#genshin x reader soulmate au

[vivalabunbun]

As We Are, We Will Be

Summary: A nonsensical question is proposed in one singular moment between a stoic and stoic face in one singular universe.

Word Count: 9k (It was supposed to be short and sweet-)

Tags: Alhaitham X Fem! Reader, Smut, NSFW, Fluff, a lot of fluff, slight angst, soulmate au, slow fic, established relationship, married life, Soft! Alhaitham, attempts at comedy, mentions of aging, slightly jealous! Alhaitham, mutual pinning, soft sex, vanilla, safe sex (wrap it up), riding (cowgirl), fingering, slow sex, making love, really bad expatiations of scientific theories and math, just two nerds in love.

Authors Note: Happy belated birthday and Valentine's Day to my favorite dendro nerd. A continuation of this piece, one I hold dear. A thought experiment based on nothing more than the feverish delirium of love.

It was just for a moment. 

A mere pasting instance in the contentious momentum of time when a glimmer caught your eyes in the muddled chatter of a crowd, a silver shimmer like starlight.

Interrupting your contemplation as your eyes impulsively search for the source.

A late morning on a Saturday, the markets and stalls were lively with families replenishing a week's worth of groceries. Bodies veering and easing through the bustle of the busty streets.

The wide breadth of life that moved all around you. Like a collection of small dots within the vastness of a universe. 

But amid the vast collection of blurry faces were the flicker of silvery locks refracting the late morning light. Originating from a pair, an elderly lady and an elderly man, their aged hands intertwined. 

Time had made her marks upon them, and gravity had pulled down on their wrinkled faces. Yet, the ends of their lips were pointed toward the sky. The corners of their eyes wrinkled as their gazes held each other's faces. 

From their view, do they not see the starlight hue of their hair? Instead, do they still see the vibrancy and youth of their locks which age had stolen from them? 

The image of each other reflected in their irises, was it from a time before the hands of gravity pulled on their creased skin and bowed bones? Would you ever be able to find out? 

“I wasn’t aware you had a hobby of people-watching.” A baritone voice ghosts over your ear. 

Jolting your head to your right, you come face to face with the interruption. Or perhaps, your mind finally registered Alhaitham’s presence just off to the side of you. His arms were weighted down with various bags. 

Oh, that’s right, the markets and stalls were lively on the weekend with families restocking groceries for the upcoming week. You and Alhaitham were no different. 

Glancing up at his ashen trestles and then scanning back at the starlight locks of the elderly couple, and then back to your husband. 

“Hmm, not quite. Just noting the fact your hair is the same color as an old man’s, Haitham.” You catch the subtle twitch of his brow. 

“Is that so? I hope you are aware you’re not immune to the inevitably of aging, wife,” Alhaitham returns your jest. 

“Well, with your hair color and grumpiness, I’d say you’re already halfway there.” 

“I needn’t expound on your equivalent levels of grumpiness, it won’t be long before your locks share the same ashen hue.” 

“I guess that’s why we get along then, dear husband.” 

“That’s one theory,” he huffs, a simple tone lacking any bite.

You pan your face back toward the crowd, partly because it’s getting harder to hold the neutral position of your lips, partly because your curiosity aches for an untold conclusion. 

However, when your gaze returned to the ever-bustling sea of people, the pair of starlight hues were nowhere to be found. It was regrettable, but expected, the elderly couple were nothing more than a pair of strangers in a crowd full of unfamiliar faces.

They were just a brief scene that disappeared into the moving tides of people. 

Leaving you with your unresolved musings. 

“Is there anything else we need for the week?” 

Alhaitham’s voice reels your consciousness back, swiftly you check the crinkled slip of parchment within your hand. Scanning down the list of written items, all with a neat little line crossed through their immaculately penned letters. 

“It looks like we got everything we need.” You tuck the list into your pocket. 

“Then it’s best we get home before our groceries are spoiled by the heat.” Alhaitham readjusts the bags in his hands. 

A hum takes its place as your response. Pivoting your body in the direction of your shared home. From the corner of your field of view, his strides were paced to coincide with your shorter steps. 

Studying the numerous bags occupying his hands, you can’t help but think it’s quite convenient to have someone as robust as your husband. Maybe it's these weekly grocery runs that are the secret behind his physique. 

Discreetly, your hand slowly slips between the gap of his arm and body, linking your elbows together. So that your frame and his could withstand the push and pull of the crowd’s contentious momentum. 

The neutrality of your lips had long slipped away, softened by the familiarity of his warmth. Even as your eyes were pointed on the path ahead, you had an inkling that a similar occurrence was mirrored on his lips as well. 

An inquiry your curiosity didn’t need to peek to resolve. 

 

That ache for an untold conclusion morphed into a new musing by the afternoon. 

The silver shimmer from that elderly couple’s hair truly was like starlight. Perhaps that’s the correlation that steered your thoughts down this winding path of pondering. 

Everyone, from those taking their first stumbling steps of youth to the slowed cane-assisted tramps in their golden years, is technically billions of years old. Or more accurately, the atoms and minerals in everyone are billions of years old. 

The carbon in muscles, the calcium in bones, and the iron in blood were all forged in the hearts of bygone stars. When those bright beacons burned out they exploded in one last finale, expelling those materials across interstellar space. Stardust that found its way here. 

Here within you, and here within the slow breaths of the man in front of you. 

After being around for billions of years, does stardust ever get exhausted? 

That would be a sensible explanation for why Alhaitham had snuck away amidst hanging up freshly washed laundry. 

His tall frame stretched the expanse of the couch as his starlight lashes were shut, shamelessly relishing in a nap under the streams of sunlight trickled in from the window. 

Squatting down you observe the guiltless expression plastered over his resting face, still deep in the trenches of sleep, a small huff passes through your lips. Well, this morning you did have him carry all the groceries from the market back home.

Your husband does deserve this little nap.

Trailing your eyes down his neck you note the lack of a pillow, then as your gaze travels further you note the absence of a blanket as well. Internally, your mind tsks at this forgetful habit of his. 

Although his body and yours still have youth coursing through your veins, it doesn’t mean they’ll remain as impervious as they are now later down the line, especially if preventative measures aren’t taken.

Like having a pillow to support one’s neck, or a blanket to prevent chills from plaguing the body. 

Standing back to full height, you retrieved the missing artifacts, returning with a plush pillow and light comforter.  

Even when his head was momentarily lifted to make space for the pillow, and when the spare comforter was draped over him, Alhaitham didn’t stir one bit. At times you can’t determine if he’s a light sleeper or if his stubbornness refuses to leave the plain of dreams. 

It’s a true wonder of life how Alhaitham’s able to sleep so soundly at night given his extensive naps. 

The vivid sunlight illuminated patterns upon his cheeks and trestles, causing the ashen strands to dazzle in their refraction of the afternoon light. A sight your eyes just couldn’t help but be enraptured by. 

Maybe you could blame the warmth of the sunlight, or maybe the serenity of this quiet Saturday afternoon, or perhaps even these fickle inquiries about his naps for the yawn that left your lips. Now might be the prime time for some research. 

Lifting up the comforter just enough for an opportunity to slip through, your body settles in the space right against his. It’s crowded on the couch, the cushions unprepared for two bodies to occupy its entirety, the open edge looming against your back.

Even after all the shuffling and pressing against his dozing frame, your husband didn’t budge a bit. 

Leaden lashes still shut and lips set in that all too familiar line, chest rhythmically rising and falling in time with yours. The very image of unperturbedness under the blessing of sleep. 

“You really are like an old man.” 

At that mere jab, the corners of his lips tugged down while his eyes remained closed. A quick slip that confirmed your earlier suspicions. 

“Who knew you were so talented in acting, Haitham,” you snicker. 

A muscular arm soon enveloped your form, further pressing you against his chest as if to silence any more sardonic quips from entering his ears. 

It was quite the challenge to stifle those giggles before they could erupt from your lips. Peeking up, there’s an ever-so-subtle lift at the corners of his mouth. An express which yours mirrored. 

Studying the details of the lips just a breath away, a new musing worms its way into your thoughts:

 When the hands of gravity and time start to pull down on his skin and yours the same, leaving wrinkles and creases in their wake, will the edges of his lips still curl like this? 

Would yours mirror the same? 

A second yawn sneaks past your lips as your lashes grow heavier with each fluttering blink. Claiming a corner of the pillow to lay your head upon, the seconds between each subsequent blink grew longer and longer until your lids were too heavy to lift. 

Perhaps the stardust in your bones was exhausted, craving a short rest in his warmth. 

--------------------------------

There’s something against your back and your legs are tangled in something, sensations which gradually alert your dozing sense back from the fog of slumber.

At first, you only had the strength to peek open one lid, then promptly shut it. But in the nothingness behind your eyelids, something was halting your limps from stretching the weariness out from themselves. 

You tried again, this time fluttering both sets of lashes apart ever so slightly. There’s a dry film coating your throat and mouth, feeling the impressions of the couch cushions and bundled comforter imprinted into your skin.  

What time was it?

Blinking away the haze of sleep just enough to notice how the golden rays of a star were missing. A gray overlay was plastered over the living room despite the ticking clock hands displaying that it was late afternoon.

Peering back through the window behind, observing the congregating insipid clouds blocking out the azure sky. 

A sure sign of rain despite the morning forecast. Rain… wasn’t there something left unfinished on the clotheslines outside? The groggy recollection of responsibilities creeps into the forefront of your mind. 

The reign of your weary limbs slowly returns, and your legs languidly attempt to stretch out from the reveal they were caught in. However, their movements only caused a pair of longer limbs to ensnarl them further.

Alhaitham’s legs promptly caught yours, stifling any prospect of escape. 

Your displeased whine was responded with a disgruntled groan by the man keeping your body locked against his. 

Wasn’t your back looming just about the edge of the couch when you fell asleep? So why are you in this position now?

Your body wedged between the plush backing of the couch and his solid frame, the comforter swaddling you also didn’t aid in your immobility. Brawny arm draped over your waist, halting your feeble squirms at freedom. 

“The laundry,” you mumble.

“Later.” A blunt interjection from a groggy voice. 

“It’s going to rain.” 

“Less than a 30% chance.” 

“Haitham…” 

Your husband simply burrows his head deeper into the leveled pillow, likely an attempt to leverage the cushy material to block out your grievances. His ashen lashes still stubbornly shut, much to your displeasure.

“Alhaitham.”

No fluctuations in your volume nor tone, but it was enough for one teal eye to peek out from under ashen lashes. Trailing up to a subtle frown to the furrow between your brow, then finally meeting your unamused stare.

“Laundry,” you try again. 

A silent stare down, one stone face gazing upon an equally stoic face, like an immovable object pressed against an equally immovable object.

Which one will defend their title of most stubborn today? 

His chest expands with a deep breath, grasp enclosing around your waist before his teal gaze shamelessly vanishes behind closed lashes. Robust frame pinning you further to the back of the couch as he continues to ignore your huffy floundering. 

“Release me, don’t you dare-” 

Your grievance was soon muffled by a gentle hand pressing your cheek into his palatial chest. A move that stupefies the irksomeness bubbling within until it falls defeated into placidness. 

“Whether it be now or later, they’ll be clean regardless, it’s quite comfortable right here.” The resonance of his voice vibrates in his chest. 

You respond with a humbled grunt. In terms of strength you’d always lose to your feeble husband, wouldn’t you? 

There’s no point in peering up, for the pleased satisfaction of his resting face would bring a sour taste to your tongue. Thus, you merely adjust your limbs, coiling your arms around to his back and pulling his form closer.

It’s crowded on the couch, it’ll be troublesome if Alhaitham were to slip off the edge if his back were to stray any further. 

At this distance, entangled so closely together, the soft beats of his heart in time with yours like a rhythmic lullaby beckons the heavy to return to your eyelids.

The gentle drumming of his heartbeat coaxes out a final sigh from you, lashes descending down as your vision dims back into the realm of slumber. 

Slow breaths and heartbeats homogenize into a tender duet, tranquil enough to distract from the sporadic pattering against the glass and gradually increase in consistency. 

A less than 30% chance of rain doesn’t mean that there’s a greater than 70% chance of no rain. It’s merely a statistical probability of 0.01 units of more precipitation at a given area in the given forecast area in the time period specified. 

Known as the precipitation probability, calculated based on two factors: 

The forecaster's certainty that precipitation will form or move into the area X The areal coverage of precipitation that is expected, then multiplied by 100. 

Thus, if the forecaster were 90% certain that 30% of the forecast area would receive rain, then the forecast displayed on screens would read as a 27% chance of rain.

A crucial bit of information that seemed to have slipped his mind midst a quiet afternoon. 

A troublesome miscalculation Alhaitham tsks at internally as he wrings out the pillowcase into a sink before tossing it back into the washing machine. Button-down shirts and blouses, wrinkled from the process of twisting out as much rainwater as possible, sat in damp piles awaiting their turn to be rewashed. 

As he measures out the detergent he can hear the rattles and clanks of the pot and pans from the kitchen. A late dinner in preparation, a task which was supposed to be his this week.

When he woke up to the pattering of rain drumming against the window panes, the afternoon long gone, it stirred an ever-so-sinking pit of dread. Second only to the unamused stare of his wife as she replicated an overconfident statement:

“Less than a 30% chance, Alhaitham?”

How unfortunate it all was, that the area where this quaint house resides was part of that 30% of the forecasted area.

Teal eyes watch the bedsheets whirl and fumble as they spin in the wash, contemplating the circumstance and further action. 

There is only one spare bedding set in the closet, so it’d be wise to allow you to have it for tonight as all the sheets and covers get rewashed and dried.

Your bed is about the same size as his, so two bodies wouldn’t have an issue fitting. At this rate, the two of you just slept in whichever bed was the most convenient. 

However, given the current state of things, Alhaitham wonders if he should prepare himself to brave tonight on his bare mattress with a flimsy spare blanket and pillow.

He might as well return to the couch for tonight if that was the case. 

The accumulation of all the years of science, mathematics, and research, Alhaitham wonders if there was ever a bright mind who came up with a formula to calculate how displeased one’s wife is.

What would be the factors plugged into the equation? And how accurate would it be? 

More specifics needed to be gathered, something the man couldn’t do in the refugee of the laundry room. Thus, Alhaitham must brave a journey into the kitchen. His slipper-clad footsteps are slow and methodical as the kitchen appears from around the corner of the hallway.

Sights honed in on your back as you stood by the stove, a rich aroma wafting through the air. 

Sleep still dusted your hair, evident in the few unruly strands sticking up erratically on your head, you made no attempt at fixing it. One hand is too occupied with stirring the pot on the stove, and the other set upon your hip.

Your stance wasn’t exactly tipping the scales in his favor. 

Cautiously, Alhaitham made his way to you. Stopping just a few paces as your eyes peer over your shoulder, stoic gaze halting him in place just a few paces away. The faded imprint of the crumpled blankets and couch cushions on your cheek.

His hand twitches with the urge to run his thumb along the impressions, but rationally warns him of the consequences. 

“The laundry?” No discernable tone in your voice. 

“Everything has been collected and wrung out, I’ll rewash everything tomorrow.” It’s best to answer your questions this time. 

“Hmm, they were out in the rain for quite a while now. They were dripping out onto the floor when you brought them in.” 

“I’ve mopped away any rain and mud tracked between the back door and laundry room.” Teal eyes quickly checked the aforementioned area to ensure they were pristine before returning to you. 

“Hmm.” You turn back towards the stove. 

The soft ticks of the clock accompany the waning drums of raindrops against the glass, the kitchen hood whirring as a ladle continues to stir in a pot. A quiet lull engulfed the home. Treading on the side of caution, Alhaitham inhales deeply. 

Without opening the box, one will never be able to confirm to fate of Schrödinger's cat. 

“What’s for dinner?” 

“Hmm? Well, it’s raining tonight, what better to eat on a rainy night than some Sabz Meat Stew, no?” 

He’s careful to not sigh too audibly, lest he goes to bed with a stomach half-full of instant noodles and that miffed stare of yours.

Alhaitham decides to hold his tongue as teal eyes continue to watch you add more spices to the pot. Studying how nicely the apron is tied around your waist. 

But it wouldn’t be wise of him to stand so close when the fabric of his shirt was still damp with rainwater transferred to him by the soaked laundry and sky. 

His chain of thought was interrupted by the chimes of your phone on the countertop, catching your eyes as well as his to peek at the over. A certain name is displayed across the screen. It’s as if the hands of fate wanted to throw more salt into his face. 

Bahram (Manager)

It’s a Saturday night, for what reason would an employer need to contact an employee so late?

Alhaitham’s focus shifts to your gaze which is still honed in on the screen. A bitter tinge crawls up the tip of his tongue, threatening to spoil his appetite. Perhaps, he wouldn’t mind settling down in his bare bed with just a spare comforter without dinner tonight.

“Can you reject the call for me? He can wait until Monday to get me to resolve whatever he messed up,” you scoff before rolling your eyes back to the stove. 

Swiftly he swipes to decline the call, let your voicemail remind Bahram of the concept of ‘off time’. The phone whirs again right after the first rejection, but he simply swipes decline again.

Pushing the device away with a bit too much satisfaction in his veins. 

Glancing back at your frame, he lets out a sigh as he relents. Resting his head into the crook of your neck, careful to leave a bit of distance between your bodies and to not hamper your shoulder’s movement. 

“Hm?” You hum expectantly. 

“It was my oversight tonight.” A string of words a bit unfamiliar on his tongue, but stubbornness hasn’t been in his favor tonight. 

“And?”

“I’ll be more cautious regarding naps.” 

“Hmph.” 

The lull returns, him resting his head on your shoulder and you continuing to watch over the stew. Teal eyes on you and your eyes on the stove. Until your shoulders raise with a deep inhale. 

“Go get changed out of that wet shirt then set the table, this bastardized version of ‘soup’ will be ready in 20 minutes.” You reach for a skillet just off to the side. 

He hums this time, the liberation from treading in suffocating lull tugs at the end of his lips. He surmises that laying his head against you for a few moments more won’t be so consequential. 

The patter of raindrops still splattered against the glass panes of the window, drops which warped and blurred the scenery beyond the glass. Not that there’s any scenery to look at, not with the dreary clouds crowding the sky. 

A heavy sigh huffs through your nose, curling onto your side as you adjust your pillow. 

A filling dinner, a warm shower, and soft comforters. Factors that should contribute to a restful night’s sleep, or at the very least make your eyelids weary with the weight of lethargy.

Yes, perhaps those components should’ve granted you entry into the reprieve of a dream. 

If it wasn’t for the fact you’ve intruded into the domain of slumber twice already today. 

And the tempter who lured you to do so currently has his arm wrapped around your waist. 

Alhaitham’s chest rises and falls against your back, soundly asleep without an ounce of guilt over the predicament he’s partly responsible for. 

Lifting your head off the flattened pillow, your body twists around to fluff the stale stuffing back up before settling back to your position.

His body rested against yours just as it would any other night. But there’s a weight at the corners of your lips, one only grew heavier as your ears witnessed each content exhale resounding from the man who seemingly stole your sleep. 

If you were crueler, you would’ve exiled Alhaitham to the couch or his barren mattress. 

However, he’d probably sleep just fine regardless. 

Canting your head up, you flip your pillow to the other side once more. 

Your rolls and rhythm were abruptly interrupted by the clasp of two harsh hands pulling your hips into his, the contours of his rigor now digging into the plush of your ass. Forcing a stunned gasp up your throat.

“It seems like my wife has quite a bit of energy.” His timbre deeper from grogginess. 

Ah, all the twisting and turning you did just to adjust the troublesome pillow must've disturbed him. 

The softness of your ass cradled against his pelvis through the thin material of a button-down, an item borrowed from his closet that you’ve designated as sleepwear, and his sweatpants. 

‘Serves him right.’ 

Your attempts to twist out from his iron-clad hold only ground your ass more against the stiffness, earning a grumble from his lips. 

“Oh? And who’s fault is it?” You retort, still protesting in his hold. 

Snaking one hand downwards Alhaitham presses against your lower stomach to arch your ass further into him. Leaning his face closer to yours. 

“Do you want me to take responsibility?” His whisper ghosts over the shell of your ear.

You could feel the pads of his fingertips tracing under the loose button-down.

“Shouldn’t you resolve the issues you’ve caused?” A huff leaves you.

The outline of his shape pressed along your skin, the plushness of your bottom contrasting against the rigidity. 

“I can say the same to you.” 

The pads of his fingers trail up your heated skin, crawling along your torso, feathering touches alighting your senses like sparks. Massaging the tired yet restless muscles. You sigh in contentment.

The billowing button-down dragged up by his vascular hand, unveiling your skin to the cool sheets. Wandering touches slow as they rest in the valley of your breasts. His fingers enclose around one mount, gently twisting the defenseless nipple.

“H-hey! Hmph-“ Barely catching a moan before it fled past sealed lips. 

“Hm?” His lips are now right next to your ears. “Surely you foresaw this, I’m just helping my wife with all her excess energy.”

His forgotten hand made its presence known as it kneaded your hips, cunning touches breaching under the feeble defenses of your panties. Effortlessly brushing them to the side, long fingers encroaching closer to their destination. 

Your thighs react, squeezing together to prevent him from venturing further. Unfortunately, it was all in vain, for his fingertips already dipped into an all too familiar sap.

“See, you seem quite eager,” he taunts.

Stubbornly, your body attempts to buckle away from his influence. Face firmly pointed away from his lest he peeks at your heated cheeks. 

Alhaitham abandons the perch on your breast, two large hands attempting to tame the bucks and rolls of your hips. He releases a slow sigh into the crook of your neck. 

“Are you not feeling it tonight?” His hands remain where they were, but the strength missing.

At the lack of resistance, your hips seem to have lost interest in their writhing, staying within his yielding hold. Internally, you chiding your body for being so straightforward. The only thing blocking an answer from exiting your throat was that fickle ego of yours. 

“Won’t you allow me to make up for my blunders today, wife?” He soothes his hand along your leg.

