Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“Man, I wanna go home.’’ I find myself saying for the sixth time today. But the thing is I’m sitting on my bed right now. 

I was home. Or at least what was meant to be home. It didn’t really feel like home though. Not anymore. 

I don’t know what home should be, but the house I happen to live in isn’t it. I know that for sure. 

I sigh. 

Maybe home is one of my favorite stories; like genshin. That stupid gacha game had me in a chock hold. It was one of my special interests after all. 

Whenever I wasn’t mentally occupied with doing something, I’d find myself thinking of it. Not the game itself, but the characters, the story. It’s an intriguing one, for sure; however, it is flawed. 

Which is why I mostly think of how I would be in the genshin universe. In the little stories I think of sometimes, I usually get, like, isekaied or something and help the traveler on their journey; meeting all my favorite characters along the way. 

It’s harmless fun; it also distracts me from the monotony of my life that ends up blurring together into a boring daze. 

“What I wouldn’t give to just get just isakied.” I think closing my laptop and setting it on my nightstand, having just finished my last piece of homework for the day. 

I have some issues I should probably deal with. 

I yawn and slump back onto my bed. 

But they can wait. I want to take a nap right now. 

I reach up and flick off the overhead light before throwing the blanket over myself and rolling onto my side, quickly drifting off. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The festival’s preparations were almost complete and Jean was exhausted. They had been planning for weeks. 

Everyone had chipped in, from supplying the goods, organizing the events, volunteering to show their talents, etc. Venti even revealed himself as Barbatos in honor of her grace. Mondstadt was ready to welcome and entertain their beloved creator home with open arms. 

All that was left was to wait and hope that Albedo's calculations were correct. 

Not that she didn’t believe in the head alchemist’s abilities, but the sacred texts weren’t exactly very specific. Sure, they mentioned the date and that her grace would arrive in Mondstadt, but no specific location was mentioned. 

However, thanks to a single illustration of the descent Albedo was able to cross reference the background and maps of old Mondstadt, with help from the position of Celesta, to come up with a general area of where the arrival point should be. 

Although, even Albedo said that his calculation could be completely wrong. As a contingency plan, all of the knights would, and Venti, would form a search party; after which, they would lead her grace back to Montstadt and the festival would begin.

Jean let out a sigh. 

The descent should happen within the next hour and Jean could tell it would be a long hour. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Venti was sitting in the hands of the Barbatos statue strumming his lyre and humming absently, he felt the air shift. 

The air suddenly filled with an excited thrum and the wind became frantically restless; like an overly excited toddler. 

He stopped humming and looked up at the sky. The clouds parted and a golden light shone down and he could spot a figure slowly beginning to fall. 

He could tell from here that albedo’s calculations were off, this wasn’t helped by the wind's interference, knocking her grace a little more off course. 

he stood up, dismissing his lyre, and as he felt the their beloved creator land onto his beloved soil, he knew

They were going to need that search party.

Chapter Text

‘Why am I so uncomfortable?’ I think, trying to shift into a more comfortable position. 

It doesn’t work.

I try again. 

It still doesn’t work.

Frustrated, I sit up and open my eyes. 

Oh

I’m laying under a big tree… on the ground… 

‘Why am I on the ground? I know for a fact I fell asleep in my bed.’ I think standing up, only then do I realize that I’m not wearing shoes. ‘Oh well, this is probably just some weird lucid dream or whatever.’ I think brushing myself off. 

 I look around only to spot an eerily familiar statue. As I’m carefully making my way over to the stone platform the statue was resting on, a gust of wind rushes over me and I feel my clothes flap. 

I look down to see that I, not only, had the same shirt and pants I was wearing before, but also my flannel too. Which as I think back I was wearing when I went to take that nap. ‘Nice attention to detail, brain!’ I think reaching into my breast pocket. And yep, my brain even remembered Swanson, the tiny plastic duck I keep in the breast pocket. 

I put Swanson back; I wouldn't want to lose him.   

Anyway back to the task at hand.

I round the statue, and no wonder it looked familiar; it’s a statue of the seven. 

Looking back at the tree I realize something. I’m at Windrise. 

“Huh” I say out loud. For a dream this is really realistic, like, too realistic. I can feel every tiny detail type realistic. Almost like this isn’t a dream… 

 I shake my head. Let’s not be stupid. This can’t be real because if it was…

I slap my cheeks. ‘Pull yourself together and have some fun while you can. It’s not everyday you have a dream so consistent and of your special interest no less.’ 

I glance around. I know that this is probably stupid and won’t work but I just wanna check. Besides, it's my dream. I take a few steps closer, close my eyes, take a deep breath, and put my hand on the statue. 

