Bittersweet Nightmares (TGCF AU)

Chapter 1

Xie Lian wakes up in a cold sweat, another nightmare. He's been haunted by these dreams for as long as he can remember and nothing seems to help. He checks his phone and it shows 05:00, not the worst time to get up. He leaves his lumpy bed and heads to the kitchen to prepare his meals for the day.

He's in his last year of college studying philosophy and he's confident he'll graduate this year. He's retaking the year because he took time off due to family issues and missed all his deadlines. He's happy that he's back in school because he missed all his friends and being alone for so long really started to affect him.

He passes time by cleaning up, exercising and feeding his pet rabbit Ruoye. He got her last year to keep his mind off things and it really worked, you have to take care of yourself when someone else is relying on you.

He gets dressed in his most presentable clothes and heads off to school. He see's some familiar faces on the way and tries to greet them but they all avoid his gaze like the plague. He awkwardly walks away from them and heads to the main building with his head down, ignoring all the people talking about him.

He finally gets into the building and sees his best friend, Shi Qingxuan rushing towards him, a smile on their face. "You didn't tell me you were coming back so soon!" They exclaim, hugging Xie Lian with all their might. Xie Lian struggles to get out of their grip and explains how he felt like he shouldn't prolong graduating any longer. "Whatever makes you happy     A-lian, you're smart so I know you can do it" they hook their arm around his and drag him to class.

When they get to the class He Xuan, Shi Qingxuan's newest boyfriend is waiting with their bag at a row towards the back of the class. He Xuan looked him up and down before scoffing and turning to sit back down beside his partner. Xie Lian never liked him much anyways , he's rude, too tall and he has an intimidating face, that has always been Qingxuan's type though. Xie Lian takes a seat beside his best friend and hopes the day passes by fast, this class is pretty boring so he doubts it.

He wakes up at the end of class more confused then he's ever been in his life. When he fell asleep the class was full but now it's empty and it's dark out. He knows Shi Qingxuan would have woken him up so he wonders if anything happened. He reached down for his phone only to realise he isn't in the same clothes anymore, he's in a dirty, white robe. "Ohhh so I'm dreaming" he mutters to himself, rolling his eyes frustrated at himself. He can't sleep at home but the first class he sits in almost a year sends him to sleep instantly.

He decided to at least wander, it didn't seem like he was waking up any time soon and besides, what's the worst that could happen. He scuttles down the halls that no longer seem to belong to his school. Large scrolls cover the walls in an ancient text he cant decipher. He stops before a large door at the end of the corridor, large metal handles just at an arms reach.

He hears murmering behind him as he is about to open the door, he hesitates before turning around to look but he doesn't see anything different then when he passed before. He turns back to the door again to open it but theres nothing there. Just an empty room with 2 figures,  still as statues.

Xie Lian feels sick, the scene is so familiar but he doesn't know where he saw it before. He backs away, trembling with a fear he doesn't yet understand. He wants to wake up but he doesn't know how to. The murmering keeps getting louder and louder until it seems like a ringing in his ears. The hairs on his body stand and his stomach feels like it's gone through a washing machine.

When he was close to vomiting he opened his eyes and found himself in the class he fell asleep in. The only person he can see in the room is He Xuan, sitting on his table looking down at him with concern. "Qingxuan went to get someone to help you because you weren't waking up. Call them or something so I can head home" He Xuan gets up, clearly in the mood to leave. Xie Lian, still feeling sick and confused, pulls out his phone to make the call. They chat briefly and once Xie Lian convinces his best friend that he's ok and he can make it home by himself they end the call. He Xuan doesn't waste a second before making his way out of the door, Xie Lian doesn't mind, he never enjoyed the others company.

He packs up his stuff and leaves the room, not looking back to where he saw the empty room in his dream. This was going to be a long year, he could tell already.

Authors Note: this is my first fanfic (this is a shared account) and I hope you enjoy. The story isn't the happiest but I hope the characters are accurate to the book.
See you in the next chapter!! ;)