Archive of Our Own ^beta

The Cathedral of the Cryo Archon was a historical, high-ceiled baroque building that was one of Snezhnaya’s most important landmarks. For the better part of the year, it held ordinary services that not only locals attended, but also curious visitors of the nation, wanting to marvel at the architectural wonder of the Cathedral. However, the ceremony being held that day was anything but ordinary.

As the clock ticked by, Ajax asked himself for the hundredth time what he was doing there. Conflict brewed inside of him. His mind kept debating whether it had been wise of him to be in attendance, or if he should have made an excuse to stay home. But since he was already there… would he be able to remain calm and collected?

The aroma of white lilies and carnations enveloped the place, welcoming all of the guests arriving at the venue. Attendance was so high that the grandiose building was quickly getting filled to the brim, something that was expected considering that anybody that was anybody would be in attendance and that this was truly a once-in-a-lifetime event. And if that wasn’t enough, there was also the not-so-subtle addition of royal guards stationed at the entrances and other strategic places of the place, always at the ready to protect their sovereigns.

Ajax stared intently at the intricately decorated altar, the crushing feeling that the better choice would’ve been to feign an illness and stay home weighing heavily in his heart. A mere wistful feeling of course, because he knew that there was no way he’d let Lumine face whatever today brought by herself.

“I’m sure Lumine will look so beautiful in her dress,” his sister Tonia whispered in a dreamy voice next to him. Ajax did not doubt that she had the best intentions as she shared her thoughts, but her words still cut through his heart like a dagger.

“She certainly will,” he said in the most leveled voice he could manage.

The Archbishop entered the main chamber of the Cathedral followed by his aiding clerics, all of them falling into position at the same time the crowd held their breath and stood up.

It was time.

Ten or so rows away from the front, Ajax and his family stood along with the ton out of respect toward the small group of people that would parade shortly to the front of the Cathedral. He took a deep breath and crossed his hands in front of his body, firmly gripping one hand with the other to mind himself not to do anything rash. He wasn’t about to make any promises though.

The Royal procession started with the King and the Queen. Their Imperial Majesties, the Tsar and the Tsaritsa of Snezhnaya looked as regal and elegant as always, strolling down the aisle with poise and grace. With an elegant pace and their subjects bowing their heads, as they went forth, they made their way up to the seats located at the right front of the church. Without meaning to, Ajax caught sight of part of Lumine’s family, located symmetrically on the other side of the runway— her mother looked happier than ever, radiant in a way one would be when being tied to the Royal family. Aether on the other hand had a vague smile on his face, his eyes fidgeting nervously. The two of them also bowed their heads to their in-laws-to-be, before turning back to glance at the Cathedral’s entrance.

The Royal Prince, Zandik I, followed the procession. He walked neither hurried nor calmly. There was a slight strut to his stride, a giddiness in his leisured steps that reflected the delightedness inside of him. Flexing his fingers, Ajax couldn’t help but think of him as conceited and vain, and to top it off, a great deal selfish as well. He should… he must know that this marriage was only arranged, that his bride didn’t hold any affection toward him and, if Ajax had any say in the matter, she never would. Then again, as the Royal Prince, Ajax could also guess that there was hardly anything that had ever been denied to him.

When he reached the front of the dais, the Prince was the last one to turn his gaze to the entrance. Then, an organ inside the Cathedral began to play a harmonious song that to Ajax’s ears sounded more like a death march. The last and more important guests came into view at the front doors, and Ajax’s ocean-blue eyes found the most ethereal view he had ever had the opportunity to cast his gaze on.

Lumine looked astonishing in white. The elaborate and extravagant gown she wore was befitted for royalty, a thousand pearls and diamonds embellishing it and reflecting the soft sunshine entering through the mosaic windows. One of her hands held a bouquet of inteivats that looked freshly harvested, and the other one held on to her father’s arm like it was a lifeline. The veil she wore over her face looked like it floated all around her, cascading down from a luxurious tiara that was doubtlessly given to her by her groom. Her short blonde hair was perfectly coiffed in a high bun, except for the longer strands of tresses that framed her delicate face, which were styled into two beautiful curls.

To all in attendance, all the strangers and acquaintances who didn’t really know her, she looked like a nervous, bashful bride-to-be who was maybe a bit too overwhelmed by the emotions brimming inside of he. The guests closest to the aile could even see the glint of joyful tears on the rim of her eyes. But Ajax knew her like the palm of his hand— no matter how much time they had spent apart, he had always been able to read her almost to perfection, like she was a member of his own family.

It was too bad she was never meant to be such.

Ajax knew that the nervousness everyone mistook as happiness was nothing but despair. Despair that was brought upon by the certainty that her life was taking a course she did not wish for, but that was also inevitable. The tears fighting to make their way down her face were a sign of how much she wished things were different, how much she could drop everything right then and there, turn herself around, and bolt out of the Cathedral. However, she knew that there was no saying “no” to the royal family, and she had accepted a long time ago that there was no escaping this fate. Nevertheless, neither of those facts made her want to cherish what was happening to her. 

Alas, her wings had been cut, and her destiny had been decided by greater forces than her. She had no choice but to accept it and play along to the Royal Prince’s staged show.

Ajax watched her helplessly from the sidelines. He wanted, more than anything, to scoop her up and take her away, far away from all these people who strived to keep them apart. He was certain that they needed nothing else and nothing more than each other. Yet, he stayed put in place, shackled down by the rules of society and the resignation he had heard from her lips the last time they had met in the privacy of her room.

Memories of the nights spent together amid the late hours flooded his mind. Their carnal exchanges were concealed by the shadows looming in her bedchamber, helping them forget the reality they so desperately wanted to escape from. Just as the first time, Ajax felt dishonored by having tainted her by bedding her unwedded, and the haunting truth that he was ruining her without being able to marry her as he so desperately wanted to, plagued him. But Lumine, as the angel that she was, would assure him time and time again that for him, she would ruin herself a million little times. And that was enough for them both. At least it had been, until this fateful day.

Not expecting her to meet his eyes, Ajax stared at the bride unabashedly, the same way everybody present was looking at her. However, as if some invisible string had pulled in his direction, Lumine not only looked up from having her gaze glued to the carpet as she walked down the aisle, but she also instantly found Ajax’s despairing blue eyes.

They shared a moment that lasted only but a fraction of a second, and yet it seemed to last an eternity. What Ajax saw in Lumine’s golden orbs was a combination of an immeasurable sadness for her lost future and her lost love, a huge desperation for not being able to escape her fate, and an unfathomable terror at what awaited her with her husband-to-be. He was sure that he shared all of her emotions, and yet he also felt the anger rising in his chest at not being able to stop this disaster when it was on the verge of happening. Ajax had never felt as powerless as he felt then. His mind and body longed for her, but duty kept him frozen on the spot.

With a slight creasing of her eyebrows, Lumine cast a final silent message at her soulmate. “Goodbye, forever.” Ajax could’ve sworn his heart shattered into a million pieces right then and there.

Dejectedly casting her glance back at the carpet, Lumine and her father made their way slowly down the aisle. Lord Lunaris was looking at her like the precious gem he had always known her daughter to be. Whether he was clueless about her current distress or not, Ajax had no way of knowing. Whatever the case, both of them carried on with their part.

When they reached the front of the church, they respectfully bowed to their Imperial Highnesses, as courteously as every other. The smiles on the Tsars’ faces were one of the brightest in the entire place. Then, Lumine turned to face her father, and he whispered a few last words to her before giving her away to the brute that was the Prince. Lumine flinched almost imperceptibly when he extended his hand at her but eventually ended up strenuously placing her gloved hand on his. Taking a final step toward him, they turned toward the Archbishop so that he could begin the ceremony.

“Dear people of Snezhnaya, we are gathered together here in the sight of the Archons to join together the Crown Prince and his Princess in holy matrimony,” the priest said as he gestured for everyone to sit down.