I honestly wasn’t expecting much, but the rush of refreshing energy that flowed through me from the point of contact as the breeze picks up, seemingly excited, was not on my list of possibilities.  

I open my eyes, take a step back, and look down at my hands. They’re covered in a dancing, teal light. 

‘If this is what I think it is…’ I wave one of my hands around and yup, I just got air bending (AKA anemo powers.) I continue to play with the wind, even making a little wind tunnel, cannon thingy spinning my hands in a circle. 

I giggle. This is stupidly fun.

‘I wonder if I can fly.’ I think releasing my hold on the breeze. 

I take several steps back until I’m well within the grace and there’s no chance of me falling and busting my head open on the stones around the statue. 

I take a deep breath and jump, quickly taking a hold of the wind around my feet. I shoot up doing several dizzying flips until I manage to stop myself at about double the height of the barbatos statue. I’m still flipping around midair and it takes a lot of arm waving and kicking until I’m steadily right side up again. 

It takes me a little bit before I can move around at all but I quickly find my balance. A little movement just goes a long way and it’s really easy to slip and start flipping. It’s kinda like learning to ride a hover board, honestly. 

The only thing left is to get down… 

I glance at the ground and loosen my hold on the air the tiniest bit and slowly start to fall down. I loosen my hold little by little until I’m going down at a good pace. 

Once I set both feet on the ground I release the wind, giggling my xxx off. 

“xxxxxxxxx, I can fly! I can xxxxxxx fly!” I say flapping my arms excitedly. “Yes yes yes! I can fly!” I giggle some more clapping with my wrists so as to not make an overly loud noise. I let myself do this for a couple more minutes before I take a deep, calming breath. 

‘What next.’  

That next presented itself in the form of an ecstatic Klee sprinting around the tree screaming “KLEE’S FOUND HER GRACE!’’ She jumps off a rather tall root and launches her small form and I, thankfully, manage to both catch her and not fall over.  

Klee giggles and says “I found you! Oh, big bother Albedo’s going to be so happy!’’ Clinging to my neck as I maneuver her so I can hold her properly. 

“You found me? Were you looking for me?’’ She nods vigorously.  

“Yep! All the knights are! Even Mr. Barbatos is looking for you!” 

“Oh? And why is that?’’ 

“Because…’’ she trails off, clearly thinking. 

“I don’t remember. Jean said it during the meeting but I wasn’t really paying attention.”

“That’s okay. I don’t pay attention to things sometimes either.’’ Klee giggles.

“Anyway! I should take you to my big brother Albedo. He said to do that if I found you.’’ She says before starting to wiggle out of my arms. I set her down and she immediately grabbed my hand before she started running off pulling me along with her. 

After only a little while of us running across the fields we stopped at a cliff that’s about twenty feet high next to a dirt road. 

Klee lets go of my hand and slides off her backpack before starting to rummage in it. “Oh no! I forgot my glider!” She says after a few minutes. “We can’t get down without it.” She’s looking quite upset by this, I better think of a solution. 

I could try using my air bending but I just got the hang of that for the most part, so I’m not sure I could use it with both of us. I look around for another way down but it doesn’t look like there is one. I look back to Klee and she looks like she might start crying soon. 

we can’t have that.

“Hey Klee’’

“Yeah?’’

“I think I have a way for us to get down safely, you’ll have to trust me, okay?’’ 

She nods.

“Kay, hop onto my back real quick, alright?’’ 

I turn and squat down so she can climb up. She put on her backpack before jumping on. I stand and situate her comfortably before walking up to the cliff’s edge. I take a deep breath, taking control of the wind around us, before jumping off. I quickly use the wind to slow our fall to that of a feather’s. It is hard to keep my balance with Klee’s wiggling and giggling but I manage. 

Just as we’re about to touch down suddenly jerks forward, waving at something. 

“Big bother Albedoooo!” She says excitedly while I try to regain my balance as we land. 

I quickly let her slide off my back and she goes sprinting. I glance over to where Klee ran to find the aforementioned head alchemist along with a few generic knights rounding the corner of the dirt path. 

Albedo happily greets his sister and I can hear her blabbering to him. She suddenly points to me and his and the knights’ gazes follow her gesture. They stiffen the tiniest bit before Albedo walks over to me, Klee in toe. 

He bows before speaking “Your grace, it is a great relief that you have remained unharmed. If you would be so gracious as to accompany us; we shall alert the other parties to begin the celebration.’’ 

“Uh, okay…?’’ I say, a bit caught off guard by his attitude. 

Albedo straightens, turns, and gestures for me to follow him. I do, of course and Klee takes my hand as we walk. I see several of the knights run off having been directed by Albedo. 

