Eternity With You

Posted originally on the Archive of Our Own at http://archiveofourown.org/works/44312347.

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences

Archive Warning: Major Character Death
Category: M/M
Fandom: 山河令 | Word of Honor (TV 2021)
Relationship: Wen Kexing/Zhou Zishu
Character: Wen Kexing, Zhou Zishu
Additional Tags: Missing Scene, Spoilers, Heavy Angst
Language: English
Stats: Published: 2023-01-16 Words: 866

Eternity With You

by Tate

Summary

What happens after Wen Kexing sacrifies himself for Zhou Zishu?

Notes

See the end of the work for notes

Zhou Zishu was lost in his own body, in silence and darkness. But as Wen Kexing had promised,
his senses gradually returned. The growing cold against his palms made him open his eyes, the
sight in front of him at once horrifying as Wen’s hands slipped against his own. Reflexively, he
grabbed for other man’s wrists, holding him in place. His hair had gone as white as the snow that
trapped them here, skin just as cold. It was all too clear that Wen Kexing had sacrificed himself.
He’d done this abominable deed to save Zhou Zishu. Moments of crushing disbelief passed as
Zhou tried to understand just how this had happened and how he could have let it.

When he was composed enough to move, Zhou Zishu gently drew Wen into his embrace. His
soulmate’s body came to rest across the parchment between them and across his legs. Cradling
Wen against his chest, Zhou was able to gaze at his face from above, his own black hair a curtain
for them both. Those glorious features looked as though they were carved in marble. Once pink
lips, almost white now. With his free hand, Zhou touched Wen’s cheek, ghosting his thumb over
those pale lips. Then trailing his hand though silvery hair that was still so soft beneath his touch,
remembering how Wen would sigh when he’d done this before. Now his body held no breath.

How could this have happened? Damn Wen Kexing for leaving him behind twice now, deceiving
him both times, and being completely oblivious to the truth. How could he ever have thought that
Zhou Zishu would want to go on without him back then or now?

Unlike all the other times he’d lost someone close to him, the times when grief came in waves, this
pain and desolation felt—on the mountain when Wen fell and now—as though he were completely
underwater. It was like drowning the deepest and darkest part of the ocean where he was struggling
for breath, but not allowed to die.

He couldn’t take his eyes from Wen’s peaceful face. He couldn’t bear to think that those
expressive and beautiful eyes would never open and look at him again. They were the only eyes
he’d ever seen look at him so adoringly. They were the only eyes he had wanted to gaze into for the
rest of his life.

The tears he cried were now alighting on Wen’s face. Leaning forward, he kissed Wen’s forehead,
then sobbed into his hair.

Zhou Zishu wasn’t sure how much time had passed when his tears finally dried up. Paralyzed with
grief, he’d shut his eyes against the world, his existence merely the weight of Wen Kexing against
him along with the heaviness of the sadness he felt. There was an all-consuming pain and tightness
in his chest, a rock in his throat, a stiffness in all his limbs. Like the pressure of the mountain
closing in all around. He did the only thing he could think of and tried to mediate himself away
from everything. His only thought was of holding Wen. How long would it take for his soulmate to
disappear from this world? He’d hold him until then, and maybe a little longer. Until whatever
Wen had done to him wore away, and they were both just dust motes in eye of Time.

He must have fallen unconscious at some point, because when his mind was functioning again, he
was no longer sitting upright. He felt the cold floor beneath his cheek, a hand impossibly threading
through his hair. “’A Xu? A’Xu? You imbecile, what were you doing? How long have you been
this way?”

No, this had to be a cruel dream. Some fabrication of his failing mind. Wen Kexing was dead. They
were buried beneath the snow and ice of the mountain together, like statues.

“Wake up, please.” The voice sounded a little desperate. “Even if it’s to scream at me, wake up,
A’Xu.” A hand came to rest on his cheek, a cold hand. That was cruel, and he needed to confront
the ghost that perpetrated this farce.

Zhou opened his eyes to the brightness of the armory. The face hovering near his coming into
view. Wen Kexing’s face. Those adoring eyes were at once filled with both love and worry. This
couldn’t be. It wasn’t. This was a lie, a trick his mind played on him. Some insane vision born of
self-preservation. Wen was a phantom of memory.

Wen Kexing was dead.

Only he wasn’t. “That’s it, A’Xu, come back to me.”

A flame of anger burst inside Zhou Zishu. It gave him the strength to push himself off the floor.
“You—you—” he managed.

Wen was leaning toward him, hands now reaching to support his shoulders. But Zhou Zishu
wouldn’t have it. He blocked Wen’s hands and with a quick movement, faster than should be
possible considering how weak he felt, and he struck Wen’s face with the back of one hand.

Redness bloomed on Wen’s cheek, blood forming in the corner of his mouth. And yet, he smiled
that warm smile.

And Zhou Zishu muttered, “Lunatic.”

“I love you too, A’Xu.”

End Notes

I can't say goodbye to these characters. I just saw the finale and the extra mini-episode this
last week. This may be the start of a longer story, although I'm not sure yet.

Please drop by the archive and comment to let the author know if you enjoyed their work!