What Ajax thought that he was going to feel at that moment wouldn’t even compare to the actual thing. He felt a fire burning throughout his body, that survival instinct that helped him make it through the war urged him to act against the blasphemy that was happening before his eyes. His stomach was churning in a way that would’ve made him sick if he had had the appetite to eat anything at all that day. His heart raced like it never had before, aching for the loss of his true love, who was being torn apart from him by cruel fate.

Sideway glances that were meant to be discreet were thrown at him by his parents. Both of them were aware of the turmoil within him, just like both of them had had thorough talks with him about how he needed to carry on through today despite his hurt feelings. Time, they said, would eventually wash away the pain and the memories, and eventually, he’d be able to move on with his life with only the vague memory of a lost love behind him.

But they didn’t understand… Lumine wasn’t just a passing attraction to him, she wasn’t just someone he desired to have by his side because of a carnal urge or even because of a childish fit. No, Lumine was much more than that to him. She was the only person who truly knew him and truly understood him, the good and the bad, and who loved him deeply and sincerely despite that. Ajax loved her from top to bottom, from her beautiful soft blonde hair to the tips of her toes. She was so pure, so kind, so idyllic that he even thought himself unworthy of her. But if he was unworthy, the Cruel Prince of Snezhnaya was—

“Before the groom and his bride can say their wedding vows, I must ask if there is anyone present who can show just cause of why these two persons may not be joined in holy matrimony. Speak now or forever hold your peace.”

A deafening silence was the Archbishop’s response. Ajax was aware that the phrase was only said as a formality, that he wasn’t really asking the audience to intercede in the royal nuptials. However, that was Ajax’s last chance, and he knew it.

He wasn’t aware that he had stood up until he noticed his hands shaking and he saw the horrified looks from everyone in the room directed at him… but he could only look at Lumine, at the shocked, terrified expression she was wearing in response to his defiance. If he could’ve read her mind, he was absolutely sure that she would be thinking something along the lines of “don’t do this, Ajax,” just as his mother was currently whispering at him.

But when had he ever listened?

“I object!” he shouted out loud. There was no going back now— with just two words, he had sealed his fate in the act.

Lumine’s bouquet slipped out of her hands and the silence that had fallen upon the Cathedral was so deafening that Ajax could’ve sworn that he heard the soft “thud” it made when it hit the ground. The gasps that the guests were holding back were finally let out in a panicked chorus, led by none other than Lumine’s mother.

Ajax felt a hand tug at his sleeve, but he knew it was too late to take back his challenge even if he had wanted to. Moving swiftly across the row, he separated himself from his family and boldly took a stand in the middle of the aisle.

“Ajax, don’t,” Lumine whispered to herself. It wasn’t like he could hear her, but he could recognize the soft movement of her lips. The Crown Prince, on the other hand, smiled mockingly beside her as he stared down at Ajax.

“Lord Vid Morya, surely you are feeling unwell. If I may urge you to please go back to your seat so that we may continue…”

The calmness with which the Prince was speaking took Ajax by surprise. He had expected him to start lashing up orders at his guards to take him away, but he chose to remain collected for whatever reason. However, if he thought that that was going to make him stand down he was sorely mistaken.

“No.”

Prince Zandik raised his eyebrows, but more than surprise, a challenge was etched into his features. “Excuse me?”

“I said, no,” Ajax repeated himself as he walked to the front of the Cathedral, the rustle of leather against armor indicating that guards were nearing him. That didn’t deter him from his objective, his eyes were glued to Lumine’s scared gaze only. “I will not let you marry Lumine. Not when she holds no affection for you and is only marrying you out of obedience.”

Gasps echoed across the temple. To defy the Crown so blatantly like this was no small feat, and one had to be a blatant idiot or absolutely insane to do something of the sort. Then again, Ajax had never been praised for his good sense, and more than once he had been called both of those things.

With a wave of his hand, Prince Zandik stopped the advances that the royal guards were making on Ajax. He looked somewhat annoyed by his intrusion, but he never stopped looking at the Vid Morya middle son like he was nothing but a pebble on his shoe, a pest that one must get rid of swiftly.

He smiled arrogantly. “And what gives you the right to make such claims, Lord Vid Morya? As far as I am aware, your contact with my betrothed has been very limited lately, since she has been preoccupied with our courtship and getting ready for our long-awaited wedding day, which you are now so set on soiling.”

Biting on his lower lip, Ajax had to think very carefully about his next words. As much as he wanted Lumine by his side at any cost, her reputation and her virtue would not be put in doubt because of him. He looked at her in search of the right course to take, if there was any to be taken from his rash barge-in. She was still petrified by fear, but in her eyes, Ajax could see the silent plea for help she was supplicating.

“Save me.”

He didn’t dare neglect her.

“I know it because I love her,” he claimed amid bewildered exclamations that came from every corner of the church. Lumine’s mother had finally stood up from her seat, outraged, and was only held back by Aether’s firm grip. “And I am certain that she loves me in return.” 

The King and Queen of Snezhnaya also got on their feet in response to Ajax’s claims, furious and indignant at his words and his interruption.

But the Cruel Prince seemed to have it all under control. He remained impassible, and with a single look at his parents, he stopped whatever advances they could’ve made. After that, he turned his gaze toward his blushing bride instead of back at Ajax, like the latter would’ve hoped.

“Is this true, my dear?” Prince Zandik spoke with a quiet and soothing voice, but the threat underlying his words couldn’t be more noticeable. “Does this man hold your heart in his hands? And you hold his?”

Lumine’s big doe eyes looked up at her imposed groom, unsure as to what to answer to him. If Ajax had to guess, he was threatening Lumine with his piercing crimson eyes only, forcing her to say what he wanted to hear. She averted her gaze toward her parents, where she was met with her mother’s frown and his father’s and brother’s anguished expressions. They all knew what Lumine should say, what was best for her to answer to get this situation back under control.

Forcing her eyes to close shut, Lumine didn’t give her answer straight away. Ajax couldn’t blame her. He had been the one to put her on the spot like this, but she was the one who should have a free say about her future.

As much as Ajax hated to admit it, he saw the perks of marrying the Prince. She and her family would be set for life, she would be in front of their country along with her husband eventually, and he could see how that would benefit the nation. Her kindness and care could set the right course for all of her people, which would hardly happen if the Prince was let to do as he wanted. And last but not least, her children would be heirs to the throne of Snezhnaya.

Ajax was no fool. He knew that the life that he could offer her as a Naval Captain and the third son of a Baron paled in comparison. He was sure that that was the reason why her mother had never wanted her to associate with him in the first place. Still, that pull he felt toward her, that drive he had to always assure her well-being and to protect her from anything wouldn’t just let go of him. He would fight for her until his dying breath if it came down to that.

But he couldn’t ask the same of her.

Holding his breath, Ajax waited for her answer along with the rest of the crowd. The silence was becoming heavier as the seconds passed by.

Eventually, Lumine’s eyes opened. She looked directly at Ajax for a split second, a look of determination on her face that he had rarely seen before. Then, she looked at Prince Zandik, and she didn’t stutter when she answered him.

“It is, Your Grace. Ajax has held my heart in his hands since we were children, and he has been clear about returning my affections.”

“Lumine!” Her mother finally snapped, swatting Aether’s arm away. “Do not listen to her your highness, she is merely astounded by the disruption from the Vid Morya boy. She knows that she should follow through with this.”

“No, Mother!” Lumine spat back at her, freezing Lady Lunaris on the spot. “I have followed through with this because it was what you wanted, not because I did.”

Ajax was baffled to see that Lumine had chosen to go against her mother. For him.

Maybe there could be a happy ending for them after all…

“I’m sorry to have wasted your time and misled your feelings, Your Grace. You are more than an ideal match, just… not for me. I hope you can forgive me.”

