Chapter Text
“I’m so sorry, brother… I’m so sorry.”
His hand was cold in her grip, but still she squeezed it tighter as tears streamed down her face.
“Please forgive me for what I’m about to do. I’m so sorry…”
She first heard the sounds of a bustling city. Cars honked their horns and revved their engines, people walked to and fro, and the air was heavy with the heat of summer. Cracking her eyelids open, she stared up at the blue sky between tall buildings. For a long moment, she couldn’t recall anything, not even a name, but as she sat up, everything came flooding back to her all at once.
“This is… Mondstadt.” The city had a name, of course. The street she’d woken up on was familiar to her as well, having walked by it countless times in her life. As she found her footing, she finally looked around as the street lights changed to green. Cars whizzed past her, driving right by as though she didn’t exist.
And to them, she truly did not.
She walked in silence to the sidewalk, watching as people went about their day. On instinct, she backed away as someone collided with her, but they simply passed through her with ease.
“I wonder when I’ll see him again.”
The woman’s thought penetrated the girl’s mind with ease, her voice echoing even as the girl stumbled away. She retreated away from the busy streets and sidewalks to the less crowded park as she found an empty bench to sit down on.
“Is this… the Reaper’s Game?” she mused aloud. Closing her eyes, she fought to keep calm, to recollect everything that had happened before now.
She could vaguely remember her death, the life strangled from her body at some person’s hands. Then, she remembered coming face-to-face with some strange man who offered her a deal.
“If you wish to be reborn, you may take part in the Reaper’s Game. However, I must warn you that your entry comes with a--”
Her eyes flew open, panic flaring in her chest as she tried her hardest to remember. “Comes with what?” she wonders. Sighing, she leans back as she tries to adjust herself to her current predicament. “It’s called the Reaper’s Game, so where’s the game part of all this?” She scans the area around her, eyes stopping on a large screen display on the side of a large building.
7 DAYS REMAINING
“‘Seven days’? For what?”
Groaning with confusion, she stands, hands on her hips as she looks around one more time in hopes that she might find something to help her. That was when she spotted someone across the park, their eyes meeting. The boy cocked his head as he stared back, pointing to himself before mouthing something. She arched a brow in confusion, unable to tell what he’d spoken, but he smiled regardless as he came running towards her.
“You can see me?” he shouts as he approaches.
She backs away, keeping a safe space between them. “Who are you?”
The boy lets out a sigh of relief. “Ah, my name is--” His words are quickly cut off by the mysterious monster that tackled him from behind. A choked gasp of surprise escapes the girl’s mouth at the sight as she watches the monster’s claws dig into its victim. The boy struggled for a moment before going still, his body glowing before dissipating into nothing.
A scream built up in the back of the girl’s throat as she backed away, the monster now joined by several of its companions as they turned their gaze on her. The one who had killed the boy leapt at her and she shielded herself with her arms, body frozen in fear.
“What are you doing, you moron! Move!” Something slammed into her from the side, throwing her out of the way of the monster as she was tossed to the stone beneath her. Vision blurry from the impact, she wearily sat up, trying to orientate herself before hands grabbed and drug her away. “Get your feet under you and run!”
Desperate to survive, she clung to the mysterious savior, pouring all her energy into running as fast as she could. Before too long, they stopped, the other person dragged her off the streets and inside a building as they stopped to catch their breath. “Wh-Who are…”
“They won’t be able to follow us in here,” they say.
The girl wiped her eyes as she glanced over the person who had saved her, noticing he was only a boy a little bigger than herself. “Why did you save me?” she asks.
“Don’t you know?” he sighs. “We need a Partner in order to fight off the Noise.”
The way he said it so matter of factly made her frown, like it should have been common knowledge and she was an idiot for not knowing. “So then…”
He extends his hand to her. “Why don’t we team up? I’ve already saved you once, so this could be your chance to return the favor, don’t you think?”
Suspicion filled her immediately as she looked him over. He looked relatively weak, his body was thin and his skin was pale, albeit he had eyes that reminded her of the sky in her hometown. “Will you at least tell me your name first?”
“Ah, right,” he realizes with a laugh. “My name is Venti. And you?”
She takes his extended hand. “I’m Lumine.”
