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The people of Teyvat know Liyue as the nation of trade and contracts, but what many don’t know is that there are certain individuals who have another descriptor for it, one they deem far more fitting: the nation of secrets. Of course, the only ones who call it that are the ones in on said secrets.
Taehyung is one of those people, and every day, he wishes he wasn’t.
It’s not like he hates being a part of Liyue’s Abyss Hunters — it’s much more exciting than his slow life in Qingce village. But sometimes, he just thinks that it would be a little nice if they actually let him use all the training they insist he goes through.
He’s been on the training ground for the past twenty minutes knocking down dummies without being allowed to take any breaks. The second he feels like he’s done, another batch of them pop out from thin air. Taehyung has no idea how his instructor, whose name he has not earned the privilege to know yet, is doing all this, but he suspects there’s some kind of magic at his disposal.
But whatever, He’s here to become the best Abyss Hunter he can be, and Abyss Hunters don’t complain, so he sucks it up, and keeps slashing at them with his polearm. He’s fast, but not as fast as he was when he got here.
“Are you feeling tired?” The instructor asks. It’s a trap Taehyung has fallen for once before, and he knows better than to repeat that same mistake.
“No, sir.” He replies, stabbing a dummy straight through the head with the tip of his spear.
“Exactly.” The man nods solemnly and strokes his white beard. “Fights will last many minutes, maybe even hours at times. You must learn to keep your stamina up and improve your endurance to make sure you do not fall before your enemies do.”
If I’m fast and strong enough, no fight will last for more than five minutes , he thinks bitterly, but he doesn’t say anything out loud, and continues fighting silently. He slashes his polearm in a wide arc to spill the stuffing from a particularly large hoard of dummies. Taehyung takes a second to mentally cheer for himself since his only living audience member has been doing nothing but staring at him stoically.
He turns around to look for more of those pesky dummies — and bumps directly into someone. Taehyung bounces back to apologise to them, but the second his eyes meet the figure’s, he falters.
“Watch where you’re going.” Jungkook states gruffly, and Taehyung knows he’s blushing right now. But why would he not be? He’s standing in front of Jungkook, the Abyss Hunters’ best soldier, and a total heartthrob who Taehyung may or may not have a crush on. And who can blame him — Jungkook is absolutely gorgeous. He’s tall, broad, and from the way his dark hair is swept back now, and it shows off his gorgeous face. His forehead is pulled into a slight frown, and there’s something crackling in his dark purple eyes. He crosses his scarred arms in front of him, and stares Taehyung down.
“S-sorry.” He stutters, and lowers his head because he’s too intimidated to meet his harsh gaze.
“What’s going on here?” Jungkook eyes the mutilated dummies, and shakes his head. “Endurance training, eh?” He cocks his head to one side, and looks down at Taehyung. “Did you do all this?”
“Yes.” He whispers, trying his best not to say too many words or he’s worried Jungkook’s going to hear how nervous he is.
“Hm.” Taehyung can’t tell if Jungkook is impressed or disappointed with him, but then he asks, “Say, have you ever been on a mission before?”
Mission . Taehyung’s head snaps up when he hears that word. He’s been dying to go on one for so long and now finally, the opportunity is here. “No, I haven’t.”
“Would you like to join me?”
“Huh?” Taehyung doesn’t want to sound so undignified when he’s talking to Jungkook, but he can’t help it either. The next thing he blurts out is, “Why?” Which feels like an even stupider choice when he says it.
Jungkook smirks at him and starts to chuckle, and all Taehyung can do is watch the way the electro vision that cinches his cloak shut bounces with every laugh.
“Why not? I’ve been looking for some new recruits to join me on expeditions, and I think you’d be a good fit. You seem very skilled.”
Taehyung glances back at the mess behind him. “I… guess.”
“And I see you have a cryo vision too.”
Instinctively, he touches the light blue vision hanging from his belt. “Yes, I do.”
“Perfect.” Jungkook smiles wanly, and nods at him. “We’re leaving at dawn tomorrow. Make sure you’re here on time.” And with that, he disappears into the main building of the headquarters with a dramatic swish of his purple-black cloak.
Taehyung can’t tear his eyes away from the way he struts up the golden stairs so casually, as if he doesn’t have a heavy claymore strapped to his back. How does he even move, let alone fight with such a heavy weapon? He jabs the sharp edge of his polearm in the ground, and props his chin up under the hilt as he stares after Jungkook in wonder.