We walk a comfortable silence, broken every once and while by Klee commenting on something or other. She, honestly, warms my heart with how cute she is. She really doesn’t get enough appreciation. 

The rest of the walk to Mondstadt goes by smoothly; although, my feet are definitely starting to hurt by the end. 

~~~~

We had just made it to Timmy’s bridge, with the boy noticeably absent, when I heard a voice saying something from behind. I turn to see a blur of white feathers hurling towards me. I don’t even get a chance to duck before I’m scooped up by what I now realize is Venti in his archon form. I have to hold on for dear life as he does a corkscrew flip before he finally puts me down on top of the wall surrounding Mondstadt.  My legs do, unfortunately, decide to become jelly as I’m let go, and I unflatteringly drop onto my knees. Venti’s laughter quickly dies down as I continue to kneel on the ground, painting. He's about to ask if I’m okay when I start to giggle. 

“Hello to you too, Venti.” I say looking up at him as I try to shakily get up. 

“Ehe~ sorry I got a bit carried away.” He says sheepishly.

“It’s-” I stretch “fine.” 

A shout can be heard from down below. I lean over and recognize Jean, Amber, Keaya, Diluc, and even Dahlia arriving from the general direction of the winery. 

“WHAT?” I shout down, not having paid attention. 

“SHE SAID, IF YOU COULD PLEASE COME DOWN AND FOLLOW US TO THE CATHEDRAL, WE CAN START THE CELEBRATION!’’ Dahlia yells back, seemingly interrupting Jean. 

“OH! ALRIGHT!’’ 

I vault the wall ramparts, quickly grasping the air beneath me, to the horrified shouts of Venti and the others.

Once I’ve touched the ground, Amber comes running up to me, panicked. 

“Oh my Archons, are you okay?! Do you not have a windglider?!” She says, grasping me and looking for injuries, I think.

“I’m fine! I’m fine. And why would I need a windglider? I can fly.” 

She thankfully clams down at my reassurances.

“That’s a relief; however, I’m going to give you a glider if you can fly or not.” 

I lightly chuckle at her concern before Kaeya choughs.

“Ahem, I do believe that we were supposed to be headed to the cathedral, if I’m not mistaken.” 

"Let's go, I’ll lead the way.” Dahlia says, the rest of us in tow. 

I glance back at Venti, still perch on the wall. He winks and does a little finger waggle. I smile and do a finger waggle back, before my attention is grabbed by Albedo tapping me on the shoulder. 

“So, uhm, where did you end up descending?’’ 

“Uhh…’’ I’m not exactly sure what he means by ‘descending’ but I did wake up under the tree so…

“Windrise.’’ 

Albedo simply hums in response. 

~~~~

It didn't take as long as I expected to get to the cathedral; however, the ground was getting painful, so I started hovering a couple inches off the ground. We were at the doors of the church when Dahlia grabbed my hand. 

“You all can take your seats inside. Your grace, If you would please follow me, I think that Barbara and the sisters are done with your preparations.”

Chapter Text

Dahlia opens the door and I’m welcomed with a flurry of nuns running around with this, that, and the other. 

In the center of the chaos is Barbara directing said nuns. I follow Dahlia as he weaves through the crowd to Brabara.

“Hey Barbara! Guess who just arrived!’’ He greets, Barbara turns and brightens when I wave.

“O-Oh! Your grace! It’s an honor to meet you.’’ she says doing a small curtsy.

“The honor is all mine.’’ I say with a small smile and she flushes. 

“So, Barbara, is everything in order?’’ Dahlia asks, slightly rocking on his heels. 

“Oh, Of course! If your grace could please follow me, the sisters and I have prepared something for you.” 

I do, of course, and she leads me to a side room. Once inside, it’s clear that it’s a changing room, with a mirror on the wall along with several hooks and a dresser on the other wall. On top of the dresser is a folded up outfit and a pair of leather boots. 

I pick it up to reveal several items. There’s a pair of tights with a faint dandelion pattern; there’s what I think is a corset, the body of which has the pattern of windmill sails; and finally I pick up the final piece, which unfurls to reveal a gorgeous teal dress embroidered with all of Mondstadt’s flowers on the skirt part with the white sleeves embroidered with birds.  

I turn to Barbara with the brightest smile on my face. “Thank you so much! You all must have put a ton of effort into these.”  

“You’re welcome! Anyway, I leave you to change now.’’ she says before quickly leaving.

Once she’s gone I lock the door before I take off my jacket. I fish Swanson out of his pocket and set him on the dresser, then I slip off my shirt and pants, folding them and setting them next to Swanson. I put on the tights first, then the dress, the corset goes on next, and finally the boots. I found out while putting on the dress that, one, it has an under layer that gives it some nice volume, two, it has pockets which I put Swanson in. Another thing I find is that with the corset on my bra becomes rather uncomfortable, so it goes with the rest of my old clothes. 

