EN & FR | Lumine Ship Weeks 2021 | ᴄʜɪʟᴜᴍɪ

DAY 1 - A sunflower as a parting gift

⇧ EN // FR ⇩

Image at the beginning of the chapter: akmr_knst_ on twitter

Prompt 1: Sunflowers / Parting / Silence

"This sunflower would look lovely in your golden hair."

Childe and Lumine were on a date in the surroundings of Mondstadt. It was a beautiful afternoon, with a bright sun providing just enough warmth to feel comfortable in this beginning of summer. The birds were singing everywhere they went, as if they were chirping only for the both of them, following their path so as to make their day even more wonderful. They both ended up in a sunflowers' field stretching as far as the eye could see with an uniform and joyful yellow color. This view was mesmerizing.

But for Childe, what was most mesmerizing wasn't this beautiful flower's field, but rather the splendid woman he had in front of him. She was running, carefree as a kid would have done, slaloming into this vast yellow extent, laughing and smiling at her boyfriend. He really was lucky to have met her back then in Liyue, and more importantly, to not have killed her during their fight in the Golden House.

She was a strong foe he had to defeat in order to fulfill his mission for the Tsaritsa, but the reality was harsh for him at that time: he had lost. The undefeated warrior, number eleven of the Fatui Harbingers, had lost a duel he had started against a frail young woman who seemed defenseless. After these events, he started to admire her courage, her fiercery, and more importantly, her fighting skills. Her entire being was breathing an aura of power he had not been able to discern before their fight.

Dreaming over and over again over the remnants of the battle his body wouldn't forget, he had followed her in order to cross her path as much as he could. He could have been considered as a stalker back then, even himself wouldn't be ashamed to call his previous self like that, but in the end, he obtained what he wanted.

Her.

They had found themselves as if they were two new people knowing each other for only five minutes. They started their encounter all over again, from zero, and finally realized what they were both feeling towards the other.

So now here he was, handing to Lumine a tiny sunflower he had found amongst the millions of them in the field. She gladly accepted the gift, waiting for Childe to fix it in her hair the way it fit her best, smiling broadly at him, thinking about all those future days she will spend cherishing this little flower as if it were her greatest tresure.

The afternoon then left the place to the evening as the sun was progressivly setting under the horizon. Exhausted by this day full of joy they've just spent together, only the two of them, they were laying on the grass, under a rare cherryblossom tree from which pink petals were slowly blown away by the wind, then driven to the ground by the gravity.

Their laughs then progressivly gave way to silence. They stopped moving, only holding their hands tightly as both of them were recalling why they had spent this day here, just the two of them, as a couple. The day before, they had planned to enjoy as much as they could this only day that was offered to them before they had to part ways. Childe had just received an order from Her Majesty, requiring him to go back to Snezhnaya before heading to Inazuma and Sumeru. Because of this special order with no defined end date, they both agreed that Lumine will stay either in Mondstadt or Liyue for the time being, enjoying her life without the only one she loved.

Both their hearts shattered at this news, but none of them had the power to do anything. Their destiny was meant to be like that. Childe, as a member of the Fatui, was supposed to fulfill his duty without any second thoughts, and Lumine couldn't possibly do anything against that. So the only thing that remained to them before their parting was this relieving and invigorating evening.