Chapter Text
It was supposed to be a simple expedition. Go outside of Liyue Harbour accompanied by a select number of Milileth guards, survey a selected landscape for a couple of days, and return back to Liyue Harbour just in time for the weekly Qixing meeting. Keqing was so sure that the plan was so simple, there was no possibility of it going wrong.
But it did.
“Take Cover!”
Not even a second later, a streak of orange light seemingly came out of nowhere and headed straight for them. They all dived away from the incoming fire of missiles that were honed in on their previous location, with Keqing having to dodge multiple ones that were aimed at her. The electro user recovered from her dodge and immediately looked for the source of the missiles. She looked at the rise on the hill and her gaze landed on a group of ruin guards followed by abyss mages.
Keqing cursed quietly, before hearing another set of thundering footsteps in the direction of the other path that led out of the small ruins they were in. There were dozens of hilichurls, and alongside them were a number of mitachurls and samachurls, poised and ready to charge towards her and her expedition team.
She backed away, already planning the next course of action and calculating the chances of surviving this ordeal. This was clearly an ambush orchestrated by the Abyss Order, judging from the absurd amount of forces they brought. But how? How did they know they were going to be here? Keqing will have to worry about that later. For now, she needs to worry about getting out of this attack.
There was no way they could fight back; the Abyss Order outnumbered her expedition team by a margin. And even if they could manage to take out a number of the hilichurls —she herself could take out a significant number— they would still need to worry about the ruin guards and the abyss mages. By then, plenty of energy would have been spent and there would be little to do against those killing machines. There was only one possible solution. It would take an unknown amount of time, but it was the one with the highest chances to survive.
Spotting a group of hilichurls charging straight towards her, she threw her smaller hairpiece imbued with her electro at a sized puddle and waited for the hilichurls to blindly rush forward. Once they came close to the puddle, Keqing performed a swift swiping movement, and her hairpiece bursted in sparks of purple, which knocked away and down the charging hilichurls, and electrified the pool that was in the horde’s way. Hopefully that would slow them down, even if it was just for a minute.
The swordswoman sprinted back to the rest of the group, who were taking cover by a ruined building, and pointed to one of Millelith guards. "We'll create a quick opening for you to run past. Run back to Liyue Harbour and get some help." The Millelith guard, Xinghuo’s eyes widened at the command, but nodded and saluted.
Keqing turned to the others, her heart pounding against her chest, "Group up! We will have to hold off the attacks until reinforcements arrive." Hopefully , she added mentally. At the sound of rapid footsteps coming closer, Keqing gripped her sword tightly in her hand already feeling the humming of her vision intensify. They were going to have to do this if they wanted to get out of this situation.
As she peeked around a pillar, Keqing heard the guards shuffle behind her, presumably preparing to retaliate against the charging horde. She looked back and saw the guard, who she assigned to go back to Liyue Harbour, visibly sweating from the pressure of having to do the task given to him. Keqing hopes that he makes it.
But for now, the rest needs to survive.
Keqing threw another hairpiece — her main one this time — forward, towards the approaching horde, slashing in front of her immediately as soon as she teleported to it, which took out a number of the frontline. Her swordsmanship was a sight to behold; her flurry of attacks as she took out hilichurl after hilichurl was so quick that the guards fighting with her simply saw a streak of purple dancing between the enemies. After a moment, there was a small gap towards the path that led to Liyue Harbour, as the horde of hilichurls focused more on Keqing and the guards.
Keqing, who noticed the opportunity with a glance yelled at the waiting guard, "Go!" And with that, the one guard slipped to the side, away from the fight, and snuck past the charging groups of hilichurls. Fortunately for him, none of the hilichurls took notice of him slinking past off to the side, their focus primarily on the Yuheng and her guards.
Keqing noticed the guard managing to slip past, which somewhat gave her a moment of relief. There could be a bigger chance than she thought. Her thoughts quickly came back to the fighting when more groups closed in on them. "Damnit, there's so many hilichurls, and we haven't even fought off the abyss mages and their ruin guards," she thought with worry.
