Thread by @rikkainhaz

Sci-fi (ish) apocalyptic #chengxian / #xiancheng AU ???? 🤖💔

-

Wei Wuxian looks out the window at the dark clouds that had been gathering above the city for the past few weeks.

Not a single drop of rain has yet to he seen.

He sighs and retreats into the apartment, where Jiang Cheng was sitting on the couch reading the news on the holographic screen. Wei Wuxian kicks his slippers off and crawls onto the soft cushions, squeezing himself between the brackets of Jiang Cheng’s arms, so that

his head rests on Jiang Cheng’s lap perfectly.

Jiang Cheng glances down at the fluffy head of hair on his lap. Wei Wuxian grins up, pulling Jiang Cheng’s hand up to his head. “Pat me?”

“How old are you already,” Jiang Cheng complains but his actions often betrayed his words.

“I just want to relax with you, it’s a nice day.”

“Nice?” Jiang Cheng asks doubtfully. “They say the power may be cut soon.”

“What?!” Wei Wuxian jumps up, startling the other with his abrupt movement. “When?”

Jiang Cheng shrugs, pointing at the screen. Wei Wuxian presses his face next to the other, where he can feel Jiang Cheng’s eyelashes brush against his cheeks and the cool, almost too cold, touch of his skin. He scans the articles on the holographic screen and frowns.

“We need to make preparations.”

“We have enough food supplies to last a couple of months. The water container on the roof though…it’s almost empty.”

Wei Wuxian bites on his bottom lip as he thinks. Jiang Cheng sees the blood seeping through pearly white teeth and gently

brushes a thumb over Wei Wuxian’s lips.

“Don’t hurt yourself.”

Wei Wuxian sees the concern in Jiang Cheng’s eyes and his tensed nerves relaxes unconsciously. “A-Cheng~” he says, dragging the name, as he melts into the other, wrapping his arms around the thin but sturdy

waist. Wei Wuxian presses his nose against the side of Jiang Cheng’s neck, ignoring the chill and lets himself believe that he can smell the scent of lotus flowers.

“I love you.”

He feels Jiang Cheng scoff, and Wei Wuxian closes his eyes, feeling the caress of the other’s

hand on his back.

“Silly. I love you too.”

-

The power goes out not with a bang but silently with a flicker. Wei Wuxian extracts himself from the cuddle session he was having with a sleeping Jiang Cheng and calmly moves towards all the now-useless switches, flipping them

all off one-by-one.

Jiang Cheng is still slumbering when he returns, silent and still on the couch and Wei Wuxian carefully curls his arms around the other again, resting his head on Jiang Cheng’s shoulder and stares out of the window.

It is the middle of the day, but

the darkness outside felt like it was in the middle of the night.

Still, no raindrops fell.

-

Wei Wuxian labours away at his workstation, careful to be conservative with his usage as he was only running on the remaining battery power. He doesn’t know when the power would be

back and he doesn’t want to run out.

Jiang Cheng now sleeps most of the day, resting on their shared bed like sleeping beauty waiting for the prince to wake him up with a kiss. Wei Wuxian smiles uncontrollably as he makes a final adjustment to his newest project at the thought.

He quickly boots all of his equipment on his workstation and carries the candlelight in his hand as he walks towards their bedroom.

He smiles softly as he puts his thoughts into action and sits on the edge of the bed, and bends down to press a kiss on Jiang Cheng’s lips.

Like magic, Jiang Cheng blinks awake and the sleep blurry haze that always finds him when he wakes means his memory is mush for a couple of seconds. “Wei…Wuxian?”

“Time to get up, baby,” Wei Wuxian answers, putting the candlelight down on the side table and helps

Jiang Cheng sit up. “I made something for you. Let’s test it out?”

“Again?” Jiang Cheng asks with a small frown.

“It won’t hurt, I promise.”

“That’s what you said last time,” Jiang Cheng snarked, pushing Wei Wuxian slightly to climb off the bed.

Wei Wuxian grins

sheepishly at him and coaxes, “Come on, I promise, it’ll be good this time.”

