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In your dream, you were at your parents house. You sat back on your knees, laughing over some game you were playing, when your mother pushed you flat to the floor. At once the atmosphere changed, cold and deathly silent. Her hand on your back trembled, and so did her voice when it came in your ear. "Something's coming."
Then something swept over you like an invisible, violent wave. The only thing you could equate it to was like standing on the outskirts of a concert and the base is so potent you can feel the tremors in your chest. But there on the floor it was stronger, much stronger, vibrating in your whole body and accompanied with a heavy weight like gravity increasing on top of you. Beside you, your mother felt it too. And somehow, somehow you knew it was only a precursor, of something coming.
Then you awoke, and you were back in your bed in Liyue, and the buzzing weight faded with your unconsciousness. You lay there, perfectly still, gathering your bearings.
It was a dream. The reasoning of reality was soothing, but you still trembled slightly. The memory unsettled you, something's coming... And you had a sudden urge to turn just to make sure Dreamland had left itself in your unconscious, knowing you would find nothing, but wanting to check anyway.
You turned over and found no one. Literally no one was there, which was somehow worse. There was no looming presence, no malicious pair of eyes or menacing form as you had imagined, but the space next to you on the bed was strangely vacant as well. Your heart rate picked up slightly. Zhongli your husband was a sound sleeper. It was highly unusual for him to be up in the night. And if he was, that meant something was wrong.
But you had agreed if he was plagued by the oppression of days gone by and needed some space to think that he would leave his pillow turned as a sign. Right now the pillow rested in its usual place at the headboard. So maybe he just woke needing to relieve himself, or get a drink.
You tried to reason with yourself, but your unsettled state only grew worse with something palpable to worry about. It was like sleep still clung to part of your mind, making your senses dull and your emotions sharp. Your husband was a steadying presence next to you, and all you wanted was to see his peaceful form in his place on the sheets so you could rest easy and go back to sleep.
When a minute passed and still he had not returned, the unease that tugged at your mind grew. You could hear your own breathing in the silence, shallow and twice as fast as it should be. Twice, thrice? How did you normally breathe? His breath was always slow and constant—where was he?
Something's coming.
The thought crept in unwarranted, the ghosting memory of a whisper against your ear. And your stomach dropped. Zhongli. For a moment, a terrible, cold, deathly still moment, your tongue was stone and would not move. Then the cry lurched up in your throat and shattered the glass barrier of silence.
" Zhongli! "
Nothing.
One heartbeat, two, three. Too many in half a second as your pulse raced.
Footsteps thudded up the stairs. The silhouette was his, familiar and reassuring, when it burst through the doorway, but he didn’t pause there. He dashed straight to your bedside and you felt so relieved you thought you might cry. He bent down with his hands on the edge of the mattress, which dipped beneath his weight. Finally he was close enough you could make out his face, eyes wide and searching in concern, lips parted.
“What’s wrong?” he asked at once, his voice raspy with worry.
You could only stare at him for a moment, relief at his presence and residual fear and confusion at the way it all swirled and twisted in your mind. He was here. Zhongli was here. Everything was okay, but the fear had felt so real.
One of his hands reached out towards your face, but hesitated, his eyes still searching. Tendrils of his dark hair slipped over his bare shoulder and brushed your arm.
“I was scared.” You whispered simply.
Zhongli’s eyebrows curled and his eyes were gentle. I want to help , they said. His hand fully captured your cheek now. “What happened?” he said softly.
You scooted over and he willingly slid into bed beside you. The feel of the mattress dipping as he put his knee upon it, the sound of his barely-audible grunt as he lowered himself, was comforting in its familiarity. He laid beside you, angling himself so he leaned over you with most of his weight supported by the bed. He wrapped an arm around you, pulling you into his chest, shielding you under his body.
He waited, calm and steady, for you to collect your thoughts, stroking his thumb over your back.
“I was...I...I had a dream.” You frowned, troubled by the memory despite the current clarity of reality. “And then you were gone. And it all frightened me.” You spread your fingers over his chest, feeling his heartbeat, the rise and fall of his chest in time with his breath fanning warm over your face. Steady. He always made you feel steady.
He kissed your forehead, then pressed his own to yours. His arms squeezed you just a little tighter. “I’m sorry, turtle dove. Are you still frightened?”
“No.”
“Good.” The smile was evident in his voice. “I’m sorry I wasn’t here to comfort you initially, and that my absence concerned you further.”
“I’m glad you’re here now. You’ve helped considerably.” You slipped down a little and snuggled further into his chest.
“‘Considerably’?” he echoed. “It appears my speech has been affecting you, my dear.”
You giggled quietly, just puffs of air so as to not break the intimacy of the moment.
“All the same,” he continued, “I am glad as well.”
After another moment you asked, “Do you need to finish what you were taking care of?” As much as you didn’t want him to leave, even for a few minutes, you would feel guilty if he still had matters to take care of and he didn’t finish for your sake.
“Ah, I was just making myself a cup of tea. A rather spontaneous thing to do in the middle of the night, I know. But at this point it’s oversteeped and it will do no harm to leave it until morning.”
“Are you sure?” you asked, uncertain.
“Yes. I am quite comfortable here.”
And his tone sounded so pleased and satisfied it made you smile again.
“It is,” you agreed.
He rubbed your back again. “Do you think you can fall asleep again as we are?”
You hummed your assent, pressing a brief kiss to his chest before nuzzling your head back into place. He sighed contentedly into your hair, and together you both drifted into tranquil slumber.