Surviving was all they needed to do. Fight off the hilichurls, the abyss mages and the ruin guards until help arrives. But why does Keqing have this weighing feeling that that's not all.
Seeing the closing in of the groups of hilichurls and the growing tiredness of the Millileth beside her, she got ready to throw her hairpin and thought, "If I don't make it out alive, I hope that the next Yuheng will continue my work," then with a swift movement and a blink she was standing in the middle of the horde. She needed to at least take out the majority of it. Her vision began to hum intensely and crackles of lightning were charging up in the air around her.
As she readied her next move with a fierce gaze, she continued her thoughts before she couldn't in the heat of the battle. Her heart pounded against her chest and she thought of the next set of words, "And Ganyu, know that I'm sorry."
"With sword comes shadow!"
___
Small murmurs of discussion filled up the silence in the Qixing meeting room. The discussions consisted of trivial talk of personal matters, or general work. Most of the members in the room were talking amongst themselves, except for two individuals.
"Ganyu, how long was Keqing's expedition?" Ningguang whispered, breaking the silence between them.
Ganyu nervously shuffled a few papers around before replying, "Lady Keqing had discussed that her expedition would be about three days, and that she would be back in time for the Qixing meeting."
Ningguang exhaled in frustration. "Well, clearly she's not on time for the meeting." She crossed her arms then looked towards the windows, "Which is unusual, considering her strict work etiquette she sets for herself," she murmured.
Having heard her superior, Ganyu's nervousness and worry increased tenfold. Ningguang was correct, Keqing was never late to any arranged meetings she had scheduled, and her being late to an important meeting was really out of character. Perhaps she had forgotten? The secretary shook her head at the thought, Keqing was not one for forgetting work related matters. Plus, she had reassured Ganyu that her team would only be investigating an area with little to no activity.
Ganyu's thoughts were interrupted by someone clearing their throat. One of the Qixing members had stood up from their seat, "Lady Ningguang, perhaps it would be better to postpone the meeting for this week. We have been here for quite a while waiting for Lady Keqing to arrive," he addressed Ningguang. He looked around the room for a moment before looking back at the woman, "...or we could perhaps continue on with the meeting without her. Surely Miss Ganyu here could relay any details Lady Keqing had missed to her," he gestured towards the blue-haired woman.
Ningguang was thoughtful for a few seconds. The secretary knew that she was weighing the pros and cons of each choice; or rather which one would benefit her the most. Ganyu already knew of a specific visitor that the Tianquan was looking forward to after this meeting, and she herself was rather looking forward to her small break with Keqing. With her mind back on Keqing, Ganyu was rather excited for her to come back, but judging from her absence, she hasn't yet.
"Where could she be?" Ganyu thought.
Ganyu's focus was brought back by an audible, relenting sigh. Knowing who it came from she looked to the person in question. Ningguang looked towards Ganyu and nodded her head. Ganyu, who had been waiting for the Tianquan's decision, stood up and spoke, "As per request of one of the Qixing, those who are in favour of postponing the meeting, please raise your hand," everyone but Ningguang had raised their hands, "the vote is unanimous. The meeting will be post–"
"Lady Ningguang!" Baiwen, one of the secretaries yelled as she bursted through the door. "A Mililleth guard from Lady Keqing's group has returned. He said it was quite urgent, so he’s requesting an audience now."
That raised a few alarms within Ganyu's head. A guard from Keqing's expedition group but not Keqing herself? Perhaps she wanted to extend their expedition, and she sent the guard as a messenger. However, for the guard to urgently request an audience... Ganyu’s heart was pounding against her chest from the anticipation of hearing any information about Keqing’s whereabouts.
Ningguang sat up more in attention to the Secretary’s words. “Allow him in here, please,” she requested.
With a quick nod, Baiwen left the room to retrieve the guard. After a few moments, she returned with the guard in tow. Ganyu observed his state; he was panting quite heavily, which had presumably lessened when he arrived. He was also quite dirty. There was dirt, a few scratches, and soot on his clothes and face. Looking at his state, the bubbling worry in Ganyu's chest grew even further.
