𝙄'𝙡𝙡 𝘽𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙠 𝙔𝙤𝙪 𝙄𝙣𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙖𝙙 • (𝙈𝙤𝙞𝙧𝙖 2) 𝙑𝙚𝙣𝙏𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝘼𝙐

𝘾𝙝𝙖𝙥𝙩𝙚𝙧 6 (𝙏𝙒: 𝙗𝙡𝙤𝙤𝙙)

"Wakey wakey sleepyhead~! Come on, you can't sleep now! It's not fun if only I'm the one awake!"

Lumine groaned and flipped over to her other side, bringing her knees up to her chest and hugging them to provide warmth. She didn't even bother opening her eyes and looking around to see why she was so cold. All she wished for was sleep.

"Hmph. Guess I wasn't clear enough."

A hand tugged at her hair and lifted her up to a sitting position. It was only then, after she felt her hair being ripped away from her scalp, did she open her eyes before catching sight of a blurry object coming straight towards her face.

Venti's, er, Carmen's, boot.

He kicked her right in the nose, hard. Immediately it started to pour blood out of her nostrils like a faucet. Lumine jerked backward, looking left and right at her surroundings.

"There we go! All I had to do was give you a good kick. Right in the face!" He snickered and dropped Lumine back onto the ground. He didn't even look back to see if she was fine.

Well, she wasn't, but you get what I mean.

Lumine muttered a few incoherent words under her breath and tried standing, but forgot her hands were slit open and punctured, so she was met with a handful (hehe) of agony.

"Come on, we're about to go back home. Then we can have some fun."

Venti twirled his finger and Lumine was lifted once again to her feet. He set her down gently before taking a few steps forward into the snow behind Demetrius.

"Could I get some REST first?!" Lumine sputtered, wiping some of the blood from her nose from her mouth.

Venti turned his head around, clearly not amused by her request. "Pfff, no. My hostages don't get rest. Not even the ones who didn't do anything wrong. Especially you. YOU don't get rest because I couldn't get any while you were on your mad primogem spree. People who are owned by me go by my rules and my rules alone. No sleeping, no water, no food. Not even breathing."

Demetrius turned around and place a hand on Venti's shoulder.

"Carmen, people can't live if they can't breathe. Breathing is a priority. Humans can survive for a while without food and water, but they'll grow weaker and weaker overtime. Until they'll eventually collapse from starvation. I think they can live for around 3 weeks to a month without food, but only a few days without water."

Venti ruffled his wings as he tapped his chin. He began to shiver and his teeth clattered. He started to use his hands to keep warm, but he remembered he had fluffy wings and wrapped those around him like a blanket.

"Hmm, fine. You can breathe, I guess. If you drop dead from the cold, that isn't my fault."

Lumine's breath formed into a small cloud when she exhaled and her only source of warmth was herself. As they moved through the snow, Venti denied Lumine's request to let her come in under his wings to keep warm. He also refused to give her Aether's cloak; he got pretty pissed when she asked about the cloak. In fact, he was so mad that he almost landed a blow to her face, but she quickly blocked it with her damaged hand, half asleep and half freezing. Venti took it as some sort of form of mocking and at that moment, he snapped.

Again.

"Demetrius, let's just leave her here to catch hypothermia and die. I can't stand her questions and even her presence!"

"Huh? What if she leaves Dragonspine? She's surely be warm after that right?"

"Ohh, but she won't leave Dragonspine."

Venti snapped his fingers and a bright light surrounded Lumine shortly before it disappeared.

"There. Now she'll immediately pass out and be brought back go where she started if she tries to escape this place."

He pushed upwards with his legs and caught himself in the wind, flapping his wings behind him.

"Let's go, I'm bored. Could we prepare some rice once we get back?"

"Of course, child. Also, what about some hot chocolate afterward to warm up?"

"Yeah! With some of those baby marshmallows too!"

Venti turned to Lumine and stuck his tongue out. "Have fun slowly turning into an ice sculpture, loser!"

And with that, he, along with Demetrius, shot off into the sky at top speed, leaving Lumine there to freeze.

She still had no idea what had just happened in those few seconds of conversation. Was Venti truly that heartless towards her that he wanted her to die? And all because she turned down his love?

From how she acted half a year prior, she wished that she wasn't so focused on getting Shenhe and spending some time with Venti too. Because of her, Venti only prefers one sibling out of two. And it wasn't her, either.

♡

Lumine was tired.

Cold.

Starving.

And thirsty.

But still alive.

She wasn't quite sure of how long she had been in Dragonspine, or how long she was going to remain there to freeze. But if she were to die, then at least she could finally be at peace again. Without the pain of the following:

• the pain of being in a coma induced sleep and constantly having nightmares for 500 years straight.

•the pain of your brother becoming the prince of the abyss.

•the pain of finding said brother for archon knows how long.

•the pain of being stabbed (figuratively)

•the pain of being stabbed (literally)

•the pain of being the neglected sibling by someone who loved you.

•the pain of said person who loved you now trying to make you suffer for your sins (which aren't even sins).

•the pain of being left for dead in general.

•the pain of someone who loved you using you as a personal punching bag for every reason possible. Even if there isn't a reason for them beating you up.

As Lumine lied there in the snow and accepted her fate of being an ice statue, she could hear a small voice and feet walking on the snow, as well as hands gently picking her up.

"Aw, poor child. Let's get you back to Mr. Demetrius and Ven- uh, Carmen. They must have forgotten you."

The mysterious person seemingly turned and walked into a purple area, or through it, and Lumine was suddenly embraced in heat.

"Excuse me." She rasped. "Whoever you are, thank you for not letting me freeze."