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Mondstadt: the city of Wind, Freedom, and most importantly to some, alcohol. I didn’t know much about this dinky little nation before my assignment, and in all honesty I couldn’t care less about learning more about it. All I knew was that it was fairly underdeveloped compared to the other countries in Teyvat, very unlike Fontaine or Snezhnaya. And I think my point is further proven because I saw that they still use wooden pull carts to transport most of their goods, like they’re a bunch of farmers or something.
Unfortunately for me, I’m not here to be a tourist or savor my visit in Mondstadt in some way. I can’t even try any of their renowned Dandelion Wine sadly. It also would’ve been something good to smuggle that would be worth a lot of Mora in Inazuma. No… my situation is much worse than that.
It’s late at night, nearly midnight I would like to guess, as the same cold winds that move the blades of the several tall windmills in this city blew on me and my face mask. My simple white shirt and scarf were blown lightly by the gust getting more folds and creases in them. A few dandelion seeds and tree leaves were carried by this same wind and I could see them fly away over the lake behind the city.
I am standing atop the Church of Favonious with a pushbroom in one hand, and another hand is whipping the sweat off of my forehead. Those damn Knights of Favonius….. punishing me with cleaning up the entirety of the Church after catching and arresting me. Don’t they have ANY idea how much crap is up here? When’s the last time they have ever cleaned this stupid rooftop, or do they even clean it at all?
My assignment in Mondstat was simple actually. Some foolish merchant was talking too loudly about the place he kept his stash of all of his savings, and my other fellow members overheard him. They sent me and a couple of other members to go to the place it was kept in, and I believe it was in some area called Springvale if my memory is not failing me. When we actually got to the little hidey spot his savings were in, he caught us red handed and ran to alert the Knights of Favonius. The other guys I was working with were lucky enough to escape in time, but me not so much…
It was that Cavalry Captain, Kaeya, who was the one that apprehended me. Although I don’t really know why he’s called that, there aren’t any horses around here, not that I know of. Just remembering that obnoxious smirk on his face when he looked at me was so… annoying. He looked so smug and snide I would’ve hit him in the face. But there were handcuffs made of ice around my wrists at that time, so I couldn’t do that.
A pile of dead leaves was sweeped off of the church’s roof. I sighed and decided to take a bit of a breather because I was getting tired from working up here for so long. I don’t exactly know how long it has been since Kaeya has told me to clean up the church by myself, but it felt like a couple of hours. I sat down on one of the ledges of the church’s roof to rest. There wasn’t anyone else outside in Mondstatd except for me right now. I had to admit, the nighttime ambience of this town was peaceful when you’re not cleaning your ass off. This nation was much different from Liyue which is what I’m normally used to.
I rested my face on my propped up right hand. There was some kind of flying…… animal? That was flapping near my face like a bird, and it was starting to annoy me. I shooed it away with my left hand and it flew away.
My boss is going to be pissed as hell at me. Yes I did just fail my mission and almost somehow annoyed an icy Calvary Captain into killing me, but it’s alright! I can make up for the losses later. But no, I have to be stuck here cleaning up the church that they’re apparently too lazy to do themselves. And this is all way too much work for just one little treasure hoarder to do!
“GHAAAH!” I yelled into the air to vent my frustration. There was no one else around, as stated before, so I didn’t have to worry about looking like a jackass in public. “Man! Fuck Kayea! Fuck Mondstadt! And Fuck it’s Church! I’m sick of cleaning up all of their shit! Why can’t these lazy-asses do it themselves?!!!”
I pushed my face into my palms. My face and cheeks became scarlet red after using so much energy from yelling like that. Err…. I hope Kaeya or anyone else didn’t hear what I just said. If Kaeya did, he would most certainly double down on my punishments since he already enjoys tormenting me. But it should be fine right? I’m all the way up here, and I don’t think I was being that loud.
I was finished resting, so I stood up to get back to work and finally finish cleaning this church roof. As I reached down to grab the pushbroom, I heard the muffled sounds of chuckling behind me.
