Chapter Text
She’s supposed to dislike him — no, it should go beyond that. She should be suspicious of him. She’d seen him with Stormterror prior to the attack on Mondstadt. He ran off from her, starting a game of hot pursuit. Though he answered her questions, he kept most of his cards too close. His smiles, she knows, are a farce. There was more lingering beneath the surface.
For someone who was born with a knack for reading people, dealing with him leaves a sensation akin to an itch beneath her skin.
Her eagerness for friends has nothing to do with it. Amber, Lisa, Jean, and even the equally perplexing Kaeya are starting to feel the centuries-long void that had formed in her heart. For once, she can care as much as she wants, and be cared for in return. She’s eased into easy company within the span of days — like she’s belonged in Mondstadt and with the Knights all along.
Here, she can be kind. Here, she can reach out to people who need her help. Here, she can listen and be listened to. Here, there’s no Aether to pull her away whenever she shows some smidgen of attachment.
Meeting Venti has sent Lumine’s semblance of inner peace spiralling out of control.
Her mind runs a thousand miles as she flees the Cathedral with him, processing everything — the stolen harp, the guards seeking them out, and the giggling boy guiding the wind beneath their gliders. It’s exhilarating, she realizes as she spreads her arms out, embracing the way the wind whips against her face. This is dangerous, but fun, she muses.
They land on the Anemo God’s statue, right atop the palm of its hands. Cathedral guards rush beneath them, no one the wiser.
“We can’t stay here forever, you know,” she groans. Despite the brief moment of joy that the false flight has brought her, the gravity of the situation still remains. “I can’t believe this is happening!”
Venti chuckles nervously as he glares at the Cathedral looming behind them. “Neither can I, if I am to be honest with you. But focus — someone has stolen the Holy Lyre and has now drawn the Anemo God’s indescribable ire.”
“The Anemo God’s…” It makes her look at the statue, noting the identical braids as silence fills the courtyard below. “The guards are gone. What do we do now?”
Her suspicion solidifies into all-but-confirmed truth. This entire adventure has been orchestrated by a god — the god who had lent her his powers. Somehow, though, she doesn’t feel that this is happening because he’s demanding repayment. She had come to him of her own accord, hadn’t she?
“Do you still trust me?” he asks, the sheer presence demanding her attention. He holds out his hand to her with a tentative smile that has enough power to eclipse the sun.
A gentle wind whips around them, warm and reassuring.
She takes his hand without a second thought. He had guided her this far. “Yes.”
Faking a semblance of calm throughout the encounter with Diluc — and later, Jean — has left her completely spent. Her heart kept thundering in her chest, threatening to spill her secrets and more as Venti tried to smooth-talk his way through their situation. Having to play the part of a smitten date left her unraveled.
It’s not because she had to play it, but because how easy it was for her.
“So you’re the Anemo Archon, huh?” She sits beside him on the little mess of pillows and blankets that they have to settle on for tonight. With the last vestiges of the adventure’s high fading from her muscles, the pain and exhaustion begins to weigh her down.
She watches him, taller and older than he looked when the heist started. Perhaps a god like him would understand the kind of ache she feels in her heart.
“If you put it that way, yes.” The cheeky smile he flashes makes her stomach inexplicably flutter.
“You’re always alone. Don’t you ever feel lonely at all, Venti?” She thinks of Aether and her, lone stars traversing worlds, wandering aimlessly like leaves caught in storm after storm. Their goal was a farce, she knows though the past is nothing but a haze now.
“Thank you for using my name of choice.” His smile slowly turns thoughtful as he undoes his braid, running his fingers through dark locks that segue into teal. His hair must be soft. “And as for your question, yes. I know what it’s like to be lonely — the sole god in a city of mortals. I’ve seen friends wither and die of old age. Those that remained changed along with the new age.”
“Like Dvalin?”
“Like Dvalin.”
A surge of protective warmth swells in her heart. This is a kindred spirit, she knows. She won’t let him feel the same pain she feels. Not anymore. She reaches out to take his hand in hers. “As long as I’m here, you don’t have to be alone.”
“Geese? They’re worse than fucking Mitachurls,” she tells him before one night. “I got attacked by a couple near Cider Lake.”
He laughs at her story, the sound turning into music amidst the cool night breeze. “It must’ve been a nightmare.”
“It was.” She finds herself smiling in spite of herself. His easy smile and singsong rhymes are enough to put her at ease.
“Here, have an apple to erase that terrible memory.” He places the fruit on her lap. “I picked it myself — look how ripe and juicy it is. Truly the fruit of the gods.”
“You’re still strong, I believe — stronger in ways that you have yet to conceive.”
In her haze of pain, she leans into his warm embrace. She doesn’t know she needs it until now. Lulled into comfort that she has sought for centuries, the truth spills out of her mouth unbidden. “When we arrived here in Teyvat, there was nothing but destruction around us. We tried to flee as quickly as we could, but an unknown god attacked us. She took Aether away before my very eyes. I must’ve felt unconscious after that fight too because everything after that felt like an endless nightmare.”
“What happened after that? How’d you find your way here?” His hold tightens. It feels like safety. Almost like home.
