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Lumine looks to Xiao, the light all but faded from her once bright eyes.
“If you are lying to me… I – if I can still trust you.”
Xiao’s expression remains unchanged. He was never one to show his emotions, but Lumine needed to see now more than ever.
Xiao slowly closes his eyes, a silent apology.
“You never should have trusted me.”
Oh.
Something in Lumine breaks, those worlds alone bringing her world down around her.
----
First it was Dainsleif who she had only recently become acquainted with, his evident disdain for the gods. Initially overlooked by her lack of understanding, but then she saw him.
Aether.
Her brother with whom she travelled the stars, discovered worlds and danced across universes.
Her brother.
Now she understands what Dainsleif has meant.
The gods.
The Archons.
The world.
It was all a lie.
When her brother willingly turned his back on her, she had run. With little to no hope of the future, he vanished.
Lumine didn’t bother to report the commission to Ganyu, Paimon offered. After all, one look and the world would know.
The traveller wasn’t ok.
Her feelings of emptiness led her to the terrace of Wangshu inn, the cool night breeze ghosting over her skin, it hurt.
She glances at her surroundings, the bleak environment around her once beautiful, now brought her disgust.
That’s when Lumine realised, she hated this world. How could she forget? After all that she’s been through.
Then he appeared, through the haze of the night.
“Traveller.”
He knows.
----
“How can you say that to me.” Lumine holds back her tears now brimming in the corners of her eyes. Her disbelief at how easily those words left had his lips.
Xiao was never one for speech, she knows.
Then why had those few words spoken by the silent adeptus bring her walls to crumble.
She cried.
He made no move to go to her. No move to comfort her.
Ah, she thinks, this is it then.
The Xiao she had come to love, this was his final verdict.
She would bring him Qingxin, leave him plates of almond tofu. Never once stepping over his personal boundaries. Not once. He respected that, adored her for that even.
Snapping out of her thoughts she sees Xiao reach out a hand, then stop.
“Traveller…”
It hurt, those words. Not her name but her title given to her throughout Teyvat.
The gesture of not using her given name spoke volumes to her, the distance he was trying to create between them.
Xiao slowly pulls his hand back and lets it drop to his side. He couldn’t. She was not his to hold and to comfort.
“Don’t.” she says, a command, a plea. “Don’t come near me.”
Xiao looks to her, again with that unmoving facial expression. How it frustrates her.
“Traveller.” He begun, “I am bound to the contract of Rex Lapis, I am his ward, I am his weapon. I answer… only to him.” Xiao hesitates, he was not wrong. He is bound by the lasting contract to defend Liyue against demons. Though Rex Lapis now void of his godhood, Xiao’s contract still stands.
Of course, she thought. Duty first, as always.
Lumine begins to step back, being near him was becoming too much for her.
“Xiao…” Words now lost to her, tears now drying on her cheeks. She takes a deep breath and continues, “Xiao… Thank you for all that you have done. But I can now no longer trust you, the gods took everything from me and if you still believe in them… This ends, now.” Lumine breath hitches.
The world, her fate no their fate is so cruel.
Xiao once again closes his eyes, after a long pause he begins, “I believe in Rex Lapis, I believe in the Archons.” He knows very well those words would wound her, destroy everything they have built together.
Yes, she thinks. She had expected no less after all.
Turning away from him at last, away from his burning gaze pained her.
Then goodbye. She doesn’t have to say those words, actions spoke louder after all, and he didn’t deserve her energy. Not anymore.
She jumps.
Takes to the wind.
Gliding to nowhere, she doesn’t care, she will never care.
And as she glides through the darkness of the night, she misses the silent whisper coming from the adeptus.
“I loved you, Lumine.”