Work Text:
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A Genshin Impact Fanfiction
Cut Throat
By: Knowlee Raven
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Lumine had hoped and prayed she wouldn't be in this position ever again. Which was ironic considering just like before, she had been searching for this person since her time in Teyvat and now instead of looking forward to his presence, she dreaded it. How had their relationship deteriorated so far? Was there even a glimmer of the boy left that she grew up with? Based on the darkened gaze he directed towards her, her hopes of that were waning fast.
“Lumine? Well, have you made up your mind? What path will you choose?” Aether's sword was pointed at her, almost daring her to make a move. A pit opened up in Lumine's stomach at the sight. She didn't want to fight her brother. Nor did she want to fight the friends she had made during her time in this new land.
Even though they were perfect strangers to her, they had done nothing but try to help and even guide her on her quest to find the Seven to get the answers she had been told to seek by her brother. And regardless of him telling her not to trust them, time after time, they had tried to help her in the best way they could, even though in some cases, they could not in the way they wanted.
So now, she had to chose. Either stand by her brother, the one person who had been there since birth and knew her inside and out, or the people of Teyvat who all stood beside her and behind her, ready to give her help and assistance if she needed or asked. Much like how some of them were doing for her right now. Jean, Acting Grand Master of Mondstadt and the Dandelion Knight, Zhongli, former Archon of Liyue and one of those her brother wanted gone, Xiao, the last Yaksha and Conqueror of Demons, and last, but certainly not least, Paimon, her constant companion and guide throughout the country of Teyvat and had been someone who had tried to be there with her no matter what.
Of course there more people she had encountered and befriended during the course of her travels. To name a few there were Razor, Xiangling, Xiangqui, Mona, Kaeya, Lisa, Ganyu…, the list could go on. There was one though that had been there almost as long as Paimon had and had been nothing but supportive of her choices and goals and even told her that he would be there for her regardless of where her path went.
Venti: the Anemo Archon, God of Freedom and wayward bard were among his titles to name a few. Another title that could be added to his name was that of being her best friend and, although he had yet to know it, the love of her life. Yes, she had fallen in love with the drunkard bard and it happened before she even had a chance to know and recognize what was going on. But even with her trying her best to not form too close of attachments here in the event she and Aether left, she didn't regret this development. In fact, she welcomed it.
Even knowing it would only cause pain in the end upon their inevitable separation, she still wanted to keep hold of this feeling and see where it would take her. But now, with this choice having to be made, she wasn't sure how that would factor in seeing where that would go. And even if she were to take Venti and the others out of the equation, just the mere idea of wanting to wipe out an entire world just to strike revenge against those who had destroyed a nation, was overkill. Their efforts would have been better suited at being directed at the source of the problems and not at people who had nothing to do with it.
So in essence, she was torn. Torn between her brother who was still pointing his sword at her and the people who were standing behind her, waiting to strike when she gave them the signal. How she wished her brother was with her and not against her. “I...”
Her hands shook with the heavy choice she had to make. A part of her was mad at her brother for forcing her into this position. If he really wanted her on his side, then he should've told her everything instead of keeping her in the dark. It felt akin to him trying to emotionally manipulate her to him under the guise of letting her find things out on her own. Which yes, she could admit she had a desire to see things with her own eyes, but this was pushing things way too far.
Apparently her hesitance was something her brother had noticed and had started to grow impatient with. It seemed that he tried to let her speak her mind, but she could tell by his quirks that if he were to stay in the presence of her companions any longer he would lose his mind. Especially since one of them was a god that he had specifically warned her against. “I'm trying to let you make up your mind on your own, but apparently I'll need to push your hand and force you to make a choice.”
Lumine saw the frown on his face, the sadness in his eyes. “I don't want to fight you, Lumine, and I know at first it'll hurt, know that what I do, I do for your own good.”
She narrowed her eyes. What was he talking about? She was confused and a bit concerned. What was he going to do? Gripping her sword tightly in her hand, her mouth began to ask him to elaborate, before she suddenly stopped at the sight of something that made her heart drop and made her grow nauseous.
In Aether's hand, he was holding up something that while she usually was thrilled to see whenever it appeared in her line of sight, now her heart was breaking at having it close. No... He didn't-
It was Jean's gasp that made her fully accept it. “You-you monster! What did you do?” The outright anger and the way she spat them out told her that in no certain terms, Jean was pissed.
Zhongli and Xiao were momentarily confused. What did that item mean? Neither one of them had seen it before. Just as they were about to ask, Lumine's voice finally broke through, giving them some clarification. “Venti?”
It took them but a few moments for the name to register. They had heard it before. It was the name of the form Barbatos took in this world. And now seeing what the man before them was holding up wasn't a good sign.
