Disclaimer: Dynasty Warriors doesn't belong to me, I make no profit from writing this fanficion.
Beta-reader: Nightlore, thank you so much! You are so sweet and you're always there for me. I'm so honored to have such a great author as a beta ^^
Author's Note: I decided to write another Gan Ning/Ling Tong because my stories with this pairing were the ones I received the best reception. It's been hard for me to receive support for all my fics, so it meant a lot to see people telling me that at least they liked those ones. The first Koei game I played was DW6 Special, so that's where the idea for this fic came from. Gan Ning dies in one of the endings and I decided to write a story in which he was a ghost and haunted Ling Tong; I didn't want it to be a sad story, that's why I had planned to write a humor story instead. Almost all the stories that a main character dies are very tragic (you know I love angst), but I wanted to do something different. As I wrote the first draft, I realized it didn't have so much humor and it became more romantic. This first chapter doesn't have much humor and it may seem a little sad, but things will be brighter in the next chapter. Although the idea for this story came from DW6, it will have characters from DW7; there will be special appearances of all Wu characters (sometimes in their fairy tale costumes), some from other kingdoms and a Samurai Warriors guest. You see, it's humor and fiction, so things don't make sense all the time, I have no intention for it to be realistic. Before it becomes an even longer note, here's the story, I hope you enjoy.
In Your Dreams
Chapter 1
End of the afternoon; the golden sunrays were gentle, spreading themselves over a never-ending horizon. At the top of a hill sat a blond warrior, beside a lonely tree, observing the world below him in silence. He didn't seem to acknowledge when someone approached, even though the footsteps were evident when the other warrior walked over the fresh grass.
"Hey, man, what's up?" Sun Ce asked after some minutes of silence. "Zhou Yu told me you've been here for a while… Something interesting you're looking at?" the warrior took some steps closer to the tattooed man and stared in the general direction of his gaze.
"Nothing special..." Gan Ning said. "This place... is fucking boring..."
A cheerful laughter resounded over the air and the blond warrior finally turned his head to stare at the man beside him, "I'm glad my misery amuses you, Sun Ce."
The little conqueror tried to calm down his fit of laughter, "It's not like that. It's just that I-"
"Go on, laugh at me, it's not like we have much more to do here anyway..." the blond turned to the horizon ahead again.
In a swift movement, Sun Ce was sitting beside Gan Ning, "Have you tried taking a look around, to see things?"
"Yeah, I tried that. I went to the port and saw some ships there. Then I went to the fields and saw some men working there, preparing the soil for new seeds; there were some warriors there too, staring around, a little confused."
"Yeah, I know they are always there, always in armor, always lost," Sun Ce envisioned the soldiers he had met.
"I didn't see anyone I recognized… I thought I'd find someone…" Gan Ning remembered some of the warriors he had met during his life, on the battlefields.
"Sometimes I find someone I knew; I'm walking around, visiting some places, then I see someone. Sometimes we hug each other and tell jokes; sometimes we just stare at each other; some men salute, smile and then are gone."
"It's kinda crazy isn't it?" Gan Ning said, "Sometimes I'm so confused; sometimes I don't know where I am."
"Yeah it's like that in the beginning. Sometimes I feel like that too, but not so much anymore." Sun Ce realized the other man was deep in thought again and patted him on the back. "You'll get used to it, Gan Ning," he thought he saw a slight nod but he wasn't sure. The tattooed blond was silent once again, staring at a specific point in the distance. Sun Ce focused on the spot and saw a brown-haired man sitting by a lonely tree, staring at the river ahead. "Oh I see..." He recognized the officer who fought under his brother's command. "Ling Tong, isn't it?"
"I want him to die," Gan Ning whispered softly, with no hatred in his voice, just some kind of serene melancholy.
That took Sun Ce by surprise; he almost opened his mouth to ask why, but stopped when he turned his head to look at Gan Ning and saw a saddened expression on his face. "Why don't you go see him," he asked instead.
"What difference would it make?" the blond warrior asked in a whisper.
"Isn't it what you want to do?"
Gan Ning opened his mouth, but decided not to say anything.
"Go see him, you'll feel better."
"...Alright," Gan Ning said after some hesitant moments. "It's not like I have something better to do…"
Sun Ce stood up and smiled, "See you around then."
