Rising Storm || Genshin Impact

19: Cries after Dark

LOTS of headcannons and crying in this chapter lol

maybe i overdid the crying a bit

but writing this was fun! i hope you all enjoy it!

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Y/N blinked, her mouth gaped open.

"...Is it that surprising?" she uttered.

Venti glared at the girl in shock, speechless with her mellow, casual response.

"Well, y-yes?"

"I mean..." she scratched the back of her neck. "We are both from the same planet, it's not a huge coincidence. And what does a random mark have anything to do with your Gnosis? Or the Fatui?"

Venti stood stunned. His mouth moving, but no sound coming out. He was completely, and utterly, stunned.

"I..." he stammered. "I suppose...you're right." 

He gulped as he spoke, slowly relaxing the tensed muscles in his shoulders. Perhaps he was overreacting, surely the shared mark only signified their origin, nothing more. He was overthinking, overcomplicating. He needed to calm down.

"I'm sorry, I'm really just tired." Venti rubbed his eyes.

"It's alright." Y/N comforted, touching her nape where Venti said the mark would be. "I appreciate you telling me. I'm even more certain now that me and Alo are connected in some way, and that aiming to find him is the right thing to do."

She turned to Venti and put a warm, soothing hand on his shoulder.

"Thank you, for everything." she smiled gently.

The bard could only muster up a nod in response.

....

Y/N wandered through the empty streets of Mondstat. It was eerily silent, for the dynamic city filled with buzz and bumble had retreated for the night. She ambled towards the tavern, the soles of her shoes clacking against the cobblestone paths. Everyone was fast asleep, the only light being her lamp that emitted a soft radiance onto the folksy village.

Though Y/N feigned nonchalance in front of Venti, inside, the she was in the highest state of distress. As soon as the bard pointed out the mark on her nape, a dreadful feeling spread from her stomach, consuming her body as her mind swirled with doubts and unknowns. Even as she strolled through the deserted streets, her pupils were still dilated in shock, she stared at the ground as she kept a slow pace.

Was the mark really just a symbol of the origin? Or was Y/N to suffer the same fate as Alo - massacred in a foreign city, then disappearing when brought back to life?

The sound of her own heartbeat resounded in her ears, drowning out the sound of her feet pattering against the stone paths. A strange weight suddenly fell in her lungs, forcing her to heave as the air she gasped for refuses to be breathed in. Y/N collapsed onto her knees in the middle of the street, her lamp shattering into glass shards on the ground.

"Get up!" she scolded herself, clenching her jaw and shutting her eyes. "It's just a game! Get up! Wake up!"

But when Y/N looked back up, she found herself in the exact same Mondstatian scene. The city which once brought her joy and wonder now haunted her like a monster lurking in the shadows. The stone walls imprisoned her, the wooden houses threatened her, the scent of savory Fisherman's Toast choked her.

It was at this moment that she truly realized, that living in Teyvat was an inescapable reality.

Y/N crumbled down on the floor, devastated as the sound of her sobs echoed against the buildings and walls. Her skin was slit from the glass in her shattered lamp, but she didn't care.