Their connected hands let off a glow of light and she felt goosebumps break out all across her skin. When the light died down, she shivered where she touched him, and she quickly pulled her hand away. “We’re Partners now,” Venti explained.
“So… we can fight those monsters now?”
He nods stiffly. “Those creatures are known as Noise. They feed off of the negative emotions in the Realground and manifest to attack us here in the Underground. Usually they’re sent on behalf of the Reapers to kill us.”
Lumine grimaces at his words. “Right… I’d forgotten a lot of the things he’d told me when I accepted his deal to play this game,” she muses.
“Ah, so you also met the Composer to come here?” he asks.
“‘The Composer’?”
Shaking his head, Venti gives an annoyed sigh. “How much do you know about this game?”
“I-I’m not sure. I feel like I’m forgetting too much,” Lumine admits.
Groaning, Venti shakes his head as he leaves her side. “Let’s sit down. I’ll explain everything to you.”
With the adrenaline leaving her limp, Lumine finally took in her surroundings. They’d ducked into a fast food joint which was brimming with people milling about as they ordered their meals, ate their food, and left with a satisfied grin.
“Here.” Venti motioned to the empty booth across from him and she took it as she looked around. “They can’t see us,” he starts. “Though I’m sure you’ve noticed that already. They exist in the Realground, basically the real world, whereas we currently reside in the Underground. Think of them as different dimensions that overlap, albeit not completely.”
He reaches out his hand as someone walks by, the two of them watching as his hand passes through them with ease. “As Players in the Underground, we can’t touch those who exist in the Realground, but we can Scan them.”
“Is that when we can hear their thoughts?”
Venti nods. “Yeah, it seems like you’ve already encountered that. The only exception to those we can Scan are other Players, which means I can’t hear your thoughts just as you can’t hear mine, no matter how hard you try.”
Humming in thought, Lumine nods. “Okay, so what’s with the countdown on the big display?” she recalls.
“That’s our time limit,” Venti says as he leans back in his seat. “The Reaper’s Game will last for seven days and at the end of that week, the survivors will be pitted against the Game Master. If we manage to take him down, then we win.”
“And we get to be reborn.”
There’s a glint in Venti’s eyes as he leans forward. “Precisely. Every Player in the Reaper’s Game is here for a second chance at life,” he explains. “Of course, you need a Partner in order to fight the Noise and make it through the week, but everyone else from here on out are our rivals in this game.”
Lumine frowns. “Not ‘enemies’?”
“Well, wouldn’t you think it’d be in poor taste to attack other Players? After all, they’re all here for the same reason we are: for a chance to be reborn. Unless you’d prefer to play dirty?” Venti asks.
“Hm.” As much as she wanted to, Lumine knew it’d be better to make allies rather than enemies with others. If they ever ran into difficulties down the road, she’d rather have people that owe her a favor than be surrounded by people who hated her. “Okay, we won’t hurt anyone unless absolutely necessary.”
Venti nods in approval. “Good to hear, Partner.” He seemed satisfied with her answer as he let his head tilt from one side to another and back again. “Is there anything else I missed…”
As he mused quietly to himself, going over everything he’d talked about in his head, there was a collective ding coming from both of their pockets. Surprised at the sound, Lumine reached into her own pocket, shocked to find a phone there. “What the--”
“It’s our first mission,” Venti says as he looks down at his own phone. “‘Reach the Anemo Archon’s statue. You have one hour. Players who fail to complete the mission within the time limit will face Erasure.’”
Lumine sighed. “A mission? So we have tasks to do while we wait for the week to go by?” she asks.
Humming in acknowledgement, Venti held out his right hand to her. Across the palm were numbers that slowly changed as she watched. “It seems they’ve marked our hands with the time limit as well,” he notes.
“Wait, what does the message mean about ‘Erasure’?” Lumine cuts in as she stands, still staring at her phone. “Is that like…”
“It’s the same as what happened to that boy from earlier,” Venti explains as he stands from the booth as well. “We get removed from the Reaper’s Game.”
Lumine grimaces as they put their phones away. “Like a… game over.”
He hums in agreement. “The perfect way to describe it,” he says. “Now, let’s be on our way to the statue before we waste too much time.”
