Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Chapter 1: A Sudden Gale

The light from the windows had long faded to black nothingness—the stars above were not strong enough to cast their light inside Angel’s Share. Mondstat’s local tavern, owned by Dawn Winery, had officially closed.

Diluc was cleaning up behind the bar. He had already cleaned the floor and set the chairs at the proper places. The door wasn’t locked, but the sign had been flipped to closed. Despite this, a familiar bard still entered the tavern.

There was only one reason that Diluc didn’t throw the bard—Mondstat’s archon though he be—out of his business. Venti didn’t look well. He wasn’t pale, but he was wide eyed. His usual curiosity and cheerfulness had been replaced by fear.

Diluc didn’t wait for the bard to stop looking around the place. “It’s late,” he said.

“Yes. It is.” A smile was forcibly carved onto his face. He took a seat at the bar. There was a familiar lyre on his belt and a bow on his back.

There was no mention of it being an inconvenience for Diluc or an apology. Nor was there a mention of the sign outside.

Winds that did not belong inside of a building with closed windows started to flow around the tavern. The tablecloths fluttered. The utensils and decorations were heavy enough to not be affected.

Diluc didn’t complain. If Barbatos had showed up like this, something big was happening. Archons didn’t just randomly walk into Angel’s Share past midnight looking shaken and ready to jump at any sudden scare. Instead of saying anything, Diluc found a bottle of Venti’s favorite wine, and put it on the counter.

Venti’s smile seemed a bit more natural as he quickly uncorked the bottle. He closed his eyes as he drank.

If Diluc didn’t know Venti wasn’t a normal human, he would have been concerned for how quickly he chugged a half of the bottle.

The winds calmed down slowly, drugged into compliance.

Venti leaned forwards and smushed his cheek against the smooth wooden countertop. There was a steady red flush on his face now. “I thought you’d have interrogated me by now,” he muttered. He cracked open one green eye to stare at the bartender.

Diluc crossed his arms. “You wouldn’t have answered,” he testily pointed out.

Venti was cheerful, but he was also slippery. He always had a distraction ready to change the conversation away from uncomfortable questions.

The bard muttered something else, then shifted so his mouth was free of the countertop. “I need you to do something for me.”

Diluc started to take inventory of what had been sold during his shift that night. They needed quite a bit more of dandelion wine. It wouldn’t be too hard to send it in with whoever had to come in to work the bar tomorrow morning. He just needed to tell Adelinde or Elzer when he got home tonight.

Venti elaborated, “It’s kind of a big favor, so I’m calling in on your family oath, Ragnvinder.” The drunken Archon propped an elbow on the bar counter and leaned in with a serious look. “No one else can know about this.”

Diluc straightened up. He had even more questions now, but if this was problematic enough to require something about the family’s oath to protect Mondstadt. . . “What do I need to know?”

“I need you to hide something for me.”

“What?”

Venti gestured for Diluc to wait. He took another swig of his wine and unbuttoned part of his shirt. After a moment, he pressed his hand against his chest. There was a twist of pain to his features, dulled by the wine. His fingers seemed to pass through his skin and rib cage, into his heart. He grasped and pulled at something when he seemed to find what he was looking for.

Diluc put down his list quickly, not sure what to say at the sight. He was just glad he hadn’t been handling anything breakable.

With a final tug, Venti pulled out something from inside of his chest. He unfurled his hand to reveal a light blue chess piece. He was rather pleased with the result. “Huh. That hurt less than I remember.”

“What did you do?” Diluc heard himself faintly ask. He was still trying to process everything that was going on.

“This thing is my gnosis, the Anemo Gnosis. It’s sort of the source of my power.” Venti scratched his chin as he thought for a moment. “One of my sources of power,” he revised. Without further clarification, he held out his gnosis towards Diluc.

Diluc cursed. “And you want me to take it?” He ran a hair through his hair and kept the other firmly by his side.

“I want you to keep it safe for me.” Venti paused and added, “And maybe a fake one for me to replace it with.” If he wasn’t able to stop the Fatui from discovering his true identity, then a fake gnosis would buy him some time.

“Who are you trying to fool?”

“Fatui.” Venti shook his hand a bit, letting the gnosis roll back and forth across his palm. “I need you to take it.”

“Why me?”

“You’re one of the only two Ragnvindrs and you love this country. If I asked you to give your life to protect Mondstadt, it wouldn’t even be a question.” Venti seemed a mix of happy and sad as he said that, a touch of pride hiding underneath those two emotions as well.

Diluc held his hand out and let Venti place the gnosis in his hand. He shivered slightly at the strange feeling. It reminded him almost of connecting to his Delusion, except the gnosis only brushed against his skin and mind in a soft, soothing manner. He was thankful that there was no actual attempt to cross into his mind.

Venti smiled and stood up. The wine bottle was tucked against his side and the cork was jammed back on in one quick movement.

Diluc didn’t feel like it was a good idea to let a drunk archon that was acting paranoid and strange wander the streets unaccompanied. “Where are you going?”

Now that was taken care of, the Archon seemed more genuinely cheerful—or perhaps that was just the wine. Venti smiled and gave a thumbs up towards the bar as he explained, “I need to stop an old friend from faking his death for the sake of Teyvat, then if I have time I’ll go stop by some other friends’ places.” He walked towards the door as he made that announcement of his departure.

Before Diluc could say anything more, the door had closed once again.

Venti had come in as swift as the wind, and as swift as the wind he left. It was appropriate behavior for an Anemo Archon, but rather unusual for the cheerful chatterbox that would say ten goodbyes before he actually left anywhere.