Prince Zandik’s face was unreadable. He remained calm through the ordeal, pondering on what to do next.

“Very well,” he finally responded. “Thank you for being honest with me, my flower.”

Ajax almost let out a sigh of relief. Almost. He would’ve, had the Prince not called Lumine his flower.

“Seize him.”

Two guards flung themselves at Ajax at the same time, and if he hadn’t been trained in the Snezhnayan military, they would’ve fulfilled their master’s orders in the blink of an eye. Ajax deflected one of the soldier’s spears with his arm and caught the second one in his hands, using the soldier’s momentum to get him out of the way. Another two were close behind them, not letting him catch his breath after the first attack. Panicked screams could be heard from the crowd around him, and people were scrambling away from the center of the church to avoid getting caught in the middle of the fight.

“Ajax!” Lumine yelped, attempting to get close to her lover. A firm hand held her in place, and she turned to meet the Prince’s gaze, devoid of any benevolence and cordiality it had displayed before.

“You stay right here, my flower,” he said in a menacing tone that contrasted with how calm he had been just a minute ago.

Ajax wasn’t having it. He wouldn’t stand to see his filthy hands on his Lumine.

With an ease that was surprising to anybody who was watching, he disarmed the pair of new attackers, making sure to keep one of their spears for himself. These people weren’t used to the heat of battle, to the bloodshed that ensued amid an armed conflict. Ajax on the other hand had been dedicating his life to it, from the moment he had left Zapolyarny to join the army against his will and until he had returned a few months prior. This was his element, these were the circumstances in which he thrived.

Right and left, more royal guards pounced on him, but Ajax fought back just as quickly. With feline-like reflexes, he blocked and attacked, sending body after body flying out of his way, the pristine carpet and the white flowers in the surrounding area getting splattered with crimson. He noticed a few guards staying behind and taking a stance in front of the King and the Queen. That was fine with him, a couple fewer opponents would do him better. His objective was not the King and the Queen.

To his left, Aether had a moment of lucidity and attempted to spring into action as well. His moment was short-lived though, because his father held him back sternly. However, that small gesture in support fired something inside the Baron’s son. He and Lumine’s twin had never gotten along very well, with Aether carrying the heavy weight of his father’s title on his shoulders and Ajax’s careless demeanor being rubbed on to his sister. So if even he saw the wrong in this situation, things were really messed up.

More soldiers piled in front of the Cathedral’s dais, standing their ground in front of Lumine and the Prince. Ajax would knock down every one of them if that was what it took to save her from the clutches of Prince Zandik. He swore it on his life.

The rank of Captain hadn’t been bestowed on him lightly. Most soldiers didn’t earn that rank until later in their lives when they were more seasoned and experienced. However, Ajax had been cunning, he had been smart, and on top of it all, he had been strong and vicious. When he was given an objective, he would do everything in his power to achieve it. His goal today was the most important of them all.

Nevertheless, there was only so much that he could achieve by himself. Ajax had been in an uneven fight before, and he had emerged victorious. Then again, such fights hadn’t had an endless supply of freshened opponents coming for him.

No amount of viciousness or expertise could make up for a vast numerical advantage. Eventually, Ajax found himself surrounded by royal guards, panting and slightly bruised against refreshed recruits.

He didn’t go down without a fight— Ajax fought back with all his might, striving to overcome all obstacles. But in the end, he was subdued. His spear was taken away from him, his hands were harshly shoved against his back and his body was forced to kneel before the dais.

Still, Ajax wasn’t going to go down quietly. He fought against his restrainers, striving to get free and keep battling against him. Next thing Ajax knew, he was getting punched in the face by one of the royal guards. That calmed him down a notch, the burning sensation of the blow spreading across his jaw.

“Don’t hurt him!” Lumine pleased somewhere behind the wall of guards. The hurt in her voice slashed through Ajax’s heart— he didn’t want her to suffer, let alone because of him. “Please let him go!”

“My flower,” Prince Zandik kept calling her by that atrocious pet name that made Ajax’s insides churn with disgust. “How could I not? After how he has insulted us with his rashness, this is only the beginning of his punishment.”

After making sure that he wasn’t going to try to break free anymore, the wall of soldiers parted so that the Prince could stare down at Ajax once again. Ajax returned his condescending look with a relentlessly menacing glare, one that showed that he wouldn’t give in to the fear of whatever would happen to him next. Then, his eyes met Lumine’s. She was frightened to no end for him, tears glistening in the corner of her golden orbs and her body language was showing that she wanted nothing more than to rush to his side and make sure that he was okay.

However, the Prince wasn’t about to let that happen. With an iron grip shackling her forearm, she was kept in place. “His punishment?! But I— if you hold any affection for me, please, have mercy Your Grace!”

Ajax wasn’t sure what Lumine was asking her betrothed to do. To lessen whatever punishment he was about to bestow on him? To let him walk free? To let her love who she really wanted instead of chaining her to him by force?

Prince Zandik drew his own conclusions from her request. “Very well, my flower. How about I leave it up to you?”

Lumine’s eyes widened in surprise. This was obviously not the answer she was expecting, and the threatening hiss behind the Prince’s voice did nothing but frighten her into speechlessness.

“I cannot very well be stood up in the aisle, can I? We are walking away as husband and wife, no matter what my flower,” he traced Lumine’s cheek as he spoke, a gesture that should’ve been tender turning into something wicked. “The question is, will you do this willingly, or by force?”

“Let her go, you craven! Fight me yourself instead of hiding behind your—!” A soldier kicked Ajax in his stomach, making him double down in pain.

“Ajax!” Lumine cried his name again, louder and more fearful.

The Prince continued talking as if there hadn’t been any interruption, not tearing his crimson gaze away from his bride. “If you willingly have me as your husband, and strive to return my affections, you will truly be treated as the Queen of Snezhnaya. All this shameful act will be forgiven, it will be as if nothing had happened. Lord Vid Morya will be dishonorably discharged from his post and exiled to the realm of Enkanomiya.”

Lumine gasped for breath. Everyone knew what exile to Enkanomiya meant— a sure sentence to death, but slower and more painful.

How was that merciful?

“However, my flower, if you resist and compel me into marrying you by force, not only will you live the rest of your days locked up in a dungeon, serving only as an instrument to bring my heirs into the world— but I will have your so-called lover executed in front of you this very instant.”

A snap of his fingers. The certain tune of a double-handed sword being drawn out of its sheath.

And an urgency to make an impossible choice.

“Don’t do this Zandik!” The Queen herself attempted to bring her son to see reason.

But Ajax knew that there was no escape from this. He could see it in the mad glint of the Prince’s eyes. He would carry his will out to the ultimate consequences, no matter the cost. No one dared to stop his wishes, even if that meant that the rumors that caused his infamous nickname would finally have sustenance.

“Choose, dear.”

Lumine’s eyes found his again, desperation evident in both their gazes. As much as Ajax wanted to keep Lumine away from being one of the Prince’s possessions, she was as trapped as he was now. And he had failed. In his poorly thought attempt at chivalrously rescuing his beloved, Ajax had doomed them both. His actions had not only brought dishonor to his family, they were now condemning the woman he loved with all his heart to a life in captivity.

Despite that, Ajax only found longing in Lumine’s eyes when he should’ve found blame. In his desperate attempt to refuse to let go of her, Lumine found a certainty in his love for her that was beyond words.

Perhaps that was what gave her the strength to react as she did.

Stealing a sword from the nearest guard, Lumine lunged at the Prince with a force that was proper of the fiercest of warriors. She also didn’t hesitate— she went straight for his heart.

Lumine stopped her blow amid gasps of surprise, and Prince Zandik lost his collected facade finally. When the soldiers reacted and tried to get near the couple, Lumine made a motion like she would impale the Prince at the slightest provocation. That froze them on the spot and gave her the chance to speak her mind about the matter at hand.