He still can’t believe that someone as glorious as Jungkook would want him, plain old Kim Taehyung, to help him on a mission now. How exciting.
But he can’t make a fool out of himself in front of Jungkook — he needs to train more. He glances back at the fallen dummies, and yanks out his polearm from the dirt with a renewed vigour, ready to take on whatever challenge his instructor has for him.
They leave for the mission the next day, something that Taehyung was not prepared for. He strolled onto the training grounds, and blanched when he saw Jungkook standing all alone in the middle of it, tapping a foot impatiently.
“Took you long enough,” he grumbles, as Taehyung approaches him.
“Um, what’s happening?”
Jungkook rolls his eyes. “Did you forget yesterday’s conversation so soon?”
“Yesterday…” Taehyung trails off as he tries to recall. “Wait, the mission?”
“Yes,” There’s a bite to Jungkook’s words, and he doesn’t like it much. “Hurry up now, Abyss Heralds don’t wait forever.” And with that, he stalks off towards the main gates that lead out into the city.
Taehyung chases after him, trying to keep up with his long strides, and yelling, “Wait, wait! Abyss Herald? I thought it was going to be Mages!”
Jungkook scoffs. “You think I’d need help with lowly Mages? Do you assume I’m that weak? I could take out three of them in the blink of an eye — don’t underestimate me.”
“I… I’m really sorry.” He mumbles out. All this while he’s been training to take down a Mage, he’s never even fought one personally. And suddenly, he’s in charge of taking down a Herald?
“It’s fine.” The assurance is said so softly, that Taehyung feels calm. Even if he’s not equipped to face the Herald, at least Jungkook is. All he needs to do is trust him.
The Abyss Herald’s hideout is far, further than any distance Taehyung has ever had to travel before. He gets exhausted multiple times throughout, and keeps pleading for breaks, but all it takes is a tight shake of the head from Jungkook, and he shuts up.
After walking for what feels like days, Jungkook stops at the edge of a cliff, and sits on a large stone mound that overlooks a beautiful landscape of lofty mountains and green plains. Taehyung plops down next to him, and wonders if it would be too weird if he leaned against him. Once he deems it would be, he asks, “How far are we?”
“Not very.” Jungkook stares into the horizon, and takes out a flask of water from under his cloak. He offers it to Taehyung, who is hesitant to accept it at first, but is convinced when he says, “You need to stay hydrated. You can’t fight a Herald exhausted.”
I can’t fight one at full strength , he thinks to himself, but as he does with all his thoughts, he keeps it in.
While he takes a cautious sip from the flask, Jungkook asks, “Do you think Liyue is the best place in Teyvat?”
What a strange question. “I guess? I mean, I haven’t actually been anywhere else.”
“Really? You’ve never been anywhere else?”
Taehyung lowers the flask to look up at him, and frowns. “Why would you say it like that? No, as far as I remember, I’ve lived in Liyue my whole life. Even if I have been elsewhere it would’ve been before—” He catches himself before he goes on.
But Jungkook latches on to his words. “Before what?”
“Before…” He bites down on his lip. “Oh god, this is so embarrassing. You see… when I was a kid, like ten or eleven, I had this accident, and I kinda lost a good chunk of my memory before that time. I don’t really tell a lot people about it, because they think I’m stupid, but I’m not! I just forgot a lot of my past, which doesn’t matter to me because whatever memories I do have are nice ones.”
“Taehyung…” Jungkook says his name so breathily, it makes his toes curl. He puts a hand on Taehyung’s cheek, and strokes it slowly. The calluses on Jungkook’s hand feel like sandpaper, but he leans into his touch. This is what he’s always wanted, and he can’t believe he has him here like this. Taehyung waits for Jungkook to lower his head… brush their lips together… but he draws away, and picks up the flask in Taehyung’s hands. He takes a long swig of it, and gets to his feet.
“Let’s get moving.” He announces, and starts walking off again. Taehyung scrambles to his feet, and runs after him, feeling disappointed that he didn’t have his moment with him.
Maybe after the mission, he could try again. But first, he had to survive it.
“We’re here.”
Taehyung stares at the void in front of them, and gulps. “That looks terrifying.”
Jungkook side eyes him, and sighs deeply. “You want to fight the Abyss Order, but a little darkness like this scares you?”