“Well….. crud,” I thought to myself. I guess someone did hear me….. somehow. And judging by how they sounded, they definitely were not pleased by what I said. I’m really in for it now. Pleasedon’tbeKaeyapleasedon’tbekaeyapleasedon’tbeKaeya
“My oh my…. Don’t you know any better than to say such foul language in a place as sacred as this?” Came a voice that was light and sultry.
I haven’t turned around yet to get a look at whoever it was, but at least it wasn’t Kaeya I’m pretty sure. So that was a relief! But whoever this was also seemed pissed off….
“I must confess, saying something so boorish out in the open for the world to hear is bold, although incredibly moronic.….” The person’s voice trailed off.
Their voice sounded so silky-smooth and alluring. The feeling it gave me when I heard it was an indescribable amount of comfort and softness. Like a siren’s song beckoning me to come to it and fall prey into their wicked arms.
I turned around nervously to meet the one with such a charming voice. They might sound nice, but I shouldn’t let your guard down just yet.
It was a boy, to a bit of my surprise because of their voice, with pink hair and a set of two different colored eyes, one gray and the other lavender. He had pale, peachy colored skin. He wore a hat with two arrows flattened on the front. I assume that he is from the Church of Favonius because the clothes he was wearing had a similar design to that one nun that also worked there. He had a white cravat with a red cross insignia on the front and a white undershirt. Two golden tassels were hanging from his cravat and he had a black overcoat over his shirt with golden markings on it. I could see that his coat had two spiked tails that were red colored on the inside, almost as if they were wings. He also had white gloves on and wore short white shorts. His legs were adorned in long gray socks and black with gold loafers. There is a black belt around his right thigh, and an even longer belt that was much longer and dangled freely from his body for some reason. Isn’t he cold down there?
I scratched the back of my head trying to think of a way to respond to him. I couldn’t meet the gaze of his peculiar eyes just yet. I don’t know why, on the surface he doesn’t look like he’s much of an intimidating person judging by his lithe figure. But there’s just something about him that makes me feel a little unsettled, or maybe it’s just me.
“W-w-well…. I didn’t think anyone else would hear me up here! Hehe….” I said, nervously.
“I suppose……. But thee shouldst not assume what thee can't see wonneth't beest thither.” The pink haired stranger spoke while leaning in closer. His eyes were widened, focusing in on me and I caught a glimpse of what appeared to be a red color in his eyes instead of his normal gray and lavender ones.
Yikes! What’s with this guy! “O-o-o-oh! I s-see. I’ll, uh, keep that in mind next time. Wait, how did you even get up here?”
“I should be the one asking you that. I don’t see any kind of ladder or vision on your person that could assist you.”
“Err….” I almost didn’t really want to tell him the reason how I got up here. It’s a bit embarrassing. But then I saw him staring at me with those dual colored eyes, pressing me to spill the information. I figured it would be best to please him for now. “The acting grandmaster lady smacked me up here…”
“What?” The boy said. His pink eyebrows were furrowed and he was squinting his eyes at me.
“Well, to be more specific, she held me up and used her anemo vision to launch me up onto the roof. They had trouble finding the ladder that would reach up to the top of the church, so she did it that way to get back to her work quickly. It was lucky that I didn’t get hurt or anything, but my butt still feels sore because I landed on it.” I said, while rubbing my ass for a bit. Oh wait, maybe I shouldn’t have said that, now this might be awkward...
“Pfffft- Hahahahaha!!” The pink-haired male started to chortle. He raised the back of his hand to his mouth while laughing. His pearly white teeth were shown off in the moonlight over the church, and I noticed that he had very sharp canines that were practically fangs.
My face started to flush red from embarrassment as he kept laughing at me. “Hey!” I exclaimed.
“Hehehe… Oh… oh my. I haven’t laughed so hard in ages. Who could’ve imagined that the Acting Grandmaster was capable of such a thing?” He said, wiping the tears from the corners of his eyes. “Sorry, how rude of me to laugh in the face of the clearly misfortunate. Won’t you tell me your name, deary?”
