Work Text:
Sunlight filters through the windows, shining into the room in which only one little girl sits. Small hands reach out to flip the worn, yellowed pages of the two storybooks sprawled out in front of her, revealing the final chapter of their tales. Though they tell different stories, she finds the magic in them all the same, her eyes sparkling as they scan the words written in stark black ink and colorful illustrations of the princess and her loved one.
Though one story ends with a simple 'happily-ever-after', something that Eula has seen so many times in the countless fairytales she's read, the other tells of a prince who passed away of old age, leaving his immortal princess alone for ages to come, mourning his death.
Her eyebrows crease. She's never read a story like this with such an ending, in which the characters do not have smiles on their faces on the last page. Is it truly a fairytale if there is no such happy end?
The door creaks open behind her. A maid of the mansion walks over to her, bending down to see what she's reading, and then noticing Eula's confused expression. "What's wrong?"
A caring voice, one that Eula has heard many times. She's not sure why, but there's heavy shadow cast over the woman's face so that Eula cannot see any features clearly. Even so, the child asks her question.
"Why is it," she begins, pointing to the illustration of the princess in the book crying over her beloved's coffin, "that this fairytale has a sad conclusion? I thought that all of these stories have happy endings."
The maid is silent, as if trying to parse the question, before she laughs, reaching out to pat Eula's head. "Oh, you. That's definitely not true. There are just as many with such endings as this particular story, fairytales included."
Eula frowns. "Really?"
"Really."
Her gaze returns to the books before her. "How could the princess live without her prince? Having lost your love for so long must hurt, right?" Seeing the illustration and the words written on the page makes her heart ache a little when she thinks of the sorrow the princess must face.
"Well, I suppose you'll just have to try and figure that out yourself. That's why such stories exist, right? To entertain our imagination."
What would happen if the story were true, if such a thing could happen in reality? Would it hurt for the person experiencing such pain just as much as it must for a mere fictional character?
"And thus, the prince passed away, leaving her alone, weeping. The princess never fell in love with anyone else, for the fear that she would eventually outlive them as well."
She doesn't want it to end just yet. If only there was more to it, then perhaps, it could hurt less.
The wind sweeps over her hair, allowing the rays of the sun to press against her face as leaves trickle down from the gentle swaying branches. Eula awakens to the warmth, slowly opening her eyes.
That dream just now, she thinks to herself, how childish I was back then. Still, she smiles, a little wistful over that gleam of her past. Fairytales, fantasy stories, it had been so long since she last read such material, and it had certainly been much longer since she desired something as meager as a happy ending.
"What are you smiling about?"
A familiar voice startles her out of her musings. She looks to her side to see Diluc sitting there beside her, looking at her intently. Her eyes go wide for only a moment. "And what are you doing here?"
"I saw you asleep here while I was on my way to Mondstadt, so," he shrugs, "I thought I'd sit with you until you woke up."
Eula narrows her eyes. "Just how long were you here for?"
"Mm, I don't know. A couple hours?"
Eula isn't sure why, but hearing that makes her somewhat happy. Not that she'd ever admit it, though. "You were here for that long just waiting for me to wake up? I'll remember this!"
"Right. And I'll remember that smile for a little while longer." Diluc smirks at the way Eula's cheeks flush in response to his comment, clearly searching for a clever response.
She tries to return the smug grin on Diluc's face with her own, "How lucky for you. My smile isn't something many get to enjoy."
Truth to be told, she quite misses the verbal flings she constantly has with Diluc every time they talk. It's something she can't experience from anyone else, not after everything that's happened between the two of them. Though she hopes for victory this time, Diluc shifts ever closer to her, so that their hands on the ground brush up against each other.
"Is that so? Guess that means I should cherish it while I can."
The expression on his face is enough to take her breath away. After the night they shared in Diluc's room, where they exchanged embraces and gentle whispers, Eula hasn't been able to think of anything else but him.
Even now, it's so vivid. The heat of their bodies together, the scent of their sweat and breaths mixing together. The words they spoke as they wrapped their arms around each other. Diluc comforting her in the midst of it all.
Is the happiness she'd felt then, perhaps, what the main heroine of one of those fairytales she loved so much as a child too? That warmth, the happiness that threatens to spill out, is that what the princess must've felt when she found her ending with the prince she loved?
"Hey, you alright? You're zoning out." It's only then that she notices Diluc's hand waving in front of her face trying to get her attention, abruptly ending her train of thought.
She shakes her head, trying to clear her mind. "Sorry, I was thinking about something else. What were you saying?"
