In Your Dreams

Chapter 7

"Thank you so much..." Kanetsugu put the scrolls aside for a moment and held Lu Xun's hand, staring deeply into his eyes.

"I knew you would like to take a look at some of our tales."

"It's a great way to know more about a civilization's history. I had studied some in the past, but I would never have access to those precious documents."

"I selected them especially for you…" the young strategist lowered his head to avert his gaze and blushed slightly.

"Oh…" Kanetsugu felt his chest warming. He lifted Lu Xun's hand to his lips and kissed his knuckles. "I'll read them thinking of you," he squeezed the smaller had gently and took the scrolls back.

Lu Xun smiled and saw the older man returning to his room. He sighed in contentment and turned to go to follow on his way when he suddenly stopped. "Who's there?" he saw a shadow of someone that must have been standing behind a corner.

"Oh… I was just passing by…" Lianshi said as she approached the strategist.

"Oh…" the Lu Xun sighed in relief.

"Don't worry," Lianshi stared at the boyish face and tilted her head slightly to the side, smiling, "Your secret is safe with me."

"Secret?" Lu Xun blinked in surprise.

"Yes," Lianshi giggled. "You don't need to feel ashamed, love is the most beautiful thing that exists."

Lu Xun cheeks reddened and he was about to say something when he heard footsteps approaching.

"Hello, Ling Tong," Lian Shi greeted. "You look happy today," she acknowledged.

"Yeah, I woke up in a very good mood. I had a good night's sleep… In fact, I think I'm going to sleep again."

"But it's still morning…" Lian Shi commented.

"So?" Ling Tong asked.

"I thought you had just woken up…"

"I feel tired."

"You said you slept well…"

"Yeah, but I just feel like sleeping, you know," Ling Tong turned to the direction he came and waved goodbye, "See you two later."

"Well… I guess he's getting better…" Lianshi concluded.

"What do you mean?" Lu Xun seemed to regain his ability to speak.

"Oh, you know, Gan Ning's death."

"Ah…" Lu Xun remembered. "Yeah… they were very good friends."

"Yeah… 'good friends' like Zhou Yu and Sun Ce and Sun Ce and Taishi Ci."

"Are you implying something?" the strategist raised an eyebrow in question.

"Do I need something to imply? It was so obvious…" Liangshi paused for a moment and then sighed, "I loved to see them together…"

Lu Xun saw the dreamy-like face of the woman and was slightly afraid of her.

"Well… I gotta go now, I left Sun Quan with Zhou Tai some time ago and maybe I'll see something interesting now." She blinked at Lu Xun and waved goodbye, going merrily on her way.

"I guess I'll return to my duties then…" Lu Xun tried to think about new strategies, trying brush away the awkward feeling… sometimes women were very scary.

xxx

Ling Tong returned to his room and as soon as he could, he jumped on his bed. He adjusted himself on the mattress and placed the blankets over his body. Ling Tong closed his eyes and concentrated on sleeping. Somehow in the last couple of days he felt greater pleasure staying in bed than being awake…

Gan Ning was wandering around somewhere in Wu territory when he felt himself pulled back to Ling Tong's room. He was surprised in seeing the brunet on the bed so early, but he decided it was an opportunity for him to train his ability of appearing in dreams. It had been so much easier to do that in the night before, he just had to concentrate for a short time to be able to find himself in Ling Tong's dream world.

The blond closed his eyes and tried to align his energy with the other warrior's, until he found an invisible line to grasp.

"I'm getting good at it."

When he opened his eyes again he realized he was in a forest, which seemed to be a normal one. He walked around some and found just average kinds of vegetation and animals.

"It's good you stopped with those crazy dreams…" It was then he heard a loud bang sound and felt something stinging on his backside. "Ahhhhhhhhhh it hurts!" he yelled and rubbed his ass. Gan Ning searched for the origin of that and found Lu Meng staring back at him, aiming at him with a strange looking weapon. "What the hell are you doing?!"

"Oh… I'm sorry, I thought you were the wolf."

"Do I look like a wolf?!"

"You look like a savage beast."

"Ha thanks for that."

Lu Meng walked to Gan Ning's direction and stood in front of him. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah…" the blond rubbed his ass some more. "It seems there's no wound here, but you gotta be more careful with… what is that?" he pointed to the weapon in Lu Meng's hand.

