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Lumine and Paimon finally found some idle time to explore the Court of Fontaine. After getting unwillingly entangled in an unusual trial upon arrival, a period of unwinding and exploring in a new nation was much due.
After a long period of walking around the city, getting to know some locals, and buying bits and bobs, the two found themselves at Café Lutéce. Lumine was generous enough to let Paimon order desserts to her heart's content to celebrate reaching a new nation.
As they sat waiting for their orders, Lumine took the time to reflect on her journey in Fontaine so far. Although many things weigh heavily on her mind, perhaps the most puzzling one should be the precious object in her hands right now.
Ever since Childe handed her his Vision, she couldn't help but be fascinated by it and finds herself thinking about it often.
Why did he lose his powers?
Why did it stop working?
Could this be related to the Abyss?
Why was it so easy for him to leave it?
Why did he leave it with me?
Did he really just want an excuse to talk to me again?
"Still checking out Childe's Vision, are you?" Paimon's voice startled her and almost knocked the Vision out of her hands.
She sighed in relief as she clutched the Vision tight in her hands and tucked it away safely in her bag. "Just fascinated. It is my first time seeing someone lose control of their Vision. after all”
"Oh phew, Paimon was starting to think that you've been daydreaming about Mr. Moneybags again!" Paimon teased.
"Wh-what no! Don't be silly, Paimon!" She immediately refuted. Though, the red on her cheeks would say otherwise. “I’d better be off dead than take an interest in him.”
"Hey, Paimon's just kidding!" She laughed nervously. "Anyway, our food is here, let's just enjoy all the yummy desserts Fontaine has to offer!" Paimon proclaimed as a server set down their cakes and beverages.
Just as they were scarfing down on their food, a familiar voice called out to them.
"Hey girlie, got room for one more?" She spotted his unmistakable figure emerge at the walkway outside. Childe waved at them and jogged his way into the café.
"Childe?! Are you stalking us or something?" Paimon exclaimed, clearly furious that he was ruining her dessert time.
"Whoa, hey, I was just taking a stroll around the city and saw you two here so I wanted to drop by and say hello!"
"Well, Lumine already ordered enough for the both of us so that's gonna be a no!"
"Hey, I can order my own food, you know!"
"That's enough, you two," Lumine interjected their friendly squabble. "You can join us, Childe, as long as you pay the entrance fee of one additional cake slice for Paimon."
"Ohoho, now that's a deal Paimon can get behind on!"
Childe chuckled and sighed in defeat, "Giving you my Vision wasn't enough, huh? Gotta pay for this one's cake, too?"
His Vision.
Right, he said he was going to get it back so maybe he wanted it already. Maybe that's his agenda for today. She thought.
Paimon gave a fake evil grin and watched as he shook his head in defeat and made his way to the counter. The two listened intently to him as he dictated his order—making sure he included Paimon's cake. When he did, they snickered to themselves and high-fived each other in success.
When he made his way back to their table, Childe pulled out the chair next to Lumine. She felt her breath hitch when he sat and scooted a bit close to her. She tried her best to avert his gaze so as not to give away her annoyance, awkwardness, and something else.
She harbored feelings for the Harbinger. Of course, she knows this deep down—and Paimon does too, hence her constant teasing. She didn’t understand how that came to be in the first place. It was something she always denied to herself, or to anyone for that matter. Because she can't fall in love, both for her sake and his.
For a while, she believed that her strong feelings had dissolved after not seeing him in a long time. But meeting him again only fanned the flames in her heart.
"So have you had the chance to explore Fontaine yet?" He asked, his voice breaking her out of her thoughts.
"Just a bit. We've only fully explored the Court of Fontaine right now," she said after taking a bite of her cake.
"I'm sure you'll love Fontaine, lots of things to see here, plus lots of delicious food."
As if on cue, the server set down their order with Paimon's cake. Lumine swore she saw her companion's eyes glimmer when she set her eyes on the cake.
"Ah, this cake must be for Paimon," he said as he slid the plate over in her direction.
"I think Paimon's gonna have to put you higher up on the list of her favorite people for this!" Paimon giggled and continued eating.
Childe smiled with his eyes at Paimon, and Lumine couldn't help but stare, with a smile unconsciously creeping up on her face, as well.
The meal continued with a light and happy (and tense–on Lumine's side) atmosphere. The three exchanged stories about their recent travels and some anecdotes about Childe's siblings—the one she never got to hear when a group of bandits interrupted their reunion.
