When an Archon Rises

{Description + Story is U/C}

"When you take away a child's favourite toy, they don't give up but cry and cry until they get it back..." Zhongli states whilst looking down at the sleeping woman before him, itching to wipe away her drying tears. "Tell me, what do you think will happen when you take everything away from a grown adult?"

"An interesting question, but that doesn't explain why you're going out of your way to help a stranger."

An emotion welled up inside him, an emotion he hadn't felt in a very long time. Empathy. "No one knows the pain of loss more than me Childe." He responds flatly as his amber gaze turns cold towards the azure eyes of the Fatui Harbinger. "Touch a hair on her head and you'll have more than the Wrath of the Rock to worry about."

--

Teyvat, Land of the Gods and ruled over by Celestia. Twins, Lumine and Aether, are not from this world but another which they cannot return to. For a time they cannot put into numbers, they travelled all over for answers on the Unknown God and seeked the Audience of all Seven Archons, but met none. After word of Rex Lapis' passing spreads around, they decide to retire and settled at Liyue Harbour making friends and a home.

After a year of love, laughter and peace, things change for the Twins when their long-time travelling companion, Paimon, is targeted by an unknown Fatui Harbinger. Chaos falls upon Liyue one night and Aether is taken in Paimon's stead by accident- but that does nothing but fuel the Harbingers greed and anger. Now, with a target on her back, Lumine has a choice to make;

Hide and run, or face the threat head on.

Should be an easy choice for her, right? Wrong.

{Zhonglumi AU}