"It's a rifle."

"Hm… never heard of it."

"It's necessary to hunt the wolf. Have you seen anything suspicious around here?"

"Like what?"

"Like a vile creature chasing little girls."

"Nah… I just saw an old man chasing my ass."

"I'm not old!" Lu Meng retorted. "Anyway, be careful around here." He turned and went back on his hunt.

Gan Ning scratched the back of his head, seeing the other man go, before he continued on his own search.

"Yeah… like there is something I should be afraid of—" he suddenly stopped on his tracks and stood still in surprise. There in front of him, he saw a familiar face… a familiar enemy face… It was clearly Cao Cao, spying on something, hiding behind a bush.

"Hm… this is most interesting…" Gan Ning heard the man say. Then he heard a child-like voice singing a very terrible song in a cheerful way. After some time he heard that loud sound again and saw Cao Cao jumping and yelling ungraciously.

"What was that?" Cao Cao looked behind him and rubbed his ass. "It was you?" he stared at Gan Ning.

"Not me! It was the old man!"

"I told you I'm not old!" Lu Meng slapped the back of Gan Ning's head.

"Ouch!"

"I'm sorry," Lu Meng stared at Cao Cao and apologized. "I've mistaken you for a vile creature chasing little girls."

"How dare you say such things about me?!" the king of Wei said.

"Then what were you doing?" Gan Ning asked.

"I… I was—" Cao Cao tried to find words to explain his odd behavior until he saw his salvation.

"My lord," Xiahou Dun bowed before him. "We have to go back now."

"What? Xu Zhu ate all the food again?!"

"No, my lord, it's worse, Zhang He changed the design of the soldiers' clothes and is creating havoc among the troops."

"Damn… let's go back," Cao Cao said and mounted on a horse.

Gan Ning saw the two of them leaving.

"I must go my own way too," Lu Meng said. "Tell me if you find the wolf."

"Alright," Gan Ning said and resumed his search. He found a narrow hidden road in the woods and decided to follow it. Not long after, however, he stopped when he heard voices, so he decided to hide behind the bushes.

"I'm so happy I found you!" a high-pitched voice said.

Gan Ning took a better look and saw Xiao Qiao with a red hood on her head.

"What happened? You seem frightened…"

The blond realized the one who Xiao Qiao was talking to was Zhou Yu… with a tail and furry ears.

"There is a mean man that keeps spying on me all the time!"

"Oh… what a shameful behavior…" Zhou Yu said. "Do you want me to accompany you through the woods?"

"I'd love to!" Xiao Qiao said cheerfully. "Oh your skin is so soft and your hair is so pretty, you're the fairest creature I ever saw in these woods."

"Oh… thank you for the compliment, but looks aren't everything. I believe that a man's intellect is what really matters, that's the great quality of a man: the ability create a good strategy to defeat the most fearsome enemy."

"Hm…" Xiao Qiao nodded absentmindedly. "You're so pretty."

"You paid no attention to anything I said, did you?" Zhou Yu asked patiently.

Xiao Qiao nodded absentmindedly. "What's your name?"

"I'm the wolf."

"Alright, Mr. Wolf, let's go then," Xiao Qiao smiled.

"To which direction?"

"To my grandma's house, I have to show you to my family so they can give their consent and we can get married!"

"Hey! Wait!" Gan Ning called their attention before they could leave. "Do you know where I can find Ling Tong?"

They both blinked in confusion.

"Who's Ling Tong?" Xiao Qiao asked.

"Don't you remember him? He's brown-haired and tall, with a mole on his face; he's lazy, stubborn, annoying, complains all the time…"

"Oh… we need to help this man," Xiao Qiao said. "He's clearly in love."

"Alright," Zhou Yu said. "I have not seen anyone like that though, at least not in the woods… Have you tried searching for him in the castle over the mountains? I heard a man was being held captive there."

"Where is this castle?" Gan Ning asked.

"Right there," Zhou Yu pointed to a distant point behind the mountain range. "Follow the path until you find a graveyard, then turn right, and enter the catacombs until you find the entrance of a cave; follow in the dark cave until you reach the snowy mountains; from there you'll have to cross all the mountain range and then reach the 'Devil's castle'."