She followed close behind him. While she was still wary of who this Venti person really was, they were stuck working together now whether she liked it or not. The Anemo Archon’s statue was a notable landmark in Mondstadt, only a ten minute walk from where they were currently.
“Are those walls?” Lumine asks. It had only been just then that she noticed several streets branching off from the central park were blocked off by odd glowing walls.
Venti nods in confirmation. “Yeah, I suspect they’ll open some and close others depending upon the mission each day, but all I can do is just guess. It’s not like I have all the answers.”
Grimacing, she stuck close to her Partner as they walked down the sidewalks, often moving to duck out of the way of any oncoming pedestrians that might pass through her. Listening to people’s thoughts was beyond annoying and the last thing she wanted was to willingly listen to them. They weren’t even halfway to their destination when they were met with a group of monsters in their path.
“Noise,” Venti sighs. “Well, I guess it’s time to see what we can do now.” As the Noise grew closer, Venti stepped back, a bow manifesting in his hand as he nocked an arrow that glowed with power. He fired it into the midst of their enemies, the impact letting out a blast of air that knocked them away, spreading them out. “Lumine! Now!”
“Right!” She was already running in closer to the Noise, right hand extended as she felt her palm tingling with power. She watched in awe as a blade appeared in her hand, gripping the hilt tightly as she struck the first Noise. It disappeared in a burst of dark smoke and she turned quickly to drive her blade into the belly of the next Noise that leapt at her. Three more circled her, looking for an opening, when an arrow landed cleanly between the eyes of two, leaving her to finish off the final one with a deadly slice.
Venti came to her side, patting her shoulder as he glanced around at the Noise-less streets. “Good teamwork,” he says. “You charge in and keep them off me and in turn I’ll make sure you don’t leave yourself open with any blind spots.”
Glancing down at the sword in her hand, Lumine squeezed her hand into a fist as it vanished in a puff of starlight. “These powers… and this game. How is this all possible?”
“Well, whoever the Composer and the Reapers are, whatever this other dimension is…” Venti shrugs as he trails off. “Whatever the case is, none of this seems very possible where we come from, wouldn’t you agree?”
She certainly did have to agree with that. Lumine could quite vividly remember going about life in this very city, going to college and working a part time job to pay her rent and keep food on the table. But all of this craziness filled with monsters and magic and other dimensions was… starting to make her head hurt.
“We should hurry regardless,” Venti says. “I’d rather not risk us being short on time.” As he takes the lead again, he flashes the timer on his hand at her, less than thirty minutes remaining.
Thankfully enough, however, the precautions weren’t needed as they arrived at their destination with nearly twenty minutes to spare. Lumine sighed in relief as the numbers faded from her hand, dissolving into nothing as though she’d only imagined it.
“Six more days,” Venti sighs as he sits at the foot of the statue.
“At the rate we’re going now, it shouldn’t be too bad I hope,” Lumine says optimistically. She glances over at her Partner as he leans his head back, seeming at ease and more relaxed. That was when something struck her. Craning her neck, she peered up at the Anemo Archon’s statue before glancing back down at Venti. The statue’s face structure matched her Partner’s almost perfectly, but that wasn’t all. The twin braids that framed his face matched the statue perfectly as well.
Venti opened one eye, noticing her watchful gaze with interest. “Like what you see?” he teases.
Humming in thought, Lumine points up at the statue, ignoring his comment. “Why do you look so much like the Anemo Archon, Venti?”
“What?” Her Partner bursts out laughing at her comment as he shakes his head. “Don’t you know people can look similar?” he says with a shrug. “Guess I’ve just got something in common with the old guy, don’t you think?”
Lumine scoffed, ready to demand answers from her indifferent Partner when she suddenly felt light headed as she swayed on her feet. Her vision became blurry and it was difficult for her to stand as she fell to her knees. In the next instant, everything went dark…
“ ▮▮▮▮▮▮ , I’ll be okay--”
“No you won’t! I can’t just let them get away with this!”
His hand was so cold, his fingers unmoving as he stared up at her in surprise.