When Gan Ning turned again to look at Sun Ce he was already gone. He felt a chill down his spine and brushed his hands over his arms before standing up. Gan Ning looked around and saw it was already dark, which made him blink in confusion, but he shrugged it out of his mind. He stared at the world below him and still saw the man he had been staring at for the whole afternoon. "Ready or not, here I come," he grinned widely after a long time without doing so.
xxx
The young general was sitting cross-legged under the shelter of a tree; his brown eyes were looking at a particular place on the horizon, beyond the calm line of the river's water.
It had been some time since Gan Ning saw that man up close and he kept staring at him for a long moment in silent inner turmoil. He was standing still, but there was something that seemed to be shaking inside. Gan Ning willed himself to calm down and walked even closer to the man. "Hey, long time no see, Ling Tong," he said in a cheerful tone.
The brown-haired officer kept staring at the horizon ahead, silent, unmoving.
"What are you doing here?" Gan Ning asked and received no answer once again. Not seemingly bothered by it, he sat beside Ling Tong on the tall grass. "Ah I see, we've been here before. We were hiding after we accidentally set fire to Lu Meng's underwear, "Gan Ning laughed amusedly, "I remember his face, we could have done that more often."
He went silent again and stared at the river waters nearby, before speaking again, "I tried to fish here once, terrible place, only small fishes. Lian Shi and Lu Xun had that idea for a picnic; you three were responsible to gather fruits in the garden and you were here taking a nap instead of helping them. I should have told them, it would be fun to see them punishing you," Gan Ning smiled. He then stared at Ling Tong's face, which still showed a contemplative expression.
"Can you hear me?" he poked the man on his side. "I'm talking to you," he blew some air over Ling Tong's face and finally saw a reaction when the man sneezed. Gan Ning thought it was funny and laughed.
"It's getting cold here..." Ling Tong wrapped his arms around himself for a moment.
"Yeah and I guess it's going to rain soon," Gan Ning stared at the dark sky above and saw heavy clouds moving impatiently. The wind whistled and swirled around them, warning the world the weather was changing.
Instead of preparing to leave, however, Ling Tong lay on the grass on his side, staring at the river for a moment, before closing his eyes.
"Don't you think it's a bad time to sleep here?" Gan Ning asked and received no response.
"Hey," he poked Ling Tong on his shoulder and lay beside him. Gan Ning stared at the peaceful expression.
"How dare you sleep while I'm talking to you…" he whispered softly, "You can sleep in such places... I remember you slept while Ding Feng was reciting a poem, and hey, I can't blame you for that, but we were at Sun Quan's birthday banquet and we were standing in respect..."
Gan Ning saw the first raindrops falling over Ling Tong's face; the man's eyelashes trembled a little when the tiny drops reached his skin, but he kept his eyes closed.
"Hey, wake up, you're going to catch a cold," he tried to shake Ling Tong by the shoulders, but couldn't grasp them. "Hey, come on," he tried again. Sighing in frustration, Gan Ning tried to concentrate: he brought his hand to Ling Tong's chest and tried to feel him. With some effort he could feel something warm, but not touch him.
"It's cold..." Ling Tong whispered.
"Yeah, of course it's cold, it's raining."
Gan Ning stood up in frustration and looked around. The waters of the river were getting more agitated and the rain was increasing in intensity. He stared at the round reddish fruits of the nearby tree moving from side to side with the heavy wind.
"It would be funny if one of those fruits fell over him," he grinned and as soon as he said that, one small branch broke in half, making a portion of the little fruits cascade over Ling Tong's shoulder, waking him up.
The long-haired officer blinked in confusion. "Did I sleep?" he stared around, saw the change in weather and then stood up. "Better hurry."
"Yeah you're right," Gan Ning said.
Ling Tong willed himself to go, but hesitated for a moment.
Gan Ning saw the other warrior standing there, in front of him, but not quite seeing him and he felt something clenching inside. "It was good to see you again," he finally said.
Ling Tong didn't answer, he just blinked in silent thought and then walked away, disappearing from view after some time.
The rain was falling harder, creating thundering noises as the heavy drops of water fell to the surface of the earth. The world became cold and wet, but the blond warrior didn't feel cold nor was he wet.
Gan Ning kept staring ahead, not bothered by the bad weather. "See ya," he finally whispered to the cold air, but no one was there to hear him.
A/N: Yeah, Gan Ning is a ghost already, that's why he can't interact with Ling Tong much…
This was a short chapter, more like an introduction, the next chapters will be longer and, yes, there will be humor in the next one xD I'll be really happy if I receive reviews, you know that a strong reason for me to keep writing is the support of readers, I would have given up otherwise.