Genshin Impact ❦ Oneshots

⠀⠀ tartaglia⠀[delusional strays]

Hi this one is a lil different and has some more mature themes. This is more specifically from the persepctive of the traveller in game, aka you.

This is a short one since I'm kinda lacking motivation

Also a disclaimer that the plot of this oneshot is not relavant to the actual plot of Genshin Imapct and just made up from a bunch of theories.

Night had dawned upon the streets of Liyue. Dimmed orange lights still cascaded across the city, signalling the beginning of the night life. Restaurants and bars were surrounded by impatient lines of people, chattering among themselves in half sober states.

You stared from the bridge leading from Northland bank, arms crossed on the rail and head nested between. From above, the chatter was barely heard, just a murmur among the cicadas and wind. In a way, it reflected the distance you felt from the people of Teyvat. While everyone was still human, their focus was solely on their own world. That itself was a luxury. You had been through many different worlds - from the purely monster driven to the sophisticated societies. You had never seen a world between the two until now.

It had been many years since you first landed in the world, a traveller unknown to any, mysteriously gifted with anemo and accompanied by a floating friend. It had been years since you were finding your twin, searching for the archons. You could still remember the faces of everyone you met, who were still an important part of your life. But despite that, you still felt the pain as you watched Paimon turn against you as her plan came to grasps. You could still remember the way your twin cried as you watched them die in your arms, apologising for associating with the abyss and thanking you for being the one to kill them. You could remember Paimon vanishing as a result of your sibling's death. You could remember desperately trying to heal the wound you had inflicted, a wound on a body already still.

But everyone in Teyvat had been cursed to sleep. No one had felt the rumble of the ground, heard the cries of the lost or saw the glint in the sky as the chasm and the abyss came to an end. All they knew was that when the morning light greeted their restful minds, the traveller had ended their troubles. All except for one person.

"Y/N? You're still here?" a voice asked curiously, the familiar patterns to his tone all so familiar to you. "It's cold out here."

You lifted your head from your arms, turning to meet his navy blue eyes. They widened as they saw the tears brimming at the edges of your own eyes, and the streak beginning to draw a line down your cheek. The two of your stood there, simply staring at each other. It felt reminiscent of when you thought he was the true enemy and had stood face to face to him minutes before everything turned around. You remembered the way he smiled at you, teasing you for wanting to fight as soon as the world had started to reign chaos. It was almost as if you had wished for him to be the one awake to accompany you through the last arc of it all.

You remembered clearly the way he lunged at you, and the way he pushed you down to the ground. You had quickly jumped up, expecting him to be attacking you. But instead, you found him dripping blood and on his knees, the same cheeky smile gracing his face. Seeing him like that make you realise your hate had come from Paimon and that underneath all the delusions of your company, you had truly loved and trusted him. And in your frenzied mind, you had faced off against the one who had injured him, a person who had been in your life from the start - and a person who was no longer the one you knew.

A voice called out your name softly, and you broke from your trance. Liyue's night life returned to your senses. It was all so mundane now that it felt like you weren't really living and that none of it had really happened at all. If not for Tartaglia, you would have thought that you were a delusion yourself.

He took a hesitant step towards you, reaching out for you carefully. And in response, you shuffled up to straighten yourself from the rail, soon finding yourself buried in his shirt. He mumured words of comfort to you, shielding you from the cold breeze around your skin and the hurricane carrying your heart to depths of nothing. You felt him press a kiss to the top of your head as he ruffled your hair, a reassurance that the both of you were real.

When you had first seen the world, you had seen the chaos caused by the twins including yourself had Tartaglia not been awake. The possible future of the world if things had not ended as they had. And when you saw the world again the following morning, it was the world that would be the bane of your existence and that world that blessed you with compassion.

But in a world where no one could understand what it felt like to be a delusional stray, you were his as much as he was yours.