Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It all happened so fast. Granted, everything had a degree of urgency to it in Liyue, but this was pushing it to the extreme, even for the ever changing harbor.

One moment, the sky was clear, the streets were steadily bustling, and the ocean was calm. The next, the sky was dark enough it looked like it could swallow the Abyss, the streets drew empty, and the sea thrashed against her banks. In all honesty, it looked like the day was going to turn into a payday, as far as Hu Tao was concerned.

Not everyone thought as highly of natural disasters as she did, though. For starters, her consultant.

They had been wandering the harbor, something about him needing a new tea set and her not wanting him to send yet another tab back to the parlor - seriously, where does he keep finding such expensive things? - when the change swept through the main street of the city. Hu Tao thought nothing of it. In fact, it almost made her morbidly happy. All those people, silly enough to try and travel in this weather? The coffins would be filling soon enough.

Zhongli, on the other hand, froze so violently next to her that she thought he’d need a coffin first.

Hu Tao wanted to ask him something - “what, are your bones so old they ache at the mere thought of a storm, Li?” - but no sooner did he freeze, a force so strong it nearly knocked Hu Tao off her feet rocked into the harbor. Zhongli’s brows creased with a frustrated confusion before they pinched with a kind of raw horror that left Hu Tao breathless.

“No,” his voice was weak, a far contrast to his normal calm but commanding tone, and Hu Tao just barely caught his soft musings over the crashing of the waves in the wharf. She shot him a look when he all but sped off towards the main gates of Liyue, her mind split on the situation at hand and his odd behavior.

“Ah- hey, old man! Where are you going? You’re still on the clock!”

He spared her no glance, and Hu Tao huffed in annoyance. Looks like she’s going to have to play another set of twenty questions with herself to figure out this new mystery presented to her. Hu Tao spun on her heel and chased after him. She had her suspicions about him, nearly everyone whom he spent longer periods of time with did, and this encounter alone had her ‘something’s-not-quite-right’ radar going haywire.

As she ran, she took note that he wasn’t the only one making a break for the main gates. Nearly all of Liyue was - it was like someone gave an evacuation order.

… Had someone…?

Hu Tao ended up following everyone to the beach just outside of city limits. One glance at the sea told her why everyone was gathering: it thrashed lividly here, and the seafoam kicked up by the angry waves glowed as it beat against the beach. Hu Tao’s mind reeled back nearly a year ago, when that beast from the ocean tried to drown all of Liyue and she had to suppress a shudder. It wasn’t coming back, was it? Hu Tao was starting to see less of a paycheck in her future.

Hu Tao pushed herself through the crowd, looking for a familiar face, and while she found many - Xiangling and her father, Chongyun and Xingqiu, Xingyan and even the Tianquan Ningguang and the Yuheng Keqing - she couldn’t find Zhongli.

Until, of course, she did.

Zhongli was up front and center, the crowd bowing around him like they were about to start chanting “fight” at him and the sea. The water lapped around his shiny shoes, but not once did it touch him. He looked furious.

Slowly, the water broke, and a figure emerged from the torrential waves. It was covered in seaweed and barnacles, and it swayed dangerously as the waves battered its body.

No, the waves weren’t beating the being side to side. Upon closer inspection, Hu Tao noticed the water was moving around the creature, like it was bowing to its master. Its creator.

The being was waist deep in the sea now. Hu Tao could see its gangly limbs twitch and pull as it swayed. Its black hair fell in twisted mats around its face. It clicked when Zhongli shifted.

Softly, it spoke.

“Enjoying life, O Great One?”

No one moved. It - she - continued.

“Happy you could fool everyone into thinking you’re some sort of Greater Good?”

Her voice was so soft it barely carried across the waves, but it did, and it made Hu Tao squirm. It was low, gurgly, like she was speaking through water. It scratched at her throat, and it was everything in Hu Tao to not turn and heave into the sand next to her when the voice clawed down her skin.

The creature tipped her head up with a sickening crunch.

“Having fun playing Mortal? Having fun playing dead?”

A hush fell over the crowded Liyuean people at her words. Upon no response, she clicked again.

“So quiet. You know, I’ve only ever seen you so speechless once before. But, no one’s died here.” It was now that her soulless eyes turned to the crowd. “Not yet.”

“Pāng Tuó Shì,” Zhongli’s voice was quiet but strong, “whatever has happened to you? Legends speak of a great sea warrior, one who could be brought down by nothing but her brother’s words. You seem… ill.” It was an obvious front. A lie. Hu Tao had never heard of these so-called ‘legends’.

Shì’s mouth twitched, but otherwise she did not show her displeasure physically.

“Do not speak as if you do not know me. Do not speak as if reciting from a book. A book we both know you wouldn’t have allowed to exist.” Her head tipped, and a thatch of swamped hair slapped against her neck with a damp ‘shlorp’.

Zhongli shifted his feet. Still, the water refused to touch him. He cleared his throat.

“What has brought you here?”

Shì didn’t move.

“You know why I’m here, whelp. You know what I demand.” Her voice dropped. “I want you dead for your crimes.”

Hu Tao heard the murmurs light like a fire through the crowd, most confused. Hu Tao was teetering on the line of confusion and clarity as well, but she felt she knew far more about what was happening than most of anyone else present.

Zhongli sighed.

“You’re ill, as I've said. Shì, what has affected you so? Karma? Erosion? A curse?”

Shì tipped her head down, her hair hiding her face.

“You know exactly what ails me. After all, you cursed me to it. You were the one to put him down.” Her voice lowered further, malice unchecked dripping from her words, “you were the one to put me down, Morax.”

Zhongli’s shoulders tensed. His voice, once calm and quiet, now strained with confidence and power, like it was not made for the raw authority he pronounced every word with. He was angered enough to drop his ruse. He was done playing the weak mortal now.

“You know I had no choice. We made the decision together-”

Shì managed to snap at him without changing her tone or volume, still achingly soft and quiet, but full to the brim with rage.

“We agreed we’d talk him down.”

Zhongli - Morax bowed his head.

“Yes, but upon arrival, it was clear he was too far gone to be reasoned with. I did what I had to do. I saved him from torment.”

“You damned him to the bottom of the ocean where he festered until he died and became a Creature of the Deep.” Her breathing was shaky. “You killed him without making sure he was dead.”

Morax clenched his fists at his sides, the leather of his gloves protesting at the strength carried behind the action.

“I imprisoned him because if I truly had slain him, the corruption inside of his body would have seeped out and contaminated all the land and people of Liyue. I saved him from the torture of knowing he killed everyone he fought so hard to protect.”

Shì gave a humorless chuckle.

“That’s what it's always been with you. Liyue. Nothing is more important to you than Liyue. Not Osial. Not me. Not your precious Adepti.” Shì whispered the last line, a thread of sadness weaved into her silent seething. “Not Guizhong.”

Morax growled so low it shook the ground.

“Do Not Speak Her Name.”

Shì did not speak again. She merely hung her head, tipping it to the side, as if she were trying to see for herself the anguished fury upon the God’s face. She was dry enough now that Hu Tao could make out the tears on her cheeks.

Morax took a deep breath to calm himself.

“Shì. I should not have hid you from Liyue. I should have dealt with Osial differently. You are correct.” Morax sighed, a shaking thing, like he knew he was about to make a mistake. “What can I do to heal you?”

“Get in the water.”

Hu Tao’s blood ran cold.

“... What?”

Shì spoke louder now. The waves had stilled to a terrifying degree.

“Get in the water.” Her hand raised. She was still looking at the water below her. “This is my contract to you, Morax: Get in the water, or I’ll make this ocean swallow your people. Everyone you love will die.”

Morax’s voice lost some of its power.

“If this has to do with my oversight involving your legacy, then-”

“It has nothing to do with me. It has everything to do with what you did to Osial.” Distantly, thunder began to rumble. “I want you to feel trapped, to feel powerless, I want you to erode into a monster, alone, at the bottom of the ocean, just as he did. I want you to suffer knowing that everything happening now could have been avoided had you just listened to me.”

Morax’s brow pinched. Hu Tao saw him glance out at the sea with a hollow look she had seen him give to any seafood that came near him. She knew of his fear - nay, his near terror - of the sea. Was this why? Was Shì and Osial the reasoning behind her employee - her God, apparently - having such a strong hatred toward the ocean he couldn't stomach the smell of its food?

… Could a God really be brought down by such a human fear?

Shì repeated herself with more force. “Get in the water.”

Morax snapped his gaze back to her. “Wait. I have to agree to this for it to be set in stone. You are asking the God of Contracts to resign his fate to something of his own - oh.” His composure faltered.

Control. His own control. Osial was a creature of the sea, a God almost. He had power and dominion over the waves that had swallowed him whole. Morax held power over contracts. Shì wanted him to cripple under something he had full power over, just as Osial did.