With that stubborn ego of yours still biting down on your tongue, you simply nod your head. Feeling the heat of your cheeks reflected to you by the pillow. 

Permitting your thighs to give into the tow of his grasp. Allowing the grip of one large hand to pull your bent leg open, exposing your vulnerable cunt. Shielded from the view of the raindrops by a mere blanket. 

The hand snaked under your waist took swift advantage of the oppurtunity. Sliding one firm finger down to part the fold of your slit as his warm hand cups your greed. 

Alhaitham continued with the caresses of his fingers. Your lashes and lips pressed tightly shut, your leg still held in his tender hold. His slow breaths brush ghosting your skin. 

He spreads the slick along your slit, the tips of his fingers ever so often knocking against the bud at the very top. Teal eyes catch the sudden jolts of your body every time it happens. 

He moves his fingers downwards, slowly parting the now soft folds of your core. Feeling the subtle puckers of your entrance as his touch traced closer, more wetness dribbling out from the honeypot. 

The tip of his finger now encircles the fluttering hole. Your hip subtly bucked into his hand, as if to lure him in a soundless plea. 

Breaths getting deeper as your eyes follow his touch, the warm pad of his index finger twirling against your clit. Stoking a burgeoning fire with each slow circle. Your placid sighs fill the lull. 

His middle finger ventures past the entrance of your satin walls welcomed with a lewd squelch. Curling his finger against slick walls to test the give, he wonders if this hidden oasis is etched into his shape yet.

Diligently, his digit continues to sink in and out of your weeping hole, making your teeth sink into the flesh of your bottom lip. The squelches increased in volume as trickles of nectar began pooling on the sheets. Walls clamping around a lonely finger, it wasn’t enough to quell that mounting heat within. 

A second deft finger joined in, sliding past a hungry entrance. A tangled dance amongst gummy walls as they curled and stretched the space. The lewd squelches resounding in your ear, a whimper trapped in your throat. The heel of his warm palm now pressed flat against the soft mound of your cunt, every movement of his hand resulting in a grind against your clit. 

Each grind causes a hot flash to shock throughout your body, starting from your curled toes to the very top of your head. The jostling of your hips and legs gradually expels the blanket off the bed. 

“Mmph!” A whine from a sudden surge of bliss when his thick fingers curled against a spongy patch deep within. 

“T-there! More there!”

Your body writhes, no longer docile under the white searing pleasure frying the ends of every nerve within your being. 

He gladly obliges. Unrelenting rhythm slipping in and out of your convulsing walls. Ensuring to grind against that spongey patch.

 Your body twitches and flails in reaction. Trying to find some way to handle this surcharge of sensations. 

Legs instinctively wanting to shut together as if to cease this turbulent sensation, unfortunately, your pitiful strength gave no resistance against his rigid hold.

Piqued by the sweet tune, Alhaitham watches the scrunch in your trembling brows. He repeats his actions, another mewl leaves your lips as your head leans further into his shoulder.

The mellow pace of his fingers suddenly amps up, retreating out only to clap back in as his palm presses into the twitching bud. 

“Ah! Haitham.”

A pressure mounting up, a sirens call beckoning you closer and closer to a hazardous cliff’s edge. The only foundation for your sanity is thousand-count fabric, thus you twist the silk fibers as tremors overtake your body.

Walls clamping down to trap his thick digits inside as it spasms. Muscles tensing and quivering as your back arches away from his chest, parted lips with nothing choking past them. 

Three thick fingers sink deeper into your pussy without a hint of resistance, as a reward he makes sure to roll your overstimulated clit in firm circles with his palms. Judging from the violent tremors in your legs, it seemed you were almost there. 

Just at the cusp of rapture when your hand tangles into his ashen-locks, canting your head back so that your panting lips could capture his. Alhaitham returns to gesture with just as much fervor in his kiss, swallowing down your sweet mewls for himself. 

With a singular gasp, the siren’s call had beckoned your sanity to drown in the murky depths. It’s as if you lost control of your body to the possession of pleasure.

Eyes rolled back and lips broke away as breathy moans escaped the prison of your throat, a haze heavy over your thoughts, pride long lost amongst the gale of an orgasm. 

The beckoning depths of euphoria welcome your descent. 

Your limp frame rests against him. A light layer of sweat coating your panting chest, blurred vision merging and blending the details of the ceiling above the bed.

Alhaitham coaxes the contractions of your core, riding out the waves of their squeezes and sucks against his fingers. Earning an addictive whimper from you when his digits pulled away. Entranced by the glimmering string of nectar stretching between his fingers and your oasis. 

Trailing back up to your face, he notes the return of your hazy irises from their ogle of the bedroom ceiling. 

“Better?” Teal gaze watching the pants of your chest as they steady. 

‘No, not at all’, a statement just at the tip of your tongue, but your lips were busy attempting to grasp deep breaths. The surplus of vigor festering into unquenchable desire. To be closer, deeper, more. You needed more. 

Where words fail, action must take its place. Even before your mind finishes up the scheme brewing within, your lips catch him off guard, plush lips embracing his in a tender waltz.

Your body rolls back so that your breast can press against his chest through the thin fabric of his stolen shirt.

At the tender caress of your kiss, teal eyes disappear behind ashen lashes, the clasp of his grip loosening. Allowing you the mobility to finally pull your body on top of his, lips never once parting until you were finally settled atop his broad body.

A certain stiffness makes its reintroduction against your roused clit.

Breaking the seal of the kiss as a line of salvia stretches between your tongues, arms pushing against his firm chest to prop your body up as you gaze down at him.

“Still have too much energy?” Haughty eyes peer into yours, yet you can see the ardor oh so thinly concealed behind the brilliant teal. 

“What do you mean? Aren’t you the eager one?” You hum, rolling your hips against the rigidness trapped behind the prison of sweatpants.

“Hmm.” He sucks in a breath through his teeth. 

Large hands feel down along the plumpness of your ass as they drag a flimsy bit of fabric down your thighs. Daintier hands pull down the hem of sweatpants and briefs. 

A fair exchange. Him helping you out of those ruined panties, and you freeing him from a compressed prison of cloth. Discarded and forgotten along the floorboards as the fog of passion obscured them from further consideration.

His vascular hands slide down the curves of your body, settling on your hip as your legs plant themselves on either side of his body. Alhaitham coaxes the hem of his stolen button-down just above your midriff. Sharp eyes surveying the puffiness of your clit, glistening with temptation. 

Lowering your hips a breathy sigh leaves his lips and yours as the ridges of his cock drag against your slick folds. A few slow rolls starting from his leaking tip sliding down, thick veins skimming against your swollen clit. Precum mixing with arousal in a sinful concoction along his length. 

Perhaps he should convince you to participate in more naps if he knew it’d make you this excitable. 

“Oh,” you hum aloud, pausing your hips as you reach over to the bedside table.

Pulling open the drawer and rustling about a box followed by the crinkling of foil. Holding up the corner of the packet to your lip, tearing the foil while your gaze held his. Taking your time in dragging the condom out from its package. Easing it down his length while your fingers traced along, feeling each twitch and shudder. 

“You sure do know how to test my patience.” 

“Hmm?” You feign innocence. 

A pair of shaky breaths mingle as Alhaitham helps position his engorged tip at your dripping entrance. Your hand guides him while raising your hips.

Other hand pressing his chest down for support as your thighs sink back down, a shameful squelch accompanying heavy breaths as your walls welcome his cock’s fat head.

Weeping pussy engulfing his girth in bit by bit until you clit kisses his pelvis. Sending jolts of searing pleasure that caused your satin walls to twitch and tighten. 

Releasing a breathy sigh as you gather your senses.

Drawing out his cock inch by thick inch, sloppy trails of arousal caught on each ridge before dropping back down. Earning low grunts and sighs each time your satin walls swallowed his girth. The rhythm of your hips is paced and controlled despite how Alhaitham’s fingers dug into your skin. 

A whine living your drooling lips with each slap of his skin against your clit. Pushing each tantalizing inch to stroke your starved walls until his skin claps against yours with a wet kiss. The bedframe creaks with each calculated movement, back and forth, back and forth the wood sings along. 

Your head was light, intoxicated by a feverish potion of lust and desire. Feeling him reach the deepest depths, fat tip grinding against those spots which made your legs falter momentarily each time.

Utilizing the strength of both your arms now to support yourself. However, the jolts of pleasure that shot up your spine with each roll of your hips were too maddening to stop. 

His calloused fingers massage circles into your hips. Squeezing the plush flesh to ground his sanity, watching your lewd face as you shamelessly bounced on him for your pleasure. Observing the subtle ripples with each slap of your hips and the jumps of your perky breast. 

The ghostly touches of your fingers skim across his lips, prompting his eyes to connect with yours. Lush and glossy lips parted with your deep pants as your lust-hazed eyes peer down at him, unspoken plea inscribed within them. Who is he to not fulfill your desires?

Lurching his upper body up, he answers your plea, capturing your lips with his. Swiping his tongue against your bottom lip, deepening the kiss. A messy and feverish tangle as if to replace the air in your lungs with his. 

Mewls and whimpers muffled by his skin, your hands moving to perch themselves on his broad shoulders. Your quivering legs grew limp as the strength of his hands took over. Barely processing the sweet nothings whispered as your core relishes in the fullness. Like an ache that’s been finally satisfied. 

He wondered if tonight’s excessive vigor was fraying his control, or if your body was just this addictive. 

By now any notion of decency and integrity has long left you, your hand clawing into his shoulders, marking him with the scars of rapture. A harsh thrust of his hips recoils through you, a wanton moan reverbing off the walls as it forces your tangled lips to part. 

Tongue unable to produce anything other than strained moans, your head nods into his broad shoulder as your hips ground against his. The wet squelch announces the reciprocation of your walls. 

The intervals of those unrelenting rams increasing between the tender thrusts, half-lidded eyes trained on the shivers of your body. Cock sliding against satin ridges of your wall. Grunts and pants reverberate through his throat, teeth clenching as your heat engulfs him again. Reaching deeper into your welcoming core as your lips fall open. 

“Is this not enough?” You could feel the mirth in his whisper. 

Closer, deeper, more. You want more. Walls aching for more, for his girth to jostle your core more, to extinguish this all-consuming heat within you. Hips floundering in harmony with breathy mewls. 

Pressing libidinous kisses along his throat feeling the vibrations of his grunts and pants, a deep chuckle was soon felt against your lips.

“Good grief you are a greedy little thing aren’t you.” 

A deafening slam of skin resounds through the heavy air, swiftly followed by another and another. A new tempo in this waltz of passion takes over like a wave sweeping both of you out to a sea of indulgence.

Possessed by the desperation of chasing a white light, your hand rakes deeper into his toned arms. Seizing anything to prevent your mind from abandoning your sinful body as his girth twitches within your velvety folds. 

Sanity like a foolish sailor who’s beckoned by the lure of a siren’s voice, uncaring of the rocks which will sink them to the very bottom of the bemused tides. Keening against your husband shamelessly, a shameless wife on the cusp of her second fall into ecstasy. 

The heavy scent of lust, the smothering heat, his unrelenting and unshakable thrusts amalgamating into the spark that lit your nerves alight. Toes arched into the air and eyes reaching the back of your head. Sobs and incoherent babbles resounding through the room. 

Your devious walls clamped around his dick with maddening convulsions, gummy muscles suckling against his girth eager to quell your aching greed. It was too much. 

His fingers claw into your soft hips, pressing your cunt flush against his hips with a sloppy slap of skin. The bulbous tip prodding against that weakness deep within you. Bruising grip holding your body in place as his lips crash back into yours.

Swallowing down his breathless groans with your sweet mewls and praddles.

A heat is spilled into the rubber, making your greedy walls quiver amidst the aftershocks of ecstasy. Alhaitham’s hips twitch with each subsequent rip of his orgasm, thrusting his length further into your crowded cavity with each one. The filthiness of it all prolongs your sinful depravity. 

Chest expanding with pants, your lopsided shirt falling further down your shoulder. Your eyes return from seeing blinding white, exhaustion drenching each fiber of your body.

Limp figure crumbling against your husband as his back lays back on the creaking headboard. Even before your worn mind could conjure a coherent thought, your hands caress his starlight tresses. 

As his own breath evades him Alhaitham releases one hand to cup your cheek, thumb brushing softly against your smoldering skin, guiding your lips back to his. 

Basking in the warmth forged between your bodies, between drumming heartbeats and breathless lungs. 

Two bodies lay under silken sheets, skin freshly wiped clean of sweat as the crisp breeze brushed against the curtains gradually erasing the sinful haze. The cool air aids your rising and falling chest to pace itself. 

Muscles and bones heavy with fatigue, yet your eyes couldn’t bring themselves to retire behind shut lids. Not when those dreary clouds have finally retreated. 

The moon hangs high in the sky, finally free from the shroud of rain clouds, she sits among the twinkling dots. Twinkling dots were in actuality brilliant stars, some even larger and brighter than the beloved sun. 

Glimmering lustrously as they traverse through the contentious vacuum of space and past other nameless stars. A scene from a late-morning market trip wanders its way back from the depths of your memory, bringing its musings with it.

“Something on your mind?” A timbre voice beckons your conscious mind back from its trek.

Teal eyes set upon yours as your heads rest on plush pillows, just a breath away from one another.

“Hm, just senseless musings.” Your gaze shifts away from the window. 

In a changed world with millions of hands will your hands and his find each other to make two pairs of hands?

In a different time with a million pairs of legs, will your steps and his steps still coincide in time with each other 

In a new life with a sea of new faces, will a stoic face and another stoic face spot each other in the crowd? 

What is the likelihood of those odds? 

“If you keep letting your thoughts fester, it’ll only bring trouble upon yourself in the morning from sleep deprivation.” He shifts his position, supporting his cheek on his fist as he stares down at your face. 

You sigh because he spoke exactly what those whispers of rationale were urging you, but the scoffs of pride had deemed these rampant inquiries ‘childish’. However, it’s a bit hard to avoid his eyes now. 

“I was just musing about the soulmates concept again,” you confess. 

Alhaitham hums in curiosity. 

“Do you…” You take a deep breath, forcing the hard-to-vocalize question from your tongue. “Do you think we’ll only be together in this life?” 

He’s silent. Just the muted chorus of Summer crickets rejoicing over the conclusion of a rainstorm resounding through the space.

“In a different time, a different universe, or the next life, do you think we’ll be soulmates again?” You muster together the courage to peer up at his face. 

“I don’t recall ever reading an article or paper related to this topic, so it’ll be convoluted to get an answer.” He brings his other hand to his face, signifying his musings. 

Right, there isn’t even a definitive answer for what happens after life passes, an afterlife, a cycle, or nothing, no one knows. Was this the only universe where life exists or are there infinitely many far out there in the stars? Does anyone know?

Your hand pulls your blanket up to your face, partially to cover the growing shame creeping up your face. That haughty voice within was right, these baseless questions are silly and childish. Perhaps even too morbid to bring up so unprompted on this weekend night. 

What were you expecting Alhaitham to even do? Did you want him to give you an answer? What can he even do? A question you can’t even begin to understand, why would you even expect him to have some solution prepared? 

What to do now? Can you just take back your previous words from his memory, so he’ll just forget what you said? Maybe just ask him to quell any more mindless musings from plaguing you tonight by placing his lips on your forehead? So that you could finally drift into the realm of slumber. 

However, is that temporary solution enough? Enough to stifle the contentions and riddles clattering together into a clamorous ruckus in your head? Could sleep even spare you from their tumult? 

“The Membrane Multiverse Theory or reincarnation, hm, do you have any personal theories you’d like to share?” The sensation of his fingers grasping yours brings you back to reality. 

Glancing at him with a quirk in your brow, you wait for him to continue. 

“Who knows, maybe we’ll be the first to publish something for this topic.” His thumb runs along your knuckles. 

“So, is there a speculation or possible rationale you feel particular to?” Teal eyes reconnect with yours. 

“Well…” You sigh, relishing in the warmth of his hand as you concoct a half-baked theory. 

“There’s stardust from stars that had burst billions of years ago, that have somehow ended up on this planet. Subsequently, every being on earth has the atoms of stars in them. So, naturally by the law of conservation, the earth is where the atoms of the human body will return.”

“Based on the law that atoms cannot be created or destroyed?” He drones. 

“Yes, they all had to come from something before them. The carbon in muscles, the calcium in bones, and the iron in blood. The atoms that make up you and I might become part of something else, or even of different people too.” 

“Hm, that sounds probable.”

“But, then this brings up a whole new host of questions, such as, if the new people our atoms become a part of are even ‘us’? Will they ever meet? What if you become a tree and I a rock? What if the atoms of you end up on one side of Teyvat and I on the other end?”

You peer into his irises, but you were just searching for an answer that isn’t there. 

For his beryl irises were impassive. But it was the impassive foundation you needed to ground your rambling thoughts and nonsensical musings into the desolate truth of it all.

The warmth of his hand slips away.

“Never mind, I suppose it’s the most logical to conclude that we’re just soulmates in this instance of time, in this universe, and only here.” Your hand closes over the empty space he left. 

Maybe it’s wise to dismiss it as silly rambling and then withdraw from his indecipherable eyes. Is it too late to put this plan into motion now?

The weight of a muscular arm is draped over your waist, hand pulling you closer unlike your ploy to escape. 

“But I have a few theories I haven’t shared yet.” He glances out toward the bedroom window. 

“While the theory of reincarnation currently doesn’t have any solid scientific backing, in some way, the law of conservation of mass does give a bit of merit to that notion.” Alhaitham draws circles into the small of your back. 

You hum in response. 

“The atoms that created us will return to the earth after us and become a part of something or someone else’s molecular structure. A tree or a rock, a human or a beast, it’s all probable. However…” Beryl eyes return to meet yours. 

“What’s stopping them from repeating the same molecular structures as right now?” He asks. 

Maybe it was his turn to peer into your eyes to search for an answer, an answer currently brewing and forging between your united gazes. 

“What’s stopping these atoms from returning to these exact molecular structures in the future? In a different time, the atoms of us now could one day in the far future come together again and make ‘us’ once more. Maybe just you, maybe just me, or maybe both at the same time.” 

He frees his other hand from the duty of supporting his head, broad body settling down into the bed and blankets, allowing his face to move closer to your level upon his pillow. 

“What’s the likelihood of those odds? Me and you again?” You ask. 

Alhaitham pauses. All the bright minds of science, mathematics, and physics, have yet to come up with a formula to calculate such a thing.

What would be the factors plugged into the equation? And how accurate would it even be?

The ashen-haired man wasn’t sure, but there was at least a statistical observation that would provide some basis. 

“A true 0% chance is an absolute impossibility, just as nothing can be proven absolutely 100%. Since we don't know the absolutes of time, existence, or physics. So, there’ll always be a non-zero chance.” Feeling the drums of your heartbeat against his chest. 

“Then, when they do, I think I’ll spend my life pondering what could fit into the spaces between my fingers like this.” He slips his hand into the gaps of yours, intertwining them. 

Then finally, he saw the smile he’d been yearning for rising on your lush lips. The ends of your eyes crinkle as it make its way to your irises as well. Your grip mirrors his as you nestle your face closer to his. 

“You won’t get tired of this stoic face?” You taunt.

“Will you get tired of mine?” He counters. 

Your shoulders quiver with stifled giggles. 

“No, no I won’t,” you promise him. 

“Then I won’t,” he promises back. 

His larger hand brings yours closer to himself, all the while your attentive eyes watch failing to keep the curl of your lips under control. 

“Any thoughts on the Membrane Multiverse Theory? How will your astute mind surmise the possibility of us laying like this somewhere else in the stars?” Honeyed-voice mimicking awe as your face inches closer.

“I believe I’ve shared enough, I’d much rather hear what your brilliant postulate is.” His tone casted with mirth, but the bite missing from teal eyes. 

Letting a soft hum, your mind rifling through all the paragraphs and journals your hands had ever thumbed through.

The soft rhythm of his breaths kept time. Stringing the words together on your tongue, you hope this monologue of yours will provide some amusement for him. 

“If universes are randomly put into 2 boxes of ‘yes’ and ‘no’, then on average the number of universes in each box would be the same. For every universe I’m not with you, there’ll be equally as many where I am with you.” 

A coin toss, perhaps it was all just a coin toss after all. Whether or not the Akasha paired a stoic face with another stoic face, for the gaps of your fingers to fit his so perfectly.

It could have all been a coin toss, for one half to stumble upon the other half cruelly parted from them by the hands of unseen gods. 

“Something akin to a bijection existing between both sets of universes?” He cross-examines. 

“Maybe… If we were to assign one type ‘yes’ to a positive integer, and the other type ‘no’ to a negative integer, then perhaps we can construct a bijection from the positive and negative integers.” Your brow furrows in contemplation. 

“If we submit this theory do you think the Akademiya would publish it?” 

“Not likely, bijections are usually made between sets of elements like numbers, not sure if bijections can be applied to something like whole universes. I’m just hypothesising nonsense,” you sigh.

“But they did publish the nonsense known as The Lifespan of Love,” he interjects. 

“Hm, then maybe there’s a non-zero chance they’ll publish our nonsense too.” You stifle a scoff. 

“Hm,” Alhaitham hums in amused agreement. 

His free hand pulls the covers further up over your frame then smoothing out the wrinkles. Observing the growing delays between your slowing blinks.

“Only you and I would turn pillow talk into an academic deliberation.” You couldn’t hold back the giggle any longer. 

He sighs in agreement, nestling his head closer to yours on the plush pillows, teal gaze never once leaving yours. 

“It’ll make any romantic keel over and die from how dry it is, wouldn’t it, Haitham?”

“I say let them.” 

Scoffing and shaking your head at his crude declaration as a yawn slips past your lips, a conclusion to this nonsensical academic deliberation.

With one hand still intertwined in the tender grasp of another you pull Alhaitham closer. So that the spaces of your body could lay against the spaces of his. 