“I woke up, somewhere along the eastern shore, stripped of most of my powers and memories. I wandered and wandered, but kept looping right back where I started. That’s where I met Paimon — fished her out in the water in the middle of a storm. Strange, I know, but she was the one who gave me some semblance of direction.”
“Strange, indeed.”
The warmth and comfort he brings puts her at ease. She doesn’t remember the last time she’s felt something like this. It stirs something within her — something she doesn’t understand just yet.
Lumine finds Venti brooding one night, on the way back to Mondstadt. He strums his lyre idly as he watches the setting sun, humming under his breath.
He looks up as she sits beside him. “Perfect timing, Lumine! I was about to ask you — what is your greatest wish?”
His question makes her pause. It’s been a while since she’s truly wished for something that had nothing to do with Aether. “My greatest wish?”
“Yes.” He places another apple on her lap. It’s become a habit by now.
“My greatest wish… is to learn what it feels like to have a home.” It’s a strange longing that’s crept in her heart throughout the years of meandering travels. She wants to build roots and forge a proper future. She wants to find direction. A purpose.
“Me too, Lumine.” He gazes at a falcon darting overhead with a wistful smile. “Maybe we can find it together, huh?”
“I hope so.” She can’t even imagine going on adventures without him anymore. Wherever the world takes her, she wants him by her side.
He’s the god of Mondstadt, however, and she knows it can never be.
Her cheeks burn as he places the cecilias and feathers on her hair, the new adornments dancing with the light breeze. She’s never felt so seen. She’s never felt so beautiful. She’s never felt so at home.
So this is how it feels.
“There, they look pretty on you. Now we match.” The smile on his face is priceless.
The lake reveals her reflection — the image of a blushing maiden in the middle of courtship. Oh.
“I have decided to write a song about you!” Venti proclaims over breakfast in the Angel’s Share. They’ll be off to the Thousand Winds Temple later, and he keeps a brave front despite the possible danger.
Lumine admires him for that, though she doesn’t mind his displays of vulnerabilities too. Only when the walls come down does he heart speak — or so, Aether used to say.
“A song?” she asks him in between bites of pancakes. She’ll miss the food here.
“What are you giving me that look for?” he demands, leaning closer. His thick eyelashes flutter as he bats them.
Her cheeks redden. Why does she feel so flustered? This is silly. “I love your songs, Venti, but I don’t think I can afford to pay —”
“Can't afford it? Don't be preposterous, the price for you, my friend, is precisely zero Mora!”
He pulls away, hesitating. “Although... one thing you could do is tell me a few more of your stories!”
She laughs at the adorable look on his face. “Then I’ll tell you everything I can.”
Venti’s silence on the way to Dawn Winery turns into a yawning chasm, creating an intangible distance between them. It hurts Lumine, try as she might to deny it. Did she do something wrong? Is he tiring of her?
“I’m fine — just thinking of Dvalin,” he tells her, though it rings of a half-baked lie.
She squeezes his hand nevertheless. “It’ll be alright. We’ll save him, I promise.” She swore she’ll stay by his side, and she won’t go until he tells her to leave, even if it hurts.
Her screams rend the air as she sees Venti fall to the ground for the second time, crimson blood spilling on grass as green as his eyes. She sheathes her sword and makes a dash for him, ignoring the dragon soaring over their heads. All she can think of is him. He’s hurt, he’s bleeding, he might be dying —
“Stay with me,” she pleads as she takes him in her arms, not a care in the world for the red now smearing her once-pristine dress. Why does she have no gift for healing? Can it even work on a god? She can’t lose him too. No. She won’t allow it.
Jean and Diluc’s attempts to stop the bleeding and keep Venti stable does nothing to assuage her fears. She can feel him growing colder, his heartbeat fainter by the second.
“Lord Barba — Venti, please be careful next time,” Jean scolds him.
He chuckles despite his condition. This is no good. “You’ve known my identity for some time now, haven’t you, Jean?”
“Don’t waste his energy,” Lumine all but barks. Her panic is growing by the second, causing her ears to ring. There must be something they can do.
“No. I’ll be fine.” The Archon trembles in her arms. “I think I’ll take a nap for now.”
“No, you idiot, stay with me, Venti!” She clutches him tighter, mustering up all the energy within her, wondering what could be done.
“See you later.” He gives her one last chuckle before he closes his eyes and grows still.
She screams his name, her voice scratching her throat. She weeps as her hands fumble around, trying to check for any signs of life. Her mind seems to go up in flames with the realization that she’s losing him — if she hasn’t lost him yet.
“Lord Barbatos, come back. Please.” She has never prayed to anyone before, save for that day she asked for guidance before the statue in Starfell Lake. “Please, Mondstadt needs you. I need you!”
“Lumine…” Diluc reaches out to touch her shoulder gently. He looks as stricken as she feels. “I’m sorry.”
“No!” She starts glowing like starlight as she holds Venti closer, shaking him gently. “Please. Come back, Lord Barbatos. You are needed. You are loved. Please. Don’t leave me. Don’t leave us. I can’t —”
Voices join her in prayer — Jean and Diluc, perhaps moved by her desperation.
The light around her grows brighter, gold now suffused with green as Venti stops bleeding. He coughs twice before groaning — still unconscious but alive. Lumine laughs hysterically as she tightens her hold on him, relief flooding through her.
Oh, the things one does for love.