Work Text:
All his life Jiang Cheng was living in the middle of nowhere. It was a small village surrounded by a deep forest. They had everything for a comfortable life. Sure it was different from the rush life of big cities, but that never mattered to him. They had a school big enough for all the kids there, which resulted in everyone knowing each other. It was peaceful, but unfortunately, everything must come to an end.
One day everything was in flames. The buildings were all destroyed, the only sound that was heard was endless screams of pain and anguish. To this day no one knew what happened. Everyone perished, everyone but Jiang Cheng.
After that, he had to move to a different city and start a brand new life all by himself. That wasn´t something new as his family died during a car accident when he was still a young boy.
Now, 3 years after the unfortunate event, he was here. It took him a long time to heal all his injuries, physical or mental, but now he was ready to move on.
He had a few but very loyal friends, good marks and was quite popular among the students. He was even declared as the most desired guy, everyone tried to ask him out. Unfortunately for them, his heart belonged only to one person, who wasn´t among them anymore.
He and Lan Xichen were childhood sweethearts. They meet just after Jiang Cheng´s family dismiss, Lan Xichen had moved to their small village with his uncle and brother, He had helped young and broken Jiang Cheng to smile once again. With Lan Xichen, Jiang Cheng felt like a whole piece, his heart didn´t bleed with sadness and he was able to sleep without passing out from hours and hours of desperate crying. As it is, after some time, they developed feelings for each other. While being young they knew this is it. This is the person that I´m going to spend the rest of my life with. They planned to move out when the time comes, but then disaster struck before they could realize their plan.
That day started like any other. He woke up, went to school, studied and came back home. This time however when he opened the door to his apartment something felt off. It was as if something watched him. He didn´t take it to heart after all he had quite a long day, he was probably just imagining things.
He went on like always, ignoring the always present anxiety. Sometimes he could feel a cold touch, no worries he was just cold. The sound of footsteps was just a neighbour being loud. The hand that was pulling at his hair was nothing but his hair getting stuck.
It went on and on for a long time.
It would be better to just go to sleep, As he was laying in his bed already half asleep, Jiang Cheng felt a shift behind him before a transparent but firm hand curled around his waist.
“A-Cheng…….finaly“a raspy, cold and all too familiar voice sounded next to his ear.
He held his breath, not daring to make a sound or to move, scared that the owner of the voice he missed miserably would disappear.
“A-Cheng...I-I searched for you,.....for a-a looong tiiiiiime…..“ the words came out broken, as if breathless. “Answer mee….A-Cheng“ the desperate cry finally forced Jiang Cheng to release his breath.
“X-Xichen.“ at the mention of his name, Lan Xichen´s hand tightened around his waist, it was almost painful.
“A-Cheng, don´t leave me….it´s so dark and cold…..“ at this, his heart broke once again, all of his efforts to heal destroyed by these words.
“You left me here, how could you“
That’s right. How could he, it was all Jiang Cheng’s fault, after all, Lan Xichen died saving his life. It was supposed to be him. It was his fault Xichen died. Only his.
“I´m sorry,“ he whispered, his voice wavering with tears streaming down. “I should be with you, I´m sorry. Please forgive me, Xichen.“ his wailing failed to mute the next words his lover said.
“If you´re sorry, then stay with me. Forever. Be mine.“ Jiang Cheng could feel Lan Xichens hand move from his waist to his neck. It was a familiar gesture almost soothing.
“Yes, yes, yes. I´m yours, forever.“ at his words the hand clasped around his brittle neck. Just like porcelain, he heard cracking.
The last thing he could hear was a whisper.
“Mine.“
His, now they will be together, belong only to each other. With that Jiang Cheng breathed his last.