“You… I thought you were mad, but not as wicked as you turned out to be. I could never let you walk away after harming Ajax in any way. And you promise false mercy at the vow of ‘striving to return your affections’? As if you would be aware of such matters, Your Highness. For how could you recognize love, when all you crave for is watching your subjects going through hardship and torment?”

Ajax was amazed by Lumine’s sheer power. While she was kind, she was also fierce to defend what she cared for, and strong to pursue what was right. Now more than ever he was certain that he loved this force of a woman with everything he had. She would be the one to set things right, she always had been.

But then, he saw the unequivocal flicker of a concealed blade being drawn out by the Prince, if only to subtly get ready to strike her at a moment’s notice. The Prince turned his gaze to the soldiers holding Ajax down, nodding at them.

He didn’t have a chance to warn her.

She figured it out a split second too late.

“AJAX!”

“LUMINE, NO!”

~

Breathe in. Breathe out.

They did it. They actually did it.

Lumine wouldn’t know how to describe the sight of the false sky finally breaking down. It wasn’t like it was crumbling to pieces and it was falling to the ground— it was more like it was disappearing into nothingness, in irregular patterns all over them. The sky beyond was identical to the one that had fallen but different in its own way— three tiny moons circled the sun while smaller stars shone in the distance even in the plain daylight, brighter than the stars in the night sky but still minuscule in size. It was a beautiful sight.

Clattering noises resounded all around the Palace of Celestia. Friends and foes alike lowered their weapons to the ground, admiring the sight above them. The subjects of Celestia melted away like dust in the wind, their last moments spent marveling at the wonder they had been trying to keep away from every other dweller in Teyvat.

“It is done,” her twin brother whispered next to her. Lumine turned around to his floating form next to her, propelled up in the air by the wings that both of them had just recently re-acquired. He smiled at her. Lumine had thought that she would never see that smile ever again. She lunged at Aether, who already had his arms wide open to catch her in an embrace.

Aether was back. The Sustainer of Heavenly Principles had fallen. Everything was as it was supposed to be.

Cheers erupted from underneath them, the friends she had made along the way and the Abyss subjects that had made Aether their Prince merged into one combined force. Just wait until Ajax—

Wait.

Ajax!

Lumine’s eyes widened. Her frame stiffened against her brother’s.

“Lumine?” He asked as he pulled back to look into her face. “What’s wrong?”

She looked down the ripped ceiling of the palace to try to find that mat of wild ginger hair among the crowd. Her panic arose even more when she wasn’t able to find him. He had stayed behind a few moments (minutes? Hours?) ago, fighting a hoard of enemies by himself. They’d been together until they had reached a chamber with strong elemental power, where enemies had started piling up to stop their advances. He had thrived there. The enemies had gotten stronger, but so had them. Her husband liked challenges too much to not offer to hold them back so that they could make their way toward the Sustainer of Heavenly Principles.

Back then she had looked back at him with a worried glance that quickly transformed into a satisfied one. Lumine loved watching Ajax fight. He went from 0 to a thousand in the blink of an eye, the thrill of battle coursing through his veins in the form of adrenaline, a wild and erratic look in his eyes. Unhinged was too small of a word to describe him then, with how powerful he looked.

“I’ll be fine,” his lightless eyes had spelled out for her when their eyes met. And Lumine believed him. He had always come back to her. He couldn’t be breaking his promise now.

“I need to find him,” was all she said to her brother before turning around to range about the palace that was crumbling down to pieces. Aether didn’t say anything. He didn’t have to— he knew exactly what she meant with those words, and he knew there was no convincing her to take it easy and rest.

Lumine’s wings carried her deftly, making her feel as light as a leaf. She did a lap around the great room she was in for a good measure, making sure she hadn’t just missed him in the frenzy of her search. When that proved to not be the case, she picked a hallway from the many that broke from that one room, hoping that it was the same one they had come from, and drifted that way as quickly as her wings would carry her.

Flying aimlessly throughout the palace, with every minute that passed Lumine got more anxious and more worried. Where was Ajax?! What could’ve happened to him?! He wouldn’t— no, she wouldn’t dare to even think about it. She would’ve felt something, wouldn’t she? Lumine had always thought that when someone passed away, the people closest to them would know instantly. Call it a hunch, a gut feeling, the wrench of the heart, anything. It was a feeling without explanation, something that had no base to exist. And yet she believed in it. She would know if something serious had happened to him.

She floated through the hallways, trying to trace their steps back to the elemental chamber. Everywhere she passed through, Lumine found bloodstains throughout the floor, even when the bodies of those passed enemies had already dissolved into nothingness. And, in some cases…

Lumine wasn’t one to tear her gaze away from the dead. She had seen plenty of it in her hundreds of years roaming the universe, and at some point, she had been desensitized to the sight of it. But now, there was an urgency in her gazing— that of making sure that the man she loved wasn’t one of those empty, pale faces.

Many of those faces she recognized, many of those faces she didn’t. As glad as she was to not find Ajax there, she revered them in silence, elevating a silent prayer for their eternal rest and thanking them for their priceless sacrifice. They hadn’t given their lives in vain. Teyvat would be able to move on from the war against Celestia thanks to their courage and strong will.

Finally reaching their last meeting place, Lumine couldn’t feel the surge of elemental power in her body anymore, not that she needed it. The power must have faded away along with the celestial beings, returning everything to normal.

Did that mean that this place was going to plummet out of the sky? Was that only a matter of time?

With a sudden sense of urgency, Lumine scanned the area until she caught a glimpse of red from the corner of her eye. A scarlet scarf that she knew all too well laid abandoned on the ground.

One minute she was by the door, the next one she was kneeling and picking it up, recognition clouding her vision.

“Ajax!” Lumine shouted out loud, frantically looking one way and the other until she got a cough in response from behind a column. She raced toward the sound, and ultimately, she found him.

Leaning against that same column, hardly staying up on his feet and with his clothes tattered and bloodied from all the fighting, was Ajax. He was pale and his body was slightly shaking, but when those ocean-blue eyes found her honeyed golden ones, Lumine let out a breath she hadn’t been aware she had been holding.

He was alive.

Shouting out his name again, she was by his side in a split second, carefully caressing his face with her hands.

With tears in her eyes, she examined him.

“I’m fine mis miyatz,” he tried to reassure her with his signature playful smirk, but there was no hiding the state he was in. Not with a black eye and a split lip.

She didn’t lose time answering his senseless affirmation. The same way she had done so many years ago, back in that cell in Natlan, Lumine used her hydro vision to heal him. She went from his head to his chest, slowly mending tissue and bone as she went.

“Lumine, I’m fine,” he insisted when she refused to say anything else, tilting her chin up to look at him. He leaned down to leave a small, tender kiss on her full lips. The action was familiar between them, but Lumine finally felt a sliver of relief coming along with it. He may not be unscathed, but he was standing and he was alive.

It also brought her back to the present, and the matter that had just been solved.

In the spur of the moment, Lumine jumped to hug Ajax, bringing him down to her level. “We won Ajax! Celestia fell, the false sky fell! The Sustainer of Heavenly Principles is no more!”

“We won?” He redundantly asked when he recovered from her assault, wrapping his arms around her.

With tears in her eyes, she nodded as she assessed him. “We did! Now, don’t you ever scare me like that ever again! That was quite a beating you took!”

The ex-Harbinger dared to snicker. “What do you mean? I was just getting started.”

Lumine would’ve swatted him in the arm if she hadn’t been afraid to hurt him. Instead, she moved her hands along his body, making sure to continue healing most of the damage he had sustained. She wasn’t surprised that he was so battered down— she was surprised that he was still standing after the beating he had taken. Not that she was complaining.