“Rethink this, please Shì. Stop this.”

“Get in the water, Morax.”

“This is madness! These people, you once fought for them! For their safety! You’d endanger them, after all that you have sacrificed for them?”

“I’ll raise the water so high that even the mountains in Jueyun Karst won’t be able to save them. They’ll all drown.”

Lightning flashed.

“No!”

Thunder cracked.

“Then get in the water!”

All at once, the ocean surged. Shì snapped her head up, her lolling eyes pinning Morax in place, her shrill scream tearing through everyone present.

Morax dropped his gaze to his shoes long enough to see the ocean that had been circling him turn into slippery tentacles that lashed his ankles and knees, ripping him forward.

Morax fell back onto the beach and whipped onto his stomach, the waves licking at his legs. He clawed at the soggy sand beneath him, his gloves morphing into taloned hands in an attempt to get a better grip, to no avail. He was dragged back, down into the water, toward Shì.

“Never make the mistake of believing I won’t go through with my actions, with or without your consent! I’ll kill them! I’ll kill them all! You’ve been around long enough, Morax, it’s time to see a world without you in it!”

The ocean rocked and shifted as Morax thrashed, his guttural roar cut short by water wrapping around his throat, his mouth, his nose. Whips of water yanked at his shoulders, stifling his movements.

Shì screamed her damning contract one last time.

“Get in the water!”

With one final tug, Morax freed his mouth long enough to roar a blast of fire into the black sky, one of his hands reaching upwards like he could grab it and pull himself up, before he was jerked under, changing his cries into pitiful gurgles until they too faded into nothing. The last thing Hu Tao saw of him was his face, gaze so terrified she thinks he'd have been petrified if he were human.

The water went eerily still. Shì glanced back at the crowd. Her dead eyes met Hu Tao’s. She smiled a smile with too sharp teeth. The storm stopped. Morax was gone.

Chapter Text

Ever since Shì had appeared, Liyue had been dead. Not dead as in everyone was gone, no, but rather dead as in no one would leave their house. The streets were empty, the markets were closed, and even the wharf had seen no traction since that fateful day. No one dared test the limits of kindness Shì offered them.

Her kindness was this: she had yet to kill anyone. After Morax had been swallowed by the lashing waves of the sea, she had just… disappeared. No words of terror or triumph, no threats, just… a disappearing act that no one believed to be true.

As proof, Hu Tao was currently staying out of sight of the sea to the best of her abilities. The cold crispness of night blanketed the harbor, so dark even the moon provided no light, and she was rushing to her destination, Yanshang Teahouse, so as to not be seen by anyone unwanted (Shì). The teahouse-disguised casino was being used as a ‘base’ of sorts for the vision-users of the city to gather. It was where they were going to make a big decision tonight: how to free Morax from his watery tomb.

Hu Tao had to be there. She knew the decision wasn’t going to change with her input (What was she even supposed to say? She had no idea how to strategize around thousands of years old Gods. That was Zhongli’s thing) but she had a gut feeling that she needed to be there. Maybe it was the lonely feeling she got when she passed by his office at night. Maybe it was the acidic taste that bubbled in her mouth when she recalled his anguished screams. Maybe it was the cold numbness that engulfed her limbs when she realized she may never see him again.

Distantly, she could make out the noises of the wind whistling through the various buildings that lined the lower levels of Chihua Rock. Not a single wave caressed the stonework of the harbor. It was jarring, to live so close to the sea, and yet never hear it splash and rave and rock against the shore. That’s how everyone knew Shì was still out there, somewhere, waiting.

Hu Tao slipped down the sloping pathway leading to the casino, her breath caught in her throat. Hopefully the front doors were unlocked; there was no way she’d be making the climb up to the balcony silently.

Upon arrival, Hu Tao confirmed the doors were in fact unlocked, and she let herself in. The casino was dimly lit - as a casino is want to do - but the back table, made for particularly grand parties, was amassing a gathering of people, all of whom Hu Tao recognized to some degree.

Lady Ningguang was there, naturally, and so was the Yuheng Keqing and their secretary, Ganyu. A woman with choppily cut hair was standing in the corner of the room, gazing at them all like she was trying to gather information for something. Chongyun and Xinqiu were there, as they were a disaster bringing duo, and Xiangling was there to reign in their chaos. A woman with Snow-white hair stood close to Chongyun, never letting her watchful eye stray from him for too long. Yanfei was there, which Hu Tao found odd, but not as odd as the silhouette of Dr. Baizhu and his little undead (how dare she not be in a coffin yet?) assistant, Qiqi, peaking through one of the paper walls that blocked prying eyes from the back rooms. Yaoyao was running back and forth with cups and dishes for the crowd. The pirate captain, Beidou, was stationed next to Ningguang, drink already in hand. Distantly, Hu Tao could hear Xinyan talking to someone. Probably Yun Jin, if the soft pauses between her raucous voice was any indication. It seemed like nearly every vision wielder was here.

That acidic taste came back when she noticed one was significantly missing, one who made the room turn and bow with his presence, despite his attempts to seem simple and silly and unauthoritative. Then she remembered why he wasn’t here and that acidic taste turned to bile she had to swallow down before making a fool of herself.

… This was stupid. Utterly ridiculous. She wasn’t one to be shaken up by something so meaningless like this. She wasn’t one to be shaken by much of anything, really. She buried people for crying out loud. She was number than numb in all of the right places when it came to loss and people being gone from her life.

So why was she so… affected by this? Why did her chest hurt so much when she had dreams - nightmares, terrors - about that day? Why was she suddenly such a nervous wreck? Why did she feel so alone?

Xiangling caught sight of her and waved her over. Hu Tao tried her best to put on her normal smile, a morbid joke dying in her throat before it could make it to her lips. Well, so it’ll be that way then.

Xiangling gave her a fragile smile. “Hey, ‘Tao. How are you doing?”

Hu Tao wanted to scream. “I’m doing just fine! The parlor hasn’t seen any business, so I think I should get back on the advertisement game. Now that the Old Man isn’t here to shut me down, how do you feel about flyers with Hilichurl ghosts on them? Charming, and fun! It’s perfect!”

Oh, that was not a laughing face. No, maybe her delivery was off? Did her voice crack too many times? Xiangling looked concerned, and maybe a touch worried, and it made Hu Tao dig her toes into the flooring beneath her.

“Is… is that how you’re perceiving what happened? I guess that’s one way to stay positive about it, but…” Gods and now Xiangling looked sad and that’s not what Hu Tao wants to see, so she puts on another fake smile and has to bite her tongue so she doesn’t say something a little too real.

“I mean, we’re going to get him back, so before we do, I have to take the opportunity to make business boom again!”

The smile came back on Xiangling’s lips, but it was shaky.

Before Hu Tao could try and reassure Xiangling more, Ningguang sat up. All attention was on the Tianquan as she raised her cup to her painted lips. One dainty sip later and she was looking across at all of the people that were gathered in the rather small space surrounding the booth. Her eyes closed in thought.

“Thank you all for coming together in this great time of need. We are here to discuss several things regarding recent… incidents, and I will need all of your valuable input to make a decision worthy of Liyue’s future. As some of the strongest members of society here in the harbor, it is only natural I call upon you.” Her eyes closed again, her delicate brows pinched. She sighed gravely. “Our first order of business is to decide how necessary it is to save Morax.”

Hu Tao bit through her tongue.

“As we all know, Rex Lapis has been, ah, resting, if you will, from being Liyue’s God. He has made his decision to step down from ruling, and despite that information only coming to light recently, it is still obvious he is no longer needed in order for Liyue to prosper. To add to this, he was not a crucial member of society at the time of his capture. He no longer holds the title of Sole Ruler of Liyue, therefore losing him would not do our community much harm.” Ningguang folded her hands in front of her chest, her many chains and finger guards clanking at the motion. “We also need to consider the danger it would put those still residing within the harbor in should we anger Shì by saving him.”

Hu Tao couldn’t breathe. No, no, they were going to save him, they had to save him. If they didn’t, he would just… if no one went after him he would…

“I want you to erode into a monster, alone, at the bottom of the ocean”.

(Why did she feel like this?)

The look of pure terror on his face as the waves consumed him.

(Why was she so scared?)

Hu Tao swallowed the iron in her mouth.

“All things considered, it would be most beneficial if we were to do nothing. Morax has paid his time as Liyue’s Archon and, as much as it pains me to say, he no longer has any use to the humans. Him not coming back is merely a sign that he has accepted his fate.”

“How dare you!” Hu Tao didn’t know what came over her, but one minute she was standing awkwardly in the back of the room swallowing mouthfuls of blood and her own emotions, and the next she was surging forward to jab her finger in the Tianquan’s face. “You can’t justify leaving someone chained to the bottom of the ocean by saying they ‘accepted their fate’! He didn’t accept shit!” Hu Tao could hardly hear herself over the ringing in her ears. “He was terrified! Maybe you didn’t notice because you can’t see anything from your floating palace in the sky, but from where I stood, I could feel the fear, the skin-crawling horror coming off of him in waves when he realized he was going under.”

