My Dear Friend | Chilumi

The Surface

Her eyes shot open to the piercing gaze of the sun. Salty water covered her lips and tongue as she coughed herself back to a steady breath. Wet strands of hair stuck to her face as she surveyed her surroundings, searching for familiarity through her panic.

Stranded in the middle of a sea it seemed and far away to one side of the horizon, she could make out cliffs, but no shore in sight. To the other side, she could make out an island with a beach, much closer in distance. She started swimming without hesitation. Her breath, although still ragged, had steadied. She swam slowly to keep her energy. As she got closer to the isle, she recognized her destination. Far off from Mondstadts coast , in the middle of the Dandelion sea, this little island looked like a speckle of dust in the ocean from the cliffs.

How...we were in Inazuma just a couple of hours ago...

She put that thought aside as she approached the shore, and a familiar wailing voice pinched her ears drums.

"PAIMON." Lumine shouted as she ran out of the water.

Her friend looked up towards her as she was trying to shake awake Childe, unconscious and pale.

"Paimon tried to wake him Lumine but he's not breathing. Paimon pulled him out of the water the best she could when he washed up on the shore. He's not waking up, Lumine."  Paimon said in a horrified and worried voice.

Lumine hurried next to him and held his body close to hers. He frankly looked like he was dead. She put him back down and compressed his chest in a regular rhythm, praying to any God who would listen to help him breathe.
Her face was stoic and concentrated, she pushed and pushed, her breath heaved , her heart ablaze with the only desire to feel his heart beat again. A blurry vision came upon her, her eyes filled with her own, salty tears.

Don't you dare, Ajax.

"I need you" She whispered in a barely perceptible squeel.

She needed his love.
She needed his warmth.
She needed everything good he had brought upon her.
She needed her partner, the other half of her heart.

Her heart couldn't take another loss, it was already fragile, and shattered in most places. She needed him to keep mending the broken pieces, not make it wither in despair and grief.

She pushed harder, her muscles were tense, her strokes strong and precise, until a faint stream of liquid started coming out of his mouth, she kept her rhythm, until the stream turned into a gag and coughing from the pale man. She turned his head so he could spit out the water and left him on his side as he still laid unconscious.

She whimpered in relief as she heard his steady breathing once more, and his familiar heartbeat through his chest. She dared not take her hands off of him. She sniffled away her tears as she placed her head against his, her fingers running along his hair, taking in his smell as he slowly gained a pinkish tone in his flesh.

"You're ok" She whispered into his ear as the last of her tears mended into his wet hair. She looked up to the clear sky and slowly exhaled, letting the sun dry her tear-stained face.

Thank you

"Is he going to be..." Paimon asked faintly.

"He's ok. He's ok. He's ok Paimon. He's not going anywhere." She reassured her friend, reassuring herself simultaneously.

Lumine held her love for a little while longer. Counting his breaths and listening to his heart's faint but constant pulse. She caressed his sunset orange hair, combing through the salty strands the sea water had created. She brushed away the sand from his cheeks , his closed eyes and his lips. She took off the soaked jacket and pants from his cold body and tasked Paimon to lay them down to dry on a rock in the sun.