Note: This was written in 2005. I'm just reposting it to make sure that my e-mail doesn't die and delete all my old fics. I'm not even bothering to reread over it, so oh well. I don't know if there are any mistakes. It was based on DW4, so it may be behind in the times.
This was based on the song called Even in Death by Evanescence. Since songfics aren't allowed, I couldn't post the song. So yeah. If you want to see what inspired it, then go look up the song I guess.
Disclaimer: I do not own Dynasty Warriors.
Even in Death
It was an ambush. There were boulders falling down the slope, preventing anyone from getting up the mountain. She turned around and started to run, but stopped. There were archers standing there, with their bows drawn back, ready to release their arrows. In fright, she backed up a few steps. There was no way to escape.
"Fire!" yelled one of the archers. She closed her eyes tight and thought of her beloved husband and infant daughter. A single crystal tear fell from her eyes and fell down to wet the dry ground. The arrows whistled through the air and the sound of them hitting flesh was heard; but that flesh was not her own, she had felt no pain. She opened her eyes and stared in shock at the sight before her. Her husband had jumped in the way of the arrows and had protected her.
"Lord Sun Ce!" She cried. Sun Ce looked down at his wife and smiled weakly.
"Heh… What good is conquering the land if you can't enjoy it with me?"
"No! You cannot do this!" She looked back up at her husband with tears filling her eyes. "What about Xiao Mei? She needs a father!"
"Sorry… gotta go…" Sun Ce dropped down to his knees and fell into his wife's arms.
"No! Lord Sun Ce!"
"Da Qiao… you're the best… See ya…"
x-x-x
"Noo!" Da Qiao woke up screaming. "Lord Sun Ce!" Sun Xiao Mei, her infant daughter, began crying in the crib that was near her mother's bed; she had just been rudely awakened from her peaceful and innocent dreams. Da took a few deep breaths before standing up. She looked down at herself and noticed that her nightgown and the sheets of her bed were drenched with sweat. She sighed and walked over to her daughter's crib.
"I am sorry, little Mei," she said softly, as she picked up and cradled the little girl in her arms. As she looked at Xiao Mei, she couldn't help but notice that she had the same eyes as Sun Ce. Da sighed again as she rocked little Mei and her own eyes began to fill with tears once more. It had only been about four months since the awful day that he had died and she hadn't quite gotten over the fact that he was gone.
"Sis!" called out a familiar voice from outside her door.
"Xiao? Come on in," she called back to her younger sister, who hesitantly opened the door and stepped inside.
"I thought I heard you screaming awhile back. I would've come sooner, but I kept on tripping on all the books in my room; you would really think Zhou Yu would be more organized. Anyway, are you okay?" Da Qiao nodded her head and looked back down at her daughter. "Was it that dream about Sun Ce again?" Da nodded again.
"Yes, but it was not a dream. I mean, it was a dream, but what happens in it is exactly what happened on the day he died…"
"You have that dream a lot, don't you?" Da nodded and Xiao looked at her sister with concern. "Maybe you should go see someone about this? Like someone who can interpret dreams or something? Maybe they can help you figure out how to stop having the dream… I can ask Zhou Yu if he knows about those things, if you want." The eldest sister sighed and placed her daughter, whose eyes were now beginning to shut again, back into her crib.
"No, I already know how I can stop the dream from reoccurring…"
"And how is that, Sis?"
"By finally accepting the fact that Lord Sun Ce is gone and being okay with that. I am not sure if that will ever happen… I miss him so much, Xiao!" she cried and ran forward, burying her face in her sister's shoulder, sobbing. Xiao patted her older sister's back. She couldn't relate to what Da was going through, but she knew that if something ever happened to Zhou Yu, she would feel the same way.
x-x-x
The next night, it was the same dream all over again. However, this time instead of screaming, Da just turned over, buried her head in her pillow, and cried into it until she had no more tears. Slowly, she stood up and walked over to the basin and washed her face off. Putting on a heavy robe over her thin nightgown, she opened the doors and walked out onto the chilly balcony. She rested her arms on the railing and leaned against them. The sky was cloudless and the full moon shone down it's pale beams, filling the world with it's spectral glow. From her location, Da could see the graveyard where her husband had been buried. As she stood there, she suddenly found herself thinking that she should go visit him, despite the fact that it was the middle of the night.