“Wow, I can’t believe that even now you can’t take your hands off me, my moon,” he filled the silence with his joke in an attempt to unfurrow her brow. Attempt which didn’t work, since she only kept it narrowed for a different reason.

“You’re so insufferable,” she chided him, but Ajax could hear the relief in her voice. He couldn’t be that hurt if he was cracking dirty jokes.

As soon as she was done, Ajax didn’t hesitate to try to walk normally, but he could hardly take a step before almost losing his footing. Lumine swiftly stepped in to stop him from further injuring himself.

“Give it a minute! Take it easy!” she said at the same time she held him by the arm— her words tried to make him slow down, but her mind knew that there was no dissuading her stubborn husband.

He only winced slightly, supporting himself with her and the column behind him. “It’s nothing, Lumi. I’m completely fine.”

Lumine pursed her lips but something caught her attention by the room’s entrance. She turned to see Aether carrying Nahida as he flew, both of them scanning the ground beneath them. She waved her arm at them. “Hey! Ae! Over here!”

Relief flooded her brother’s expression when he found her gaze, and there was some other unreadable emotion somewhere in there too. Lumine felt strange when she couldn’t read her twin brother as scrupulously as she could before— she didn’t want to believe that it was something that could happen to them, even after all those years apart.

He landed a few paces ahead of them, and quickly put the Dendro Archon down. They made for a weird couple if there ever was one.

“Childe,” he gruffly greeted him.

“Brother,” her husband answered in a mocking tone, purposefully looking to irritate him even if it wasn’t the time and place to do so.

“Were you looking for me?” Lumine asked Aether, interrupting their banter as if it was second nature to her. They had only met a few days ago but their antiques were something all three of them had gotten used to very quickly.

“I was looking for you, Traveler,” Nahida chimed in, in her familiar chiming voice. “I have something very important to share with you and your brother.”

The twins looked at each other quizzically, not expecting the Dendro Archon to have a distinct message to deliver to the both of them. Lumine had the most unsettling feeling in her stomach, and she didn’t know why. They had won, the Sustainer of Heavenly Principles was no more. That should’ve solved everything… shouldn’t it?

“What is it?” She asked, dreading the answer.

Nahida’s furrowed brows didn’t appease her in the slightest. Ajax must’ve sensed there was something wrong too, because he tenderly squeezed her upper arm.

“I don’t know how, but the Sustainer of Heavenly Principles isn’t completely gone.”

Her soul fell to her feet.

“What?!” Aether was the first one to react, or the first one to break out of the shock. “But… we killed them! The false sky fell! We won!”

“You did,” Nahida concurred naturally. “And at the same time, you didn’t.”

“What does that even mean?!” She bellowed. Was there really no getting rid of them?!

“Who gave the final blow?” The small Archon asked, not paying any mind to Lumine’s outburst.

“I did,” she spoke once more, feeling Ajax squeezing her arm again. If the situation were less strainful, Lumine was sure that he would’ve said something along the lines of “that’s my girl.”

Nahida brought up a hand to hold her chin, pensive. “Just as I feared.”

Ajax froze next to her. “Why? What does that have to do with anything?”

“Do you remember being trapped in the samsara, Traveler?” She asked the same way she could’ve asked about chores or the weather. It was a bit unnerving. “Back in Sumeru? When you led the mission to rescue me?”

“I… do…” Lumine didn’t like the direction the conversation was steering toward. Her breathing was shuddering, and the side glances Aether and Ajax were giving her weren’t helping.

“This is something similar, but different in a way that I will do my best to describe clearly,” the little fairy explained. “The samsara needed dreams and the Akasha terminal to function, but in this case, the keys to making the flow of time circle its way around to the past are you and your brother.”

Now it was Aether’s turn to snap. “Are you suggesting that my sister and I are helping the Great Deity to survive?”

Lumine tried to calm her sibling down with a small whimper of his name, but Nahida wasn’t at all phased by his flaring up. “It was never my intention to suggest anything of the sort— if you two are the keys, you are unwilling and unknowing of it. Let me try to explain.

“Part of the History of Teyvat is repeating itself over and over again. From the moment you two arrived in this land until a few hours after you defeated the Sustainer of Heavenly Principles. All in all, the course of events flows the same way each time, but there is one unequivocal difference every time: the roles of Traveler and the Abyss Prince or Princess keep getting exchanged between the two of you every time there’s a reset of the cycle. 

“As we have been going through the loop over and over again, the Sustainer of Heavenly Principles makes themselves linger on inside one of you, whoever will restart the cycle as the Abyss Regent. And of course, when the cycle restarts, every trace of the previous cycle is destroyed, leaving no evidence that such a cycle is happening.”

“Then how do you know it is happening?” Ajax finally pitched in, heading onto every word the Dendro Archon was saying as his grip tightened more and more on his wife. “How are you aware of it if the traces keep getting erased?”

“It is because of a neat trick I’ve learned with the Travelers over the last few cycles. I was able to leave some information behind in a corner of Irminsul that wasn’t being erased every time the cycle started anew, and little by little I came to the conclusions I am drawing out now.”

“So how do we stop it?” Aether gravely asked.

It was finally then that Nahida grimaced. “The answer is very simple, but you’re not going to like it.

“You need to leave this planet at once and never return.”

Lumine was sure her heart stopped beating. Ajax had gone cold next to her, frozen like a statue made out of ice.

Aether, on the other hand, relaxed his posture. “That should be simple enough. It was our plan all along any—“

“No.”

The ex-Harbinger’s voice was strong and decisive, no matter how tired or beaten up he was. Lumine could’ve sworn that he was even standing taller and relying less on her.

Her twin brother scowled at him. “Didn’t you hear what she just said? We need to do this so that everybody can go on with their lives! And finally finish the Sustainer of Heavenly Principles off!”

“And how are you sure that that’s exactly what’s going to happen?” Ajax turned to Nahida, but his expression didn’t soften a smidge. “How are you sure that’s the answer to the problem? What if you are condemning another land to an endless cycle? What if that doesn’t stop the cycle from repeating itself here? There has to be something else we can do!”

Nahida sighed. “We have tried other things before and they haven’t worked. This is our last resort. If this doesn’t work, nothing will. It’s our only hope.”

“And like I was saying,” Aether interjected. “This has been our intention all along, right Lumine?”

The female blonde wasn’t speaking, she wasn’t looking at any of the three of them, choosing to instead set his gaze on the ground as if it held the answers to their query. She didn’t look like she had been heeding all of the bickering after Nahida’s revelation on how to solve the problem at hand. She barely looked like she was breathing.

“Lumine?” Her brother called her name. “Right?”

“Nahida,” she spoke in a quiet voice, not raising her eyes from staring at the floor. “If this is the best answer, the one that will most likely lead to success, how come we haven’t already done it?”

Nahida’s grimace deepened. She looked in Lumine’s direction with a great sadness in her eyes. “Because you don’t want to leave, Lumine.”

Her answer had layers on top of layers of unspoken feelings. Sure, Lumine had a lot of friends tying her to this world, friends who had supported her and helped her in her time of need, friends whom she cherished dearly. But those could only be her friends when she was the Traveler, not when she was part of the Abyss Order. 

There was only one person that she could meet no matter what her role in the story, only one person who held her heart perfectly in the palm of his hand like it was made solely for him to safe keep. 

“Lumi?” Her husband asked next to her, and his voice carried a pain in it that told her he had come to the same conclusion she had.

She didn’t want to leave him.

“And you are certain that there is no other way?” She asked with a shaky voice.

Nahida shook her head. “I’m afraid not.”

Ajax kneeled before her, cupping her head in his palms. “Lumine, look at me. I am sure that we can find another way. Maybe the rest of the Archons have more suggestions, maybe there’s something else we haven’t considered.”

His voice was desperate and his grip was stout. Lumine had the impression that he was holding onto her as his lifeline just as much as she needed him to hold her up.

