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One year ago~
Take a fishing trip, Beidou said. It'll be fun! She said. So it would be fun right? WRONG. Inazuma has electric hilichurls that scare away almost all the fish and fry the ones that are too stupid to run. OH and another thing, they electrified all the water so if you fell in you would most definitely get electrocuted. And it would hurt. A lot. It might not kill you, per se, but it would still shock you- in a painful way- if you touched it unsuspectingly. Haha very funny. Shocking how funny that was.
You sighed, staring out at the expanse of ocean, other than the Inazuma Islands, there was no land for miles. You couldn't even see the blob of what would be Liyue from here. Although, the storm cutting Inazuma off from the rest of the world really didn't help.
The storm was something Inazuma's Archon, Baal (or better known as the Raiden Shogun to locals), had cooked up a few months ago. A new decree was announced as well, cutting Inazuma off from the rest of the world, as well as confiscating any visions they could get their hands on. It was crazy. Barely any people could go in, and no one was allowed out - at least not legally anyway. But that didn't stop some people.
The law was really more like guidelines anyway. Yanfei definitely disagreed with this.
You sighed again and turned your gaze to the reflection of the island in the water. It was such a clear image that you could see individual trees and people bustling about. Lots of people actually, more than normal...
You squinted at the water, it never clicked that you could just look at the island itself and see what was going on. There was shouting, rushed and orderly. Probably one of the commissions catching a criminal or something," You muttered to yourself.
Still, you were now very interested. What was this criminal being chased after for? Most of the time the commissions were swift enough to catch anyone almost instantly, so why was this one different? What made them special?
Your eyes were glued to the watery image. There- a person, they were backed up against the cliff. They could jump, but they have no boat, so it's not as if they could really get far. The person kept getting moved closer and closer to the edge, it was holding onto something for dear life, something small and grey- oh. You realized. It's a vision. The reflection person suddenly started getting bigger and bigger in the waterscape. You were puzzled by this, why were they getting bigger-
There was a splash, ripples ebbed away and rocked your little boat. You whirled around and saw the person underneath the water- their eyes closed and bubbles escaping their mouth. They're unconscious. I have to help them!
With that, you dove out of your boat and into the icy electric water. Sure it hurt, but it was worth it if this poor person didn't drown.
You breathed out and opened your eyes, immediately spotting the stranger. They- no he- kind of stuck out against the blue water wearing all that red. Even a streak of his hair is red. You observed.
You reached out and grabbed his arm, dragging him carefully back to your boat. You climbed in first, careful to keep his head above the water, and then dragged him up after you. He wasn't breathing.
As quickly as you could you rowed to a bit of shore, out of sight of the cliff from where he fell, and far enough that whatever commission was chasing him wouldn't get there for a while, you dragged him onto the beach and panicked. Like any sane person would do if a criminal fell into the water and it was up to you to save their life.
"Uh, um. Chest compressions should get the water out. Right??? Isn't that what Beidou said?" You spoke to yourself, attempting to organize your thoughts. And so chest compressions is what you did.
Hands laced together, placed over the centre of his chest, up and down in a repeated rhythm. Should all go well he'd be coughing up water and gasping for breath in like a minute- right?
Yeah, so that didn't work as well as you had hoped and he still wasn't breathing. Your mind raced, trying to zero in on the solution.
Only one thought came to mind, mouth to mouth. Your face turned red, this was to a stranger! Someone you didn't even know the name of! Sure, you'd be fine with doing it to Beidou or any other member of the Crux's crew, but to someone who you knew nothing about? And what if they really were evil? Should you actually save their life anyways?
You took a deep breath and plunged your lips into his. Forcing air into his lungs. Seconds later he started to cough and you jerked back and sighed in relief.
He gasped and his eyes flew open, his chest heaving as he took in breath after breath. You froze, staring into his eyes. They were beautiful. As was he- you mean whaatttttt. You weren't turning red- that was a trick of the light! But seriously, you could get lost staring into those eyes for hours.
"What-" He started to speak then paused, thinking. Oh god, even his voice is beautiful. "What happened? How long have I been out?" He queried.
"Oh, not long at all! Just like ten minutes... I think? I don't have the best sense of time but really, it can't have been more than ten minutes- I mean you weren't even breathing for the majority of it and ya know, you would have died if it was all that long? So really- I uh. As for what happened? I'm not sure. you fell off a cliff, started drowning and I just saved you?" You rushed. Oh archons, your heart was going a mile a minute.
"I see..." The red-eyed beauty trailed off. He looked at the sky. You looked at him, taking in every detail. The platinum blonde hair, the streak of red, the leafy pattern of his clothes, and the inscription on his katana sheath. You couldn't exactly read it, but it probably meant something deep or inspiring, or terrifying because, you know, it is a sword.
You blinked once, then twice. And idea dawning on you. "Hey..." you started slowly, "So I'm guessing you don't have any place to go now... especially with the law enforcement after you. So why don't you come back to the ship I work on? Beidou will definitely welcome you and the crew's nice- sure they can be a little rowdy at times, but still. We could take you to somewhere safe, like Liyue or maybe Fontaine.
He considered it for a moment and then smiled. Arrow straight to the heart. He nodded, "yes... I think that would be good. But only if your captain agrees."
You grinned. "Oh don't worry about that, I'll convince her easily."