Dilly Dallying [Zhongli x [F]reader]

5

You breathed heavily as you stared at the mess your room had become, vines and small flowers had sprung from the corners of your room and had began crawling up the walls.

Worst of all, for some reason your vision wasn't working. Or rather said, you weren't able to remove the vines. 

Your nightmares had only gotten worse, more brutal. This one in particular was so vivid so-- surreal that you wondered if they actually were real. But part of you hoped they weren't, they were all battles, war and so much blood. The you in your dreams was a warrior, you almost looked like you were flying in your dreams. 

One by one you slaughtered your enemies, whether it be by slashing their throat or stabbing them from the back with a concealed vine. The battle went on for what felt like hours, until eventually your fatigue mixed with the enemy outnumbering you caused you to fall back.

At that point the dream took a turn for the worse, the fear you felt from knowing death was right around the corner was no doubt what caused your outburst. You had managed to wake yourself up moments after, but in your sleep you had still tried to protect yourself.

Please listen. You silently pleaded, you took a deep breath knowing concentration was needed. And just like that, the vines slowly disappeared as if they had never been there.

When they were gone you sighed in relief and slumped in your bed, sweat ran down your forehead but at the same time you were shaking in both fear and cold.

You wanted oh so desperately to find comfort, to knock on Zhongli's door. Just hearing his voice would soothe you again, but you didn't. You didn't want to wake him up or be a bother for that matter, and so you slowly laid back down again and tried to sleep.

What you had failed to notice however, was the fact that your vision was still in your drawer and during the entire night, you hadn't touched it once.

*

Luckily, there were no more nightmares. When you awoke again you were still incredibly tired, which you shrugged off. 

"Are you alright Y/N? You look pale." Zhongli commented as soon as his eyes fell upon you.

Of course he noticed, you thought.

"I'm okay," you paused staring at the large pile of books sitting on the counter behind Zhongli, "what's that?" you curiously asked.

Zhongli glanced towards the books, "I thought these might help jog your memory." he answered. 

"I can't read." 

"Oh?" Zhongli mused with a faint smile hidden behind his teacup.

You looked at the book covers, and just like you had said. The text had no meaning to you, you opened the first one and was immediately greeted with a drawing of a dragon, not just any dragon though.

"Rex lapis." you mouthed.

Your grip on the book tightened, "I think," you began staring at the dragon, your eyes narrowed. "I knew Rex lapis." you hesitantly said.

You slowly glanced towards Zhongli expecting surprise, shock or even disbelief. But instead he smiled, his shoulders bumped up and down in silent laughter causing your stomach to drop.

Never mind. You wanted to say as you averted your gaze out of sheer embaressment. 

He might not believe you, but you were sure of it. Either that or you were some religious fanatic. But when you saw the dragon you knew you had seen it before, not only that but you had been looking for Rex lapis.