages and ointment that she held in her sleeve pockets and immediately started to treat him.
After an hour had passed, Cui sat back and relaxed. "Whew…if I didn't get here any earlier, then he might have died on me…" She said exhausted. "Now, all you have to do is…" She was about to tell Ce to rest, but he was one step ahead of her. He had fallen asleep before she could tell him anything or question him. "Well, he must have read my mind."
"I managed to ask him our questions we had…but he was still too weak to talk." Her mother interjected. "Well, we can ask him when he wakes up." Cui said. Then she remembered that Lu Xun and Zhou Yu were headed their way.
"OH BOY! I forgot…there are people headed this way!" She alarmed her mother. "Where?" Her mother said confused, looking in all directions. "They're not here yet, but I know that they will be shortly!" She said. She began to panic. 'Man! I don't want them to know yet! I want to be a HERO!' She scolded herself mentally.
Just then, she noticed that she heard horse hooves riding towards them, getting louder as they neared.
"Ummm…okay. Just think…wait a second." Cui said as she had noticed they were near the castle wall. "Let's take him over there so we can hide." Her mother agreed slowly and helped her daughter pull Ce over to the wall.
"Tell me again WHY we're doing this?" Her mother asked. "Because, I want to be a hero!" Her mother abruptly stopped pulling and looked as her daughter helplessly tried to pull her patient to the wall.
"Why did you stop helping!" She questioned in a disturbed tone. "Because, I'm not going to help you if it's for your own benefit!" Then Cui thought of something. "Well, you could help me if I said that it was so that you and I can actually have someplace to stay instead of walking around without food, shelter and safety?" She slyly questioned. Her mother sighed and began to help.
When they had finally dragged Ce to the wall, the two strategists had arrived. Then they left as quickly as they had arrived, without noticing Cui and her mother. Cui sighed a sigh of relief. "That was close." She whispered. Her mother nodded and sat down against the wall. Then she closed her eyes.
"Good idea…ever since he's sleeping like a log." Cui said and did the same as her mother.
A few hours passed when Ce had woken up. He was still a little drowsy, but was feeling better. He attempted to sit up, failing miserably, especially with his pain. "Man…I can't even remember what happened…" He said softly and hoarsely. Then he looked over at the two women that had saved him.
"I guess I should give my thanks to these guys. They were the ones who saved me, after all. More like revived me…" He said, ashamed at how he had made everyone worry. He knew that Da was in major pain right then. He began to think about her and then dozed off into a light sleep again.
A few minutes after Ce had woken up, Cui woke up. She looked around forgetting where she was at first. Then she remembered and quickly went to Ce's side to see if he was all right. Fortunately, he was still asleep. She leaned back up against the wall and sighed.
"I can't believe it…now my doctoring skills will be world wide renown…or at least I hope so. No…I know so. After helping a Wu warrior…or I hope that's what he is…" She began, as her conversation with herself continued. A few minutes later, her mother awakened and they began talking girl talk.
A few minutes after their girl talk had started, they heard a rumbling sound. It was coming from inside the castle. After the rumbling had stopped, they heard a horse coming back.
"Uh-oh… not again!" Cui said as she stood still as she could. Her mother did the same. They both looked around the corner of the castle wall to see Lu Xun and Zhou Yu run for their lives as a massive army dressed in blue ran after them. They had surprised looks on their faces as Xun tried to make his horse run faster and Yu was running as fast as his legs could run.
"What are we supposed to do?" Cui said, scared out of her mind. "We can't let them see us!" When she said that, Ce's eyes opened quickly. He then gained strength to prop himself up on his arms.
"Are you sure that you should be up like this?" Cui's mother said, concentrating on Ce.
"Get out of here!" Ce tried to yell, but instead it came out as a hoarse yell that wasn't very loud.
"No way! We can't leave you here in your current condition!" Cui argued as she turned to face him.
"I don't care! Get out of here! I'll be fine, thanks to your treatment." He said, again with a hoarse voice. Then, it was Cui's mother's turn to do something useful. She took a deep breath as she ran out into the middle of the whole entire army, hoping to find someone who had a horse.
"Mother! What are you doing?" Xiang Cui said as she came from her hiding spot trying to save her mother, but to no avail. Her mother found Xiahou Dun running in the middle of the vast army. She ran in front of him and his horse. The horse reared and he struggled to stay on.
