- Listen. I never lied about who I was until everything went to hell. I’m soft and lazy and I’m fine with being that way. But at some point you’ve got to take a stand, you know? — Nie Huaisang
The Lost Cause is an Untamed fanfic by KouriArashi. It focuses on the character Nie Huaisang as he follows the progress of Meng Yao, later known as Jin Guangyao, up to the events soon after the Sunshot Campaign.
Then he overhears the Jins plotting.
Fearful for his brother's life, Huaisang decides to team up with Jin Guangyao to get rid of the bigger threat, Jin Guangshan. Being who they both are, it's not that difficult.
It can be read on Archive of Our Own here
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The Lost Cause provides the following tropes:
- Adaptational Badass: Of a sort. Nie Huaisang grows into his manipulator role earlier than in canon, and plays a major role in the Sunshot Campaign as a scout.
- Adaptational Heroism: Jin Guangyao's descent into villainy is arrested, leaving him a much less evil person.
- Asshole Victim: At least two: Jin Yan, who made Jin Guangyao eat a whole hot pepper when he made her food too spicy, and the Nie Master of swords, as in canon. There are references to the Jin Clan's dwindling ranks, suggesting there are a lot more of these. And, of course, Jin Guangshan.
- Jin Zixun also does himself no favors, to the point that one really doesn't feel sorry for him even if he's the fall guy for the plot against Guangshan.
- Big Brother Instinct: Inverted. Huaisang has little brother instinct, and is fiercely protective of Nie Mingjue. One of the few times he drops his mask around Mingjue is when Mingjue goes to Nightless City without him.
- Birds of a Feather: Platonic example with Huaisang and Jin Guangyao, who are both brilliant manipulators and who slowly but surely develop a genuine bond over the course of the fic.
- Brilliant, but Lazy: Huaisang. See the page quote. It's part of a longer rant about how he'd love to just catch birds and paint fans, but can't given the fact that Jin Guangshan is a danger to his brother.
- Frame-Up: The plan features one of these, with Jin Zixun as the fall guy.
- Fire-Forged Friends: Huaisang and Guangyao end up actually befriending one another in the wake of the fic.
- The Man Behind the Man: What Huaisang talks Guangyao into being, reasoning that it sucks to actually be sect leader. In successfully doing so, he saves Jin Zixuan's life.
- Mythology Gag: Huaisang's method of getting rid of Jin Zixun in the fic is the exact same method he uses to get rid of Jin Guangyao in The Untamed.
- Never Gets Drunk: Downplayed. Huaisang has a higher alcohol tolerance than average, which he uses to his advantage. However, he gets at least tipsy in the fic after consuming a pretty copious amount with Guangyao.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Xichen, who is usually very even-tempered, is furious when he hears that Jin Guangyao has been used as a poison tester for his own father in the Jin Clan.
- Out with a Bang: As in canon, Jin Guangshan is a victim of this. Unlike in canon, it was during consensual sex with a prostitute.
- Parting-from-Consciousness Words: Nie Huaisang and Jin Guangyao have a short back-and-forth right after the former drugs the latter.
- Patricide: Jin Guangyao, egged on by his co-conspirator Huaisang, ends up committing this, poisoning his father and causing him to die of an overexertion-induced heart attack.
- Shipper on Deck: Huaisang likes the idea of Xichen and Guangyao together.
- Sir Swearsalot: Huaisang is considerably more swear-y around Guangyao than he is around everyone else.
- Slipping a Mickey: Huaisang does this to Jin Guangyao, in part to prove it to him that he is a force to be reckoned with.
- Spit Take: Jin Guangyao's reaction when Huaisang suggests he's got a praise kink while they're drinking together. It has an illustration.
- Title Drop: In chapter 2:Nie Huaisang: (To Jin Guangyao) [Nie Mingjue] thought the war would make me take things seriously, but I’m afraid I’m just a lost cause.
- What Does She See in Him?: Huaisang and Guangyao openly wonder at one point just what Yanli sees in Jin Zixuan.