"There's another one of those nasty Ruin Guards lurking around nearby, or so I've heard. Shall we clear it out, since we're here?"
"Ah..." Eula's eyebrows raise. She'd heard reports of it floating around the previous day. It seems like there's been more of them popping up in Mondstadt recently. She hesitates, but nods anyway. "Sure."
It's not like it could go wrong.
It's going very wrong.
Eula isn't focused, and she knows it. When she sees Diluc there, wielding his claymore with ease, flames burning bright, she can't look away. No matter how hard she tries, she can't. All she can think about is him, that face, that form, everything. The finesse with which he battles reminds her of that night they shared - though his strikes land true, he treats her with the utmost care. A harsh difference, but it is one that draws her to him even more.
She can't take her mind off the dream she had. Just conversing with Diluc is enough to make her heart race. Although it must be foolish of her to entertain what is nothing but a fantasy, a work of fiction someone made up, she can't stop thinking about the characters in those stories. If everything in her life were to go like them, perhaps, she may be living a far happier life. Or maybe not. She's not sure.
What she really wants to know is the romance contained in those tales, where one character finds eternal happiness with their one true love. That is the crux of most fairytales, stories that are nowhere close to reality. After all, they aren't meant to be compared to the real world.
Still, there's no helping it. Surely, if her own love were to blossom just like that, she'd be happier than anyone else.
Her thoughts drift to that one single book that had a far more different perspective on things as she swings her claymore at the Ruin Guard, a little on the clumsier side. What would she do, if she were to lose someone like Diluc? She's grown far closer to him than she has to anyone else. Even though she can remember their first meeting like it was just yesterday, it feels like they've been spending time together forever.
If she were to lose him, then...
Just thinking about it wants to make her fall asleep once more, just so she can experience that childhood of hers again. So that she can read even more, indulge herself in childish fantasies all over again. Calling out her name from the depths of her mind.
"Eula, above you!"
In her haze, she looks up far too slowly, her vision flickering. Why does it feel like she can't see anything? Why is she suddenly so tired? All she can think of is how she wants to go back to that world, to ask that maid she saw in her dream more questions. Though she can hear Diluc's voice loud and clear, it doesn't fully register in her head. The Ruin Guard's head glows orange, distracting her. She doesn't move even as it lifts an arm to try and crush her—
"EULA!"
Faster than she can process, Diluc rushes in front of her, blocking the attack with his claymore. He glances behind him to see Eula completely out of it and unattentive.
"What are you doing?!" Diluc hisses, "Focus!"
She wants to. She should, but Eula can't find the strength to do it. She's just so distracted, not caring about the fight at hand. He looked so cool defending her like that. Eula takes a deep breath to try and return to the task at hand. She can think about everything else later. They need to end this.
It takes far longer than Eula would've liked, but it goes down with a mechanical buzz and a heavy crash after a while more of the scuffle and once she can actually focus enough to do her part in taking down the Ruin Guard.
The silence that follows as Diluc walks right up to Eula with an unreadable expression on his face is deafening. Eula knows he must be annoyed. He opens his mouth to speak, and she braces herself for the onslaught. "What were you thinking?" He places his claymore back in its usual spot, crossing his arms. "Not paying any attention in the middle of a fight? You could've gotten killed or seriously injured there!"
There is no response. Having no retort of her own, Eula simply says, "I apologize...I got carried away." It's not like she has any excuse for it. Does Diluc hate her now, because she inconvenienced him? She's fully ready for that, as painful as it would be.
What she doesn't expect, though, is how Diluc cups her cheek with a hand, looking into her eyes with a concerned gaze. "Are you alright?"
"...Yeah."
Diluc smiles, letting out a sigh of relief. "That's good." Then, almost as if in confusion, he tilts his head slightly. "What's up with you? It's certainly not like you to be so distracted, especially in battle."
There's no hiding it now. She bites her lip. "Well...I do have something on my mind, but this is hardly the place for it."
"Do you want to come back to my place? If it's such a big deal, perhaps somewhere more private would be better."
Eula swallows a lump in her throat. "Indeed, I think I'd like that."
"Fairytales?"
Diluc's questioning tone makes Eula wonder if she's doing the right thing by telling him about everything. Would this ruin the relationship they've already built? Would Diluc look at her, disgusted, and not want anything to do with her anymore? She knows how foolish the very idea is, but she finds that there's no point in hiding it anymore.
“Yeah,” Eula shifts ever so slightly, shyly admitting it, “fairytales. That’s why I’ve been distracted.” She doesn’t fail to see the tiny smirk emerging on Diluc’s face, and the blush on her cheeks deepens.
