Love and War

---I do not own Dynasty Warriors or anything affiliated with said title. I in no way profit from this story---
---This is a slightly AU and the pairing for this story is Xing Cai/Zhao Yun---
Love and War

Xing Cai surveyed the battlefield. Things seemed to be going well for the Shu forces. They had launched a surprise attack on Wei in an attempt to recapture Nan Zhong. The early stages of the battle had consisted of her, and her old friend Zhao Yun sneaking as close to the Wei forces as possible before their small group of archers fired their flaming arrows into the midst of a Wei supply camp. That had gone smoothly.

After launching the attack, they fled, drawing a group of Wei guards after them. They led them back to where her father, Zhang Fei and his sworn brother Guan Yu waited with a contingent of troops. Her father’s troops had closed in around the Wei forces and delivered to them a swift death. She and Yun had regrouped their ranks and gathered the rest of their units, then leading a charge into the heart of the Wei camp assisted by Guan Yu and his son Guan Ping, another old friend of hers.

Her father, in the mean time, had taken a group of cavalry around to the flank. The plan was to crush the Wei army between the ranks of the Shu forces. Things were indeed going well for them on this night, but they had not counted on the treachery of Wu. Wu, their former ally with whom they had defeated Cao Cao at Chi Bi, had now allied themselves with Mengde and sent a large number of troops to help Cao Cao hold onto Nan Zhong. It would appear that their enemies had known that sooner or later Shu would try and take Nan Zhong back.

She gave a faint sigh as she turned back and saw a small group of Wu soldiers charge her.

“I have come for your heads!” she cried valiantly and charged them with her forked spear and shield. Her small form easily ducked under her weapons; as she did so, she smashed one of them in the torso with her shield and buried the points of her spear in another’s chest. She gave the spear a vicious twist as she withdrew it and brought it around cleaving the twin blades across the face of another of the attackers. The one she had shield bashed was recovering, but before he could gain his feet she jabbed the spear into his throat. This sent a fountain of crimson blood spewing into the air.

While she did not revel in battle, she was willing to do whatever was necessary to ensure that she, all her friends and allies made it through the battle alive. As she turned, she saw her old friend Zhao Yun fighting near her. She knew he had been watching her back the entire time and was thankful to him. She had always seen him as a bit of a big brother to her. He had always been there to protect her, and had even helped train her in the arts of combat. She smiled to him and waved her thanks as she watched him cut down three soldiers that had been trying to flank her. He grinned at her and tossed his long black ponytail over his shoulder and turned back to the battle.

Yun’s POV
Unlike her, he did find thrill in combat. When he was facing his enemies with his spear he felt alive and complete. Fighting was all he had ever known. He had been born into troubled times. While the Han had not yet fallen, it was still in the throes of its long and painful demise when he had first taken to the battlefield. When he had been but a teenager the Yellow Turbans had risen up and he had answered the call to arms serving under Yuan Shao for a time. It hadn’t taken him long to realize what a vile man he was. He soon left and joined Gongsun Zan. After Yuan Shao had killed Gongsun Zan he had left with Liu Bei and joined the man of virtue.

Cai had always been special to him. Her father was one of his best friends. He had been watching over her since she was a small child. As soon as she was old enough, Zhang Fei and Yun had begun to teach her how to fight, as she had always shown an interest in it. While she was a tiny young woman, she was a fierce fighter, which she insisted gave her an advantage in battle as no one expected her to be every bit as ferocious as her father.

He watched as she waved her thanks and turned back to the fight. He didn’t want to admit it, but things were beginning to look bad. In the distance, he could hear what sounded to be thunder while there were no clouds. This meant someone was fast approaching with cavalry and lots of them. Wu had committed a lot of infantry to help Wei hold Nan Zhong but no cavalry. This would mean that probably Xiahou Dun or Cao Ren, cousins of Mengde, was coming with reinforcements. He set his jaw and gritted his teeth as he charged back into the midst of battle seeking his allies. He needed to warn them so they could begin to fall back.

Once the enemy reinforcements arrived, the tide would turn and their defeat would be so complete that most likely none of them would survive. Every Shu soldier he saw, he warned them to fall back. They hurriedly complied. When he found Yu and Ping he informed them of the approaching enemy and they began to organize a retreat. Fei said he would help them when Yun located him among the carnage. Yun volunteered to guard the flank while they retreated back to Shu. Cai, who had walked up while he was talking to her father, immediately offered to help him.

While Yun really didn’t want Cai to put herself in such danger, he knew it was a moot point to argue with her. While the rest of the army began its retreat, he and Cai stood side by side with the small band of men they had kept with them to hold off pursuit. Cao Ren came over the hill followed by what seemed an endless tide of horse mounted soldiers. They were all heading right for him and Cai. ‘This is going to get very ugly’ he thought as they moved forward to meet the onslaught of the Wei cavalry.