✧𝔻𝔼𝕍𝕆𝕋𝕀𝕆ℕ~ 𝒶𝓃𝒾𝓂𝑒 𝑜𝓃𝑒𝓈𝒽𝑜𝓉 𝒸𝑜𝓁𝓁𝑒𝒸𝓉𝒾𝑜𝓃~✧

✧Zhongli- Memory✧

A/N- You're female in this one shot btw. Just so you don't get confused.

YOU HAD LOVED Zhongli many years ago, back when he was still Rex Lapis. Now, times had changed, and he was just a simple man. You had also let go of your godly powers. You had been the goddess of flowers and responsible for making the flowers bloom every year, along with many other things. Now that you were gone from your position, sometimes when the flowers should bloom, they would not. No matter how much you tried to make the flowers bloom, you just couldn't. Your powers were well and truly gone.

This infuriated the citizens of Liyue, especially the rich ones, who prided themselves on having the most luxurious gardens of glaze lilies and other flowers available for their guests viewing pleasure. Now, even when they were sung to, some of the glaze lilies would not bloom. This made the flower goddess unpopular with the citizens of Liyue. Luckily, they didn't know that you had once been the goddess before coming down to earth in the form of a normal looking woman, so they left you alone. In fact, you were quite popular with the rich, especially the men. However, you had one goal, and it was to reunite with Rex Lapis in his mortal form, as Zhongli, and try to love him again.

Guizhong, another goddess, the goddess of dust, succeeded in wooing and loving Rex Lapis. However, she had died, leaving the poor man's heart broken and his memory of her tainted. He had probably forgotten her by now, as he forgot many things from his past. He probably also forgot you, which would make connecting with him a challenge. But it was a challenge you were willing to take.

You had heard that Zhongli frequented a restaurant called Third Round Knockout, and it was cheap, so you could and would happily visit it. No god was really good with money, but your Zhongli was a special case. The poor man nearly always forgot to bring mora with him every time he shopped. This time, you noticed, as you watched him order from across the street, he had brought money, and paid up front for his food. Then he sat down and listened to Iron Tongued Tian talk of the adventures of Rex Lapis.

You knew that he was listening to stories about himself because he was slowly losing his memory of those days. Erosion hit him the way it would hit a rock, which was fitting because he was the god of geo. The memories that were fresh in your mind were crumbling and turning into dust in his. You felt terrible for him, and you had no idea if he would even remember you if you told him all about how you were the flower goddess in your past life. And if he did... what effect would it have on him? You didn't know, but you would tell him anyway and see.

You walked up to where he was sitting and asked him if you could sit with him. Being the gentleman he was, he responded in the affirmative, and asked you to tell him some details about you while you sat with him.

You responded with the name you went by that wasn't your goddess name, which was Chang Lin, and told him that you worked with the Guhua Clan, serving the young lord Xingqiu and providing him whatever he desired. The Guhua Clan job was a lie. You actually worked in the Wanmin Restaurant as a cook when Chef Mao and his daughter Xiangling weren't working, but you thought that if Zhongli thought you were rich or worked with rich people, he would open up to you more. He always had a great love for money, with it being named after him and all that.

He told you that his name was Zhongli, and that he worked for the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor, which was all information you knew.

His food came, and you saw that he had ordered Rocky Mountain Delicacies. They looked greasy and not well cooked, but he accepted them with a smile and dug into them, reporting that they tasted delicious. You ordered them, and, just like him, paid up front for the order. When he saw you pay the way he did, he smiled, and said, "Ah, you also pay up front. It's a wise way to pay."

"The best way," you responded.

You noticed that a lot of the people were leaving, and even Iron Tongued Tian had gone inside to the restaurant, probably to eat dinner. Before long, it was just you and Zhongli, sitting alone outside as the darkness fell.

"Zhongli, I have something to tell you," you said to him.

"What is it, Miss Lin?" he asked, addressing you politely.

"Do you know of the goddess Y/N? The goddess of flowers, the one that the rich citizens of Liyue blame for the flowers not blooming?"

"Yes. I knew Y/N. She was a sweet and benevolent goddess. When I was Rex Lapis-"

He cut himself off, evidently panicking over the fact that he had just revealed his identity to you. But you already knew who he was. And now that you knew that he remembered you from back when he was Rex Lapis, you could shoot your shot with him.

"I am Y/N. L/N Y/N, the goddess of flowers. I missed you, Rex Lapis, and I've always loved you. I was so jealous of Guizhong and the love she had for you. I know I can never replace her. Her heart was uniquely gentle and sweet in a way that I'm afraid mine will never be. However, please say you will take me as your lover. I will love you in a way that is unique to me, but I will be as gentle and sweet as Guizhong herself. I assure you this."

You noticed tears pouring from Zhongli's eyes at the mention of Guizhong, his past lover.

"She was a good woman, Y/N. She was the only woman I said I would ever love. I made a contract with her, in a field of glaze lilies, stating that very fact. When she died, my heart was broken, and I desired love, yet due to my contract, I could not have any love with another woman. And I was fine with that. My scars healed without a woman's love. You would just reopen them. My apologies, Y/N. I am aware that you are a fine woman, and like I said, you're a fine goddess, and sweet. However, I cannot love you. Goodbye."

He got up and began to walk away. You were hurt, and began to cry. You felt a gentle hand touch your cheek, and Zhongli was standing in front of you.

"Thank you, Y/N, for unlocking my memory."

With that, he left you, and your heart was wounded forever.