When they finished, Lumine had thought it was the end of their small reunion and began to fish out his Vision from her backpack.
"Phew, I'm stuffed! Say, Lumine, do you want to go for a walk to get this food down?"
"Well..."
Before she could form a response, Paimon flew in between them.
"Oh, she would love to! And Paimon doesn't really walk, so she'll leave you two alone to do whatever you want, hehe!"
She shot Paimon a death glare, and Paimon just winked at her before she vanished to whatever dimension she hid herself in.
Great...
"That's great! I know a beach just outside the city, let me take you there! I know a shortcut!" Childe enthusiastically offered, while he was already leading the way.
What Lumine didn't know was that his "shortcut" involved climbing over the city walls. She hoped Fontaine didn't criminalize scaling the city walls or else, they'd wind up at the Opera Epiclese.
"Childe, maybe we should just take the long way—" She grunted as she carefully and stealthily climbed. Childe was way ahead of her and was already waiting at the top of the walls.
"Oh, but isn’t climbing an adventurer’s bread and butter?" Childe teased. He reached out his hand for her to grab onto.
"Relax, I've done this like three times already and I wasn’t caught. And I'm sure you'll make a fantastic defense case when they do catch us!"
So it was criminalized.
She rolled her eyes at his remark. She was hesitant to hold onto his hand, but she was feeling sluggish after all those sweets. So she grabbed his hand and he pulled her up to join him on the ledge.
When she reached the top, she was immediately greeted by the evening breeze and glimmering sea outside the city.
For some reason she felt his eyes on her, so she couldn't help but turn her head towards him—and she was correct. She caught him for a split second before he immediately looked away into the horizon.
He cleared his throat.
"Over there," He pointed in the direction of a small stretch of beach below. "Nobody really comes there at this hour, so it's going to be all ours."
They glided towards the beach and were welcomed by the waves softly rolling onto the shore. The moon and the stars were reflected on the clear waters. Lumine closed her eyes and breathed in the air.
"Well, we came here for a walk, didn't we?" He said, motioning his head for her to join him.
She smiled softly and followed him along.
There was a suffocating feeling in the air—an awkward silence. He was uncharacteristically quiet, which bothered her a lot. Wasn’t he the one who invited her here in the first place? There was nothing but the sounds of waves and sand crunching beneath their shoes.
She was no good at breaking the ice. It was usually Paimon's job, but she had to try.
"So, did you bring me here so you could get your Vision back? I'm not really trying to keep it from you, you know." She caught up to his side to catch a glimpse of his face.
He looked like he was in deep thought, but her voice brought him back. He chuckled for a bit and ran his hands through his hair.
"No, hold on to it for a bit longer. I trust you'll take good care of it, yes?" He stopped in his tracks and turned to face her with a tender smile. “I’m still not sure what’s wrong with me, so it’s best you keep it safe until I find out.”
Though she had no idea what he was planning, knowing his reckless nature, she got scared a bit for him. He often pushed himself to his limits, and she worried that if he relied too much on his Delusion and his Foul Legacy—
"Hey, I'll be fine without it. I'm getting stronger after all!" He reassured her and placed a hand on her shoulder and squeezed it lightly.
Her face painted a worried expression—one she couldn’t mask. “But why give it to me?”
“Because I know I’ll eventually find you again.”
And there was that stuffiness in the air again—like they were waiting on each other to do something, but neither could bring themselves to it.
Lumine slowly looked away while Childe took his hand off her shoulder and continued to walk as if nothing happened. Lumine stood there for a bit, pretending to stare up into the sky.
I think I’m starting to care too much about him. Her thoughts started to eat away at her.
For Lumine, getting attached was no good. Her life has always been about moving forward. Allowing herself to fall in love was to be consumed by emotions, and those emotions could get in the way of her goals. She never even intended to stay in this world, anyway, so there was no point to it all.
Allowing herself to fall in love with him was to be with someone who has death inching closer with every encounter. As someone who has witnessed countless births and deaths in her long lifetime, these were but fleeting moments; but she knows losing him would shatter her. It was also not outside the realm of possibility that she might deliver the final blow as his enemy, which haunts her the most.
Fate was not on her side by making her fall in love with the embodiment of those she was up against—the Fatui and the Abyss. Almost like they sent him as a joke or a warning.
She can’t be weighed down like that. That’s why she could never bring herself to open up her heart.
