This can only end in tears

It's been a while since I wrote a fic that isn't MGS-related, eh? (Let's ignore the fact that this is exactly how I started myself on BB and Zero last year, and I still haven't written everything I want about them, so doing the same bloody thing in another fandom is probably not advisable. Well, here I am, doing it anyway!)

Trying my hand at Xiahou Dun and Cao Cao for the first time; you be the judge of how well that's worked out or not. This is primarily based on the games, namely Dynasty Warriors 7, for two reasons: 1) I safely know the whole thing by now so I can write about it, and 2) these two have more screentime in the game series than in novel-canon anyway, so like hell I'm going to pass up on that. For some context, DW7 is the game that tries to keep closer to the history in principle, though its really big divergence is that it makes everyone die so young. (And good-looking.) Anyway, I've watched through all the cutscenes and couldn't resist framing some of them in a story. The Wei storyline is half what's made explicit on-screen and half everything that they're explicitly not saying.

The fic is split into three sections, the first and last of which are based directly on two cutscenes from the latter part of the game (here from 16:15 and 18:58; contains spoilers) because I'm that much of a canon-referencing junkie. The direct speech in those two scenes is quoted verbatim.

I've used a different (more pretentious less subdued) writing style for this than I mostly do, given every adaptation of this history seems to be almost over-the-top dramatic, so I'd love to hear whether that works at all. And that's pretty much it.

Title: Lives beyond Words
Pairing: Cao Cao/Xiahou Dun
Rating: PG-13 (Or a very tame R; I'm hesitant to use it since the sex isn't that explicit.) Slightly NSFW
Word Count: ~940
Summary: Intimate knowledge comes at the highest price.
Warning(s): Canon character death, unfortunately.
Notes: Style names are awesome.
Disclaimer: The Dynasty Warriors series belongs to Koei. I make no profit and intend no copyright infringement.

( Single-minded to a fault, as ever. )