Author Notes: Hello again, everyone!
Episode 37 made it a lot easier to accept the ending of Episode 36, but I personally hoped WenZhou spent a lot more time with ChengLing and their other disciples instead of remaining sequestered on a snowy mountaintop for the rest of their immortal lives. Besides, a foodie like me can't see anyone surviving on snow and ice for more than a day, let alone forever! There's still a whole world to explore and lots of delicious food and liquor to enjoy, right?
Anyway, those who are familiar with my stories will know I love writing about romantic love that is supported by family and friends. This will be no different.
Summary: This is my take on how Episode 36 may have continued because we all know WKX survived and we don't want a universe where he didn't.
Disclaimer: The Word of Honor drama series is based on the BL novel Faraway Wanderers written by Priest.
- Story Start -
The past few weeks were a roller coaster of emotions for Zhou ZiShu. Throughout the confrontations, revelations, fights, imprisonment, torture, rescue and recovery, he never once lost sight of the fact that he was still a dying man. In fact, with all that had happened, it was a miracle he was still alive... except he had only a handful of days left to live after forcibly expelling the nails from his body.
As he stood before the locked doors of the World Armoury with the ground shaking and a ton of snow and ice tumbling down to crush him, Zhou Zishu surrendered to the inevitable and closed his eyes. The feel of Wen KeXing's hairpin sliding from his hair made him open his eyes and turn to see its owner flinging said hairpin at the doors.
He should have known that Wen KeXing wouldn't let him go that easily.
He should have known that Wen KeXing would never leave his side and would die alongside him, if not for him.
And he really, really should have known that last one too.
- o -
As the two of them crossed the frozen courtyard and entered a library of the world's best kept secrets, they found the famed Yin Yang book at their feet - literally, in Wen KeXing's case - and the LiuHe Kung Fu book in a box sitting on a white stone circle. That was when Wen KeXing confessed he had gained the knowledge of the art from Ye BaiYi and could use it to heal ZiShu.
Even after listening to Wen KeXing's confident and enthusiastic explanations, ZiShu still harboured some reservations. However, they were stuck inside here with nothing left to lose and nothing else to do, either.
ZiShu allowed his soulmate's confident smile and sparkling eyes to beguile him, allowed the dying embers of hope inside him to glow a little brighter. After everything the two of them had been through, he dared to think that maybe... just maybe, they deserved a small reward. He wouldn't ask for anything more than a lifetime with Wen Kexing though; that already felt like asking for too much.
At once, the faces of ChengLing, Gu Xiang, WeiNing, Jing BeiYuan, Da Wu, his other disciples, even Ye BaiYi rose in his mind's eye, all wearing reproachful expressions. ZiShu pushed them aside and ignored the pang in his chest.
He wasn't a greedy man, he reminded himself. If the Fates were willing to grant him his one request of being with Wen KeXing, he wouldn't ask for anything more.
- o -
The two of them sat cross legged on the white stone circle, facing each other with the LiuHe Kung Fu book spread out between them. Wen KeXing explained that while they practised the art and he healed ZiShu, the latter would lose his senses, but it was temporary and he would regain them afterward.
ZiShu confessed he had already lost most of them and asked him to begin. They started to gather their qi, circulating it within their bodies before pressing the palms of their hands together to form a connection. ZiShu waited for Wen KeXing to close his eyes before doing the same.
They were nestled inside a cocoon of energy that flowed from Wen KeXing to him via their hands. It felt as familiar as always, as welcome as ever. He accepted it without question or hesitation, allowing it inside him, allowing it to travel through his spiritual pathways and destroyed meridians. It was powerful and it should have hurt, but it didn't.
He didn't know how to explain or quantify it. It felt like... like the cognizance of an entire world, like the knowledge of a thousand sages, and the infinite wisdom of nature herself.
At first, he could still hear their combined breathing, the faintest rustle of their robes, the distant scuttling of the insects dwelling here, disturbed for the first time in two decades. He could detect the slight rise in temperature of the air around them, smell the aroma of old wood and older ink, the rancid stench of burlap sacking and spoiled grain.
It was as if his body had kicked into survival mode, knowing his senses would soon be cut off, and compensating by becoming more acute, more sensitive. But even that faded soon enough.
With his eyes closed, ZiShu entered a void where he could hear nothing, smell nothing and sense nothing, not even Wen KeXing's smooth palms against his own. Inside his body, a maelstrom of changes was taking place. Cells were being healed, meridians repaired, organs revitalised, brain expanding to take in everything.
As time slipped by on silent feet, he remained motionless, allowing the radiant energy from Wen KeXing to pour inside him and wield its magic on his beleaguered body; circulating... cycling... curing... over and over until a small eternity later, a final surge of energy returned his lost senses to him.
ZiShu opened his eyes and found himself staring in disbelief at Wen KeXing who still sat opposite him with eyes closed. That glorious mane of ebony hair was now silver, that handsome face white and drawn with bloodless lips. Wen KeXing's beautiful hands were devoid of strength and warmth as they slipped down from his own.