It was a hat. And not just any hat. A green hat adorned with feathers and a cecilia flower. A hat that was covered in blood.
Aether scoffed, tossing the headpiece towards Lumine with a nonchalant attitude. “Is that his name in this world? That's an interesting name for Barbatos to take. Which honestly I don't think matters at this point. It's not like he's going to need it anymore.”
Lumine's sunshine eyes stared down in disbelief at the cap lying on the ground, her head swimming with the words her brother just spoke. “Aether...what do you mean 'he's not going to need it anymore'?”
Aether cocked his head. “What do you think?”
Tears fell from her eyes. How...how could he? He didn't…
“Enough! What is the meaning of this?” Lumine couldn't see it, too wrapped up in her pain to notice, but the glare on Zhongli's face would've been enough to kill someone. Perhaps this is what caused enemies and other gods to tremble before him back during the days of the Archon War.
Unsurprisingly Aether didn't flinch. Like her, he had seen many things during his long life, so much didn't phase him, but this look should've been a warning as to what bottle of chaos he was about to open. “You're a god, you're smart enough to figure it out.” He glanced back over to his sister who's eyes had never left the object before her. “I'm sorry, Lumine. I had no choice.”
No choice? Lumine's shocked gaze turned into a glare. “What are you talking about?” Sure, Venti did have a mean streak when he was insulted or had had his back up against the wall, but he never outright killed or attacked anyone out of spite or malice. Otherwise the events with La Signora would've gone a lot differently.
“I would've been content to let him be honestly, if he would've stayed out of it like he normally does, but unfortunately he worked his way in and I had to get rid of him in order to get him to release his hold.” Her line of sight went blurry at the implication of her brother's words as she started to stare at the green cloth. The flower on it even having a few specks of blood on it as well.
Get rid of him? Surely, he didn't mean…
“He was keeping you from me.” Lumine finally turned her attention back to her brother, tears building up in her eyes, not yet falling from her eyes. “It was his spell, his presence that was keeping you from seeing the truth. Now that his piece is removed from the board, you can see it for what it is.” He held his hand out to her, a small smile on his face. “Now with you by my side, we can end this and go home.”
Home…
She looked back down at the beret, her mind suddenly filling with memories of her favorite bard. Of their first meeting with him trying to comfort Dvalin, him playing his song for the masses, him convincing her to help him steal his own lyre, them entering Stormterror's Lair and flying on Dvalin's back afterwards, him sneezing at cats, the Windblume Festival and his words that almost sounded eerily like a confession. And then her last memory of him. Of her convincing him to stay behind while they went to confront the latest Abyss uprising. Although she was still conflicted about what she learned from the last time she went there, she still wanted him to be safe. He had protested initially, but ultimately he did relent and promise to stay behind.
And now… That promise may have been the very thing that killed him. And while Aether was taunting her with thoughts of finally going home like she always wanted to since the beginning of her journey, she realized that definition had changed recently. Home wasn't the home she thought it was. Home was now Venti and his unrelenting understanding and comfort to her, even in her darkest moments. And now he was gone. There was no home for Lumine to return to.
It was that realization that made her cement her choice. It broke her heart to realize what path she had to chose and while Aether had tried to pull her towards one side more than the other, he did ultimately cause just that. This man that stood before her wasn't her brother anymore. Gone was the boy she grew up with, fought alongside and shared many happy memories. Even if she couldn't understand what caused him to change, she knew one thing, the Aether she knew was never coming back.
“No.” She didn't need to see Aether's face to know he was looking at her with shock.
“No? Lumine..., what are you-?”
All the emotions she had been bottling up since their last meeting finally broke through. Venti's death was the crack that broke it apart. “How dare you? If you really cared about me, you'd have found some way to tell me all this without having to do what you did! You abandoned me, knew fully well I had been trying to find you, hurting when I was seeing things that I wished so desperately to share with you and yet you still ignored me! And them, these people that you downright hate and wish no longer existed helped me without any ounce of getting anything in return and gave me more attention and help than you've been giving me this whole time I've been wondering around only having Paimon as a companion!”
The companion in question floated closer to Lumine, her tiny hand on her shoulder trying, in her own way, to give some comfort. “And then...” Her voice floundered for a moment before picking back up. “And then you go and kill the one person who's been helping me this whole time, even when I was conflicted on whether or not he was on my side.”
Lumine shook her head, her hand gripping her sword tighter and her face growing tenser. “I don't know what spell you thought he cast on me, because there wasn't any. The only thing he ever gave me was his friendship and,” Her mind thought back to the Windblume festival and their moment on the tower. “his love. And that was no spell. That was him merely being a decent person. Something...something that apparently you lost during our time here.”
