Chapter Text
When Venti returned to Lumine's side in the morning, bleary-eyed and reeking of dandelion wine, he was surprised to find her with Zhongli, perfectly composed and immaculately dressed. Lumine, hesitant and unsure, said she had invited him along, asking him to join them to visit Lady Ningguang in the jade chamber.
Venti merely shrugged and said flippantly, "Why should I care?"
The atmosphere was icy and impossibly tense, like a billowing storm, as the two of them proceeded to pointedly ignore each other.
The oceans rebelled against the land and Zhongli had conveniently disappeared.
Lumine shouted for him, desperate against the driving rain and thrashing wind.
Venti knew he wasn’t coming back, not right now at least.
The people of Liyue needed to do this part on their own.
Lumine stormed into Northland Bank, in hot pursuit of her quarry, and then stopped, face paling. Venti followed her, tripping over his own two feet and then going cold when he realized why she’d come to such a sudden halt.
La Signora, clad in white and red, twisted her lips, lifting a delicate eyebrow as Lumine hissed, fingers curling around her sword, "Signora!" She spat it like a curse, like it was something dirty in her mouth. She'd swung a hand in front of Venti, over his chest, keeping him behind her, her stance protective.
"It’s you two, I believe we’ve met once before… in the City of Bards, was it? I’m glad you still remember my name. Especially, you, Lord Barbatos."
Her tone dripped with mockery, and Lumine's lips curled, sharp over her canines, fierce and pointed. Venti grabbed her wrist, urgent, ignoring the Fatui, trying to make eye contact with the traveler, "Let it go, she’s beneath you and she knows it."
Lumine's eyes flicked to his and away, her fingers winding around his hand, grip tight, feet shifting, ready to fight- eager to fight, bloodlust thrumming in her veins.
Signora's eyes narrowed, lips curling, "Hm, are you sure about that? I won the last fight if I recall. I imagine that it must have been rather hard to forget watching helplessly as something precious was snatched away from you," She grinned at the traveler, lips pulling across teeth into a smug malevolent smile, "How did it feel I wonder?” Her eyes found his, “Does it still hurt even now? That burning emptiness-“
Lumine lunged, held back only by Venti's grip providing a counterweight, refusing to move with her, "I still have time to take it back-!”
Paimon squeaked, grabbing her other shoulder and pulling with the entirety of her meager strength, "No, don’t let her get to you!"
Zhongli watched their exchange with narrowed eye. At Lumine's lunge, he stepped forward just once, hand raised cautiously in an aborted movement. Venti shook his head, quick and quiet while Paimon and Childe talked. They couldn’t let it come to blows. Lumine was strong and brave and fierce, but he didn’t know if she could survive a fight between two harbingers.
Zhongli still frowned, clearly catching the tension in the room, mulling over Signora's words. Venti shifted, trying to figure out how they were going to get out of this one. And then Childe laughed, drawing them out of their silent exchange, his teasing tone weighted by genuine irritation, "The real deceivers here are Signora and Zhongli… curse them for leading me on."
Lumine's eyes flicked to Zhongli and then back, cautious, almost hopeful, "Zhongli tricked you…?"
Signora waved her hand, disregarding the other man, "Stop wasting time, Childe. There'll be plenty of time to chat once I’m through here. You remember our agreement. Now, if you would be so kind… the Gnosis, please."
Lumine went pale, fingers white-knuckled around the sword in her hands, "Agreement?"
Paimon echoed her sentiments, her tiny body trembling with frustration, "What in the world are you talking about?"
Zhongli brought out a sparkling figurine, the Gnosis in his palm, shining in his hands. He passed it over to Signora who grinned at the sight of it, transfixed.
Lumine turned wide eyes toward Venti who winced under her accusing stare as she asked, even though she already knew the answer, "Zhongli is actually Rex Lapis?"
Venti laughed, "Ehe?" before shrugging, "Don’t ask me! I didn’t know anything until Zhongli from the Wangsheng funeral parlor showed up and I recognized him."
Paimon snapped, still wanting her answers, "No, wait! That's an exciting twist and all- but why give the Gnosis to the Fatui ?" Paimon stared at Zhongli, betrayed and appalled.
Zhongli hummed, reassuring her, "I do not give it for free. I give it as agreed upon in the contract... for it is a matter solely between the Tsaritsa and I."
Lumine whirled back around to face the former Geo Archon, eyes still narrowed, tone full of mistrust, "Why did you feign your death?"