Now changed, I do a little twirl in the mirror and, by god, I looked amazing in it. The detail my brain put into this dream is astonishing. 

I grab my clothes from the dresser and step out of the changing room. The nuns that were once scurrying about had left, except for Barbara. 

“You Grace, you look delightful.” she says as she takes my clothes and quickly sets them aside. 

“If you could please follow me, they’re all waiting for you.” She leads me through a large set of double doors and into the main hall of the church. 

Dahlia is standing right beside the doors and greets us with a nod before leading the both of us to what is unmistakably a throne. 

“Please sit.’’ Dahlia says and I do. The chair is surprisingly comfortable with how detailed it is.

Barbara and Dahlia take places on my left and right respectively before starting to speak.

“For millenia the people of Teyvat have waited for the return of their beloved creator.” Dahlia spoke first. 

‘They think I’m their creator, huh? xxxx, I’ve been reading too many fanfics if it’s started to infect my dreams to this degree.’ I begin to space out as the speech goes on, just kinda admiring the detail in the Throne’s arms.  ‘I cannot believe that the human brain can come up with a dream this detailed. I should do some research on that when I wake up.’ A small voice in the back of my mind says 'what if this is real. You’ve never had a lucid dream before, why would you have one now? The dream’s too consistent and detailed to actually be a dream, you know that.’ 

‘Oh come on, there’s no way in all of the whole xxxx multiverse that we get isekai'd somewhere, let alone genshin. Besides, isekai only happens in fics ‘n stuff.’ I internally argue. 

I zone back in only to realize that Barbara and Dahlia have finished their speech. Applause thunders through the cathedral as I straighten, wincing slightly at the loud noise. 

When the cheers finally die down people get up and start shuffling out of the pews. They began lining up one by one, for the most part. Klee was the first in the line, having scrambled to grab something from an unseen pile of things at the entrance to the cathedral archives. 

She quickly climbed up the stairs, Albedo close behind, holding a large Dodoco plush. 

‘So, they’re giving me gifts? Just for being here? Cool.’ I thought, a smile blooming on my face as Klee presents the plush to me. “Thank you so much! I’ll make sure to take good care of Dodoco.’’ I say taking the plush and carefully setting him next to me. She gasps, “You already Dodoco?!’’ she says and I nod. She lets out a happy squeal before hugging me. 

I laugh and pat her head. 

“Ahem.’’ Albedo says and Klee breaks the hug before descending the other set of stares. 

Albedo is up next and he hands me a leather bound notebook. I thank him as well. All the gifts are soon blurring together with a few notable highlights. Amber and a gorgeous wind glider; Jean with a leather backpack; Rosaria and a hunting knife; Diluc with a nice set of stationary; and Razor with a flower crown of grass lamps (which I am now wearing) just to name a few. 

The last person in line is Venti. He has no item, just extends his hand out to me. 

I take it and he pulls me from the throne before leading down the steps. 

I glance back to see Dahlia winking with a thumbs up.  

I’m not sure what to expect as he leads me to the market square, followed by the sounds of the rest of the cathedral following us. I just hope it’s something with less interactions, I’m starting to go minimally verbal.  

It turns out that Venti had gathered all of Modstadt's musicians to play for me. 

He quickly hopped atop the makeshift stage that the other bards were and produced his lyre. 

“~There once was a soldier who carried a mighty sword~” his voice rang out across the plaza, likely helped along by the wind. 

A bell of recognition rang in my head. I knew this song. Soldier, poet, king. ‘Heh, of course he’d do this song. His VA did a whole cover of it.’ I think, starting to quietly sing along.  The people around me began dancing, sweeping up me along with them. 

After when felt like a century of spinning, and singing, and almost falling over (xxxx dyspraxia. can never keep track of my limbs) the song ended and I hap made it to the edge of the circle of people. I am now very overstimulated and overheated to the point of tears. 

Out of courtesy, however, I wait until Venti starts the next song; when it’s not one that I recognize and my body is beginning to scream for liquids I glance around and spot the Cat’s Tail. ‘Perfect.’ I think sleeping over there unnoticed. And indeed it shows how perfect it is by the fact that as soon as I step through the door I’m hit with a wave of nice and cool air. 

There’s the sound of clatter at the bar and I glance over to see a pink head of hair scrambling to clean up a spilled drink. 

‘Oh, it’s Diona.’ I think, walking over to the counter. 

“Would you like some help?’’ I say, trying not to be too imposing. The Kätzlein was apparently really focused on cleaning the mess, (or I’m just naturally extremely quiet) because she yelped in surprise and knocked over a, thankfully, empty glass off the bar. I quickly caught it and set it back a little further away from her.  

