Rosa: A Wangxian Reincarnation Story

For Life

"You are starting to realize that you are mine for life, aren't you? Dear Lan XiChen? Aren't you going to turn around to say good morning? Hey, what if I open the Silence Spell? Just until we have company? Hmm? Will you turn around and look at me then? Ah. There...gods I am beautiful!"

He flicked his hand and although he felt the grip of the spell loosen, Lan XiChen just stood there staring right through Xue Yang. 

"Aw, now, is that fair? Be a good boy. I will make sure you bathe every Morning. Fresh as a daisy to start your day. Hmmm?"

XiChen shrugged. "As you wish." The voice was strained, raw.

"There. Was that so hard? Why make things difficult between us? I already plan to let you live. Maybe the others don't mind seeing you die, but I think it would be such a waste. Once they leave and make their new, fresh lives and we get some well-earned 'Us' time, you will kneel to me."

"US time. I see. How long before you break me, I wonder?"

"Let's not speculate. I am nothing if not patient. It could take weeks. Months?"

"Fuck it. Wasting time is a sin. Against the rules." Stated XiChen.

He fell to his knees and made a graceful and abject kowtow. "Please Master, accept me as your slave. I will comply with every command. I will fill every one of your twisted needs. I will work hard to please you and to learn to love it and you."

"Get up. Not accepted. Not accepted. You will not pull that crap and think it will work. I have ways you cannot imagine, to make you truly mine and I can think of many more."

"I repeat, Master, I am your slave."

"La XiChen don't anger me further...Wait, you asshole! That is what you want, isn't it? A quick death by either them or me? Good try. Very good, indeed. But that is not going to happen." There was a knock at the door and Xue Yang hastened to replace the Silencing Spell.

"Enter." A Lan guard walked in and offered him an envelope and looked at the form, still face down on the floor."

"What's he doing?"

"Sucking up. Ignore him."

The man left and Xue Yang began to laugh as he read the contents of the letter . "Oh my. Life just keeps getting better and better."

He opened his phone. "Good Morning! I hope you slept well? Oh no! Rough night. I am sorry to bother you, but I have an urgent matter to discuss. Yes. The cell. No. No problem, but I must beg you to come down. See you soon."

He stared at the prone figure. "I have just called and asked lady Lan to join us."

Lan XiChen raised his head in panic. 

"Oh, don't worry. In fact, I have some good news to share with her. You may return to your position. I am finding I am beginning to like it." He plopped down, giggling and swallowed a long draught of tea.

Another knock came and Lan Ming entered. "Husband." Lan XiChen's head returned to the floor immediately and he stayed perfectly still.

She raised an eyebrow at Xue Yang in query and he smiled. 

"He has just decided to learn some proper etiquette. He's a stubborn one. But it is an improvement."

She smiled back, carefully averting her eyes from the huddled form on the floor. It hurt her heart and she could not rush to lift him up and restore his dignity.

"What may I do for you, Husband?"

He walked over to her and took her hand. He moved her to the table that held the tea service and poured her a cup. "I should be asking you that question, My Love!"

"How so?"

He handed her the letter, eyes suddenly shrewd and assessing. She glanced at it and lifted her rapter eyes, full of tears.

"No. Oh no! I am so sorry. I ordered them not to contact you. I wanted to tell my Husband myself. Now the surprise is ruined. Destroyed. I can never have it back to deliver the news myself."

Sweetheart. Never worry. Just finding out we are expecting is the greatest gift you could give me."

Lan XiChen lurched to his feet. He began to try and force past the Silencing Spell, mouth working frantically, muscles corded down his neck, panicked and desperate.

She looked over at him, terrified and Xue Yang shouted. "Stop it you fool. She is pregnant and you frighten her like this? Come, Darling. Go back to your rooms. Lay down and forget this criminal. Do not put stress on yourself and the child." He moved her towards the door and she gave a last look at Lan XiChen as he flung himslef against the array surrounding him. The array delivered a jolt and flung him back to the center of his cage. He ran into them again, still trying to scream past the forces that held him mute.

"Well now. It seems I am going to be a father. What do you think of that, XiChen. A little you I can turn into a little me. Life is just too much fun, is it not?"

He turned and left the cell, his laugher lingering behind him. He heard the sounds of Lan XiChen smashing into the array and being flung to the floor. Yes, his life was going to be damned near perfect, very soon.

Ming had sought Lan Zhan out as soon as she ran from the cell. He looked up from his desk, jammed with research in soul-switching spells, and caught her as she collapsed sobbing hysterically. It sometime before the story came out and he could begin to calm her.

"I could not even tell him myself. He heard it from that monster. Fucking Xue Yang broke the news to him and I could only stand there and watch him try and reach him through the array. Oh, Lan Zhan. He must be so broken."

Ming, I will go and check on him myself. Stay away. Xue Yang does not need to suspect you right now. Pregnant or not, he will harm you."

"Please go to him. Please."

Lan Zhan phoned Qin and Yenay to come and sit with the distraught General and he ran to the cell. He could hear the electrical discharge halfway down the hall as his brother continued to try and escape his prison.

"Stop, XiChen. Stop it this instant." He threw open the array and grabbed his panting brother who fought to break free and follow Xue Yang.

"You cannot do this. I know you want to rip his heart out, but this is not the time.,Look at me. Look...At...Me...Damn it! We are not near finding the answer to getting your bodies switched back. We must hold out as long as we can."

His brother's nostrils flared in fury but he met Lan Zhan's eyes, finally.  He pointed to the table where the guards sat each shift and Lan Zhan saw a pen next to a crossword puzzle book. He brought it to XiChen who began to write inside the back cover at a furious pace.

He wants to raise my child to be him. He wants everything that is mine. I cannot stand this another minute. I did nothing but accidently come into his sight in that lifetime. He will not let me go. I did nothing to him but exist.

"I know my Gege. I know. And I promise you, you will be the one to eradicate his existence forever. You and Yenay can do it together. I swear it."

He held his brother, who was trembling with rage,, until Nie Hauisang arrived with a doctor.