𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐮𝐧𝐞 - 𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐮𝐦𝐢

5

Lumine stood up, slightly pissed that her alone moment had been ruined. "Once again, I could ask you the same thing. Why would you use your Delusion when you knew it might kill you?"

Childe raised an eyebrow. "To save you."

For some reason, the Traveler looked even more offended at that. Childe just couldn't get the girl.

"To save me? I didn't need saving." Lumine looked even more defiant.

Childe groaned. "Yes, you did. I know you've already had to lay down your pride many times today, but you would survive if you just admitted you did need help."

Lumine narrowed her eyes. What he said was very accurate—her pride had been battered today and she didn't feel like laying it down again. In fact, she was quite embarrassed about the entire day. Part of her wanted to crawl under a rock and never come out. But preferably, she could start by killing Childe.

Suddenly, the anger that was boiling inside of Lumine faded. The Traveler sighed and sat down again. She was willing to let down her walls to another person, but just once. And only to Childe because she was desperate and didn't feel like hearing Paimon's high pitched voice at the moment.

"It's my brother. I thought he was gone or on another world or lost, like I was when I first got here... but, that's not even close to the case."

Childe grimaced. "I understand that, you know. Missing family, missing your brother. I miss all of mine... well, most of the time." He chuckled a bit. "You met Teucer, right? Sometimes I wish I could go back to Snezhnaya and give him a hug. And maybe a ruin guard, too."

It was impressive how Lumine almost smiled from that. "Yeah. Well, at least none of your brothers lead the Abyss Order." 

Surprise flashed through Childe's face. "And... how did that happen?"

Lumine smiled melancholically. "I... I guess he awoke much earlier than I did. Got a lot done, huh?"

"I keep thinking that to myself. I got everything done here that I needed to--at least I thought I did, yet the Tsaritsa keeps me from seeing my family."

Oops. That was most definitely the wrong thing to say. The Traveler almost forgot who she was talking to.

Who he was loyal to.

"Um, Childe... Look, I appreciate your attempt at..." she cleared her throat and tried again. "Can we keep this between ourselves-"

Golden eyes suddenly darted upwards to meet two--sorry, three familiar people. "Am I--er, are we interrupting something?" spoke Bennett nervously.

Lumine's cheeks flushed a bit hearing what Bennett had said. Even Childe looked away nervously. "No, no. You're not interrupting anything. We just... need to make plans for what we might do today." Lumine lied. She surveyed the team. Bennett looked a little worn and kept shifting around on his feet as if his ankles ached. Another bandage was wrapped around his arm. Lumine guessed they were "lucky" he wasn't dead. Qiqi looked mainly okay, aside from some scratches left by hilichurls. Of course, Paimon had stayed out of combat and was perfectly fine. Childe and Lumine, on the contrary, were not. Childe couldn't even stand, and Lumine was too emotionally and physically spent. The team went from uninjured to broken in a single day.

Lumine apologized for their injuries. "I suppose I should have done these on my own. They were my commissions after all, no one else's."

Childe simply scoffed, and the Traveler glared at him. She knew what he was thinking. Lumine scowled, but she knew it was the truth. Those camps were too much to do alone.

The Traveler sighed, too tired to do anything much. She dismissed Qiqi and Bennett ("You two can take a rest") and closed her eyes. She let herself drift off to sleep, telling Paimon to wake her up the next morning.

As Lumine lay there, her face was relaxed. Her mouth was curved into a little frown. Childe wondered—was she always sad on the inside? She had found a way to Inazuma, one step closer to perhaps finding her brother, but she was still so far away. He couldn't say what exactly she was feeling, but he could tell she was hurting. He couldn't blame her for having any outburst of emotion. Lumine must have it bottled up constantly, which was a feeling he could relate to. Childe kept his emotions to himself most of the time, acting like a toy seller for Teucer, like a brother to all of his siblings, a harbinger for the Tsaritsa, and a citizen to the people of Liyue.

But his pity would not outweigh his loyalty.

Finally, he closed his eyes and allowed himself some rest.

As much as Childe wanted to let his guard down for Lumine, to tell her that he could understand her stress of fitting so many roles, he couldn't. He was telling the truth earlier, but this was a secret he would let no one learn of. Letting his facade fall would make him weak, and he always must get stronger.