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

Chapter 7

For a moment Tartaglia couldn't move.

His eyes were trained on the girl in front of him, his mouth slightly agape.

It had finally clicked.

No one else knew his real name, except for his family and the girl he grew up with. The same girl he used to have snowball fights with, the same girl he used to tease over how tall he was, the same girl standing in front of him.

"Y/N?" He breathed.

The girl stood there, looking at Ajax.

His face had evened out, leaving him with a sharp jawline, his hair was the exact same, his lips were still the same shade of pink Y/N remembered, his eyes were still the same piercing blue, but all the softness had gone from them.

They were cold. He looked similar to the boy she once knew, but he was different.

Tartaglia's eyes scanned over Y/N.

She had grown a couple of inches, her figure had become more defined, her hair was the same color, her eyes were also still the same shade of E/C, but the childish glint was gone, instead it was replaced with a tired, weary look.

Tartaglia knew it was still Y/N, but she had changed.

It then hit Y/N.

Ajax, her childhood friend was the murderer who killed her parents.

All of a sudden old memories began resurfacing. Y/N took a shaky step back. She didn't want to see him. She couldn't bear the sight of him.

All the memories she cherished were now tainted with the fact that he was a killer.

She needed to get out of there. Now.

Y/N forced herself out of her trance. She furiously shook her head, breaking eye contact with the boy, then she turned on her heel and ran.

"Wait!" She heard Tartaglia yell out from behind her.

The man ran after her.

Y/N could hear his footsteps catching up to her at a rapid pace. She knew it was only a matter of seconds before he caught up with her. She turned around for a brief second and threw a burst of elemental energy at him, effectively pushing him back a couple of meters.

Then, she made her dash for the doors, flinging them open and slamming them shut again to slow him down. The girl kept running as fast as she could, her heart was beating so fast, her lungs were screaming at her to stop, her legs were begging for a break, but her brain told her to keep going.

She didn't stop until Liyue harbor came into view.

Not wasting any time, she walked at a brisk pace towards her apartment.

Katheryne saw the girls shaken look as she stormed past the adventurer's guild. Immediately her eyebrows furrowed, she had never seen Y/N look so panicked.

Other locals who knew Y/N noticed the girls uneasy aura, they tried stopping her to ask her if she was ok, to which Y/N politely refused, saying she had to get home fast.

Once she was inside she locked her door immediately and closed all the windows and shutters.

Then, she took a seat at the table and tried to calm herself.

Of all people, it was him?

How did her only childhood friend end up being a cold blooded killer? And he was a Fatui Harbinger too? He was the one that killed her parents, the boy she had snowball fights with, the boy she used to spend her days with, the boy she once knew so well, was the very same boy responsible for murdering the two most important people in her life.

What the fuck was she going to do if he tried to find her?

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Weeks had passed and Y/N hadn't seen Tartaglia anywhere.

Gradually she began to feel more comfortable again walking around Liyue. There was always a worry in the back of her mind that she might run into him at some point though.

The girl once again started doing commissions, everything was going smoothly. There wasn't a commission too difficult or a journey too far for Y/N.

On a particular evening, once she had finished her daily commissions, Y/N found herself wandering around Liyue. She found the perfect spot just as the sun was beginning to set. The orange and yellow hues that painted the sky illuminated Liyue harbor beautifully, the light reflecting off the windows of the buildings.

"Breathtaking isn't it?"

Y/N jumped in surprise, whipping around to see a tall man with long, silky black hair and eyes that were the very color of amber.

He wore a pair of white gloves and a neatly tailored suit. His hair was tied back in a ponytail, showing Y/N his sharp jawline.

"It is beautiful, I've seen many suns go down during my time here and never does it once get boring." Y/N said, turning back around to watch the sunset once she had made sure that this man wasn't a threat.

"No two sunsets are ever quite the same."