"Even if things are painful and tough,
people would appreciate what it means to be alive."
~~~~~~
"No," Xiao muttered after hearing what Lumine had said. "There has to be a way to save you."
"Leave with me," Lumine hugged you from behind. "Leave with me and Aether and we can save you."
"Wait," Xiao argued. "There has to be another way."
Lumine and Xiao glared at one another disagreeing with the other. They brought out their weapons and quickly ran forward, sword meeting spear.
Loud clashes came from the two as their weapons sparked against one another. Quickly dodging one of Xiao's frontal attacks, Lumine ran behind him and collected energy for a multiple slash attack. Expecting this, Xiao dashed forward to avoid the damage that the attack would have caused him.
Once again, the two ran towards each other their weapons clashing each second.
"Aether!" You cried. "We have to stop them."
Aether simply stared at the two. His mind and heart were in conflict. He didn't know who the right one was. All he could do was watch and wait to see who would become the victor.
Clicking your tongue, you looked at Diluc who had stayed quiet during the whole showdown, "Diluc, we have to do something."
Even though you wanted to do something, you knew your limits. You were never built for fighting. If anything, you could even male the whole problem worse.
Realizing that no one would do something, you ran towards them. Right as you were about to be in the area of battle between the two, you felt a hand grab your wrist.
"No y/n," Diluc shook his head. "This is a battle between the two of them."
"I have to do something," you cried, your eyes wide with fear.
The clash of the weapons only continued to grow louder. Lumine had summoned a boulder which missed Xiao by an inch. Quickly using it to his advantage, Xiao climbed the boulder and did a plunging attack which Lumine was too late to dodge. Flying back, Lumine sucked in air to hold back her cry of pain before stomping her foot on the ground and creating an earthquake of geo energy which had hit Xiao.
The two were soon badly injured from their fight together, huffing and collecting their breaths as they prepared for another round. Neither were planning to give up.
After a few seconds, the two flew towards each other, each attack growing stronger as their determination only grew. They wouldn't let the other have you.
"Enough!" You shouted.
Suddenly, a large blast resounded through the area. The sound ring your ears as your vision shook from the side effect of the blast. The area around all of you was demolished and in its trace were blown away rocks, broken trees, and dust littered all over the place.
Looking around, your eyes bore sight to a familiar figure, a white haired and orange eyes female.
"Sister," you muttered as you stared at the one and only Celestia standing before you.
"Your journey ends here sister," the white haired goddess declared. "Your arrogation ends now. Here and now, you will be put in your rightful place."
Your sister placed her hand in front of her and red outlined black cubes appeared flying towards you. Too fast to react, you accepted your fate and closed your eyes preparing yourself for the impact.
This was your atonement for going against the natural ways of the world.
Seconds passed and finally it felt like a minute during the time that you forced your eyes closed. Taking a little peek, you found the back of Xiao in front of you, his body slowly being covered by cubes from your sister.
"Xiao!" You screamed, trying to pull him away from the cubes that were slowly enveloping him.
It was like the cubes were sucking him in. You could feel him trying to pull against the power of your sister as well but all your efforts were put to wait as more that half his body had disappeared into the cubes.
"Please stop this sister! Please leave him alone!"
No matter how much you tried to cry for your sister to stop, she didn't spare you another glance. You continued to struggle against your sister but despite all that, you nor Xiao could fight against her. The power that she wielded as a goddess was far too overwhelming.
"Sister stop this," you ran in between your sister and Xiao and called out your remaining power.
Around you was a warm aura and a cool blue light that could calm anyone who would watch. Summoning the last of your strength from your heritage as a goddess underneath your sister, you placed your hand on the cubes that your sister had summoned and forced your power to flow through it.
Soon enough, the cude started to grow with a blue light before exploding and causing a bright lash of light to fill the area. With that, the cubes that had nearly enveloped Xiao, had disappeared.
"You dare sister?" Celestia's elegant voice rang. "You go against the words of the world and now you fight against me?"