With the bard gone, Diluc set the gnosis down on the counter. He wiped his hands off and stared at the closed door.

If not for the very real, pulsing heart of a god that he had before him, Diluc would have thought he had been in a weird dream for the past thirty minutes.

He picked up the gnosis again, ignoring the breeze against his palm, and put it in his inner breast coat pocket. A better hiding place would have to wait until he got home tonight.

Chapter Text

Chapter 2: If Wind in the Past has Weathered Stone, What Can Wind from the Future Do?

Rex Lapis heard Barbatos before he saw his old friend.

The wind carried a whisper sometimes, all the way from Mondstadt. It would be something funny, or something stupid, or something entirely random that Rex Lapis could make no sense of.

However, those were whispers.

This….

This was a roaring rendition of a sea shanty carried by a swift morning breeze that curled through the window.

“So, follow me lads
‘cause this 'ain't no grog or ale
One pint down you'll be swingin’ in the gale
Five pints bully,
You’ll be shakin' in your shoes
We're half-seas over on the Joli Rouge”

Most likely, Barbatos was in the streets and had already drawn the mortals attention. Rex Lapis paused to listen and was proven right. He heard several new voices that had joined into the chorus, likely the sailors of the Crux.

Rex Lapis put a hand to his head and sighed. He placed his pen down and left the Wangsheng Parlor. He left a notice to Hu Tao that something had come up and he was done with work for today.

The human identity he was developing hadn’t been revealed to any of the Adepti. He would prefer for the Anemo Archon to also be in the dark, or Barbatos would meddle in his matters.

He trusted that the mortals would slow Barbatos down—they always did.

When he reached the outskirts of Liyue Harbor, he went further into the foothills before transforming into his natural form. He drew far more attention as a dragon, but that was the point. He wanted to draw Barbatos’ attention away and have whatever important conversation this was in privacy.

Rex Lapis crouched on the tallest cliff with a view of Liyue Harbor.

Barbatos soon arrived. He had flown up with the help of the wind rather than his wings. “Hello old blockhead!”

“Bard.”

Barbatos smiled and shook the bottle in his hand. “There’s still half left for you.”

Rex Lapis considered it for a moment then took a more human form. It wasn’t the fully human appearance he had when pretending to be a mortal; his arms were still scaled and clawed.

Barbatos sat down on the grass and looked out over the sea that futilely slammed itself against the base of the cliffs.

Rex Lapis opened up his mouth to say a proper greeting. He wondered when Barbatos had come out of slumber, and for how long, but he wasn’t rude enough to pry into his friend’s life. Although he wondered how the archon was able to trust that Mondstadt would not be dust each time he went to sleep—Rex Lapis would not have ever been able to do the same.

Barbatos looked back at Rex Lapis. His expression was complicated. “Are you thinking about retiring?”

Surprise was the first that Rex Lapis experienced. After, something desperate, something fierce, bled back into Rex Lapis, the thing that had given him the name God of War. It was what had led to his survival—the willingness to kill any threat. “How much do you know?”

There was a spear at Barbatos’ throat. It was made of dirt and stone, but the edge on it existed nonetheless.

Barbatos made careful eye contact and patted the grass beside him. He had never cared for being threatened. “Let’s talk then.”

Zhongli let the polearm crumble into dust.

“Wow, really provoked a sleeping dragon, huh,” Barbatos joked. “Haven’t seen you that agitated in years.”
The bottle was offered to Rex Lapis and he drank half of what remained. Barbatos slapped the older archon on the shoulder and took the quarter that was left. They talked, for a while, of Rex Lapis’ plans and Barbatos’ awakening. Old memories were shared again. Shadows started to stretch out from the cliffs as the sun stood in the West and moved forward.

“Have you made a contract with the Tsarita yet?” Barbatos questioned. There was some hope in his tone.

“We are still in negotiations.”

Barbatos let out a long sigh in relief.

The breeze that had been stirring around settled down a bit.

Rex Lapis wasn’t aware that Barbatos had a disagreement with the Cryo Archon. It had to be a big one if Barbatos was here to convince him not to make a contract with her.

Barbatos leaned back. “I get having a fighting test, but like, have you thought about how they’ll make Mora with you gone?”

Rex Lapis would have found it uncharacteristic of his fellow archon to say something so gravely if not for the few times they had strategized together during the Archon Wars. He tucked away the thought that Barbatos was acting like he did during war times into the back of his mind to ponder over later. His brow furrowed. “I take your point.”

“Blockhead.” Barbatos shook his head. He looked at the sunset that barely peeked over the mountains in the West and decided, “I’m going to sleep here.” There was a travel bag on his back.

“You don’t look like you don’t plan on going home,” Rex Lapis pointed out. He wasn’t that surprised as his friend had done this before a few times.

“I have at least one more person to talk some sense into, as soon as I can.” Barbatos waved vaguely towards the sea, towards the South East of Liyue.

Rex Lapis hadn’t expected that answer. He had been thinking more along the lines of adventure, or stretching one’s legs, the types of reasons Barbatos gave before for traveling. “What happened to you?”

It wasn’t just Barbatos’ attitude, there was a sense of urgency in his movements and the winds that followed him.

Venti smiled for the first time in the conversation. “A lot of things. Well, a few of them were good.” He fiddled with the empty bottle.

Rex Lapis stared and waited. When twilight fell, he gave up on getting any answers out of the slippery bard and instead, turned into his original form once again. He curled up beside the wind sprite.

With the sound of the wind in their ears and the hum of the earth in their chests, both of them fell asleep.