Lumine didn’t know how long she was in her own thoughts when she found Childe sitting on the sand meters away from where she stood without his jacket, his sleeves and pants rolled up, and barefoot. He yelled and waved at her to let her know where he was.
She slowly approached him, bunched up her dress, and took her shoes off at the side before sitting next to him.
“The stars won’t change if you look at them that long, you know.”
“I know. But they just might if I try hard enough,” she said in jest, staring off into the distance.
He furrowed his brows together and craned his neck to look at her face. “Hey, you look worried, I told you not to worry about me.” He said almost in a mocking manner.
Oh, his relentless teasing will be the death of her.
“What made you think I was thinking about you?”
“Right.” He chuckled and flung sand in her direction.
Lumine scoffed and retaliated with an extra serving of her anemo powers to make sure they hit directly at his face.
“That’s cheating!”
“What are you gonna do? Bring out your Foul Legacy transformation?” She taunted and took the chance to show off her newly acquired hydro powers.
As he was at a disadvantage, he just scooped up the seawater to splash at her.
The two continued playfully flinging sand and splashing water at each other. They only stopped after a large wave crashed into them, drenching them entirely. They sat back down and erupted in laughter at their little game.
Childe sighed to himself and began tracing circles in the sand with his fingers. “You know what this reminds me of?”
“Hm?”
“Our days in Liyue, exploring the beaches. And you’d collect starconches with me.” He had a wistful glint in his eyes. “Thinking about it, we’ve known each other for so long now…”
She recalled the days they spent in Liyue, contesting each other on who collected the most starconches. It was a little something they did to wind down after having a friendly spar. His company was a great comfort during those times. Almost everyone in Liyue had someone or somewhere they could come back to, but not them—they were both far away from home. Without realizing it, they’ve gotten closer through an unspoken bout of loneliness.
Lumine smiled to herself at the fond memory.
“Three years? I don’t feel like I’ve been friends with anyone for that long.” He mused.
She didn’t know whether she should feel bad or be happy about it.
“And we always manage to see each other in those three years,” she chimed. “Sure you’re not getting sick of me yet?”
“Well, you’re always foiling our plans.” He joked. “But like I said, I admire my good friends who always find trouble.”
“It’s serendipitous how we always manage to find each other no matter what corner of the world we’re in,” he added; the tone of voice amused.
“I won’t be surprised if I find you in the abyss one day,” she joked and they both chuckled lightly.
In those three years, Childe and Lumine had gone through a lot. From an unexpected alliance to betrayal, mutual respect, friendship—and ultimately her unspoken feelings. In those three years, they have only gotten stronger and closer. But those feelings of hers won’t likely dissipate anytime soon—and she knows it will be her undoing.
“I missed this, Lumine,” she felt his fingers brush close to hers. It might just be her heightened emotions, but she felt as if they inched closer by the second. “I’m glad we get to spend time like this again.”
He was really making it difficult to not love him.
For a moment, time seemed to stand still—the air felt thicker and every breath felt heavier. They both felt this as they tried their best to avoid each other’s gaze. As if one glimpse would let the ground beneath them crumble.
“Listen, Lumine…” he said with a hint of tenderness to his voice. She had never heard him sound like that—not in the whole three years she’d known him. She felt her heart skip a beat at the possibility of what he was to say.
She turned to face him and was met with his blue eyes filled with longing, a sad smile stricken on his face. It felt like he was aiming right for her heart, and whatever he was going to say was a poisoned arrow.
“We’ve already been through so much together, I feel like it wouldn’t be fair to keep things from you.” His voice trembled.
Target locked.
“What do you mean?” Her tone filled with confusion. Was he going to reveal a Fatui plan in Fontaine? Intel about her missing brother? Secrets about the abyss?
“It’s something I’ve learned about myself...” he breathed deeply. “And you.”
He was about to let go and let the arrow fly into the air.
“Which is?”
“That maybe I…” His breath hitched; he hesitated. He tucked a stray piece of her hair into her ear. The sudden contact left her frozen and her heart racing.
He has let go of the string and the arrow shoots off in the distance.
It can’t be.
“Maybe I’ve grown weaker.” His fingers gently rested on the side of her face. “That could only explain why I can’t bring myself to push aside my feelings for you any longer.”
The arrow flies in the air, just inches away from piercing into her. She could run now but—
“Sorry.” He immediately pulled his hand away, stood up, and walked away from her. “I’m sorry Lumine, forget I said anything.”
