𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐮𝐧𝐞 - 𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐮𝐦𝐢

2

The battle was not going well, to say the least. After Lumine had jumped in to assist the two, she was soon separated and swarmed. She knew she wasn't strong enough to take on the mob attacking her, so she broke through and dashed to higher ground.

Panting at the top of a hill, she looked over at the enemies. Hilichurls were swarming in two places, where Lumine assumed the others to be fighting at. Suddenly, she heard a noise from one of the areas, where a faint dark aura surrounded Xiao. His Yaksha mask covered his features and he swept himself into the air and plunged downward, summoning teal polearms similar to his own erupt in the ground. Any monster near him was unlucky to be there.

As far as Lumine could see, Childe was slashing away at the hilichurls around him, but eventually you would be overpowered. She could already see him straining, and if he used any external power of his here and now, he wouldn't survive.

Lumine cursed and set off to save the harbinger's ass. After all, Xiao had no trouble defeating the hilichurls near him. Halfway through fighting her way to Childe, she thought to herself: Why do I even want this guy alive? He tried to steal Rex Lapis's gnosis and he tried to have Liyue Harbor destroyed. If it had gone his way, Zhongli, the adepti, and the Qixing wouldn't be there to save it.

But there was no time to think. After all, she was already in the midst of the mob and would barely be able to make it through the hilichurls herself. She'd need Childe's help to get back out alive.

Finally, she made it to Childe's blood circle. She could tell he was already worn out, but he still wore a crazy grin. A pretty harsh bruise showed on his cheek, but he paid no mind to it as he slashed through his opponents. Lumine had to fight as hard as she could as the hilichurls kept coming. They went down in four or five slashes of her sword, but as soon as she killed one, two took its place.

As exhausted as she might have been, adrenaline kept her fighting and fighting. But while she commanded Anemo to group the enemies together, a club to the head from behind caught her off guard, throwing her into the crowd of hilichurls before she hit the ground and was knocked out.

• • •

Blinking her eyes, Lumine slowly came into consciousness. She sat up, rubbing her head where she could feel a swelling bruise beginning to form. She swore and scanned her surroundings.

Lumine was sitting in the middle of the battlefield with no hilichurls in sight. Masks and arrowheads littered the site while Childe was just destroying the last tower. Xiao was nowhere to be seen.

As the hilichurl construction came tumbling down in a pile of broken shards, Childe turned his head in Lumine's direction. Beside him floated Lumine's emergency food.

Raising his hand above his head, he waved and grinned. Lumine sighed and pushed herself onto her feet. She nearly blacked out again, feeling incredibly dizzy, but she steadied herself and stood there until her head stopped pounding so hard. She walked carefully among the prizes of the fallen hilichurls, staring at the carnage: the blackened grass, the remnants of the monsters' constructions, and the air thick with hilichurl dust.

"Traveler! It's good to see you back on your feet," the harbinger said with a fake cheerfulness, the same kind that he used when Teucer was around. But there was something else fake—could Lumine sense the slightest shake in his voice?

The truth was that he was exhausted as well. He had overexerted himself in battle, using his Delusion when he knew he had no other choice. He felt about as bad as Lumine when she first stood up. But she didn't need to know that.

The ginger's expression turned serious. "How are you feeling?"

Instead of giving a straight answer, Lumine gave a weak laugh. She tried to keep her voice steady. She was the Traveler. "I could ask you the same thing."

This caught Childe off guard. She had seen through his facade? He tried harder to keep his voice steady. He was a feared harbinger. "We had to bring you to a Statue of Seven. We couldn't just leave you there, so we brought you back here. Xiao went back to the inn—eating some Almond Tofu after the large battle, I assume. After all," he continued, "fighting sure works up an appetite."

Lumine suddenly felt the emptiness in her stomach. She was hungry, too. The problem was she was essentially broke. Her head was throbbing so painfully that she doubted she could cook a meal without burning the inn down.

Childe watched the Traveler's expression and smirked. "I could get you a meal, you know."
Lumine had pride. It was her stomach (and maybe her injury) that was betraying her rational thoughts.

"Ah, well, I-I guess so, if it isn't too much trouble..."

"Come with?"

Lumine nodded slowly, almost guiltily.

He started walking for the inn, and Paimon floated back to her side. "You know, Childe isn't too bad..."

The Traveler sighed heavily. "Did he promise you food, too?"