Chapter Text
A pair of members of the Crux fleet stood at the bow of the ship Alcor. The Captain, and it’s newest recruit from Inazuma. It had been a long day, and the two decided to close the day with a night cap of sake wine, and a cool breeze from the sea. The salty wind and bright stars that hung above them caused the younger recruit, Kazuha, to begin storytelling. Stories of myths and legends from his homeland that he assumed Beidou might find interesting. Then he found a truly interesting story to tell her.
“So what you’re telling me is that there are stories of people from Inazuma who will actually die from coughing up flowers?” Beidou’s voice perked up.
“In a more plain and simple way of putting it, yes. The hanahaki disease is one of the many illnesses that have plagued those who have been born and raised in Inazuma. However, I haven’t met a single person affected by it my entire life.” Kazuha simply responded.
“Basically meaning it’s a myth then, right?”
“I wouldn’t dismiss it as a myth. After all, we are surrounded by gods and monsters. A bardic tale of unrequited love could simply be a warning to others. If you listen closely enough to a tale, you’ll learn soon whether it is fiction or reality.”
“Yeah, I’m just going to assume no one is going to suffer from that problem here because not everyone in the Crux is from Inazuma like you, kid.” Captain Bediou closed her argument short.
“I guess that’s wise. There certainly isn’t any fault in having superstition. Perhaps a different tale then to go with this lovely evening. Some sake and the cool breeze is sure to pull you into another story of my homeland.”
“Kazuha, the only flowers I see here are the pretty little ones falling from your mouth. You talk with such a fanciful and pretty style that I’m almost certain I saw just a small white flower flutter off your tongue.” Her fingers waved in a fluid like motion as if to describe a flower petal drifting softly away into the wind.
Seemingly upset, Kazuha stood up and picked up his bottle of sake. “Funny. I think then you are done with the sake.” Turning his head, his ears picked up a sound in the distance. It was like a song. Melodic in tone, but carried an eerie warning with it. “Better put down the sails Beidou. A storm is coming. Wouldn’t want anyone on the Alcor to experience being drifted out to sea by a terrible flood before the Crux Clash, would we?
Beidou’s lips tightened together, and she looked up to see that the sails began to wave fervently as Kazuha spoke. “Fine. But just make sure to keep that masterless vision of yours safe. If this storm is as bad as you think it’s going to be, there is no risk in keeping it close tonight.”
“How nice of you to think I wouldn’t keep it close to me from the start.” Kazuha tapped his chest as if to indicate where it was resting. “He’s right here. I’ll put it in the chest tomorrow before people start to sign up.” There was a long sigh of defeat as he dropped his head. It felt too soon to be doing this, but he had to find someone else to hold this vision. It simply had to be the will of his friend who sacrificed everything.
Lumine was her name, he remembered. It was like a dance, the way he recalled how she fought. She possessed elemental power already within her, and the ability to also use geo. Truly this traveler from the stars was someone of interest to Kazuha. The entire scent she gave off was something to admire when first he met her.
That night, after the clash. He laid on his back in a tree close to the Alcor ship, and stared at the maple leaves that hung to the tree. His breathing was slow, but his mind was racing with thoughts. Filled nothing but of the wandering traveler who went by the name of-
“Lumine…” A hand reached up as a leaf softly fell down to reach his grasp. His heart began to pound. She had infiltrated his mind, and stole his words from him. He wanted to see her again. It wasn't a simple ‘want’ but a ‘need’. There was a great desire growing from the pit of his stomach that almost made him feel sick. It was so foreign and strange.
Everything about the night air smelt differently. His ears felt hot, and his hands felt clammy. He could hear every little crab on the sand below him scuttling around and making bubbles, or stirring up sand. He could even hear the hilichurls in the distance digging up holes in search of rations for the morning to come. But it all fell into a head that was plagued with a voice that overrode it all.
Her battlecry. Her laugh. The voice that would echo off the mountains of Guyun Stone forest and into his ears. He was bursting on the inside with words he couldn’t describe, or feelings he could not explain. However, on the outside was simply Kazuha. Gently laying on a tree branch holding onto a maple leaf and sighing gently.