She rested her hand atop his, and with tears in her eyes, she finally made eye contact with Aether.

“Can you give us a moment? Please?”

Aether looked like he wanted to argue, but something in her eyes dissuaded him from doing so. He turned away and walked a few paces away from them with Nahida in tow.

It was only then that Lumine finally looked into Ajax’s deep blue eyes. They were so expressive with so many feelings all at once— love, yearning, desperation, disbelief, fear. It took all of Lumine’s strength to not collapse then.

She had to be the voice of reason. Just one last time.

“You know I love you, right?” She asked, her voice as soft as a morning breeze.

“We should talk to Her Majesty, I’m sure she can help—“

“Ajax,” Lumine interrupted him. “You know I love you, right?”

He bit his lip and scoffed. “Don’t do this.”

“Do what?”

“Speak as if you’re saying goodbye.”

The Traveler let out a sigh. She would never stop admiring how Ajax could read her so well after so little time together. Little for a thousand-year-old star, that is.

“Ajax, she is the Archon of Wisdom. If she says that we have exhausted all other options…”

“Maybe she’s wrong. She doesn't know everything.”

It was like arguing with a child. Still, Lumine couldn’t say that she didn’t understand his insistence. “I don’t think she knows everything, but I do think she knows more than anyone.”

Ajax’s shoulders trembled. “You can’t go.”

His cracked voice broke Lumine’s heart. “I have to.”

“No you don’t,” he asserted, his hands falling to her shoulders and holding on like he would drown without her anchor. “Even if the cycle keeps repeating itself, that means that we’ll keep finding each other. We will stay together.”

“But at what cost?” She hated to be the one to refute a statement that she so desperately wanted to believe in as well. “Ajax— people are dying over and over again, people are suffering every time the cycle is reset and they’re not able to move on. This isn’t something that will stay the same forever. It’ll get worse and worse each time until there’s nothing left but suffering, for everyone. We have to stop it while there’s still a chance.”

He lowered his gaze, not being able to hold hers anymore. “Even if that means that we’ll never see each other again?”

That one sentence nearly undid her. Lumine wanted nothing more than to collapse to the ground next to him, to have him hold her the same way he had so many times before and just wait until the cycle ended like that. And then they would find each other again like they always did.

Alas, there was an entire world at stake.

So, instead, Lumine did the best thing she could and attempted to convince him of a different outcome. Ajax wouldn’t know it, but she would also be trying to fool herself with her own words.

“I know we’ll see each other again, Ajax,” she reassured him, lifting his head so that he could look at her one last time, hoping that he could glimpse at the adoration she felt for him in her golden eyes. “Maybe not on Teyvat, maybe not in this same life— but I’m sure we’ll find each other again. In a different universe, in a different life. You and I are tied together by something stronger than fate, stronger than life itself. We’re tied by an invisible string that has withstanded and will withstand everything. I refuse to think that this is it for us. We’re timeless.”

Lumine had no proof to back up  anything that she had just said, but she also had no doubts about it— not even the most powerful being in existence would be able to tear them apart. Both of them were too stubborn to let that happen.

She was hoping that Ajax saw this truth as clearly as she did.

With a resigned look in his eyes, he could only nod before leaning in to kiss her.

Their kiss was warm and long, tender and hungry as both of them clung to each other, wanting that moment to last forever. There was much said within that gesture— love and pain, longing and faith, presence and remembrance. Their hands scouted each other’s bodies, leaving trails of blazing fire and hoping to retain the memory of those lines and their angles for the rest of their lives.

Sadly, they were interrupted by a shake of the ground.

“Lumine!” Aether screamed at the top of his lungs from the other side of the room.

“Time is running out!” Nahida shouted next to him.

How cruel was the timing. There was still so much left undone, so much left unsaid… 

With wide, dismayed eyes, Lumine looked back at her husband. Ajax hurriedly placed something on her hands, his eyes holding back tears. “Give it back to me when we find each other again, OK?”

She looked down to find his earring in the palm of her hand. Lumine pressed the keepsake close to her chest, and as a tear fell from the corner of her eye, she nodded. “I will.”

He leaned in to give her one last peck on her lips. “I love you, mis miyatz.”

“I love you, AJ.”

Aether grabbed her hand. Their wings sprung up and they took to the skies together.

The last thing Lumine saw in Teyvat was the beautiful blue shade of her husband’s eyes, looking up at her with the certainty that they would find each other again.

~

Ajax woke up drenched in sweat and a scream leaving his lips.

He wasn’t a stranger to nightmares, but most of the time he woke up with only ragged breathing and his heart beating fast. This time hadn’t only been worse than ever before, he had also woken up while shouting out her name.

Acting out of pure impulse and instinct, he was out of bed, putting on his sneakers, and rushing out the door before he knew it. He had half a mindset in what he was doing, but his whole heart was on it. He needed to see her. He needed to tell her.

Damn Lumine Yueliang. Damn their stupid arrangement to only hook up during the summer, no strings attached. Damn his idiotic heart for falling for her anyways.

He didn’t know when he had become so infatuated, so obsessed with her. It had happened gradually, sure, and he had tried to fight it at first as well. But he knew it had started happening when he started having dreams about her.

She made an appearance in her dreams more often than not, not that he’d admit that to anyone. Sometimes he had pleasant dreams of her, of a stroll on the beach beside Liyue’s mountains, of stolen glances across a ballroom, of fighting with various weapons against her and being delighted by being beaten up by her every single time. Sometimes he had… dreams that went more accordingly with their encounters, with limbs twisted in bedsheets and peppered kisses that could be as light as a feather or as rough as a predator.

And then some other times, like tonight, they were outright nightmares. Nightmares of losing her forever. Nightmares of people and circumstances that pulled them apart, kept them from being together. Those were the ones that felt the realest. Those were the ones that had him waking up hoping to find her by his side and then chiding himself when he remembered that it was delusional of him to expect her to be there.

As he raced through the deserted campus, he couldn’t help but ponder on what he could remember about his nightmare. Something about an arranged marriage and a desperate need to stop it. Of odds being against him but still laying his life on the line for Lumine.

Lumine.

Ajax was very aware of the effect she had on him, of the magnetic pull he felt toward her. She was the moon and he was the ocean, responding to her movements and her phases, devoting himself to her in body and soul not because he didn’t have an option but because he wanted to.

And yet, they hadn’t spoken since last August, since they’d returned to Liyue Harbor from their summer vacation. Something had snapped between them, and Ajax wasn’t quite sure of what had triggered it. Whatever fragile bridge they had built had fallen apart when they went back to their normal lives, back to the scrutiny of their classmates and their professors.

He had noticed that their usual academic disputes had been subdued since then— Ajax had tried in vain to go back to their previous banter like nothing had happened because he thought that was what she wanted. But contrary to what he was expecting, Lumine had done nothing but try to avoid arguing with him. It wasn’t even that she gave up on whatever they were disputing over, she ignored him or showed no interest in quarreling with him. Her answers, if there were any, were monosyllabic and they lacked the fire they’d had before the summer.

Ajax couldn’t help but wonder what he had done wrong. He couldn’t figure it out to save his life, because, in his perspective, he had adhered to all the rules they had established in the beginning— they gave each other what they wanted and then never spoke about it. They both had kept their encounters a secret from everyone else, but towards the end, Ajax had considered keeping her like some other thing entirely… Like an oath, not to be broken but to be respected, to be fulfilled.

More than one time he wished that he could just talk to her about what had happened over the summer, and if she, like him, wanted more than just clandestine meetings and longing stares. He wanted nothing more than to find out once and for all if all of it was just a moment in time that had slipped away and was now lost forever, or if it was… Something else…

But it was complicated. Too complicated. After physical intimacy had been the one and sole focus of whatever unnamed relationship they’d had, could he even begin to hope for something else?

