Lumine didn't want to wake up from this dream. She drifted in and out of sleep, occasionally roused by the sound of her favorite legal drama coming in through her earbuds and the jostling of the train. Venti slept soundly across from them, and Ajax's head was on her shoulder, their fingers interlocked.
At first, after all the revelations and the emotions of the kiss, Lumine couldn't have possibly slept. So Ajax took out his phone and she grabbed her earbuds and they'd put on Tears of Themis on autoplay. It wasn't long before the calm of the train had lulled them to sleep, passing the hours away.
But when the train came to a stop in the bright golden lights of Liyue Harbor, she had to wake up and leave the dream behind.
"Ajax." She shrugged, gently jostling him awake.
He snapped to attention, as quickly as the soldier he had once been. "What—are we there yet?"
"Yeah, looks like it." Lumine tossed her earbuds to him, and he wound the cord around his phone and stowed it away in his pocket. She reached across the table and shook Venti's shoulder. "Venti, wake up!"
"What?" He blinked sleepily, for a moment, then sat up and stretched. "That was one of the best naps I've had in ages! I forgot how nice it is to be around you, Lumine!"
With that, the former bard and god of the winds grabbed his backpack and led the way out of the train.
On the platform, none other than Zhongli was waiting for them.
"Ah, Barbatos." Zhongli pressed his lips as thin as a pin. "I suppose I should thank you for taking my friends home."
"It's no problem!" Venti bounded up to Zhongli and clapped a hand on his shoulder. "Thanks for the nice digs back—which reminds me, I got you a thank you gift."
Zhongli frowned as Venti started digging through his backpack. "It all happened rather fast for you to make a stop at the Dawn Winery."
"Oh, no, I just had a feeling something like this would come up." Venti winked as Lumine and Ajax watched on. He then reached further into his impossibly large bag and pulled out a comically-sized amber bottle. "Ah, here it is! The Osmanthus wine that you like!"
He then placed it in Zhongli's hands.
A thoughtful and wistful expression passed over the former Archon's face. In that moment, Lumine could see the dead king of stone, alive once again.
"This is surprisingly thoughtful of you." Zhongli looked up. "Thank you, Venti."
Venti beamed and planted his hands on his hips. "I'm just glad we're all meeting up again! It'll be just like the old days, before. . ."
His eyes flicked to Lumine at the same time as Zhongli's did, and both of them looked quite sad.
"There's a lot to talk about," Zhongli said after a long silence. "I'd hoped for more time to prepare. . . But I suppose that since everyone's here, we should do this now—or tomorrow morning, at least."
"Meaning?" Lumine prompted.
"Meaning we're having a sleepover at Morax's!" Venti slung his backpack over his shoulder. "Oh, are some of the other members of the old guard there?"
"You'll see." Zhongli laughed. "You're right, it has been some time since we were all together. It should be nice."
Lumine found herself smiling too, and she glanced over to Ajax, slipping her hand into his. She was surprised at how easy she found it, compared to the morning. He smiled at her, but seemed uncertain.
Still, he followed her into the shadows of Liyue Harbor, to Zhongli's apartment.
Only the hall light was on by the time that the party returned to Zhongli's apartment. At first, Lumine thought that they were the only souls awake. She could see several figures on the couch and on mattresses spread across the floor. Xiao rested sitting up against one of the walls, but he was clearly fast asleep despite the uncomfortable position.
However, one short figure waited for them in the light with a thick green hoodie and dark purple shorts. He had a fair face, reminding Lumine of a doll and eyes like the storms over Mondstadt. Lumine knew that she knew him in her past life, and he had to be one of the mortals to be invited—but just who was he?
Ajax was first, however, to voice these concerns.
His eyes narrowed as he approached. "I know you, how do I know you?"
The boy smirked. "Ah, Tartaglia. It's been a while. Never thought you'd be back to annoy the living."
He stood in the library of Summer, thunder in his eyes. "The Shogun will come to regret that mistake. As for me, I'll find out the secrets behind the Heart she denied me."
"You're Scaramouche." The words rolled off of Lumine's tongue. He was the puppet god in the Ballad of Ascension, the one who wanted to be human and divine. A rather complex character, as she recalled.
"One of the Harbingers." Comprehension dawned on Ajax. "Hang on. . . I think I do remember you."
"Oh good, that means things should get interesting." Scaramouche then sighed. "Too bad, or else I might've tried to convince you that you were one of my underlings a hundred years ago."
"I'd rather eat a Cryo slime."
Scaramouche clapped. "Oh, you're definitely remembering now!"
He looked over to Venti. "You did good, making sure that there was a copy of the book in the Favonius Library. I guess you were right, it did the trick in waking both of them up all the way."
"I thought it would make tomorrow morning easier." Venti ignored a pointed stare from Zhongli. "You're welcome. I guess I'll just go find one of the spare mattresses and crash out on the balcony."
With that, he stepped lightly around all of the sleeping figures, many of whom were familiar to Lumine, even if she didn't quite recognize them yet.
"I'll go help him." Zhongli sighed. He pointed at Ajax and then Scaramouche. "Play nice, both of you. I will have order."
With that, he followed the god of the wind, leaving the two ex-Fatui and the former savior of Teyvat alone together at one in the morning.
"I was hoping Zhongli was right, that he really had seen you around." He looked at Lumine with an obvious sort of admiration. "I'm not exactly the sentimental type—but I think everyone missed having you around the past hundred years."
He then looked to Ajax. "I think I even missed you, as annoying as you are, Tartaglia."
"Thanks, I think?" Ajax shrugged and shared a bewildered look with Lumine.
Scaramouche just laughed and turned away, toward one of the guest rooms.
"He must've shown up early, to get one of those," Ajax muttered. Lumine couldn't say she disagreed.
Zhongli came back carrying a mattress, along with Venti.
"So, bad news everybody, looks like there's only one mattress left for the two of you," Venti declared as he parted toward the balcony. He then stepped quickly and lightly over the other guests, disappearing out onto the balcony.
Zhongli let out another long sigh. "Sorry about the situation. This was part of why I was hoping for a little more time before we got to this part. It seems it's all accelerating faster than I anticipated."
"It's alright, Zhongli." Lumine smiled.
"We don't mind," Ajax chirped in.
"Somehow I suspected as much." Zhongli smiled and shook his head. "Get some rest, you two. We have a lot to talk about in the morning."
With that, Zhongli turned off the light and retreated into his own room.
Ajax and Lumine then shared a glance. Ajax gestured to the mattress. "Ladies first?"
Lumine rolled her eyes and pulled him down with her.