“But--”
She first heard the sounds of a bustling city. Cars honked their horns and revved their engines, people walked to and fro, and the air was heavy with the heat of summer. Cracking her eyelids open, she stared up at the blue sky between tall buildings. For a long moment, she couldn’t recall anything, not even a name, but as she sat up, everything came flooding back to her all at once.
“Venti!” She jolted back to her senses, eyes wide with panic as she scanned the area for him. Lumine scrambled to her feet in the middle of the road as the light turned green, cars blowing past her. Turning around in place, she scanned every inch in her line of sight, searching desperately for the eyes that sparkled just like the skies she so loved.
Groaning in frustration when she couldn’t find him, she hurried back to the park where he’d first saved her life, turning around and around before cupping her hands around her mouth to call out his name.
“Venti! Venti, where are you?”
She let out a sigh when no one answered her call, leaving her to flop down on the stone bench from yesterday. Her gaze wandered to the large display, noticing how the number had changed from “seven” to “six” already.
“Was that really an entire day?”
Closing her eyes, she recounted everything that had happened the day before, hoping to etch everything deep into her memory so there was no chance she could forget it. When a hand was laid on her shoulder, she didn’t even notice, too deep in her own head.
“Hey! Miss! Can you hear me?”
The new voice was quick to pull her back to reality, jolting back to her senses as she flinched away from the girl standing before her. “Wha--”
The girl was quick to give her space, hands up between them. “I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to startle you, but you weren’t responding for a while. Is everything okay?”
Lumine blinked a few times, wondering if she was imaging this girl, but she didn’t disappear at all. “I-I’m alright. I was just… wondering where my Partner is.”
“Oh, you have a Partner, too!” the girl gasps, her eyes lighting up. “I’m relieved to hear that. I was worried about whether you had one or not because I didn’t want to just leave you without a Partner, but since I’m already with someone, I couldn’t become your Partner and--”
“Sucrose, you’re rambling on again.” A boy appeared at her side, a hand on her shoulder as she quickly covered her mouth with a small squeak.
“I-I’m so sorry!” she apologizes, her voice muffled.
The boy laughs as he gently shakes her. “It’s alright.” He turns his gaze towards Lumine, bowing his head a bit. “Sorry if she was bothering you. Sucrose is a bit of a worrywart when it comes to others, though.”
Lumine shakes her head with a smile. “It’s alright!”
“My name is Albedo by the way,” he says. “And, well, I guess you’ve met my Partner Sucrose now.”
Standing, Lumine offers a hand. “My name is Lumine, and… well, I’m waiting for my Partner to show up, hopefully before the mission is handed out to us.”
“Ah, that’s not good,” Albedo says, shaking her hand. “In any case, you can stick with us while you wait for them.”
“You don’t mind?” Lumine asks, jumping at the chance.
Sucrose and Albedo shake their heads. “It’d be better than just letting you sit here and wait to get attacked by Noise,” he points out. “Besides, there’s no harm in helping others out, is there?”
“Yeah, I suppose--” The notification on their phones went off then, cutting off Lumine’s words. Ice cold horror filled her veins as she quickly took her phone out, staring down at today’s mission.
“‘Reach the National Museum of Mondstadt’s History and eliminate the Noise causing a disturbance. You have one hour. Players who fail to complete the requirements will face Erasure.’” Albedo sighed as he pocketed his phone. “Well, will you be accompanying us today, Miss Lumine?”
She snapped to attention at the sound of her name, glancing around one last time for any signs of her Partner before sighing. “I-I suppose I should…”
The pair before her walked off, motioning for her to follow after as they led the way through the city. Lumine continued to look around for the familiar figure of her Partner as they walked, but he didn’t seem to be anywhere.
Did he run off and abandon me? Or did he run into Noise without me and--
Shaking her head, she scattered the negative thoughts as quickly as they came, focusing on following after Albedo and Sucrose. They’d all received the same mission, so it only made sense to work closely with them even if her Partner was still missing. It didn’t take them long to reach the museum, memories flashing through Lumine’s head as she craned her neck to look up at the building.
She knew she’d been here several times in her life, she knew the streets well enough to walk them blindfolded, and yet she couldn’t recall any specific details of her visits to this place at all. What day, what season, who she’d come with… The canvas was present in her mind, but there wasn’t even a speck of paint upon the surface to reveal any details.