The warmth of his skin mingling with the warmth of yours, pressed against one another. You drawing mindless shapes into his back, his hand tracing senseless ruins into yours.

Perhaps, an illogical attempt to echt memories into the stardust in your bodies. 

So he and you could imprint the memory of each other into the very fibers of your beings. Then maybe someday when these atoms return to these exact molecular structures, they’ll remember this too. 

The law of conservation of mass, the probabilities upon probabilities, and bijections used in an inconsequential pseudo-academic ramblings to no one but an audience of silent stars.

Alhaitham’s certain no academic publisher would spare a glance at them. 

But this nonsensical instance in the continuum of time, feeling the rhythm of your heart on the other side of his chest next to his own, is his most precious epiphany. 

Fin~

©️vivalabunbun DON’T PLAGIARIZE, REPOST, OR TRANSLATE ANY OF MY WORKS. 

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[chronosdawn]

Zhongli x GN!Reader, Soulmate AU Part 2

Link to Part 1

Word count: ~2.5k

He was waiting for you at the Stone Gate.

You hadn't known it was him at first, having taken to pointedly ignoring the sensations crawling up your arm from your soulmate mark once the phantom hand tugging you back to the harbor had turned clawed when you refused to listen to it. 

Of course you could hardly be blamed for overlooking a lone tall man standing just at the edge of the border, his back to you as he looked out over Mondstadt's grassy plains. There was nothing particularly remarkable about him at first glance, save perhaps for his height and fine clothes. The way he stood—perfectly still with his hands clasped behind his back—made him seem more like part of the landscape than a living thing. It was only when you got close to him, just barely out of arm's reach as you made to walk past and he turned to face you, amber eyes meeting yours, that you realized who he was.

Your legs refused to move as though they'd been turned to stone, torn between hurtling back the way you'd come—as though attempting to run from a god a second time might somehow prove more successful—and throwing yourself the last precious distance between you and the border, like the invisible line of it would somehow protect you from whatever was to come. 

Before you could commit to either however, your soulmate spoke.

"I apologize if the suddenness of our connection startled you, but it is very good to meet you at last." His voice was rich and smoother somehow than it had been during the rite, his expression one you could only describe as soft as he looked at you.

You'd thought gazing into the face of the dragon-qilin version of Rex Lapis was bad—somehow this was worse.

Words failed you as you stared at him. What were you even supposed to say? Your head felt like a hornets nest, thoughts flicking from excuses to questions to apologies until it turned into a garbled mess that made your temples throb. 

"I don't…" you stammered out before petering off. Your chest felt funny, like it was trying to cave in on itself.

Rex Lapis looked you over from head to toe and whatever he saw caused his lips to press together slightly. 

"You must be tired after the long journey here from the harbor. Come, you should rest for a moment." He moved to your side, a hand resting gently against the small of your back as he steered you away from the boundary of the nation of freedom and towards what appeared to be a modest tea stand nestled against the stone of one of the large cliffs making up the gate. You tried to protest, you really did, but your tongue felt like lead in your mouth, your skin prickling from how close you were to a literal god. Before you knew where you were, you'd been ushered to a table in the cornerーthe Archon only leaving your side to pull your chair out for you and then take the seat opposite. 

The elderly man running the stand came over and Rex Lapis ordered for the pair of you while you watched mutely, noting that he’d seated you in a corner, placing himself between you and any route of escape. Your hands shook faintly where they rested against the chipped wood of the table.

Silence descended as the old man left to brew your tea, interrupted only by the faint howl of the wind against the cliffs. You fought not to fidget in the face of such blatant awkwardness, turning your attention instead to the other patrons scattered nearby. The young woman closest to you was dressed in a signature Adventurer’s Guild uniform, likely on her way to a commission judging by the heavy backpack rammed with supplies at her feet. Sitting a little further away were a couple with obviously graying hair, twin soulmate marks visible on their joined hands as they quietly enjoyed the view. A lump formed in your throat at the sight.

“You hail from Snezhnaya.” Your gaze snapped back at the sound of Rex Lapis’s voice. It wasn’t a question, but the tone left the statement open-ended, an offering of idle conversation in place of the one you should be having but obviously weren’t ready for.

Nodding, you mustered your courage and said quietly, “I came to Liyue three months ago.”

“May I ask what brought you here? It’s rather a long way to travel.”

“My grandmother. She… She was from Liyue, she used to tell me stories about the harbor and the er— the Adepti growing up. After she passed, I decided I wanted to see it for myself.” You stammerred your way through your explanation, all too aware that it was only a half truth—the rest being the obviously Liyuean symbols swirled into the soulmate mark inked starkly upon your skin. 

“I am very sorry to hear of your loss," he said with a sincerity that put all the others you'd had this particular line of conversation with to shame. "Has it been all you expected, your time in Liyue?” 

"That's…" You trailed off, dropping your gaze to the table. How were you supposed to comment on a nation when the god who'd presided over it for thousands of years was sitting right across from you?

Obviously picking up on your inner turmoil, Rex Lapis spoke again, "There's no need to be anxious, I would not ask if I did not want to hear an honest answer. Though I have played a part in shaping Liyue into what it is today, it is but one of the seven nations and I would not expect it to appeal to all." 

Your drinks appeared just after he finished, providing a short but welcome reprieve as a warm cup was pressed into your hands. You inhaled deeply, the rich scent of expertly brewed green tea filling your nose as you did so. It was not until the old man had left that you gave your answer.

“It’s… prettier than I’d thought it would be. My grandmother always said the harbor was beautiful but it’s been another thing to see it in person.”

You glanced up quickly, meeting amber eyes through the faint trickle of steam rising from the cup in his hands. The Archon poised to take a sip, waiting for you to continue.

“Fitting in has been harder than I’d thought it would be. I knew it wouldn’t be easy, moving so far away from home, but I thought I’d done enough research that I’d be ready for it. I guess there’s nothing you can do to really prepare yourself for living somewhere completely new though.”

“Indeed, it’s true such adjustments can take time. Has it grown easier over the months you’ve been here at least?” 

Not really, you thought. You’d been hoping that something would click upon meeting your soulmate, that you’d feel like you’d finally found your place in the world. Instead you now felt like you wanted to be anywhere but the land of contracts and stone. 

It was that thought and the warmth seeping into your fingers that finally gave you the courage to stop dancing around the issue at hand. You shifted in your seat, straightening your back and lowering your shoulders so you looked at least a little more sure of yourself than you felt.

“Look, I think… I think there must have been some sort of mistake.”

Rex Lapis returned his cup to the table, the cor lapis gem on the back of his glove gleaming in the evening light.

“Mistake?”

“Yes, this—” you gestured between the two of you “—this can’t be right. I mean you’re a god and I’m just some human from a small village in Scheznaya—I don’t even have a vision. I don’t know that much about soulmate marks honestly,” you instinctively placed your hand over your left forearm, missing the way your conversation partner’s eyes zeroed in on the gesture, “but this has to be a false alarm or something.”

Rex Lapis’s expression remained neutral as he let out a deep exhale—it wasn’t quite a sigh but reminded you of the controlled breath someone might take before they had to explain something to a child. 

“Over the many years I have watched over Liyue, I have been witness to numerous soulmate connections. While the reason behind a pairing is not always immediately obvious, not once have I observed a soulmark responding to anyone but the person’s intended. It’s true that differences in personal status between soulmates can act as a source of friction, though that is usually between families rather than the individuals themselves, something that will not prove to be an issue in our case.” He paused to take a sip of his tea, his movements measured and steady, a stark contrast to your white-knuckled grip on your own cup.

You were painfully aware of the sun slipping lower in the sky, the cliffs slowly being stained amber in the fading late. You’d hoped to be safely in Mondstadt before nightfall.

“And though it is not common knowledge,” Rex Lapis continued, returning his cup to the table, “ours is not the first case of an archon having a human for a soulmate.” Though the words were perhaps meant to serve as some sort of reassurance, his voice held a somewhat wistful tone, as though lost in a memory from long ago..

“I just—” you sucked in a breath, the words ‘never wanted something like this’ caught in the back of your throat. It was true, of course, you didn’t want the pressure of being soulmates with Liyue’s exalted archon; of being the supposed other half of a being you likely would never be able to truly understand, let alone measure up to. It felt unfair, however, to throw that in his face. There were tales up north of various ways the story could play out when one soulmate rejected the other, none of which ended well. 

And it wasn’t as though he’d actually done anything to deserve your rejection either—you wanted to cast your connection aside because of what he was rather than anything he’d actually done. You weren’t sure you were really capable of that kind of cruelty, no matter how badly you might wish to vanish with the setting sun. 

“This wasn’t what I expected,” you said finally, after a long period of uncomfortable quiet.

“And that is not something anyone would fault you for.” If Rex Lapis was upset by your lack of enthusiasm for the bond that existed between you, he made no show of it. “I doubt many who were not intimately familiar with the gods would dare to even dream of the possibility. I hope however,” he continued, his gaze falling to the mark hidden away underneath your sleeve, “that with time it will become easier to accept.”

You swallowed uncomfortably. It wasn’t the words themselves that made something in your guts twist—if anything you should probably be grateful that a deity referred to in some stories as the Warrior God was granting you so much grace—but there was a certainty in his voice as he said them that didn’t sit well with you. 

Rex Lapis lifted his eyes from where your arms rested on the table, looking up at the slowly darkening sky. Taking a final sip of his tea he said, “It’s rather late for the return journey to the harbor, but there is an inn on the way that I believe we should be able to reach before nightfall.”

“I’m sorry, what do you mean we?” you asked in a small voice, casting a furtive glance towards the path to Mondstadt.

“Ah.” For the first time since you’d met the Archon, the slightest crack appeared in his composure, a minute shift in expression that you’d almost call bashful. The look was gone as quickly as it had appeared and you found yourself meeting the deep amber of his eyes.  “Please forgive my forwardness but I’m afraid it would be remiss of me to allow you to be exposed to the dangers that come with traveling alone at night, especially with… so few preparations.” A polite way of remarking on the fact you’d basically legged it with no supplies to your name.

“That’s…” You trail off, no good defense coming to mind as to why you should continue your journey alone with only the clothes on your back and scarcely a pocketful of mora. 

As if sensing your desperate fumble for an excuse to not go with him, he continued, “If your business in Mondstadt is urgent then I will escort you come morning, once you have had adequate rest. Otherwise, perhaps it may be best to return after you’ve had a chance to recover from the shock of recent events. It has been some time since I last had reason to visit but I would be more than happy to share the sights with you after ensuring matters will run smoothly in Liyue for the course of my absence.”

“I—” The sun was only half visible at the horizon now and as it sank further you felt your hopes of slipping away go with it. “I barely have any mora on me, I’m not sure I can afford a night at an inn.”

“That will not be an issue, I am more than willing and able to cover any of your expenses. Speaking of which,” Rex Lapis placed a large pile of mora on the table and you felt your eyes nearly bulge out of your skull at the amount—it had to be many, many times however much your tea had actually cost. You were suddenly struck with the utter stupidity of trying to use a lack of mora as an excuse to the very being who was responsible for creating it. That and the fact you were completely out of ideas on how to get out of this situation short of simply making a run for it—a tactic which had failed to provide much success thus far.

“If you are feeling up to it, we should begin our journey to the inn now before it gets much darker.” He stood and rounded the table, extending a gloved hand out to you. 

You were backed into a corner in every way that mattered, the stone of the cliffs at your back as unyielding as you suspected the god of this land was. With nowhere else left to go, you place your hand in his, the leather of his gloves cool against your skin as his fingers curl around your own. You could only hope you wouldn’t regret not trying to run when you had the chance.

Taglist: @tanspostsblog, @esthelily, @alice4wonderland2812, @kalinka9999999999, @lacunaanonymoused

A/N: I have no excuses for how long this took me but here we finally are OTL. I make no promises as to whether or not there will be a part 3 but I am trying to get into the habit of writing more regularly again so I hope to at least start posting more stuff on this blog.

#Zhongli x reader #Genshin Impact x reader #soulmate AU #genshin x reader #Rex Lapis x reader #I don't think this needs any warnings? #but please let me know if you think I should add them! #in case you've reached the end of this and are wondering why Zhongli has mora #it's because he's not stepped down as Rex Lapis yet #Thank you for reading!

[becstxr]

'Princess... Darling... Sweetheart... Lovely... Angel... Babygirl...'

Petnames... that was something the two had common apart from both being Fatui Harbingers and highly unhinged that is. But the two each had a set, both had only three names they would use for you. Dottore would use Darling Lovely and Babygirl whilst Pantalone would use Princess Sweetheart and Angel. To others when they hear those simple names and the person they are reserved for, they will most likely die within the hour, you where reserved for them, and them alone. You were their soulmate as they where eachother's, anyone who laid there filthy eyes on you would have them cut out and be used for experiments, whilst their family's and familiars would lose their jobs and bank up a great debt.

#dottore x reader #pantalone x reader #yandere x you #yandere x reader #fatui harbingers #fatui x reader #dottore #genshin imagines #genshin smut #genshin yandere #x reader #yandere #male yandere #female reader #soulmate au #soulmates #pantalone #pantalone genshin #dottore genshin #dottore x you #il dottore #fatui #imagine #drabble

[ikebo-simp]

Much like how Wriothesley lets the melusines hide stickers all over him and his gauntlets, I think he also allows you to draw on him

As long as it wasn't too crude, you can draw on him whatever you wanted

Side note: I think the soulmate au where any mark/injures on your skin will transfer to your soulmate, would be a interesting idea with Wriothesley, especially with all his scars

Thanks for Reading

#genshin impact #genshin #genshin headcanons #genshin x reader #genshin fluff #genshin impact x reader #genshin imapct #soulmates #soulmate au #wriothesley #wriothesely #genshin wriothesley #wriothesley x reader #genshin wriothesley x reader #wriothesley fluff #melusine #wriothesley soulmates #genshin impact wriothesley #wriothesley headcanons #genshin inpact #genshin impact imagines #wriothesley genshin #wriothesley gi

[whoistartaglia]

soulmate au.

including: ayato and childe

warnings: gender neutral reader, fluff.

notes: i’ve been inactive because of university but i really wanted to try writing a soulmate au.

ayato.

you told ayato. you told him over and over and over again, ever since you were a child, that when you turned eighteen, his name would appear on your wrist. 

he, of course, never really believed you. ayato loved you, but only in the way one might love their childhood bestfriend. he couldn’t see you as anything more than that, and you were certainly not his soulmate. 

ayato was sleeping when he got your phone call. 

“[you], what—“

“happy birthday,” you rushed out, your voice trembling with excitment. “is my name on your wrist?”

fortunately or unfortunately, ayato turned eighteen before you. only by a month, but still. his wrist would finally contain the name of his soulmate, a name that you could only hope was yours. 

you waited in a nervous silence as you imagined ayato looking down at his wrist, waiting for his eyes to adjust to the darkness. he would say yes, you just knew it—

“i’m not telling you,” ayato finally replied. 

“what? why?” 

“it’s private,” he said.

you scrambled for the right words. “well… yes, but it’s my name— so is it really that private?”

“you don’t know that,” ayato said, softly. he sounded like he was about to fall back asleep. and although you were wide awake, and had been for the past several hours, you swallowed back your disappointment and replied, “i guess i don’t. i’ll… i’ll talk to you tomorrow. good night.”

with that, you hung up the phone, and cast it across your bed. would you really have to wait another month to find out if your childhood haunch was right?

the answer, surprisingly, was no. 

in that time between ayato’s birthday and yours, he kept his word. ayato never did tell you that you were his soulmate. 

at least, not verbally.

it started with small gestures. his hand, now gloved and name hidden, covering the edge of a table if you ever bent down to pick something off the floor. that same hand, on the small of your back, guiding you whenever you were in large crowds. his other hand, sometimes carelessly on your waist, ever so casual. 

ayato was always protective of you, but now it seemed unconious, as if it was his innate instinct to keep you safe. 

his actions alone were enough to let you know that yes, indeed you were right, your name was on his wrist. 

so when the clock struck midnight on your birthday, you didn’t even need to look down at your wrist and read, in perfect small letters: kamisato ayato. 

“i told you so,” you said, holding up your wrist to ayato.

he let out a small laugh and smiled, his eyes flickering down to his own wrist where your name had appeared a month ago. you followed his gaze. you didn’t even notice he wasn’t wearing a glove, didn’t try to sneak a glance at the name on his wrist. and now you supposed you didn’t have to.

“yes, you did. happy birthday, my soulmate.”

childe.

there was you, a rather ordinary citizen of snezhnaya, and the man in front of you, an anything but ordinary citizen of snezhnaya. 

you knew a harbinger when you saw one. or at least, that’s what you liked to believe. truth be told, you hadn’t realized this tartaglia in front of you was one of the elusive eleven agents of the tsaritsa until he told you himself. 

and that made what you just did twice as foolish and ten times more dangerous.

“stealing from a harbinger,” tartaglia mused, your wrist, before only inches away from his pockets, now caught in his tight grip. “is this what you often do in your pass time, or a new hobby?”

“i don’t make a habit of going after harbingers,” you replied.

“but you steal from others?”

“only those who look foolish enough to let me.”

“ouch. well, i’d say i’m a little impressed, but you failed rather miserably.”

“who said i failed?” you asked.

with that, you held up your free hand, full of coins and what looked like a very expensive necklace. tartaglia’s eyes widened and his grip loosened, just enough for you to yank your wrist free.

“well, this was fun, but i really should—“

“[name] [last name],” tartaglia said, his tongue tripping now the vowels and syllables, as if saying the words out loud for the first time. 

what did he just—?

and then again, more sure this time, “[name] [last name].”

“how… how do you know my…” your voice trailed off when you looked down at his wrist.

in perfect little letters: [name] [last name].

you began to shake you head. “no, that’s not possible. there must be a mistake, i don’t have tartaglia on my wrist.” 

you were dreaming. that must be it. you were just having a strange dream. because there was no way your name was on his wrist. you were not soulmates with a harbinger. 

“what’s the name in yours?” tartaglia asked. 

“it’s— wait, i’m not telling you,” you said, stopping yourself from revealing the small name that appeared on your eighteenth birthday. 

“it’s ajax,” tartaglia said. “isn’t it?”

without waiting for your response, he grabbed your wrist, the coins and necklace completely ignored as he flipped it over to reveal the name. he touched it with his finger, almost gingerly, as if he might accidentally wipe it away. 

“that’s my real name,” ajax murmured, looking up at you. 

“you’re…” you hesitated, still unsure, still confused. “my soulmate?”

ajax nodded, and your surprised when a rather boyish smile came across his face. it was completely at odds with his intense stare only moments ago. he looked just as cheerful as he first did when he caught you about to rob him of everything he had. 

“i’ve finally found you,” he said. then he thought for a second, “or rather, you found me. you did try to steal from me—“

“i succeeded,” you snapped, gesturing to the coins and necklace still encased in your fisted hand. the reply was automatic, even as your mind continued reeling from what just happened. 

ajax’s eyes shone brighter at your response, and his grin became a little more crooked, a touch too wicked. 

“yes,” ajax said, more to himself to you. “you are my soulmate, indeed.”

#genshin impact #genshin impact headcanons #genshin headcanons #genshin impact childe #childe headcanons #childe x reader #genshin impact tartaglia #tartaglia headcanons #tartaglia x reader #genshin impact ayato #ayato x reader #ayato headcanons #genshin fluff #genshin x reader #genshin impact x reader #genshin imagines #soulmate au

[silkjade]

in the moment we’re lost & found

Featuring— albedo, kaveh, zhongli, dainsleif ⤀ gn!reader, reincarnation au but also a some soulmate au vibes (?), dark / light academia themed a/n: i picked charas i thought would suit the aesthetic cus my favorite flavor of reincarnation au has to do with art and museums / luv history + art + museums + galleries !

— 𝐀𝐋𝐁𝐄𝐃𝐎

as an up-and-coming artist, albedo is a rising star in teyvat’s art world, but lately he’s been haunted by a face he sees only in his dreams. it’s unclear, and it drives him insane that he can’t quite make out all the details of this mysterious figure. albedo, whose artwork is notoriously lifelike, knows that something just isn't right; something is missing and he can't quite grasp it. countless times, he's tried to translate the idea of you onto paper, and countless times he's ripped out pages of his sketchbook, the abandoned drawings left crumpled in random corners of his studio, of his house, of his room. they say the mind is unable to create faces of its own so where did you come from? it consumes him— the way you replay in his head once he closes his eyes, as if he'd somehow stolen the memories of somebody else. perhaps this is what the tortured artists sing of when they descend to madness, haunted by an absent muse. at least… until the fateful day he sees you out on the cobbled streets of mondstadt. you pass by quickly, the moment as fleeting as a shooting star, and something in albedo clicks. he doesn’t have time to think, he just moves. his muse is here now within reach; how can he risk letting you slip away?

— 𝐊𝐀𝐕𝐄𝐇

careless collision, staggering steps… you snap your eyes shut as you try to mentally prepare yourself for the utter humiliation of falling into the akademiya fountain. except it never comes. your eyes flutter open, and are instantly met with just about the most beautiful man you’ve ever seen. however, his expression is one of shock, as if he’s just as surprised as you are of his own actions, and truth be told, he is. because he seemed to have been able to watch the scene unfold, even before the other party had bumped into you. because kaveh is sure something had come over him, with the way time appeared to have stopped and his legs moved of their own accord. like his body was suddenly able to predict the future, or that it was the work of some absurd sense of muscle memory. even so, the weight of you in his grasp feels uncannily familiar. in a good way. it feels right; it feels like he had waited his whole life for this moment.

and suddenly you're hyperaware of how close the two of you actually are— but also of how safe you feel with his arm wrapped around your waist, or of how his large doe eyes seem to peer into your very soul, the carmine hues dancing with renewed life. you really can't shake the overwhelming feeling that you've met before, that perhaps this isn't your first time around at all. and so you have to ask, “have we met before?”

"no, but I'd like to again."

