Chapter Text
To say that she was nervous was a complete and utter understatement. Lumine was shaking like a leaf although she was fortunate enough to blame it on the icy blizzard raging around her should her companion point it out. But despite the cold cutting into her clothes and under her skin she couldn’t help but admire the cold flakes dancing around her, the way the snow was enveloping everything it touched like a soft feather blanket, as if protecting the beauty laying beneath until spring came to reveal it once again.
Childe hadn’t lied when he told her that his home country was irresistibly beautiful and braving the cold would reward her with sceneries straight out of a fairy tale’s book. But that didn’t mean she particularly enjoyed the gale whipping her frozen skin until it burned. She couldn’t wait to finally receive the catharsis of a warm fireplace and dry clothes when they reached Childe’s home though it was also the very source of the gnawing anxiety inside her.
The Harbinger had reassured her that everyone was abuzz at the prospect of her journey leading her to Snezhnaya at last, most notably Teucer who had bugged him in Tonia’s letters to bring the nice lady for him to play with. Apparently they had already been sent notice of her soon to come arrival and prepared everything for a warm welcome. She hadn’t been able to stop the smile making its way on her lips when she witnessed the sheepish expression that accompanied his confession of his family being more than elated to finally meet the famed Traveller thanks to his careless letters about her.
Of course, the true contents of the letters were something he was determined to take to his grave but with his whole family awaiting her for months now he dreaded that his chances of avoiding utter embarrassment were close to 0. Even so he still couldn’t quite believe that she had actually agreed to come with him despite the looming danger of the Tsaritsa sending her entire Army after her. They both knew what would await her the moment she stepped foot in her Majesty’s realm. But in the end that’s just how she was like, she would always stand her ground and march forward. Even if she said that it was due to her pinkie promise to his younger brother he knew Lumine wasn’t one to back away from any confrontation and it filled him with equal amounts of concern and admiration. Where he was a weapon, forged in the darkness of the Abyss and blazing cold of Snezhnayan’s snowstorms she was a warrior coming from farther than the stars, with nothing but nobility and bravery in her heart.
It was utterly adorable though to see her being this aflutter as they slowly approached his village. After he had picked her up from the borders following his latest mission in Natlan, to ensure she would get in safely their walk to his home had been fairly quiet with her slowly adjusting to the biting cold. He could tell she was nervous by the way her responses to his teasing remarks about her looking like a snow angel were missing their usual wit and how she clenched his hands even through their padded gloves.
‘Ojou-chan, they’re going to love you. Trust me. It’s not every day they get to meet the famed Hero of Mondstadt. And if you keep furrowing your brows like this they might freeze forever.’, he couldn’t help but tease.
Startled out of the vortex that were her thoughts Lumine stared up at him like a deer caught in the headlights. How was he able to read her mind this perfectly when she hadn’t said anything in what felt like an eternity. He knew her almost too well at this point it both frustrated and calmed her at the same time. It wasn’t that she feared to be greeted with hostility. From what little information she had gathered on his parents and siblings from Teucer and Childe himself she knew that they had to be warm-hearted and kind people, for Childe’s love for his family had to be rooted in unconditional love given to him.
Yet she couldn’t help but tense nonetheless. If her deeds and mistakes had indeed reached his family’s ears even in the faraway lands of Snezhnaya surely it would mean that other, less benevolent parties had also heard. If her arrival only brought danger to the people he loved the most would they still welcome her with open arms? Or would they deem her to be unfitting to stand at his side? His family meant everything to him and naturally it also meant that she wanted to be accepted by them even if it was only the purpose of lulling herself into a false state of safety before she would have to face the real threat awaiting her in Zapolyarny Palace: The Queen of Ice and Snow herself. Though Childe was right. She would deal with that tomorrow when it came. For now she could allow herself some peace of mind. Finding nothing but reassurance in the azure depths that were his eyes she took a deep breath and smiled at him.
‘Thank you, Ajax.’