"Wait… Does the devil live there?" Gan Ning asked with caution.

"No… it's just a metaphor," Zhou Yu explained.

"Will I find Cao Cao there?"

"No… Worse."

"Oh… that's great…" Gan Ning said sarcastically. "Hm… well… it seems like a long way… Do you know any shortcut? I'm in a hurry."

"Oh yes, there are two shortcuts indeed. See this other road behind you? It will split in two paths. The one to the right is 'Zhuge Liang's shortcut' and the one to the left is 'Sima Yi's shortcut'."

"Well… never mind, I'll take the long way."

"You won't necessarily find Zhuge Liang or Sima Yi on the shortcuts."

"Yeah, but who knows… better not take the risk," Gan Ning said farewell to Zhou Yu and Xiao Qiao and went on his way.

xxx

Gan Ning fought against the heavy blizzard he found himself in as he made his way through the mountains. He was wondering how long it would take until he found Ling Tong again when he saw another familiar face ahead.

"Huang Gai!" he shouted.

"Who are you?!" the man ran towards him with a bigger hammer in hand.

"Hey, wait! I'm your ally!"

The man seemed to have slowed down and just stared at Gan Ning inquisitively. "What are you doing here? Don't you know it's a dangerous place for a human?"

"Aren't you human too?"

"I am Thor."

"Hm… well, good," Gan Ning decided not to argue. "Do you know where Ling Tong is?"

"Who?"

"Oh yeah, never mind…" Gan Ning tried to move ahead.

"Odin must know," Huang Gai said.

"Well, I don't have time to wait for this Odin guy."

"Oh, but I'm here!"

Gan Ning stared in surprise when he saw Sun Jian materializing from nothing. "Where did you come from?"

"I'm a god, I can be anywhere!" Sun Jian said amusedly, "So what brings you to this distant place?"

"I'm looking for Ling Tong, but yeah, I know you don't know who I'm talking about…"

"Ah Ling Tong, he's in the castle."

"Wait… how do you know…"

"I'm a god, I know things!" Sun Jian said.

"Hm… alright… So, god…"

"Call me Odin."

"If you insist… Odin, do you know a way for me to get there quickly?"

"Oh… no… that's impossible," Sun Jian said with a grave expression.

"Great…" Gan Ning kept walking.

"Just kidding!" Sun Jian laughed. "You want to arrive there faster, here you go!"

Suddenly Gan Ning disappeared from view, vanishing in the air.

"Did you really send him to the castle?" Huang Gai asked.

"Yeah… why?"

"Don't you remember what's in the castle?"

"Oh…" Sun Jian's expression became a worried one. "I forgot that… I'm afraid I sent him to his doom…"

xxx

"Mwuahahhahahahahahhahahahahhahahah!"

"Can you stop laughing like that?" Zhuge Liang asked.

"Mwuahahah! Why?" Sima Yi asked.

"It is most disturbing…" Zhuge Liang waved his fan in front of him.

"Why should I listen to the words of an imbecile like you?" Sima Yi shook his fan.

"I'm not an 'imbecile', you know I designed the greatest weapon," he pointed his fan to a large table in the center of the laboratory.

"Humph, you know it was my idea," Sima Yi said.

"No, it was my idea."

The refined strategists were about to raise their fans to start a gruesome fight when they were stopped by a loud thud. A blond man appeared out of nowhere and fell right in front of them.

"Who is it?" Zhuge Liang asked.

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!" Gan Ning screamed when he saw where he was, or rather who was in front of him.

"How dare you invade my secret lab?!" Sima Yi yelled. "Very well, you shall be the first to witness the power of the greatest weapon designed by me—"

"No, it was designed by me," Zhuge Liang said.

"Shut up," Sima Yi gave the other strategist a dirty look and then stared again at Gan Ning, "Behold the might of the ultimate weapon of war!"

Loud thunder resounded over the sky and lightning flashed in between the dark clouds. A huge creature of blue skin broke the large chains that held him in place and emerged from the center of the laboratory.

"Ding Feng…" Gan Ning stared at the big man walking to his direction. "Ding Feng, it's me, Gan Ning, I'm your ally!"