— 𝐙𝐇𝐎𝐍𝐆𝐋𝐈

you quite literally walk into zhongli, knocking his documents out of his hands and all across the marble floor of liyue’s national museum. zhongli sighs without looking up; he had spent the better half of a day organizing contracts and paperwork for a loan agreement to inazuma, though he supposes he should share in the blame for not watching where he was going. hundreds of years have passed since the immortal ex-archon worked as a funeral consultant; these days, zhongli opts to spend his time surrounded by artifacts of bygone times and bygone people. but when he looks up, his golden eyes widen and his blood runs cold at the sight of you in front of him. he freezes, as if time seems to have stopped for the both of you. his focus shifts back and forth between you and the painting across the room: a seemingly ordinary portrait, dated from around the time of the blonde traveler. still, whenever asked, he can confidently say that it’s his favorite piece, even in this house of invaluable artifacts and monuments to heroes, even among all the rich antiquities teyvat has to offer. and here you were in front of him, a perfect match to the painting's subject. the one whom he had once held so dear before being torn away by the hands of time, is now kneeling on the floor in front of him, frantically trying to gather the scattered documents, of which he had long deemed irrelevant. he feels his impenetrable stone heart flutter for the first time in what feels like a millennia because it’s you. he's sure of it. it's you, it's you, it's you.

— 𝐃𝐀𝐈𝐍𝐒𝐋𝐄𝐈𝐅

ever since your move to mondstadt, you've started having satin dreams of knights and castles, false flowers and fictional faces; dreams that undoubtedly end in war and destruction because everything shifts. castles crumble, faces morph— it becomes a nightmare so vivid it feels more akin to a memory than a dream. but through it all only one thing remains constant in that, in every iteration, you always fall in love with the same blonde man.

wandering the tranquil halls of mondstadt's national gallery, you find yourself before The Destruction of Khaenri'ah, a painting tragically beautiful in it's depiction of the ancient nation's condemnation by the heavens. you feel your eyes threaten to water, the ache in your chest an indication that the same anguish you've felt in your nightmares, has now sunk its claws into your heart. it's the first time a piece of art has moved you like this. so much so that you’re rooted in a trance-like state until someone beside you clears his throat, snapping you back to reality. he himself also gazes at the painting although his arm is outstretched; a handkerchief in offering for your tears. it isn't until your fingers brush against his that the blonde man turns to meet your gaze. shades of cerulean, bluer than the depths of the seas, all a mere backdrop to the stars shining in his eyes. stars that match the ones sitting in your own eyes. your heart skips a beat at the revelation. it's him, the man from your dreams. he’s real.

TAGLIST ;; @meimeimeirin @mixed-kester @salmonthepan @hcbnkdf @moonrolling

(send an ask to be added/removed. if you’re bolded, it means I cannot tag you; your blog might be hidden ! )

© silkjade — do not steal, plagiarize, translate or repost any content onto any other platform

#— 𝓼𝓲𝓰𝓷𝓮𝓭 𝓙. ᥫ᭡ #genshin impact x reader #genshin x reader #albedo x reader #kaveh x reader #zhongli x reader #dainsleif x reader #dainsleif #zhongli #albedo #kaveh #genshin x you #genshin fluff #genshin angst #genshin impact headcanons #genshin impact scenarios #soulmate au #genshin hcs #genshin impact fluff #genshin imagines #genshin albedo #genshin kaveh #genshin zhongli #genshin dainsleif #gn reader

[boundinparchment]

Dream a Little Dream of Me - LVII

Celestia had a cruel sense of humor. He knew this, even before his days as a student. But to be given a soulmate? Now, when he openly blasphemed against the cursed island in the sky? He would outlive you and the dreadful fated bond that haunted your shared dreams. There was little point in this. He could at least put a Vision to good use. People were nothing but disappointments. He had no use for you. Until you pulled the bow across your instrument and awoke a part of him long buried by self-hatred and arrogance. Soulmate AU; Il Dottore/Female reader w/ established personality and backstory. Slow burn. Lore and world speculation and interpretation within; follows canon story where possible. Fic is rated explicit; MDNI. This chapter is not suitable to those under the age of 18. Chapter on AO3 here.

He should have encouraged you further to use less hot water, Zandik realized, as his hands reached for yours in the scalding water.  Air thick with steam, laced with scents he would only ever attribute to being yours, you’d somehow convinced him a bath was more worthwhile.  And now you and the heat were going to his head and both of you would pay the price later.

A shower would have been efficient. He could have spent the entire time exploring your form, taking care of every curve.  He would feel more invigorated standing.  His body didn’t understand relaxation unless it was to sleep and every waking second couldn’t be wasted.

You’d insisted, however, that a bath would be enjoyable.

Zandik didn’t entirely understand how.  Not at first.  And then you arranged yourself behind him in the tub, a feat considering his own height; at least the tub was more than accommodating.  You pressed your breasts to his bare back before you eased him back into your lap to wash his hair.

How many times had you sat like this with him, he wondered.  Upwards of twenty, no doubt.  Even when your face was obscured to him, you cradled his head in your lap and listened as he went on tangent after tangent.  The last time you’d done so, he realized, was when his Segments still whispered on the wind as you overlooked the Ruin Golem.

“Relax, mon rêve .  I won’t get shampoo in your eyes,” you teased.

Relaxing didn’t take much effort thanks to your soft skin and the way you massaged his scalp as you lathered the shampoo.  He recalled, briefly, that Pantalone specifically spent the time and money getting his hair done for this experience and for once, he could understand why.  Just enough pressure to ensure efficacy but gentle enough to lull him to sleep right here.  Zandik never liked being touched by others, not even by his Segments; vanity to the point that Regrator took it to was a waste of time and mora anyway.

Your words from the courtyard after Pantalone’s dance floated through his head like padisarah petals on the surface of the river, noble and demanding.

He thought like Regrator too, once; Zandik’s turnabout wasn’t even all that long ago in the grand scheme of the universe.  He had outlived you already. He had centuries of experiences, of knowledge, of understanding. Back when he saw himself as a system, less a human and more of a concept in the shape of a human.

How limiting.

You rinsed his hair, thorough and meticulous in the same way you dusted your cello’s bow and body and strings.  When you finished, he reached up and took your hand in both of his and held it above him, mindful of dripping water and lingering suds as he massaged each joint.

You still had your writer’s bump, naturally.  But your palms were rougher, despite your vain attempts to keep them soft.  You exerted pressure on the handle of your claymore in some spots more than others and unless you were in the cold, you never wore gloves.  You used your baton more often now but every once in a while, you preferred to swing the blade yourself, you said; you enjoyed the power in your muscles, feeling the force of the blade and understanding everything as a mere extension of yourself.

A sentiment he more than related to.

Zandik craned his neck slightly to look at you only to find you watching him intently, your other hand grazing his cheek.

Even if he could outlive you, what would the point be?  The universe would never be exhausted but without you to share any of it with, why bother?

“They ache less,” you said. “I couldn’t have done tonight or any preceding tasks without your handiwork.”

“As was intended. Your claymore took away most of your grip strength and left you with little to use on daily tasks.  Eliminate that and you are free to take better care of your joints.  I saw no need for extreme alternatives.”

“Such as?”

“Prostheses.”

“I do rely on my sense of touch. Would be a shame to lose it.”

Your grazed your fingers over the tender spot between his shoulder and his neck; his eyes fluttered shut and his heart shuddered as if he was struck by lightning. The after-effects of the Furnace centuries ago were nothing compared to this sensation.

“A travesty,” Zandik replied. “Without it, your music would lack its soul.”

He would rather have fought and killed you, once upon a time.  Especially upon seeing you burdened with a device that tainted the mind.  He did not want you and yet his very nature demanded your presence, your music, your soul; he was a glutton for knowledge and to ignore you meant turning away from an opportunity to explore the world through a lens he would potentially never have again.

A slave to fate in all but name.  

His past self, or even just Omega, would have laughed if he walked in.

Omega understood, in the end, long before either his creator or you did.

Between his Segment and your thrice-timed persuasion, twice in appreciation of your presence and then once in your absence, and your willpower alone, his choice was made.

He didn’t need to feel his face to know how flushed he was. Amid the steam, he felt his pulse throbbing, lightheaded from the heat.

You fought, you always fought when given the right evidence, and Zandik hated few things more than passive acceptance of one’s intended life. You worked as hard as he had, as had as he did , endured pain he could conceptualize and at least acknowledge.

He wondered, for a moment, if that first night would have been different if you knew , then, in the darkened performance hall. He doubted it. What you lacked in physical prowess you more than made up for in emotional blows.

Which was precisely why, he realized some time ago, you would have gotten away from Omega on your own. You didn’t need him, Zandik, even if at the time it seemed otherwise. Sedatives would have worn off. Omega was distracted enough with the Traveler that you could have woken up without assistance.

And it was your fourth persuasion, feet caked with sand and a wooden cello neck in your hand, that made something finally fall into place.

You wanted him.

If you could have nothing else, no memories, no instrument, no colleagues, couldn’t you at least have him?

And wasn’t that how he felt with himself?  If Celestia was going to force you upon him, he might as well explore the bond.  That hasn’t changed. 

If he could have nothing else, couldn’t he have you?

In the cold depths of the Palace, shut away with nothing but false corpses for company, he came to the root of Omega’s selfishness and obsession over you. The Segments had nothing of their own, despite having autonomy and individuality; what Zandik gave them was what shaped them and he gave Omega his worst self.

All he knew was how to build, create; he learned and he adapted as needed. Moving. Always moving. If he stayed still, he would never reach the next conclusion, the next breakthrough.

And yet here you were, keeping him steady, focused. Wrapped in emotions he repressed in another era of this world. Willing to see what fate laid beyond the stars.

Zandik opened his eyes and caught you lost in thought, face just as flushed as his; no doubt you, too, were feeling the effects of the water. You blinked and looked down, your head titled at the same angle as when you heard a series of notes and were trying to work out the exact positioning to mimic it.

He didn’t deserve you, to feel inspired and anchored and…

“I know,” you whispered, bringing a hand to smooth back his wet hair again. “I know.”

Did you? he wanted to ask.  Did you truly know, understand, the depth of such a thing?  The amount of times he wondered if, for a moment, it was possible for a single person to hold an entire cosmos in their existence, just from looking at you?

A scholar would never stop until every avenue has been exhausted; fate would, inevitably, always find a way, for it was unnatural in its persistence.

So why not explore it?

For every challenge, Zandik saw the world in a richer context, experienced an outcome that, without your presence, would have been fleeting. The two of you would have found one another through other means, if not then, in Sumeru.  The means didn’t matter so much as the result.  The experiment was the journey, in truth, and he could control that.

And he would.  With your input, of course.

He chose. 

He chose you. 

And he would always choose you.

#dottore #il dottore #il dottore x reader #dottore x reader #dottore/female reader #il dottore/female reader #dottore x female reader #il dottore x female reader #genshin impact reader insert #soulmate au

[kunai-tang]

An Eternity Together

“An invisible red thread connects all those who are destined to meet regardless of time, place or circumstance. The red thread may stretch or tangle, but will never break.”

characters: diluc, wanderer

Diluc:

He noticed it during one of his nightshifts. The repetition of greeting guests, pouring wine into glasses and afterwards washing them boring him to the point he zones out, staring blankly at the bar counter Infront of him.

His eyes flick to you, head laid down on your arms, breathing lightly. After seeing how hard he works each day, whether it be in his tavern or his nightly activities he always seems so secretive about, you insisted on keeping him company throughout the evening, stretching far into the night.

Though, your resolve faltered and slowly, your speech deteriorated to soft, indecipherable mumbles as his deep voice lulled you further and further into sleep.

Once he realized he was having a mostly one-way conversation, he brought his focus back to his chores, silently wishing you a peaceful rest.

Truly, how did you ever think you could stay awake after a whole day full of errands? Nevertheless, he appreciated and enjoyed your company, as always, no matter what the two of you were doing. Thinking back, you were always by his side during times of importance, and never once did you complain about attending tedious social events as his plus one.

When he snapped out of his daydreams, he noticed a tiny, red string circling his pinky finger. At first, he thought it was a thread of the washcloth coming loose in his hands. He lifted his hand away from the cloth, only to discover your fingers entangled on the other end of the string.

Diluc snatches his hand back in surprise, the strain on the string tugs on your finger, pulling your hand out from under your head. He takes a moment to make sure you didn’t hit your head before scrutinizing the point where the strand connects to your finger. Taking your hand in both of his gloved ones, Diluc rotates your hand, taking extra care not to wake you in the process. His investigation was cut short when, in the blink of an eye, the thread disappeared.

He wasn’t sure what to make of this. Perhaps you decided to jest for your own amusement? Though, judging from your current, fast asleep state, that’s unlikely. Diluc doesn’t know exactly what it means, but in his mind, this is just another way the two of you are connected. He gently rests your hand back on the counter, caressing your knuckles before intertwining your fingers with his. Maybe one day he’ll get to put something else on your finger.

Wanderer:

’Relaxing’ in the Sumeru rainforest is essentially a death wish – or so you’ve been warned by the forest rangers countless times. The dangers of aggressive Fungi or territorial Rishboland Tigers are minimal when you lay in the arms of your beloved.

Seems like you weren’t the only one finding comfort and security from the threats of the rainforest; a dozen or so Aranara decided to third wheel in your date, much to your darling’s dismay.

He just wanted one peaceful date with you, without stressors from work or the Fatui, just one. He would never admit it, but he planned out everything – He searched for a patch of flowers with the softest grass and most fragrant flowers, making sure that the trees above give just enough shade to comfortably bask in the sun without worrying about sunburns. He even chased away all hostile entities in the area before taking your hand and leading you here.

In the matter of a few minutes, due to the lack of danger, the Aranara started creeping around you from the foliage, taking interest in the two of you. Wanderer put his arms around you possessively as the Aranara got more confident.

”I don’t want them touching you, especially not when I can see it.” He shoves a daring Aranara away from you. ”Get away before I tear those leaves straight off your head, you moronic weed!” The harsh tone of his voice putting you on edge, along with all of the Aranara, the latter opting to watch you from a few feet away instead. Wanderer always had a sort of jealous streak which only grew stronger when you came into the picture.

You reach your hand up to stroke his cheek soothingly, which directs his glare to you. ”They’re just Aranara, dear. No need to get so worked up.” He scoffs, subconsciously leaning into the comfort of your palm.

”If you’d rather spend your time with the glorified cast of Veggietales, just spit it out. Don’t waste my time.” He puts his hand on yours, encasing it between his hand and cheek.

You continue caressing him until he completely relaxes under your careful touch, even going as far as closing his eyes to relish in your warmth, only to open them seconds later when he feels an unfamiliar texture brush up against him.

"Look, darling!” Your voice drew his attention to the newly-formed, short string between your fingers. Of course, he knew what this meant, he was immortal after all.

”In case you haven’t heard of it before–” He leans down, pressing a gentle kiss to your forehead ”This means that we’re going to be together forever, whether you like it or not. No matter how much you grow to resent me or try to leave me, this little thing will bring us back together.”

”So, no more Aranara, okay? Back off, all of you!” And so, the Aranara gathered around you scatter once again.

#genshin impact #genshin impact imagines #soulmates au #gn reader #genshin diluc #genshin scaramouche #genshin wanderer #diluc x reader #scaramouche x reader #wanderer x reader

[spice-chan]

Your Form parted from my Sober Mind

Alhaitham x fem!reader

Summary: Alhaitham was not an idealist, but he would fight tooth and nail for his ideals. A soulmate, in particular, conflicts with them.

word count: 10k

tags/warnings: soulmate au. this is dark. dead dove do not eat. rejection. mentions of murder. implications/implied of suicide. there's death in this fic (I'm trying not to spoil things here). Many different narrative styles, but it's all mainly from Alhaitham's POV. kind of mutual pining? mention of marriage. dreams are a reoccurring motif. implied sex, not too explicit but the act is described in enough detail

authors note: I came back from the dead...and made Frankenstein's monster.

“Then from his closing eyes thy form shall part,

And the last pang shall tear thee from his heart,” 

Alexander Pope, Elegy to The Memory of An Unfortunate Lady.

While everyone succumbs to a paradigm, that soulmarked people are irrevocably tied to one person, they are neglecting to consider alternatives. This consensus is harming the growth of Academia, and stunting further discoveries. Conducting further research on the phenomenon of soulmates is near impossible, because participation is scarce, as soulmarked people are very complacent, willing to take a backseat in their own future. I, as a soulmarked person, refuse to believe that some supreme deity is more aware of my own preferences and needs than I. In time, I shall prove that, and rewrite the way people view soulmates as we know it. 

-Alhaitham

-----------------

Alhaitham sighed as he trudged through the house of Daena, eyes searching for the book that he had been trying to borrow for the past few weeks. Not that he needed it, his grande personal collection spoke otherwise, but he had already gone through everything, his books more creased and spines wrinkled as evidence of his excessive care. He wished to borrow something new. Now if only the book didn’t seem to surge in popularity. 

His eyes landed on the book, long legs striding to it with purpose, it was to be his for the two weeks duration, until a hand reached for it at the same time. 

A spark ignited between your outstretched hands, however he didn’t feel repelled, rather the sensation seemed to send a comforting warmth to his heart that signalled safety to him. 

This moment would become engraved in his memory, when his teal eyes landed on yours for the first time, he’d never cared to describe people’s physical appearances beyond what would be convenient to him, but yours seemed to be an endless pit of water that he could drown in. 

Alhaitham staggered back a step, eyes panicked as his eyes searched for your wrist, heart sinking in dread as he saw the matching mark, now pulsing as it found its match. You appeared shocked as you took in this new found development, but by contrast, your lips curved up into a shy smile that he refused to admit was kind of beautiful. 

“Oh my god” 

You stepped forward, eyes curving down to look to his wrist and your smile blossomed even more as you confirmed it. Your happiness was however abruptly cut as he shoved his hand inside his pocket, moving past you to grab the book you two were previously gunning for. 

“Well, I’ll be taking this.” he said, leaving you standing there. He wondered what you looked like standing there alone, in the house of Daena, seeing the owner of the mark matching yours dismissing you. It was quite unheard of, soulmates were usually quite eager, and the first meetings were always recounted as something magical. He wasn’t eager to join the herd though. This is how it was meant to be, two souls parting at the bypass, because he was not obligated to pivot his direction to match yours. 

A thought struck him, his dread transforming to excitement. Soulmate studies had always steered clear of a certain direction, the road always seeming to carry an invisible hazardous warning that discouraged even the most willful scholars. Perhaps one is all it takes to finally discard the sign, ditched like an unseasonal winter coat on a summery day. One person who could prove that he is not willing to give in to the will of the Gods. 

He looked at the mark on his wrist, no longer pulsing, his face impassive, stony, not betraying his inner dilemma. Possibilities flashed before his eyes, calculations, uncertainties. He shoved his wrist back in his pocket, the eyesore taunting him with its vibrant hue, marked on his skin like an inevitable reality.

----------------

That night, Alhaitham had a vivid dream, one he could recall with disturbing detail. 

You and Alhaitham sat underneath the shade, Sumeru roses surrounded the two of you as he hugged you closer to his chest, his rose close enough to your hair that he could breath in your comforting scent while birds chirped, the flowers rustled, and your pages turned while the sun ordained you with it’s warmth. He wasn’t sure for a moment whether the source of the light was you or the sun. He didn’t care. He sighed, one out of comfort rather than fatigue or exacerbation, and you felt it tickling your neck. 

You turned to look at him, smile blinding even as his lips remained in a thin line. You said something, but all his senses centred around his sight, and it was laser focused on your kissable lips. You pouted slightly, before leaning forward and granting him his silent wish. 

As your lips touched his, his fake reality collapsed and he opened his eyes to the fuzzy shape of his room, disoriented at the delusion he had been sucked into. What prompted this dream? A curious question, one he didn’t have a silent clue how to begin answering. He breathed out, swiping his hair back, eyes glancing at the burgeoning morning sky. He wasted hours out of his rest dreaming about you. He’d rather not have dreamt at all. 

He tried to make sense of what had occurred. Meeting you had most likely been the trigger for this dream, but he would need to conduct further analysis.  

Most of Sumeru didn’t dream. Except for soulmarked people, they sometimes dreamt as they were deemed to be closer to deities. This idea was something Alhaitham didn’t buy into, but that’s only one more reason to carry on with this study that he dedicated himself to. Why would he dream of such a warm scene with you when he rejected you with his entire being?

---------------

Alhaitham’s theory, one he nurtured with the pride of a scholar, was that soulmarked people didn’t need their soulmates.

 It’s quite belittling, in his opinion, for one to base their future and value on whether or not they had a mark, and to abandon their individuality based on a mark. Alhaitham had never felt like half of a whole, he had never felt like his cup was half empty, and he frankly didn’t feel lacking. Your presence was thus simply unnecessary. He didn’t desire it, nor need it. 

You were however quite insistent on inserting yourself into his life. 

“As I previously informed you, your presence is quite unneeded. In fact it’s bothersome, can you sit somewhere else?” Alhaitham could not believe that even his favourite spot in his favourite cafe is now being invaded by you. You’re like an invasive species. 

“No, this spot gets the most sunlight. I can’t let you hog it, but I would be willing to offer you a drink as an apology for the huge inconvenience.”

Alhaitham gave you a brief glance, eyes looking to your face for a second, scrutinising you. Your content expression made him swiftly face his book once more. He tried making sense of your move, were you not offended? Did you have no pride? 

When Alhaitham made his stance to you clear, you were too disoriented to rebuttal. What he declared to you was quite unheard of, so he isn’t too surprised. You flashed him a saddened look, not quite heart broken though, and not too discouraged it seemed. You had been pestering him since. 

He surmised now that this was your way of trying to get to know him, accepting a drink means that he forgives you for intruding on his space, and he doesn’t. 

“I don’t want to give you another excuse to stay.” 

