"My, I've now come to see that we sure make a great team." Kaeya's sly voice caused y/n to sigh in exhaustion. "Both of us wielding a cryo vision has proven to be quite handy, as one of us is able to take over during the other's cooldown."
"Yeah, but we just got lucky that there was water involved- why does this temple have pools of water and spikes? Is it supposed to be some weird security system?" Y/n quickly walked ahead, not really wanting to be beside him any longer.
"..Perhaps, you could say that." Kaeya's eyes wandered after her, watching as she approached the odd stone surrounded by swift anemo-energy.
"Though I must say, I did not expect a fair maiden with such a noble appearance to be as experienced in combat as you are." He continued to tease.
"Are you trying to tell me to change my clothes, or something?" Y/n glanced back at him blankly, summoning her catalyst above the palm of her hand. "You're seriously getting way too friendly with me."
"Heh, alright, I'll shut my mouth for now." He chuckled softly, "Go ahead and take care of it."
"Yeah, that was my plan." It didn't take long before her ice beams broke the stone apart, and it felt as though a quick gush of strong wind passed them by before fading away and having stillness take over the air of the temple once more.
"So..was that it?"
"I suppose so." Kaeya sighed, folding his arms over one another, "It's quite disappointing that our mission together has already come to such a quick end-"
"I'm leaving." Y/n interrupted, heading to walk past him and find her way outside of the temple once again-
'Behind you..'
'Huh?'
Her eyes widened at the sudden voice in her head. This voice wasn't hers, not in the slightest. It sounded gentle to the ears and appeared to be feminine, and hues of violet covered the vision of her surroundings. It was almost similar to what she experienced during her journey to Mondstadt.
When lightening striked.
She immediately turned around, knocking back a pyro mage that threatened to harm the two.
She blinked and the original dull colours returned to her surroundings, the violet that seeped into her sight fading away in an instant.
What was that?
"It appears you've got quick instincts." Kaeya spoke, his voice causing her to snap back into reality. She usually found his tone annoying, but just for now, she was grateful for it.
"I nearly hadn't spotted it, myself. Though I must wonder..does this mean the abyss order are the ones behind this?" He continued, and y/n frowned in thought.
'The abyss?'
The voice from earlier didn't help to warn her this time when a hydro mage suddenly appeared on the other side of the duo, but there didn't seem to be any need for a warning anyway when red-hot flames almost immediately passed the two and a familiar tall redhead attacked the abyss mage renderless with two single motions.
The moment it was striked down with this person's vicious claymore, he turned around to look towards the two. Or more specifically: Kaeya.
"Knights of Favonius, always so inefficient."
Silence filled the air for what felt like an eternity, and y/n felt rather awkward.
Diluc and Kaeya, the brothers she met in the past and knew to practically be sown to the hip, now seemed to be gazing at one another with eyes full of resentment and.. guilt?
Kaeya's slow clapping chased the silence away, and his usual smile returned to his expression. "Agree to disagree.." He said, "But, your involvement in this just made things a whole lot more interesting."
Diluc merely narrowed his eyes before glancing towards the familiar maiden beside the cavalry captain: it was the same girl he handed a dandelion to earlier today.
Practically shaking cause of the tense atmosphere these two men have brought within this temple, y/n would send them a sheepish smile before bowing her head. "Please, excuse me."
She then turned around and immediately left.
♡__.○.__♡
"You guys already freed the last temple with Lisa?"
"We did!" Paimon smiled, only to yelp when Aether suddenly poked her side. She huffed, clearly upset as she folded her arms over one another. "Fine! He did." She pointed, and Aether's expression now held a satisfied smile.
Y/n laughed softly despite the guilt lingering within her nonexistent guts. "I'm really sorry, it seems I was too slow to catch up with you."
Aether's expression faltered and he shook his head. "Don't apologize, we were able to deal with it just fine." He assured, but that was exactly what y/n felt saddened about.
They dealt with it just fine, without her.
They didn't need her.
If she wasn't there, it wouldn't matter.
She wasn't useful.
She could easily be thrown aside in the future and it wouldn't make a difference-
"Y/n?"
The purple-tinted puppet blinked her eyes when she heard her name, gazing up at the fairy-like girl that called it.
Paimon smiled when she saw her pay attention again. "We were headed back to the city! Will you join us?"
Y/n couldn't help but feel rather surprised.
Join them?
"Sure she'll join us, wasn't sticking together our plan since we met at the statue?" Aether reminded, shaking his head at what he deemed to be a pointless question. "Come on, let's go already."
"Hey- Aether!" Paimon called out with a huff when he rushed ahead of them already. "Seriously? Can't you ever just wait!?"
Watching the two companions bicker with one another, y/n managed to dim her thoughts from earlier and smile to herself.
Right, these people weren't her mother.
This place wasn't inazuma.
This wasn't the land of eternity, but the land of freedom.
Whilst Paimon tugged on one of the sleeves of her hanfu, she allowed the sprite to lead her ahead and followed her directions compliantly.
♡__.○.__♡
"Heyy the storm is gone!" Paimon cheered, happy to see that the strong winds that threatened Mondstadt have now disappeared.
Y/n looked around, also delighted to see that the shimmers of the sun have now returned to visibly grace the city.