Hearing her say his true name with such softness in her voice set his heart ablaze and he trembled slightly under her gaze. It was the second time she said it, the first time being in Inazuma when he had whispered it to her shortly before his departure back to Snezhnaya after they had crossed paths and blades once again. She had been resting in his arms after a night together and believing she was close to slipping into Morpheus’ arms he had decided to give her a small piece of himself, knowing she would keep it safe and whispered his name to her. He hadn’t expected her to move her lips to his neck, eyes still closed and smiling against his skin just to murmur his name before she drifted into sleep the next instant.
My Ajax.
The next morning they both had acted as if it wasn’t a big deal, as if he hadn’t entrusted her with something she could easily use against him. But even if unspoken, he knew that kind and noble Lumine would never intentionally hurt him, that she would protect everything he gave her the same way he protected his brother’s dreams. She was prudent enough to only say his name around people he trusted though it didn’t take away anything from the intensity of the shiver that ran through him upon hearing the way his name rolled off her lips. If they hadn’t been in sight of his village already he surely would have stolen a kiss from her just to avoid her noticing the turmoil she caused for him with the simplest gestures.
————- ✼ ————-
Just why had she thought that meeting his family would be anything but another breathtaking experience. Breathtaking mostly because of the brute force Teucer used to tackle both her and Childe upon noticing them. How he had such strength in his little body was nothing short of a miracle to her as they stumbled to the ground.
‘Lumine! Big sis! You came, you finally came!’, the young boy cheered gleefully before he moved over to hug his elder brother who didn’t seem ruffled in the slightest after such a boisterous attack. He was most probably used to it anyways.
‘Well, I did have a pinkie promise to keep after all.’ Lumine only smiled and ruffled his ginger locks after regaining her breath.
‘Now now, let the poor girl catch her breath, Teucer.’, another voice rang from the doorframe. Looking up Lumine was met with a stunning woman in her mid-twenties. Intelligent yet warm and very familiar blue eyes framed by long raven hair and paired with flawless ivory skin stared at her.
‘Welcome to our humble home, Lumine. It’s nice to finally meet you. I’m Ariadne and unfortunately the elder sister of those two ruffians over there.’ She laughed amicably and held out a hand to the flabbergasted Traveller trying not to stare but it was close to impossible when faced with such a stunning beauty. While Ariadne looked nothing like Childe and Teucer apart from those striking glacier eyes she was able to tell their blood relation immediately by the way her eyes twinkled in delight the same way Childe’s did when teasing her.
Good looks really run in this family.
‘Who are you calling unfortunate here when I’m the one who just got dragged through the cold?’, Lumine could hear the young man next to her mumble in feigned hurt but chose to ignore it in favour or taking Ariadne’s outstretched hand. ‘I’m just as pleased to meet you!’ she smiled. Women always knew by intuition whether another woman liked them or not and a wave of relief washed through Lumine at the genuine kindness visible in Ariadne’s intelligent eyes. Maybe she had been anxious for nothing after all.
But Ariadne, that name rang something in Lumine’s memory. The tale of the great hero Ajax and his brother Teucer had both intrigued and saddened her when learning about the origins of their unique names. As far as she remembered after strolling through Mondstadt’s vast library Ariadne had once been a beautiful princess abandoned by her lover after helping him obtain fame and honour, just to rise to godhood eventually after a god rescued and fell in love with her. Looking at her noble features it was easy to tell that Ariadne lived up to her eponym without a doubt. Lumine could feel her cheeks heat up slightly for having gawked shamelessly when her eyes fell on a smaller girl shyly peeking around Ariadne’s waist. Before she could open her mouth she heard a joyous laugh coming from besides her.
‘Moya printsessa! Aren’t you going to greet your Knight who has finally returned to you and even brought another Knight with him?’
