𝕎𝕖 𝕎𝕚𝕝𝕝 𝕊𝕒𝕪 𝔾𝕠𝕠𝕕𝕓𝕪𝕖 | 𝔾𝕖𝕟𝕤𝕙𝕚𝕟 𝕆𝕔 𝕀𝕟𝕤𝕖𝕣𝕥

𝓒𝓱𝓪𝓹𝓽𝓮𝓻 23: 𝒯𝒽𝑒 𝒪𝓊𝓉𝓁𝒶𝓃𝒹𝑒𝓇 𝒲𝒽𝑜 𝒮𝒽𝑜𝓉 𝒶 𝒟𝓇𝒶𝑔𝑜𝓃

͙✧˖°࿐ Yue sighed. She had sent Lumine and Paimon ahead to meet Amber without Xiao and herself, waiting a bit before making their way back to Mondstadt. Xiao glanced over at her, "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," she shook her head, "That was just more tiring than I thought it would be. I had never expected Lumine to have been to a world like mine..."

Had she seen the bad parts?

Xiao nodded, "It seems... different from Teyvat, even more so than I originally thought."

"Haha, yeah. It got pretty weird sometimes."

"Do you miss your home?"

She looked off to the side of the bridge in front of Mondstadt. Was it okay to not miss her home? She missed her online friends, ones that she met through Genshin, but at the same time she didn't truly know them. Her parents... did they even know she was gone?

Yue felt a hand on her shoulder and looked back to see pursed lips Xiao's face, "I shouldn't have asked that I'm sorry."

He moved his hand up to her face, wiping tears she hadn't even known had started to fall. She grasped Xiao's hand in her own, "I do. I miss my friends and having fun with them. I miss my dad and his cooking. I miss my mom and her dumb corny jokes. I miss my bed that I've had for ten years. I miss my room, my games, my books, my phone. I miss it all."

Yue smiled.

"But I like it here more."

She pulled Xiao in for a kiss.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: .☽ . :☆ﾟ. ───

Dvalin was in the sky over Mondstadt, sending tornadoes everywhere. Yue had told Xiao to help get the citizens away from the wind, and with a nod he disappeared. In the meantime, Yue ran up towards the cathedral and the giant Venti statue to meet up with Lumine after she fought back Dvalin.

As she was running up the stairs, someone appeared next to her. She glanced over to see Amber running next to her and giving her a side glance.

"Ah," Yue took a breath, "Hello there! What might you be doing on this fine day?"

"I'm getting to higher ground to try and see my friend! One of the tornadoes sucked her up!"

Yue laughed, "You wouldn't happen to be talking about Lumine, would you?"

The outrider gave her a wide eyed look, "How'd you-"

"She's my friend too. I saw it happening. Don't worry though, I'm sure she'll be fine," she gave Amber a smile as they slowed down in front of the statue.

It seemed as though they arrived just in time, as Lumine came gliding down in front of them.

"Traveler!" Amber yelled in worry, running up to check on her.

"Ah, Amber!" Lumine held her hands out in front of her to stop her new friend from running into her, "Don't worry, I'm fine."

She had made eye contact with Yue then and gave her a wave. Amber looked between the two, "So you do know each other."

"Hm? Oh, yeah. Hey Yu-" Lumine caught herself, remembering what was asked of her, "Ganyu, where's Xiao?"

"I sent him off to get the civilians away from the storm. Most of them should be unharmed, maybe a scratch or two, but nothing serious."

"That dude jumping around and carrying people away? You know him too?"

Lumine nodded, "He's Ganyu's boyfriend. Pretty quiet dude, but he's cool."

Amber gave Yue a look before her attention turned behind Lumine when clapping was heard.

Strutting up to them was the Cavalry Captain of the Knights of Favonius.

"You've actually got the power to go up against the dragon... I wonder, are you a new ally? Or a new storm?"

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: .☽ . :☆ﾟ. ───

"I'd like to offer you our heartfelt thanks," Jean said as her hand rested on her heart, "It's thanks to you all that Stormterror was driven off and all the citizens got to safety. Truly, thank you."

"Ehh, it's no big deal! Paimon's sure that we didn't do much!"

"You did nothing, Paimon," Lumine quipped.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN I DID NOTHING?! I WAS MORAL SUPPORT!"

Xiao scoffed, "Yes, because moral support beats a dragon."

"It's- It's-" Paimon stuttered.

"It's like how paper beats rock!" Yue butt in.

Kaeya chuckled, "Perhaps, but I doubt the little pixie would be able to do much."

"She is pretty small! And she just hid behind a bush when Lumine and I cleared out a hilichurl camp earlier," Amber pointed out.

"We don't even know if the poor thing has any combat capabilities, but even if she did, she wouldn't be able to beat us," Lisa chimed in.

"Why're you all so meaaaaaaaaaaaannnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn?!"

"Aw, don't worry Paimon," Yue grabbed the guide out of the air and hugged her, "Even if everyone turns against you, I'll still be on your side."

Paimon latched onto Yue, "This is why she's better than all of you stupid bozos!"

Xiao grabbed Paimon and threw her onto Lumine before hugging Yue for himself, who in turn pet his head.

Jean let out an exasperated sigh, "This is gonna be a long day."