Deary? “It’s (Y/N)...” I said. I tried to correct my posture to look as straight as possible. I didn’t want to be slouching.
“Well, (Y/N), my name is Dahlia. And I am the Deacon of the Church of Favonius.” The pink haired boy put his hand on his chest when introducing himself and walked closer to me. “I’m sure you’re aware of it, right?”
“No, not really. And what’s a Deacon?”
“They’re in charge of administering a Church, making sure all procedures run orderly and all that. And as a Deacon myself, I take my job very seriously.” He said the word “very” in a deeper cadence. “Now that the small talk is out of the way, I’d first like to ask you some questions. Why exactly is some drab Treasure Hoarder was sent onto the roof of MY Church?”
And in an instant, from what I thought was a smooth sounding voice immediately turned rigid and commanding. I was perplexed at how skillful Dahlia was at changing the tone of his words. His heterochromatic eyes stared sternly at me while his two ended cape blew in the wind behind him, so I better answer him.
I tried to put on the best smile I could and give him eye contact, but that glare of his was making it so difficult for me.
“S-so the reason why… uh… Jean, her name was it? Put me up here is because the Knights are punishing me to clean this church. I finished doing all the walls, which took a really long time by the way, but they told me I have to also clean the rooftop of the church as well. And, well, that’s why I’m here…..”
“So the knights are making you do this, I see…” Dahlia held his chin in contemplation. The white moonlight lit up his delicate facial features and shined down on his clothes. He stopped glaring at me once he found out that I wasn’t actually doing anything bad up here. He however still looked skeptical of me. “Hmph, well given that you’re a Treasure Hoarder, I see no reason to doubt their judgment.”
“Hey! You can’t just assume that because I’m dressed in the uniform that I did something bad!”
“Hmm, and I assumed that all Treasure Hoarders were just some lowly, petty thieves that harass the good people of Teyvat into making a quick Mora. Hehe.” He laughed a bit at the end and held his fingers to his mouth, as if he was trying to act coy about what he said.
I felt agitated at his words and said, “No, they’re not all like that Pinkie! Some of them have no other choice, or can be just as good people as anyone else!”
“Why did the knights arrest you, then? And you should know better than to lie to me, dear. So give me all the details.” Dahlia spoke, leaning forward.
I gulped. I told him the truth about what had happened and why I was arrested. Dahlia listened intently to whatever I was talking about. I won’t tell Pinkie anything specific about my mission, of course. Or anything else that pertained to the organization’s secrets. My loyalty will remain to the Treasure Hoarders until my last days, and not even the knights or even this guy will pry them from my cold, dyinghands .
Dahlia began chuckling, he seems to like doing that a lot, as he processed over what I told him about how I was arrested.
“Awwww, you poor thing. Being left here alone, all by your widdle self? Away from all of your thieving friends and family? Stuck in a foreign place as a whipped-around slave…” He said sarcastically. I inwardly cringed at his almost seductive tone. I don’t understand how anyone could speak that way to a complete stranger, it’s so weird.
He walked closer to me while staring into my eyes. He lowered his eyelids halfway and smirked. We were around the same height so he didn’t have to tilt his head up or down to make eye contact. Those different colored eyes of his were so mystifying to look at.
He dragged his finger along my jawline over my facemask and held my chin between his forefinger and thumb as he kept staring into my eyes with his half-lidded, hypnotic gaze. He gave me a small toothy smile, showing off his pearly white teeth. I noticed that he had two sharp canines on the top row of his teeth that looked sharp as knives.
I felt my face get warmer and my cheeks were flushing a rose red color. Just what the hell is this guy doing?!
“But don’t worry dear. I’ll be sure to give you some company.”
I brushed his hand off of my face and backed up from him. “UGGH!!!” His words made me cringe again.
I turned around to pick the pushbroom off of the ground. “Just don’t distract me or get in the way Pinkie! Or better yet, get lost! I’m almost done cleaning this.”
Dahlia wasn’t fazed by my retaliation and still had that playful smirk on his face. “Hehehe, alrighty!” He said, as he started to walk away and leave me to my cleaning duties once again.