“ Where is Keqing? ” She repeated in her head once again. The words were threatening to burst out of her lips, but it would be disrespectful to do so in front of the Qixing and in her workplace. All she could do was listen.
Before Ningguang could even take a breath, the guard, Xinghuo, frantically bowed, nearly parallel to the floor. "Lady Ningguang, forgive me for my intrusion but it is of utmost importance!" He spoke quickly. "I am part of Lady Keqing's expedition group, and we had been ambushed by the Abyss Order," when he continued, he stood up but this time his head was bowed, "There were dozens of hilichurls! And the Abyss Mages brought multiple ruin guards as well!"
The Qixing members stared at him in shock, not expecting his outburst, and especially the content of his outburst. Especially Ganyu, who has been waiting for any news, information or anything at all regarding the Yuheng's lateness.
"Lady Keqing had ordered me to return to Liyue Harbour as soon as possible to get help.” Xinghuo continued.
“No…” His words made the half-qilin's stomach drop.
“She and the others had given me a chance to slip past through the horde, and I ran as fast as I could.”
“No…” Ganyu had spoken to Keqing before she set off. She said she would be fine. Keqing had even reassured her with a confident smile.
"Please Lady Ningguang, I don't know how much longer they can hold them off and there might be more of them…"
“No!” Ganyu's mind yelled as she imagined more Abyss Order forces attacking Keqing's group, and most importantly, Keqing herself.
Spurred by the life threatening situation Keqing’s expedition group seems to be in (and from the desperate tone in Xinghuo’s voice) Ningguang turned to the half-adeptus to give quick orders. However, Ningguang must have seen the look on Ganyu’s face, and stopped. Instead, she turned to Baiwen, who was shocked at the news the guard had delivered, “Miss Baiwen, please take Xinghuo to Sergeant Fengyan and inform him of the situation. And make sure that he picks the best among the Millelith to send. And please get someone to attend to Xinghuo’s injuries afterwards.” The secretary and guard bowed to Ningguang’s orders and left quickly.
As the two of them left, Ganyu lowered her gaze to the papers in front of her. Her mind was still reeling from the information, and judging by the dead silence in the room, so were the Qixing members. Ningguang suddenly stood up and addressed the other members. “With that news, I must head off and oversee the preparation to aid Lady Keqing’s team. I will see you in the next meeting. Ganyu, come with me." Without waiting for a reply, she left the room immediately.
Ganyu had nearly missed the words Ningguang had said, before gathering the papers and following her. Her hands were shaking in… she doesn't know. All she knew was that it was shaking and she couldn't stop it. Her thoughts returned to the news Xinghuo had delivered. Keqing's group was ambushed by the Abyss Order, and they couldn't simply run away nor fight their way through. Xinghuo was given the chance to get help by Keqing. For how long are they fighting for their lives right now? What if reinforcements were too late?
Late.
Too late.
A purple clad body in the middle of the ruins. Limp and lifeless.
It was too late.
The world turned grey. The sky was weeping. The grass was… red. Full of red.
So much time needed. So little time for building precious memories.
Ghostly pale skin, littered with elemental injuries and burns and cuts and holes and blood and blood and blood and–
"–anyu!"
A shout of her name shook Ganyu out of her head. In front of her was Lady Ningguang, looking at her with a concerned frown. Her crimson eyes flitted between her chest and her face. "What is she looking at?" Ganyu asked herself.
As if Ningguang had heard her question, she pointed near Ganyu's chest. "Are you okay? The papers you're holding are...crumpled."
The half-adeptus looked down on the papers she was holding against her chest, and they were indeed crumpled. Crumpled was a nice way of describing it, it was nearly ripped in two from the way she was clenching it earlier.
"I...I apologise Lady Ningguang, I am just… worried about Lady Keqing and her expedition group." She was barely aware of her hand's movements clenching the papers once again when she said 'Lady Keqing'.