Hearing his words the young girl lit up visibly and ran into his arms without a hint of hesitation. It was strange yet heart-warming to watch the Harbinger scoop up the smaller girl with such gentleness in his movements, the raw happiness on his face pulling at Lumine’s heartstrings. This had to be Tonia then, the youngest sister and nestling of the family, Lumine thought to herself. She was almost like a younger copy of Ariadne with raven hair braided around her head but where her elder sister was all well-defined cheekbones and aristocratic features, Tonia still looked like the young girl that she was with round cheeks and large maroon eyes. Lumine took her to her heart already.
Watching Childe interact with his siblings so naturally, smiling in a way that illuminated his entire face and even reached his eyes temporarily dissolved her fear of being at the wrong place until Tonia freed herself from his embrace and turned around to look at her. Lumine swallowed the urge to nervously crack her knuckles. She knew how important Tonia was to Childe from the stories he had told her of his family. Of the special bond between them despite his unconditional love towards each of his siblings and if Tonia didn’t like her or even deemed her as a threat trying to come between her and her beloved brother – what would she do? Awaiting the girl’s judgement on her Lumine tried to move her thoughts away from the hurricane of anxiety whirling inside her mind when she noticed the shyest of smiles forming on Tonia’s lips.
‘I’m so glad you finally came to visit us, Miss Lumine. I’m Tonia.’ Lumine could see pure awe and fascination in the younger girl’s eyes and felt her worries dissolve into nothingness at her next words. ‘Big brother and Teucer already told me so much about you and you’re even more beautiful than they described. Although you are more like a fairy than-‘
Whipping her head around upon hearing Childe coughing uncontrollably, his cheeks tinged unusually crimson, Lumine felt her own face heating up at an alarming speed. She still remembered the way she had felt when Teucer had told her about Childe’s description of her. That she was the prettiest girl he’d ever met but hearing it now again? It was almost too much for her. Fortuna was with neither of them at this moment as Ariadne only laughed at the amusing display in front of her while her youngest siblings only watched with absolute bewilderment on their faces, before she leaned forwards to pinch Childe’s cheeks. She was whispering something Snezhnayan that Lumine didn’t understand but considering the blush on his face only deepened it was obviously nothing in his favour.
‘Teucer, Ajax. Please go inside and help mother set the dining table while Tonia and I show Lumine to her room.’ Ariadne finally commanded her brothers and much to Lumine’s surprise even Childe obliged without another word. Exchanging one last look with Childe, no, Ajax, Lumine braced herself to meet the rest of his family as she followed the sisters upstairs.
The room she had been given was quite large, befitting of the huge yet homely mansion the family lived in. Ariadne had been kind enough to prepare her old clothes for Lumine to wear and told her that she was only here for a visit like Aeneas, her oldest brother and to prepare for her upcoming engagement but glad it fell together with her visit. Tonia had been buzzing around Lumine excitedly, having shed her initial shyness after asking her if she was also allowed to call her a big sister as Teucer had done. Lumine wasn’t sure how she hadn’t molten into a puddle at the pure innocence directed at her. She had been given the offer to take a warm bath first and while it sounded more than tempting to make herself more representable before she was to meet the rest of the family she would have felt too bad making them wait for her and joined the two sisters into the living room after quickly changing into something more comfortable. It was time.
It was quite overwhelming to have so much attention directed at her. In a way she should have been used to many eyes resting upon her after raising her reputation in all the countries she visited and yet this was entirely different from what she had experienced before. She had been right about her hunch that his family was formed of nothing but kind and friendly people who even welcomed her with open arms. Her relief and flurry must have been palpable on her face as she felt Childe’s hand wrapping itself around her own under the table, gently rubbing circles over her skin until she eased into his touch and intertwined her fingers with his.
Childe’s parents had made her feel like she finally arrived with his mother, Irina, wrapping her into a warm embrace immediately before telling her to take her seat at the table. As if it was the most natural thing to have her join the family’s sacred circle and it made her heart ache at the amount of love she was given when she hadn’t done anything to earn it yet. Irina, as she insisted Lumine to call her that, was a small slender woman with long raven hair just like her daughters yet Tonia was the only one who had inherited those warm brown eyes. And while she looked so small, almost fragile Lumine was able to sense the strength hidden behind her petite frame immediately. Before her stood a true mother, one who would move the Great Heavens and Earth to keep her family together and Lumine couldn’t help but feel deep respect for her.
