I've had this idea in my head for a while…
Yue Ying was in pain. Her left shoulder resonated a hurting pound. During war, an arrow had pierced her shoulder and another general had sliced her back with a one inch deep cut. With her good shoulder, she withdrew from the battlefield and traveled back to the main camp on horseback.
War drums sounded for Yue Ying's entrance. The main camp's gates opened. Guards rushed forward to take her horse. Yue Ying's eyesight started to darken. She fell off her horse and her son, Zhuge Zhan, ran to take his mother to the physician. Yue Ying then fainted.
At the strategist camp
"Guan Yu, you shall lead this army to the cliffs and wait for-"
Just then, a messenger rushed in. "The first assault army has withdrawn!"
Zhuge Liang and Liu Bei looked at each other. Zhuge Liang nodded.
"It is time for the second assault reinforcements to go then. They are less experienced but they will make do." Zhuge Liang said and dismissed the messenger. The messenger left in a hurry.
"Why would the first assault army withdraw?" Guan Yu asked.
Liu Bei was talking with another messenger that had just come in.
"The leading general of the first assault army had been injured and the soldiers withdrew as well when there was no general to guide them."
At the physician's tent
"Mother! Please! Let me-"
"No, Siyuan. You must not call your father." Yue Ying said, using Zhan's style name.
"Father needs to attend to you!" Zhan yelled out.
Yue Ying exhaled loudly and then went into a coughing fit. She coughed out thick red liquid into her hand and Zhan widened his eyes.
"I'm sorry Mother but I must go against your wishes." With that, Zhan ran out of the tent. Yue Ying tried to reach out but her shoulder restricted her from taking hold of her son. Yue Ying entered in another coughing fit as the physician tried to calm her down.
Back at the strategist tent
"Father! Father!"
A voice rang throughout the camp. Zhuge Liang looked to the tent flap before seeing his own son enter.
"What are you doing here? You're supposed to be guarding the Southeast post!" Zhuge Liang was angered. He had put his son in a very important strategic area and without Zhan, no one would be watching over it. If the Southeast post was lost, all would be lost.
"It's-"
Just then, another messenger entered the tent.
"The Southeast post is under attack!"
Zhuge Liang's heart sank. Zhan, in the other hand, was terrified.
"I've got to rescue Mother!" Zhuge Liang looked to Liu Bei and the ruler of Shu nodded.
By the time the father and son had reached Southeast post, more than half of the injured first assault army had been slain. A few of the better fighters were resisting but were deteriorating by the moment. While Zhan defended him from opposing enemies, Zhuge Liang dismounted his horse and ran to the physician tent where his wife supposedly lay.
As soon as he entered the tent, he was flipped over. In a moment, he lay on his back and a spear edge was pointed near his neck.
"Well, well, well, if it isn't the great strategist?"
It was one of the enemy generals. Apparently, Yue Ying was nowhere to be seen and Zhuge Liang, surprisingly, fell straight into a trap.
"Killing you will bring a huge advantage to our army and a higher morale."
The enemy general lifted his spear and Zhuge Liang closed his eyes for the worst to come.
'I am sorry…my lord, my son…my beloved wife…'
A few seconds passed and Zhuge Liang opened his eyes. He saw the enemy general in front of him, wide eyed. The general fell down, motionless, and in the general's place was his wife.
Yue Ying slightly smiled as she saw the safety of her husband. Her vision started to dim again. Zhuge Liang got up and strided towards her. Before he could envelop Yue Ying in his warmth, she fell before him. Zhuge Liang caught her just in time and his hand could feel the liquid starting to flow from her back to his glove.
Just then, Zhan entered the tent and saw his mother in his father's arms.
"Husband," Yue Ying said as she coughed again, "you mustn't be here. Our lord needs you."
"Lord Liu Bei can handle matters for now. I've given orders for the second assault army. Why didn't you send a message? You were hurt and-" Zhuge Liang started to panic.
"I couldn't go against your wishes." Yue Ying's eyes started to daze off into another world. Zhuge Liang shook her shoulders.
"What wishes are you talking about?" Zhan yelled out, trying to keep his mother awake. Zhuge Liang remembered what his "wishes" were.