Lumine’s demeanor indicated that no, there wasn’t any chance of them being anything beyond that. It even indicated that there was no staying on the same page either. He had settled for that, for not pushing her to give him any explanations. And he had been fine with it. Pretended to be fine with it, at least.

Until now.

His nightmare was over. But the crushing reality was almost as bad.

He was losing her. Or had he lost her already?

No. Not decisively. Not yet. Something within him refused to give up on her. Something inside of him urged him to not leave things as they were. To not let her go. To fight for her.

Ajax had a feeling that it wouldn’t be the first time he’d had to fight for her… whatever that even meant.

Fueled by the fast beating of his heart and the adrenaline pumping through his veins, Ajax ran and ran, and ran through the university’s grounds, the girls’ dorms coming closer and closer with each step he took.

Why he knew where she lived wasn't important, what was important was that Ajax knew exactly where he needed to go. Even though she lived on the third floor, he didn’t slow down as he climbed the stairs one bit. Surprise overtook him when he saw light coming from the edges of her dorm’s hallway window as he approached the door, the curtains blocking most but not all of its shine.

What was she doing awake at this time? Or by chance was it her roommate who was up?

Only one way to find out. 

He knocked on the door as soon as he was able to, his breathing still erratic and his muscles aching from the sudden exercise. Steps warily approached the other side and the peephole went dark for a second. The door swung open shortly after, the hinges crying at the swift yanking.

Golden inquisitive eyes looked up at him, and rather than being half-lidded and drowsy, they were alert, puffy, and red as if their owner had just finished crying. Confusion reflected on her face at the sight of him, and Ajax couldn’t blame her. It wasn’t every day that Lumine’s ex-fling came looking for her at an ungodly hour of the night.

“Morskaya?” She finally asked with a small, slightly trembling voice. “What are you doing here? Do you have any idea of what time it is?”

The answer to her second question was an easy one, the first one… not so much.

How could he explain to a girl he barely knew, but that his heart sang for anyways, that a vivid nightmare had been the final straw to him deciding that he never wanted her to leave his side? How could he even begin to find the words to tell her, without sounding like he had gone mad, that he was absolutely sure that they belonged together?

The good thing for him was that his brain was wired to adapt to any situation that came up at any moment. No matter how surprising or unexpected it was.

“Have you been crying, Yueliang?”

Lumine was so taken aback by his intrusive question that she only widened her eyes in shock for a moment. Then, she wiped her eyes and averted her gaze. “That’s none of your concern.”

How very wrong she was.

“What happened?”

She got irritated at his insistence. “I had a stupid nightmare, okay? It’s not a big deal.”

Ajax furrowed his brow.

Could it be?

“If this is your idea of a practical joke, it’s not funny. So, are you going to tell me what you are doing here, or should I call someone to kick you out? You know men aren’t allowed in this building.”

Ajax could’ve mentioned how multiple people broke that same rule all the time for various reasons, but it wasn’t the right time or place. Lumine was on edge, it was plain for him to see that, but there was also something else.

He saw it in the twitch of her fingers like she was resisting the impulse to reach out for him. He saw it in the nervous fidgeting of her eyes, looking everywhere but at him save for a small quick glance every few seconds. He saw it in her ragged, heavy breathing she was barely keeping under control like she had been running through campus just like him except that she hadn’t.

“What was your nightmare about?” He ventured to inquire, his voice soft but serious. Ajax had to fight against the same impulse he saw in her to reach out uninvited. He wanted nothing more than to tuck a curly lock of her hair behind her ear.

Her glare found him quickly, and Ajax was ready to receive her next lash out but it never came. Lumine saw something in him, in his expression, that made her do a double take and reassess her approach to his question. She pondered on whether she should answer him truthfully or not.

“It was nothing,” she said after much internal deliberation. It was going to take more than that for her to trust him with such a personal matter.

Ajax guessed he might as well start rebuilding the bridge himself.

“Was it about me?” 

Taken aback once more, Lumine looked at him scared that she had been discovered if only for just a second. She was quick to try to cover up her slip-up.

“That is… so… conceited of you!” She chided him, but it came out half-hearted as if she didn’t believe the words she had said to him so many times before anymore.

He took a step forward, the need to touch her, to cradle her body close to his, to just feel that she was truly there becoming stronger with every second that passed. “Was it about losing me?”

Lumine took a step back, cautious of him. With a crease of her brows and the glassiness of unshed tears, her eyes silently asked “how did you know?”

Then, the pieces of the puzzle started to come together in her head. Ajax could see them slowly being assembled as she looked him over. Her posture relaxed even if just a smidge.

“You too?” He could’ve missed the two words with how softly she whispered them in her disbelief if she hadn’t had his undivided attention.

Ajax bit his lip. There was no point in hiding it. He either put all his cards on the table or he might as well just turn around and head back to his own dorm, forgetting that any of this ever happened.

The first option could save him. The second one would kill him.

“I don’t know how to explain this, Lumine,” her name rolled out of his tongue naturally, as if he was making up for all the times it had been caught up between his lips and being kept unspoken. “I just… ever since we met, I’ve been having these dreams, these nightmares about… us. But not just in like… classes or vacations or mundane settings like those. Us in like…”

The words got trapped in his mouth. How could he say what he thought without sounding crazy? How could he explain that—

“Like we’re living in another life?” Lumine completed his thought for him, as outworldly as it sounded. “Or in another universe?”

He couldn’t have said it any better. Now, it was his turn to stare dumbfounded at her.

Lumine bobbed her head in a shy, unsure nod. “I’ve been having those too.”

The moon bathed her in its light, giving her a glow that made her look like a goddess. Like she was the most precious treasure he would ever come to find. It was as if his entire existence revolved around her.

“You… have…?” He parroted like an idiot, unable to believe his luck.

Her eyes drifted to the floor, embarrassed. “Don’t make me say it again, Morskaya.”

It took Childe’s soul a hot minute to come back to his body. His having those dreams was lunatic, insanely fantastic. But the fact that Lumine had them too was absolutely bonkers. What were the odds? Was she… really meant to be his? And he hers?

Were they truly destined to be together?

“Lumine,” he said, shedding away any bashfulness still left in his body and grabbing both of her hands in his. The girl remained unusually still, not a single attempt was made by her to replace the space between them. “I know what we agreed to, back in Yaoguang coast. I remember it all too well. But I can’t… I don’t want it to end. What we had. Back there. I would actually… I’d like us to be more. I’d like us to be together. ”

His sentences were short and sloppy, but Ajax just had to spew his feelings out in the most raw way possible, desperate to let Lumine know everything that had been plaguing his mind for the last few weeks. He needed to let her know that he meant every word he was saying. She stayed attentive to his every word. Even her breathing was imperceptible.

“I don’t know if these dreams that we’ve been having are a sign or not, I don’t know if they’re real in some mystic way and not just a product of our imagination. However, I do know that I don’t want to be without you. I know that I miss you every moment that we’re apart and that every moment spent in your presence without being able to hold you burns a hole in my chest that hurts more than anything else I’ve ever felt before. And I had a major injury back when I was fourteen, so I would know.”

The giggle she nervously left out at his sudden, out-of-place admission gave him faith. Her cheeks flared with a blush that was discernible even in the dim light of the night sky. She gave him the fuel he needed to continue with his confession.

“What I mean is… I need you, Lumine. I want you. I think I may even be in love with you. And now I’m just left to wonder if… If you feel the same way? Dreams or no dreams?”

Lumine finally let out a breath that she had been holding the entire time he had been speaking. Her big doe eyes scanned him like she was seeing him, truly seeing him, for the first time. As if she had finally found something she had lost a long time ago.

One of her small hands found its way out of his grasp, and she reached out to caress his cheek. Ajax leaned into the touch as her delicate fingers grazed his skin, not fully believing that this was actually happening. It sure couldn’t be just another dream, could it?

