Those Willing to Drown | Beiguang x GN! Reader

ARC III-ACT VI

"Beidou said it was for your own good. Your body isn't ready!"

Kazuha was someone... who you trusted. He was one of your closest, if not the most supportive, friend you had made ever since arriving to Liyue. He was sweet and careful, pensive even but always... always so gullible.

"Kazuha," you took a deep breath in and slowly let it out. It wasn't hit fault, he wouldn't hold you here like this. "I need to get off this ship. I cannot stay on this ship any longer or else I'll be sick."

He frowned, and for a second you thought you saw him falter. "I'll bring you a bucket and some medicine, but Beidou has made it clear that this is for your own safety."

"HOW?!"

You didn't mean to raise your voice, especially not at Kazuha, but the four wooden walls of the confiding bedroom you had spent the past few nights in seemed to be shrinking - and were the tides getting harsher or was that just your head spinning?

If it weren't for the two cool, petit hands that landed themselves on your shoulders you would have lost your balance.

He spoke. "I know you're disoriented but please understand. It's not only our word, it's the milleliths too." His usually confident eyes softened, almost as if pitying. "You understand, right? You were in the area of direct danger, you were impacted."

Looking up, your eyes came in contact with his - yours irritated and red, puffy and bags darker than before. "Did they tell you how I was impacted?"

He shook his head. "They mentioned you got hit in the head, but not by what or how severe the hit was." He pointed up.

Hit in the head? Reaching up, your fingertips grazed the top of your head, feeling the rough fabric of bandages almost as proof of the day before. You really got hit?

"I see..." You frowned, letting your hand fall back to your side. "But still, I don't feel safe on this ship!"

"Then we can talk to Beidou about a motel when she returns!"

"No!" Groaning you turned and flopped down on the soft bed - a comforting safe haven in the nightmare you were trapped in. "Why can't you just support me on this? I thought we were friends!"

"Don't say that!" He frowned. "We are friends! Friends that rightfully worry about each other's safety when we need to!"

"Well I'm not feeling very safe right now and youre not-"

"What's all this I hear about not feeling safe?"

As if stuck in a dream, the time seemed to freeze - it always did when Beidou was around, whether that was good or bad. Her heels clicked on the creaking wooden floor boards and her strong tone echoed through the hall, through her room and down through the unexplored parts of the storage rooms beside her room. She appeared beside Kazuha by the door, seeming to tower above the shorter boy with such power and beauty - it made you feel queasy you found a potential enemy so stunning.

Kazuha awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck, unsure as to just how to answer that. Would telling her how you felt be a smart idea? She wouldn't be offended to say, but would it hurt the woman knowing the person she felt such strong feelings for felt such a way around her?

"Me. I don't feel safe." You spoke before he could decide - the answer making him both freeze up in anxiousness of the outcome and internally heave a sigh of relief at not having to answer.

Beidou hummed, crossing her arms and leaning her weight onto one hip. "Why's that? How can we make your stay more comfortable?"

"You can make it comfortable by letting me off your ship." A simple request.

"No can do, sadly. To your luck, the millelith have given me the task of taking care of you until you gain back your physical abilities."

"What? What even happened?! No one is making any sense!"

"Do you not remember?" She asked as if testing. It wasn't an 'are you ok' question, it's an 'are you sure'. Two very different questions with the context of her electric eyes looking through to you.

You paused. Remember what exactly? Kazuha had mentioned impact to the head - your bandages proving evidence of that - but why did you get hit? Did that-

"You have a concussion." Beidou's answer felt like an exposure to your inner thoughts - the last bit of privacy you had from the woman. "Yesterday there was an attack on Liyue cause by the wife of Osial, Beisht. The attack had been estimated to happen a few days ago, but we were a few days too early. There was no time to prepare and you were found in the middle of the market street unconscious."

An attack, huh? It was as if your memory were fog - painful fog, if that existed. A migraine spreading from the already sensitive front part of your head and spreading further back until your entire head was overcome with a headache. "Agh-!" You cradled yourself as if you were a baby, bringing back a painful memory of the way your father would hug you in his arms and rock you until your headaches went away even as you grew well into your teenage years.

Is he still alive - the thought brought your already tearing eyes to sting.

Beidou couldn't help but frown. It had worried her senseless when the attack had commenced, rushed and unexpected as the waters grew higher than any mountain she had laid her eyes on. She could only imagine how terrified you must have been.

"Kazuha, can you please go get them a bucket, a damp cloth and some medicine please?"

The boy flinched, turning to his captain before curtly nodding and rushing out the door, leaving the woman to approach you wearily.

"Come." She beckoned softly, a soft you wanted to cry in dismay to. She placed a hand on your shoulder to guide your body down until it hit the mattress and her other hand down on your legs - lifting them off the floor and into the comfort of the cushion. "You need rest. When you wake up we can talk about where you're staying if you're really not comfortable on the ship. For now focus on feeling better."

And though you didn't want to, painful stinging black spots appeared in your vision, clouding the soft orange-brown wood of the bedroom ceiling.

Beidou's skin glowed so hauntingly beautiful as your vision faded.