The two women began to walk briskly once again, with Ganyu nearly walking as fast as Ningguang. The secretary was now hyper aware of time passing by, the words 'too late' repeating in her mind. The thought of Keqing being— no she couldn’t think that. Keqing is one of the strongest swordswomen in Liyue right now, and yet as milliseconds went on, the dark thoughts began to overtake Ganyu’s mind and she couldn’t take it anymore.
"Lady Ningguang," Ganyu suddenly called out, "I'd like to go and take the journey ahead of time to aid the expedition group," before it’s too late , she mentally added.
The silver-haired woman sighed, still facing forward. "Ganyu… you can not simply just rush into their aid alone.” Despite the nonchalant tone Ningguang was speaking in, Ganyu could feel the worry radiating off of her. She and Keqing had some quarrels, sure, but there have been more odd ways to bond with the people you work with. Eventually, they grew to have mutual understanding of each other, and their quarrels became more like banter as time went on. “You heard Xinghuo, there are dozens of Abyss Order forces that had ambushed them, and there could be more. I apologise Ganyu, but I can not allow you to rush in blindly."
On any other day, Ganyu would have accepted the reasoning that had been given to her. But, this was not just any other day. Right now, Keqing is in deep danger, and any time wasted was a higher chance of her going into death’s door.
The half-adeptus opened her mouth to hastily reply, when Huixin suddenly approached them, unaware of the tension that hung over their heads. "Miss Ganyu! Oh thank goodness I've found you. I discovered some of Lady Keqing's paperwork left untouched and I couldn't find her assistant. So, the next best person I could think of was you." She then gave Ganyu a small stack of papers, who instinctively took it. "I must head off now, today has been a terribly busy day. Have a nice day Miss Ganyu, and Lady Ningguang." Huixin bowed before she walked away.
Ganyu shook her head. She would take care of this later, there was a much more important matter to take care of. She looked back at Ningguang who had begun to walk once again and followed behind. "I am aware of the dangers, Lady Ningguang, but I am quite cap—" Ganyu cut herself off. Her eyes landed on the paper on the top of the stack. She had only caught a glimpse when she glanced down for a second, but that one second was enough for puzzle pieces to form together in her mind that made her blood run cold.
___
Ningguang had stopped walking, concerned and curious as to why Ganyu had stopped talking. After hearing a loud thud behind her, Ningguang turned around to question the secretary, only for her to run past, nearly making Ningguang stumble to get out of the way.
“I’m sorry Lady Ningguang!” Ganyu yelled, “but the Milileth are not going to be fast enough.”
Ganyu had also ran past Beidou in the hallways, who dodged out of the way. Ningguang heard a short "Sorry!" from the secretary before she could no longer hear her.
"Well, it sounds like someone is in a hurry." Beidou approached Ningguang, who stood where she stopped, confused at Ganyu's sudden outburst. "I've never seen Ganyu run fast like that." The pirate released a laugh. She stopped when she realised Ningguang was not joining in.
"Ning?"
At the sound of Beidou calling her, she snapped out of her confusion, and walked to a small table where Ganyu had slammed down the pile of papers. Beside it was a paper, seemingly taken out of the stack, which Ningguang guessed Ganyu had read. Taking the paper in her hand, she began reading the contents. She felt Beidou peer over her shoulder to see as well.
As Ningguang further read the letter, her grip on the paper tightened and her eyes widened even more. The same puzzle pieces that Ganyu had solved were now being put together in Ningguang's mind. After she finished, she abruptly turned around and began speed walking down the corridor.
"Woah hey, where's the fire?" Beidou had caught up to her and kept pace. "Ning? What's going on?" She asked.
"We need to form the Milileth guards more quickly and head to where Keqing is as soon as possible." Ningguang replied with a tense expression.
"The Milileth? Keqing?" Beidou questioned, confusion clear in her voice. "What the hell do you mean by that? Are you saying Keqing is in trouble?"
"Read this." Ningguang handed Beidou the paper. They were now outside Yuehai Pavilion, and they continued walking towards where the path by the Golden House is.
Beidou was silent as she read the contents of the letter. "Keqing had left on an expedition three days ago to investigate some ruins," Ningguang said after a few seconds, "She was supposed to come back today, but one of the guards came back and informed us that the Abyss Order had ambushed her expedition group."