Xiangling put her hand on her shoulder, muttering something about needing to calm down, but Hu Tao shrugged her off. She had no idea what had come over her, but she knew even less about what Ningguang was thinking, and she was more focused on that than the shaking in her hands.

“I don’t give a damn what you think is ‘best’ for the citizens of Liyue, but I can tell you this much: what’s best for them is not leaving one of the most beloved members of this harbor chained in his literal worst nightmare!”

Hu Tao took a deep breath, to calm herself or to ready her lungs for another onslaught of emotions, but Ningguang stopped her before she could make a decision.

“You really do not know, do you?”

Hu Tao pressed her fingers into her palms.

“Know what?”

Ningguan had the nerve to take another sip of her steaming drink before she turned her attention back to the fuming funeral director.

“The reason he did all of this. The reason he did not calmly talk Shì down. You do not know why all of this truly happened, do you?”

Hu Tao was tired of the woman’s riddles, and said as much. Ningguang ran a finger around the rim of her cup, once, twice, before she spoke once more.

“He did all of this for you.”

The deep breath Hu Tao had taken came back to punch her chest.

“What?”

Now the room was tense. Everyone she tried to look at either diverted their gaze or gave her a look of pity. It was the same reaction everyone treated her to when she had lost her grandfather and had to take over the business. It was the same look she hated.

“You did not notice it from your position, then. During their conversation, the water from the waves that lapped around Morax’s feet was ever so slowly making its way up the beach.”

Hu Tao grasped at straws. “Yeah, that’s what waves do, as it turns out. Wow, science. Magical.”

Ningguang ignored the young woman’s sarcasm.

“The water was completely bypassing everyone else on the beach. It was headed toward you.” Ningguang shifted her legs, crossing one over the other. “You were the one person he kept out of her sight, and so you were the one person she went after. He made a conscious decision to use his body as a shield to keep you from being in direct line with her. You never noticed because he was pulled in soon after, and Shì got what she wanted, but if he had not lashed out, you would have been the one pulled under, not him.” Ningguang tilted her head forward, her hairpiece tinkling. “If he had not gone down, you would have. His temper blowing was calculated, not spur of the moment. Whose more likely to survive the intense pressure, cold, and lack of oxygen found at the bottom of the sea? A human barely considered ‘aged’ or a thousands of years old God who was forged specifically to survive conditions even other Gods should not experience for long periods of time? He is a God made of gold and metal, rock and earth. You are a human of flesh and blood. He knew his choice before he made it.” Ningguang brushed her fingers down her qipao. “His worst nightmare is not being chained at the bottom of the ocean. His worst nightmare is losing you.”

Hu Tao felt the room spin. Her heart pounded in her ears and her tongue began to ache once more. She couldn't breathe. That wasn't his worst nightmare. She knew his worst nightmare. He hated the sea. Violently. Vehemently. He... he... she wasn't that important to him. She wasn't that important to anyone. And she had never acted in a manner that would befit feelings of positive influence enough for him to risk everything just to see her life not ended. Her vision was starting to tunnel.

All of the times she had been unnecessarily cruel to Zhongli came barreling through her tunnel vision, making her head hurt. She had pushed him, mocked him, made a fool of him, scared him (but he never showed it, true fear like she had seen so long ago, so did it actually scare him, or was he humoring her?), and he had thanked her by getting dragged through his literal hell without any thought of being repaid. Sure, there had been times when she'd been soft with him, kind even, but... This was her fault. Was this her fault? (Was it anyone’s fault?)

Ningguang continued, either unaware or uncaring of the spiral her words had thrown Hu Tao through. “Would we be going against Rex Lapis’ wishes if we were to save him? Wasn’t him faking his own death enough of a sign for us to stop believing in him? To stop trying to save him?” Ningguang’s eyes took on a sharp glint. “Would we be freeing a malevolent creature?”

The room went silent. Beidou even put her drink down, her expression serious.

“What do you mean, Ning?”

Ningguang looked as though she wanted to protest the use of such a private nickname in public, but she decided against it and focused on the question instead.

“While it was said by a being whose goal was to crush him, we cannot ignore what Shì had said about Morax. He did lie about the existence of Shì herself; he hid her from Liyue, both past and present. He also left us when he knew we needed him most. If it was for a test, I can understand that, but he would have to confirm that himself. At this moment in time, he seems to stand in the same light as all the other Archons do: he only helps his human charges when he feels the need to, nothing more. He may not be malevolent, but he is not a saint who deserves our forgiveness. He was known as a Beast God for a reason. We must take this into consideration when making our final decision.”

Hu Tao’s mouth had gone dry. Distantly, she felt hands on her shoulders again.

“I’d have to disagree, Lady Ningguang.” Hu Tao’s, tunneling vision zeroed in on the secretary who had dared speak up against her employer. Ganyu looked more confident than Hu Tao had ever seen her, her hands clasped in front of her and her chest puffed out. She was red in the face, like she was holding back anger. “I apologize for my forwardness, but you’re wrong. Rex Lapis is not like the other Archons; he has sacrificed more for humans than you will ever understand, and he would do it all over again if it meant Liyue would forever be protected from anything that could kill a God.”

Ningguang raised a perfect brow at the Qilin. “Oh? Then please, you were there - regale us. What has our dearly departed Archon done for us? Why should we save him when our best chance of survival is to leave him be?”

Ganyu stepped forward, her brows creased. The temperature in the room dropped a degree.

“Rex Lapis lost his first love for you. He lost his comrades for you. He lost his seat in Celestia for you.” Ganyu’s voice shook. “He’s lost his freedom for you. He went through hell during the Archon War - he had to pick between the first human settlement and Guizhong, the Goddess of Dust, the very Goddess who held his heart. He chose your ancestors over her, and she died. He had to pick between the humans in the Chasm and his Yaksha. He chose the humans, and his Yaksha all fell to corruption but Alatus, who even now suffers the effects the Karma of years past have afflicted him with. He had to pick between his safety and place in Celestia and you and myself, and everyone in this damned harbor and he chose us. Celestia is after him because he refused to allow a target to be painted on our backs. The Heavenly Principles want to correct the flaw in their puppet because he’s more human than most of us here.” Ganyu took a breath and her voice flushed with its normal, quiet timidness Hu Tao remembers it having. “You wanted to be regaled. Well, there you go. You know the basics of his life now. Every ally he made, every friend he drank with, every person he found he could lean on has either died at his hand or in his arms. Every. One. And now, one of the last living comrades he had is trying to drown him because of something he couldn’t control 3,000 years ago.” Ganyu smoothed out her unblemished shirt, and stepped in Hu Tao’s direction. “I once again apologize, Lady Ningguang, but I stand with Hu Tao. I won’t wait around as my master, my friend, is corrupted while surrounded by nothing but thousands of years of repressed torment.”

Hu Tao felt the chill along her arm that Ganyu naturally radiated due to her Vision and found her heart settling. Someone was siding with her. Someone believed her. Her argument was being upheld by one of the most admired people in Liyue, and she didn’t feel like a child when everyone looked at her again. She almost smiled.

(Why was she so relieved?)

Keqing was the next one to step up. “I don’t like the idea all that much - we’re endangering so many innocent people by doing this - but I won’t stand by while the man who has safeguarded our lives for millennia is torn down by some petty creature who thinks she’s in the right because life got in her way. I don’t think we should rely on Gods. But, as far as I’m concerned, I’m not saving a God, I’m saving a funeral parlor consultant.” Her face was set in determination.

Xiangling spoke up next, her hands squeezing Hu Tao’s shoulders. Ah, so she was the one who's been holding her. “I can’t let one of my best customers drown without trying my new Bamboo Shoot Soup recipe! As childish as it sounds, I made a promise, and I’m going to keep it.”

One by one, like in some sort of action-packed Inazuman light novel, everyone gave their two-cents on the situation, until Ningguang had a very clear crease in her forehead. She sighed out a breath and lifted her drink to take a sip, but the cup barely touched her lips when she jerked it away again. Must have gone cold.

Ningguang stood, effectively silencing the room. “I did ask you all here to decide what we would do given the situation at hand, and I will not ignore your pleas. You have persuaded me.” her eyes fell to Hu Tao, and something warm wriggled its way into her normally harsh gaze. “We will prepare to release Morax from his current predicament. How, we will decide at a later date, but for now-”

“Wait!” Hu Tao pressed her tongue to her teeth for a second before she barreled on “I think… I think I may know a way to do it. We obviously can’t dive to get him, he’s being held by a power far greater than what any of us possess. But, we all saw how… unwell Shì is. Zhongli - Morax - even pointed it out. Maybe…” Hu Tao was losing her nerve. Maybe it was a silly idea? “Maybe we split her focus.”