“Oh! I thought I’d find you somewhere around here still.”
Great, now he can hear her voice too. He’s really plagued himself into losing his mind this time. At least he could cope with the fact it wasn’t his deceased friend anymore.
“Paimon thinks he didn’t hear you. He could be sleeping?” A small voice chirped and responded to the first voice that stirred Kazuha.
“How? He said he could hear things that travel on the wind. Didn’t we just glide here from the top of that mountain over there?”
“Well yes, but maybe you were really quiet.” The bright voice chipped again.
Kazuha didn’t like how it interrupted his imagination, so he lifted his head and turned to see who was below him that was causing this disruption of daydreaming before sleep. But there she was. It wasn’t his imagination and he wasn’t going crazy. All these reactions might have just been his body telling him that she was nearby! Of course! He wasn’t going insane, she was just close!
Kazuha’s small celebration caused him to lean a bit too much forward, and his distraction that was placed solely on Lumine made the young anemo user fall down to the bottom atop cool wet sand. ‘ A very ungraceful thing to do at this time of evening for a samurai , Kazuha had thought to himself.
“And here Paimon thought you were a seasonal warrior with keen senses, but you’re losing your ability to hear someone approaching and you fell out of a tree!” The small pixie stomped her feet and placed her hands on her hips as if to disapprove the way Kazuha was behaving. But he had to power over this reaction in his body.
Lumine reached down and began to wipe the sand off Kazuha’s robe, and helped him up. Her fingers were warm and gentle. She smiled at him, and didn’t even laugh at all the sand that was on his face. It was cruel to be this kind.
“I did hear you… Actually I heard you a while ago.” Kazuha looks up to the branch he was just in and notices the leaf that was sitting in his lap slowly falling down to him. “I was wondering who or what it was, but now I am relieved to know that it was you.”
“How did you not know it was me? I thought you said I smell like the stars.” Lumine giggled and started to tease at him.
“I uh… was reevaluating your scent.” He admitted as the leaf fell atop his head. Lumine picked it up and waved it at him.
“Oh? What is it now then if not of the stars Mr. Bardic boy from Inazuma.”
He sighed and stared at her golden eyes that were full of light. She was so perky and cheerful in this one moment that he forgot falling from a tree. He forgot it all. He simply wanted to reach out to her and feel her fingers once more. Her calloused warrior touch was far more gentle than one would think.
“I… I now sense something deeper.” He paused as she gave him a curious gaze. The way she looked at him stirred more within him than she knew. “It’s light. A scent of… morning air and the night sky all mixed into one. It’s confusing to distinguish when it combines itself because it is neither the dawn nor the dusk. It is the very warmth of the light itself.”
Lumine paused and a light pink seemed to blush across her cheeks. Kazuha noticed this and felt pleased with himself. Perhaps he could help her see herself the way he sees her. Maybe she can explain these strange feelings.
“K-Kazuha… That’s some strange poetry. I’m the warmth of the light to you?”
“Starlight, sunlight, moonlight…. The brightest light that could shine in my life.” His voice stopped short and he felt a sensation burning in his chest. He felt extremely warm. Was she standing too close to him? Was there a fire nearby?
Paimon looked at Lumine, then to Kazuha, then back to Lumine. “Right… Paimon thinks Kazuha needs to go to sleep. He must be tired after all the fighting today.”
“R-Right!” Lumine grabbed the nearest excuse to replace the silence, and tried to look away from the man’s red eyes that seemed to be driving into her very soul. “Uhm… Do you need someone to walk you back to the Alcor?”
What was this response? Was it disgust? She seemed afraid. What was it that caused this sudden shock of pain to shoot through him. “I apologize. I didn’t mean to disturb you. You asked a question, and I answered.”
“No, it’s not that. It’s just….” Lumine paused and looked up at the stars floating in the air above them. “My brother used to think of me like that as well. Wherever we may have traveled to, we were home to each other. We didn’t need anything as long as we were together. So, we like to be the ‘warmth’ to each other. Everything outside of that would be something cold and unfeeling.” Lumine explained, drifting her eyes back to Kazuha. “That’s why I need to find him and find out why he wants to battle destiny here. I just want to go home.”
