𝐎𝐮𝐫 𝐀𝐧𝐚𝐜𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐜 𝐋𝐨𝐯𝐞 (𝐊𝐚𝐞𝐲𝐚𝐱𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫)

Chapter 2: When You Made Me Chuckle

---Trigger Warning!! alcohol abuse, so please read onwards with caution! ---

A warm light above you and a sweet scent beckoned you to return to the world again. You slowly opened your e/c eyes, wincing at the light. As your sight adjusted and cleared, an angelic figure in a white dress with blonde ringlets smiled down at you.

"Praise be to Lord Barbatos! And may we be ever thankful for the Anemo Archon's blessing upon us today!" the innocent girl sighed, with a sweet tone in her voice. You slowly sat up, when suddenly it dawned upon you that this was a foreign place! Your heart began to race once again - what are they doing to me? Why am I here? Where is here? Who is she? Your thoughts raced, however you began to feel ever-so-calmer. This was extremely new to you, to let your guard down like this, in this situation...

Feeling more relaxed, you made eye-contact with the blonde, uniformed girl - she looked very nurse-like, and seemed harmless.

"I hope you don't mind me asking, but I have many, many questions on my mind. Where am I?" you cautiously asked, discreetly leaning away from her towards the wooden door beside you - just in case. The innocent-seeming girl smiled kindly at you as she opened the velvet, blood red curtains to let in the golden, warm sunlight.

"No, not at all, although I do hope that you are feeling much better! You are in Mondstadt, in the Acting Grand Master's office," she responded gently, awaiting your reaction. Registering her words, you felt a strange sense of security at being in Mondstadt, yet were confused at the former - Acting Grand Master? Was this some sort of government leader? What if they sent you back? You couldn't go back, not at all to Inazuma. You'd rather be executed on the spot and left to die. Mysteriously again, despite these thoughts attempting to consume your consciousness, you still felt calm. Now this was new...and potentially worrying?

"Ah, okay. What happened to me?" you again enquired, this time more open, as you let your stiffness fall. 

"I am certain you fainted. Luckily Kaeya brought you here in time! I am thankful to the Anemo Archon that you have no injuries! You just needed time to slowly come back to the surface, is all." the small girl happily praised. Again, you needed to process all this information systematically. No injuries - good. Fainted - your mind tried to retrace back to the reason, and indeed you were able to recall all the moments perfectly. Scanning the room, it was a chaotic office; shelves filled to the brim with dusty books, the dark oak desk completely covered by scattered documents. On the right of the desk was the window, allowing the delightful sunlight to enter - sunlight was rarely seen in Inazuma, only darkness and storms resided there. Finally beside the window was a wooden bench, which was empty. Upon noticing the empty bench, your mind recalled the elegant man with an enticing energy. Did he bring me here? Huh. He could have killed me or thrown me into some sort of cell - he had the chance!

Imagining him throwing you into a prison cell unconscious made you chuckle. The girl glanced at you, ever so serene. 

Feeling safer than you have been since the beginning of your journey, you began to converse with her. The girl was called Barbara and she was a deaconess who could heal others. Her aura also soothed those around her, hence why you were feeling so unusually relaxed. The Acting Grandmaster was a woman called Jean, who served tirelessly to maintain peace in Mondstadt, also known as the City of Freedom. Your heart felt lighter upon hearing this title. You also managed to confirm that the blue-haired man, who had pointed his sword at you, was the one who had brought you here. And that his name was Kaeya, who was a Cavalry Captain. Hearing his name had struck something inside you, it was an elegant name to match his air of elegance. It felt nice.

"He was quite worried when he brought you here! Kaeya seemed really tense - truly, his voice was shaking too," Barbara had quietly murmured. Now this was a huge contrast from the silky-voiced, confident Kaeya who fought those creatures earlier. You wondered why his demeanor had apparently changed upon bringing you here - ahah! It must have been because of fear of losing his status! Especially knowing that you would awaken, and perhaps even the information of Kaeya pointing a sword at you would reach Jean, who would revoke his status! Imagining Kaeya apologising and begging you with his silky-voice only made you smile and chuckle even more. Barbara simply smiled back upon seeing you more happy. 

She had also assured you that Mondstadt was welcome to all walks of life from all places, so you were completely safe here. For you this was so significant, so priceless, and why you had trekked for days. You had finally found your destination, and you could finally breathe. You were free and could finally live. Your shoulders fell, and any tension left in your body melted away with ease.

"You have no idea how dearly I hold that Barbara. You don't know how much all of this means to me. All of my wanderings, for months on end, it's all now paid off for me." This came out as a quiet and sincere statement, before sapphire, glistening tears rolled down your oily, dirty cheeks. Staring down at the ground, the waterfall of tears grew stronger as the months of pain and toil released itself. You sobbed and cried as Barbara hugged you close to her. You were finally free.

-----??? POV -----

Unable to endure the pain any further, I silently crept away from the door that I stood at, and abruptly entered the next door. Locking myself into the weapon closet, my legs could take no more. They gave away and my back slid down the door, leaving me on the dusty floor next to some arrows. I was shallowly breathing as my face fell into my semi-gloved hands.

Truly, I felt immense guilt for what I had done. The poor girl was simply seeking refuge in Mondstadt, yet I, the Cavalry Captain, had utterly shaken her to her core, until her body could take no more. I was foolish to point my weapon at an innocent human as I did. I pushed her to the point of unconsciousness and instilled fear in her. Her broken crying echoed repeatedly in my ears, like fiery knives stabbing me, punishing me for the misuse of status.

Reaching into my uniform, I brought out my small flask, filled with wine. I carried it on me at all times, as the cold temperatures of my Cryo vision were occasionally a struggle to bear. Hence the wine kept me at a humanly temperature. But this time? I do not think I can allow myself to be classed as a human. Opening the flask, I poured the fiery drink down my throat in its' entirety, and sat back, waiting for the pain to be quelled. As the warmth and the lulling of a false sense of security began to envelop me, I soon stopped feeling the cold streaks of tears upon my face, and the pain faded, as I unknowingly and willingly succumbed to the falsely peaceful sleep that would now torment me.

---- I hope you all are enjoying so far! If you've read this far, thank you for giving me your time! Please let me know if there's anything I could do to improve, or anything that I am doing well! ----