Paimon folded her arms, little fists curled, "Yeah, you don't think you went a little bit too far with that whole fake death thing? Everyone was preparing the ceremony for you when splat, this big dragon falls out of the sky and all of Liyue goes into an uproar. Talk about a disaster!" She gasped, "Oh Venti!" She turned, her eyes big and huge, "You didn’t know! And you were so excited to see him again and you told us all those nice things about him too! That’s why you were so mad!"
Venti flushed, feeling their eyes on him- most particularly Zhongli who's entire face was doing a strange twisting thing that made him want to shrivel up and die. Venti closed his eyes with a harrumph, knowing his reaction was childish, "Was not ."
Signora laughed, drawing their attention back to her, "Rex Laps gathered all the forces that had been bubbling behind the scenes, and then stirred them together in a pot that was bound to boil over... That's what he wanted to see, am I right?"
Paimon stared at her, confused, hands on her hips, "Wait what?"
Zhongli's voice interrupted them, gentle, worried, eyes flicking from her, to Lumine, and then Venti who still refused to make eye contact, "Perhaps it's best that I explain."
After the scene at Northland Bank and the Rite of Parting, the moon low and full on the horizon, the city more at peace after the chaos. Zhongli stood alone, admiring the landscape stretched before him. The land that he no longer ruled over seemed strange and new and wonderful.
"I wonder," Zhongli didn’t turn away from the view of Liyue Harbor as the anemo archon spoke, alighting on the terrace beside him, "Is Liyue the godless city now?"
Zhongli shrugged, not looking over, "That title belongs to Mondstadt."
"Hm, that still doesn’t make any sense. Especially now. Mondstadt has always had an archon. Even if he’s absent a lot of the time," There was a snort, "Now… well now Liyue doesn’t have one at all."
Zhongli sighed, glancing up at Venti sitting on the edge of the terrace, legs swinging into open air, "Barbatos."
The bard looked up at him, green eyes wide, lips flat, legs stilling into silence. The anemo archon was a surprisingly serene figure when he wanted to be. He drank and sang and acted generally like a foolish child, but underneath those layers of joy lay that undercurrent of woe- the tragedy that came with being thousands of years old.
Zhongli sighed again, an apology lingering behind on his lips. He hoped the bard would know what he meant, "I’ve… missed you."
Venti's eyes widened and then, as if the sun had come out, he grinned, smile wide and sad and terribly happy. Content, full of joy at those simple words, as if that was all he’d really wanted to hear, "I missed you too… you big blockhead."
Zhongli rolled his eyes and Venti giggled, his laughter like wind chimes.
The two of them stayed like that, after his own funeral, speaking long into the night. Two lonely figures, made whole again.
The harbor was fairly quiet, the ships still docked and recovering from Osial's attacks. The Fatui delegation was beating a rather hasty retreat and their ship spurred the most activity as they made to leave port. However, before the bustling figures of gray and black stood one of brown and gold, towering over them and very pointedly in her way.
La Signora made to move, imperious, but the looming figure of Zhongli caught her arm. The harbinger lifted an eyebrow as the former geo archon lowered his voice, "The contract did not stipulate for your continued welfare, La Signora. If you set foot in Liyue again, I suggest you be prepared."
Signora lifted one delicate eyebrow, teeth gritted and tone brittle as ice, unable to remove her arm from Morax's iron grip, something uneasy rising in her chest, "Prepared? Why?”
"I did not miss what you said in Northland Bank. If I find out that you have taken so much as a feather from Barbatos, if you have caused him pain in any way, and I suspect you have done far more that, I will make sure that you never set foot in Liyue again- or any of the lands beyond it."
She jerked her arm, the action futile, "You are no longer the geo archon, Zhongli . Don’t make such idle threats. It’s a waste of time- mine and yours."
"I may not be the geo archon, but I am still an adeptus of Liyue. My opinion holds much weight- and my threats have never been idle," his expression was sharp, eyes glowing like chips of molten gold, the dragon underneath surfacing, possessive, protective, and full of wrath, "Show your face here again, and it will be the last thing you ever see."
He let go, the sudden release causing her to stumble back.
Signora suppressed her snarl, her instinct to lash out, and instead quipped, trying to regain her dignity, smoothing her dress, "All for a drunkard? Come now, Rex Lapis. Isn’t that flighty bard beneath you?"
Zhongli straightened the cuffs of his sleeves, the dragon flaring in his eyes, "You," said the man, slow and quiet and firm, "Are most certainly beneath him." He turned sharply on his heel before pausing to throw back, "You should learn to speak more politely of your elders, Signora. Lord Barbatos was born long before you and he will live long after you have turned to dust."
His shoes clicked on the wood as he strode away, leaving the seething Fatui behind him, back up the harbor, towards Liyue, towards home.