Some explanation on this fic au before you read:

- it is set in a fictional 1940s but not out world

- the magic system of tgcf doesn't exist here so there's no gods and ghosts... well ghosts are a little different but we'll get to that later (Hua Cheng and Qi Rong are not ghosts)

- Jun Wu had been a dictator emperor that became so bad the people rioted against him and overthrew him, led by Xie Lian

- Later on as I stated in the description of this fic, Qi Rong goes to hell. Heaven and Hell exist in this fic but they are not exactly the Christian versions but more of my own creative spin, influenced by Dante's Inferno. Hell is sometimes referred to as such but more commonly the Underworld Spiral.

- Yes it's based on Hozier and idk how to explain that but just trust me it's the Unreal Unearthed album

- ;)

The adust streets were trampled by the many droves of horsemen who had been passing through there during this time of infant war. It sparked an agowilt feeling in weak fearful hearts and brought a washing of unease over the towns suffering under its heavy boot. There was much uncertainty. Where was this war going? How long would it be till everyone was dead?

Not Qi Rong, though. He didn't wonder or care.

Qi Rong didn't give two shits about the war. Ever since his dog-fucked cousin, Xie Lian, forced this kid on him all those years ago, Qi Rong had better things to concern himself with other than the war.

He had been a young man when he first met Guzi. The little boy then had only been about seven years old, maybe younger. Qi Rong used to threaten to eat the lad all the time to try and scare him off, but Guzi was stuck to him like glue. And after they'd broken free from ex-emperor Jun Wu's reign of terrorizing dictatorship (thanks to Qi Rong's stupid cousin), Guzi really became alike to glue. Qi Rong hardly involved himself in the riots breaking free from Jun Wu. But in a moment of fear, he threw himself over that small boy to protect him from flames and nearly died.

Nearly.

Because he didn't die.

Because Qi Rong is too great to go down like that in a moment of weakness.

That's why he was impervious to war. He'd seen it all and he was a little insane himself. What's bloodshed gonna do to him when he'd genuinely considered cannibalism as a career path? Most would consider Qi Rong fescennine—which was true because he was a graphic, vulgar man—but he personally saw himself as a strong and capable individual. That being said, as well as in despite of him being indifferent to war, Qi Rong was not going to join it.

It had been a few years since Xie Lian defeated Jun Wu. Guzi was now eleven. He was getting to the age where he was almost as annoying as Qi Rong. He took up a random interest in riding bulls and became an excellent racer in private. Only Qi Rong knew of this because no one else in their right mind would approve of letting a child run wild with an animal bent on murder.

Qi Rong and Guzi were not well off. Actually, they were dirt poor. Qi Rong worked any job that would hire him but most places sent him away after having him for a few weeks. Getting paid was difficult and there were many nights where Qi Rong sacrificed his own meal so that Guzi could eat. He'd never admit that, of course. Not even to Guzi. If anyone found out the great and fearsome Qi Rong (who was more annoying than fearsome) was soft like this, his reputation would be worse than soiled. In reality, he was barely able to hold his own world together right now, let alone care for a child.

"If you need help, San Lang and I are more than willing to take care of Guzi for a while-"

BAH! Qi Rong would never let that Hua Cheng anywhere near Guzi even with a ten foot pole. And Xie Lian?! Out of the question! He didn't need either of them in his life! They'd make it a point to shame and embarrass him. Maybe cannibalism wasn't a bad idea...

"Can I try that?" Guzi asked, closely eyeing the mug in Qi Rong's hand.

"No," Qi Rong said flatly, because it was coffee, "it's dirt."

"I want to try it."

Qi Rong spit in the coffee. Guzi recoiled in disgust but honestly was not surprised in the slightest. He was supposed to be going to school right now. But he was just like Qi Rong had been as a kid in the same vein of doing anything to get out of school. From faking illness to purposely arriving late to threatening cannibalism so he could get suspended...