Ganyu reacted immediately. “Like, make her focus more on something else and less on Rex Lapis’ bindings?”

Hu Tao nodded.

Ningguang hummed. “That may work. She has clearly been corrupted over the years, which means she would not be as strong as she used to be. If given a window, even for only a fraction of a second, it should be enough for Rex Lapis to break free from her grasp. We’ll just need to think of something grand enough to make her drop her hold…”

Beidou leaned forward and brushed hair off of Ningguang’s neck. “Listen Ning, you are not dropping another Jade Chamber into the ocean. Please. You’ll be out another home, I’ll be out another sex bed, and it’ll fuck with the waves. My fleet can only take so much.”

Ningguang’s cheeks flushed at her partner’s words, but her face stayed thoughtful. “No, I don’t believe I will need to go to such extremes for this. I will have to ruminate more on this topic, but we will have something to work with by the end of this week. We can reconvene here next week, at the same time. There we will begin planning out our rescue of a God.”

A surge of something flushed through Hu Tao’s system. She ignored it because she was closer to seeing him again.

She was closer to telling him she was sorry.

__________

This week was determined to spell her end, it seemed. Hu Tao wanted nothing more than to dive into the water surrounding the harbor, grab the stupid dragon who had yet to show up for his shift this month, and strangle him for leaving her alone with nothing but the long-stale smell of his cologne and the memories of their time together. And whatever this feeling that had been growing in her chest was. It was suffocating.

Alas, she was not built for the water, as Ningguang had put it.

Hu Tao gazed out one of the parlor windows. The documents she had been pouring over - his documents - were long since forgotten under her arms, ink smearing on her sleeves as she gave another sigh. Since when was she one to mourn and wallow? Since when was she the type to miss a man of all things?

(Since when was she the type to let someone like him get under her skin so easily?)

She had missed women plenty - her girlfriend from years past still made her heart hurt when she thought about her - but she had never once tripped over herself for a man. It was a new feeling, one she did not wish to grow used to. If she ever allowed herself to acknowledge that these feelings were her getting caught up in a man, that is.

Hu Tao let her eyes drift around the main room of the parlor. It was in desperate need of a good cleaning; books were out of order on shelves, papers and folders were scattered about haphazardly, dust was settling on tables located in the small waiting area. The vases strewn about very clearly needed their water changed, if their wilting flowers said anything. Hu Tao was never the one to deal with such small things, it was always Zhongli who complained that a proper and tidy workspace promoted continued support from the public. The wilted flowers made her heart wilt as well.

Hu Tao pushed herself from her desk. She was not going to sit in here and mope. She was Hu Tao! She was the young funeral director who got on everyone’s nerves! She wasn’t one to be brought down by such silly frivolities! (She ignored how her pace changed as she passed by the locked door of his office.)

Hu Tao let the crispness of the night air grace her skin for a moment before she turned and locked the parlor doors behind her. It was a clear night, no clouds to be seen, and that meant it was perfect for going out and checking on the local spirits. If she couldn’t get any business from the mortals, she would continue her partnership with the spirituals.

But her feet were not taking her to Wuwang Hill like they should have been. No, they were taking her out of the harbor, down the grassy slope, past the odd waypoint the Traveler insisted was one of the greatest inventions of all time, all the way to where the ocean should have lapped at the beach. It was unspoken, but there was a rule among Liyueans after the Shì incident: don’t go to the water. Hu Tao had subconsciously done just that. She was here. The place where it happened.

The place that tormented her dreams at night.

She had never noticed how quiet it was down here. Or rather maybe she had never been down here when the waves were calm and there was no shrill screaming or guttural roaring chilling her icy skin. Hu Tao stepped forward a few inches, until the water was caressing the bottoms of her shoes. She didn’t dare let it touch her skin. She looked out at the still waters. Her chest hurt.

“Why?”

She doesn’t know why she’s speaking to nothing, but here she was.

“Why did you do it? Why did you take him?” Hu Tao felt her eyes burn, but she couldn’t place the reasoning behind that, either. “Why did you rip the one person I truly care about away from me?”

It struck her then that she meant what she had said. He was one of the only people she was around constantly that she truly cared for. Sure, there were the other workers at the parlor, the random few whom she saw on a semi daily basis, but she never felt quite as herself around them. She never felt quite as seen. Quite as heard.

Hu Tao listened. The silence mocked her, as if to say “You know why he's gone, girl.” She did. She knew exactly why. Ganyu had revealed in more detail what had happened after their initial meeting, and she had to admit, some of the actions taken during the Archon War were… underhanded at best. She could see where the rage, the sadness, the hatred came from, she really could, but she still couldn’t believe what extremes it came to for Shì to have dragged him to the bottom of the ocean to pay for his crimes.

Hu Tao really didn’t want to have to train someone to be a consultant again. She liked Zhongli’s (smile, his laugh, his rare moments of vulnerability, his tears, his soul) work ethic, and she didn’t know if she could find someone like that in the harbor who wasn’t also annoying, or a letdown in some other aspect (someone who didn't know when she was sad, someone who didn't know what foods she preferred, someone who wouldn't go out of their way to console her on nights she didn’t even know she needed consoling, someone who would never unconsciously have her heart in the palm of their hand), or who just rubbed her the wrong way.

Once again, she listened. The wind was the only thing to howl back at her words, and she let her head drop, her chin brushing her collar. It wasn’t fair. None of it was. Why did it have to be him? Why did he have to live in horror while they all lived blissfully unaware? Why was she standing here, alone, on the beach where the one thing she cared about was ripped away from her before she ever got the chance to realize for herself what he meant to her?

Why was she allowed to breathe in the salty air safely while he slowly drowns mere miles from her?

Hu Tao started walking along the beach. All of the footprints from the night it all happened were still imprinted upon the sand, like some sort of sick reminder that yes, it indeed had happened. Hu Tao kicked at heeled tracks, her mind scowling. She tipped her head back to the waters and caught sight of where he had been.

She moved closer, and could clearly see everything that had happened: where his shoulder hit the beach, where he had managed to roll himself onto his chest, where he started to grapple for purchase on the soggy land below him. She could see where his legs kicked out, where he began to lose his composure, the claw marks in the sand becoming more and more erratic as they slid into the water. Distantly, she could hear him screaming. Hu Tao closed her eyes and walked on, intent on leaving the massacre behind.

Her foot caught on something in the lashes along the ground. Hu Tao dared a glance at her toe and found something half-submerged in the sand. It caught the moonlight and reflected it back at her, and her heart instantly knew what it was.

Zhongli alway had his hair tied along the back of his neck. He once told her it was for maintaining a proper look about him, but she had caught him grumbling once or twice when the long strands fell into his line of sight while he was reading. Hu Tao had offered to cut it for him, but he had merely chuckled and told her that, despite griping about it nearly every day, he quite enjoyed the way his hair looked, and wished to keep it that way. Hu Tao was not one to argue with him when the matter was… less than serious, so she had let it go. If he was okay with his hair pulling everytime he sat on it, so be it; it wasn’t her problem to solve.

She toed at the object, loosening it from the clotted sand. She bent over and picked it up, and the stinging in her eyes finally spilled over. The cor lapis jewel that had a ribbon threaded through it was always what he used to pull his hair back. He never went anywhere without it.

Ribbonless, the jewel sat desolately in her palm, its master missing.

________

Hu Tao stared at her bowl of food. She had made herself something to eat in the apartment she owned above the parlor, intent on eating a comfort meal to cure her loneliness, but once she had it plated up and sitting in front of her, she found she wasn’t all that hungry.

It was a shame, too. This dish was a fine replica of a dish served in Li style, a stew that has been refined over the ages and prepared with only the finest spices found along the various mountains of Liyue-

Archons, even her thoughts sounded like Zhongli.

Hu Tao put her chopsticks down and groaned, letting her head hit her desk. The quiet of the parlor was disturbed only by the light swaying of the trees outside. And maybe the dog that kept coming by and barking like its life depended on it. It really would be a nice night for a walk, but then her stew would go bad.

Begrudgingly, Hu Tao raised her head and gathered her chopsticks in her hands. She fished around until she could snag a piece of fish and put it in her mouth, hoping the hot spices of the dish would take her mind off of the thick fog that had been clouding it recently. Instead, it simply made her think of one of the first few lunches she had ever shared with Zhongli. She had found out about his aversion to seafood due to her ordering ahead of time on maybe their third outing together, back when he was a new hire.