She swallowed the sob that desperately wanted to come up. Not here, not now. Later, she'll mourn, but now… “I don't know what happened to cause you to go down this path, but I know for sure now, I want no part of it.”
Aether's hand dropped slowly back to his side, a sad expression on his face as he realized that now they were permanently on opposing sides. “I see...” Reluctantly he moves into a ready stance, the expression still on his face. “One day, Lumine, you'll realize what I did for you was the best.”
Before, he could get another word in, they all pounced on him. Jean, Zhongli, and Xiao for the loss of an old friend and savior, for Lumine, it was for the loss of not only her hope, but her love.
~~
Though Aether did manage to get away again, that honestly was the last thing on any of their minds. It took them all a few moments of searching, but once they found what they were looking for, they found that trying to find the Abyss leader was not as important as this was.
How fitting, really, that the Anemo Archon would die in an open field, eyes able to see the sky in his last moments.
His upper torso laid back with his knees and legs half underneath him showing that he had been killed while kneeling. His bow, the one that he used in remembrance of one of his fallen friends before him, was broken in two. Cuts and burns could be seen all over his body along with arrows, branches and trees littering all over the ground showing how hard he had fought back against his attacker. Or attackers, based on Field Tillers footprints that were found all over the place. The last thing that was seen on him was the nature of his cause of death: his throat cut clean.
The sight of his broken body was enough to make the tears Lumine had been holding back during the fight with her brother finally fall. Crumbling to the ground underneath her the stones from the dirt started to dig into her legs and her hands grasped his hat tightly. Whatever fleeting hope she had that he had survived and that Aether was just playing a huge joke on her had disappeared like the wind Venti had once represented.
Her tears turned into sobs and she could barely register the warm arms of Jean and Paimon wrapping around her in an attempt to comfort the devastated woman. In her galestorm of emotion she barely registered that the water she felt dipping on her head wasn't of rain, but of tears. Jean, too, was mourning the loss of not only her god, but of a friend she had grown close to over the months since he had revealed himself to them. And Paimon, though she and Venti had tumultuous relationship, she did ultimately like him and was glad for the light and gentleness the archon gave her friend.
As the women grieved, Xiao and Zhongli slowly made their way forward towards the Archon's vessel. Upon reaching it, a solemn expression formed on their faces. As immortal beings they had seen the deaths of so many companions before them and while this was not new for them, to see this one join their ranks, hit them both much harder.
For Xiao it was loss of a savior. The loss of someone who had not only helped him during his darkest moments, but also gave him the power to help him face off against those who dared harm him or others in his pursuit of protecting Liyue. To know that he couldn't help protect that someone during his moment of need when he was able to for him only added more pain to the already abundant amount he dealt with on a daily basis.
As for Zhongli, it was not only the loss of an old comrade, but also a friend. One of the only beings that still roamed this world and existed before the time of the Archons as well as the only one that still was around even after the others' powers had changed hands multiple times. Now, with his passing, another Anemo Archon would rise in his place and though the cycle would continue, he knew it would never be the same. Though one could take his power, no one could replace Barbatos.
Hearing the sobs of the Hero of Mondstadt and Liyue resound behind him, the former Geo Archon leaned down to close the still half-opened eyes of his friend and gently picked up his body, cradling it closely to him. It seemed that he would have to once again prepare for another funeral of a fallen companion. And though they had lost touch over the centuries, he would make sure the service for him would be worthy of his importance to not only the state of the world, but to those that he had been close to.
Standing up slowly while keeping Barbatos' body close, Zhongli turned to see the heartbroken expression upon Lumine's face and instantly empathized. He could understand fully how she was feeling. He could only hope that time would be kind to her and help heal the wound that she had been inflicted. But considering how he knew personally how that tended to work, he had doubts as to whether she would ever truly find peace. Especially since it was her own flesh and blood that brought this pain upon her.
~~
Lumine didn't know what to feel. While she could feel the moonlight shining down on her and feel the earth under her feet, on the inside, a deep numbness had overtaken her body and heart. Her friends had tried to help her feel better and while their efforts were valiant, nothing broke through. The only thing that could was from someone who was no longer here with her so it only made her sadness grow. Her hands brought up Venti's hat into view, her thumbs rubbing along the details it bore while remembering the bard who wore this clearly in her mind.
The wind caressed her face, as if attempting to give her solace and Lumine almost wanted to believe it was Venti trying to touch her. But she knew it wasn't. Still holding the hat in her hands, she drew her legs closing to her body, hugging them with her arms as she overlooked the ocean from her spot on Starsnatch Cliff, her eyes catching sight a few cecilias growing some distance away from her.
