komorebi || Genshin impact one-shot

||Xiao: Haitang Flower, A Million Lanterns in the Sky

I swear I was gonna do something cool today and boast abt it but I can't remember what

︶︶︶︶︶︶︶︶︶༉‧₊˚.

➷Haitang flower, a million lanterns in the sky➷

another year had passed just like that. y/n sat on the balcony of Wangshu inn as the first sunrise began to glow from behind the mountain. a dull expression stared back into the blazing light, contrary to the brightness, her eyes were dark.

a single Haitang flower fluttered down to her shoulder. without a second thought, the flower was already resting on y/n's palm. it was just a single red flower, but her eyes were unrelenting of letting go and her body stiffens.

it was the first day of the Xinnian festival. that day a lot of people from all of Teyvat had come to experience the once a year festival in Liyue. Wangshu inn was, of course, packed full of travellers. so much so that they had asked for help to a random guest.

with nothing else to do, she accepted the task of being a waiter. running around serving people wasn't that hard of a job. she had done the latter the most, being an experienced adventurer.

one of the tasks that day was to deliver a plate of almond tofu to a man on the balcony. with a firm reminder of 'don't annoy him', y/n set off upstairs.

the plan was to give it to him and leave immediately, as she wasn't that good at dealing with people. When she got there, y/n was greeted by golden eyes brighter than the sun, aggressive like a tiger. a chill went down her spine.

unfortunately for y/n, the man noticed her sudden anxiousness. He lowered his gaze slightly towards the almond tofu. in her hand was still the Wangshu inn's speciality.

"is that for me?" his tone was curt, one would say rude but it still held a bit of politeness in it.

"ah- yes!"

clothes fluttering, the wind brought along the sweet smell of Haiting along with its petals between them as they gazed at each other. behind them, a million lanterns floated. It covered the night sky like a blanket and turned into bright yellow stars.

if one were to ask what happened after that, y/n wouldn't know how to answer either. memories blurred by sand, all she knew was that after a few days of conversations, the man started joining her in her adventures; as long as it was within Liyue territory.

it was just another one of her adventures near Liyue's border. the suns scalding hot above her as sweat dripped down her face. that day she hadn't asked xiao to accompany her. y/n wanted to bring something back from her adventure this time as a surprise.

with rumours swimming through the mouths of Liyue residence, it wasn't hard to come across a story about a legendary weapon. at first, she wanted to get it for xiao. but after retrieving a red, half-broken claymore, y/n stopped to wonder if it was even his style. it definitely wasn't hers.

pondering, she sat down on a broken log, looking at the scenery below the cliff. again, mind wondrously drifting back to her companion. would he like the scenery here as well? Below a Haitang tree where the fresh smell of its blooming flowers drafted with the breeze.

all of a sudden, a cracking sound snapped behind her. panic set deep even before worry flooded her mind. behind her stood a large animalistic beast - to disoriented to be put to words. with a spear in one hand, it charged towards an unguarded y/n. being caught off guard, she didn't have time to pull out her sword, the beasts spear was already headed toward her heart.

her mouth opened to scream, even her own ears didn't hear what she had said before a shadow towered over her.

y/n's brain finally turned its gears. 'Xiao' she had called in a hushed whisper. and in front of her was the man himself, blood soaking his back like spilt wine. the animalistic beast and its spear were turned to dust.

a cold hand touched her cheek. that's when she realized her eyes had been dropping hot streams of tears.

"y/n..."

Xiao's body toppled over her, sending them both crashing towards the ground covered in fallen Haitang flowers, his blood flowed and soaked into the petals giving it a second red colour.

Y/n's heart thundered in her chest. She cradled the half-conscious man in her arms.

in that cliff, the only sound that was heard was y/n's uncontrollable sobs. the serene scenery that she wanted to show Xiao was no longer beautiful. it was like the place was covered in dust and sandstorms.

"Please, I don't know what to do without you..."

with her head lowered, tears dropped from her eyes to Xiao's unnaturally pale face - his hand had long fallen limp beside her. no amount of begging can bring him back.

y/n scrunched up the innocent flower in her palm.

when she opened her eyes, she was standing behind the inn's tree-like building. a single Qingxin flower planted above Xiao's grave.

that day before their last goodbye, Y/n lifted her hand to touch Xiao's cold cheeks, trailing down to his throat that no longer had a pulse.

underneath Y/n's favourite flower tree, a lonely grave stood - the dark sky above them was covered by a million lanterns. All that was remaining was the bitter scent of Haitang and the painful memory that was once wonderful and sweet.

"the lovely memories I made with you, every second of it. I will never, ever, forget."

︶︶︶︶︶︶︶︶︶༉‧₊˚.

you do not know how excited I was when I thought up this idea. to bad my writing skills can't show how good this idea is dsfsfdf.

half of this was me giggling and laughing and the other half was like "what the fuck am I writing"

large animalistic beast - this,,, idk. I was gonna describe it as half crocodile half-horse head and then I realized that that's really freaky so I just called it an animalistic beast lmao.