Dragon Daddies (Genshin Men x Reader)

The Guards

Before the fall of Khaenri'ah

The sound of crickets and cicadas pulled you out of a deep slumber. You woke up on a small bedroll outside.

Outside...

"She's awake." You heard someone whisper.

Your eyes wouldn't light. Your body still ached from the most recent harvest of your scales and horns. You scrambled back away from the voice with all the strength you could muster, but quickly hit your back against a tree.

A tall, broad man with dark hair stepped away from the group to approach you alone. "Woah, woah. Easy..." His voice was gentle as he held up his hands in front of his chest. His clothes were tight to his strong body, with no outlines of any weapons or harnesses anywhere in his silhouette.

You looked around frantically at the soft light of the fireflies, and the warm glow of the fire. "Wha- what kind of trick is this?" You barely whispered.

"It's not a trick." The man soothed. He kneeled a few feet from you. His hands remained up. "We're all unarmed. We got you out."

Your arms coiled around yourself. "Th-the scientist-"

"Is dead." The man's voice remained completely calm, but his statement was definitive.

"...What?" You finally looked at his face.

The youngest member of the group of five chimed in, still by the fire. "Cap'n killed him!"

The man in front of you looked back over his shoulder at the ginger young man in reprimand, before he returned his attention to you. "Yes. I did." He admitted to you.

The voices. You recognized them. Whenever these guards were on duty, you would 'accidentally' receive an extra meal. Some of them would try to talk to you in your cell but... you never replied. You assumed any kindness in that prison was a trap... Your voice was small. "Why?"

"Un- Unman." The captain stumbled over a word in broken Liyuen.

"... what?"

He tried again, this time close enough for you to make it out. "Unmanned."

You blinked at him a few times with a soft tilt of your head. He got up and walked back to the fire. He retrieved a small cup the others had shuffled with in the background and returned. He offered it to you.

You looked at the cup, then up at him suspiciously. You shook your head.

He sipped it, then extended it back to you again. "Please. It's just herbal tea, but it should help a little with the pain."

You could smell willow bark and chamomile from the small cup. You looked back to his kind blue eye. You accepted.

"Thank you." He shifted from his knees to a seat, still six feet back from you. "I don't speak Liyuen... Obviously." He sighed a little. You almost smiled. "But I found someone who did after we were all shown footage of the first automaton march on Liyue. They showed us how you singlehandedly and swiftly demolished an entire squadron to prove how dangerous you were, how cruel you were... But you dove at your own risk to make sure the machines you'd never seen were unmanned. And only once you were sure there were no human pilots inside, did you fire."

... That day felt like a lifetime ago. You were a- different person then than you were now. You sipped the tea.

"I continued my investigation of you. The more I learned, the more it became abundantly clear that we were lied to regarding... you."

You cleared your throat. "So, you killed your commanding officer and kidnapped a dragon." You directed to the captain. His lips twitched up in a quick smile at your comment. You looked past him. "With a bunch of kids?"