The arrow misses, landing just below her feet.
She didn’t even realize she was holding her breath until she called out for him. She slowly stood up and gently trod in his direction.
He sighed, frustrated. “We can forget this ever happened.”
When she caught up to him, she grabbed him by the arm and gently tugged at him to face her. “Don’t be sorry,” she said in a hushed tone.
Lumine didn’t know what had gotten into her; it was like gravity shifted and continued to draw her closer to him, like the moon’s pull on the tides.
She picked up the arrow from the ground and pierced her own heart with it.
She shakily stood on her toes, cupped his face and slowly pulled him down closer to her level, and closed the distance between them with her lips.
She could tell by his body language that he was just as shocked as she was—his whole body stiffened for a few seconds like it was processing what was currently happening. Once his body had fully realized the situation, his eyes fluttered shut, while his hands scrambled on where he should hold her, until they settled on her waist, pulling her even closer. Her own hands found themselves roaming in his hair.
It felt like all the elements had surged into their bodies, but also like the abyss had swallowed the world whole. Admitting her feelings for him was as good as sealing her fate in this world.
What a cruel fate it was to be each other’s lover. He was fated to be the prison that bound her to this world and she—his death sentence.
The waves washed onto their feet and the breeze blew into the night. They pulled away after what felt like forever, breathless, gazing into each other’s eyes.
“Why did you do that?” He whispered as if he didn’t want a soul to hear.
“I don’t know.” She said sheepishly and felt her cheeks flush.
That was enough of an answer for him. He couldn’t help but break out into a breathy chuckle.
“Have I ever told you that you look beautiful?” He said as he caught his breath.
Her heart had only pounded like this in the heat of battle.
No, no one’s ever told me that. She thought; she was only ever called brave or strong or kind—but never beautiful.
She only realized she voiced that thought out loud when he gave her a confused look.
“Really now?” He caressed her face with the back of his hand. “Well, you look beautiful. And I think people should acknowledge that more.”
After a while, she laced her fingers into his and invited him for a stroll. Thoughts about their possibilities filled her mind.
“Anything on your mind?” He asked, holding onto her hand tightly like he waited his whole life to hold them.
She fell silent for a while, trying to collect what she wanted to tell him. “I don’t know if we can be together, Childe. I don’t know what will happen to us.” She looked at him tenderly, afraid to break him.
“Well, my family will definitely give us their blessing. They’ve been asking about you ever since I started writing—”
“That’s not really what I meant…” She said, almost like she was sorry, and gave him a sad smile.
She’s once again reminded that beneath the strong warrior was a boy with a certain naïvete.
“What I meant,” she continued. “was that we might just end up endangering one another if we openly profess our….feelings to the world. They might use us against each other.”
And I will only end up leaving you behind, she wanted to say but held back.
He was quiet for a while like the thought had only crossed his mind.
“We’re enemies. We’ll only end up getting in each other’s way.” They continued their pace slowly on the sand. “We can’t just drop everything to be with each other. Not when we’ve already made it this far.”
She was still met with silence. She stopped in her tracks and faced him.
“Lumine,” he said, finally breaking his silence. “You’re scared, aren’t you?”
“I’m not.” She said sternly. She was confused for a while. There were a couple of things she was afraid of and she was pretty sure falling in love with Childe wasn’t one of them.
“No, you are scared.” He used his free hand to tilt her chin up so he was looking at him. “You’re saying things that don’t make a lot of sense.”
He used his thumb to trace patterns on her cheek. “Those things you said—even if we weren’t lovers,” he let the word linger on his tongue like it was a magic word. “it would still be inevitable. We’d still cross our blades against one another eventually. That's simply what fate has written for us; and it is by that hand that I met you.”
She lowered her head to avoid his gaze. Maybe she was scared. Maybe she was using her doubts and fears to run away from her feelings. Maybe she was scared that falling in love would take away all she fought for.
“But I’m scared too, Lumine.” He held both of her hands this time and pulled them closer to his chest. “I’m afraid of doing you harm and I’m even more terrified of losing you.”
She could feel his rapid pulse in his chest. This was Tartaglia, a Fatui Harbinger, afraid of almost nothing—and yet…
“We both have things we want to accomplish, things we want to protect. I don’t want this to be a choice for both of us. Nor do I want us to be constantly pushing aside our feelings for one another.”