“I was never planning to leave Alhaitham. I already have every excuse to stay. Sunshine and a good view.” you said shamelessly, eyes raking his figure.  Alhaitham didn’t look up from his book this time but he could bet that you were looking at your nails nonchalantly. He even found the way you said his name strange, the way you pronounced it was interesting, and he was almost tempted to ask you to say it again just so he could pinpoint the intonations a little more. 

“Such as?” 

Alhaitham didn’t hear you speak for a few seconds, but he paused his reading and looked you in the eye, deadpan and serious. 

“I understand where you’re coming from. You believe being with me would be like, giving in, or something. That you accept that you are somewhat deficient and you need something to fill the gap in you.” you paused then, letting your words sink in with him, he couldn’t hide the way his poker face broke for a second. He certainly wasn’t expecting something insightful right this moment, and perhaps a tiny part of him felt touched that you weren’t undermining his thoughts as people had. 

“But that’s not how I see it, I don’t see you as a person who needs me to complete him. The bond is simply the notion that we complement each other. We are a pair, Alhaitham. You cannot escape it, but being a pair doesn’t mean that we are broken halves of a whole. I wouldn’t be able to be with someone so lacking and neither would you.” 

He let your explanation sink in, disappointment settling in the pit of his stomach. 

“You are overlooking very important variables. It takes so many different factors to shape a person, how could anyone be certain with so many uncontrolled variables that the person will then grow to be their most complementary partner? Maybe my upbringing shaped me in a way that is simply not suitable to you. Maybe there is someone out there that suits you more. But you are letting a mark decide your future, how predictable.” came his reply, scathing, upfront. You seemed to contemplate his words for a few seconds, before slowly nodding. 

“I see, but I will still believe in us. Just as deity’s watch over us and grant us visions, perhaps they are also aware of what our future holds and I will believe in their benevolence in pairing people-” he saw you fidget, saw your eyes avoid his penetrating gaze for two seconds before you resumed, once again resolute “-and just as you are unwavering in your beliefs, I will be unwavering in trying to prove to you that you and me belong together.” 

If Alhaitham was a more emotionally impressionable man, he might’ve described his feelings in this moment as butterflies as you proudly proclaimed your intentions. He isn’t however, and he decided it’s rather an annoyance having you here. 

He went back to his book, deciding this conversation to be over.

--------------

Entry 4, date xx 

It’s unfortunate yet understandable that research guidelines forbid me from using my own personal experience in my research. It won’t deter me from writing these entries, detailing my experience, so that someone in the future picking up this kind of research may have at least one detailed example. It’s hard to find people who do not conform to the standard of being with their soulmates upon discovering them, even if it means divorce, relocation etc. This makes academic studies that challenge the status quo quite difficult. In time, I do believe that people will move to treating soulmarks with more lukewarm expectations. 

My ‘soulmate’, a fellow researcher at the Akademiya, takes a stance quite oppositional to mine. Time did not deter her from pursuing me, nor her endless attempts at gaining my favour. It’s been a hassle, only made me wish I’d been born markless even more. 

Some of her attempts included, but were not limited to

Buying me things. Such as a coffee (one of my more favoured drinks) when I’d fall asleep in the library, and resisting the temptation of consuming the beverage in my disoriented state was quite difficult, and wasteful. Consuming it does not therefore warrant any form of affection. Although it is peculiar that she always managed to find me at my most vulnerable.

Dispelling rumours about me. Quite useless, as I never cared what people said or thought of me, she was better off focusing on her pressing research. This asserts that soulmates are not more suited to each other than any average pair on the street, as assuming we have this telepathic connection would mean that people finding me unapproachable is rather helpful for me. Needless to say this method of hers was the least useful. 

Always talking to me. Though her tactics changed over the years. She no longer makes small talk, or attempts to change my mind. She now attempts to use my hobbies to make my brain associate her with my interests. She brings up books that I’d borrowed, sparks a discussion on them that would leave me no choice but to respond to her avid attempts at dialogue. She impressively did seem to digest the contents of the books quite well, and my enthusiasm when conversing about say, “How Language is a Tool of Policing”, does not equate to my favour. 

Buying me books.

This list seems to be getting needlessly long, and upon further thought it’s rather useless, so I will deign to stop.

-----------------

A group of scholars trekked along the Avidiya forest, mostly Amurta students, so it’s no wonder you are there. Alhaitham is one of the few odd ones out, but considering his penchant for knowledge and innate curiosity, it's no wonder he’s there. Reading about different biological life forms in the rainforest is useful enough, but seeing with his own two eyes is a must. A few samples to test certain herbal effects would also be quite beneficial. 

He looked around, taking in his surroundings. Green eyes took in the scenery, beautiful mosses and grandiose trees, aged and chipped and hanging a shadow over them, so massive that the humans beneath it looked to be of no special significance. 

His eyes inadvertently landed on you. You were bundled closely to another Amurta student, one with fennec fox features. His shoulders were touching yours as his eyes drank up the papers in your hands with curiosity, and you didn’t seem to mind as you smiled and pointed at certain parts, talking animatedly. 

Alhaitham curled up a grey eyebrow at the way the guy’s tail seemed one step away from wagging, what an inconvenient appendage to have. 

He showed his notes to you, pointing at different places in the forest and pointing back to his notes, talking excitedly. You nodded, adding an input here and there, this discussion of yours seems very interesting. Perhaps he should move closer to hear what you and the star of Amurta seem to be discussing with so much excitement.

Alhaitham, who was previously intentionally lagging behind the group, with several steps was within a hearing distance between you and Tighnari. However, he was irked to know that he could hear nothing because you two, although animated, were speaking in hushed tones as if disclosing a secret in broad daylight. 

With carefully measured steps, he weaved himself even closer, but not close enough to arouse suspicion. From this angle, he could see the way the so called star of Amurta’s long conspicuous ears pricked in your direction, unwilling to miss a single word out of your mouth. 

“You’re so lucky Tighnari, Amurta is very lucky to have someone with your constitution, but trying out different mushrooms seems quite fun” you said, starry eyed at the so called Tighnari, all over some mushrooms? Alhaitham knows a lot about rainforest mushrooms, as any scholar should. Maybe the standards for Amurta Darshan are just lower these days. 

“Well you’re in luck, I found a way to minimise the effects of the mushrooms by taking a small sample and boiling it, so if you’re quite interested you can come around to my place so we can test different mushrooms together.” Tighnari said, tone bordering on gloating as he seemed quite prideful in his discovery. 

To Alhaitham’s chagrin, you nodded with child-like excitement, have you taken leave of your senses? This endeavour seems so dangerous and yet you’ve agreed to it without a second thought to your safety, or perhaps there’s another reason for your excitement. 

Alhaitham can imagine it perfectly. You’d look at Tighnari with glassy eyes, flushed appearance, softly panting as you declare that the mushrooms seem especially potent-

No. 

Time spent daydreaming is time wasted, and this same logic applies to thoughts of you. What you get up to is none of his concern, and who you get up to it with as well. He’s not with you in sickness or health, so he cares not if you possess either. 

Alhaitham is despondent at the fact that one cannot tread the rainforest while reading a book. It’s naturally a recipe for disaster, as he might trip and fall and damage his book in an act of foolishness. It’s regrettable however, as your own foolishness has rendered him unable to fully take in his surroundings. 

The group is taken to the camp as the sun bids adieu and the moon illuminates the rainforest in a faint light, making the shadows appear much more ominous as they towered and arched over the students. 

Alhaitham pulled out his book, fully intending to consume his meal with the company of the pages in his hands, but you had other ideas, seeming to finally remember your mission of pestering him whenever you are in his presence. 

“So, how did you find today’s trip?” always starting out with meaningless small talk, perhaps you are hoping he will one day humour you. 

“It’s been great till now.” clipped and curt, as usual. 

“Did you find it informative? It’s been great seeing so many different rainforest life forms. Maybe I should work for a few months here after finishing my thesis, if only to get more acquainted with the life forms. But I won’t do that before I sort things out.” you kept your words vague, but Alhaitham could sense the meaning hidden beneath them. You won’t move until you make this soulmate dream of yours a reality. He’s been rejecting you, and here you are making life plans around him, trying carefully to make him fit in with your plans. Planning the course of your life around him.

Choosing to conceal the reality of his day, he replies with an affirmative hum. You got the memo, choosing to open your packed food and eat, most likely busy with your own thoughts, while Alhaitham entertains his own. 

------------

Entry 90, date xx. 

This might prove to be a complete coincidence, and I’m confused as to why it’s occurring myself, despite my investigations and various attempts at isolating and looking at different variables. 

In the years I have known who my soulmate is, I have been dreaming. Eerily, my dreams usually concern her in one way or the other, so it must be something related to our bond. In my last dream, I can vaguely remember a warm feeling in my belly, as ambiguous as that sounds. I laid my head on her lap, reading, while she soothingly caressed my hair. Disappointingly, I do not recall the contents of the book, only the warm caress of her fingers that lulled me into a feeling of comfort. 

The feelings of my dreams however, I am certain, do not carry on into my daylight hours. 

Maybe I must admit I am somewhat impressed by her tenacity and persistence, perhaps that feeling is causing my subconscious to confuse the nature of our relationship?

-----------------

Alhaitham is tired of whatever farce you are trying to play. 

You are like a migraine to him, your arrival always a nuisance, a pain, and wholly unwelcome. You do not respect his choices, opinions. Your existence frustrates him, and he cares not that you always take great care not to cause him trouble. Your actions, while deceptively helpful, greatly annoy the scribe. 

This year, his attempts at dissuading you have gotten rather harsh. This is because he can no longer afford you indifference. This can be traced back to when you left a cake on his desk. Congratulating him on his new role as scribe. The flavour was not overly sweet, it’s something he would usually enjoy consuming, but the feelings borne within his chest at the sentimental message written on the cake caused him to pause. The moths swarming his belly did not make sense, his response did not make sense. The cogs that always efficiently turned in his head seemed to clog at the thought of you. 

An uncharacteristic rage blinded him that day, he did not feel this way in his life before, and when he sat reflecting on his now emptier desk after harshly dumping the cake in the bin facing his office, he thought that the new found nuisance in his life is more troublesome than he previously predicted. 

One day, a golden opportunity seemed to land on his lap. A one in a million lucky chance. Though Alhaitham thinks a lucky chance is only one if you can reap the benefits it brings you. 

It was a pleasant night, the air, while warm, was comfortable as cooler wind blew inside the tavern and ruffled his hair slightly. He was drinking alone, a choice he made as the comfort of his own thoughts was something he needed. He’d be able to ruminate in peace, had the cause of his irritation not found him once again. 

“Oh my, hi Alhaitham. We keep running into each other, it’s almost like fate huh” you greeted, plopping yourself beside him, calling to the bartender to pass you a drink too, signalling the start of Alhaitham’s misfortune. So nonchalantly confident, your head always held up high around him, as if his attitude towards you is a mere playing hard to get. 

He opened his lips, a scathing reply at the tip of them, until another irritation called out his name jarringly. 

He turned his head, as several others did before minding their own business after briefly casting them curious looks. 

“Soo this is where you spend your time! You could have invited me, you know.” some women from the Akademiya sat to his left, batting her lashes at him in what he assumes is her way of being coy and attractive. 

He was halfway into finishing his drink. It’s a shame he’ll have to retire early as his night no longer holds the promise of peace. However, upon seeing you casting them a curious look, silent for once in your life, he got a much more brilliant idea. 

It takes a genius to turn a stroke of misfortune into a lucky chance. 

Although having never indulged in this sort of useless and amateurish behaviour, likening it to some sort of primitive mating call, Alhaitham is adaptable and a great actor when it comes to securing his own peace. 

“Sorry honey, I’ve been somewhat preoccupied. Surely I can make it up to you” he feigned a cordial look, eyes raking through her figure. She’s not really his type. Her lap didn’t seem comfortable to lay his head on, and even the shape of her fingernails seemed to turn him off. Coincidently, some of your physical features are rather favourable to him, especially the shade of your eyes. Her voice also sounds grating, and he wished she'd never say his name again. But he put up with it, and even went as far is to brush his hand on her upper thigh, his implications clear.

His reply took you and her by surprise, shocked faces at the tone no one heard from the blunt scribe before, but her shock quickly morphed to glee. 

“Of course! I’m not one to hold grudges” she scooted closer to him, and he quickly wondered if this was worth it, or a detour into wasting even more of his time, especially as her hands reached out and touched his shoulder, rendering him wordless with the awkwardness of having to tolerate her invasive touches.

He glanced at you, and your frozen made you look stuck in your spot, in disbelief, surely it’s not preposterous that he might pursue someone else? His lips willfully thinned though, when he saw how your previously frozen eyes melted into a volcano, rage swimmed within them, as your brows scrunched disapprovingly. He’d never seen you look like this, even when he threw all your attempts back in your face all those years. He’d never seen you look like you wished the ground would open and swallow him, and his gut twisted uncomfortably at the thought. 

Perhaps this was all it really took to have you leave him be. He wondered why he never took this approach before. 

He cast furtive glances at the other women speaking, unwilling to break this facade now, but he found that the air after you left seemed much more cold. 

“You can stop bothering me now. Whatever you think could happen between us isn’t going to, but it was amusing seeing you gullible you could be.” he spoke while nursing another drink, his eyes not even meeting hers, though she might find this to be in her benefit. Although his clipped words were missing their usual edge, it still had the desired effect. 

“You jerk, do you think you’re too good for me? I was willing to tolerate your dry personality because you had a pretty face, but your head is bigger than I thought. Bring yourself down to earth, at this rate you’re going to die alone and miserable as you always have been.” 

People’s words never bothered him, and even now they do not. He chooses to live his life the way he chooses, and people’s opinions will never change his pursuit of personal peace. However, he found it interesting that one rejection from him caused her to spout so much venom at him, when years of him doing that to you didn’t have this effect. Is it that you’re patient? Level headed? Kind? Well, more like hopelessly foolish.

---------------

Entry 1023, date xx

For the past month, I haven’t seen much of her. It seems that before, she went out of her way to run into me. Ever since the night at the tavern, her pursuit seemed to end completely. This is what I wanted for years, isn’t it? I have finally achieved the desired results. 

I am still as whole as the day I was born, I don’t feel lacking. I am fine.

-----------

Alhaitham finished up writing the latest entry, closing the journal and putting it inside his drawer. As he stretched, he caught sight of his face. 

His facial hair seems to be growing out, painting his face in a five o’clock shadow. He stroked the coarseness, wondering why he’d missed his usual schedule of trimming. 

He shook the creeping thoughts away, approaching his bed to finally get a much needed rest. He needs to clear the pesky thoughts away, so that he may finally enjoy the books he’s been meaning to read. You’d probably have something insightful to say about them, you usually seemed to. 

Curses, why must his own brain betray him? 

Sleep, when it finally came, was not peaceful. 

He was frantically opening every door in his house, searching for something. Opening doors, searching, repeating.

The violent cycle went on, his heart falling every time his mysterious search reaped nothing. 

He shook awake, panting so loudly that he wondered briefly whether he performed a strenuous exercise in his sleep, if the erratic thumping of his heart was any clue. It banged painfully against his ribs. His hair clung to his forehead, and his face felt suspiciously wet. He needs to calm down, so that he may analyse the cause of his restless sleep and eliminate it. But his brain stubbornly shut down, and Alhaitham's throat traitorously clogged up. 

Deep breath. A  response like this might not be any cause for alarm. Deep breath. Emotional hysterics will solve nothing. Deep breath.

Why do the walls feel like they are closing in on him?

-------------------

It’s been 4 months and 6 days since Alhaitham saw you. Or heard from you. 

This period is incredibly unusual, you never went so long without speaking to him. Is the thought of him pursuing another woman truly all it took to throw you off? Perhaps he gave your persistence undeserving credit. He wishes he could hear your thoughts, stumble into a journal of yours. If only to see whether his hypothesis proved right, that once you realised this you too came to your senses and realised you could lead a happy life without him. 

His inability to know filled him with bitterness, yet why is he feeling such when he prided himself on only speculating things of importance? His frustration made him gnaw on his lips. 

“I do think they look good together, she should take her chance with him” 

Dimwits gossiping in the library might be the last straw, why is it that people can’t save their idle chatter for a more appropriate place?

“Yeah, but doesn’t (y/n) have a soulmark? This could end disastrously.”

What?

“Yeah but, it’s quite rare for soulmates to find each other nowadays, she shouldn’t waste her chance because of something that might never be.” 

Who? And when did this happen?

“Yeah, I guess so.” 

Alhaitham’s brain, if possible, might melt. An overload of thoughts, information, noises, all overstimulating him. But if he thought hard enough, it’s quite clear that this is another tactic of yours. You’ve gotten quite clever. It cannot be a mere coincidence that this gossip found its way to his ears, you must be trying to ignite some irrational feeling within him, jealousy. 

Too bad he’ll never give you the satisfaction of seeing him this way. 

He closed his book, a mere decoration at this point, and walked out of the library, thinking a walk would help clear his head. 

“Yeah, he seems quite taken by her, I think he is seriously courting her.”

No matter what hallway he’s in, what direction he pivots to, the building of the Akademiya itself seems to be buzzing with talks of you and some guy. You’ve put a lot of effort into this farce of yours, did you take in the consequences? When this blows over, your dignity as a scholar would surely never recover. You’d be known as a gossipmonger. 

Days have passed however, and the talk showed no sign of stopping. You and a wealthy sponsor of the Akademiya, who hails from Fontaine. He’d fallen in love with you, is courting you, and everything trivial inbetween. When did you even have time to catch the eye of someone so apparently important? It’s implausible, and incredibly petty. 

Why are you nowhere to be found now? 

--------------

Statistically, Alhaitham knows that it’s impossible not to have run into you by now. Unless you have been going out of your way to avoid him. He even changed his usual seating spot in the library, thinking that maybe he’d find you away from his corner. He’s been roaming in the city the past month more than he had in a year. 

The worst thing is that he didn’t understand why he was going so far to find you. It defied logic itself, his persistence. It’s none of his business what you do, so he should give up while he’s at it. Come back to his senses, and live out his peace. 

You seemed to haunt him though, and as his tired teal eyes roamed the cafe on his way once more, fate seemed to drop him a little trinket. 

He squinted his eyes, seeing the familiarly patterned, maroon scarf that you always wore when it got a bit chilly. He rushed inside the cafe, eyes zeroed on it. Before looking outside once more in search of your figure. He’d probably just missed you. 

The rational choice would be to hand over the scarf to the workers, you’d probably come in search of it, but before rationale could halt him, he took the scarf and left, but not before catching a whiff of your familiar scent. 

This would give him a reasonable excuse to talk to you, you can’t refuse an act of goodwill from him right? He thought back, trying to find a single moment in which he’d done you a favour and not the reverse. 

His stomach sank as he realised that he’d in fact never done a single act of goodwill towards you, he’d spared you nothing but harsh words of rejection and belittlement. 

Perhaps this is why he’s been searching for you, to try and ease this feeling of guilt that hasn’t left him since you completely erased your existence out of his life. You’d made home in every corner of his life, trying to make it a little more bearable. You were a sacrifice to his philosophy, it couldn’t be any other way, because Alhaitham is equally stubborn, he’d never give in to the will of someone else who’s ordained how he must live his life. 

But for now, he’ll take this scarf home, knowing deep down that he doesn’t intend to return it. 

-------------

Alhaitham sat on the couch near his bed, watching perplexed as you made out with a clone of him. Your fingers tangled in his grey strands, beautiful, naked body straddling him, as if you were trying to become one with him, merge your being with his so that he may never try and discard you. Your lips moulded with his own, and he’d returned the favour with equal fervour. 

Only, his grey hair began darkening from the roots down, becoming a pitch black colour. You pulled away, and he watched horrified as his clone’s face melted like clay, only to be reconstructed as the face of a stranger. You however appeared indifferent, eyes soulless and lacking the tenacity you seemed to possess earlier. 

He stood up to try and take you away, but an invisible force pulled him back, leaving him only to thrash while a stranger held you, and you let him. 

You let the stranger cradle your body, indifference melting into a bittersweet smile as your lips found his. 

Alhaitham’s eyes stung, and he tried closing them to shield himself from the sight as you let a stranger make love to you, but he couldn’t. His eyes were made to be peeled wide upon as he watched and heard you, and his wrist burned, heart ached. But through it all, he’d only wished that you’d stop and look at him again. 

But you didn’t, your eyes didn’t leave the stranger's body, not until they rolled back in ecstasy while you used his body for your pleasure. The strangers hands caressed you, and strummed your pleasure to a tune that only produced the most melodious sounds out of you. 

Tears started falling down his cheeks. But he still couldn’t close his eyes. 

Alhaitham opened his eyes, feeling like a dam had broken on his pillow as the moistness in his eyes blurred his vision. 

He rubbed his tears away, but they wouldn’t stop, not for as long as he remembered his nightmare. You, so close, making love to someone else while he was forced to watch and hear. 

Why did he have to be tormented even in dreams? 

His heart hammered away so loudly that it felt like drums to his ears, his lungs refused to operate as an unbearable feeling of pain overwhelmed him. He pulled his knees to his chest as he willed his shivering to stop, the moon staring mercilessly at him as he rocked back and forth. 

He suddenly remembered a find of his, and with a blurry vision he fished out your scarf, holding it up to his nose to breathe in the scent he’d been denied. He rubbed away his tears, not wanting to stain your scarf with it, and like something beyond reason his tears had stopped. 

His sleep was dreamless after that. 

-------------

Entry 1800, date xx 

Dreams have been tormenting my nights, and reality torments my day. Why does it feel like I’m being continuously punished? Were my ideas so cardinally sinful that the deity’s above have taken to cause me misery? 

I have once again devolved to foolish thoughts. It’s my thoughts that torment me, not any higher power. 

If she’s anything to go by, then I guess my hypothesis has been proven correct. She no longer seeks me out, hasn’t done so in 8 months. When I catch a glimpse of her, it’s so brief it’s almost like a phantom. I do hear of her though, that she’s happy with another man. That they might move back to Fontaine together at this rate, that this might not be fling. She’d succeeded in something no one has succeeded at before her. She left her soulmate behind and pursued her own path. I was never needed.