Hu Tao thought she was being nice, since she knew he sometimes struggled with decisions (well, struggled isn’t the right word; he considered too much when making a decision, and she wanted to have lunch before night fell) and Zhongli had presented himself as a refined, kind gentleman who was not easily shaken by much of anything, so it came as quite a shock when he refused to even sit at the same table as her and all the rest of the food she had ordered. Eventually, she learned what he liked: any kind of meal, really, so long as it was richly flavored, had a long history he could ramble on about, and had no seafood in it whatsoever. He also liked his meals served with a pot of tea, each meal requiring a different tea so as to ‘not break the fascinating flavors incorrectly over one’s tongue’ he had once said.

It was on one of these first few lunches together, just shortly after she had hired him and inadvertently found out about his hatred for calamari and fish, that she found there were certain foods that caused him pain to eat. Not pain necessarily, but difficulty, at least. He had explained that he had received a kind of injury that affected the way the bones in his jaw worked on certain days, when the pressure of the air was weightier than usual. It made it hard for him to put enough pressure on something to chew, so she got into the habit of buying him stews and rice on stormy days.

Hu Tao once suggested he get dentures - a joke she now kicks herself for - and he laughed and said it was not his teeth that were the problem, but rather the actual bone of the jaw itself. Hu Tao offered to smack him to see if that would reset it, but he told her that was an idea he had long since put to rest.

When Hu Tao asked him what he had done to receive such an injury, he merely smiled a wise smile and said something about him being brash and reckless when he was younger. Hu Tao wanted to quip back that he wasn’t that much older than her, but she had never actually learned his age. To this day, if it had not been for the Shì incident and the reveal of who he really was, she still would not know how old he truly was. Now that she knew who - and what - he was, she wanted more than ever to know what he did to have been harmed in such a way.

Lightly chewing on her fish, Hu Tao thought about whether or not today would have been a stew day for Zhongli. It was windy, and the sky was dark, but there wasn’t much else weather-wise going on outside in the harbor. She could always tell when it was going to be a rough day because his jaw would crack and pop as he talked, and she would catch him wincing and rubbing at his cheek if he moved it just right. There was even one day he had told her he wouldn’t be speaking much because it brought him great deals of pain to open his mouth properly.

Hu Tao looked down at her stew. A quiet stirring outside, like wind beating against the paper covering the windows made her fingers twitch. Yes, definitely a stew day.

Chapter Text

The wind howled. Hu Tao could barely make out Ningguang’s yelled orders over the whistling of the wind in her ears, like it was crying out for its friend’s freedom. Maybe it was the Anemo Archon, willing them to free his fellow God. Hu Tao nearly screamed and howled with it, the adrenaline in her veins making her unable to sit still lest she blow up and not help complete the mission.

The mission. The task at hand. They were finally going to do it. They were going to save Zhongli. Hu Tao felt along her hat until her fingers grazed the cor lapis gem she had neatly tied to the front of it, near the cluster of silk flower branches she had there as well. Her heart swelled. She was going to see him again.

Only if this plan worked, however.

On paper, it was simple: distract Shì long enough for Morax to break free of whatever is binding him. Once he reaches the surface, he’ll be able to deal with her himself. Ningguang had come to the conclusion at their most recent meeting that Rex Lapis would have been able to have handled Shì easily had they not all been there. A God’s powers are mighty, and they can easily kill humans who are in the way, even if that is not their directive.

There are only two - possibly three - reasons why this plan doesn’t work. One would be if Rex Lapis actually wanted to sit at the bottom of the ocean. Keqing had suggested this idea while they were making plans, and it made Hu Tao’s stomach twist. He wouldn’t have wanted to sit at the bottom of the ocean like he was doing now, would he? He was fighting to be let go of when he was dragged under, but what if it was all an act, a way to make the people of Liyue think he wasn’t giving up on them?

Hu Tao had quickly let the idea go when she remembered the look on his face and the scream in his throat; none of that felt like an act. It was way too real, too gut-wrenching for it to have been part of a scene set up to convince others that he was indeed fighting.

The second reason this plan wouldn’t work would be if they simply cannot distract Shì from what it was she was doing. While she was weakened, Shì was still above humans. She was, in her own right, a piece of natural divinity that had survived the ages. She was going to be hard to distract, especially if she had shown little to no interest at all in the humans that surrounded her waters.

The third reason was one that not many believed should have been on the list: they will not succeed if Morax is not being held by Shì, but rather a second party. The only other being down in the bottom of the ocean who has the power to hold down a God would be Osial, but he’s been so far corrupted that he’s lost all sense of himself; there’s simply no possible way that he could be what is solely focused on holding Morax down. For starters, Morax had defeated him single-handedly thousands of years ago, when Osial was still somewhat sane. Now he was merely a corrupted creature whose only thought is to attack until its prey is dead. Osial simply didn’t have the mental capacity to hold down a God and keep him there.

Ningguang still thought it beneficial to have this possibility in the back of everyone’s minds, just in case something were to go wrong. So, here they were, preparing for a possible fight, and a possible rescue. Hu Tao felt the jitters that had resided in her bones the last week reach an all time high as she helped move things into place.

Their plan consisted of three steps. Get Shì to come up, drag her away from the water, and hopefully give Morax enough time to get his bearings so that he could help them fight her and kick her out of the harbor. They intended on firing devices into the water that would combust a few seconds after they were fully submerged in order to drag her out. Hopefully the noise would irritate her enough to get her to come to the surface. Once she did, the Crux Fleet was positioned in a wide circle, each ship containing a cannon of Ningguang’s own fashion designed to fire a net of seismic proportions that would be used to hopefully capture Shì. Then, they would drag her inland, where the vision-wielders were stationed, ready to fight with their lives in order to keep her down and distracted. Hopefully, with enough pummeling and rage, Shì would lose focus of what she was doing, and Morax would be free to take charge and crush her.

The back-up plan for if he does not appear is, as Beidou feared, the Jade Chamber. Despite her many pleas, Ningguang simply told her that if the bed was that important to her, she would remove it before the first cannon was fired. Beidou sulked for half an hour after the confrontation.

Hu Tao gazed out at the dozens of land cannons fashioned along the harbor. They were close enough to the water to have great accuracy, but they were also there to be a sort of trap for the creature. Maybe, if she could clearly see what was attacking her, she would rush to it, like a Hilichurl would do. Like any other monster would do. It was a stretch since Shì still acted like a being with a conscience - albeit a broken one - but it was a risk they were all willing to take. Distantly, Hu Tao registered the Adepti lined up along the grand entrance of the Jade Chamber, waiting in case they were needed. Ningguang had the chamber moved so that it drifted through the skies just over the main entrance of the harbor.

Ningguang was positioned in the middle of the Adepti, her voice somehow reaching throughout the harbor. Hu Tao needed to know how she did that so she could use the trick to advertise one day.

“The final preparations have been made. It is time. The Millelith soldiers have evacuated the residents of the harbor, and the streets are now clear of all who do not bear a Vision. We may begin our operation. Please, everyone, to your stations! We will make this a swift encounter, and we will bring back our God!”

Hu Tao felt a thrill zing up her spine. This was it. It was time. She quickly dashed down the beach, toward one of the cannons that resided closest to the water. She had specially requested this location, as it was closest to where this all began. Of course, by request, she had to fight for this spot: everyone knew Shì was after her initially, so Ningguang was hesitant to put her so close that Shì would be able to catch her. But, Hu Tao had managed to bring up a valuable point without her voice showing just how excited she was at the prospect that they were actually trying to get him back. If she were close, Shì would notice her. Hopefully, Shì would go after her, knowing it would be one more thing to hurt Morax with if she could rub it in his face that she had managed to kill Hu Tao. This would give everyone around her an idea of exactly what path Shì was going to take, and they would have to worry less about where she was going and more about simply catching her before she got to Hu Tao. She had basically offered herself up as bait, and Ningguang had accepted it.

So here Hu Tao was, standing behind an intricate cannon, her fingers numb from the cold of the night and the adrenaline laced in her veins. She could taste the last thing she had eaten - Bamboo Shoot Soup, to honor the Archon she was going to save, oddly enough - on her tongue, and she could hear the silence that she had grown used to coming from the water. Her hands hovered over the control panel for the machine, ready for the given word.

She didn’t have to wait long. Ningguang waited for no one, as everyone in the harbor knew. Without a second thought, she raised her hands high, and her voice echoed through the sandy valley below her.

“Fire!”

All at once, the area was consumed in the sounds of cannon fire and water rushing around areas that were impacted by each blast. Hu Tao hit her reactor a little harder than was necessary, but the machine reacted all the same, firing into the abyss-like waters ahead of her. This went on for what Hu Tao would have called hours, each blast shaving off more and more of her hope at seeing her consultant again. With one final smack of the device, Hu Tao screamed into the chilly air her anguish and rage she had held on to for a month.

The valley went silent as the last of the shots rang out. The waters stilled once more, and so did Hu Tao’s heart.

No. This couldn’t be it.

Ningguang raised her hands once more.

Hu Tao couldn’t accept it. She wouldn’t.