“You’re forever imprinted in my mind, in my heart, Ajax. You’re this hot, burning red memory that I cannot stop seeing in my head,” Lumine softly murmured only for him to hear. “Be it asleep or awake… There is no getting you and your obnoxious, annoying self out of my thoughts. Dreams or no dreams.”

He smirked at her, her admission embellishing him like a proud medal. It incited her to roll her eyes at him.

Ajax had so many questions to ask her, so many things he wanted to talk to her about.

But only one question mattered then.

He leaned his face close to hers like he already had many times before, but this time it was different. This time, Ajax stopped a few inches away from her, not wanting to continue if she didn’t want him to. He didn’t want to demand something that he wanted to have only if she wanted to give it, so unlike their many encounters before.

“May I?” He sighed, bracing himself for the answer.

In a split second, Lumine flung herself into his arms, pulling him close by the nape of his neck. Ajax was quick to hold her by the waist, savoring those peach lips that had been haunting him for so long.

Finally.

~

Lumine blinked away the first rays of sunlight that peeked into her dorm, grateful for the extra hours of sleep she’d been able to get as the weekend began. It wasn’t until she tried to bring her arms up into a stretch that she felt the weight of something else over her. Something that shouldn’t be there but that she was grateful for at the same time. Something she had been craving for many nights now.

She turned around as gently as possible to glimpse at the unexpected visitor who had arrived at her doorstep in the middle of the night.

Ajax Morskaya was as handsome at the break of dawn as he was past midnight, but the peacefulness that reigned over him as he slept warmed Lumine’s heart like a cup of hot cocoa. She still couldn’t believe what had happened last night— or earlier on that day, whatever it had been. She’d woken up crying, something that didn’t happen every single night but also not as infrequently as she would’ve liked. The lingering tingle of a goodbye kiss danced on her lips, and the emptiness she felt inside of her as she tried to hold onto its memory was too much for her to take.

She missed him. She missed him so fucking much. There was this hole in her chest, this missing piece that she thought she was learning to let go of but that hurt more than ever after those strange nightmares. Those in which she saw Ajax’s face in the body of a god, of a fighter, of a paramour.

Her heart had skipped a beat when there was a knock on the door at the same time she had finally made up her mind to get up from her bed and just go drink some water in the small kitchen/living room she shared with Amber. Lumine could’ve even sworn that it stopped beating completely for a couple of seconds when she saw that, on the other side of her doorstep, was none other than the culprit of her emotional turmoil.

Things happened so fast after that. Admissions. Confessions. Caresses.

Strangely enough, last night hadn’t been about sex like it had usually been between them. Hands may have wandered more than what was appropriate, but not in a flirtatious way. It had been more like a longing, a yearning. They needed to know that the other was there and that they didn’t have to leave. Not now. Not ever. Not anymore.

Ajax had swept her up like the tides of the ocean— unexpectedly and fiercely, engulfing her in his waves. But when she was drowning, was when she could finally breathe. 

Lumine had let go of Ajax when summer had ended and she had resolved to not pursue him or entertain him anymore. The faster she forgot him, the faster she would heal and move on from him.

She never would’ve guessed that he would come back to her.

He scrunched his nose in his sleep, the freckles in his skin coming to life with his small movements. She smiled at the sight and let out a heavy breath to stifle a chuckle to not wake him up. 

But apparently, Ajax was a light sleeper, because one piercing blue eye opened to look at the source of the noise. The arm sprawled across her body pulled her closer to him instantly, an action that she happily complied with. He buried his face in the crook of her neck, taking in a deep breath to take her scent in.

“I’m so glad you’re here,” he whispered with a coarse, husky voice. Lumine could feel the movement of his lips on her skin, goosebumps erupting instantly as a consequence. “Finally… you’re not just a dream.”

Lumine let out a gasp at his unabashed words, but it wasn’t long before she leaned into him too, tenderly brushing his unruly hair with her fingers. A soft hum let her know that he enjoyed her caresses like he was a kitten rather than a college student. It was cute and endearing.

They could’ve stayed like that for hours on end, but Lumine knew that that wasn’t feasible. Not if they didn’t want to get caught breaking dorm policy.

She kissed the crown of his head to soften her words. “You need to get going before Amber wakes up.”

He whined like a 5-year-old. “Five more minutes?”

“No,” she tried to sound stern, but the giggles spilling from her lips weren’t helping her case. “The longer you wait, the more likely you’ll be seen by someone on your way out of the building.”

“I can just jump out the window,” he argued. Typical of Ajax Morskaya.

“You could if I lived on the first floor… but I do not,” she reasoned. However, Lumine could feel that he wasn’t budging just yet, so she added, “and I really don’t want you to get hurt or in trouble because of me.”

A groan. Ajax picked up his head to scowl at her, unamused with how easily she had figured out how to bend him to her will. “Fine, you win. Unfairly, but you win.”

Lumine could only giggle in response. She could definitely get used to him giving her the reason, saying “you win” and all that jazz. He stole a peck of her lips when she lowered her guard though, taking her by surprise. She clearly needed to get used to that too.

Rolling over to the edge of the bed, Ajax sat up and stretched his arms, giving Lumine a nice view of the muscles on his back that peeked from under his sleeveless shirt. She felt her cheeks blush and averted her gaze before he turned around and caught her in the act.

As she scrambled up to find the words to ask him to meet up later that day, he picked up something from her nightstand. A small red jewel caught the light just right to shine in the soft dawn glow.

“What is this?” He asked.

“That old thing?” Lumine scooched over to take the small item from his hands. “It’s just some trinket I’ve had since I’ve had a memory. It’s just an old, single earring. I lost its pair a long time ago.”

Ajax raised one of his eyebrows. “Then why do you keep it?”

She shrugged. “You’re going to say I’m crazy, but it brings me comfort. I don’t know why, it just does.”

He looked at the red and golden dangling earring with curious eyes. “It looks… familiar, somehow. It’s like some sort of deja vu.”

Lumine looked up at him and got lost in her thoughts for a bit. Her eyes were intently staring at him but she wasn’t actually seeing him. A distant image crossed her mind, blurry and incorporeal. She tried to fully recall its memory, but it was to no avail. With only a hunch guiding her, she looked at Ajax’s left, solely pierced ear.

With a tenderness both characteristic and uncharacteristic of her, Lumine held the earring up to the side of his face. “It suits you,” she simply stated.

They stayed frozen in place in comfortable silence for a moment. Then, slow enough so that he could stop her if he wanted to, Lumine reached out to take out his simple black hoop earring. Her deft fingers worked carefully on the job, saving the small hoop in the palm of her hand as she exchanged it for her memento. When she was finished, she pulled back to take a good look at him, bewitched at the sight of him. Something clicked in place. Lumine felt a weight she didn’t know she had been carrying leaving her shoulders.

She didn’t know why, but everything was right now. The way it was supposed to be.

Ajax lifted both of his eyebrows this time around, a silent plea for her to spill out her thoughts.

What came out of her mouth was most likely not what he was expecting. “Would you keep it?” She asked.

Ajax’s ocean-blue eyes widened in shock at her request. “But it's your comfort token,” he retorted, reaching out to roll the jewel between his fingers.

“I want you to keep it,” Lumine said with a determination that belonged in the classroom, not in the intimate weird conversation they were having in her bedroom.

Yet, Ajax could only smirk at her and the fire that she emanated every time she got her mind set on something. He chuckled to himself. “Then I will oblige and wear it proudly.”

“Every day?” She asked with a pout on her lips.

“Every day,” he reassured her with a smile on his face.

Lumine lunged at him, and Ajax’s arms were reflexively ready to catch her.

They’d found each other. They’d keep finding each other, over and over again, no matter what. In a different universe, in a different life. They were tied together by something stronger than fate, stronger than life itself. They were tied by an invisible string that had withstanded and would withstand everything.  

They were timeless.