“It’s not just a little darkness — and he’s gone again.” Taehyung is tired of running after Jungkook like this, but that’s just what happens when you have to work with an experienced adventurer: learn to deal with them running headfirst into danger. So he takes a deep breath, and steps in.
He trudges through a thick fog, and it suffocates him. His vision’s been compromised, and he’s just walking around blindly, but the torture finally ends, and he ends up in a stone-hewn room, Jungkook standing in the middle of it.
Once he spots Taehyung, he spares him a glance, and disappears deep into the chamber.
“Are you kidding me?!” He whisper yells, and runs after Jungkook for what he hopes is the last time for today.
The chamber is long and winding, but it doesn’t branch off in random directions, so he doesn’t get lost. He follows the echo of Jungkook’s footsteps, and wonders why the Herald decided to hide so far deep inside. Was it bored? Did it just just not have anything better to do, and just wanted to piss off whichever idiot was stupid enough to go after it?
The footsteps stop, and he thinks they’ve reached the end, but they’re standing at what looks like the lip of a cliff. Unlike the one they stopped at before, there’s no scenic view in front of them, just floating platforms that shift on thin air. Underneath is just a deep, deep chasm that seemingly leads down to nowhere.
“You need to be careful on these.” Jungkook warns him. “They’ll crumble if you stand on them for too long. We have to get on those together.”
Without any notice, he grabs Taehyung’s shoulder, and leaps on one of the platforms. Jungkook lets go of him after they land, and he slips his fingers into Taehyung’s to hold on to him.
“Don’t let go of me.” Jungkook says.
“Never.”
When the platform finishes half a revolution, it starts to shake, and Jungkook jumps to the one approaching them, with Taehyung in tow. When they make it to the second platform, the one behind crumbles into dust.
“Woah.” Taehyung breathes out. “That was terrifying, what the hell?”
“Less chit-chat, more jumping.” Jungkook snaps, and he shuts up immediately. There’s a stupid part at the back of Taehyung’s brain that’s absolutely smitten by how good Jungkook sounds when he’s ordering him around, and wants to rebel more just to hear him talk back to him roughly, and this other part that’s yelling at him to listen to Jungkook if you want to survive, idiot!
He listens to the latter for now, but puts a pin on the first voice.
Five of those hellish platforms later, they make it back on solid ground. But the danger isn’t over yet, because the second they stop to catch their breath, large purple orbs crackling with some kind of dark energy appear out of thin air behind them. Taehyung knows whatever is in those orbs is evil because of the way his skin prickles at the sight of them.
“Taehyung, run!” Jungkook exclaims, tightens the grip on his hand, and bolts. He’s grateful for it, because if didn’t have him, he would probably just stand there, mesmerised by the swirl of energy in them.
“What are these things?!” Taehyung yells.
“They’re… I don’t know what they’re called, all I know is that if they touch you, you’ll be vaporised immediately.”
That’s all the motivation he needs to make himself run faster.
Luckily for them, though, the orbs don’t chase them for long, and the second they step foot into a round stone chamber, they evaporate without a single trace.
Taehyung’s learned by now that this doesn’t mean they’re out of danger, and he’s right. A swirling dark portal materialises in front of them, and from it steps out a tall figure, and while he’s never seen an Abyss Herald before, he knows that this is definitely one.
The Herald roils with dark energy so concentrated, it makes the orbs from before feel like a breeze. What’s standing before them is pure evil, and he needs to get rid of it.
Without a single word, Taehyung unsheathes his polearm from his back, and charges at it with a loud cry —
— only to be tossed back by a casual slash. He groans in pain, and looks up to see Jungkook step up, and go against. As Taehyung watches him fight, he finally sees why he’s lauded so much for his skills. Despite the bulk of his weapon, Jungkook moves like lightning. His movements are fast and nimble, his claymore looking nothing more than a violet arc slashing through the air. He lands hit after hit, and it’s a glorious sight to behold.
Once the Herald slows down, Taehyung steps in, his cryo powers accumulating at the tip of his polearm. Once he thinks he’s got enough, he charges in again, and stabs the Herald directly in the heart.
The Herald lets out a choked sob, and collapses. Taehyung’s eyes widen in excitement, but Jungkook yells, “Stay back, it’s getting ready for phase two!”
“Phase two? What’s phase two?” Just as he asks the question, the Herald begins to levitate, and binds itself with chains of hydro, until it fully engulfs itself in it. The hydro cocoon explodes, and Taehyung is flung back.