She may not have to. One glance at the water told her all she needed to know. Not even the wind moved it. The waves were behaving more unnaturally than they had been for the past month. Shì was here.

Shì came out of the water with nary a splash, her face covered by her matted hair. Her chest heaved in great gulps of air as she gazed about the crowd that had grown on her beach, and her head pitched forward.

“What is the meaning of this? I let you live in peace, and this is how you repay me?”

Ningguang’s voice cut through the air.

“While we appreciate your kind offer, this is not peace. You have merely stifled us long enough to prolong your survival. But it ends here, today. Beidou, now!”

With a bang, the main ship of The Crux Fleet’s cannon set off a barrage of bullets that split mid-air to create nets that tangled around Shì’s gangly limbs, holding her in place. A second and third cannon shot off long hooks backed by ropes that grabbed the nets and pulled.

Shì was sent crashing towards the bank, and a shrill shriek was all she could do before she slammed bodily into the stone of the harbor. She was still for only a second before she surged up, the nets nearly snapping at the action. She whipped around and her gaze found Hu Tao. Bingo.

“You dare? I’ll skin you all alive and add you to my collection!”

And she was off, tearing through the waves that now rushed to surround her, her gaze set fully on Hu Tao. To her credit, Hu Tao did not panic when Shì got a little too close to her. She merely let loose a little too much fire from her Vision, and set the nets ablaze. Being in the sea, this should not have done much to Shì but make her angry, but being a sea creature from the depths, the light of the blaze and the heat of the fire made her scream in agony and dive back under the waves.

Everything was eerily still for all of two seconds before she was splitting through the water again, this time coming to float above the waves in the distance, so as to not get caught up in the tiny trap set for her again. Her eyes burned with a rage Hu Tao could feel blister her skin, but pride took over her fear when she noticed the blackening of her skin along her arms and torso. She did that. And she’d do it again, if given the chance.

Shì’s voice gurgled with emotions as she screamed into the open air.

“You foolish humans! I was going to allow you the precious ability to live, to allow you to see the end of your days naturally! I had no intention of harming you until this generation had long passed and I could release that Beast upon your descendants! You wish to incur my wrath so soon? So be it.”

And she threw her hands out, commanding the water at her fingertips to do her bidding. Hu Tao thought she'd go for the fleet first. The Jade Chamber, if all else failed. Maybe even the cannons that had initially harmed her. She did not think Shì would wrap her sickly cold tentacles around her first.

Hu Tao called forth the power of Pyro in her soul, but her flames did nothing to constructs made entirely of water, an element that snuffed hers out so easily. She beat against her constraints, but her hands uselessly drifted through the water, like they were drugged and sluggish. Her feet kicked at air before she realized she’d been lifted into the air and was only alive because this creature had yet to have her fill of terrified shrieking out of her.

Shì snarled at her, and it was here that Hu Tao thought, ‘well, I was the one who had the idea of being up front’ and pressed her hands to the water around her. And then Shì froze. She froze up so violently it reminded Hu Tao of when Zhongli had frozen in the harbor, back when this all happened.

A tremor shot through the waters, making them shake against the beach. Shì looked down at the water underneath her. Hu Tao followed suit and felt her face go numb. There was something in the water. Something big. And it was coming for them, quickly.

Hu Tao thrashed in her hold, her voice choking in her throat as she did. She was not about to be eaten!

The water’s surface went as still as its master before it broke so viciously that water sprayed Hu Tao from where she was held, so far from the surface she could hardly make out the seafoam covering it. Something surged out of the water, rich browns and amber and gold mixing in with deep blues, and a roar shattered the deafening silence around her. Hu Tao could only watch as the creature holding her fate in its hands was consumed by whatever had rushed out of the ocean, before she was thrown toward the mainland with such force the air itself seemed to warp around her figure.

Instantly, Hu Tao was falling through the air. She thought she should scream, she should flail, anything to indicate that there was someone else out at sea, but she couldn’t. All she could do was watch as that which had came out of the ocean - a dragon, big enough to wrap around Liyue twice, with horns taller than her funeral parlor and teeth sharp enough to cut through stone - turned toward her and let out a cry for her.

It was within this split second that Hu Tao's heart gave a familiar lurch. It beat against her ribcage with a force that made her distantly wonder if it would throw her off her intended path for the waters below her. This beating thrummed down into her feet and through her fingers, lighting every nerve-ending on fire with an emotion she could finally put a name to. An emotion that explained every moment she felt like giving up, every worried feeling that led to her chewing her fingers raw, every angry flair-up that nearly cost her employees, every painful walk past his office door that made her want to burst into tears and scream into the void of the sea that he had been swallowed by and beat against the door until it gave under her hands, until it opened to her anguish, until it let her find peace once more in his molten eyes.

Love.

She couldn’t have fallen for longer than a few seconds before she was nestled between those tall horns, her face pressed down into the soft brown fur that surrounded its head. His head. It was his head because she knew just from the look in his eyes when he had seen her falling through the sky and the warmth of his mane when she landed in it and the smell of his breath as it turned to smoke and flames around her that this was him, Morax, Rex Lapis, Zhongli, and he was safe, and he was alive, and he was home.

And he was furious.

She could feel the anger boiling under his scales as he cut through the air, his tail whipping so hard it cracked in the sky like lightning. The heat that came off of his body was enough to have already dried his wild mane, and Hu Tao allowed herself to snuggle down closer to him, to feel his pulse, to confirm that he was real and not just some specter come back to haunt her for failing him. So many had. So many will.

She was only able to be comfortable for a few seconds before she was thrown back into the air with a yelp, but she was not allowed to fall far, as she was caught in a pair of arms.

If she were anyone else, she would make a comment about how this was cliche. Actually, she would have made the comment anyway, but one look at the man she had missed for far too long and far too hard stopped the words before they had even formed.

Zhongli looked every bit of the Archon he was, down to his clothing. He was dressed in white and gold robes, black pants that billowed out at his feet revealing claws digging into the sand beneath them. His head was crowned with the same double pair of horns he had as a dragon, but these curled and twisted to accommodate his new form better, and they glowed with a thrumming power that Hu Tao could feel pulse through the arms that held her close. His eyes glowed with that very same power, the diamonds surrounding his pupils exaggerated, his pupils mere slits in a pool of molten amber.

His face was curled into a snarl, his lips pulled back to reveal his teeth, all way too sharp for any normal human. If there were any confusion on who he was, it was gone for sure now. The hair that spilled over his shoulders glowed at the ends, and Hu Tao had to resist the childish urge to pull on it. She barely registered the rumbling beating through his chest and into her back and connected it to the growl currently working his throat raw.

Hu Tao followed his gaze and found Shì half buried in the sand, her limbs akimbo and her hair twisted around her neck. She looked dead, but Hu Tao knew she was very much alive. If she wasn’t Zhongli wouldn’t be acting like this. Probably.

As if to confirm her worries, Shì slowly uncurled and stood on shaky legs. She was big, bigger than Hu Tao, bigger than Beidou, but thinner than most people she knew. (Beidou, reasonably, was not comparable to Hu Tao, as the pirate was taller than most everyone in the harbor, while Hu Tao was shorter than everyone else. The only person who could beat Beidou in height that she could think of was the man holding her and a Mondstadtian captain of some kind she had seen talking to the woman once.) The wind threatened to blow her over, and if Hu Tao hadn’t seen what she was capable of, she would have thought the wind could knock her over easily.

Gently, so gently, Zhongli put Hu Tao back on her feet. She could feel the tension in every movement he made, how he was straining against every fiber of his being so he didn’t launch at the threat staring him in the face and decimate the very beach they stood upon. Hu Tao reached up and let her hand glide against the skin of his shoulder, where the white robes he wore stopped. His skin was hard and blackened there, golden geometric lines crawling from under his clothing to the tips of his fingers, feeling more akin to a metal than actual skin, but it put off so much heat that she knew only her Vision kept her from being burned. He huffed a breath out of his nose that contained more blackened smoke than what Hu Tao thought to be healthy.

Shì wobbled a few steps forward before her gaze set on the Archon - on the dragon - and she stopped. There was no fear on her face, none that Hu Tao could see, but she couldn’t quite tell what the creature felt. It was obvious she was angry. Angry at the humans for interfering, angry at the God for being free, angry at herself for being distracted. But under all of that anger, there was a twitching in her gaze, a shake in her shoulders. She was worried. About what, Hu Tao couldn’t place, but the crease that kept trying to find its way into her brow told the director that something was riddling her with worry.

And then she noticed her gaze flick back at the sea.