"I gave up my power," you argued. "I left my status. What more must be taken from me?"
Both you and your sister stared at one another, emotions flowing through both your eyes. It was like the two of you were having a telepathic conversation about the current predicament.
When you had fallen in love with Xiao, you gave up your powers and your status as a goddess of Teyvat. Your sister had never supported your decision and because of that, the two of you who had been incredibly close had a falling out.
Shaking her head, she held out her hand once more and summoned more of her power. Trying to dig deeper in to stop her, you fell to your knees knowing that the last of your energy had finally been exhausted.
"Sorry but we won't let you lay a hand on y/n," Aether and Lumine said in unison, her backs in front of you and they held back the cubes from reaching you.
"Lumine? Aether?" You questioned when you saw their figures in front of you.
"If you really love Xiao that much," Lumine looked at you with wet eyes. "Then I'll support your decision. I'm sorry for being jealous. This is your life. I shouldn't force you to leave the one that you love."
"I talked to Lumine," Aether grinned as he looked back at you. "Shs only wanted to do this because she didn't want the three of us to be separated. I'm sad that we can't be together but, I know that Xiao will make you happy so the both us will support your relationship."
"Thank you," you smiled before standing up and giving a large grin that they returned.
"She may be a goddess but, she really is heartless," Diluc said, his claymore in his hands.
Running towards your sister, Diluc summoned his flames and attacked her with his heavy hitting weapon. Unfortunately, the goddess blocked it and Diluc was sent back.
"I'll fight anyone who keeps me away from you," Xiao frowned before placing his yaksha mask over his face to give his strength an incredible boost.
"Sister," you continued to try to talk to Celestia as she defended against the twins, Xiao, and Diluc. "You know that I followed the rules. You don't have any right to go against me. I'm willing to finally disappear and face my fate but please leave my friends alone."
Celestia blocked a combined attack from Diluc and Xiao who had made a swirl elemental reaction from Diluc's pheonix and Xiao's plunging attack. Following up, Lumine and Aether summoned their wings and quickly flew behind their opponent and summoned all their elemental powers and combined it into one giant elemental attack. An ultimate elemental combo. However, even with all the effort and energy put into those attack, Celestia simply placed a shield around herself and the attacks didn't faze her one bit.
"I never wanted you to fall in love because you would die," Celestia spoke after defending against the ongoing attacks. "I didn't want you to leave me. I feel the same exact way as the travelers. I don't want you to leave me. The moment that you surrender, you die. I'll do everything in my power to keep you safe."
"This is all my choice Tia," you said her nickname for you. "Please leave it at that."
Her face turning solemn, she walked up to you and enveloped you in a warm hug that felt like home. It was an unspoken way for her to share all her love for you. Returning her hug, the two of you continued to hug each other tighter.
"Now thats enough fighting," you demanded. "I don't want to fight you."
She nodded and released you from her arms understanding what you needed to do in the moment.
"Thank you Diluc," you hugged him to his surprise. "You came to save me and not only that, even tried to go against my sister for my sake. I can never repay you."
"Think of it as me repaying you for saving me last time," Diluc sighed before giving you a hug back.
You turned to the twins, "Lumine, Aether, we had wonderful moments together. I'm sorry that I left you like that. The two of you are my closest friends and I really am grateful for all the love that you gave me."
Lumine and Aether simply gave you a hug since they couldn't bring themselves to speak. It was the only thing that they could seem to do in the moment to show how much they care about you.
"Xiao," you gave a warm smile to him before running up to him and giving him a kiss on the cheek. "I'll said this before and I'll say it again. I love you!"
You held his gloved hand which you could somehow feel his warmth from before your vision slowly started turning black, his face slowing disappearing for you.
"Wait for me," Xiao cried out. "I'll find a way to bring you back. I want to do something for you this time. I know its for selfish reasons but wait for me y/n. I promise that someday soon, I'll have you in my arms and we'll marry each other! I love you!"