This was one of his favorite spots to be. A part of her wished she had asked him before during all the times they would spend here why it was, but she never wanted to push or pry. Venti had been through so much during his lifetime and she wanted nothing more than to give him good memories to help replace the bad. Which now, she would no longer have the chance to. It was devastating to know that his last memory was one where he was slain by someone she used to trust and who he had wanted to help her find.
She closed her eyes to stop the impending tears that had been steadily falling since that day. While her pain was deep and made her draw into herself, Lumine knew she wasn't the only one suffering. Jean, Zhongli, Xiao and others who considered Venti to be their friend, were trying to keep their own pain at bay. And though they had yet to announce to the city of Mondstadt of their Archon's death, she knew that once it become known, the townspeople would join in on that mourning. Knowing that they hadn't seen him or known he was around walking amongst them, but realizing how much he had done to help them since their liberation from the previous Anemo Archon would be enough to cement Venti a place in their hearts forever.
Lumine breath in deeply. Venti would remain in her heart forever too. How she wished she could change those events before they entered the Abyss again. She should've let him follow her, she should've kept him close, she should've...told him. Told him how she felt and how she wanted to be with him for the rest of her life, but now… that chance would never come. It only served to strengthen her desire to leave this world once she was done with it. With Venti gone, there was nothing left to keep her here.
Endora, the small little water spirit, popped out of her bottle to sit down on Lumine's shoulder. The coolness of her skin against hers was enough to bring her some comfort. Though Lumine had managed to convince Paimon to stay in town with the others and let her have some time to herself, Endora persisted and tagged along, silently promising the concerned fairy that she'd keep an eye on her. And, if Lumine was honest with herself, she'd rather have her company around her than that of Paimon. Though she meant well, Paimon had a bad habit of not being able to read a room and during this time where Lumine needed all the support she could get, that flaw would only get in the way.
They remained in that position for some time before Lumine felt Endora twitch slightly before the cool feeling on her shoulder went away. Confusion filled her for but a moment before she assumed the spirit had merely returned to her container. Just as she was about to return to her brooding however, she heard Endora chitter excitingly.
Her brows furrowed. What was that little spirit up to? Pushing herself to turn around and look at what had caught Endora's attention, she stopped suddenly when she saw a small white spirit almost the size of a seelie flitting about next to her watery friend, in it's tiny grasp was a flower, one of the many cecelias found on this mountaintop. It was a spirit she had never seen before, and she had traveled nearly everywhere in Teyvat, but for some reason she felt as if she had seen it before...somewhere.
Upon noticing that it had her attention, the white spirit quickly flew over, completely ignoring Endora and held the flower out towards her. Lumine was confused, she glanced over at the water spirit for help trying to figure out what this little sprite wanted. Endora floated over between the two. “He wants to give you this flower.”
“He?” Lumine looked back at the spirit whose white eyes looked back at her, some deep emotion present within them that she couldn't place. She turned her attention to the flower, her heart aching with the memory that it was Venti's favorite. Gingerly she reached out with her hand to take the flower and she brought it up to her face, a flash of his smile passing through her mind. The smell of the flower reminded her of him. Perhaps she should see if Ying'er could make it into a perfume she could wear to keep that memory strong.
Before she could ponder this thought further, a small humming sound came from the spirit. At first she though it was attempting to speak to her and Endora would translate, but instead her heart stopped once she realized it wasn't speaking…
...it was singing. And not just any singing. It was singing a song. A song that Venti had played numerous times over the course of their friendship. The first time being when they actually talked to each other and the others during the times they had spent together. But why would it know this? Maybe it had overheard it as he played or maybe…
She tried to stop herself before her hope could build up, but as soon as her brain started the thought process, it couldn't stop. Immediately she recalled when he told her the story of how he chose the vessel that he created upon becoming Archon and how it was based on his first friend. And that his original form was that of a wind spirit. A form that upon looking at the spirit much closer for the first time since it's arrival, she could instantly recognize the traits that Venti had kept in his new form. The one she was more familiar with.
The tears she had been holding back finally fell. Though this time, they weren't sad ones, they were happy, hopeful ones. Please let her be right…. “Venti?”
A happy little trill came from the spirit as it rushed towards her, immediately putting itself in the crook of her neck and trying its best to give her a hug in the only way it knew how. The tears fell harder. Her hands moved to cup the spirit, no, Venti closer. Endora looked upon the scene with elation, glad to see her friend feeling better. Deciding to leave the two alone, she returned to her bottle.
The wind blew around them, reflecting the happiness that Lumine had long thought had left her days ago now returning full force. She continued to hold Venti close to her in an effort let herself know he was still here and not gone. Her sobs continued though now some laughter came in between them.
She was home.