Osial had been resealed, yes, but he was resealed with such a force that he was pronounced dead thereafter. There was no way she could be worried for him; there wasn’t much of him left to worry over. But the look in her eye…

Hu Tao felt her hand slip off of Zhongli’s shoulder and she realized with a start why: he had still been hunched over from putting her down, but upon the arrival of his watery Warden, he had decided he would stand straight. If Hu Tao thought he was tall when he was faking being a human, then she was certain about it now. Hu Tao could press her head to the bottom of his chin if she stood on her tiptoes normally. Now, she’d be lucky to headbutt his shoulder.

Honestly, she wasn’t all that surprised. He was a God of War, known as the Killer of Gods; it made sense he had a form that could overwhelm such base creatures as humans merely by size alone. It didn’t make how small she felt near him like this any less embarrassing.

Shì tried to step forward again, but Zhongli let out another warning growl that shook the ground. Shì scoffed.

“Your Beast is showing, Morax. But it’s not showing enough. You didn’t spend enough time near the Rift. Did you hold your breath the whole time? Is that why you show no signs of corruption?” Her eyes trailed down, and Hu Tao found a fire of rage lighting in her chest when she realized she was being used to provoke the Adeptus. “Or was it because you knew you had someone important to get back to? To protect against me?”

Zhongli spoke in such a low voice Hu Tao swore she could feel it rattle her bones.

“The only thing I’m needed for here is your extermination.”

Shì gave a dry chuckle.

“Surely you of all people can see a losing battle when it is presented to you, can you not? I’ve bested you once; I’ll do it again.” Her hand twitched at her side. No water was called to her being. In fact, the waves were acting as if they had their freedom about them once more. Hu Tao tipped her head. Why was she acting like she was calling upon the sea when it wouldn't respond?

“I should have killed you when I had the chance.”

Zhongli started to move forward, and before Hu Tao could follow him, could speak, could tell him something wasn’t right, something soft caressed her leg, like a lovers’ touch, something to say it’s going to be okay, I’m here. She glanced down and saw the fluffy plume of fur that grew from the end of Zhongli’s tail sweeping across her leg as he passed. His Beast really was showing.

Hu Tao glanced up and watched Shì’s hand twitch again. Still, the waters remained silent. Hu Tao called fire to her fingers, her heart in her throat. Something wasn’t right.

“Ah, but if you had, then the same reckoning that would have came of my brother’s death would have come from my own. Truly, you were backed into a corner when dealing with us, weren’t you, O God of War?”

Zhongli stopped moving.

“It… would have, yes.” He tipped his head down, assessing her. “Why are you suddenly agreeing with my actions you have long since hated me for?”

Hu Tao heard it before she could see it: the rushing of the water behind her. She was still standing ankle deep in the waters of the sea, and maybe she should have followed Zhongli as he had moved forward, but his gentle touch made her stay in place. She whipped around to witness a head of water rise above the now lashing waves. Her blood ran cold.

Her throat clogged, but she forced the word out anyway, strangled though it was.

“Zhongli!”

Swiftly, she was yanked back by the collar of her uniform just as the beast in front of her let loose a swath of water that could have cut her clean to pieces had she stayed in place. She was jerked behind a body of stone and metal, and she lost sight of the monster to a broad back and glowing cracks in skin.

Zhongli put his body between herself and the sea once again, his free hand coming up to create a shield made specifically to keep any and all water off of her and her alone. The force of the water slamming into the barrier echoed across the sandy valley, and Hu Tao had the urge to cover her ears. Something made her turn around, to put her back to Zhongli’s.

Shì was surging across the sand, a murderous glint in her eyes. The director could see troops along the beach mobilizing, but Shì was too fast - they would never make it in time. Hu Tao summoned her staff. If they weren’t going to make it, then she was going to fight to protect the one who has been protecting her all these years.

Shì’s body collided so hard with Hu Tao’s weapon that she was thrown into Zhongli’s back, a grunt forced past her lips. Before she could gather her bearings, Shì was attacking again, her hands clawing at the polearm’s grip like it had personally offended her. She was close enough Hu Tao could make out tears along her cheeks once more.

It took Shì losing her footing on the rocky shore for Hu Tao to gain an opening to shove the water being back, but she was only given a split second of respite before the deranged foe was on her again, her teeth gnashing and her hands bleeding with every clawed slash. Hu Tao’s grip on her weapon faltered. Why was Shì acting like this? Why was she acting so crazed?

“She was holding me close to the Abyssal Rift that has split open the sea with her own body. It only makes sense that someone as weak as herself was affected in such a way by the tainted energies that leak out of it.” Zhongli’s voice was gruff, pinching and pulling as he too was bombarded by attacks that left him breathless. It dawned on Hu Tao that she must have spoken out loud when Zhongli tipped his head back and gave her a smile that nearly hinged on feral. “You speak your mind more often than what you may think, dear director.”

And now Hu Tao was breathless for a completely different reason than the insane water duo bludgeoning her from opposite sides. Her cheeks flushed and she huffed a breath.

“If you can make idle chatter while everything else is happening around you, I don’t suppose you can get them to knock it off, can you? My arms are getting tired.”

Zhongli choked on a laugh as a particularly hard lash was thrown Hu Tao’s way, and the shield that had been protecting them from Osial curled its way around their bodies, protecting them from both siblings. Hu Tao smacked his shoulder and instantly regretted it when her rings clanged against the metal that made up his bare arm and made her fingers ache.

“You could have done that this whole time? Oooh, you’re so taking a pay cut for this!” Carefully, the staff switched hands. “Whatever, it’s fine. Now we have a fair, fighting chance. Drop the guard, I’m ready to go!” Hu Tao’s mouth ran dry when she looked up into his eyes, her fighting energy draining from her limbs. His gaze was smothering, and despite their light, playful banter, there was still a smoldering rage that bubbled beneath the amber surface, speaking of his towering anger. Hu Tao brushed her fingers over his forearm and felt the heat tickle her skin. He pulled away from her touch.

“No. When I drop this shield, you will run to the Jade Chamber. You will not draw your weapon. You will not stay with me.”

Hu Tao bristled. “Hey, I’m not some damsel for you to ‘romantically sacrifice yourself for’- I’m a trained Vision-wielder! I can fight, thank you!”

Zhongli’s gaze had drifted from her, as if his mind was already made up.

“I never called you a damsel. I grasp very well your ability to fight. But these two cannot be brought down by your flames, Hu Tao. They must be resealed, and only I can do so. You will merely get in the way.”

Now Hu Tao was angry.

“Ex-cuse me? ‘I’ll only get in the way’? Really? Gods, put your God-dick away and let me fight! You don’t get to make the decisions here, Zhongli, I do. And I’m going to fight, whether you like it or not. Now drop the damned shield.”

Zhongli wasn’t even acknowledging her.

“No, you won’t.”

“Yes, I will.”

“No, you-”

“You’re not Liyue’s God anymore, Zongli! You can’t command its citizens around like you are!” Hu Tao missed the way his shoulders shook, the way his breathing thinned. All she could see was someone who was impeding on her life, her will, her protection. Someone who saw her as weak and frail, someone who was a coward. Hu Tao stepped forward and raised her hand, her heart in her throat. “What are you so afraid of-”

“Losing you!”

It felt like his shout stopped the world. It rattled around Hu Tao’s chest, making her head hurt. Zhongli had whipped around so fast and so hard that she was nearly thrown off her feet just being near him. The Earth behind her, leading deep down into the sea, shook and trembled, a crack splitting its way beneath the waves. His eyes were wide and wild, laced with anger and frustration and fear fear so much fear she couldn’t breathe-

He took a shaky step back, and his breath caught in his throat. His hands shook with each shallow breath he heaved through burning coals and smoke that clawed its way through his throat, making his voice hoarse and raw.

“I can’t- I won’t- you can’t-” he visibly bit his tongue, his eyes clouding over, the glassy droplets not daring to trail down his cheeks, but only just barely- “I can’t lose anyone else.”

His words were quiet and strangled, like he could barely force them over the lump in his throat. Hu Tao instinctively reached out once more, but he jerked back like he was burned. Or like he was afraid of burning her. Hu Tao drew her hand back to her chest, her thumb working a ring around her finger. Funnily enough, it was a ring that stood out amongst her many gothic pieces. It was a gold band with little chunks of Cor Lapis in it, flowing along a golden breeze kicked up by the imprint of a dragon that spiraled around it. It was a birthday gift Zhongli had gifted to her some time ago. She had made the joke that it didn’t match her style. She hadn’t taken it off once since the incident.

Zhongli’s eyes followed her fingers movements, his body slumping so his face was nearly level with hers, and Hu Tao felt emboldened to speak.