"Gan Ning…" the man repeated the name. "I can't recall any Gan Ning, but you seem to move with the grace of a butterfly. I feel inspired to recite a poem; do you allow me the honor?"

"No… not a poem…" Gan Ning was terrified and ran away from the place as fast as he could.

"Mwuahhahhahhahhahaahahahah! I told you it was the greatest weapon of war!"

"Yes, I agree," Zhuge Liang waved his fan in contentment. "And it was my invention."

xxx

Gan Ning ran desperately thought the castle's corridors, looking for a place to hide, but all the doors were locked. His only hope was the last room and he was glad to see he could enter. Quickly he closed the door behind him and hoped Ding Feng lost track of him. It was then he saw there was someone on the bed.

"Gan Ning!" Ling Tong shouted.

The blond walked to the bed and saw the brunet was tied to it. "Finally! I found you."

"Please, help me…"

"I don't know…" Gan Ning walked around the bed and inspected Ling Tong's situation, "It could be interesting to keep you tied."

"You can keep me tied, just take me away from here, you don't know how it is to listen to Sima Yi and Zhuge Liang arguing day and night!"

"Oh I see…" Gan Ning checked the chains, "No one deserves that." He tried to force the shackles open, but to no avail. "I need a key."

It was then the door opened.

"Mwuahahhahahaaahaahahha! There is only one key and it's in my hand!" Sima Yi showed the golden piece of metal.

"No," Zhuge Liang snapped it away from Sima Yi. "It's in my hand."

"Give it back!" Sima Yi glared at the other strategist.

"It doesn't matter who holds the key, we need to take care of the problem over there!" Zhuge Liang pointed to Gan Ning and Ling Tong on the bed.

"Just this once you're right," Sima Yi seemed to have calmed down. "Now you're going to pay for interrupting my-"

"Ah! There you are!" Ding Feng interrupted Sima Yi when he entered the room. "I have an even more beautiful poem to tell you…"

"Noooooooo!" Gan Ning and Ling Tong screamed in unison.

"You imbecile! You interrupted me! You have no right to recite any poem! I'll take care of them myself!" Sima Yi prepared his laser attack.

"No!" Ding Feng stood in front of Sima Yi, "How can you be so cruel as to separate two beautiful souls!"

"I won't separate them! I will kill them together! Now get out of my way!"

"I can't let you do this!" Ding Feng said in determination

"Will you rebel against me, your own creator?" Sima Yi threatened.

Ding Feng seemed to be troubled.

"Remember you can rebel against him, because I am your real creator," Zhuge Liang said calmly.

"What are you saying?!" Sima Yi stared at the other strategist.

When the two strategists were distracted glaring at each other with cold gazes, Ding Feng ran to the bed and broke the chains with his supernatural strength. He took Gan Ning and Ling Tong in his arms and ran towards the wall, breaking it with his strong body.

Sima Yi and Zhuge Liang stared at the huge hole in the wall and only then realized they all had escaped.

"Imbecile! Look what you've done!"

"I don't know why you're so upset," Zhuge Liang said calmly, "You know they wouldn't survive the fall to the abyss…"

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh hh!" Gan Ning and Ling Tong screamed while they fell…

xxx

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh h!" Ling Tong screamed and jumped on the mattress, almost falling off the bed with the sudden movement. He looked around, still disoriented, and took a while to realize he was in his own room. Trying to calm down, he concentrated on breathing steadily.

Ling Tong left his bed for a moment, searching for a cup of water and when he finally had one, he stared briefly at the window. The sky was dark, signaling the night had come. He put the cup back on the table and went back to bed.

Once lying on the mattress again, he stared at the apparently empty room and felt something constricting in his chest.

"Gan Ning... Can you hear me?"

Even after all the troubld he went through when Gan Ning's spirit haunted him, even though he convinced himself that it was better to let go, he found himself wanting that Gan Ning was still there, wishing he wasn't really gone.

"I must be crazy..."

He had the impression he felt something climbing on the bed and didn't know he believed it or not.