“That is phase two.” Jungkook says bluntly, and hoists up his claymore. “It has a hydro shield now. Do you see why I brought you along?”
“Because I can freeze it?”
“Yes.”
Taehyung hesitates. If he could barely tackle phase one, how’s he going to make it in phase two?
“You’re my biggest hope right now.” Jungkook pleads. “I can’t do this without you.”
Jungkook needs his help — he can’t let him down right now. Taehyung tries to channel in as much of his cryo powers as he can on his weapon, and when the Herald swoops forward to attack, he slashes his polearm… and it continues unfettered. Twin hydro waves knock him down to the floor for the millionth time today.
“What the hell?” He mutters, and finds himself pinned down by the Herald.
“I must say,” the Herald starts to talk, and it makes Taehyung shudder because of how deep its voice sounds. “I did not expect him to be so… weak. Couldn’t get a single hit in. I was going to let him try and beat me in this form, but one knock and he’s out. There’s no fun in that.”
“You must forgive him.” Jungkook says, and steps around to stand next to Taehyung. “He’s lost a large amount of his memories. I don’t think he recalls anything about his past. Besides, he was adopted by a pair of farmers, I’m pretty sure he was never trained to fight until we got him to join the Abyss Hunters.”
How does he know who my parents are? And why is he talking about me like he’s… known me for a while?
“A shame.” The Herald clicks its tongue. “Just when we needed him the most. The Abyss Order is dwindling in numbers, and here we have our last hope, on the verge of death over a single blow. Is he really our last hope?”
“Yes.” Jungkook says fiercely, and kneels next to Taehyung. “All he needs is more time, and more training. He’s only been learning to fight for six months, and he received his vision about a month ago. Compared to that, he’s made a lot of progress.”
“Well, speed it up!” The Herald shouts. “We don’t have much time! Many threats loom overhead. The fate of the Abyss Order lies in his hands.”
“W…what…” Taehyung musters the courage to ask. “What are you talking about? Why am I the last hope of the Abyss Order? I’m just a farm boy from Qingce village I… what do any of you expect me to do?”
Jungkook sighs, and runs his fingers through his hair. “Taehyung, you… you aren’t who you thought you were. You’re not just some farm boy, you are a child of Khaenri’ah, and our fallen nation’s last hope.”
“A child of what?” Khaenri’ah? What even is that?
“You do not know Khaenri’ah?!” The Herald bellows. “Your own homeland?”
Taehyung huffs, annoyed. “Haven’t we already established I lost my memory ages ago? And that I don’t remember a lot of stuff from my past?”
“Useless.”
“Don’t call him that.” Jungkook retorts. “He’s trying his best. The archon-worshippers did a decent job of laying down some ground work, and building him up to be more of a fighter. A couple of years with me, and he’ll be the best warrior the Abyss Order has ever seen.”
“He better be.” The Herald finally lets go of Taehyung. The portal that it entered from pops up again, and it slowly retreats backwards into the void, and disappears.
Taehyung lets Jungkook to help him get to his feet, but once he’s upright, he slams Jungkook’s chest with the flat of his palm and yells, “What the hell just happened?!”
“Look, I can explain—”
“You better!” Taehyung slaps his chest a little harder this time, and now with both hands. “So you’ve just been lying to all of us about yourself? You don’t fight the Abyss Order — you’re one of them? And I am, too?”
Jungkook nods.
“Fuck you.” He seethes. “I can’t believe this. All this while I looked up to you, I trust you, and you do this? Be a double agent and sabotage everyone?”
“You’re a double agent yourself, you know.”
“No, I didn’t!” Taehyung explodes. “That’s the whole point! I didn’t know I was supposed to be working against Liyue. I don’t want to be the Abyss Order’s last hope, I want to be Liyue’s. That’s the place I grew up in, and that’s the place I want to protect. You keep saying I’m a child of Khaenri’ah, but I remember nothing. I don’t have any connection to it.” He forces out a laugh. “For all I know, you’re lying to me about this whole thing.”
Now it’s Jungkook’s turn to be annoyed. “Liyue is not your home. Khaenri’ah is.”
“Not a great home if they kicked me out.”
“Our nation has fallen. The beloved archons that the people of Teyvat worship wiped us out for being so advanced without having any gods of our own. You are protecting the wrong people. Trust me, we are on the right side. Let me spend some time around you, and show you the horrors of the cataclysm, and maybe you’ll understand why we’re so desperate.”