The idea that she might move to Fontaine is rather far fetched though, as she is still a researcher, and this is but only one relationship. Moving to a completely new homeland to pursue such a fresh relationship is completely spontaneous and irresponsible. Especially considering she would need to abandon many of her projects. 

They will most likely break up, they might not, only time will tell. But for the time being, she seems to have moved on.

-----------

Alhaitham’s haggard figure trekked through the Sumeru, eyes a dull green that looked sombre as he glanced through the stalls. Malnutrition is the most likely cause of the way he’s had no energy lately, even his bones seemed to ache in protest. 

With a fresh bag of groceries in hand, Alhaitham walked back home, eyes downcast and somewhat soulless. He needs to cook today, needs to eat something and get on with his life. He needs to. 

With his downcast eyes and general disinterest, he almost missed the crowd of awed bystanders forming a ring around two people. With one furtive glance, he deemed it not worth his time, until he caught sight of the second star of the show. 

It’s you. Standing there. It’s finally you. Light seemed to come back to his eyes, if only for a brief second before horror overtook them. 

It’s you, standing there, with a man kneeling on the floor proposing to you. A crowd of people all around you two, smiling, anticipating, gasping. 

It’s you, nodding your head as another man puts a ring on your finger, his pitch dark hair and features nothing like Alhaitham, with one look Alhaitham can surmise that he’s everything Alhaitham could never be. His smiling face charms everyone in sight, he’s like a star that everyone wants to be near to bask in his aura. 

Alhaitham doesn’t have the vocabulary to describe such a raw feeling with medical terms, but if he can be sentimental, he might be able to say that his soul hurts.

------------

Dear (y/n), 

The Akademiya is currently lacking in capable personnel, and as the scribe I had been entrusted with alleviating this issue using records of capable individuals. You had many great works under your belt, and I understand that our personal matters might’ve driven you away to Fontaine, but I find it rather immature that you’d go so far and abandon your responsibilities to pursue a relationship. 

Please consider coming back, as the Akademiya is willing to offer you a new position that you might find to be to your liking, the job benefits are numerous such as a large residence in Sumeru and a very high salary with many days of paid leave. Please contact me for more information. 

Alhaitham 

-----------------

 Dear (y/n), 

I have received your letter of rejection. 

Perhaps the salary wasn’t to your liking? The Akademiya is willing to double it, all your research projects will be fully funded and approved and you may pick up where you left off without any hassle. Any additional requirements could be negotiated, it would surely not be ideal to disregard such a promising career and job title in the Darshan you have dedicated years to. 

I apologise for any harsh words I have previously said to you, sometimes, well, most times my pride gets the best of me and I end up hurting people with my words. I would like to say that I never meant to hurt you, but at the time I did and I do feel quite regretful. Our personal matters should never be a reason for you to reject such a great offer. I understand that you are in a committed relationship, but you shouldn’t be discouraged to pursue other paths so early on in your life. 

Alhaitham

--------------

Dear (y/n), 

I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I would apologise for every second I disregarded you if it means you might come back. I would give you anything. I’m sorry I didn’t before, and that it took me so long. 

I’m pathetic, foolish, unworthy, and every derogatory term on this earth. But I also love you. I’m sorry it took having nothing of you in my life but a scarf you’d forgotten to realise that I love you.

When I sit in the corner of the library, I always save a seat next to me, hoping by some miracle you’d show up again. That you’d sit there again, laughing, smiling at me like you’d sucked all the warmth out of the sun, and this time I’d smile at you back until my cheeks hurt because you have come to mean happiness to me. 

I’ve loved you for every single year I’d known you, and for every single season, there was no one ever but you. Please believe me, I’d never pursued any relationships, it was only ever you that occupied my heart and thoughts. That woman you saw at the tavern wasn’t someone I was seeing, and I rejected her after, even if this meagre show of loyalty is too little too late. I was a fool that day, I was angry at my feelings, at the way my heart and brain were in complete incoordination that I took her advances to try and hurt you. I didn’t even touch her, she meant nothing to me, I wish I didn’t show up to the tavern that day so then maybe you’d still be in my life. 

Nothing fills the vacuum you left behind, my heart. I cried so much the day you left that it felt like I’d never stop crying. 

I tried to deny something so wonderful, and when my wish was granted I declared that I want you back. You must think I’m the most selfish man you’ve ever known. I might be. I’m sorry I rejected you and denied my feelings for so long, but please, will you come back and return the colour to my life? I will never take you for granted again. 

Please come back, I’m begging you. 

Alhaitham

-------------

Alhaitham walked around the labyrinth, nothing but the moonlight guiding him on his quest to find you. He’s frantic, rushing around from one dead end to another. 

And then he finds you, laying there, in the centre, bushes and greenery enveloping you, and you seemed happy to see him, because your cheeks quirked up and eyes crinkled in a smile that he’d been deprived of for long enough to realise it’s as essential as oxygen to him. 

He ran to you, breaking you free of your binds, enveloping you in his arms before kissing your lips in reverence as if he worships you. He kisses you, not stopping until he realises that you aren’t responding, and that you’ve gone cold in his arms.

-----------------

Alhaitham stared at the piling documents in front of him, eyes bloodshot and blurry. He’s glad that no one usually approaches him, for he must look like he squabble with the grim reaper last night. 

He sighed, hand going to his chest, rubbing it in a vain attempt to soothe the ache there. You didn’t reply to any of his letters. Why would you? He’s truly a piece of work to attempt to contact you after all he’s done to you over the years. 

He doesn’t know how long he can go on like this, but he knows for certain that he’s become the villain of his own story. His hubris and pride have pulled him down to a hell that he lives in everyday. He mocked soul mates all his life for travelling for miles to be together, for quitting jobs, getting divorced, all for a fated person. Alhaitham cannot look down on them any more, because if you don’t respond to him soon he will run to Fontaine and grovel until you spare him a single glance, and then he will finally feel like he’s found his Oasis after being stuck in a never ending desert. 

It feels like a knife stabbing his chest whenever he thinks of you in another land, married to another man, loving him and being loved by him in a way Alhaitham will never experience. But he brought this on himself, how can he blame you? He drove you into someone else’s arms. 

He touched his forehead, feeling somewhat feverish. He’s felt drained the past few weeks, but especially so after the dream he’d last had. His entire body is aching, and his breaths feel shallow, but if he plans to try to go to Fontaine he’d better start working now. 

Alhaitham opens the documents on his desk, diligently working on one after the other until his eyes land on the freshest arrivals. 

Alhaitham doesn’t fully remember what happened after that, but he remembers reading the words that shattered his entire world before his vision faded to black. 

“The student and faculty body is urgently requesting the papers to be processed to allow the body of (y/n) to be transferred to Sumeru to be buried in her homeland after her tragic murder. please…”

--------------

Alhaitham opened his eyes to an unfamiliar sight, the air felt sanitised and the sheets scratchy, alarming him to abruptly sit up, causing his head to feel light and vision to get hazy again. 

A nurse rushed over to him, calming him down and informing him of his condition. 

He was fatigued and had a fever, overwork and a mental shock took a toll on him and he passed out. That won’t do, he must get back to work so he can go after (y/n). 

(y/n)... 

His brain was refusing to process what he read, it must be a sick joke. A fucked up prank. You’re in Fontaine, happy and married, or perhaps still engaged. He hopes you’re still only engaged. 

He turns to the nurse who still held a worried look on her face, brown eyes crinkled in worry over a stranger. You’d give him this look sometimes too. 

“I’m alright. I’m going home to rest now.” he didn’t. 

He went back to the Akademiya, back to his office, to check that this was not reality, only one of the many nightmares that had been haunting him. He wasn’t the most devout man in his life, but for the first time in his life he made a prayer. Please let him have another chance, please don’t make him live this, don’t take her away from me this way.

Fate was cruel. 

Alhaitham faced the reality living out before him. He looked down, his wrist trembling, he’s been so afraid to look for the longest time, knowing he undeserving he was of it, but now he needs to, he needs to confirm.��

He turned his wrist, the mark on it has lost all colour, it’s now darker than any night Alhaitham had lived.

------------------

You left this world, he chants in his head, rocking back and forth. 

His room looked like a testament of destruction, everything was smashed, papers ripped, books destroyed, everything he faced didn’t survive to tell the tale. 

You left him alone in this world. 

The house and Sumeru itself never felt too big for one person, but now he feels like he’s drowning amidst the populace, his world never felt duller and more lonely, he faintly remembers a familiar pricking of loneliness when his grandmother passed. The mere prick had transformed into a tidal wave that’s drowning him under, and Alhaitham can’t breath amidst the saltwater. 

Did you even read his letters? Did you at least die knowing he loves you? 

He holds his pounding head in his hands, crushed at the thought of you dying with the thought that he doesn’t care about you. Did you forgive him as you took your last breath? Or did you despise him tenfold? 

You were killed, how could anyone think of hurting you? Since when was the world so cruel? 

It’s all Alhaitham’s fault, if he hadn’t pushed you towards that man, you would never have left with him, if only he thought for a second, if only his hubris didn’t cloud his logic. 

His heart had died that day, but he couldn’t find it in him to stand up and attend the funeral.

-----------------

“This is the book that brought us together my love, I still remember. If I recall far enough I can even describe the feeling of your fingers brushing against mine.” Alhaitham mutters, making himself comfortable beside you, this is the closest he will get to reading in your embrace, so he might as well make himself comfortable against the harsh slab of rock that has become your home. 

“I should have let you have it, or perhaps suggested we read it together? I should have invited you to pupsa cafe that day and introduced you as my soulmate to the owner. I can’t undo that, no longer am I able to agonise about the past, so now this is my attempt of redoing it. I hope you can forgive me.” he said, tracing the soil as tears lined his lashes, he brought you some flowers too, this is his first time bringing you flowers. 

“I’ll read the book out to you, alright?” and so Alhaitham flicks the book open. 

He reads out until his throat hurts, and the position of the sun changes, until the wind becomes more biting and harsh, and the song of nature becomes louder. He’s got the protection of your scarf, but it pains him even more that your scent has nearly fully faded away. 

He flicks the book closed, asking you about it, but of course you can never respond, nor can you even hear him when you're resting in silence six feet under. 

Humans are truly curious creatures, Alhaitham can admit he’s no exception. Their actions can never be truly calculated, uncontrolled variables cloud their existence. Most people accept the benefits that come with having a chosen one ordained by the stars, they weep in joy as a fated lover sweeps them under. 

Some like Alhaitham do not. They justify the rationale of a lonely existence, disregard a fate carved for them by an unknown force, they refuse to become one with the herd. However, one doesn’t discover true loneliness until they discover what it’s like to bask in the joys of companionship. Such simple acts like drinking coffee together while you both read, the comfort of knowing that you’re always nearby, ready to intervene when you think life is becoming too troublesome for him, the celebratory gifts, the laughs and smiles, they are all so incredibly mundane. But love is not so otherworldly, because if so, then the masses would never get to experience it. Your simple acts of love towards him are things he shall never experience again. The truth, something he always pursued with endless disregard for people’s feelings, is now too bitter for him to accept. 

Did Alhaitham’s world always look so grey? Why is loss so hard to comprehend? It might have something to do with the fact that you were never his to lose. 

He’s like a child, chasing after a kite that he can never have within his grasp again, nature’s will is too strong. 

The people at the Akademiya have moved on, tales and gossip surrounding your death dimmed from gasp-inducing tales to idle chatter, and now time has moved on and you were simply a topic out of season. It makes him mad, the way your friends can so easily laugh without looking at the vacant spot in their groups, how could the world so easily move on when Alhaitham is still left behind, clinging on to an outdated calendar?

His anger has long disappeared though, it left nothing but the bitter sting of regret, regret for what wasn’t and for what now couldn’t be. It took him too long to realise that the bentos dumped in trashes could have been dinners he came home to, made not expertly but with love. That seeing you barefoot in his kitchen after he left his work on the dot was a daydream worth chasing after. He grips the flask in his hand, throat feeling parched for release, mind desperate to finally leave this nightmare behind and rest.

“They say soulmates are binded in every life, their souls marking their bodies in an attempt to find their missing half. Do you think in the next life, we can be together? It’s too cruel to think that this is the end, so I entertain myself with such musings sometimes to comfort myself.”

Too preoccupied and swarmed with thoughts, Alhaitham failed to notice the shadow approaching him until its figure stood in front of him. He lifts his head, taking in the elderly lady who’s gentle countenance and wise wrinkled eyes reminded him so much of his grandmother that he nearly asked for an embrace. 

“Are you alright young man, you’ve been in this cold for a while haven’t you? I’m sure your loved one would want you to be happy and warm.'' Her soothing tone nearly made Alhaitham break into sobs, confessing that he’s never known warmth since you took all of it away when you became cold. He became cold too, after all he is your other half. 

He smiled, a smile so sincere that it looked off on his usually sombre face, and a hint of warmth seemed to return to him. He fingered the flask in his hand, his eyes hinting the grief bottled up inside of him. 

“Don’t worry, I will be, it shouldn’t take too long.”

----------------

“It’s been several years since the tragedy of the couple in mention, and while a difficult decision, we have decided a few months ago to look at their case to study the phenomenon of soulmates and their correlation to dreaming.” The aged lecturer spoke, voice low and hinting at the deep seriousness of the matter. The hall is silent, many having memories of the two, and while the murder of (y/n) shook many to their core, the unseen bond that you had to the Akademiya’s scribe made the tale truly a tragedy. Others, the more clueless ones who didn’t quite know the two, cast curious glances around. With time, there will be no need to pay homage to the tragedy of the matter, your bond will not be commemorated for how loving or sad it was, but it will be documented for Academic research. In a way, you and Alhaitham will live on and be remembered as a pair, though not the way either of you intended. 

“The various notes left behind by the two, Alhaitham’s in particular, took especially long to go through, and some transcriptions had to be salvaged. This study proved useful to the hypothesis that soulmates are more prone to dreaming because of the connection that they share. Many researchers have gone further to assert that it might be that the link between them links their subconscious and the hyper activity across this link stimulates shared dreams. The feelings of the pair experienced during daylight muddled together during their sleep-” the lecturer pauses to take a deep breath, flicking through the lecture notes “-and produced dreams that were shared by the two, and seemed to be directly influenced by both their feelings.” he let that information sink in before resuming. 

“For example, as seen in page 34, Alhaitham  was avid in documenting anything related to his soulmate, yet it seemed he was completely unaware, as most people wouldn’t be, that the day he dreamt of her having intercourse with someone else was the same day that she in fact did. We can thus somewhat deduce that this dream was influenced by her feelings regarding the-” he paused momentarily, thinking of an appropriate phrasing “-her feelings regarding the act.” 

“The dreams they had, interestingly, sometimes reflected their feelings towards each other more honestly than their daylight hours and dialogue. Their bond can never be broken by rejection, it seemed. They still found a way of subconsciously communicating. Their case has become a hot topic of research, especially in regards to soulmates and dreams respectively.” 

The lecturer felt somewhat forlorn, knowing that endless lecture notes on the two came at the expense of something they will never get to experience. 

#alhaitham #alhaitham x reader #alhaitham x y/n #alhaitham x you #al-haitham x reader #al-haitham x you #alhaitham angst #alhaitham fics #alhaitham fanfic #genshin impact #genshin x you #genshin x reader #genshin characters #genshin angst #alhaitham imagines #alhaitham scenarios #soulmate au #alhaitham soulmate #polar opposites #genshin soulmate au #alhaitham x reader angst #genshin scenarios #genshin fanfiction #alhaitham genshin impact #soulmate one shot #alhaitham one shot #one shot #murder #angsty fic #yandere alhaitham

[the-moon-files]

Linked Universe - Masc!Reader Soulmate Quick Headcanons <3

(^^ this is so cute i gotta find the anime its from)

Sun: Male/Masc Reader (he/him), Guide Reader :)

Stars: Wild (Breath of the Wild Link)

Planet: Headcanons/scenarios, kinda long sorry

Comets & Meteors: Content Warnings: Link possibly feeling comphet (compulsory heteronormative), the general angst of being the best friend love interest (ends well dw), Links missing you/being sad about it

& Trigger Warnings: Link crying. (Please comment if otherwise.)

☆

Wild (BOTW Link)

Ok so we know he was stuck before the calamity following Zelda around

And while in game it seems like he's perfectly accepting of his role as her knight

And maybe could love her or grow to love her

I feel like after the Calamity, and after he meets you, its not possible anymore

It kinda feels like that same way ppl come to realize theyre lesbians??

Like he could've been straight and happy or content (not really, not fully, but in that way that gay women settle for staying with a man, he'd stay with Zelda maybe)

She used to be all he had left really, so maybe out of obligation he'd have stayed, but then he lost his memories.

And what was once a daily duty now became a woman he barely knew halfway across the kingdom, (who creepily randomly telepathically invaded his mind,,)

Link doesn't really realize how he feels until after traveling with you around the entirety of Hyrule, camping, fighting, cooking, eating etc. together, after becoming best friends with you,

Its like how a lesbian realizes they're lesbian bc they could never imagine themselves actually dating/married to a man, at least relying on him for the long term,

Then that sentiment comes in like "i just wish i could stay with my best (non-man) friend forever" kinda way

Like he definitely had the thought "this is so much easier, i wish we could be together forever" <3

So while "dating" you didn't necessarily occur to Link at first bc of heteronormative mindset/general mission of the Calamity Ganons

He quickly breaks out of that a couple months into the journey

Zelda at first may have been the quintessential "princess needing saving" but you were the "best friend love interest all along" type of energy you know?

So when at the end of you guys' journey, you feel the tug to leave, because the adventure's over.. you fully expect to see Zelda running into his arms or something, and turn away

You may be able to accept he loves women (tho how he looked at you and how comfortable he was touching you had you thinking possibly, maybe, hopefully otherwise)

But that doesn't mean you're going to sit here and watch it happen

(You know the games, the Legend of Zelda, this is how it always ends)

Instead, you feel lean but strong arms clamp around your torso

You're lifted up (even if you complain about how heavy you are, and he must be tired)

But Link is just smiling, and spins you around, Zelda is slack jawed in the background and then giggles??

Well, that's sweet, at least he remembered you were here instead of getting absorbed in her

Link practically whips you around, turning you in his arms

You stumble but he's too strong to let you falter in this position

He crushes you to his chest, a whispered "thank you" in your right ear, his breath is warm and ticklish

You awkwardly pat his back, "yeah, of course buddy, glad she's okay, and you're alright, you should get some rest. Oh, and you can have whatever I've got left in my iventory, since I won't be needing it anymore... you know I've gotta go soon."

You feel more see Link jump in shock, he grasps your shoulders (you didn't realize how hot his hands were until they were gone from your back)

You're worried he forgot about the whole "only here for adventures" Guide thing until painful understanding shows in his blue eyes

He immediately looks like the wind got knocked out of him

"Sorry Link, I wish I could stay to rebuild or explore Hyrule with you... but it's not my choice anymore."

You look apologetic but at least you know he won't be alone, that was your entire reason for being a Guide in the first place

But as you begin to fade (which, wow, Hylia really can't spare having you stick around for longer than a few minutes or seconds after Ganon's defeat??)

Link looks, panicked?

Like he's watching the Calamity happen all over again, but unlike in the game, he actually looks overwhelmed and freaked

His calloused hands attempt to grab you in various places, your arms, your waist, your shoulders, hands, just anything he can hold onto

But nothing works and you give him a sad smile, wishing him good luck with Zelda and the kingdom

And a reminder not to push himself too hard, bc you wont be there to stop him anymore

It's only just as the last of your vision fades (like a movie fading to black at the edges and closing in)

That you see him start to cry.

☆

The first few months without you were hard, you had practically been the one constant in his life, afterall he couldn't remember much else so consistent before you

Sure, he had flickers of old memories, old friends, even of Zelda,

But they were special ones, specific moments, not having a routine every evening for who cooks dinner and who does dishes

No memory of someone helping him figure out how to dress himself, or how to shield surf down the best slopes

You were home, the very wilds he's grown to love and adore during his adventure, his house in Hateno was more like a inn he didn't pay for, rather than the warm fire you were sitting beside, lifting a blanket corner so he could curl up beside you

Zelda had understood, thankfully

She'd expected he would be different, memory loss can affect someone like that

But she'd said he seemed, better, lighter

Lighter than he ever was as a knight, even at the happiest she'd seen him

He'd helped some with the castle at first, but seeing how depressed he was, esp after she got other workers or Hylians to help, Zelda had sent him off

Under the flimsy excuse to go officially inform the rest of the kingdoms that she'd been freed and Ganon defeated

Link had unconciously returned to your favorite spots around Hyrule, and it had hurt in a different way to be around stables and have people ask where you were (you were more talkative than he was)

He'd started to avoid civilization unless absolutely necessary for supply runs, and he preferred to do so in disguise late at night..

So when Link's summoned on an adventure yet again to fight a threat so devastating it needs the previous incarnations of him...

He's actually looking forward to it.

Don't get him wrong, he wishes this weren't necessary to defeat the shadow, and he doesn't want anyone to get hurt, but if this is an adventure...

It means he might be able to see you again.

And he's willing to take on Ganon all over again, spend months at a time fighting and mowing down monsters, if it means you're allowed to be by his side once more

(He had tried praying to Hylia, which he didn't do much pre or post calamity usually, but for you he made an exception, and the blonde found that this was the one prayer that he could feel no divine eye turned on him for...? Her presence was practically gone when he prayed for you back)

But at least now, he realizes, he was right.

Thank goodness (not Hylia?) , he was right

Because Link could feel you,

As he'd learned towards the end of his journey, there was an innate 6th sense he had for feeling your presence, the closer you were, the more precise it was, even down to which way you were turned (all without him looking at you)

(He had ignored the strangely giddy feeling that bubbled up in his chest when Impa learned of this trick, and began to tell him, for the first time since his memories about it were gone, about soulmates)

Like familiar paths in Hyrule, he knew where a safe place to sleep was waiting,

You were waiting.

