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Ajax has dreams as any kid should. But something about these dreams was...different he feels like. Every time he sleeps, he awakens in an open field, so bright and colorful, nothing like Snezhnaya. There are white flowers everywhere, they look like lilies...? And the sun beams down on him. Ajax knows this is all a dream, but it feels so real, he can feel the warmth of the sun.
He's not alone. Ajax was never alone in this weird dreamscape.
There was a pretty lady. She was always there in his dreams, Ajax almost thought she was an angel bc of her blonde hair and white dress.
"Are you real?" His first question that he blurts out. The young woman chuckles, a soft smile on her face.
"I believe so yes. I'm Lumine, who are you?"
Maybe it was because he was a kid that he didn't mind giving out his birth name, or maybe it's because he firmly believed this was all a dream. There's no harm in indulging in a dream right?
But as the years go by, he would always go back to this meadow of white lilies and warm sun. Always go back to her. The pretty lady in his dreams.
Sometimes he really thought she was his guardian angel.
He even still saw her when he got trapped in the abyss, and when he cried to her on the first night and Lumine held him for the first time.
She felt so real and warm.
Ajax was always so excited to go to sleep, to meet up with his angel in his dreams and tell her all about his family and what has happened. And Lumine would always listen to him with focused attention.
There's no doubt his attitude has flipped after leaving the abyss. And even though his parents were worried and saddened over his newfound thirst for battle, Lumine never held that for him.
But she was concerned for him after that event.
"Your eyes," she pointed out, a sad smile on her face. "They no longer shine."
"But you made it out alive, and that's all I can ask for." And she held him close again, thankful that he's still here. Ajax basked in her warmth, actively seeking her comforting embrace.
Ok maybe he did have a puppy crush on her growing up, but can you blame him?
As the years go by, Ajax realized that he wasn't the only one excited to see each other in their dreams. Whenever Lumine spotted him, her face melts into something of relief and joy that makes his stomach flip.
She always looked so lonely too like she's been stuck here for years. Sometimes she was sad too, and her sadness shows in their dream. Their meadow of flowers would be overcast by dark clouds and cold winds.
And when she cried, the sky would too.
"I have a brother," she once confessed. "He's my twin. We've been separated and I—I miss him."
Ajax never liked the sad look on her face, she was far too pretty to be crying like that. So he held her for the first time. He used to be buried in her embrace, now it was his turn to repay his debt to her.
"I'll help you find him," he vowed. And his word was solid.
.
.
.
"Hey girlie," he called out, now older, now a Harbinger, now Tartaglia 'Childe'. "Are you real?" They sat next to each other. Childe who has aged and grown taller, and Lumine?
She hasn't aged one bit. It makes him wonder if she really was just a dream. Which is why he asked the same question he did many years ago when they first met. A part of him hopes she'll say yes, a pit swirls in him at the thought that she wasn't because she always felt so real. The way she held him, the way she laughed, the way she looked at him so soft and tender.
She has to.
Lumine tiredly smiles. "I hope so," she softly replies.
Childe stared at her, before looking back at their makeshift sunset. "I hope so too," he muttered, his pinkie intertwined with hers.
Her pinkie curled around his tighter.
And then dreams stopped.
Childe no longer has dreams of white lilies and sun so warm. Most importantly, he no longer dreamed of her, of the pretty lady in his dreams of blonde hair and white dress.
Can you mourn for a dream? Childe knew better to believe in whatever his child self thought of. But...it felt so real. For most of his life, she was there by his side as he grew up and changed for the worst. But she still welcomed him, always so happy to see him even with the blood-stained on his hands.
His heart leaps out his throat when he sees a familiar figure sneaking by the Millieth.
Blonde hair, white dress. The same golden eyes that always looked at him with such fondness.
"Hey girlie—hold still!" She freezes as a water bolt shoots out, hitting the soldiers before he leaps out. And though he was focused on the Milleith, that tiny glimpse he saw of her... Childe almost froze on the spot after defeating the soldiers and had turned around, seeing the girl of his literal dreams out in front of him. Thankfully he manages to recover quickly before the other group of soldiers came.
"Come with me,"
And when they're finally alone, from prying eyes and when the weird pixie thing went away from her companion's request, they stare at each other for a while.
Then Childe reaches out, "Are you real...?" His voice sounding vulnerable, almost cracking when he brushes her cheek.
Warm. It was warm.
The girl—Lumine, his angel, the literal woman of his dreams—smiles, a little wobbly as she leans into his touch.
She's real, she's really real and HERE.
"I am," she confirms, drowning him in her golden eyes.
His arms wrap around her tightly, as if scared she'll slip away from him again like a fleeting dream he always felt like she was to him.
When she holds him, he feels like Ajax again.