Cannibalism was often on Qi Rong's mind but that isn't necessarily important to discuss.

"You're late to school," Qi Rong grunted.

"You're supposed to walk with me."

"I ain't walking with ya!"

"Mrs. Chen said it was too dangerous now and that you HAVE to walk me to school."

Oh right. They were in a war.

"Fine." Qi Rong rolled his eyes, annoyed at the very thought of having to be a good guardian for this stupid random kid he secretly cared deeply about.

This definitely wasn't the dream. Qi Rong's coat didn't even fit him right, ignoring the fact that it had so many holes in it and was the furthest thing from presentable. Guzi was waiting for him at the door. They had a small house. It had a main room where the kitchen was and a singular bedroom they had to share. Qi Rong told Xie Lian he made Guzi sleep on the floor when he was asked because somehow that sounded like it was more palatable for his reputation than to admit he spent every last penny he had on getting a good mattress for Guzi.

He was slightly jealous of his cousin. Xie Lian seemed to always have it good—except when he didn't. And now Xie Lian was married to that Hua Cheng asshole living in some mansion, probably. Yuck.

Now walking with Guzi to school, Qi Rong finally noticed how depressing the world had become. Streets were trampled and adust, worn by soldiers passing through recently. Buildings were closed off indefinitely. Even though the sky was clear it was grey, as if Mother Nature understood this was a bad time to be alive and wanted to be all poetic about it, or whatever.

Even if it was sad though, it wasn't like Qi Rong was unhappy. He had Guzi, who he pretended to hate all the time. Guzi knew this was a facade put on by Qi Rong. He knew this because when Qi Rong barked at him to "shut the fuck up" when he sang himself lullabies at night, Guzi could get away with ignoring him and singing him anyway. Qi Rong actually liked the singing. It was sweet and childish, like Guzi was still clinging to being a little kid just a while longer. He honestly needed that.

It was the truth that Qi Rong would do literally anything for Guzi, which brings us to the first conundrum.

After dropping Guzi off at school and returning home, Qi Rong discovered a letter. Sealed in a sad yellow envelope, it had an official seal of the state stamped onto it. Qi Rong instinctively wanted to tear it to shreds, for he hated already knowing what it was.

The draft had come for him.

The stupid war.

The stupid war and its stupid lack of willing soldiers. Now the state had to pick and choose any able bodied man old enough to fight. It was so meaningless that Qi Rong couldn't give a fuck but he had no choice.

He'd been receiving this exact letter for a month now and if he didn't accept it now, someone would be burning his rickety pathetic house to the ground. He had to choose between sacrificing his life for the military because the government said so or... not doing that.

Well really, it was all about Guzi.

Go to war? Sacrifice himself to protect Guzi in the state? Join the military too provide enough income for Guzi to get by?

Or refuse to? Let his life probably get ruined by whoever kept sending him the letter? Risk Guzi's life instead of his own?

He now had a reason to actually give a shit about this war.

Qi Rong was nobody's soldier—he was untamed and unruly. But this had gone on long enough. He'd just have to figure out how he'd break this news to Guzi when the lad would come home.

It had been a few hours since making the decision. Soon, Guzi would be arriving home from school (or was Qi Rong supposed to pick him up nowadays?). Having finalized his now reversed beliefs against his greater judgment, Qi Rong had to swallow his pride yet again as he pulled himself up to the rotary dial phone. If he was dead this would have him rolling in his grave, what he was about to do. It actually took more convincing for him to make this phone call than it did to submit to the draft of war.

He spun the dial, surprisingly having the exact number he needed written down and hidden from his own self because he hated the reminder that this phone number and the person it belonged to existed. Regrettably, he waited for an answer once he'd dialed.

"Hello?" came the voice of his dog-fucked cousin, Xie Lian.

Qi Rong let out a fat sigh, chewing on his words. "Xie Lian, it's your cousin. Did you get it?"

"...?"

"The draft. I've been drafted."

"Oh! Oh god!"