“Oh it’s you.” 

I nod. “So, do you want some help?’’

“Oh! Um, sure. Only if you want to though.’’

“I don’t mind, really.” 

She glances around for a minute before grabbing one from under the counter. 

I take the offered cloth before beginning to wipe up the mess along with her. 

“So, what were you making?’’ I say wringing out the cloth of extra water before going back to wiping down the counter. 

“I was experimenting with creating a new drink. I knocked over one of the failed attempts just before you came in.’’ 

“Ah, makes sense.’’ 

We continue to clean in silence for a little bit. Just when I’ve finished wringing out the cloth after having washed said cloth, the quiet is broken by the door slamming open. We both jump at the noise. While I yelp in surprise, Diona actually hisses like a cat. 

I turn to see who exactly is slamming doors open like someone’s on fire, to be greeted with a slightly frazzled Keaya of all people. 

He glances around for a millisecond, eyes quickly locking onto me. He makes a b-line for me with an emotion on his face. What emotion that is, I can’t really tell. (I never really could tell with most people) 

He grabs my shoulders. I stiffen,I’m still kinda overstimulated. 

 “There you are.’’ he says sternly. (anger?) “We’ve been looking for you.” (Concern?) 

“I’m sorry, I didn’t realize-” He cuts me off “don’t apologize, just please don’t go slipping away without telling anyone.” (definitely concern)

“Alright.” I say and he lets go of me. 

“Come on, there’s still plenty of events planned for you.” 

Keaya says,  practically dragging me out of the Car’s Tail. I wave with an apologetic smile to Diona as I leave. 

The rest of the day quickly blurs into doing this, getting pulled along to do that, eat some food someone made, rinse and repeat until the sun has long since set and I’m finally released into a bedroom in the back of the cathedral. 

Now fully and utterly spent, I take off the outfit I was gifted and slip into my old shirt and pants, ready for sleep’s desperately needed embrace.

Chapter Text

‘This has been a nice dream.’ I thought, grabbing the Dodoco plush from one end of the bed.  

‘I’m kinda sad to see it end.’ 

‘What if it doesn’t though.’ that voice in the back of my head speaks up. 

‘This whole thing is too real to be a dream and you know it. You just don’t want to face the prospect that your wish to leave might have come true, when deep down inside you didn’t want it to.’ 

That thought hit hard. The thought that I was just deluding myself and I was really here was kinda scary. But the odds that Teyvat was not only real, but that end up in it must be astronomically small. Like in the billionths or trillionths small. 

I set the plush aside and looked down at my hands. I looked, really looked at them, noticing every detail. Every vain, every freckle, every creese. 

I came up with the only logical conclusion. With all of the details, with all the consistency, and the fact that there were things here that I had no way of knowing previously, there is one answer. This is real. 

I am here and this is real. 

The people I knew as only characters in a video game were real and they think me as their god.

‘Oh my god, they think of me as their god.’

It suddenly felt like someone had dumped liquid nitrogen into my system. 

I jumped up, filled with frantic energy. I scrambled on my jacket and went over to the window. 

There was hope. 

Hope that this was all a coma dream and I could see my family again. 

All I needed to do was find a lamp. 

It was a stretch, sure. But if it worked for that one guy who dreamed up a whole other life, maybe it would work for me. 

I opened the window as quietly as I could and slipped out.  I didn’t let my feet touch the ground before making my way around the side of the cathedral. 

I glided silently, almost ghost-like, glided my way to the Barbatos statue, bypassing the stairs. 

I scanned the area around the statue and quickly spotted a tall and glitteringly bright streetlamp. I made my way over to it, finally stepping foot on the street beneath me.

I stared at the lamp. I stared and stared until it didn’t look like a lamp anymore, waiting for it to feel off or wrong and me wake up. 

But it never happened. It was an ordinary streetlamp. 

And I was still really here. 

It fully crashes down on me. The realization. 

I could feel my throat  tighten as my eyes welled up with tears. 

I took a stumbling step back. 

It was too much. 

I was stuck here. 

I’d never see my friends again. My family, my dog, all gone. 

Everything I knew was unreachable.

I’d never get to listen to my favorite songs, read my favorite books, or watch stupid videos online.  

Everything was gone and I was stuck. 

Stuck and doomed to get entrenched in the tragedies that happen.

I could no longer breathe correctly. All I got were hiccups of air. 

My spiral into insanity was interrupted by the sound of metal clad footsteps coming closer. 

I whipped my head around and spotted lantern light from just around the corner. I glazed around again to find somewhere to hide but there was only one option. 

Up.