"Are you here?" aparently he saw nothing different after he asked, but he felt something heavy on his chest, something that made it difficult to breathe. Ling Tong closed his eyes and imagined a hand touching him, circling his chest in a soothing manner. He hummed in contentment and lifted his shirt up. The hand followed the clue and slid its way down his torso. The general felt his skin tingling with the sensation of something cold, but instead of avoiding the sensation, he urged for more. Ling Tong lifted himself slightly and took his shirt off, throwing it aside, before lying back on the mattress once more, then feeling ghostly hands all over his exposed skin. He thought he felt kisses on his neck and he sighed in contentment.

Ling Tong rubbed the bulge that had surged in his pants, fondling it in rythm with the hands moving over him. They went up and down in a continuos pace, slowly, but surely, making his body warm up despite the cool touch. He felt the hands go up his shoulders, massaging them, before moving to his collarbone and going down his chest; he felt ghostly fingers brushing his nipples, rubbing his pecs and sliding languidly over abs to stop just above the waistband of his pants. Getting impatient, he removed the rest of his clothes, until he was lying naked on his bed. He spread his legs apart and positioned himself in a half sitting position. Ling Tong stared down at his own member and stroked it a few times. He felt a cool touch on the inside of his thighs, as if a hand was urging him to go on. Ling Tong pressed a finger to his opening tentatively and rubbed the spot, moaning deeply with the new added sensation. He circled the ring of muscle a few times, and then rubbed the spot some more applying more pressure gradually until he forced the fingertip in and hissed in disconfort. He tried to press some more, but saw he couldn't at the time, so he just brushed his finger around the spot. Ling Tong stopped for a moment and reached for something inside a drawer, retriving a vial after a little search.

He slicked his finger with the contents of the vial and put it aside. Once again he pressed it to his opening and it slid in slowly. When he was almost half way in, he removed it and penetrated himself again, driving the finger a little deeper. He kept going in and out, repeating the movement until he got used to the sensation. After a while more, he removed the finger and searched for the vial again, coating another finger with the slick substance. Soon he had both fingers buried inside him, while he massaged his member and rubbed his thumb over the head.

Ling Tong started to move his fingers in and out, creating a rythm. He started to stroke himself again, getting lost in the sensation. All the while he felt hands on him, roaming over his body. He felt good to keep going like that, until he had the urge to come. Ling Tong stopped all movements for a while, concentrating on the cool touch on his skin. He wanted to feel something more like the width of Gan Ning's cock inside him, so he retrieved his fingers and searched for the vial once again, coating a third one. Ling Tong tried to insert all three fingers, having the help of his other hand for the task. He forced them in and hissed in disconfort, feeling himself stretch even more, until they were buried inside. He gasped in pain feeling the muscles around the fingers clenching tightly. Closing his eyes, he imagined they were Gan Ning's cock and then started to stroke himself again, more vigorouly this time, until he came hard, moaning the blond's name.

He removed the fingers from inside him slowly and lay exhausted on the bed. His body was shaking all over and his skin glistened with sweat. Still he felt the cool touch over him, calming him down in a soothing way.

"Gan Ning..." Ling Tong whispered, "Did you like that?" he chukcled. "I wish I could see your face," he felt a warm energy involving him, covering all his body and he felt overwhelmed by a peaceful sensation. "You're here, aren't you?" he asked. Even though the room remained silent after he spoke those words, he could almost swear he heard his name floating faintly in the air.

x

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A/N: The last scene was focused on Ling Tong's POV due to the fact that I didn't want to make clear if Gan Ning was really there or if it was just an imagination. Everything in the story points to the spirit's presence, but I still wanted to create some mysterious atmosphere in the air. Well, I imagined what it would be if Gan Ning was more active in the scene, but… there's nothing more he can do =\

I don't know if someone will be interested, but I'm posting a Sima Shi/Zhou Yu fic called "Beyond the Night", the first chapter has been up for some days. You may wonder how can those two be together, but the story is in some kind of alternate universe, the same of my second Zhao Yun/Yukimura fic "Until the Morning Comes".

Thank you Scytherageroses for always giving me support and Nightlore for still being my beta. I need to thank you guys for the reviews too.

Yeah, I'm playing Dynasty Warriors 8 and enjoying it a lot. I liked most of the new characters, of course, some of them I didn't like so much, but… Now that my GTA V is coming, I really don't know how I'll find the time to play both games… I wish I didn't have to work…