Looking down in shock, ZiShu twisted his hands, palms turning upward to catch those delicate wrists. His eyes snapped back up to his soulmate as his mind, still struggling to cope with all that it had absorbed, spun with a million questions without end. When Wen KeXing started to tip backwards, hands slipping from his grasp, ZiShu tightened his hold before they could slip off completely, clutching at those long and graceful fingers in a panic.
What had happened?
What had gone wrong?
"Lao Wen! What happened?"
ZiShu could feel his body was much improved - healthy, strong and powerful.
But why did Wen KeXing look the opposite of him?
If practising the LiuHe Kung Fu had healed ZiShu, if it was powerful enough to pull him back from the brink of death, then why?
Unless there was a catch. A price to be paid. A sacrifice of some sort.
Of course.
How could such powerful knowledge be free?
How could such a miracle not have its price?
How could Wen KeXing be able to wield such power without giving up something in return?
The proof was right here, right before ZiShu's increasingly horrified gaze.
"Lao Wen, no. No!"
Wen KeXing still sat slumped, head dipping forward. Unmoving. Unresponsive.
"Lao Wen! What did you - why did you do this?"
The only answer he got was those fingers slipping from his grasp, Wen KeXing tipping backwards as if unwilling to hear his scolding, or more likely, unable to support himself.
"Wen KeXing!" ZiShu shouted.
Gripping those fingertips harder, he tugged, paying no mind to the precious manual getting crumpled between them. He pulled Wen KeXing onto his lap, wrapping one arm around his shoulders, under the heavy spill of that silvery mane, and pressing two fingertips of his other hand to a limp wrist.
The weakened pulse told him all he needed to know. Huffing out a sob, he pressed his lips to the pale forehead.
"Lao Wen...!" ZiShu's breath clouded in the frigid air. He was panicking. The combination with the energy and power and life coursing through him made him feel almost physically ill. He rubbed at those limp, cold hands.
"Lao Wen, don't you dare die on me! Not like this!"
Long eyelashes fluttered.
"That's it! Come back to me!"
The bloodless lips twitched in the faintest of smiles.
"Still here. Not... dead yet." That beloved voice - commanding, powerful, flirtatious, tender and vulnerable in turn - was a mere thread.
ZiShu's only reply was a sob torn from his throat, harsh and broken and ugly and hopeless all at once. Then the tears started and once they did, he was powerless to stop them. Bowing over that silver head, he wept hot tears that dripped onto Wen KeXing's face and froze into crystalline droplets on his pale skin.
"Lao Wen, please.."
"I'm sorry, shixiong," Wen KeXing murmured over and over again, his own tears spilling over. But not once did he say he wished he hadn't done it.
"You can't leave me. You can't!" ZiShu repeated. Again, his panic spiked and again, he almost retched even though he had eaten nothing for at least a day, maybe two.
Wen KeXing's eyes opened again, the pale lips managing the faintest shadow of a cheeky smile.
"A-Xu, let a man die in peace."
"Don't you dare!" ZiShu snapped.
Throwing his head back, he filled his lungs with air and screamed out his frustration and grief into the void. A helpless cry that the mate of a fatally wounded animal might make, echoing all around the cavernous space.
"A-Xu... A-Xu, don't. Please don't."
"Did you know?"
The silver head nodded once before tired eyes lifted to his again.
"Don't scold me, A-Xu. You'd have done the exact same thing."
ZiShu let out a laugh which was nothing more than a sob.
"I know. I know."
And that was the trouble with both of them, wasn't it?
ZiShu cradled Wen KeXing closer, rocking him like one would a child.
"How long do you - do we have?"
The tiniest shrug of a shoulder.
"Weeks? Months maybe? A year or three, who's to say?"
"That's too little!"
"You said you still had two years left... before."
"I started to lose my senses not long after I met you! That's too fast!"
"So now you know how I felt," Wen KeXing dared to chide him and then he breathed out a sigh. "There was no other way."
Never had he looked and sounded more like a wronged child.
"Don't..." ZiShu choked out, throat so tight he could barely squeeze out that word. "If you're not here, then where would I go?"
He drew Wen KeXing even closer.
- o -
Hours slipped by. Outside the armoury, the sky grew dark and the light from the skylight above them faded. The two lamps that Wen KeXing had lit in the main room part couldn't penetrate this section.
ZiShu finally stirred, back and arms aching from cradling his soulmate for so long against his chest. Without completely letting go of his precious burden, he managed to shrug off his outer robe and spread it on the floor. Then he lowered both of them onto the robe.
Wen KeXing burrowed into his chest at once, shivering. ZiShu covered him as best he could. He was overwrought but he couldn't sleep, unused to this much energy buzzing inside him when he had spent the past few months surviving on a third of his original strength.
"I'm not going to let you die," he whispered, pressing his lips to the silver hair. "I'll save you, I promise."
The body against his stirred, a weak hand finding his, long cold fingers curling around his own. ZiShu twisted out of that fragile grip and clutched it tightly instead.
"I'll save you," he repeated. He had no idea how, but he would find a way.
Wen KeXing didn't reply but he pushed back against him in silent acknowledgement. Heart aching, ZiShu closed his burning eyes and followed him into an uneasy slumber.
- Chapter End -
A/N: Thank you for reading! Please leave a comment if you enjoyed it :)