His father meanwhile was a man of tall stature, easily towering over her like the rest of his eldest sons. Andrey, as he had introduced himself to her with a firm handshake was without a doubt the reason his sons looked like this, though his ginger locks were already laced with streaks of silver and his azure eyes hiding a hint of fatigue despite the gentleness in them. It sure couldn’t be easy to hold such a huge family together, Lumine wondered, but seeing the tender smiles they gave their children she didn’t doubt that it was worth everything to them.
Anthon, much like Teucer was incredibly energetic and bombarding her with questions about all the places she visited, soaking up all her answers like a sponge and apparently just as accepting of her like his other siblings. Then there was the oldest brother of the family, bearing the name of another great hero, Aeneas, who had taxed her thoroughly after seeing her for the first time before he seemed to decide that she was worthy enough to pique his interest as he too went to ask her about the things she had experienced on her travels.
Just like Childe, Aeneas was insanely handsome with well-defined bone structures and a prominent smile on his face though it was clear as day that he was the more manly one out of the two oldest brothers. There was a metal ring on his right hand and as he noticed Lumine’s gaze on it he gave her a friendly smile before explaining that his wife couldn’t make it to the family dinner as she had to tend to their son who had gone down with a cold. Suddenly a sly smirk, so uncannily similar to Childe’s, made its way on his face as he turned towards his younger brother who stiffened immediately.
‘Ajax, as Yelena was more than saddened she couldn’t meet your future bride I hope you can make time to visit us anytime soon. It’s been far too long us brothers spent time with each other after all.’
Childe only noticed out of the corner of his eye that Lumine had dropped her knife with a loud clattering sound but the drumming in his ears drowned out the rest of what was happening around him. Archons, he knew. He knew that it had been a mistake that he hadn’t been able to keep his mouth shut about Lumine in his letters. While he had been much more vague in his letters to his older siblings, he should have known that Tonia and Teucer would talk about him and his raging crush either way. He had kept writing and writing about her, unable to stop himself from marvelling over her strength she had displayed on countless occasions to her beauty and the way the setting sunlight always seemed to fire the gold and amber from within her eyes when she looked at him.
And while he had never talked about how their relationship had evolved over the course of their encounters, had never even mentioned his growing feelings for her it was only natural that his family would catch on immediately considering he’d never once mentioned another woman in his life before with battles and war having consumed his whole being ever since he was young. His parents of course, were insightful enough not to pressure answers out of him even if he had told them Lumine was only his friend. Even if he knew they had been hoping to meet the girl that was able to make him think of anything but combat for once.
It wasn’t as if he enjoyed lying to his parents when they had continued to love him unconditionally despite his rise to the ranks of a Harbinger in her Majesty’s service. While his feelings for Lumine were anything but uncertain, oh he knew all too well what to name the foreign emotion he had been harbouring towards her for months now, it was the fact that they hadn’t been able to end their dance around each other yet to give a name to whatever was pulling them to each other like gravity pulling two stars together before they collided that made him hesitate to tell his parents about the true nature of their relationship. How could he when he didn’t even know it himself?
But Ariadne and Aeneas. These devils incarnate. Of course they wouldn’t let a chance slip to tease him relentlessly and while he loved them both at this moment he seriously considered throwing his brother in a frozen lake like they had done as little boys. He was so done for.
Finally regaining enough strength to plaster a confident smile on his face Childe choked out a ‘We’d be more than happy to accept your invitation.’, before quickly squeezing Lumine’s hand he had forgotten he still was holding, silently pleading her to play along with him once again even if her face looked like she had bitten into yet another Juyeun Chili. It surely didn’t help that Teucer, Anthon and Tonia were rushing to the kitchen immediately to boil a tea for their newly adopted sister as they feared she had choked on something weird, causing a big ruckus in the process that in turn made their parents rush after them immediately and left the couple back at the table with two highly amused adults observing their tormented faces.