Phew… maybe he’ll leave me alone for good now.
Dahlia turned his head to the side to gaze at me again with a smirk. “Oh by the way,” he said, “Once you’ve finished cleaning this roof, just how exactly do you plan on getting down from here?”
I almost dropped the broom from my grasp. Oh yea…
“Uhh…..” I muttered.
“HAHAHA!” He started laughing again. Archons I hate him so much…. “So you’ll need my help after all! Whenever you’re done, I’ll help you down from the church. So you won’t have to worry about breaking any of your little bones, ‘kay?”
He leapt down from the Church’s Rooftop and his presence vanished in almost an instant. He was right, I didn’t have any way to get down from here after I finished. I could wait until morning when the Knights get back here with that big ladder, but who knows when they’ll find it again and I would have to sleep on the cold hard bricks on the church for the rest of the night. Guess I’ll need Pinkie’s help….
As I swept the last pile of leaves off of the rooftop, I felt utterly relieved that my work was finally done. They’ll make me clean up the leaves off of the ground some other day, but I’ll worry about that later. I let out a breathy sigh, taking in the chilly air of Mondstadt’s midnight ambience.
Well crap, I guess I need to call for Dahlia, don’t I?
He didn’t tell me how exactly I was supposed to call for him, so maybe I should just yell out his name loudly? I mean, if my loud ranting got his attention the last time, then this should work fine. Right?
I took in a deep breath, and prepared myself to yell out Pinkie’s real name as loud as I could.
“DAHLIAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”
My bombastic voice echoed through the night. I sat down on one of the ledges on the rooftop to wait for him to come here. I tapped my kneecap with my finger in anticipation. Is it possible he really didn’t hear me? Maybe he went somewhere so far away he couldn’t hear my voice. But surely enough…
There was a puff of dark smoke in front of me and the sounds of bats screeching.
“GHAAAAAA! What the hell!” I yelped out in surprise. He literally appeared out of nowhere!
“Yes…. (Y/N)? Whatever could I do for you? Ahhhh…. thy light, angelic voice beest pleasant to heareth.” Dahlia said, in a sultry tone.
I clutched my hand to my chest, trying to calm down my breathing. “Okay, One: Stop it. And Two: You scared the living shit out of me man! How’d you even do that!!” I exclaimed.
“Khehehe, don’t worry about it (Y/N)...” He giggled. “Some vision users can be more capable than what they seem aside from using their respective elements. You could say that I have some more magical abilities than others. Also, the face you made when you screamed looked really goofy!”
“Shut it.” I put my hand to my forehead. This guy is going to give me an aneurysm I swear. “Okay… Now that you’re here. How are you going to help me down? I finished my work as you can see.”
“Yes, I have noticed the fruits of your hard labor.” Dahlia stood up straight and looked around seeing the tidy rooftop. “A very thorough job. For an incarcerated Treasure Hoarder, you took your job very seriously.”
“Huh? Oh yeah, I guess I did.” I didn’t even realize that you put in that much effort into cleaning the rooftop at the end. It was an instinct of mine to just clean things up thoroughly, especially from living with the boys for so long.
Dahlia looked back at me with a grin. Pinkie’s pink hair was illuminated brightly in the height of the moon’s radiance. “Well now, time to get you down from here, yes? Allow me to demonstrate just another one of my more magical capabilities that I have trained.”
I stared dumbfoundedly awaiting what he was talking about. I was still sitting on the ledge of the church’s roof, and the hard material was starting to make my butt feel sore, so he better hurry up.
Dahlia closed both of his eyes and raised both of his arms out in a 90 degree angle. I squinted slightly trying to figure out what exactly he was trying to do. He almost teleported right in front of me when I called out for him before. So maybe, he was concentrating on a spell to teleport the both of us to the ground?
Suddenly, two black bat wings sprouted from his back making wind that pushed up his clothes and blew into me. The webbing of the wings was thin, just enough where you could see the shadow of something through it. The top edges of the wings were much thicker in flesh and had some fur growing on it.