With a silent blast of wind I shoot up. Up and up for what felt like forever until I hit a cloud. 

The punch of cold damp air around me managed to snap me out of the panicked trance thingy I was in enough to stop my rapid ascension. 

I took a deep, shuddering breath and wiped my eyes with my shirt. 

Lowering myself out of the clouds I took a look around. 

‘I should probably land.’ I think, trying to get a hold of my breathing. 

I need quiet, fresh air, and isolation. Those requirements knocked off several locations so I ended up going with Starsnached Cliff. 

No one should be out there at this hour. (besides me)

It doesn’t take long for my feet to be reunited with the ground. I  slumped down on the grass and looked up at the stars. 

They aren’t my stars. That fact hadn’t occurred to me. That all the constellations I ever knew were gone. I did try to spot any of the familiar patterns that were etched in the sky back home, but not a single star in the entire sky that I could see, which was a lot more without the light pollution, lined up with the ones back home. 

It saddened me further. I had a lot of memories tied to the stars and now they were a reminder of everything I’d lost. 

I wasn’t crying any more. Tears wouldn’t do anything in the end and I had already shed enough for now. I simply buried my face in my hands and sighed. 

I had to accept my situation. 

I could cry as much as I wanted but I'd still be here, dealing with this world’s problems. 

And there was nothing I could do about it but move on. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Venti didn’t expect the sudden shift in the air. It was tense and heavy with whispers of panicked begging. 

Begging for what, he couldn’t tell.

This set him on edge, whatever the wind was scared of, he needed to fix. 

Then, all the tension in the air seemed to gather before violently snapping. 

There is no relief left in wake, but instead, something much heavier, something he cannot quite name. 

It is not only the emotions in the air that have shifted, but also the elements themselves have moved around and pooled around one point.

He quickly flew to where he felt the pooling anemo. He was greeted with the sight of their divine sitting on the grass, head in her hands.

Ever so gently, he glided closer until he was only a few feet away, when he purposely stepped on a twig. 

Her grace’s head whipped around and he could see that she had been crying.  

“Venti? What are you doing here?’’ she said so quietly he had to rely on the wind to hear it. 

“I could ask you the same question.’’ He tried not to say it accusatory, but with the way she grimaced it looked like it came out that way.    

“Um, I-uh needed some fresh air.” he could tell that she knew how fake that sounded. (even if it was somewhat true) 

He stepped closer. There was clearly something deeper at foot than ‘needing fresh air.’

“Are you okay?’’ he asked softly. 

She averted her gaze. “I-...’’ she trailed off and he could see fresh tears pooling in her eyes. 

She blinked and the tears fell as she shook her head. 

He quickly crouched down and hugged her. 

He didn’t say anything as she silently cried into his shoulder, just rubbed her back soothingly. 

“I’m not going back, am I.’’ she said when the tears had subsided. It was phrased like a statement rather than a question.

“No.’’ He didn't know where ‘back’ was but he prayed he was right. He had been waiting for so very long to see his divine grace again, he knew he couldn't take it if she left again. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I sighed. I knew that’s what he’d say. I just needed it to be said aloud by someone else. 

To make it real, I guess. 

I break the hug and wipe my eyes. 

“Thanks, Venti.’’ I say with a sniffle. 

He gives me a soft smile in return. 

“Can I take you somewhere?’’ he says suddenly. 

I nod and he springs up, pulling me along with him.

His archon wings emerged from beneath his cape. He suddenly grabs me and with a flap of his wings we’re up in the air. 

It’s a blur of feather, wind, and Venti’s little ‘ehe~’ when I bury my face in his shoulder (again) because of how fast we’re flying.

By the time we finally land my hair is a windswept mess, while Venti’s hair is still pristine. (mine is too when I fly on my own) 

It turns out that he had brought me to Dvalin’s layer. (aka. Old Mondstadt)

I turn to him and raise an eyebrow. He holds up one finger, signaling me to wait. I do, of course. (what else would I do)

He turns and I can sorta feel him whisper something to the wind, although I can’t make out what was said. 

Only a few seconds later a huge gust of wind blows through the structure and Dvalin himself appears. He quickly settles inside part of what was once a room  we’re standing in. There's surprisingly still plenty of room left even with the dragon. 

‘I guess the in-game model made him look a lot bigger than he actually is.’ I think to myself as Dvalin's gaze lands on me after being pointed to. 

(the game model was accurate, he can just shape shift)

“Ah, so you were not deceiving me, Barbatos. The divine one really has returned.’’

“I would not lie to you about such an important matter, old friend.’’ Venti replies, almost offended. 

Their conversation continues but my attention drifts elsewhere. I stare out at the landscape below and my mind drifts to my parents. 

