#jiangyu

Part of him wanted it to be over. Part of him never wanted it to end.

For every corpse he dug out to use for his wicked tricks there was a memory of Hanguang-jun appearing in his line of sight, a beacon of white glowing light. Once upon a time they could have been friends, had war not thrown them on the opposing sides of the battlefield. Now all he could do was marvel at the perfection that was Hanguang-jun, the one of ethereal beauty, the paragon of righteousness.

If his heart leaped every time they met, if it were his full lips he imagined every lonely night, if each unearthed corpse brought hope of seeing him, that was no one's business but Wei Wuxian's.

It wasn't like there was any hope.

Even if one day this wretched war was over, even in the off chance that Wei Wuxian wouldn't have to stand trial for his crimes, their differences were still impossible to reconcile. The two of them were made in ways that never going to mix.

All he had were dreams.

"Laozu." Wei Wuxian looked up to the ghostly complexion of his best friend's little brother, the one who was like his own.

Ghost General, they called him nowadays. Undead, unnatural, wrong, all of their names reeking with fear and envy of the only successful resurrection in known history. Death itself bowed to the Yiling Laozu, they said. In their own little den of the damned he was simply known as Wen Ning, timid and sweet. Death had found him because they had been too late. It took Wei Wuxian months to make right.

Hanguang-jun had been there to bear witness to the miracle.

Wei Ying would never forget his expression.

The disbelief, horror and disgust on that pretty face had twisted and coiled in Wei Wuxian's gut until they shaped into a nagging knot, gnawing at his insides. He would never cease to be amazed about the fact that they escaped unscathed, Hanguang-jun too frozen in his repugnance to stand in their way.

"Laozu," his little brother called him again, chasing the memories away. "They've arrived."

A pause. "They outnumber us, one to ten."