from the bottom of my heart, i love you.

return to liyue

lumine sat cradled in her bed tucked in a corner of the cabin beidou had provided for her crew. she could see throught the curtained windows, she could see for miles. calm seas, and the land of the electro archon, inazuma. she was now headed back to liyue, where she would continue her search for her brother, aether. on her lap laid an abandoned book, about dragon slayers. coincidentally, beidou was written about in here too. she slayed a dragon visionless, fought for days, and emerged victorious. lumine looked up to her greatly. she closed the book and finally retired to bed. she slipped under the covers and laid her head on the pillow. soon, she drifted off to sleep.

"girlie, you're back?" she heard a distant voice say, it sounded familiar. she turned around immediately and saw him. he was tall, and lean. with his orange hair and stupidly dreamy eyes, he waved at her and walked towards her. "childe? were you waiting for me?" he smirked, "are you happy about that?" he raised a brow, lumine just rolled her eyes. "to answer your question, yes." he paused for a moment, fiddling with his fingers which was very uncharacteristic of him. "as...as a celebration of your return, would you care to dine with me at liuli pavillion?" he moved just a tad bit closer, and bent down a little. their noses where close to touching, then he moved in closer.

of course that didn't happen, because that was a dream. "what is wrong with you, lumine? he is just toying with you! snap out of it." she muttered to herself hitting her palm to her forehead. "tch." she sighed and went back to sleep.

"well lumine, here we are. liuli pavillion at it's finest." the two sat opposite to each other. chopsticks in hand, lumine just swatted him away. "awh, don't be like that, i went through the trouble to book the whole restuarant for ourselves!" he smiled cheekily, leaning his head on his palm. "i'm only here because paimon wanted food." that was false, paimon wasn't even here. "whatever you say, girlie."

she woke up once more. she groaned and got out of her bed. opening the door to the upper deck of the crux, she walked towards the railing for the fresh, salty air. "childe...." she whispered with a touch of sadness. the traveller had felt...undeniable feelings towards this harbinger. "goddammit!" she shouted out to the ocean, to whoever would listen. she hit the railing with her fist harshly. her lips feel lonely. when she had been with him, they were always entertained with his own. "why does it have to be him? that good for nothing-" "the things you say when you're asleep testifies against that, lumine." she heard a voice from beside her. it was beidou. beidou was the captain of this ship who was so very kind to take her back from inazuma to liyue. "bei-beidou? why uhm..why are you still awake?" she quickly asked, trying to draw attention to the other instead. "i should be asking you that, why are you awake, lumine?"

 she leaned on the railing as well, staring off into the cloudless night sky. "its just..i don't know what to do, beidou. i can't get him out of my head, but i can't! he's a harbinger! what if he starts trying to flood monstadt too? i can't let that happen! and he...he left. he left me. i need to stop now." she felt a hand on her shoulder, "lumine, love can't disappear overnight. if you really love him, you help him get through it. it might be complicated, but you can't just ignore your feelings like that, its not going to help." lumine's legs gave out and she slid onto the floor, curling up into a fetal position, she finally let her tears flow at last. it was so hard pretending he didn't matter when every night he's all she could think about. beidou sat down as well. wrapping an arm around the smaller, beidou tried to comfort her. "here, here. it's going to be okay." beidou hugged her tightly and didn't let go. "i love him, beidou. i just...aether would be so disappointed." lumine stammered, the warmth of beidou comforted her in some way she couldn't explain. she immediately turned around and embraced the captain as well. "why..why does it have to be him? he's probably toying around with other girls too.." her sobs were muffled by beidou's cape she always wore. lumine started feeling exhausted and seemed to fall asleep.

the traveller yawned, rubbing her eyes. "huh..? beidou?" she muttered, looking around frantically. "oh. i must've fallen asleep." she came to a conclusion that it was probably a dream. but..it felt so real. her advice, was it worth following? help him, but does he love her too? that was the only thought wandering in the outlander's head every single day. it was so hard to forget that stupidly charming ginger. her entire body missed him. every single inch of it ached for his touch. she missed everything about him. his hair, his smile, his eyes, that ugly mask, his dimples, his lightly freckled skin, and that stupid, stupid cheeky smirk. she hated his guts, but why did she long for his voice? why was she so empty without him?  why did her heart beat so fast around him? why did she love this chaotic villain so much? ...why did he leave?

"thinking about that all the time won't help you answer it, lumine." she groaned, finally getting out of bed and walking over to her wardrobe. dressing herself up, she walked out of her cabin, once again to the upper deck. she stood at the very place she was last night and looked at the dent she had made with her fist. she had the tiniest possible smile on her face, this confirms that last night was not a dream. she sighed and took the first deep breath she's had in a little while. the smell of the ocean refreshed her just a bit, reminding her of where she found paimon and began her journey to find her twin brother. 

"feelin' better, traveller?" lumine heard the captain's voice and turned around. she nodded very vaguely, since it didn't change much. "well then, i've calculated the distance slightly off, in around three hours we will arrive in liyue. pack your things, lumine, and go gettem." beidou gave her a firm pat on the back, and went off to the captain's quarters. "three...wait a second, THREE?" the outlander panicked, she was not ready. what if childe was there? she had to get ready. she dashed straight into her cabin and packed her stuff. she put on her regular 'outlander' dress and straightened up the flower in her hair. she continued to pitifully try to make herself look neater, when she heard someone knock on the door. she rushfully opened it, and she was met by captain beidou. "lumine, y'know, you don't have to make this perfect. if he really loves you for who you are, don't bother with your appearance. you're stunning the way you are." beidou smiled gently, and widely. "alright, if that's what you insist on." beidou left and shut the door. lumine started brushing her hair out, trying to make it seems as 'her' as possible. for the next couple of hours, she continued to brace herself for what was about to happen. she was about to meet childe once again. her...nemesis? 

"drop the anchor, meizhou!" she heard beidou yell, signalling that they were at liyue harbor now. "lumine, get yourself together. you got this." she gave herself a short pep talk and walked giddily outside, taking a deep breath, she stepped on liyue harbor's land for the first time in six months. she saw a small crowd of people, though only one person caught her eye. there he was, orange hair and ocean-like blue eyes. he waved at her and she waved as well. his arm was...wrapping around something. her eyes traced his arm to..

another girl.

her heart shattered. no way, this can't be real. maybe..maybe she was just his sister. she brushed it off and walked towards the pair. "lumine! hey! how was your trip to inazuma?" he never called her lumine. it was always 'girlie' or ojou-chan. "oh, uhm. it was great. who's that?" she asked the taller, crossing her fingers, hoping it was his sister.

"oh! this is alonya!" she let out a relieved exhale, maybe it was his sister. "my girlfriend!"

oh.