“Whaaaaaaat!!!” I exclaimed out of complete shock. Is he some kind of bat-person?!
Dahlia opened his eyes and grinned at my reaction.
“Surprised, aren’t you?” He said. I couldn’t say anything in response, I was still in shock. He didn’t seem like he was waiting for me to say anything though.
“I will gladly fly you down from the church if you’ll allow me too. What do you say (Y/N)?” Dahlia spoke.
I lightly shook my head side to side to focus on what he was saying. Well, I’d rather go flying with a batty boy than sleep on some hard-ass bricks for the night.
“Yea, I’m ok with it Dahlia.” I said.
“Wonderful!” He said. He flapped his wings to fly over me and landed somewhere behind me on the church roof.
“Sooo…. How is this going to work? Do ya need to hold my arms or something? Or….” I said, scratching my head. I was trying to figure out what the most optimal flying position for me would be. I didn’t want it to cause too much discomfort for the two of us.
“Or, we can do it…. Like this!!” Dahlia said suddenly and I heard his quick footsteps behind me.
“Like wha- AAAA WOAH!!!”
I yelled as I felt hands grab the sides of my abdomen and lift me off of the ground. The sudden light feeling of being held up in the air is hard to get used to. But it seemed like Dahlia wasn’t going to let me adapt to it now, as he immediately put me on top of his shoulders and held onto my legs. He kept running to the edge of the church rooftop all the while shoulder carrying me.
Dahlia is surprisingly much stronger than he seems.
“AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!” I screamed, as Pinkie leapt off the several story heigh church.
“WAHOOOOOOOO!!!!” He yelled, excited by the rush of falling and the air blowing into his face and ruffling his hair. He seemed to get a kick out of my reaction.
Before smashing onto the ground, Dahlia’s bat wings flapped fervently to keep the both of us suspended in the air. It struggled a little bit getting used to the additional weight. After a short amount of time, Dahlia was able to stabilize himself with me on his shoulders and started flapping his wings to slowly lower us to the ground.
“Khehehe! Good thing you’re pretty light (Y/N)!” Dahlia remarked, patting your leg. “If you were too heavy, I might have had to drop you!”
“You better be joking, Pinkie…” I muttered. This guy just loves to push my buttons, I swear…
“Don’t worry, I was. Or maybe I wasn’t?”
“Hmph! Even if you did drop me, I would just grab onto your leg and drag you down with me so we’ll both fall to our doom!” I said with a grin.
Dahlia just laughed in response. As he almost reached the ground, he paused for a brief second. I was confused, why was he hesitating? He turned his head to look up at me.
“.....Say (Y/N), dear. Have you ever flown through the air with a wind glider before?” Dahlia said.
“No? Can’t say I have before.”
“Well then, would you like to go flying with me? Just a little bit around the city tonight before I take you back to your quarters. It’ll be quick and painless.”
The idea sounded intriguing. Flying through the air? I had to admit, even though Pinkie scared me for a bit with how he manhandled me onto his shoulders, gliding down airborne with him was kind of fun.
“Sure, why not?”
“Splendid!” Dahlia exclaimed, “Now, here. We. Go!”
Dahlia suddenly flapped his bat wings to shoot us up into the air, way up high. I gasped in surprise from the sudden increase in altitude. I even felt a little bit of vertigo from how fast he flew up.
He glided me around to one of the tall windmills and it was kind of amazing to be seeing its blades so up close. We passed by some of the vines and Philanemo Mushrooms that were growing on the gray brick walls. I reached my hand out to brush the vines and its leaves, feeling the smooth texture of the plant on my fingers.
Dahlia held onto my legs tightly and began flying away from the windmill and headed to the inland of the city where most of the multi-storied buildings and homes were. The rush of air that blew into my face from flying felt exhilarating. I noticed that many of the taverns underneath us still had their lights turned on. It seems that Mondstadt’s citizens still enjoy drinking even at an hour such as late as this. They don’t call it the city of alcohol for nothing.