And as the next few days passed by with this current peace, both Aether and y/n had many things to ponder about after getting invited to join the adventurer's guild.
Y/n steadily gathered up mora of her own by acting on the simpler commissions, and would always laugh while hearing Aether and Paimon's stories regarding their own 'more complicated' commissions.
A treasure hunt set up by Kaeya, hm? And their strange adventure of obtaining a gliding license. For some reason, both their treasure hunt and their gliding exam ended up becoming a search for a criminal.
"Do you already have a license, y/n?" Paimon had asked, and y/n remained silent for a moment before shakily summoning the papers that Yanli had created for her, holding them up with a nervous smile.
The fox deity's power of illusions sure wasn't a joke.
♡__.○.__♡
"It's a crystal embedded with some kind of power.." A certain blonde would ponder to herself before turning to the mage beside her. "Lisa, are you able to analyze it?"
"Let me take a look."
The brunette leaned closer to the crystal shaped like a teardrop, glowing an angry red whilst it floated above the floor in the middle of the office. She steadily reached out to it. "Hm..I can see impurities in the crystal, but upon further inspection.."
She then shook her head. "No, I'm sorry. I can't make a proper analysis at the moment." She apologized, lowering her hand back down. "Give me some time, I'll take a look through the library's restricted section."
Disappointed but not surprised, Jean would nod curtly. "Alright. I'll leave the research to you then, Lisa."
"Understood, I'll notify you all if I make any progress." She reached out again to take ahold of the crystal, gazing towards the ones who brought it to them: Aether and Paimon.
"Though I wouldn't go getting your hopes up. They're incredibly ancient texts, not to mention-" Her eyes widened when she touched the red crystal, pulling her hand back almost immediately. "Ouch!"
Their first conclusion would soon be deducted: the crystal reacted negatively towards visions.
"But that doesn't make sense! Y/n was able to hold onto it just fine when we showed it to her?" Paimon reminded as she looked towards Aether, who seemed to be thinking to himself.
"..I could see burns on her hands after she gave it back, but she didn't say anything." He said, returning Paimon's gaze.
"Hmm.." Lisa and Jean would also glance at one another before looking towards the two once more.
"..Could there be something wrong with y/n's sense of pain?" Lisa couldn't help but ask.
♡__.○.__♡
In the meantime, y/n lingered outside of the favonius headquarters, staring down at passerbies while leaning over the stone parapet.
She was waiting for Paimon and Aether to finish up whatever they needed to meet Jean and Lisa for, as they were planning to go and eat something together at good hunter immediately after.
For now, she simply peeled one of the last mandarin oranges she could find in her hebao.
She couldn't help but think about her adventure so far. To be perfectly honest, despite all her reluctance towards leaving Xingxing village, her experience was actually quite fun so far.
Sure, not everything went all that smoothly, but it wasn't to the point where she felt miserable. She's made friends and even found comfort in this city she found herself in.
She couldn't help but wonder if it would be the same everywhere else-
"I'm sorry, Sakura."
Intense ringing suddenly filled her ears, and y/n dropped the citrus fruit in her hands to hold onto her head instead, the sudden pain far too immense for her to handle.
A hand, cold to the skin yet comforting to the touch, brushed away the wet strands of purple tinted hair that stuck to the skin of the puppet's face. Dull eyes opened themselves, vision blurry as they gazed up at the hazy sight of a white-haired boy with tears in his eyes, staring down at the discarded puppet with both pity and sympathy.
A soldier?
"..I'm sorry." He said. "I know you can't react, but I'm so sorry."
His constant apologies filled her mind, but she couldn't open her mouth to respond. Soon enough, his hold around her tightened and he held her close to himself, embracing her as though he tried to keep her warm after seemingly fishing her out of the water.
But the contact only made her feel colder.
Lifeless eyes glanced around the cave the two were in, awfully familiar to her eyes.
"It's not fair.." He whispered softly, "You deserve a chance at life..you really do."
Upon lowering her gaze, she'd soon spot the cryo vision attached to his belt.
"If I could exchange my life for you to live yours, then I'd be happy to do so."
Exchange life..
Exchange his life?
That cave was the one where she had first gained her consciousness!
And that soldier's vision..
That vision's pattern looked awfully similar to hers.
'Follow him.'
"Ah-" Snapping out of what appeared to be a sudden flashback, y/n let go of her head and straightened her posture, lifting her gaze to the sky when the pain in her mind dulled down.
"Its- its you!?"
'Hm?'
"The voice from the temple! And that time where lightening striked down that ruin guard. It- It was you, wasn't it?"
"..."
Upon the voice's silence, y/n knew she wouldn't receive an answer regarding those questions. Frowning to herself, she'd decide to let it go for now. "..Follow who, exactly?"
'The boy dressed in green.'
Lowering her sight once more, the puppet indeed spotted a boy with such a description rushing past, a flower decorating his hair and accompanying his twin braids.
'I also suggest you to think instead of speaking out loud, no one else can hear me other than you.'
"Huh?" Y/n glanced back at the knights that stood outside of the headquarters, who quickly turned their heads away after appearing to have been staring at her due to her strange behaviour.
Embarrassed, she immediately stood up onto the parapet and glided down to quickly follow after the one she's been instructed to trail.
'Sorry..'