"What…what the heck are you doing here?" Dun said as he pulled himself back on his horse.
"Sir…I kindly…ask you. Could I borrow your horse? My daughter is in serious danger. I am only a villager looking to get my sick daughter out of here! I didn't realize that this was a battlefield." She pleaded. Xiahou Dun looked at her with no sympathy in his eyes.
"Go find someone else to bum a horse off of." He said harshly as he snapped his reigns and avoided her. She got mad, but knew that she would never be able to catch up with a horse. Then Zhang He came back out onto the field. She saw this as an opportunity to fulfill her duty.
"Excuse me ma'am…" She said, but then realized that she really didn't know what gender the person was. "Eh…I mean sir…or…uh… ma'am…or…uh…anyway, straight to the point…" She said nervously, trying not to offend the man…woman…what ever this person was.
"Do you think…that I may borrow your…horse and help my sick daughter get back home?" She continued on, still nervous that she would be ignored, just like the other man did.
"Your daughter is sick? I...never heard of anything more sad and disgraceful. Surely I will provide you some transportation." He said kindly as he dismounted. He gave her the reigns.
"Thank you so much! You are much more generous than that man that recently passed by was. Thank you again!" She bowed in thanks and then walked the horse over to where Cui was.
"I've done my part!" She said as she came back with the horse. "You would've had to find a stylish horse too. It's so pretty…" Cui admired as she looked at the purple saddle with golden charms that resembled butterflies and peacocks around the edges. The horse itself was black with a white main.
"Yeah…but it did come from the strange man…or woman…whatever…over there." Her mother pointed to Zhang He as he skipped out to the battlefield, making fancy dancing patterns and occasionally skipping a few times.
"Ooooookay then…anyway," Cui said in dismay and turned to Ce, "do you think that you have enough strength to mount a horse?" she asked.
"I don't know. I can barely prop myself up on my arms, let alone get on a horse…" Ce said.
"Well, you're supposed to be a warrior right? I would expect a little more strength from someone like you." Cui said sternly. Ce looked at her, annoyed at what she said.
"Listen, I was near death! How do you expect me to recover so quickly!" He yelled, his voice suddenly coming back from being hoarse.
"At least your voice came back…unfortunately…" Cui said, sarcasm in her voice. Ce got mad and decided that he would try to stand on his own. He slowly and steadily moved himself, every now and then slipping. He eventually managed to prop himself against the wall.
"See? That wasn't so hard now was it?" She said, again with sarcasm in her voice.
"Now, let's see how hard it is to get on the horse…" Her mother reminded. Ce's face went into a chibi style with a sweat drop.
After a couple of minutes trying to help Ce up on the horse, they succeeded. Then, Cui told her mother to ride on the back with him.
"No…I want you to get there safe." She said with a parenting voice.
"But…"
"I said do it. It's your mothers orders." Her mother argued. Cui wasn't able to strike back with another one of her own comments. She sighed and agreed to go without her mother. She mounted and Ce drove the horse back to the camp.
"I guess that I will just have to wing it for a while now." Cui's mother said and ran behind them, going in the general direction that she knew that they were going.
As they were making their way back, Cui's mother had gotten involved in a battle between some Wu and Wei soldiers. The soldiers, who mistaken her for the enemy, killed her when she was trying to stop them from following the horse that carried her daughter and the Wu warrior. That was the end of Xiang Mika, the mother of Xiang Cui.
Meanwhile, Cui was arguing with Ce about random things. Ce just ignored her on the way back. Then Cui felt a pain in her heart.
'No…' She thought as she continued riding. She looked back to see if her mother was still there…no sign of her. 'She'll catch up with us when we get there.' She thought. Sun Ce noticed that something had shut her up.
"What's wrong?" He said, slightly concerned.
"Nothing…make sure that you keep an eye on the path way idiot." She commented.
"Forget trying to cheer you up." He retorted and then she replied with a smack upside the head. He thought about making the horse rear up so that she would fall off, but then he reconsidered.
Da and Xiao had finally stopped crying over Ce and were preparing to go to war when a horse carrying two people came into the main camp.
"Who are they?" Xiao questioned as she looked into the dust cloud that covered the identities. Da's eyes widened as she saw who it was…Ce was back…and alive?
