Falling Doesn't Feel So Bad (Tartaglia x Reader)

Chapter 1

Y/N can still remember the day he left.

She woke up and shoveled breakfast down her throat before quickly throwing on her jacket and leaving, without so much as a, "Bye Mum and Dad!"
She could almost hear the crisp, white snow, crunching beneath her feet, even now. Feet swinging, she waited excitedly on the park bench. Plans had been made yesterday to make an igloo, the snow was there and so was she, now all that was needed was a certain red haired boy.

He never showed up.

'Maybe he'll show up tomorrow?' She thought, laying awake at night, her hopes were still high for the following day.

Days turned into weeks and weeks turned into months.

At first, she was sad. She would constantly find herself missing him, the way his laugh filled the air, the way he would pick her up if she fell, even the endless teasing over the fact that he was mere centimeters taller than her.

Then she was angry. Angry that he would just leave and not tell her where he was going or how long he would be gone for.

Eventually she moved on from the boy and forgot small things about him. 'What color was his favorite again?'

'I don't even remember what he sounds like anymore.'

And so, an eight year friendship faded into nothing more than distant memories.

She was twelve then, and time waits for no one. Even children have to grow up at some point.

"Ow mother fucker!" Y/N yelled, lashing out at the hilichurl that had so rudely smashed at her skull with its shield. Her vision made a quick job of the group of hilichurls and the commission was finished in no time. Y/N's vision was one of the few things she had that she was grateful for.

While in Mondstadt years ago on a day trip, when Y/N was in her early teens, she ran into a spot of trouble. A bard, dressed in all green was being harassed by some hilichurls. Y/N, of course, saw this as an opportunity to test her combat skills, which she had been working hard on for the past two years in the hopes of making it into the Liyue Adventure Guild. She distinctly recalls suffering a bad blow to the ribs, but somehow she powered through and defeated all the hilichurls.

The friendly bard, who introduced himself as Venti, bombarded Y/N with, 'Thank you's' and 'You're amazing!' She remembers doubling over from the pain in her ribs, then the bard gently pressed one of his fingers to the injured area and she felt good as new.

Y/N can still hear Venti's laugh when he saw her shocked eyes. "It's the least I could do after all the trouble you went through to save me."

After that, the bard disappeared and shortly after she recieved her vision. All she remembers is a voice saying, "You have displayed great bravery in the face of danger, as thanks for your deed I gift you this, you have been chosen by the heavens."

She was both shocked and amazed that the Anemo archon would gift her a vision for doing something as small as helping someone, but she wasn't going to complain.

And thus, Y/N returned to Liyue, with an Anemo vision. Making it into the guild was easy once she had mastered the basics of her vision, and years later Y/N is now the most powerful adventurer in Liyue.

However, that didn't mean life was easy for her. With the money she earned from commissions, she paid for the rent of her parent's small restaurant. Liyue harbor was extremely pricey and business hadn't been the same since places like the Xinue Kiosk opened. Y/N was doing all she could so that her parents wouldn't have to take a loan from the Northland Bank. Everyone in Liyue knew that if you couldn't pay back your loan with mora, you would pay for it with your life. The Fatui never made exceptions.

Unfortunately for Y/N, her all wasn't enough.