Reentering her room, she checked on Xiao Mei and found that the little seven-month old child was still slumbering peacefully. She didn't want to leave her daughter unattended, but there wasn't really anyone that she could get to watch her. If she went and got a maid, then they would most likely get someone to go with Da, and she wanted to go alone. She could not go and get Xiao, for she would wake up Zhou Yu and he would certainly be in a foul mood about it; he didn't get enough sleep as it was. She couldn't take her child with her; it was far too cold to take a baby outside.
Finally, she decided that Xiao Mei would most likely be fine; she wasn't going to be gone long. She quickly pulled off her nightclothes and replaced them with a warm long-sleeved shirt and pants. She pulled on fur inlaid boots and then a heavy fur jacket that matched the boots before walking out of her room and silently closing the door, so as to not awaken her daughter or disturb any other nearby inhabitants.
She walked outside of the castle and began walking towards the gravesite, hoping that the guards would not see her, or at least that they wouldn't hail her. Looking up at the sky as she walked along the stony path, she noted that the sky that had once been clear had quickly filled with fluffy snow clouds, darkened by the night. As she reached the grave, little fluffy white flakes of snow began to fall, landing delicately on whatever they could manage to stick to. She kneeled down in front of the gravestone and stared at it. The stone had been carefully shaped and the words elegantly carved by the best stonecutter found in the land. Da sighed, gently tracing the words 'Sun Ce' with one of her fingers. She looked down at her left hand and looked at her wedding ring; the one that she could not bear to take off though she was now a widow. Once again, she felt her eyes fill with tears as she thought of her departed beloved. A few of these tears leaked out and ran down her face. As they threatened to freeze there due to the cold, she quickly wiped them away with the back of one of her hands. This was to no avail, however, for more tears just took the place of their wiped-away companions.
Da sat with her head bowed for a few moments, her eyes closed. After a few moments, she felt two warm hands touching her cheeks and wiping away her tears with their fingers. She opened her eyes and gasped at the sight in front of her. There was her fallen lord kneeling on one knee in front of her. Of course, this was his spirit; his body was a ghastly white that glowed in the darkness.
"Hey…" He said, smiling at his wife. Da's mouth hung open as she stared at him wide-eyed. This couldn't really be real, could it? She had felt the warmth of his hands and she had heard his voice, but still…
"Lord… Sun Ce? Is that you?" She finally asked hesitantly.
"Who else could it be? Just because I'm ghost doesn't mean that I look different than I used to, does it?" He laughed and Da smiled; this was truly Sun Ce and this was truly not a hallucination.
"What are you doing here? Why did you come?"
"Why'd I come? Because you've been down in the dumps because of me. Just because I'm dead doesn't mean that I can't see you." His face took on a more serious look, which was a rare thing to see. "Don't be sad, Da Qiao. We'll be with each other again in the next life, I promise. Until that day, I will always be there with you and Xiao Mei, whether you can see me or not."
"Thank you, my lord…" Da said softly. "But… I will always be sad, even if you are still with me…"
"Ahh… Well, just think of the happy times when we were together and not the sad things. That's what Mom told me when I was seven and my dog died." Sun Ce shrugged. "I'm not good at these things. Da, I'm sorry, but I have to go now. I can't stay in this form for a very long time. Just remember what I said and don't be sad, okay?"
"Alright, I will try. Goodbye Lord Sun Ce," Da said, and then added, "I love you… and I always will even though you're gone." Sun Ce smiled.
"I love you too, Da. See ya later!" he said as his specter slowly faded away, his gravestone once again becoming visible…