“So where do you want us to go from here?” She asked quietly that it was almost lost to the waves washing ashore.
“We can just be scared together and see where the end takes us.” He kissed the knuckles of the hands he was holding. “If you’ll allow me, Lumine, I’d love to navigate this chaos with you.”
She let the question hang in the air for a while and hoped that all her fears and doubts would be insubstantial; that fate had a better plan written out for them. But for now, all she could do was hope.
Childe took notice of her forlorn expression and ran his fingers through her hair. “I’m not looking for a yes or no right now. I’ll wait for you when you have your answer.”
Deep down, she knew her answer, but she didn’t know if it was right.
“You promise you can wait for me? Even if it takes hundreds of years?” She teased him to lighten up the atmosphere.
“I pinky promise. In fact, I’ll even ask around for a power source that’ll allow me to live that long,” he said as a joke, but knowing him, it wouldn’t be far from a possibility.
He extended his pinky finger to her, and without a moment’s hesitation, she interlocked her pinky with his.
“Ah, but the extra step for pinky promises like this is a kiss on the lips…” He smirked playfully at her and even puckered up his lips and shut his eyes tightly to tease her even more.
“Childe!” She broke off from the pinky promise and scoffed at him.
She pushed herself off him and crossed her arms. She veered away from him to hide the obvious blood rising on her cheeks (and the uncontrollable smile forming on her lips).
He broke out in laughter at her clearly annoyed and embarrassed state. “I’m kissing—I mean kidding!”
“So. Annoying.” She said through gritted teeth.
Childe tried his very best to get back on her good side, but he knew very well that she was just pretending to be mad at him, and that she was enjoying it.
“Well, if you’re not mad at me anymore, I got something to show you,” he immediately started sprinting. “I’ll race you there!”
She looked in the direction he was sprinting towards and saw an unassuming huge slab of debris by the shore. From the looks of it, it appears to be a chunk from a bridge. There was really nothing special about it—aside from the fact that it looked like a dock made out of concrete. So she didn’t feel the need to rush, but her competitiveness got the best of her. They both reached the area at the same time.
He must have picked up her confusion, which prompted him to offer an explanation: “Ah, you see the key here is that we have to jump off of this.” He hopped onto the debris and Lumine followed in his lead.
“You can’t say you’ve been to Fontaine without seeing the beauty of the underwater world.” He walked towards the edge and waited for Lumine there.
“But I’ve already tried out diving with Pai—”
“I offer a different experience!” He interjected.
Once she reached the edge, she looked down and spotted the silhouettes of different sea creatures swimming by.
“We go together on three?” She slipped his hand into his.
“Okay! One!”
“Two.” He then suddenly scooped her up from the ground and carried her in his arms. Which prompted a round of protesting and scolding.
“Wait! What are you doing?”
“Just breathe, Lumine!” Before she could say anything more, he jumped off the ledge with her while she clung tightly to his shirt for dear life.
As the waters splashed above them, they soon found themselves submerged beneath the waves in the beautiful, tranquil waters of Fontaine. She found that she was still clinging to his shirt and that his hand was supporting the back of her head.
A tender smile stretched across their faces as they relaxed in each other’s grasp. Childe pulled her head closer to his and placed his lips next to her ear as if he wanted to whisper something, but he might have forgotten that they were underwater as bubbles escaped his lips instead.
His forgetfulness made him snort, which she found endearing. Although no words were exchanged, she felt like she knew what he was trying to say—and it was something she longed to say as well.
He held both sides of her face and looked at her like she was the most beautiful thing he ever set his eyes on; her heart beat steadily in her chest as she inched closer to his face. At that moment, the both of them knew exactly what they wanted—and they were so sure. No uncertainties, no hesitation, just fully surrendering their hearts to one another.
Their lips pressed against each other. And nothing else mattered in that moment—the prophecy could come in full swing, the abyss could devour the world, or Teyvat could fall into ruin and nothing would pull them apart from each other’s orbit.
At that moment, everything fell into place; being in his arms and feeling his love felt like she belonged there. Like the eons of her life built her up for this very moment. Like the universes aligned to make all this happen. If this was what love felt like, perhaps it’s alright to be weighed down. If this was going to bring in their destruction, then let them crumble in each other’s arms.
There were many things she was fighting for and things she intended to find out about this world—but she had to ensure that they both made it out until the end. Even if fate had dictated otherwise, she was going to find a way to defy destiny itself.
She had her answer.