Which one of them found me or did I just disappear entirely. Are they looking for me? 

My dad’s probably losing his mind praying all day. My mom’s probably shut herself away from anyone and everyone. Or maybe she’s gone to stay with her mom for support. (I really do hope it’s the second one, honestly) 

My train of thought is disrupted by Venti tapping me on the shoulder. 

“Care to join?’’ he says while settling back against Dvalin. 

I do, sitting beside him but he apparently had other plans. Venti suddenly pulled me against him in such a way that I’m basically laying on top of him. His wings rap around me acting as a blanket of sorts. 

I quickly become extremely comfy, like, the go into a coma type of comfy. My exhaustion from the day and emotional breakdown are quickly catching up to me. What soon seals my fate of slipping into the aforementioned coma is Venti starts quietly humming. 

Sleep, only then, decides to claim me. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Venti still didn’t know what caused their dearest creator such distress, but he thinks he helped, which he is all too happy to do. 

In the meantime he just enjoys spending time with his dear old friend in a way they had gotten to do in many a year. With the added bonus of her grace’s company, although asleep, as well.

Chapter Text

I woke up to the sound of knocking on a door. I opened my eyes to see that I'm in my room within the cathedral. I’m not sure how I got back here all the way from Divalin’s layer, but I suspect it has something to do with a certain green bard, if the cloud-white feather on the nightstand has anything to do with it.

I quickly went to the door and opened it. I was greeted to the sight of a very cheery Barbara. 

“Good morning!” she says, singing it slightly.

“Mornin’” I say with a yawn. 

“Breakfast is ready in the main hall.’’ 

“Okay, thanks. I be there in a sec.’’ I say and I close the door to get changed. 

I found that there were clothes already in the closet, which kinda surprised me. After a moment of deliberation, I ended up choosing something pretty similar to yesterday but with pants instead of a dress. I quickly finished getting ready and opened the door again to find Barbara still standing outside, although more to the side than before. 

“Oh! You waited for me.”

She nods.

“Well, thank you.”

“Of course, I’m always happy to wait for you.’’ she replies with a small giggle. 

We walk in silence as we make our way to the main hall. Well, not really silent, Barbara is quietly humming to herself and I’m whispering some of my vocal stims. 

“Brother, may I have some oats?” 

“No.” 

“But I am starving, brother!’’

“As am I, brother, and the tall skinny figures have thrown the oats to me. Me!”

I continue to quote Animal Farm until I’m interrupted by our arrival.

Barbara opened the door and stepped through with a small ‘thank you’ which she responded with only a smile. She led me over to a very long dining table and pulled out a chair.

I sit with another ‘thank you’ and she simply smiles again. 

There weren’t as many people as I had expected, just the nuns, knights, and Venti. I’m at the head of the table. Jean is to my left, Klee sitting next to her with Abledo after her along with the rest of the Knights. On my right side is Venti, then Dahlia, an empty chair where Barbara is probably going to sit, followed by the rest of the church staff.  Food was quickly distributed and once everyone was in their seats we joined hands. Now praying before a meal didn’t surprise me, I was raised religious after all, but what did surprise me was not only was the prayer for Barbatos but me as well. I should have honestly expected it, they do think of me as their ‘creator’ or whatever, it was still unnerving nonetheless. 

Breakfast passed fairly quickly after that.

The empty plates had been cleared and I had gotten up to head back to my room when I felt someone grab my shoulder. I turned around to see that it was Albedo.

“If you do not mind, I would like to discuss some things with you.’’ 

“Uh, sure.’’ 

“If you would please follow me to my office then.’’ he turns and walks off.

‘Ever the blunt one.’ I think with a small grin and follow after him. 

Out the doors of the cathedral, down the stairs, and over to the knights’ headquarters we go. Now up in Albedo’s office, he offers me a chair parallel to his own. I sit and he grabs a clipboard and pen. 

“I have some questions for you. If you do not mind.’’

‘No, I don’t mind. Shoot.’’

“Hm, well first, did you inhabit somewhere before returning to Teyvat?’’ he asks, clicking his pen.

I nod. “Yeah, I did actually.’’

“Can you tell me about it?’’

“Um yeah. What do you want to know first?’’

I could see his eyes light up with excitement reminiscent of a kid receiving a long wanted gift.
“Well, did the elements present within your world differ from ours?’’

“Yes they did. They aren’t actually-’’ 

There’s a bitter sweet tinge to explaining the properties of my old world, but it’s nice to tell someone else too. Like it’s making the life I lived real or something. 

The topic flows quickly from the elements, to science, to geography, and to history.

I got all the way through what I remember of US history until WW2 when I stopped.

“So world war two…’’ Albedo says looking up from the notes he had been taking the whole time I had been yapping. 