“Fine, fine,” Jiang Cheng says as Wei Wuxian drags him down the hall without resistance.

-

The sky outside is plagued in perpetual darkness. Wei Wuxian keeps candles lit in every corner of

the apartment, chasing the shadows away. Dinner is eaten cold out of a tin can, and Wei Wuxian tosses the trash into the growing pile by the door.

He plods into the bedroom and lies by Jiang Cheng’s side. The silence in their home drags on with only one person awake.

Wei Wuxian turns on his side, and traces the lines of Jiang Cheng’s face. He reaches towards the back of Jiang Cheng’s head and gently pulls the other into his embrace. Wei Wuxian stays up that night, playing with the strands of Jiang Cheng’s hair, eyes sharp with

determination. He won’t fail this time. This time—

-

There is a lone ray of sunlight that penetrated through the thick cavern of clouds and Wei Wuxian carries Jiang Cheng out onto the balcony. Jiang Cheng has always been pale, but now he looks almost paper white.

“Time for some sunshine,” Wei Wuxian tries to joke, stretching himself out onto the other chair beside Jiang Cheng. He hopes to wake Jiang Cheng soon, the other hibernating like an animal in winter ever since the power outage.

The ray of light disappears within minutes, and Wei Wuxian stares mournfully at the sky. He lightly pats Jiang Cheng on the cheek but there is no response.

Wei Wuxian clenches his fists, breathing deeply before releasing it. He forces a smile on his face and chirpily says

to himself, “It’s okay. Another time!”

-

For the first time that year, there is a sharp clap of thunder. Wei Wuxian drops the equipment in his hands and runs to the window, poking his head out to look at the sky for signs of rain. He’s almost out of water, and the pipes have

long since been barren.

He’ll need to leave the city if he wants a chance of survival soon. But, Wei Wuxian glances at their bedroom—no, he shakes his head, this is their home.

-

Winds howl and Wei Wuxian hugs Jiang Cheng tightly against his chest as he hears the

sounds of devastation outside their walls. Just this morning, Wei Wuxian saw unpowered and useless hover cars flying with the wind. Now, he hears what is probably the roof off the restaurant down the street crashing into a building.

Wei Wuxian shakes.

“Don’t worry, A-Cheng, I’ll keep you safe. So just, just stay with me. Please,” he says over and over to a sleeping Jiang Cheng. Who is he trying to convince? Wei Wuxian doesn’t quite know anymore.

-

The heavens releases the rain like a tsunami crashing over the city.

Wei Wuxian carries Jiang Cheng on his back and runs down the stairs.

Their ceiling was like a waterfall, water gushing through and washing away their belongings. Wei Wuxian watched as his workstation became unusable unfeelingly, they never did help him anyway.

It appeared that each person was only granted one miracle in life and Wei Wuxian had used it all up.

They’re both drenched and Wei Wuxian struggles to keep his hold on Jiang Cheng’s thighs. The other is no help, as Jiang Cheng is unable to hold onto Wei Wuxian in his state.

Wei Wuxian debates waking him, but he knows there is not much left in Jiang Cheng and he doesn’t want to waste these precious moments on a scene as undeserving as whatever clusterfuck is in his way right now.

It’s okay, he can do this.

He can bring himself and Jiang Cheng into the underground bunker announced by the city management a couple of kilometres down. He can. He has to.

Wei Wuxian hikes Jiang Cheng higher up on his back when he reaches the landing and hastens his pace.

The water is rising rapidly, and although he’s a strong swimmer, Wei Wuxian is not confident in his ability to handle two of them for such a long distance.

The wind and rain are unrelenting, and are these tears on his face? Wei Wuxian cannot tell anymore. He has to go on.

Out on the streets in knee deep flood, Wei Wuxian plows on, zig-zagging the coin-size hail and shifts Jiang Cheng into his arms, shielding the other’s head with his hands and chest as he walks with his body bent like an umbrella.

“It’s the end of the world,” Wei Wuxian jokes, laughing at himself.

800 metres. Wei Wuxian walks, his back battered by a couple of hail, that grew larger in size over time, he didn’t quite manage to dodge.