“Li, you won’t lose me. Trust me, I’ll haunt you to the end of time if I have to!” His eyes began to grow distant and Hu Tao switched tracks before she lost him again. “Trust me, I’m strong enough I won’t go digging my own grave before I make yours. I promise. But,” her hand raised again, and this time he didn’t pull away. Distantly, she could hear the siblings beating against the shield Zhongli subconsciously held. Not for the first time, she was impressed by his willpower alone. Her hand carefully pressed to his cheek and her thumb rubbed at the scales under his eye. He leaned in, his eyes nearly closing, and Hu Tao ignored the ache in her palm as the heat of his skin tore at her flesh. She smiled at him. “You can’t hide me away from the world, either. I understand why you would want to, but you have to understand, that would stifle me. You wouldn’t be protecting me, you’d be harming me.” His eyes shot open. “I know that’s not what you wish to do either. So please. I want to protect you. You want to protect me. Let me fight by your side, that way we can both achieve what we want to do. Together.”

The tears that have been blurring his vision finally spilled over onto her hand.

“But I- what if- I-I can’t-”

“Li, this isn’t like what happened with Guizhong.” More tears spilled down her knuckles as his face crumpled, and Hu Tao pressed her free hand into his other cheek, catching the tears that dampened the hair sticking to his temple. His tears were surprisingly cold. She pulled him closer to her. “I’m right here. I’m right next to you. You won’t have to pick between me and Liyue, not now, not ever. You’ll be able to prevent my death easily with me this close. And I’ll be able to keep you above the water. You said you can’t lose anyone else. Well, I can’t lose you. Not again. Not after that. So please,” now her own eyes were tearing up, “let me fight by your side. Let’s protect what you and Guizhong built, together.”

It felt like an eternity passed before Zhongli gave the lightest nod, his eyes never fully leaving hers, red and puffy but hardened with determination. Hu Tao’s smile grew, and her fingers moved to brush some of his wild hair from his face. “Good. Now, lower your shield. We fight together. I obviously cannot attack Osial from where he is, so he’s your opponent. I’ve got Shì.” Zhongli’s brows furrowed, his eyes laced with worry, and Hu Tao smoothed a thumb over the crease that had built up on his forehead. “Hey. I’ve got this. If you think I can’t handle an attack, you raise another shield around me. But,” her gaze hardened, but only slightly, “you will drop it again when I’m in the safe zone, and you will let me fight. No buts, okay?”

Zhongli sighed, and his face turned so he could nose into her wrist.

“You will be the end of me, you know this, yes?”

Hu Tao laughed. “Good. Then on your word.”

Zhongli let his nose press into Hu Tao’s pulse one last time before he pulled away, his hand still holding the one that had initially come up to calm him. He thumbed at the ring he bought her absently as he looked out across the beach, assessing everything that was happening around them. Hu Tao dared a glance and saw the human troops firing upon Shì and Osial relentlessly, both siblings distracted. The young director absently wondered if this intervention was intentional.

Hu Tao looked to Zhongli when the shield refused to drop and found him looking down at her with such an expression of sad longing that she almost couldn’t bring herself to break it. But they had a fight to join, and she was not about to allow Zhongli to hate himself more for standing by while his nation fought for their lives. She swayed their still-clasped hands, and the God tipped his head.

“...Li? Aren’t we gonna, y’know, fight?”

Zhongli looked dazed, surprised even, that he had been caught drifting through thought.

“Ah, yes of course. But, Hu Tao,” his expression grew serious, and Hu Tao shuffled her feet, “When all of this is over, I would like to, ahem, take you out.” He wrinkled his nose, worry creasing his brow, like he was unsatisfied by the crassness of the words he had just spoken. “For dinner. That I will pay for.” He flushed and ducked his head. “I’ve been meaning to take you for a meal for… a while. I’m ashamed it took me nearly losing you to ask, and after the events of the last month, I would understand it if you were to decline, but you see, I, ah. Ahem, that is, I-”

Hu Tao shook their hands, a wobbly smile spreading along her face.

“You big, dumb idiot. I’m going to kill you after this. And then, yes, a thousand times yes, I’ll go out with you. Fuck, at this point you could ask me to go to the stuffiest Historian Convention on the Pearl Gallery and I’d say yes. Gods, for being the God of History, the one who seems to know everything, you sure are stupidly dense sometimes.” Zhongli tipped his head, his eyes confused and, as if afraid of allowing it but unable to stop, a slight bit hopeful, too. Hu Tao chuckled and pulled on his hand, beckoning him closer. “I don’t care what we are, Zhongli. I don’t care what we do or who else we let into our lives. But this,” she held their hands up, the war waging around them falling on deaf ears, “I want this to stay the same. I want us to stay the same. Co-workers, friends, lovers, I don’t care, so long as it’s you and I.”

A zing shot up her spine when his eyes dropped to her lips in a flash. He leaned in a slight bit closer, long hair falling over his shoulders. His hand gripped hers back, and Hu Tao could feel the pulsing of the fire in his veins against her palm beat faster.

“I… would enjoy that. No, I-” he looked unsure, eyes casting to the side for a moment, split tongue coming out to wet his lips, before his gaze was back on her, strong and resolute, as if he had made up his mind- “I’d love that. I’d love that life. I… I love you.”

Hu Tao gave a watery laugh, elation spreading through her chest.

“I love you too, you blockhead.” She felt the mischievous grin upon her lips before she had finished her train of thought, as if trying to deflect her tears and emotions that most certainly were not overtaking her right now, thank you. “You have no choice but to like life with me. I’m very connected with the undead. I know how to come back and haunt someone! You’re not going to get away from me, now!”

Instead of the usual scolding the dignified man would offer when she joked about death and such, he gave her a warm smile that had her melting into her own shoulders. He leaned down and pressed his forehead to hers. His smile never faltered. Hu Tao could feel the vibrations of something flowing through their clasped hands, from his body to hers. The rumbling intensified when she held his gaze.

“I’d expect nothing less from the 77th Funeral Director.” He stayed like that, stooped to her level while the world raged around them, until he let out a long suffering sigh and began to rise, but only slightly, just so he could cast a withering look out beyond the haven he had created for them. “Alas, we should rejoice in our shared emotions later. Right now, we have a battle that must be dealt with.” His eyes darkened, and Hu Tao felt the temperature under his skin begin to rise once more. “And I intend to deal with this problem of mine once and for all.”

Hu Tao gripped his hand harder when he went to pull away, and when he cast a cursory glance her way, she smiled childishly. Before he could question why she was suddenly keeping him here, and effectively keeping her protected like she had specifically said for him not to do, Hu Tao giggled.

“Before you go, I need one for the road.”

His head tipped, but he got no chance to voice anything. Hu Tao tugged on his hand once more, making him reflexively lean down far enough for her to stand on her tiptoes and grab one of his horns before she yanked, pulling his head the rest of the way down to her level. She pressed their lips together, probably harder than she should have since their teeth clacked together and she heard him make a pained noise, probably from biting his tongue with those sharp canines of his, and she knew he was in an uncomfortable position being bent to hell and back to accommodate her short stature, but she wanted him to know for sure that she meant everything she had said and then some.

She felt him tense at first, but he slowly melted, until he was pressing into her, cautious but sturdy, just as he usually was with delicate things he didn’t wish to break. Hu Tao knew now why he was so careful with fragile things, but she wanted him to know she wasn't easily broken. Unfortunately, the middle of a bloody battlefield, with all of his citizens watching was not the most ideal moment for those activities, so she opted to instead give him a little nip on his lower lip as a premonition for the future before pulling away.

He looked so very lost, but happy at the same time, his pointed ears flushed and his lips red. He gave her a soft smile, his tongue flicking across his lips like he wanted to savor the taste of her, and Hu Tao gently patted his cheek before she shoved him away with the hand she had skillfully placed on his chest while they were sharing space. He stumbled back, still a bit discombobulated, but he did not look mad or concerned in the slightest. In fact, if Hu Tao had to give his expression a name, she’d say he looked playful. Well, two could play that game.

“There, I think everything is in order now. You like order a lot, don’t you, Li? Good. Then I think it’s time.” She readied her staff, having been forgotten along the sand during their conversation. Before she could stop herself, she threw a teasing look over her shoulder at him. “Drop the shield, won’t you?”

Zhongli was still flustered, his cheeks now blazing molten gold the longer his brain had time to catch up to their actions, and her teasing made him even more so, his eyes widening just a fraction and his hands flitting about like he didn’t quite know where to put them. He settled them at his sides, one summoning the legendary spear so many historians waxed poetic about, and Hu Tao couldn’t help but think they never quite got the magnificence of it down. The God shook his head to clear his thoughts and readied his stance. He was still shaky. Hu Tao felt a warm feeling bubble in her chest.

His expression was determined. He held his free hand out, and the air around them became charged with the power of a God. Her God. He cleared his throat.

“Of course, my dear. Let us wage war upon those who dare to threaten what is important to us. Lead the way into the fray, and I’ll follow. Today, you command the Warrior God.”

Hu Tao gave him one last nod, one last piece of reassurance. A surge of power, of pride, shot through her. They were together. They were alive. They were in love.

Hu Tao smiled. They would be okay.

The shield dropped.