I yelped as he took a dip through the space in between two buildings and started to fly through the narrow alleyway. The sudden drop was very shocking at first, but then I thought it was actually fun and exciting. It was like Dahlia was taking me on a rollercoaster ride. He suddenly shot upwards to go over the buildings again and glided us across the walls of the city.
“Having fun, little one?” He asked cheekily.
“Yea!”
“How about I take us on an excursion to Windrise?”
“Heck yea, let’s go!” I agreed.
Dahlia pivoted around and started heading outside of the city, soaring high above the bridge that led to the city’s entrance. The bridge looked much smaller from all the way up here when I looked down on it. The wind high above was fiercer and started to blow our hair wildly into a mess. I wondered how his hat stayed on?
To the right, I noticed the town of Springvale, the same one where I was arrested from. I had a small smile on my face while looking at it. I felt that I should feel upset or even angry thinking about that moment from a few days ago, but I don't for some reason. When I am flying up high with Pinkie, I don’t feel upset at all. It was kind of funny though, when I thought about it. I just so happened to be the only one to stumble and fall, so that I was arrested while the rest of my crew got away scot-free. My worries and troubles felt like they were being blown away in the wind.
The effect that Dahlia has on me was strange. Didn’t I just find him to be annoying and too flirty just recently? I don’t anymore, in fact I think he is quite fun to be around. Why is that?
“Hey (Y/N), look up ahead. That large tree over there is where Windrise is!” Dahlia yelled out, trying to get his voice heard over all the wind.
We were flying over many long stretches of grassy hills and trees after the bridge. When I looked up to see what he was talking about, there was a gigantic tree, probably just as high or maybe even higher than the Church of Favonius located not too far from here.
“Woah…. That tree is huge!” I yelled in response.
“That’s not the only thing that’s huge, hehe…” He said.
“Ewwww! Shut up Pinkie, and just keep flying!”
And he did so as he was told.
Thanks to Dahlia’s flying skills, it didn’t take that long for us to reach the giant tree at Windrise. When we got closer, Dahlia began to glide downward to try to reach the ground and the wind around us became less violent. I asked him how he was able to fly around for so long, and he said something like, “after doing it enough times like me, you build up a lot of stamina.” Which I guess makes sense. He seemed like a natural born flier to me.
When Dahlia’s feet hit the ground, he let go of my legs and I slid off of his back, making sure to not snag my clothes or anything on his wings. I turned around and saw his bat wings fold in and disappear in a flash of blue light. He turned around to face me.
“Here we are!” He exclaimed, putting his arms out as if to show off the big tree.
I looked up at the tree in awe. “Wow….”
“Come, come! Let’s sit down over there.” Dahlia said, while beckoning me over with his hand.
“Okay, okay.”
I followed alongside Dahlia as we walked across the grass covered dirt of Windrise. I looked back at him to see him in his black coat and white dress shirt. He looked happy to be out here at night with me. He sat down on a patch of grass, bending his cream-colored legs upward. I followed suit, but instead just sat down and crossed my legs.
There was a small river in front of us making a quiet sound of rushing water. The moonlight broke through the leaves on the massive tree only letting in small patches of light on the ground. I heard some owls hooting through the serene atmosphere.
“You know dear,” Dahlia started. I looked to the right while he was speaking. “When I heard you yelling like a complete idiot on top of the church like that, I was annoyed with you at first. I figured that I must dispose of you without anyone else noticing.”
What?!
“D-d-dispose of me?!” I said while stammering.
“Don’t worry your little head off, I’m not going to do it to you now. Not yet at least…” He said, to reassure me. Although it didn’t really help that much. “You've piqued my interest. I would still like to know what you meant when you said that not all Treasure Hoarders are bad people. Would you care to explain?”
I scratched my head trying to think of something to say… Oh wait!
“Yea, um, they’re not all bad. It’s kinda just what I said. Some of them are nice people, and it’s not like we all choose to become Treasure Hoarders just to make some easy money. Sometimes it’s out of an obligation, or a necessity. For me, I have my own reasons.”
I paused a bit. I wasn’t really sure if I was comfortable sharing this part of my past with me. But when I looked back at Dahlia, he seemed very intent on what I was saying. I figured it’s okay to let down one of my walls for now.