“I…”
“You may not remember anything from your past,” Jungkook reaches out to tuck a lock of Taehyung’s hair behind his ear. “But I remember you. We grew up together, before we were sent to Teyvat to avenge our nation. Did you forget everything we were?”
“Everything we were before…” Taehyung tries to recall something, anything, from his youth. He squeezes his eyes shut, and tries, tries, tries , but— “I’m sorry, I don’t remember anything.”
Jungkook puts his hand on his cheek again, and Taehyung’s reminded of just a few hours ago when they were in the same position. He’d felt so fluttery, so full of love, but now all he has in him is a coil of confusing emotions.
“Maybe this might jog your memory.” Jungkook leans in, and tilts his head to kiss Taehyung.
For months, Taehyung had wondered what it would be like to kiss Jungkook, whether he’d be gentle with him, or be more aggressive.
The first thing he thinks is that he’s gentle, he’s so gentle. The second is that this isn’t the first time they’ve done this. A snippet of a memory flashes through his mind — the two of them were younger and smaller, but Taehyung was just slightly taller than Jungkook back then, and he had to bend down to reach him.
Taehyung wraps his arms around his waist, and draws back just long enough to whisper, “‘I’ll find you again on the other side’. That’s the last thing I told you before we were sent to Teyvat, wasn’t it?”
“You remembered.” Jungkook laughs, sounding relieved.
“Not… everything.” He admits. “Just that much. I don’t really remember other memories, but… you meant a lot to me. I can tell that.” Taehyung tightens his grip on Jungkook. “I’m sorry I forgot you.”
“It’s fine, I understand now. The Abyss Order was confused when you stopped showing any interest in fighting and started becoming a farmer like your parents. We figured something went wrong but didn’t have a way to directly contact you without alerting everyone about us, and since I was going undercover to try and infiltrate the Abyss Hunters anyway, we figured out a way to initiate you into and see what was up but… when you arrived it was clear you didn’t know who I was, and you were kind of scared of me, even?” He laughs softly and shakes his head. “I kind of did suspect it was memory loss, but I was in denial over it. I couldn’t stomach the thought of you forgetting me… especially after everything we’d been through.”
“Is that why you used to look so pissed all the time?”
“Partially.”
“Wow.” Taehyung clicks his tongue as he lets all that sink in. “Wow, that’s… unexpected.”
“I know it’s a lot to take in.” Jungkook looks down at him sadly. “What you decide to do with this information is up to you now, but I want to let you know no matter what it is, I’ll be with you for whatever you choose.”
Of all the things Taehyung had expected him to say, that was not one of them. “What?”
“You’re not just going to turn into a fighter for the Abyss Order just because I told you about your roots, you don’t feel any love for it.”
“What about all that ‘Liyue isn’t your home, Khaenri’ah is’ speech?”
“Did it work?”
“Um. Not really.”
Jungkook lets out a tired sigh. “I know it didn’t. But you… you always protected me when we were younger. I know there’s no point in saying this but I still remember all the times you had my back, and it’s time I have yours.”
“You can’t be serious.” Taehyung’s eyes widen in shock. “You do realise having my back means turning yours on the Abyss Order?”
“I don’t care.” Jungkook takes Taehyung’s hands in his. “I may be loyal to Khaenri’ah, but I’m more loyal to you.”
“Jungkook, you don’t have to do this, we’re going to get into so much trouble! What happens when the Abyss Order finds us again? What do we do?”
“We fight together, side by side, until the very end. Because that’s what we’ve always done.”
“What we've always done…” Taehyung doesn’t remember anything of that sort, but deep down, he knows it’s true, it has to be.
“I know it’s hard to trust me right now, and I won’t force you to do it, either. If you want to go back to Liyue without me, I’ll get it. But if—”
“I’ll stay with you.”
Jungkook is taken aback. “What?”
“Do what you promised the Herald you would do, and teach me how to fight so that when the Abyss Order comes for us we… we can stand a chance.”
He looks down at Taehyung’s polearm, and bites his lower lip. “Fine, then. I’ll tell the Abyss Hunters that I will oversee your training.”
“Will you just teach me how to fight the Abyss Order?”
“I’ll teach you how to defend yourself so you can be prepared for everything.”
“Jungkook…” Taehyung breathes out, and hugs him. “I love you, thank you.”
“I love you, too, Taehyung.” He says it back. “I always have.”