All he had to do was step through the portal, find his fellow heroes, and he knew, you would be there.

☆

This accidentally posted 💀🥲

Welp, i was about ready to post it anyway, hope someone got a kick outta this,

Im slowly gonna add all the Links btw lol

Thanks for reading, hope u enjoyed! :)

Peace Out,

🌙

#linked universe male reader #linked universe x reader #lu x reader #lu x male reader #lu imagines #linked universe imagines #linked universe reader #linked universe soulmate au #im so embarassed why did this post on accident 😖 #anyway “invisible string” by taylor swift could fit this vibe #dont worry i wont copy and paste #for the other links #i love my babes too much for that #DO NOT TAG AS YANDERE I STG #OR DARK #im specifically here to lighten up the LU tag too 😤 #im doin it for genshin so im doin it over here for my other love rn

[abyssruler]

CONGRATS ON 3K!!! May i ask albedo + normal au + soulmate + fluff? I don't have any other ideas so plot is up to you! I'll be happy with whatever you write 🫶🫶

of inks and six toes

albedo x gn!reader

in a world where anything you write on your skin appears on your soulmate’s skin, albedo finds that much unlike his initial expectations, he does have a soulmate, and one that he’s surprised to admit he genuinely enjoys conversing with.

soulmate au, comedy, fluff, written for my 3k event!

Albedo learns how to pen words on his skin long before he learns how to write them on paper.

His master has always encouraged this little habit. Notes, reminders, and quick calculations done on the smooth skin of his arm, hands, and on the days where he’s covered in warm clothing from head to toe, his cheeks.

He’s always been curious, always one to voice out questions—this, too, is a habit his master encourages—but he’s never thought to ask why he must write more on his skin than on paper. It was simply a way of life. You sit on a chair, you drink on a cup, you bend the laws of physics using the forbidden art of khemia, and you write inconsequential things to your skin.

Must check test tube #32 on 06:45 and observe any difference, he writes to the inside of his wrist.

With every year that passes, his master becomes more and more displeased with him, claiming his lack of progress, but Albedo doesn’t understand. He’s been doing exceptionally well, excelling in his studies and furthering his knowledge with research, he’s even acquired the small hobby of sketching. He doesn’t understand which aspect he’s lacking in.

It isn’t until years later, when his master deems him mature enough to accompany her in one of her supply trips in a nearby town, that he learns about soulmates. And only five months after that trip does he finally understand what his master meant by progress.

There, written near an absentminded reminder by the inside of his wrist, is a shaky scrawl akin to that of a child’s.

Wat deos experiment meen?

✧

Albedo learns a lot of things within the span of a few months after his soulmate finally responds to him.

The first being that his master seems to be more satisfied with him lately. After the initial shock of the revelation that a synthetic human such as himself would even possess a soulmate, he hurried to show his master the scribbles you made on his wrist. Her threats of leaving him should he fail a certain task has also lessened, almost to a nonexistent degree. Perhaps having a soulmate is the greatest proof of life an artificial person like him could have.

The second is that he never knew talking to someone would be something he would find himself looking forward to everyday. To form relations such as friendship and actively put in the effort to maintain it were not things he anticipated to be this enjoyable. Or perhaps it’s because the person he’s speaking to—rather, writing to, is you, his soulmate.

And lastly, within the first few minutes of conversing with you, Albedo discovers that you are young. Incredibly so, in fact.

…Not that he’s in any position to call anyone young, being that he’s barely a decade old despite looking like a young man already. He supposes he should be thankful to have been born with fully functional limbs and motor skills, his master isn’t exactly the best caretaker for a child, much less a good parental figure (never mind that he already thinks of her as his mother).

hau old ar yu?

How old are you, he corrects, all while mentally calculating exactly how old he is. His master would know down to the very last second, but he can’t bother her with something as mundane as this. Truthfully, the first few years of his life were spent learning as much as he could about the world and alchemy, such that he never took much note of his age until he learned the concept of birthdays. He thinks his master celebrated him being a decade old about a month ago—and by celebrate he means she let him sketch as much as he liked and gave him a break on his studies.

He estimates that he is about ten. Probably.

So that’s what he answers to his soulmate, he does you the favor of writing it in numerical form to make it easier to read.

wow yur old! The words come alive on the back of his hand slowly, each letter uneven and some even written backwards.

You’re, he corrects, more out of habit than any real desire to teach you proper grammar, and 10 isn’t that old. Once you get older, you’ll find that 10 is considered quite young.

It takes you a while to respond, and within that time frame, Albedo finishes transferring a heated whooperflower extract into a test tube. It’s an exercise in patience, and thankfully he has plenty of it. He regrets not using easier words for you to understand, but erasing the ink on his hand and writing new ones will probably confuse you more than you already are.

okey! papa sed im 5 yeers old, turneeng 6 tomorow

You must be very smart to be able to read and write already at that age. I’ll make sure to wish you a happy birthday tomorrow, he replies.

It takes another few minutes for you to write back. but you’re smarter then me so wen did you read and write?

Albedo lets himself feel the slightest hint of pride at how you spelled ‘you’re’ correctly this time around. You’re a quick learner.

I learned before I turned a year old, but please don’t tell anyone. Not that anyone would believe you if you said your soulmate learned how to read and write (and transmigrate a small branch into a flower) before he was one, but better to be safe than sorry.

oohh is this wat mama cals a secret?

Yes, it is, and I would be very happy if you kept it.

okey! i wont tel enywon! :)

Thank you.

He spends the next few minutes making light conversation with you, occasionally correcting your spelling and explaining any concept you seem confused about—until his master berates him for neglecting his work, and he has to bid you a hasty goodbye and apology. You’re quick to understand his circumstances, even as young as you are, only writing a goodbye next to his with a small, misshapen heart that he strangely finds adorable.

The next day, right as the clock turned to 00:00, he writes Happy Birthday on each side of his cheek. His master raises a brow when she sees it, but the excited little drawings you write on your wrist more than makes up for the humiliation.

✧

Tomorrow is my first day of school!

Your grammar and spelling have improved drastically within the span of a year. Albedo deduces you’ll be outdoing your peers in class. Not that he’s the best judge for how a child would normally develop mentally, but from what he’s read, you’re clearly very advanced.

Good luck.

Thanks! I’ll tell you all about it tomorrow :D

I look forward to it, and he finds that he does indeed look forward to it.

✧

Hey soulmate what nation are you from?

You’ve developed the habit of calling him that due to his lack of interest in sharing his name.

Aren’t you in class right now?

Yeah but it’s boring :( tell me more about alchemy

You said yesterday that you find alchemy boring as well, he points out.

But alchemy’s the less boring subject

You should still pay attention in class.

Poopy head. Oh no the teacher is look———

✧

Who is Mondstadt’s god?

The Anemo Archon, though if we’re referring to his name, it’d be Barbatos.

What’s the name of Sneshneya’s capital?

Snezhnaya, he corrects, and it’s Zapolyarny.

And many more such questions, most of them only needing the most basics of knowledge.

Albedo answers them all dutifully, wondering whether this is a test to see how knowledgable he is regarding Teyvat. His master would not be pleased to see him idling about, doing nothing as he waits for his soulmate to write back to him instead of spending his time doing research.

Wow! I’m the only one who scored perfectly on the test!

His eyebrows rise, an idea forming in his mind at the same time as amusement.

A test? he writes back.

Yeah, for my school! You’re so smart! Thank you, soulmate ♡

Something swells in his chest. Warm and pleasant that leaves in him a sense of satisfaction he might akin to the feeling he gets after a successful experiment, or that of the heat that settles in his stomach after a hearty meal during a cold, winter day.

Fondness, he decides, it is fondness.

You’re most welcome. Although next time it would be better to consult me while you’re studying so you would not have to resort to cheating.

Hey! It’s not cheating, it’s called using the resources you have to your advantage.

He has to stifle a smile at how clever you’ve become. Though not clever enough to answer your own tests, it seems.

Using my words against me?

Of course, I learned from the best!

Learned…

To be able to impart knowledge upon others, it is something he had not thought possible until recent years, not with how isolated he is and his only human contact being his master. It is amongst many other less shallow reasons that he is glad to have met you.

To be able to influence others by teaching them what he knows. It is a wishful thought, but he thinks he’d like to do such a thing in the future.

✧

Aunt Alice just gave birth to a baby girl! Her name’s Klee and she’s so fat, are all babies this fat?

Albedo spends a long time staring at his wrist before managing to snap himself out of his haze.

He doesn’t believe in coincidences, but what are the odds that this Alice you were speaking of is the same Alice who just sent a letter to his master the other day about how she finally spawned a daughter. If they so happen to be the same person, then fate truly has a strange sense of humor, though perhaps he should have known that from the moment fate decided a homunculus should have a soulmate.

Yes, he finally responds, a little plumpness isn’t considered fat; in fact, it’s often a sign of healthiness. Also, please don’t call the baby fat right to her mother’s face.

Too late! Aunt Alice just laughed and agreed with me. Isn’t she the best?

He shakes his head in amusement and distantly notes how your Aunt Alice’s personality seems to align with his master’s friend.

✧

I’m joining the Knights of Favonius.

He blinks at the sight that greets him first thing in the morning.

Ah. Well, he supposes this finally confirms all his suspicions of you hailing from Mondstadt.

The clues were there, practically spoon-fed to him, from the innocuous mentions of a certain flower or the structure of a building you found ridiculous, but he didn’t want to form a solid conclusion until you confirmed it yourself.

Is there a particular reason for this decision?

I just feel a bit inadequate. I’m already fifteen but one of my friends has been a captain at the Knights since last year. I’m stuck here stagnating while the rest of my peers move on.

Albedo isn’t the best at comforting people. Years of isolation and limited contact have made socialization one of the fields he doesn’t excel at. He can be a bit tactless, as you once said. He’ll try though, for you.

You don’t need to conform to other people’s standards. Each person moves at their own pace. You needn’t pressure yourself by placing such high expectations on your shoulders. He ponders more on what he could say, until a thought occurs so he adds, With that said, do you want to join the Knights of Favonius or are you merely joining because you feel that you have to?

It takes you a good few minutes to write back. He patiently waits for you to compose an answer, abandoning the on-going experiment he has on the workbench in favor of investing his full attention to you.

Yeah, I think I do want to. Not just because I think I should, but I really want to join.

Then I wish you luck on your future endeavors.

He was about to turn back to his neglected experiment when he sees ink forming on his inner wrist.

And soulmate? you write, your handwriting shaky in a way he hasn’t seen since you were young.

Worried, he hastily scribbles, Yes?

I think I Thank you :)

✧

What should we say to each other if we ever meet in person?

Would you mind elaborating?

I dunno, cause I like to think I’d recognize your handwriting anywhere—and it better be the same case with you! So maybe we should have a secret phrase between us to identify each other.

I’m not very imaginative when it comes to these things. How about you think of a phrase?

Okay! How about this: Barbatos has six toes.

Pardon?

No one in Mond would ever think to say such a thing, which means no one would ever say it out of the blue and confuse us. It’s perfect!

Ah, I see. Alright, if that’s what you wish.

See this is why I lo you’re my favorite person ever :D

✧

Congratulations on being promoted to captain.

Thanks!! Only took about three years, of course, but totally worth the time and effort! I can finally boss people around :)

Please don’t.

No promises!

✧

I got a vision!

That’s a sign of acknowledgement from the gods, or so they say. Would you like me to congratulate you?

No need for that. Just try and guess which element I got!

Pyro.

How’d you guess so quickly?!

The element suits you. Passionate and driven, it was only a matter of time before you were given one.

I really heh who knew you thought so highly of me?

Who wouldn’t?

✧

I’m going to be busy for the next few days traveling.

Okay stay safe!

My master has entrusted me with a heavy task. This is the first time I

You’re going to do great. You’re the smartest and most capable person I know, soulmate!

Thank you.

✧

“So, this new guy, he’s an alchemist?”

“Yes, and apparently a very good one,” Jean answers your question, walking with you side by side as you make your way to the entrance of the Favonius Headquarters to meet this ‘Albedo’ fellow. Well, more like Jean’s on her way to meet him while you’re on your way home.

“Huh. Reminds me of someone I know,” you muse.

She looks at you with amusement. “You mean your soulmate?”

You laugh sheepishly. “I never shut up about him, do I?”

“That’s an exaggeration, I’d say you’re just very in love with him.”

“What?!” you screech, whipping your head towards her.

Jean laughs into her hand. “You’re not fooling anyone with how excited you get whenever he writes back to you.”

“I-I mean,” you deflate in defeat. “I guess it is kinda obvious…” you sigh, only to straighten when you reach the massive doors of the entrance of the Headquarters.

There’s a person with ash blond hair standing right by its awning, looking over something in a clipboard. He turns at the sound of your approaching footsteps. Your eyes meet, and within that brief moment of contact, it feels like you’ve known this stranger your entire life.

Jean greets him. He nods his head at her and introduces himself. She then turns to you, “I’m assigning you to be his guide for the next few days. Be kind, alright?”

Your jaw drops. “Wha—why me?”

“Because you’re the closest available captain in the area,” she answers with an uncharacteristically sly smile. Oh, you lament, she really needs to spend less time with Lisa.

“Fine, but I can’t do it today. I promised Klee we’d go exploring this afternoon,” you concede.

“It’s settled then!” Jean claps her hand before giving the two of you an encouraging smile and leaving briskly. What a busy lady…

You then turn to Albedo who’s been silently watching your interaction, and you find him looking at you like you’re a puzzle he can’t quite discern. Shaking off his strange behavior, you pull out a pen and offer your hand to him. He looks at it curiously before placing his hand into your palm.

“May I ask what this is for?”

You uncap the pen. “Just gonna write down the time I’m free tomorrow, y’know, so you don’t forget.”

“I see.”

Writing on the palm of his hand almost feels wrong. Somehow. A strange feeling you can’t quite place.

It’s probably the spoiled milk you drank earlier.

“And there! Now that’s done, I just need to…” you trail off, seeing a blot of ink in the palm of your hand.

Excitement fills you. Abandoning your new acquaintance in favor of putting all your attention to the new words in your palm, you don’t notice the look of realization that crosses Albedo’s face once he sees what you’ve written on his hand.

1:30PM, Tuesday on the…

Your mind blanks.

You don’t read much beyond that.

This.

This is your handwriting.

But you didn’t write this on your hand, you wrote this on—

Turning a shocked look to Albedo, who if your suspicions are correct, is your soulmate, you find him looking at you with that same wide-eyed look mirrored in your face.

After a few moments of staring, something seems to occur to him.

“Oh, right,” he suddenly speaks up.

He grabs your hand—the same one that has your free time tomorrow written on it—and looks at you with such seriousness, you couldn’t have possibly hoped to predict what he was about to say next.

“Barbatos has six toes,” Albedo says with a straight face before furrowing his brows in question. “That’s our phrase, isn’t it?”

Finding your soulmate unexpectedly, finally getting to hold his hand after fantasizing about it for so long, and him saying those damned words you’d meant as a joke all those years ago.

You can’t help it anymore.

You burst out laughing.

3k word count

#3k event #genshin x reader #genshin impact x reader #albedo x reader #albedo kreideprinz x reader #gn reader #soulmate au

[chronosdawn]

Finally back with some writing and it's a little drabble inspired by this post which had me in chokehold as soon as I read it.

Zhongli x GN!Reader, Soulmate AU

Word count: ~1.5k

Liyue harbor was just as beautiful as your grandmother had always described, with its layers of orange and green-roofed buildings overlooking the shimmering blue water that lapped gently against the rocky foundations. You had no idea how your grandfather had ever talked her into leaving it all behind for the snow-covered wastes that made up most of the scenery around your tiny hometown in Snezhnaya. Even the mere memory of the bitter wind that used to sweep over the plains was enough to make you shudder despite the balmy temperature of Yujing Terrace, sheltered as it was by a mountain your grandmother claimed to have been raised by the Geo Archon himself.

Currently the space was bustling with locals and travelers alike, all anxiously counting down the seconds until this year’s Rite of Descension. The Yuheng of the Qixing, a young woman with long purple hair done up in twintails, was doing one final check over the large stone table laden with items that you couldn’t quite make out from your position towards the back of the crowd. While it might have been nice to have a better view for your first time attending the ceremony, unlike the business owners clustered around the front, the source of your income didn’t depend on the events of today so you were content to take a backseat to the proceedings. 

A hush fell over the crowd and you peered over the shoulder of the man in front of you to see that the Qixing member and the two attendants standing either side of her had ceased fussing over the layout of items on the table and were now stood with their hands folded in front of them. A moment of stillness before the spectacle that was to come. 

The Yuheng appeared to take a breath before raising her hand in some sort of sign as the air around the terrace began to crackle and spark with power. A set of precisely executed gestures had the energy surrounding the table start to coalesce, gathering into patterns and symbols that flickered in and out of existence too fast for you to make sense of them. The Yuheng turned, directing the energy towards the stone table where it then shot into the sky in a great beam of golden light. 

The heads of all present lifted skyward, watching as a mass of clouds formed around the beam, twisting in on themselves until they resembled a swirling vortex—a gateway to the heavens. 

Moments after, a speck of bronze appeared amid the churning whites and grays and a murmur of excitement ran through the crowd as the majestic serpentine body of Rex Lapis began to emerge. You felt as though the breath had been knocked from you—your grandmother had described the grandeur of the Geo Archon’s dragon-qilin form from the time she’d attended the rite as a youth, but no mere words could do justice to the subject of legend gracefully descending through the sky, sunlight catching on the golden fur at the tip of his tail. But despite the magnificence of the god, your eyes couldn’t help but catch on the long claws at the ends of his limbs and the sharp, jagged spines that ran along his back, a faint shudder running through you as you imagined what they could do if turned upon human flesh.

You looked away as you forced the images from your mind, wondering where they’d even come from in the first place. It was as you did so that you became aware of a tingling warmth spreading its way across your left forearm, right where your soulmate mark was hidden beneath your long sleeves. But if it was reacting like this then that meant—

A mixture of anxiety and excitement curled in your gut as you swept your gaze over the crowd, the fact you were in the presence of a god momentarily forgotten with the knowledge that your soulmate was somewhere here amongst these all these people.

But no matter how hard you searched through the sea of faces, all of them were still staring at the archon who’d just descended from the heavens with awe on their features. Okay, perhaps your soulmate was just caught up in the excitement of the rite. You just had to wait for them to notice and then they’d look through the crowd, as you were now, and your eyes would meet like in the stories your mother used to tell you as a child.

It was as you were running through how you were planning on introducing yourself when you became aware of someone’s gaze on you, the heavy weight of it urging you to duck behind the bodies in front of you. 

You didn’t however, instead steeling yourself as you turned your attention towards its source and met a pair of blazing amber eyes set in a decidedly inhuman face.

Why was Rex Lapis staring at you? Was he offended that you weren’t paying as much attention to the rite as everyone else? Or had he somehow been able to sense your connection with your soulmate flaring up?

It was then a crackle of lightning shot up your arm—all of the heat with none of the pain—and just like that you knew.

No. No, it couldn’t be, there was no way—

Yet no matter how much the logical part of you tried to deny it, the truth had just been burned into you and now sang through your veins. You were Rex Lapis’s soulmate. And judging from how intensely he was staring at you, he knew it too.

You couldn’t breathe, could barely think under the sudden weight of it all. Would he reveal the truth? Have you dragged out and paraded in front of all these people? What if someone had already noticed something?

Please, you silently begged the deity in front of you and anyone else who would listen, please don’t say anything.

After what felt like an eternity, the pressure on your shoulders vanished as the god turned his attention away from you and addressed the assembled crowd before launching into some financial forecast you were far too frazzled to pay any notice to. Sagging where you stood, you took deep gulping breaths as you scanned over the throng. Everyone’s focus was firmly on Rex Lapis and whatever divine wisdom he was currently dispensing—it didn’t look like anyone had noticed anything, thank the gods. Or rather god, you supposed, daring to glance at him once more. Whether he’d heard your pleas or chosen not to reveal anything to his own ends, you had no way of knowing.

The only thing you did know was that you had to get the hell out of this nation. Half the reason you’d left Snezhnaya in the first place had been to avoid becoming shackled to a god during the increasingly frequent Fatui recruitment drives, you certainly hadn’t come all the way to Liyue just to end up bound to a different one.

This was all wrong, your soulmate was supposed to be some merchant or moderately skilled adventurer—someone normal you could settle down and enjoy the simple pleasures with. No part of the plan you’d made for yourself when you came to the decision to leave your hometown featured being soulmates with a six thousand year old god. One the Seven at that, Celestia above. 

No this—it was too much. Far, far too much for someone like you to deal with.

While a part of you wanted to bolt right then and there, you forced yourself to stay until the end of the rite, certain that even if that ancient gaze was no longer bearing down on you, he’d notice the second you started to sneak away. You had no idea how the archon whose soul was bound to yours would react to you attempting to run for the hills right in front of him but you decided you didn’t particularly want to find out.

Time dragged on and on, the deep voice of Rex Lapis filling the air as sweat pooled in your palms and your heart tried viciously to beat its way out of your chest. Finally the rite came to a close and you watched warily as the massive scaled form of the Geo Archon rose back towards the sky without so much as a glance at you.

The second the golden fur of his tail vanished into the clouds, you turned and sped away from the offering table as quickly as your legs could carry you without breaking into a run. Perhaps, had you been a little less panicked, your legs would have carried you south towards your meager apartment to shove as many of your possessions you could fit into a bag before leaving for good. Right now, however, you didn’t want to stay here a moment longer than absolutely necessary so you took the path north instead, the quickest route away from the harbor. You had no idea how long you had before your soulmate might come calling and it wasn’t a gamble you were willing to take, not when you were already questioning the absurdity of attempting to run from a god. At least you had enough mora on you to cover the essentials until you reached the Stone Gate and could flee to Mondstadt—after that you could work things out from there.