“You see…. I was originally an orphan from Liyue. I didn’t know who my Mom and Dad were. I just remember that the Treasure Hoarders found me on the streets of Liyue as a crying baby left all alone without a home and they took me in. They raised me and taught me everything that I know. Hehe…. It’s almost as if they were like my family. So I owe it to them by staying with the organization.”
I propped my chin on the palm of my hand while resting my elbow on my knee. Honestly, it felt good talking about something like this.
“Hmmm…. I wonder if the brothers are all worried about me. Probably Ko. He’s such a big crybaby.” I smiled at remembering the triplets. “They’re always so messy and they never clean up after themselves no matter how many times I scold them. I could practically be their housewife.”
“You? A housewife? Well, given how good you are at cleaning, I think you would be a great househusband!” Dahlia said while smirking.
“Don’t count on it.” I said with a straight face at him.
I felt something land on top of my head. It wasn’t too heavy, it was rather light actually. Was it a bird?
“Vishnya!” Dahlia said excitedly, looking at whatever was on top of my head. He reached up to gently grab whatever was there. When he pulled his arms back, there was a small black creature with wings around the size of a Sunsettia nestled between the palms of his hands.
“.....Is that a bat?” I said in disbelief.
“Yes, a vampire bat to be precise. She’s my friend! We’ve been acquainted for a very long time. I think she likes you, because I have never seen her get so close to anyone else but me before!”
I leaned forward and looked closer at the fanged creature with the oddly shaped nose. The wings were colored a dark red on the inside, but every other part of its body was completely black.
“She’s kinda cute actually,” I said.
Dahlia smiled. “Heh… she probably thinks you're cute too (Y/N).” The bat ruffled around in Dahlia’s hands before getting up and flying away.
I sat up from the ground and stretched my arms and legs. I felt a satisfying pop in my joints and stopped.
“Well Pinkie, this has been a very fun night. But I suppose I have to get back to my cell before the sun rises, or else I’ll get in trouble with the knights again. And if that happens, Kaeya will probably go hard on my next tasks. But thanks for everything.” I started to walk across the dirt and grass away from Windrise with the city in mind.
“Huh? You’re just going to walk all the way back?”
“....Yeah? I’ll be fine. You don’t have to fly me back if you don’t want to.”
“No, wait!” Dahlia shot up and grabbed my wrist, stopping me in my tracks. My eyes widened and I turned my head around to look at him.
“What?” I said.
“You don’t have to go back. Just stay here.”
“Uh, I can’t? I’m still a prisoner in Mondstadt. I might get into trouble and-”
“Yes I know! I’m going to break you free.”
I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.
“Wait, seriously?! But, don’t you like… work with them? You might get in trouble.”
“I am aware of the possible repercussions I may face…” Dahlia held his hands together in thought, but then stared at me directly in my eyes. “However, I think I can come up with a good cover up.”
I shook my head at him. “No Dahlia, you don’t have to do that for me, really.”
“(Y/N), please. I want you to be free. Especially after what I’ve heard from you.” He clasped my hands in his own pale ones. He gave me a smile with half-lidded eyes. “Let me… indulge you. I think a hardworking man such as yourself deserves a good break from labor.”
I started to blush strongly and my eyes widened again at him. I broke my hands free from his grasp.
“Alright, fine!” I covered my face with my arm.
“Yay!!” Dahlia said, raising his arms in the air. He came right up to me and swung his arms around my body giving me a tight hug. “Thank you so much friend! Let’s keep in touch, ‘kay?”
“Yeah, sure thing Pinkie.” I said with a smile.
Dahlia gave me a wink before turning around and summoning his bat wings again. With one large push of his wings, he lifted himself off of the ground many feet high into the air and started flying back to the city of Mondstadt. He looked back and waved at me while he was flying and I waved back at him.
I turned around and started to walk in the opposite direction of him. Now… what would the quickest way back to Liyue be? I wonder…
Unknown to me, there was a little vampire bat flapping about following me.