genshin oneshots (requests open)

ten feet tall

WARNING FOR: a whole FUCK TON of spoilers, khaenri'ah shit, ei's backstory, paimon propaganda (/hj)

She was so much bigger than him. Even as everything around them went up in flames, that was the first thing he noticed. Even sitting on her knees, she looked as big as the house he'd spent his life in. A fitting size for someone so powerful, he supposed.

She was crying. Her tears extinguished the flames in the grass by her hands, but the rest of her.. she must be immune to fire, he thought.

"Don't cry," he whispered. "It isn't your fault. I should have seen it coming as well."

"I could have turned back time, could have warned everyone, gotten them out," she sobbed, pushing a lock of white hair from her face. She never looked like this. Always cheerful, though anxious around people- she was afraid of stepping on them, he'd once been told. But she didn't cry. And it seemed like the wrong thing to do in a time like this- the whole nation was on fire. He needed to get her out of here with the rest who were evacuating.

"This whole thing is my fault, Dainsleif."

He took a step back, looking up at her. Long white hair that curled inwards at the ends, her dress charred and her cape nearly ripped to shreds. Her blue eyes were big enough that you could see an entire galaxy in them, but they seemed empty.

"I could have found an easier way to deal with them. I could've done anything but send them to her. Of course she would separate them, and they would try to fight her, and- she's too strong, Dain! She didn't just wipe the boy's memories, she set everything here on fire. I should've known never to trust Celestia. And not only did it hurt the twins, but the Electro Archon was killed. In front of her sister." 

"Paimon." This time he stepped closer to her, looking directly up into her eyes. "We all knew Celestia would be the end of us."

She didn't listen, wiping her tears with an ash-covered hand. "There isn't a way to fix this."

His voice was firm. "No. But you can make up for it. You can guide the twins back to each other." Gripping onto her arm, not daring to look away from her. "Turn back your own time. Go with the boy. Guide him through the seven nations and work with him to undo the chaos Celestia caused. When they are reunited, you'll be able to remember everything."

Paimon took a deep, shuddering breath, having to wipe her eyes again. "...I don't even know how I'd do that.."

"All you have to do is try. With how stupidly powerful you are, it shouldn't be too hard.." Dainsleif let go of her, stepping back onto a rock to avoid the burning grass. "And quickly, before Khaenri'ah is wiped from Teyvat forever."

Another sob escaped Paimon as she dug her fingers into the ground, willing herself to become smaller, less of anything, nothing but a magical guidebook, a being that finally couldn't hurt anyone-

Water. Cold, rushing water from a river, and gurgled cries from someone who was now too short to swim. Cold air met the water and she could open her eyes for just a bit- until she crashed into the lake, right at the bottom of a churning waterfall. Swimming felt too hard. How tiny was she? She could barely move even if the water was calm. Wait, why was she in a river in the first place? Did she trip and fall in? 

Something tugged on the back of her shirt, pulling her away from the waterfall. Paimon didn't have the energy to fight it, even if she was going to be eaten by a very large fish. Whatever it was lifted her up out of the water and onto the beach, and.. 

"That's not a fish- "

She was staring at a boy with blond hair in a long braid, dressed in strange clothes she didn't remember existing in Teyvat. 

"Maybe I can eat you anyway. I'll keep you around as emergency food."