PAPER WINGS – a Dynasty Warriors sing fic!

Disclaimer: The song belongs to the wonderful Rise Against. Zhang He and Zhen Ji belong to Koei and another time long before I was even born…

One last thing I beg you please just before you go
I've watched you fly on paper wings half way round the world
until they burned up in the atmosphere and sent you spiralling down
landed somewhere far from here with no one else around
to catch you falling down
and I'm looking at you now

You can't just up and leave! What the hell do you think you're doing, defecting to Wei? Oh, I get it – a pretty face caught your eye. No surprise there. Or is it because you've finally acknowledged that your glory days with Yuan Shao are over, that you are too old to be of use to his sons in their great army? You've fought all your life. It's all you've known. But you've never seemed bitter about it, at least not before tonight. The fires of hatred are burning in your eyes. You hit me earlier, my love. You've not done that before, not even when I married Yuan Xi and we had to move our love to the shadows. I've known you for so long, my love. I've flown with you across countless battlefields. But tonight it seems like something has clipped those wings, and you have crashed to earth with a sudden realisation that life isn't all pretty butterflies and flowers.

And I cant tell if you're laughing
between each smile there's a tear in your eye
there's a train leaving town in an hour
its not waiting for you and neither am I

It's up to you if you leave, Zhang He. I'm not going to pursue you. Your mouth twists up into that sardonic smile of yours as you fasten your claws around your hands. You are doing your best to be cruel, to seem like you don't care. But I know you best, I can read you like a book. Your dark eyes belie your true feelings. Leaving this army, the only family you have known, is ripping you to shreds. Whose face was it that caught your eye, Junyi? Who possesses a beauty greater than mine that you are prepared to run away from everything for them? The Wei are trying to end this battle quickly, because they are hopelessly outnumbered. I think they will last for about another hour, before we just overcome them. In that time, you have to make your choice. Retreat with them, or come back to me.

Swing for the fences son
he must have told you once
that was a conversation you took nothing from
so raise your glass now and celebrate exactly what you've done
just put off another day of knowing where your from
catch up with yourself if you run

You can't escape the past, you know. Running from it, running from us, won't make a blind bit of difference. Yuan Shao threatened you with execution once, both for your disloyalty and your sexuality. I have an inkling that you never really loved me, that you were only seeing me to try to convince people you were not taking your pleasure with young men. I have heard that in Wei, they are a lot more open about this sort of thing, and they will not threaten you with death. They will welcome you. But if they knew the truth, that Yuan Shao bought you as a slave, only freed you when you showed a bit of strength for fighting, they would execute you anyway. Or they would treat you as a slave. Run away from it all, Junyi. Give yourself a fresh start.

And I cant tell if you're laughing
between each smile there's a tear in your eye
there's a train leaving town in an hour
its not waiting for you and neither am I

LEAVE! I pick up my flute and throw it at you. You field it with your claws, before leaving with a graceful, if sarcastic, bow.

Is this the life that you lead?
Or the life that's left for you?
Will you take the road that's been laid out before you
will we cross paths somewhere else tonight? Somewhere else...

I run to the flap of the tent and watch as you mount your pony. Funny how you never took one of the warhorses, preferring instead to take this tiny little furry thing we found wandering in the middle of nowhere. To your credit, you have moulded her from a frightened little bag of bones into a respectable war pony. She is as good as any of the horses. Although, my dear, you do look ridiculous on her, with your long legs almost touching the ground. She can't be more than fourteen hands high – you are close on six feet! Your eccentricity has been both a cause for mirth and a cause for concern for everyone who knows you. Yuan Xi always thought it was only a matter of time before you went over the edge. 'The Mad One', they always called you. But nobody ever took the time to get to know you.

I envy you, being able to drop your old life and pick up a new one. I only hope that my flute and your claws will cross in battle tonight, so I may kill you like the coward you really are. Fly away, you arrogant butterfly. Fly away from all this, and go to hell. My deadly tune will make your brains bleed!

And I can't tell if you're laughing
between each smile there's a tear in your eye
there's a train leaving town in an hour
it's not waiting for you and neither am I.

Better hurry, Zhang He. It looks like they might be retreating. And then you'd have to come back to us, and face Yuan Shao's wrath. Rest assured that whatever happens to you tonight, I will not be there. But I cannot stop a treacherous tear from falling as I watch your black pony carry you off into the smoke of the battlefield. I loved you. And I only hope, as I turn away from your retreating back, that you die most painfully tonight.