Now deprived of the immediate presence of your soulmate, the marking hidden under your sleeve had begun to ache—an invisible hand tugging you back to where some divine tapestry felt you were meant to be.

You ignored it, dutifully forging onward without once looking back, completely unaware of the amber gaze watching you go.

#Zhongli x reader #Genshin Impact x reader #soulmate AU #genshin x reader #Rex Lapis x reader #I don't think this one requires any warnings except for age difference maybe? #but I mean with Zhongli when is an age difference not going to come into it #I haven't posted any writing in months and I am nervous #my writing #please forgive any errors it currently one in the morning

[harukaprism]

Soulmate AU

Pairing: Cyno xGN!Reader

Warnings: Potential violence against reader, fighting, soulmate au, that is all.

Word Count: 1,534

Dawn's notes: Howl has been on my brain and this is the result. Have fun!

In all of Teyvat soulmates surrounded you, everyone had their soulmate, everyone had someone for them.You had yet to find yours in your beautiful home of Mondstadt, which was fine; you were happy actually happy yours wasn’t in your home country. You wanted to explore and travel the world to find them, even though you had no hints as to who it could be. 

You did have something of your soulmate, everyone gets something to wear from their beloved that way when you two met you knew who it would be.They had gifted you a very beautiful necklace, plated in gold was a eye made out of beautiful amethyst with the pupil as a gold dot in the middle. You gave a set of simple gold earrings; it wasn’t much like the gifts you had seen your friends get but they were a treasured possession of yours that you would be able to spot miles away. 

You wore the necklace everyday, taking very good care of it just in case they had come to visit to find you, but as the years had passed you gave up hope that you would find them in your home or even Liyue. With that you made a decision. 

“You really want to visit Sumeru?” Lisa asked as she went through her book in the library. 

“Yes, Inazuma is too far away right now so I figured I would visit Sumeru to see if I could find them there.” You were determined to do what it took to see the world to find them and the one person in Mond that knows the country was your favorite bookworm. “Come on Miss Lisa, you are the only one that I know that has been there and I want to know what to prepare for. I have always wanted to travel Teyvat and looking for my soulmate is the perfect excuse to do that!” 

With a sigh she stood up grabbing a book from behind her desk. “If you really are serious, make sure you are prepared.” Handing you a stack of books her eyes fell to the necklace that she had seen for many years now. “You have to be careful and don’t worry too much if you do not find them right away.” 

Excitement shot through your body as you held the books to your chest. “Thank you Miss Lisa, really, I appreciate it.” 

The look on her face did not escape you as you watched her sit down, a mix of joy and also sadness, though for why you weren’t sure. “Just doing my job. Those books are to be returned in 2 weeks, cutie, I mean it.” 

With that you ran out of the library and into your little apartment and cracked open the old books, they had everything you could ever know about the country of wisdom and all of its deserts. You had no idea how much time had passed before you had finished every book, writing notes of what not to do in situations and what you would want to see. 

After reading the books multiple times you returned the books and packed everything you would need. Lisa still had contacts in Sumeru City so she set up some lodging for your stay. With everything packed and someone to keep an eye on your house and mail you left Mondstadt and

started your travels. As you traveled on foot to Liyue you followed all the notes that Lisa and even Kaeya had put together for you, there was many things listed that you should go see and ways to travel, the second you crossed the border into Sumeru your felt the cool rush of the wind hit you as your eyes were met with the most beautiful sight that you had ever seen. 

The lush landscape of Sumeru City was beautiful but the most intriguing part was what laid behind that huge tree, the vast land of sand. Something was pulling you there so you decided to make that your final destination. 

Following Lisa’s advice you made your way to Gandharva Ville to rest for the night, as you laid down for the night in a hut you heard the distinct jingling of jewelry, something that you knew well. With your heart pounding you rushed to your window and looked out searching all over for the glimpse of gold reflecting in the moonlight but you were only able to see the forest. 

You were disappointed for sure but you had to move on, you would find them sooner or later. In the morning you were greeted by the lead forest ranger Tighnari. “Thank you for letting me stay the night, I hope it didn’t cause too much trouble.” 

The man shook his head with a pleasant smile on his face.”Oh no need to thank me, I was happy to let an adventure stay the night. Where is your destination for this trip?” 

“Ultimately the desert! Ever since I stepped foot into Sumeru it has been calling for me.” You could see his eyes drifting to your necklace. “Ah, this is from my soulmate so I was hoping that I would find them here, if not my next step is Fontaine.” 

The look he gave was one of recognition and solace. “I doubt that you would need to travel that far. Be careful in the desert and make sure to bring plenty of water and supplies.” With that interaction over with you made your way to the city and got your room secured and set up. 

Your next few days passed pleasantly. The connections that Lisa had in the city were wonderful and you got really good advice as to how best to get to the desert. After a two day trip you had finally made it to Caravan Ribat, the second you stepped into the city heat rushed from beyond the wall and basked you in the amazing feeling. 

After getting a room for the day you made your way to the gate that separated the city and the vast ocean of sand. The gusts of wind surrounded you like a warm hug, every aspect of life drew your attention and you deviated from your path to Aaru Village to look at the flora and fauna. 

You weren’t keeping track of the time but soon the sun had started to set and the cool breeze filled your ears. “Well well well, what do we have here?” The unknown voice brought you out of your studies of the flower in front of you to the group of mercenaries slowly surrounding you. “You’re not from the desert are you?”

You were no stranger to fighting, you were part of the Adventures Guild, you were experienced with defending yourself. You held your hands behind your back not wavering. “Just leave me alone, I have no interest in fighting some low life scum.” 

“Oh looks like you have quite the mouth. I can fix that.” The leader, you guessed, cracked his neck as he walked up to you. Just as your hand gripped the hilt of your sword the air cracked around you and stilled. In a flash of light the men were on the ground and a tan man stood before you enveloped in a purple glow. 

As he turned you heard the noise that you were very familiar with, the gold earrings that he wore upon his hat shone brightly in the setting desert sun. Stunning red eyes like rubies pulled you into his gaze as his white hair settled down and he came to a standstill. 

His eyes glanced down to your necklace as you kept your eyes trained on those earrings. “There you are sweetheart, sorry I’m late. I was looking everywhere for you.” 

With your heart fluttering you dropped your sword into the sand. “Not how I intended to meet you and I am impressed at how you have utilized the earrings. I see you have kept good care of them after all these years.” 

With that he approached you and took the pendant between his fingers. “I never thought I would meet you. Tighnari told me that he suspected you were my soulmate when you stayed in Gandharva Ville. He said you were coming to the desert.” 

With a huff you crossed your arms. “No wonder he made that comment. He knew I would run into you.” Your bottom lip jutted out just a bit in a pout, this seemed to cause him to lose focus on the jewelry he gave you and his calloused thumb came up and danced across your lip. 

“Call it divine intervention, he was looking out for the both of us.” Suddenly your vision was covered in darkness as you felt the hat that he wore was placed upon your head. “You have been out here too long, let’s go to Aaru Village for some rest and shade.” 

Lifting the hat with one hand you pushed the tuft of hair covering his eye out of the way. “You are more handsome than I thought you would be.” 

His chuckle was low as he laced his fingers with yours and started to guide you.

#cyno #cyno x reader #cyno x you #soulmates #soulmate au #genshin #gi #genshin fanfic #genshin fanfiction #gi fanfiction #gi fanfic #genshin impact fanfiction #genshin impact fanfic #genshin impact x reader #genshin impact #genshin impact x you #genshin impact x y/n #genshin x reader #genshin x you #genshin x y/n

[ofoceansandtombsanew]

Genshin As: Types of Soulmates

tags: gn!reader, racially ambiguous reader, soulmate aus

ft. xiao, itto, ayato, ei, yae miko, childe and thoma

a/n: this might not be the most original concept but i’ve always wanted to write one which is why you’re all seeing it. consider it a celebratory ‘we’re one step closer to getting to sumeru’ post. TAT assuming it really is after 2.8. FINGERS CROSSED THOUGH (And good luck to the Yelan/Shinobu/Heizou wanters). feel free to hit up the ask box to chat!

XIAO: YOU SHARE A SOULMARK you were told plenty by ver to simply ignore the young man who didn’t enjoy other’s company. you were also told plenty that he was apparently an adeptus, the vigilant yaksha in fact. such information was shared easily when, like many of the staff, you were truly working for lady ningguang. so when you saw the yaksha, you were more than happy to oblige his unspoken wish for quiet when you caught sight of the unique upside down bird tattoo on his right arm. the same one you had on your left. well fuck

ITTO: YOU SEE AND HEAR THE OCCASIONAL GLIMPSE OF YOUR SOULMATE you were sure that no one had as eccentric a soulmate as you, he was honestly quite entertaining. there was the time you caught a glimpse of him falling out of a tree trying to find an onikabuto beetle. there was also the time you were pretty sure you heard him laughing his ass off for highjacking a theatre performance. once, you were able to talk for just a brief moment in an extremely rare back to back thought sharing session. he asked for your birthday and you happily told him. it just wasn’t so fun when, at 3am, you awoke to hearing your soulmate beatboxing an enthusiastic happy birthday song to you (okay maybe it was really cute)

AYATO: YOU SEE THINGS THE COLOR OF THEIR EYES blue was your favorite color. of course, technically by default it was your favorite color because it was the only one you could see. you weren’t sure what green looked like and you couldn’t quite visualize the peach and violet sunrises your friend described, but you knew blue. the blue of the sky above you and the blue of the sea below, they were comforting sights on your trip to inazuma. you were finally making your way to visit the country on your quest to visit all the nations in teyvat with ritou your first stop. so when a merchant stopped you to try his milk crafting station, you decided to amuse yourself with the assorted mix of ingredients. “i’ll try the ganoderma and lavender melon” ganorderma is blue you smiled pleasantly to yourself. “i’ll have one of those myself” a man piped up from beside you. at that you, grinned and turned to face him with teasing words but they died on your tongue as you saw blue and then everything else

CHILDE: SHARING INJURIES you wanted to throttle your soulmate every time you got a new reminder of them because they seemed to constantly be finding themselves in trouble. scar after scar, bruise after bruise. you worried briefly that perhaps your soulmate was experiencing darker troubles at home, but those worries were somewhat soothed when an adventurer friend told you those looked like battle scars. now you were just wondering what the hell your soulmate did to constantly be receiving said battle scars. you were sure your mother would faint when she found out your soulmate turned out to be a fatui harbinger who, in addition to sporting a giant grin, sported a very familiar scar on the palm of his hand

EI: TIMER COUNTDOWN the god of eternity honestly thought her timer was broken for the longest time when the seconds on her wrist equated to centuries in the future. even after she crafted her raiden shogun puppet and her true body faded away, the timer somehow remained. after so much loss, ei put thoughts of soulmates away and paid the timer no mind throughout her centuries long meditation. after encountering the traveler, ei finally looked at her timer and was surprised to see that meeting her soulmate wasn’t too far off from the future. imagine her surprise when she met you some time later, a diplomat from natlan coming to secure favor with the shogunate now that the trade routes had opened once again

THOMA: DIFFERENT SOULMATES your boyfriend was perfect. honestly, perfect. he was sweet, charming, cooked and cleaned when you were too tired to. the only imperfect thing was that he wasn’t soulmate. you knew that wasn’t a big deal, at least not as much of a big deal as you often made it. you were one of the rare few that didn’t have a soulmate, thoma was part of the vast majority. he had one. somewhere in the world, thoma’s soulmate was waiting for him. wondering where he was and when he would meet them, yet here he was kissing you and exchanging sweet nothings with you. “plenty of people never meet their soulmates” he said and you knew that. “i just... want you to know if you ever met your soulmate, i wouldn’t- archons it would hurt but i wouldn’t get between you both” “as far as i’m concerned, i’ve already met my soulmate”

YAE MIKO: FIRST WORDS “my my, look at this. i wonder what the story behind this is” were the words transcribed on your wrist. you always wondered what the scenario behind those words would be. maybe you were going to be an adventurer and the first time you met your soulmate, you’d be holding treasures in your arm. or maybe you’d be reaching for the same book at a bookstore. reality, unfortunately, was a lot more embarrassing as you looked down at a violet-eyed woman as you were held in the trees by a singular vine. you’d been stooped into playing with the bake-danukis and here you were, meeting your soulmate. “this isn’t how i thought we’d meet” you sheepishly chuckled “you mind getting me down here, miss...” “miko. yae miko”

#look she's writing #genshin impact #genshin impact x reader #genshin #genshin x reader #soulmate au #itto x reader #raiden shogun x reader #ei x reader #childe x reader #itto beatboxing because we deserve it #xiao x reader #ayato x reader #thoma x reader #yae miko x reader

[qingxin-dream]

“Incarnate (I)”

a/n | this is part i of iv for a little small series of angsty midnight drabbles partially influenced by pinocchio in a world where scaramouche is bound to you by fate. god it’s been such a long time since i’ve written anything, feedback is appreciated! (art credits: @/tong827038 on danbooru)

warnings | panic attack, drowning, implied death

genre | angst, soulmate au

word count | ~1k

pairing | scaramouche/wanderer x reader

✧⋄⋆⋅⋆⋄✧⋄⋆⋅⋆⋄✧⋄⋆⋅⋆⋄✧⋄⋆⋅⋆⋄✧⋄⋆⋅⋆⋄✧⋄⋆⋅⋆⋄✧⋄⋆⋅⋆⋄✧

It was spring when Kabukimono first discovered his heart.

A shimmering mist surrounded the rural Inazuma island the puppet called home. Each of the dew drops reflected the sunlight in a kaleidoscopic wonder, casting colorful fractals across your features. To say the puppet was enamored with the beauty of the season of new beginnings—and of course with you—was an understatement.

The recent afternoon downpour left behind a rejuvenating scent on the gentle breeze, filling his senses with a newfound feeling of tranquility. Many of the sakura trees dotting the landscape had their blossoms taken on the wind of the spring shower. Soft petals scattered the ground like a mesmerizing pointillist painting.

You cupped your palms together, outstretched to the sky to catch a lone sakura blossom. Your companion watched you with pure fascination, taking note of how your mouth dimpled ever so slightly into a smile. The way your glossy eyes flickered to his, gazing contentedly through your thick lashes… if only you knew how bizarre it made him feel.

Every time you brushed your fingers against his as you both walked together, it was as if he forgot how to breathe. When you reached into to his iridescent veil to tuck a loose tuft of his indigo hair behind his ear, his face bloomed as red as a rose at quite the alarming pace. You made him feel like he couldn’t function without you.

Because in sacred moments just like this one, you were the reason Kabukimono’s heart pounded just a little bit harder—a welcome reminder of his humanity.

“Do you ever wonder what’s beyond the sea?” you ask the blossom in your hand, although it was more so directed to your friend. “I’d like to see it someday.”

Never had you expressed this sentiment before, drawing the puppet’s curiosity to you. He had not truly considered the world beyond the village. It was his home where his friends resided. Why would he ever want to leave when he has everything he could ever want within his grasp?

Kabukimono stepped behind you, looking over your shoulder softly at the sakura blossom. You held the little pink flower as if it carried your hopes and dreams. He could recognize the longing in the way you stared out at the rolling waves of the ocean.

If you so desired that freedom, Kabukimono promised himself that he would give it to you. He would give you everything he had if you so much as parted your lips with a hint of need.

It was difficult to comprehend for someone so new to the world like himself, but with you by his side it never seemed impossible for Kabukimono to reach for the moon, the stars, or the whole damn sky if you wished it to be.

“Then I will find a way,” promised the kind puppet. “For you.”

Your face brightened, turning to face Kabukimono with a soft smile. “Would you accompany me?”

Part of him feared this question. The puppet knew he couldn’t leave his blade smiths behind. Telling you no was more difficult than he anticipated, it tore him in two between his dear comrades and the prospect of fulfilling your dreams. How could he ever make such a decision?

In hindsight, he who formerly was known as Kabukimono would forever curse his worthless emotions for clouding his judgement.

The day you departed, your ship was swallowed whole in the distance, pumping adrenaline in its most raw form through his veins. It utterly ravaged his frail body.

To his surprise, as he rowed furiously to the remnants of the ship, his throat refused to make a sound. Amid the rush of shock, Kabukimono had let a series of unadulterated screams rip from his lungs to the point he could no longer speak.

Once he was close enough, the puppet haphazardly tossed his veil to the side and dove into the cold sea water. The absolute terror pulsing in Kabukimono’s chest clenched down on him like a vice. He couldn’t push enough water past him to reach you.

He was losing his form, once coordinated strokes devolving into frantic, desperate swipes toward your unconscious body that sunk lower and lower away from him. A plethora of air bubbles escaped from his cold lips, drowning out any efforts to call out to you.

It was a miracle that the little puppet managed to envelope his weak arms around your frame. Kabukimono peered through the dark waters to the stormy sky above that was rapidly disappearing. With every remaining ounce of strength left in his body, the puppet pulled you to the surface.

The mere sight of you in such a deathly state, your skin drained of its warmth, was forever engraved in his memory. Swimming to his boat, the erratic ocean waves repeatedly sloshed over you both, forcing water down his throat. Kabukimono winced and violently coughed, struggling to pull you with him to safety.

No, he thought. Not like this. He would never let you perish as long as he drew breath.

Yet, the periphery of the puppet’s vision was beginning to grow hazy. He was losing control of his movements, unable to hold you any tighter to his chest.

You tumbled over into the boat roughly with one last great push, rendering Kabukimono paralyzed beneath the water. He swam, kicked, and struggled to break the surface again until ultimately he succumbed to the drowsiness pulling him under. He became still, so impossibly rigid as his heart slowed.

In what Kabukimono believed to be his final moments, an unknown voice echoed eerily within the chambers of his mind and soul from the beyond. Death began to wrap its tendrils around his throat, ensnaring him against his will.

“Little puppet, bearer of suffering and sacrifice, do you wish to return to the human world? To be reborn anew?”

…

“Then so be it, Kunikuzushi.”

[to be continued… in part ii.]

thanks for reading! reblogs are appreciated! my masterlist

#[opulent dreams].✿ #why am i literally so embarrassed to post anything anymore😵‍💫 #genshin impact #genshin #genshin impact imagines #genshin imagines #genshin x reader #genshin angst #genshin soulmate au #scaramouche x reader #wanderer x reader #genshin scaramouche #genshin wanderer

[linkemon]

Soulmate AU headcanons 1

Friendly reminder that English is not my first language. You can check my Masterlists both in English and Polish here.

Tomo (Kazuha's friend)

✧ You never thought you'd find your soulmate in the saddest way you know. Seeing the writing on your hand, you always assumed that was the first sentence you would hear from them.

✧ It had to be. Those were the last words you heard from Tomo. Immediately after that, he went to fight Inazuma's archon. You couldn't even stop him. The execution took place in the blink of an eye. You ran away with Kazuha. Only later did you realize what had happened. The person destined for you was already dead.

✧ The truth was that you never considered a friend as your significant other. You considered him your friend. It wasn't until Kazuha told you that Tomo had always seen something more in you. However, he never made a move to let you know because he was afraid of your reaction. He didn't want to ruin your friendship. Especially since you travelled together. Rejection would mean big changes.

✧ For a long time you couldn't get over his death. You covered the tattoo with bandages, unable to look at it. You didn't want to be reminded of the loss. Even Beidou said you were drinking too much with her pirates and she discreetly hid rum from you.

✧ You opposed Kazuha's attempts to bring Tomo's vision to life. You thought he should be left alone. Then your paths parted. You didn't meet again until after the opening of Inazuma. Together you honored a deceased friend.

Eula

✧ You've felt terribly cold for several years. Heaps of blankets, hot meals, and thermos bottles didn't help. The cold came and went unexpectedly. You enjoyed your fiery power. Otherwise you could really freeze to death. Even the well-known doctor in Liyue, Baizhu, didn't know what was wrong with you.

✧ You discovered the truth during one of your trips to Mondstadt. You were hoping to learn something in the library there. Lisa Minci greeted you with interest. After you explained what the matter was, she said she might have a clue for you. You had to wait a week for the person you were waiting for to show up. She was busy on a mission.

✧ Eula didn't really feel like talking to you. And she didn't even want to help you. It wasn't until you explained what it was that she understood. She also had similar symptoms as you. She had hot flashes. Your conversation was abruptly interrupted by an attack by several Abyss mages. You dealt with them with your skills. The girl was surprised how well you fight. It wasn't until later that you realized that you were connected to each other. You even did some tests to make sure.

✧ The beginnings of your relationship were not easy. Eula, despite finding a soulmate, refused to trust you. You had to work hard to gain her trust, not to mention going on a date.

Lumine

✧ Your strange counter on a foot stayed with a funny stamp for a long time. Distance: ∞. Family and friends tried to find out what it was all about. You all agreed that it was probably supposed to show the distance from your soulmate. Infinity, on the other hand, was quite a puzzle.

✧ Every night before going to bed you checked your leg. Imagine your surprise when one day it started showing numbers. Without wasting time, you took care of the most important matters and set off on your journey. Over time, the distance narrowed. You had a suspicion that your significant other is in Mondstadt. After some time, however, it began to increase again. When you got to Liyue, you missed each other again. You managed to see a ship disappearing over the horizon, heading towards Inazuma. In despair, you started looking for information about who was on it. That's how you found out about an interesting traveler who was probably the one you were looking for.

✧ When Inazuma's borders are finally opened, you set out on the first ship. You waited impatiently for the moment when your foot showed zero. As you turned your gaze on Lumine in the crowd of people, you knew immediately it was her. You asked her to listen to you over a bowl of ramen, which she agreed to. For now, she's looking for a brother and she's not sure if she'll be able to give her heart to you. However, she admitted that she was touched when you followed her across half of Teyvat. Just like her to her twin. She let you travel with her, so you don't lose hope.

#genshin impact x reader #tomo x reader #eula x reader #lumine x reader #soulmate au #genshin impact #headcanons #over teyvat #eula #lumine #tomo