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English
Series:
Part 10 of Genshin Drabbles
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Published:
2021-12-07
Words:
365
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1/1
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Catharsis

Summary:

It's the end of the line, and Lumine is about to leave Teyvat.

-----

Aka, Venti gives Lumine one last moment to remember her adventure with.

Notes:

(See the end of the work for notes.)

Work Text:

The ground felt like it swayed beneath her feet, as she looked out of the window of her (now bare) room. It was over; the Abyss defeated, Celestia heavily compromised... Her brother was back, but not in the way she thought he would be. All of the people that joined her on her adventures stood behind her the moment she watched his massacre. Everyone she knew saw he was too far gone, and they watched her as she forced him to stand down, in front of the Unknown God, watching. God, they were watching.

He was gone for good now, and she was preparing to go home alone in a week, leaving Teyvat. She never cried on this journey, there was too much stress and pressure keeping her in check for her to allow any weaknesses. But now she lost everything, where she expected catharsis, she was only met by agony. Pure and utter agony, a weight that seemed to be able to circle around her body, making her immobile for a good while, every time she went back to her room. 

Her friends tried to take her out on "last goodbye hangouts" before she left, so they could say everything they needed to, so nothing would be left unsaid. Inevitably, with that came also one last huge party, where everybody from every nation she travelled through came to hug her one more time.

In front of those pearly gates she entered this world with, she turned around too all of her companions. The weight seemed to come back, quicker than she expected. There was only one person left to hug her. Venti. The first person she met in this world, other than Paimon. His footsteps echoed against the marble bridge, as his arms wrapped around her, a counterweight to the heaviness she already felt. There was nothing to be said, as she embraced his shoulders, and buried her face in the crook of his neck, finally feeling everything leave her, for just a single moment.

The wind blew away her tears afterwards, as if it was softly caressing her, and she knew that she was blessed by its Archon. 

"Have a safe trip, Lumine."

Notes:

Heya! Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed it!

A bit of explanation as to why I decided to go this route, as it's not really conventional. You see, I see Lumine as someone who wouldn't be able to, well, stay in one place. She is meant to be a traveller, no matter where she goes. So, even with her brother gone (as is insinuated here), and nowhere else left to go to, she would still jump into the unknown, instead of staying there where she is familiar. It might be a bit of a bad coping mechanism, and she might regret it in the long run, but it's just who she is.
Here I imagine Venti knowing this, and understanding her to that point, thus giving her one last goodbye, treating her as if she was still worthy of their affection and love, despite abandoning them, basically. It's why she cries, and finally feels the pressure leave her, in my opinion.

Of course, you're allowed to have your own interpretation of it and her character! I just wanted to clarify what went through my head as I wrote this, so nobody gets confused, lmao.

As always, the prompt is "Character X, who is always strong for the others, allows themselves to be weak in front of them" (as it's not that obvious from the title this time, lmao), and I found it in the drabble section of the Fanfic Library discord server! If you have time, do check them out.

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