Lumine meanwhile was sure her face matched the colour of the red peppers laying on her plate. Future Bride. The words were echoing in her head until her mind was spinning under the sheer weight of what was just said. She wasn’t completely naïve, she still remembered the words Teucer had told her back then of everyone back home hoping she’d become his true sister one day. The implications behind it were clear as day although she had quite successfully suppressed these memories as she feared her heart would jump out of its cage if she allowed herself to dream about such things. But hearing the same thing coming from someone who didn’t hold the innocence of a child anymore was an entirely different matter.
Lumine couldn’t recall how she made it through the remaining dinner without dying of embarrassment and only when Irina shooed all her children to their beds, she felt like she could finally breathe again. Childe had left for his room without any protest after his mother told him to get some rest before the great celebration that would come tomorrow though she hadn’t missed the look he had given her.
Come to me later. I’ll wait for you.
While a great part of her longed to simply walk over to his room and fall into his arms it also felt to her like walking into the lion’s den. And so she kept laying in her bed and stared at the wall till the clock struck past 1 until she couldn’t bear it anymore. He had probably grown tired of waiting for her and chosen to sleep, and yet she couldn’t resist the urge of wanting to see him even just for a short moment. Before she even knew it herself her feet had already moved on their own, bringing her in front of his door that was kept slightly ajar. No doubt he had left it like this for her. She couldn’t hear any sounds coming from inside and so she gently pushed the door open to slide in and closed it behind her. His room was dark, only the faintest trace of moonlights shrining through a single window there to illuminate it and it smelled so much like him she had to hold her breath for a second.
He was laying on his side, face towards her. His chest was lifting and lowering evenly as Lumine tiptoed around slowly until she stood in front of him. Lumine knew she shouldn’t wake him when he barely ever allowed himself to rest and so she just took in the way he looked, from the curve of his lips to his eyelashes almost resting on his cheeks. He looked so unguarded and gentle unlike his normal self. In a way this was her only chance to see a glimpse of his true self when he wasn’t hiding behind carefully crafted words and false smiles. Would they ever be able to truly trust each other, she wondered as her fingers gently brushed a single strand of hair out of his face.
She wouldn’t have dared if he had been awake but in this moment it was so hard to keep her feelings buried and so she leaned forwards to press a feather-light kiss to his forehead. She had been fully intent on letting him rest and slip back to her own room when she felt a hand sneaking around the back of her head and pushing her down until her lips landed on something very warm and firm. She couldn’t help but gasp in surprise though that only left her wide open for his tongue to slide in and play with hers before the perpetrator pulled back with a wicked smile on his face and blue eyes glimmering with utter delight.
‘How bold of you to molest a defenseless young man in his sleep. Didn’t hold you for the sneaky type, ojou-chan.’
It took her a moment to shake off the shocked expression on her face but it was too late to hide it anyways. He even had the audacity to laugh at her, that damned handsome bastard, and with the most unfeminine grunt in response Lumine tried to stand up and leave but it only made him laugh even harder before his arm slid around her in one fluid motion to pull her flush against him. Hard limbs and warm skin crashed together and while she didn’t want to give him the upper hand again her body betrayed her instantly by moving deeper into his arms locked tightly around her back before they started moving down to her bare legs already tangled with his.
But in love and war any means were just to gain victory and refusing to hand this one to him Lumine slid her hands under his shirt without any warning, tracing a path along his heated skin with her nails while her lips found his neck to graze and nip at his pulsing point with purposeful slowness, just to be rewarded with a lot guttural growl coming from deep within his chest immediately. She pulled back with a giggle, fully aware that he’d try to pry this small victory out of her hands right away but for now this was enough for her.
Do you truly want these to be your last words before I erase your memory?’
But she never received an answer as further words weren’t needed anyways.