I sigh. “World war two was a horrific genocide. It led to the creation of some of the worst bio-weppons that mankind has ever invented. Weapons were made that could obliterate an entire nation of Teyvat and leave the surrounding ones uninhabitable for decades. I’m going to be honest, the knowledge that was discovered really shouldn’t have been. So, as to prevent the same mistakes people made being repeated here, I’m going to let that part of the history remain with me alone.” 

I can see he’s disappointed, but he, thankfully, doesn’t push it.

“Shall we move on to a different topic then?’’ Albedo says, going back to his note taking.

“I think that’s for the best.” We ended up going with modern culture. 

There was a knock at the door. I paused my rant about the American school system and looked over to Albedo who had paused his note taking as well.

“Come in!” he shouts.

The door creaks open to reveal Keaya standing in the doorway with his signature smirk. 

“Ah Albedo, mind if I steal our dear creator from you? Jean has requested I fetch her.’’

“I have no qualms with it. We were just about finished for today anyway.” he turns to me “Your grace?’’ 

“Oh, uh sure I don’t mind.” 

It was a rather quick walk to Jean’s office; however, it did leave time for me to think. 

I wondered why Jean had called for me. The one that ended up making the most sense was that it probably had something to do with Liyue. And low and behold it did because when we entered her office there stood a certain geo archon chatting with Venti while poor Jean looked like she wanted to explode or something. (to be fair I would too if I had two gods chatting in my office) 

As we stand in the doorway I notice something about Zhongli. He looks different. Though he's wearing the brown suit I'm used to, he looks distinctly more draconic than how I remembered him.  

‘He probably hasn’t retired yet.’ I think.

Keaya decides to only now announce us- just me for some reason. 

“Her grace has arrived” he says like he didn’t just bring me here. 

The archons look over from their conversation and Jean looks up from her desk.

Venti's smile widens as I wave to them. He quickly strides over to me and pulls me into the room and over to where Zhongli is standing politely.  

“Greetings, your grace.” Zhongli says with a small bow. 

“Old blockhead is here to take you to Liyue, since you’ll be touring the other nations.” Venti leans over and stage whispers to me clearly loud enough for Zhongli to hear. He sighs and Venti giggles. 

“I am simply here to inform you that there are plans for me to escort you to Liyue tomorrow.’’

I hum. 

 He turns to Venti. “Bard, what have I said about calling me blockhead?”  

“Ehe~” was Venti’s only response. 

‘Guess I’m not needed here any more.’ I think extricating myself from Venti’s grasp. 

‘What to do now…’ I glance over to Jean and she looks about ready to collapse.

“Hey, are you alright? You don’t look like you're doing too well.” I say. 

She looks up from her desk and I can see pronounced eyebags under her eyes. ‘Jeez, poor girl looks like she hasn’t had a break in years.’ I think, wincing internally. 

It takes her a second to respond. “Oh, um… I’m fine, just tired is all.’’ she says. 

I hum. “Well, if you’d like to take a break, you’re welcome to join me in the library for a little bit.” I say, trying to be casual. I’d planned on going after talking with Albedo; he’d given me some recommendations while we had talked. It’d just be a bonus if I can get Jean to relax for a bit too. 

She hums for a moment, thinking. 

“I’ve actually been meaning to talk with Lisa actually.’’ she says getting up from her seat. 

The short walk over to the library was uneventful, the only exceptions being the occasional knight greeting us. 

Now inside the library, I stroll off to one of the many book shelves while Jean steps over to where Lisa is dozing. Pulling out a list of the books Albedo had suggested, I skim the spines for a matching title. I quickly found one of the ones I was searching for.

‘A Complete Summary of The Complex History of Alchemy’ 

It was quite the hefty book; but clearly the lightest out of ones with a similar title. I pulled it from the shelf and made my way over one of the several armchairs that litter the library. 

I’m not sure how much time had passed when I heard a knock at the door. I know Jean had sat down in a nearby chair and dozed off, but whether that was an hour ago or just 10 minutes I couldn’t tell. 

After several minutes of it not being answered I got up and made my way over, spying Lisa asleep at the desk she was earlier. I rolled my eyes before opening the door. 

It was Klee. 

“Oh hi Klee.’’ 

“Hi! Um, do you mind coming with me to Wolvendom? Eula and Albedo are too busy to accompany me and I want to see my friend!” 

“Your friend wouldn’t happen to be Razor, would they?’’

“They are! How’d you know?’’ 

A smile is my only response.

“Anyway, I don’t tagging along with you to Wolvendom. Lead the way!’’

With a happy squeal, she grabs my hand and we both set off running.

If this is what living in Teyvat is like, maybe it won’t be so bad.