Flashback~
"Miss Huang Yue Ying, I wish your hand in marriage. My wish is for a wife with intelligence to advise me throughout the oncoming wars that will come. The stars shine that a new age will rise. I wish that, at the time, you may give the intelligence I may require. Nothing else."
Yue Ying remembered the last two words: "nothing else" very clearly. All Zhuge Liang needed was the advice she had. She wanted to give so much more. Care, relief, and more importantly, her love. She could've rejected his offer. If Yue Ying had a husband who didn't love her, what was the point of marriage?
However, she, Huang Yue Ying, could not. She was entranced and found him unique above others. For him, Yue Ying would grant his wish and…nothing else.
Zhuge Liang had thought that he married a sad wife who was depressed with her loveless marriage. He paid no attention until she gave birth to his son. He had expected Yue Ying to pay little attention to the newborn.
The Sleeping Dragon did not think that his mate would take care of his offspring so carefully. His mate raised his offspring in a way that he could not. Yue Ying had given Zhuge Zhan a mother's love. A flame of love and respect for his mate grew from within the Dragon He just didn't realize it. The way that Yue Ying had taught Zhan war strategies and poems had caught Zhuge Liang's attention.
Zhuge Liang once saw Yue Ying staring off into the moon. Tears would run down her cheeks. One would think that Yue Ying would suggest a divorce. Each and every night, Yue Ying would silently cry while staring at the moon. The Sleeping Dragon thought his mate would leave him and his son one day….
It never happened. Every morning, Zhuge Liang would see his wife tending to his son and doing a wife's duty. He then realized that he too loved his wife with a deep passion unmatched to any other husband and wife.
"My love, it isn't true." Zhuge Liang's eyes started to release the tears that had long been held since he had realized the love that his wife held for him. "I need you. Not just for advice. I don't need it anymore!"
Yue Ying made a weak smile. Her eyes drew down. The hand that tried to wipe away Zhuge Liang's tears fell and grew limp.
For the first time, Zhan saw his father cry. Zhan suddenly dashed out of the tent. He looked up to see a night sky full of stars. His lessons of star reading have done him good.
"Father! Mother's stars have not faded!" Zhan yelled into the tent. Realization hit Zhuge Liang. He placed a finger under Yue Ying's nose and felt air…
A few days later…
Shu had quelled the rebellion in the Northwest. Luckily, Yue Ying had survived her battle wounds.
Yue Ying sat on a bench, staring at the moon again. Her tears fell again. She could never pinpoint exactly why she cried.
"Yue Ying."
The voice of her husband startled Yue Ying. She bowed.
"My husband."
Zhuge Liang stepped toward his wife. Yue Ying looked down, trying to avert his eyes and hide her tears.
"Yue Ying, why must you cry every night? The bright moon does many good. Light for farmers and shine for lovers. Yet, you choose the moon as release for your troubles. What stresses you so?"
Zhuge Liang was in front of Yue Ying now.
"Look at me."
Yue Ying looked up to her husband's eyes and slightly shivered when his hand cupped her reddened cheek. She leaned into his gloved hand as he wiped away Yue Ying's tears. Yue Ying could not answer her husband's question.
Zhuge Liang saw Yue Ying's hesitation. "I have a story to tell. Would you listen?" Yue Ying nodded slowly.
"At first, the Sleeping Dragon needed wind that would awake and guide him from his slumber. It needed a wind that would accompany him to the heavens. It then realized that he needed the wind to live and to love. Now, the Sleeping Dragon wanted the wind that would support him and stay by his side."
Yue Ying's cheeks reddened further.
"Yue Ying, you are the wind that accompanied me to the heavens. Will you stay by my side? Will you become the wind that will fill me with love and hope?"
Zhuge Liang's face inched closer and closer to Yue Ying's. They felt like a new and awkward married couple.
One inch of air separated their lips before Yue Ying nodded and closed the distance.
The Sleeping Dragon had a loving mate that would be his wind that would support and love him. Vice versa, the Sleeping Dragon would love his wind.
The couple needed nothing else.