Even without a lick of knowledge of the human body, Venti knew what was happening to her.
It was apparent in her ragged breathing and the paling color of her skin. Her eyes would no longer open and even if he could see her chest rise and fall with each of her slow breaths, he felt like he was looking at a corpse. The older woman, who hovered over her as she gently dabbed a damp cloth against her lips in an attempt to clean the dried blood, appeared no more hopeful than he. Her eyes were heavy with sorrow and when she looked up at him, he already knew.
[name] was going to die.
His eyes fell away from hers and the wave of exhaustion that suddenly came over was almost too much to bear. The one person he thought could save her, the woman whose name his lover whispered into his ear before falling unconscious, couldn't even do a thing to keep her alive any longer. This was it. The end of her. The cease of her existence. The end of everything.
He was all too familiar with the fragile mortality of human life. Her end was almost expected and what he duly anticipated the moment he decided he wanted to be at her side for the rest of the measly years she'd spend on earth. Yet, still, his heart quaked and quivered within his chest. His throat constricted with a painful tightness and his eyes burned as tears formed at the rim of his lower lashes. The pain he felt was deep, but it was a feeling he was far too acquainted with. She wasn't the first human he's lost that was dear to him.
The woman approached closer towards him, the floorboards creaking under her each and every step. As she passed him as she placed a firm and reassuring hand on his shoulder before leaning in to speak in a lowered voice.
"She only has a few hours now. . . it would be best to say your goodbyes."
She spoke more, though through the haze of disbelief, the woman's words sounded nothing more than muffled nonsense. With another pat to his shoulder, she was gone, leaving him alone in her home's guest bedroom with his dying lover. His gaze dully stared ahead, watching the slow rise and fall of his lover's chest and it wasn't until he heard the door softly click behind him that he snapped out of his daze. It was only for those few moments of total silence that he walked from his spot at the foot of her bed to her side that he thought things could go back to being the same. For a moment, he could imagine himself quietly approaching her to wake her from her sleep with a soft kiss like he had done the day before, rather than letting her go to a place he could not follow.
Everything felt both heavy and numb. Even as he moved to sit by her side and intertwine their fingers together like she often favored, he could not feel her usual warmth. Her hand was cold and already he could feel her weakly grasping fingers wanting to slip from his hold. His lids lowered and the tears that brimmed at the edges of his eyes finally broke through his thinly veiled will and rolled down his reddening cheeks. He didn't think it would be so hard, neither did he ever expect himself to get so attached to someone he knew would never last.
There was no guarantee of forever and yet he still wished. He wished and wished, but there was no star nor god who'd answer his plea.
Once again he felt helpless in his state of echoing sorrow and as he stared at the paling visage of his cherished lover, he couldn't help but think there was something he could do to help. His gaze flickered towards the open window of the bedroom, his eyes straying on the swaying fabric of his lover's nightgown. He could remember the older woman taking the bloody garment off of her before replacing it with something cleaner and muttering something about taking care of it. While it was a mundane detail he usually would have ignored, the movement of it invoked a memory of better days. It reminded him of the twist of her dress as she danced and the flutter of her hair that glided in the wind. He could clearly picture her cheerful smile, reddened cheeks, and the hand she would have held out to him in silent offering to dance with her.
He could see it all in vivid detail. He could remember her features flawlessly, the scent of her favorite perfume and the taste of her lips. He could remember everything about her. . . but when would it all disappear? When will he begin to forget? When will the sound of her name no longer invoke a flutter in his chest? When will the tree they danced under together become no more special than the tavern he favored?
Her memory, if she died here, would fade into obscurity. Never to be recalled as sweetly in the detail he could provide.
His gaze dropped back towards her sleeping face, his lips curving into a sad smile as his thumb grazed the surface of her cheek. He knew what he needed to do. Maybe there wasn't a god who could answer his plea nor a star to heed his wish, but he was a god. He was a star of his own and whether fate hated the idea or not, he would get his wish.
With careful movements, he eased his arm underneath her upper back before hooking the other under her legs. He lifted her out of bed, the sheets draped around her falling away and leaving her thinly clothed form exposed to the accumulating winds that began to gather around his form. Sheets of paper that were stacked at a nearby desk scattered across the floor, some of which were beginning to swirl around the area and trailing after the path of the wind as the breezes became stronger. The azure tips of his braids glowed a bright cyan as his powers were put into use though his attention never once left the face of the woman in his arms.
He looked at her wistfully, dark brows dipped low and eyes lacking the cheer she often complimented them for. There was nothing he could say to fix what he were about to do. There was no apology fit enough for the possible pain he could be causing her with his selfish choice. He just knew one thing and it was that he could not bear these endless years on earth without her by his side.
". . .I'll fix you." He utters though he wonders if he those words were meant for her or himself.
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Wherest Lies Thy Deepest Fall | genshin impact reader insert
Romance[fem!reader/venti] As the embodiment of freedom there was only so much he could want out of life. With your presence in it, it seemed as though wine and song were not all he could wish for. Maybe one day he could ask you to stay by his side for all...