"Sun….Ce…" She said dazed. Then her sister became curious and then asked, "Who's that with him?" She pointed to the woman riding with him. Da cringed at this.
Ce was happy to be back. He felt like he was brand new again, so he dismounted the horse, collapsing beneath his own feet. He slowly got back up and slowly walked back to Da, veering to the left and right every now and then.
'Da…I'm back." He said, surprisingly, tears coming to his eyes. Da didn't care who had come with him because she knew that he still loved her. She began to cry tears of joy as a big, bright smile appeared on her face. She ran to him, knocking him over.
"SUN CE! I'm so glad you're back!" She said, through her tears. He wrapped his arms around her. "I'm glad too." He agreed.
After Cui dismounted, Xiao walked over to her and started to question her.
"Were you the one who helped Lord Sun Ce?"
"Uh-huh. I'm a professional doctor."
"Where did you get the horse?"
"Uhhh….I think from one of your guys enemy officers…if my mother were here to tell you…wait! I forgot! My mother hasn't came back yet!" Cui noticed. She looked around and saw no sign of her mother anywhere.
She immediately got back on the horse and ran back to where they had come from.
"Wait! I still have more questions to ask!" Xiao yelled, not able to be heard by Cui. She gave up and went back to greet Sun Ce, who was now surrounded by all of the officers there.
"Hey…does anyone know where Lu Xun and Zhou Yu are?" The newly arrived Sun Shang Xiang asked. Suddenly, they all turned to see Lu Xun riding on a horse and Zhou Yu walking back, out of breath.
"We barely escaped…didn't we Yu?" Lu Xun said with his breathing normal. Zhou Yu finally arrived and stood next to Lu Xun, panting hard.
"Yeah…sure…you abandoned me…You could've at leat…let me ride with you!" Zhou Yu said in between breaths. Lu Xun put on an ashamed crooked smile and apologized. Then he turned back to see what he thought he would have never been able to see again.
"Sun…Ce!" Xun said surprised. Zhou Yu looked up quickly from his bent over postion.
"Ce!" He repeated, his eyes widened.
"Hey guys…I'm back…kinda." Ce said as he slowly got up, Da getting off him. Zhou Yu walked up to his friend and patted him on the shoulder.
"I knew that you couldn't be gone."
"I wouldv'e been if it wasn't for…" Ce said as he pointed to where Cui had been a few moments ago. "Where'd she go?"
"She went back that way looking for her mother." Xiao informed. Sun Ce's eyes widened a little.
"Poor girl, her mother must have been killed while following us. She wasn't able to get a horse for herself and she had to follow by foot. She wanted Cui to survive instead of herself." Sun Ce remebered. Da looked at him with eyes full of worry. "She'll be all right." He continued.
"Are you sure? Losing a parent is like losing a best friend." Zhou Yu commented. "..Or a spouse." Da added. Sun Ce smiled at them both, then looked back at where Xiao stood.
"Xiao…send someone to go and search for her." Sun Jian ordered. Xiao put here hand to her forehead like a military soldier and walked over to Lu Xun. She told him to go back and search for her and he agreed. He swiveled his horse to the left and snapped the reigns and began the search.
"I hope that woman is okay…" Da said concerned. Ce held her close and nodded his head in agreement. "At least your okay." Da added. Ce looked down at her with one of his special smiles.
"Thanks Da." He commented. She blushed and leaned against him, waiting for Lu Xun to return with this woman named Cui.
"So…who exactly is this 'Cui' girl?" Xiao wondered, walking over to Sun Ce and her elder sister.
"Well…" Sun Ce started and he explained what he knew of her.
To be continued...
I know...that was probably one of the wierdest stories ever...well, then again maybe not. ANyway, I hope you liked it. i wanted Sun Ce to come back so I found a way to revive him. Then, I finally got an original charater in here...yea! Xiang Cui is my property...not anyone else's...unless you ask. Make sure, when you ask, you ask with a please and thank you...I'm joking people, come on! lol. Please be sure to read and review. I was going to make this into another song fic with another song by Nickleback, but I decided not too...the story was too long. lol. Yes, this story will be continued in another chapter...so be ready for an action packed chapter next time...or at least I hope so...heh. '