"Yeah yeah! Whatever! Look, I assume you didn't get it because you're sucking that dog Hua Cheng's dick. I need you to do me a favor."

"Oh-"

"You need to take care of Guzi until they send me back to this Hell hole," Qi Rong said, flat but demanding.

"Of course! We can-"

"Great. They'll come for me in a few days. Please just... pick him up... AND DONT FUCKING INDOCTRINATE HIM WITH ANYTHING WHILE IM GONE!"

"We wi—"

"He's a brat. And he has to sing himself to sleep so don't make him shut up. He also needs someone in the room with him when he falls asleep otherwise he gets scared."

"Of course—"

"He likes company walking to school. He made up a lie this morning about the school requiring it for some fucking reason. Just go along with it. He doesn't like admitting when he wants things cause he's a pussy and thinks it's a sign of being a weakling. Like you."

"Sounds like someone I—"

"He hates peppers too. If you fucking put a pepper in a dish the whole thing is ruined for him and he won't eat."

"I'm not much of a cook-"

"Oh yeah and YOU BETTER NOT FEED HIM YOUR FUCKING POISON RAT COOKING. I DON'T WANT MY BRAT DYING OF FOOD POISONING WHILE IM NOT HERE TO WARD YOUR ASS THE FUCK AWAY FROM HIM."

"Right—"

"When can you take the shit-head?"

"Any time, really. We'll pick him up. But is there anything else—"

"No. Shut up. Come take my kid sometime this week." Qi Rong and hung up with a fat aggressive click on the receiver.

He sighed again as if that dumb phone call really wore a lot out of him. So this was it. He was leaving soon.

Again he wondered how he was supposed to break this to Guzi.

A/N

Welcome to the weirdest fic idea I ever had!

Each chapter correlates to a song on Hozier's "Unreal, Unearthed: Unending" (the extended version of Unreal Unearthed, so instead of the OG 16 songs, I've got all 26 here, including Hymn to Virgil which was released the literally day I had the idea to do this).

Some chapters will be very obviously connected to a song and some are more very vaguely inspired.

Here's a key for how this chapter connects with Nobody's Soldier:

- Very hyped in the beginning like the instrumental bit. Despite how down the circumstances are, Qi Rong doesn't care.

- "Running with the bulls—"
I thought it would be funny to hide this one as an Easter egg by giving Guzi the random interest in riding bulls lol

- "Holding my world together with a boot and string"
Qi Rong is dirt poor.

- "Living the dream—"
Both in reference to how Qi Rong thinks Xie Lian is fairing and how Guzi actually views his own life despite how miserable Qi Rong assumes it is.

- There are several references to the lyrics hidden throughout. Some lyrics are directly hidden in there and others referenced. Ex: "Coffee and blue light screens till the morning" is the coffee scene. Alas, this is based on a fictional version of the 1940s (not in our world tho) so they don't have phone screens for the "blue light" bit. I'm making it work.

- Every time I mention Qi Rong's many failed jobs it's taunting the salesman idea, which switches to butcher or pauper, etc etc because he's never had one thing consistent. One thing he will not give up though is himself, he literally will be nobody's soldier

-Until he fucking has to that is, now he's off to war lol

-There's some other references also hidden throughout

I would like to say that originally this idea was gonna be for a completely different fandom *cough* Attack on Titan *cough* but then I wanted to make it more silly and fun for myself. I made the TGCF switch and it was actually going to be about Hua Cheng. But then for reasons I ain't revealing yet, that made me sad :( so I changed it and now it's even more sad for myself so idk why I did that. (It would be somehow more depressing with Hua Cheng and he'd get out of character for my planned ending and so I was like.... WELL I GUESS I HAVE TO USE MY FAVORITE CHARACTER)

Think about it though. You could have been reading Hua Cheng just thirsting for Xie Lian this whole time. I wanted to make something different though. No shipping (please for the love of god don't ship Qi Rong and Guzi I WILL kill you).