“Home…” Kazuha repeated. There was no such thing as home anymore for him. He became a wanderer. A traveler from Inazuma with nothing more than the sword at his side, and clothes on his back. He was lucky to still have his Vision. But home, when Lumine described it, made it a place that you find in a person. Yes. He wanted that.
Reaching out for her hand, he shyly grabbed onto her index finger before all fingers were in his grasp. “What then of me? What of all the people you met here in Teyvat. If home is with your brother, then what are your feelings when with others you have met here?”
Looking at her hand in his, she paused and smiled at him. “Everyone I meet, and come to know is a friend.” She paused and let her fingers relax in his grasp. “But no one is him. And he isn’t anyone to me. He’s my only family.”
There was argument building within Kazuha, but he couldn’t find the voice to let it reach. There was something blocking it. He felt like he needed to scream as something scraped it’s way violently up his windpipe. There was a pain ripping through his chest that felt like someone was jabbing tiny thorns into his spine. It agitated him, and caused him to bring his hand back to his side.
“I see. Your brother means the world to you. I can understand that.” Kazuha nodded solemnly as he tried to condense these emotions with the pain erupting inside him. He felt like he was going to vomit.
“Are you alright Kazuha? You look pale. Do you need some water?” Lumine looked worried, and her voice sounded of a caring woman. The pain grew more. She dared show affection after saying she would leave it all behind? He was meaningless to her then, right? He can’t be what she wants.
Without answering, Kazuha took a few steps back and shook his head. Feet were unconsciously carrying him to the Alcor without really thinking. “Tomorrow. Good night.” He screamed out as he ran from her at a fast pace, leaving Paimon and Lumine behind as they stared at his back in confusion.
Kazuha climbed to the top of one the peaks closest to the Alcor so he could simply glide back to the ship, but found himself stopping short and hacking up whatever was caught in his throat. Eyelids tightened as a silky petal fell from his lips and onto the dirt below him. More coughing and soon enough a whole flower was protruding from Kazuha’s lips.
Confused, he grabbed at the petals and held it in his grasp to look at it. His red eyes bore into the white petals stained with blood from his throat. The iron taste still clung to his tongue as it clashed with the taste of pollen and earth. Kazuha fell to his knees to examine the flowers closer.
They all shared something in common other than coming from within Kazuha. They appeared to be the same foerign flowers that Lumine wore in her hair. These flowers he choked up were hers. The realization soon struck Kazuha as he let himself curl upon the ground.
“Hanahaki… is real. And I’m afflicted with it’s curse.” A glance at the blood stained petals. “Your flowers are telling me something. It’s you that has caused this pain to erupt within me. It’s not your love for another person, but simply your love for your brother. The fear of you leaving our world behind and forgetting me. To only seek refuge in one person is unfair. Why can’t you find home within me?” Kazuha felt his face begin to damp with small tears. The realization of his sudden unrequited love was unfair to him. How could he be so enamored with someone within a day of knowing them? It’s simply unfair!
“Then… I will make you find a home with me. I will cure this disease starting with you.” Pulling himself up, he sat on his knees looking up at the stars. “You will be my curse, and my cure. But I am a patient man. If death chooses me before you find your brother, then let it be. I would not push someone I care for into loving me. Or… guilt.”
He thought of outright telling Lumine the same story he told Beidou. If the unrequited does eventually fall in love with them, they can be cured. It would simply guilt Lumine into abandoning everything because this was her fault after all. But Kazuha refused to go down that route. He was a samurai, and a noble man. He wanted to earn her love.
“She can never see me like this.” He looked at the flowers and quickly shoved them into his pockets. “I want her to love me for me and not because I’m on death row. Like fleeting snow, spring too shall come. I will nurture a growing love so that it may blossom into the home she desires. Let’s just hope this cruel snowstorm doesn’t topple me over too soon.”
TBC