"Shit! And this letter tells us that…"
"...she unknowingly walked into a trap? Yes, yes it does."
___
Keqing panted heavily as she took down another one of the ruin guards before she dodged an icicle from a Cryo Abyss Mage.
She and her team had taken out the majority of the hilichurl horde, before they retreated. After that, the ruin guards had unleashed their fury alongside the attacks of the Abyss Mages. Most of the guards were already injured and tired from defending against the hilichurls, so Keqing had ordered them to take cover behind ruined buildings knowing that they could not do anything to these Ruin Guards.
Keqing threw her hairpin to the Cryo Mage and took out the last bit of its shield that surrounded it, and killed it with one clean swing of the sword. She only then felt the small tingle on the back of her neck. Keqing spun around to counter or dodge from the unsuspecting attack but she reacted late to her vision’s warning. An arm of a ruin guard had slammed against her side launching her a few feet away from where she stood.
A groan escaped her lips as she struggled to quickly stand up and recover from the blow. Keqing had already taken hits from the hilichurl hordes earlier, and from a few of the ruin guards and Abyss Mages. Her body was getting tired, and it was ready to collapse to the ground. But Keqing refused to succumb to that.
She knows she still has some fight left in her. There was no way she was going to give up here and now. She made a promise to Ganyu.
Using her sword as a support, Keqing stood up with a fierce determination on her face. Despite the injuries and hits her body had taken, she raised her sword and pointed it towards the floating Pyro Mage in front of her.
However, it didn’t make a move to attack her. Instead, it yelled out a retreat, which surprised the Yuheng. Keqing’s grip on her sword slightly loosened as the ruin guards and other abyss mages backed away from the ruins.
‘What was happening?’ she asked herself.
A loud, pitchy cackle brought her attention back to the Pyro Mage in front of her. Its head leaned back as it raised its small arms to its stomach, as if it was clutching its stomach. Its annoying laugh and the stomping of the retreating ruin guards were the only sounds Keqing was hearing, and it was irritating the hell out of her.
‘What games are they playing?’ she thought as she glared at the Pyro Mage.
As it continued to cackle, Keqing’s temper flared. She suddenly threw her electro imbued hairpin in the direction of the mage and immediately teleported herself to it and swung her sword. The Pyro Mage, who somehow expected the move, managed to teleport away from her sword’s range.
“Oh dear Yuheng of the Liyue Qixing…” It tsked, “you really shouldn’t waste your energy on us. We’re the least of your worries right now.” Then the Pyro Mage disappeared with a cackle in a small burst of flames.
Keqing stared at the spot where the mage had disappeared, as she lowered her sword to her side. Her brain was busy processing the information that the Abyss Mage had just told her. What did it mean when it said that they were the least of her worries? Was there something much bigger coming?
Keqing shook her head from the thought. It was unimportant for now. At the moment she should thank the Archons for allowing her to be alive for another day. Which meant another day to cherish in Teyvat, and with Ganyu. She began to walk back to where she ordered the guards to retreat. Keqing winced as she placed too much weight on one of her feet, which ached at her constant movement from her practiced footwork during the fight.
“Lady Keqing!” One of the guards called from behind one of the pillars. “Over here!”
Keqing had looked up at the sound of her title being called, and continued to walk over to the others with a slow pace. The aching in her body increased with every step she took, but all she just wanted to do was push forward.
She was now in the middle of the ruins, still keeping her slow pace, and not caring about her lateness for the Qixing meeting. She was just thankful. Ahead of her, the guard had stopped raising his hand, realising that he had caught Keqing’s attention.
All of the sudden, Keqing observed the guard’s eyes widening from where she was.
“Lady Keqing! Look out!” At the same time he began to yell, Keqing’s vision tingled on the back of her neck. She quickly spun around at the same time as a loud bang echoed around the ruins. The next thing she knew, a sharp, hot pain went through her shoulder. She grunted at the hot flash of pain and gripped her shoulder with her hand.
“Shit!” She cursed through gritted teeth.