“This is the place, so the Noise should be around here somewhere,” Albedo notes.
The three of them were quick to scan the area, searching for any signs of monsters or even other Players. “Over there!” Sucrose was the first to call out, pointing across the street.
Following her finger, Lumine nearly choked as she recognized a familiar green clad boy as he dashed away from a group of Noise, bow in hand as he fired a powerful shot into their midst, enough to blast them away from him as he retreated further away.
“Venti!” She broke away from her new companions, dashing across the busy street as cars passed right through her, ignoring her as she reached her Partner’s side. The air was knocked out of his lungs as she crashed into him, arms wrapping around his shoulders as his hands found her waist, steadying them.
“L-Lumine?”
“I was so worried!” she choked, pulling back to look into his eyes. “We’re Partners now, aren’t we? So don’t just disappear on me like that! Not ever again!”
He was speechless as she stepped back, wiping her misty eyes. It hadn’t been his intention to get separated, but when he’d awoken in an unfamiliar area, his only option was to wander around until he saw something he recognized. “S-Sorry about that, but let’s worry about that after we deal with the Noise,” he promises.
The duo turned their focus on the incoming Noise, effortlessly running down the crowded sidewalk. “Same routine as before?” Lumine proposed, their weapons appearing in their hands.
Venti nocked an arrow with a grin. “Of course. I trust you, Lumine.”
She cast him a quick glance over her shoulder as a smile tugged at her lips. Turning to face their foes, she tightened her grip on her blade. “I trust you too, Venti.”
Turning back to the Noise, Lumine dashed in, a barrage of light arrows flying past her to pin down the enemy long enough for her to quickly dispatch the smaller foes. The largest of the Noise reared its head, breaking free from the arrows with ease as it swiped at Lumine. She was quick to avoid the blow, noticing how light she felt on her feet all of a sudden. As she recovered, Lumine paused as a brilliant blue glow surrounded her, the weight of her sword becoming feather light.
“Ready?” Venti shouted from behind.
Tightening her grip on her blade, she charged at the beast, stopping short as its clawed hand slammed down in front of her. Instead, she leapt off the back of its hand, propelling herself into the air with her blade raised to strike. Standing back, Venti prepped an arrow, aiming for her sword as it fired it. When it struck the blade, it infused the item with incredible powers, unleashing a burst of wind as she drove the blade deep into the monster’s head. The Noise dissipated in a flash of light, the leftover wind from their combo attack softening her landing as their weapon faded away.
“What was… that?” Lumine was in awe of what just happened as she stared blankly at her empty hands.
A hand on her shoulder brought her attention back to her Partner as he grinned at her. “They did say that if you could trust your Partner with your life, and they could trust you with their life in turn, then you’d be able to combine your powers and unleash an attack of even greater magnitude,” he explained. “Although, I’d only heard about this in theory. This is my first time seeing it in action, to be honest.”
She frowns. “Who told you this?”
Venti laughs. “Well, let’s just say I have connections in higher places,” he says ominously. “Not that they’re around anymore, but he was a good source of information when it came to preparing for my first attempt at rebirth.”
“I… see,” Lumine says slowly.
“Miss Lumine!” The girl turned at the sound of her name, spotting Sucrose running towards her down the sidewalk with Albedo following behind at a brisk walk. “I’m so glad you’re okay!” she said, looking like she wanted to hug Lumine but was holding back as she cast a glance at Venti.
“I see you’ve reunited with your Partner,” Albedo acknowledges. “And you’ve cleared the mission as well.”
Lumine then realized that the timer on her hand had in fact vanished after defeating the massive Noise. “Y-Yeah. Thank you both for helping me get here safely.”
Huffing, Venti wraps an arm around her shoulders, ignoring the way she tensed up beneath his touch. “Lumi, you… do realize we can use our Psychs without being near one another, right?”
“Huh? ‘Psychs’?”
“Your sword,” he explains. “My bow. Those are our powers, called Psychs.”
Lumine let out a weak chuckle. “I-I knew that--” As the words left her mouth, her vision began to swim just like before, her knees giving way as the world titled harshly before vanishing from sight…
“Are you really okay with this? You’ll be giving up who you are for--”
“Doesn’t matter. Besides, I’ll get it back at the end anyway, right?”