“Let me guess, you were dreaming about them too?” he asks. Is that what’s been distracting you?” When Eula responds with a meek nod, he clasps his hand to his mouth in an attempt to stifle away his chuckle. "Sorry. I don't mean to be condescending, of course. It's just that the thought of you getting distracted in such a fashion is just adorable."
"Enough of that," Eula mumbles audibly, her face red with embarrassment, "I'll have my vengeance for this, mark my words!"
The sound of Diluc laughing in response does nothing to help. In fact, it leaves her even more unsure of what he's up to. "So, what about fairytales have you so unfocused to the point where you completely freeze up in battle? I've never seen that from anyone, much less a Knight."
"I..." Unsure of how to progress from here, she tries to come up with something, but words fail her. Diluc watches as she struggles to voice a reply.
"Let me reword my question a little. What exactly did you dream of?"
The answer isn't as wonderful as you may think it is, Eula wants to scream, but she pushes past the fear that Diluc would judge her for such a thing. She takes a deep breath.
"I dreamt of my younger days, in a room by myself. There were two children's storybooks on the ground, one telling of a happy ending and one going the more bittersweet route. As a child, I'd always been fascinated with happily-ever-afters. Could life really be that grand, that perfect as the authors of these books tell us?" The way Eula's hands on beside her curl into fists and bunch up the bedsheets doesn't escape his notice. "That particular fairytale with a kind of ending I'd never seen before intrigued me. Could such stories, that are always painted as picture-perfect, end badly?"
Thankfully, Diluc doesn't interject or ask questions in the midst of her recounting. Everything is so vivid, she remembers the whole dream so clearly, so she keeps going. "Then, someone I'm sure I knew back then walked into the room. I don't remember her name, and yet, her voice and appearance seemed so familiar. Alas, a shadow was cast over her face," she shivers upon remembering the way only the maid's smile was visible, the rest of her features hidden away, "and she'd told me, that there are just as many that end in such a way as there is happiness."
"And that's what's been distracting you, then?"
"Yes and no," Eula closes her eyes for a moment. "In my dream, I wondered about what it would feel like, if such endings were truly possible in reality. How happy would I be, if I could live the life of a happily-ever-after, in which the main character finds her true love and her feelings are reciprocated?"
She waves a hand in dismissal, "But of course, such things are pointless to think about - that is, if I were to say this before I met you." Eula's gaze travels from the windows opposite to Diluc, her lips curled into a smile. "Although I feel much closer to you. I wonder why that is, that such a mere idea created in a dream seems entirely possible."
Silence follows, but Diluc's eyes never leave Eula's. For a moment, in her mind, Eula is worried she's said something wrong. Did she mess up somewhere? Did she go too far? Did she—
"I'll make it a reality."
The reply is, admittedly, not what Eula had been anticipating at all. "You...what?"
"What you said, about being able to live such a life," Diluc repeats, "I'll make it come true." He takes one of Eula's hands gripping the sheets, holding it up in front of the two of them. His fingers wrap around her hand, and instinctively, her own move to intertwine with his.
Eula's eyes go wide, her heart beating so loudly in her ears, so fast it threatens to burst out of her chest. Trying to mask her shock, she smirks, "You're willing to declare something so childish?"
The reply is immediate, without any hesitation, "I am," he brings their joined hands up higher, his other free hand coming to rest atop it. The expression on his face is genuine, Eula can tell - and instead of it being of disgust or disdain, it's a small smile. It's a face that people commonly make, but to Eula, it's anything but that. It's Diluc's smile, "and I want you to be the princess who gets her happy ending."
She can't stop the soft, audible gasp that leaves her. In all her life, she would've never entertained the idea of something like this. Even when she was retelling her dream to Diluc, she hadn't expected much out of it.
It seems that even now, after all the conversations they've had, he always finds ways to surprise her.
"If that's the case," Eula whispers, remembering the immortal princess who was left behind by the death of her husband, "Can you promise that you'll stay with me?"
"Of course," comes the answer, "of course I will. I swear."
The slightest hint of tears run down her cheek, revealed by the light of the setting sun, joy overflowing in her expression. She can't describe the feelings that course through her, the emotions that rage within her. She lifts their hands up, holding it against her forehead as she smiles.
"Thank you."
Diluc grins, "So, you see me as a prince, is that right?"
"I-I..." Hearing that out of the blue catches Eula off guard. "Don't get overconfident, or I'll have my revenge for that too!"
"Alright then. I'm looking forward to it."
Though Diluc's insistent teasing leaves her face red, through everything she feels, she remembers the final words of the other book she read in her dream. For her, this conclusion is more than enough.