She looked up at one of the steep cliffs that overlooked the ruins, and standing there was a Fatui Bracer, holding his gun in his hands. Right after she had been shot, a large thud came from the direction of where the guards were. She dodged another shot from the Pyroslinger and looked at the source of the thud. The thud came from the guard getting punched from a Fatui Vanguard, which knocked him to the side.
At the corner of her eyes, she saw Fatui Skirmishers showing themselves as they arrived from the path to the north of Liyue. And as she dodged another shot from the Bracer, she saw the Fatui Vanguards, Legionnaires, and the Bracers ready their weapons. The Milileth guards were poised for a fight as well, but Keqing knew they stood no chance, especially when they just finished their fighting with the Abyss Order.
Keqing gripped her sword and prepared herself, trying her best to ignore the pain throughout her whole body. She felt her vision crackled once again, seemingly feeling the energy of a potential fight.
Her grip on the sword tightened as she remembered the Pyro Mage’s words. It turns out the annoying Abyss pest was right; right now, the Abyss Order wasn’t her biggest worry.
___
Ganyu was sprinting across Liyue wearing a fierce determination on her face. If she were a human, she would be taking frequent breaks from the running, but she was not just a human. She has illuminated beast blood running through her veins, and for some reason it was thrumming stronger right now than before. Ganyu paid no mind to the thought. Her thoughts were more focused on Keqing being in life threatening danger than the change of flow in her veins.
After some time running, Ganyu had crossed one of the landmarks that told her she was nearing the ruins. At the sight of it, she pushed herself even harder. Ganyu thanked the Archons for her qilin heritage, giving her the needed stamina.
Ganyu noticed a downward slope up ahead as she continued to run, which she hoped was the ruins that Keqing and her team were in. After getting closer, her enhanced hearing picked up the sounds of fighting down in the ruins. The half-adeptus took out her bow and reached the rise of the hill.
Down in the ruins were multiple Fatui henchmen and Milileth guards by the side, the latter being clearly overwhelmed. The Milileth never had any chance against the weapons that the Fatui were armed with. Most of them had fallen from the Fatui’s harsh attack. Then Ganyu looked towards the middle of the ruins.
It was more open in the middle than the sides. No broken down buildings or crumbling pillars. Instead, the ground was laid with concrete or stone with patches of grass growing from the cracks and the exposed parts. And right around that area was a purple-clothed figure surrounded by larger and darker-clothed figures.
“ Keqing… ” Ganyu realised as soon as her eyes landed on the purple figure.
Keqing, just from seeing her ragged and increasingly sloppy movements, was clearly beaten up and hurt. Her right hand was covering her left shoulder as she was fighting off the blows the Fatui Vanguards were delivering. Ganyu noticed a vanguard coming from behind and raising his hammer. In a flash, she aimed her bow at the offending Fatui and released the arrow. With deadly precision, the arrow had hit her target on the back of the neck, his electro shield not standing a chance to the cryo infused in the arrow. The vanguard froze then dropped his hammer before falling to the side.
Some of the Fatui henchmen paused in their attacks and looked towards where Ganyu was.
“Over there! Another one of the Qixing!” One of them yelled as he pointed at her, “Get her!”
Ganyu saw Keqing quickly turn and look at her, before her attention switched back to her attackers, needing to block an attack.
Thanks to Ganyu’s hearing, she heard the command and aimed her bow at the ones already running up towards her. She infused the arrow with cryo once again and released it. Upon reaching one of the henchmen, it formed an orb up in the sky and rained quick spikes of ice on the group. The icicles had hit enough to slow them down and hurt them, but they still kept approaching.
She fired multiple times again which had taken out most of them. Relentlessly, Ganyu fired arrow after arrow, repeatedly releasing deadly icicles on her pursuers. One of the vanguards had reached Ganyu and charged a punch, but before he could hit her, she flashed back leaving an ice lotus flower in her wake, which exploded at the contact, surprising and stunning the boxer.