“Hm… You’re quite the interesting one, aren’t you?”
“Maybe I’m just a little desperate to see her again…”
She first heard the sounds of a bustling city. Cars honked their horns and revved their engines, people walked to and fro, and the air was heavy with the heat of summer. Cracking her eyelids open, she stared up at the blue sky between tall buildings. For a long moment, she couldn’t recall anything, not even a name, but as she sat up, everything came flooding back to her all at once.
“Not again!” Lumine was quick to get on her feet, panicked as she scanned the streets once more, praying he would be here. “Venti?”
A hand on her shoulder had her jolt with fright, turning to slap whatever creep it may have been only to have a familiar hand wrap around her wrist. “Come now. Is that any way to greet your own Partner?”
She looked up into his green eyes, letting out a sigh of relief. “Thank the Archons,” she breathes. “I didn’t wanna be separated again.”
“Oh? Falling for me already?” he teases with a wink.
“As if. I’d just rather not have you die on me and leave me without any Psychs to protect myself,” Lumine huffs, turning away as she gently pulls her hand from his grip.
He lets out a sound of disappointment. “Is that so? Do I have to try harder to make you fall for me?”
Turning back to look at him, Lumine grimaces. “Why would I ever want that?”
“You don’t have to look so disgusted!” Venti yelps. “Even as a joke!”
A bubble of laughter escaped her mouth as she quickly covered her lips with one hand. Venti gave a sigh of content, shrugging as he watched her fight to maintain her composure even as she was clearly struggling not to give in to a fit of giggles.
“Okay okay, you’ve had your fun,” Venti groans. “Come on, we’ve got five more days ahead of us before we have to fight the GM at the end.”
Wiping her eyes, Lumine clears her throat as she gives him a look of confusion. “‘GM’? Like a game master?”
“Precisely!” Venti chimes. “Who would have guessed our little Lumine played games before dying.”
“Of course I played games!” she snaps, suddenly defensive. “A-And I was really really good at them, too!”
Then, when she notices a glint in his eyes, she wishes she had held her tongue instead. “Is that so?” he asks, grinning. “Why don’t we put your skills to the test!” Grabbing her hand, he drags her off the street down a few blocks to a nearby arcade.
“But… I thought we couldn’t interact with the Realground?”
“That’s very true,” Venti confirmed. “But get a load of this!”
He slaps the window of the arcade, pointing out a symbol. “What is it?” she asks.
“The ever so kind and gracious Reapers have allowed us access to stores with these stickers!” Venti explains. “It gives us a temporary precense in the Realground to interact with things and purchase items, such as food and clothing!”
Lumine glances down at her outfit before patting her stomach. “But… I’m not hungry even though I haven’t eaten at all since starting the game,” she notes with obvious confusion. “And my clothes seem to be resistant to Noise attacks, so there’s no need to replace them. Oh, and I guess we don’t need to shower in the Underground since I don’t even smell a bit,” she adds with a careful sniff.
Sighing, Venti throws his hands up. “We can still at least indulge a little, can’t we? In any case, to the arcade we go!”
“What about money?”
He freezes in his tracks, turning back to glare at her. “Lumine…” She grimaces, taking a step back. “Can you think for yourself at all? ”
“Huh?”
Grabbing her by the shoulders, he shoves her towards the door. “If things cost money for us, and we didn’t bring any money with us when we died, why would the Reapers let us enter shops to buy things?” he spits. “Think, Lumine! Think!”
She let out a weak laugh of defeat as they walked inside. The arcade was quiet, only a few individuals playing at machines here and there. “Is it a weekday?”
“You have a really bad sense of time, don’t you?” Venti sighs. “It’s Wednesday. Did you not even check the date on your phone?”
“Oh…” Feeling rather silly, she slipped her phone out of her pocket. “Whoa. It really is Wednesday,” she murmurs.
Dragging a hand down his face, Venti smothers a smile as he links arms with the girl, dragging her over to a pair of machines. “How good are your fighting game skills?” he asks.
There’s a glint of confidence in her golden eyes as she stretches her fingers out. “Fighting games, huh? Haven’t touched one of those in a while. I was the Combo Queen where I come from,” she announces boldly.