He’s bleeding slightly but it’s okay, because Jiang Cheng is safe

and sound in his arms.

1.5 kilometres. Wei Wuxian breaks into the shopping mall and finds a helmet. He grits his teeth and opts to put it on, after all, he won’t save either of them by having brain damage.

2 kilometres. He’s halfway there, turning into an alley that looks the safest out of the remaining options, seeing as the main roads were full of debris from fallen buildings and littered with glass shards floating in the water.

3 kilometres. Wei Wuxian can see the raised flags signalling the location. He’s more than cut up and battered and despite his best efforts, even Jiang Cheng got sliced by a couple of stray glass shards here and there.

“We’re nearly there, A-Cheng. Hold on.”

There is a blindingly bright flash and Wei Wuxian closes his eyes on instinct, turning away from the glare.

Lightning.

In thigh deep waters, Wei Wuxian’s heart nearly stops. They need to get out of here. Quick.

He turns left and right, searching for something, anything, anywhere they can hide it out for a while. Wei Wuxian tightens his hold on Jiang Cheng, his eyes reddening. He moves on, heading towards his initial destination.

The howl of wind in his ears, the whip of raindrops on his face, the flashes of lightning in the sky–it truly felt like the end of the world. But Wei Wuxian has his entire world in his arms, and he isn’t going to give up so easily.

“When you wake up, we’re going to be warm and safe. I will handle this for us, don’t you worry, A-Cheng.”

3.7 kilometres. They’re so close, he can see it. Wei Wuxian can see the fire blazing in little lamps on the shoulders of the armoured city guards

waving their hands towards all the remaining survivors closing in. He can hear the yells through the screeching of the winds. Wei Wuxian quickened his pace, the water now at the base of his hips.

One flash of lightning.

Wei Wuxian closes his eyes again as he did for the ones before. There is a sharp crash above him and Wei Wuxian doesn’t have to look up to know that something is very, very wrong. He tries to jump, but the water hinders his movements, and he’s given up on walking upright,

throwing himself into the water, making sure to keep Jiang Cheng’s head above the surface, hoping just one move, one stroke, one desperate kick can get them out of harm’s way.

Wei Wuxian is pushed -- pushed away by a strong force,

unnaturally strong for humans, by hands so familiar to him he can draw them blindfolded. His eyes widen in horror as slides metres away from the spot, to a sight he saw many years ago, long pushed away into the depths of his memories from denial.

Jiang Cheng stands with his hands stretched out before him, a massive metal rod through his chest. Wei Wuxian shakes his head, now the wetness on his cheeks he knows are more from his tears than the rain falling onto him.

“A-CHENG!” he screams, kicking at the ground, picking himself up, his shoulder is dislocated but the pain hurts less than the one in his heart.

“I’m sorry,” Jiang Cheng says, the light in his eyes flickering on and off, like the lights in their home

when the power was ruthlessly cut-off, when Wei Wuxian approaches him. “I’m sorry.”

“You’ll be alright,” Wei Wuxian says rapidly, “I can fix this–I can–”

Jiang Cheng shakes his head, and there are wires falling out the back.

Wei Wuxian grabs onto his hands, furiously muttering that he can still fix this, it’s okay, A-Cheng, it’s okay–

“My core is broken. Let me go, A-Xian. I know I’m not him, I’m not your A-Cheng, but I really, really…loved…you…”

Wei Wuxian can barely see through his tears, but the image of Jiang Cheng’s head drooping down without any signs of life is seared into his brain like a brand. He saw it before, 6 years ago, when Jiang Cheng pushed him away from the path of a hover car

that was recklessly driving down the street, and now, in the Jiang Cheng he created with his very hands from scrap metal found in the back alleys over the years.

Why? Why does this always happen to him?

All he wants to do is to live forever with Jiang Cheng.

Wei Wuxian collapses on the floor, ignoring the way the water hits against his chin. His world. His world is gone.

-END-

I got to the emotional bit at the end and my brain decided to shut down so it became like this 🤡🤡 Apparently I cannot write emotional scenes. I mean, I knew that 🤓🤓