Unfortunately, most of the henchmen pursuing her were now nearing her. She fired a cryo arrow at the group but the anemo boxer blocked the hit making her icicles miss. Another anemo boxer charged a punch and before Ganyu could dodge, he quickly released the punch and landed a direct hit on the secretary.
Ganyu dropped her bow as she landed on the ground with a grunt. Normally she would’ve been able to stand the blow, but she hadn’t been prepared for the sudden punch, knocking her down. She recovered quickly and tried to stand up and retrieve her bow, when a hand harshly grabbed her arm. Ganyu might be unarmed, but she still managed to fight in the Archon War with no weapons. She focused her cryo abilities on her free hand and tried to throw a punch at the offender. Unfortunately, another Fatui henchmen had grabbed her other arm, leaving her in their strong hold. She struggled in their grips, but they had held her tightly.
She failed .
She had failed the Qixing, Rex Lapis, and most especially, Keqing.
The thought made her blood thrum. Ganyu ignored it, her mind stuck on the thoughts of her failure.
Ganyu’s mind blanked as the Fatui dragged her down to the ruins, their grips remaining strong. When someone had forced to her knees, she noticed that there was another figure kneeling in front of her. A figure with the oh so familiar purple dress.
The half-adeptus looked up, and there in front of her was Keqing. Her lover was bruised, bloodied, and bleeding. As she kneeled, Keqing’s eyes were half-lidded as her shoulder was continuously leaking blood. There was blood flowing down from the top of her head. Elemental burns were all over her body, and bruises were blooming on her face and arms.
‘She shouldn’t be like this’ , Ganyu despaired.
The thrumming grew stronger.
Keqing looked up and into Ganyu’s eyes; apologetic, pained but with pure love. Ganyu knew what she was thinking.
I’m sorry .
Ganyu communicated back with as much love as she could and her own apology, which brought a small, sad smile to her lover’s face. Not even a second later, Keqing was being pulled up, prompting a pained expression and grunt from her.
“HEY! LET HER GO!” Ganyu frantically tried pulling out of the grip she was in and uncharacteristically, angrily yelled her words.
A Pyro Agent pointed a dagger closely at the secretary’s face. “Be quiet!”
The thrumming increased. It was basically just humming beneath Ganyu’s skin. She didn’t notice though. She couldn’t focus at all. Not when Keqing was in front of her, battered and in need of medical help.
Ganyu could feel the cruel smile growing beneath the heathen’s mask, who then cackled with delight as he turned to Keqing.
“Oh this is too good! One of the Qixing in our hands.” He used the dagger to tip Keqing’s head back, who glared back as much as her body could allow. “This is just too perfect! You know, we received intel that you would be here with just a few of your pathetic guards. We doubted it of course. Luckily for us, you were here in these ruins, for some reason injured and beaten up.”
“It really was too bad someone else had come here before we did…” He shrugged. “Oh well.”
Ganyu was still struggling in their grips, but the ones holding her held on and the agent ignored her.
“Do you have anything to say, Lady Yuheng?” He asked Keqing.
“...”
“No answer huh?”
“...”
“I see how it is.” All of the sudden he threw a punch at Keqing’s stomach. She bent forward from the blow. Afterwards, the ones holding her straightened her up. Ganyu could see Keqing cough and the blood trailing down from her lips.
The humming grew louder in her ears.
“That’s your reward for not answering.” He then sighed, “Considering your loyalty to Liyue, I’m going to guess you aren’t going to say a word.”
Despite the pain she was clearly in, Keqing stayed silent.
“Fine.”
He stroked the edge of his dagger slowly. “Even without some secret Liyue information, the Harbingers will surely be proud.”
The Pyro Agent chuckled darkly. “After all, maybe it’s time for Liyue to get a new Yuheng.”
The women's eyes widened as they registered his words. Before they knew it, the agent gripped Keqing by the shoulder and drove his dagger into her stomach.
Keqing spat out blood, so much red blood as the dagger entered her stomach.
Ganyu pulled harshly from her captors, her blood running cold at what she was witnessing. A chill traveled up her spine, and her blood thumped loudly in her ears.
No.
No...
NO!
“KEQING!”