“Oh yeah?” Venti grins. “Let’s see just how amazing our Combo Queen really is!”
She won ten games in a row before he gave in…
Standing triumphant, Lumine laughs. “And you thought you could win? With those shitty combos? In your dreams! Come back in fifty years and maybe you’ll have a spitting chance at downing me once!”
“This was a bad idea,” Venti groans. “All I’ve done is boost your ego way overhead…”
Flopping down on the floor of the arcade, Venti let out a heavy sigh as he looked up at the victor. There was a distant look in her eyes as she gazed out the arcade windows. “My brother used to play with me all the time,” she murmured softly.
“Your brother?” Venti repeats.
Lumine blinked, glancing down at him in confusion. “I have a brother?”
Sitting up, Venti squints at his Partner. “That is… what you said after all.”
“I… have a brother…” she mumbles to herself, frowning. “I don’t remember having one though.”
Realization hits Venti hard and he sucks in a breath of air sharply as his chest constricts. She gave up her memories of her brother as her entry fee… He wondered if he should tell her, point out the obvious fact hidden in her words, but he stopped himself. Standing, Venti shakes his head. “Lumine--”
Their phones went off at the same time and he bit back a curse of annoyance as they each pulled out the devices, checking the new notification.
“‘Reach the Mondstadt Cathedral and exorcise the Noise possessing the nuns. You have one hour to complete the mission. Players who fail to comply will face Erasure.’” Pinching the bridge of his nose, Venti sighs. “Guess we’ll have to wrap this up and get going.”
Lumine looked equally annoyed, eyeing the arcade machine still flaunting her victory as she shoved her phone back into her pocket. “Let’s hurry up and get this over with then,” she sighs.
“Right,” Venti agrees readily, following her out of the arcade. “Do you know where you’re going?”
Her feet stall when they reach the sidewalk. “I… remember going to pray sometimes.”
“Oh? Are you religious?”
Lumine shakes her head. “No… I don’t believe I was, at least. But I do remember being really desperate for something, so I’d gone to try and pray as a last ditch effort.”
Curiosity gnawed at Venti as he listened. “Sounds like there’s still some gaps in your memory.”
“Ah, yeah,” she acknowledges. “It’s really fuzzy for the most part, just bits and pieces here and there that are clear enough for me to understand, but the rest just feels muddled and confusing.”
“Sounds like you’ve got a Reaper’s Game to win,” Venti decides, taking her hand. “You up to lead the way?”
“What, you don’t know your way to the cathedral?” she teases with a smirk, already tugging on his hand to head towards their destination.
Laying his free hand atop his chest, Venti shakes his head. “Come now, Mondstadt is my city. You think there are places I don’t know of here?”
As if to cement his point, he motioned to several buildings along their route, spouting nonsensical facts even Lumine could have come up with on the spot, but she humored him as they walked. The cathedral was further away this time, albeit not too far that they’d run out of time. Just in case, she glanced at her hand, thankful to still have twenty minutes to complete their mission.
“So the Noise is affecting the nuns?” Lumine repeats. “How is that possible?”
Venti sighs. “The Noise are attracted to negative feelings of the Realground. So we probably just have to eliminate the Noise contaminating the nuns and everything will work out just fine.” Pursing her lips, Lumine doesn’t say anything as they head inside. She craned her neck, peering up at the high ceilings and the extravagant stained glass windows. “Surprised?”
“No…” she murmurs softly, gently laying a hand on one of the wooden piers. “It’s exactly like how I remember it being.” Turning her focus towards the end of the hall, she counted the piers as she walked, stopping at a certain spot.
“What is it?”
Lumine plops down in the seat, laying her head back on the pier. “This was where I sat to pray that one time.”
Humming in acknowledgement, Venti scans the area. “Doesn’t look like the nuns are around. Should we split up to search for them?”
Standing, Lumine nods. “Sure. Although… I feel a little weird exploring the rest of the cathedral without permission.”
“Since when were you so concerned with following rules?” Venti asks, patting her shoulder. “Let’s just--”
“Venti!” Roughly, Lumine shoves him away, panic filling her golden eyes as a large Noise drops down where they’d been standing mere moments before. Finding his feet, Venti shakes his head to clear the confusion. “Run! Let’s regroup outside!”
The Noise was focused on her as she dashed down the aisle, the monster following in her wake. “You idiot!” he bites out, calling upon his Psych as his bow materializes in hand. Nocking an arrow, he inhales deeply as he draws the string back, fighting to keep his hands from shaking as he takes aim. Confident, he fires the arrow, pleased when it finds its home in the back of the Noise, causing it to stagger before falling over. “Lumine!”
She was quick to take advantage of the opportunity, using the wooden piers as footholds as she climbed around the monster to return to the open aisle, running towards her Partner. “Go!” she shouts, waving one arm at him in a signal to leave.
Persistently, he waits until she nearly collides with him to begin running towards the exit, glancing over his shoulder as the Noise recovers. “I don’t think we can do this on our own!” he pants.
“We don’t have time to try and look for help!” Lumine fires back, holding up her palm. Fifteen minutes left. “We’ll turn and try to do something about it, maybe like what we did before!”
Lumine skids to a halt, spinning on her heel to face the Noise as it lumbers towards them, having finally recovered from the arrow. “Y-You mean when we synced up before?” Venti asks.
She nods, looking back to smile as her sword appears in hand. “We just have to trust each other, right? Just like you said. You could have done as I told you and run away, to save yourself, but you stood your ground and helped me instead.” Venti’s heart skips a beat as her eyes soften. “I trust you with my life, Venti. You’ll watch my back. I know you will.”
Without waiting for a response, she was charging straight ahead at the monster, blade glinting in the light that fell upon them from above. Shaking himself, Venti readies another arrow, imbuing the arrowhead with a breath of wind as he takes aim. The Noise reared a clawed hand, poised to strike at Lumine. If she noticed it, she didn’t seem to bother trying to avoid it as she stayed her path. “That idiot,” Venti huffs, releasing the bowstring as the arrow sinks into the palm of the beast’s hand, exploding with a violent burst of wind as it knocks the Noise off balance, preventing it from harming his Partner.
“Good job, Ven,” Lumine whispers softly, grasping the hilt of her blade with both hands as she leaps into the air, propelled by a burst of wind as she rises above the head of the Noise. It seemed just as surprised as she was to see her fly so high, but she focused all her energy on the blade in her hands as she swung, cleaving the monster in two with ease in a single movement.
It dissipated in mere moments, leaving Lumine tumbling out of the air. She’d expected to hit the hard marble floor of the cathedral and hurt herself, perhaps break a few bones, but she found her landing cushioned by something soft that let out a yelp of pain. “V-Venti?” Lumine pushed herself up with both arms, looking down at her Partner who grinned through the pain up at her.
“You’re a real idiot, you know that?” he wheezes.
She couldn’t help but laugh. “See? You saved me again.”
Venti sighs, letting out a weak chuckle of his own. “You… really put that much trust in me? That I’d save you from your fall?”
“Of course!” she says. “After all, if we didn’t really trust one another, how else could we sync up so well the way we did? You shot that arrow to clear the way for me to finish it off!”
“E-Even so…” He shakes his head. “Can you at least get off of me? You’re heavy…”
“Right!” she gasps, crawling off of him as he lays a hand across his chest. “A-Are you hurt? I didn’t expect you to use yourself to catch me…”
He sits up, wincing in pain. “Of course I’d use myself to catch you! How else did you expect me to?” When Lumine doesn’t answer, Venti scoffs, a smile tugging his lips. “It was the only reliable way I could catch you. It’s just your fault for being too heavy to catch properly.”
“H-Hey!” she snaps, face flushed with embarrassment. “I always watched what I ate when I was alive! You can’t tell me I suddenly put on weight after I died?”
“You…” Venti attempts to stifle his laughter, quickly failing to. “You really are an idiot, huh?”
Lumine pouts at his words. “You’re the one who was being mean!”
“I-I never said you were fat. I was just… commenting how weak I am,” he amends, scratching the back of his neck.
He freezes when he feels her arms wrap around his shoulders, her weight leaning into him where they still sat on the floor of the cathedral. “I’m just happy we made it out in one piece…”