Painful. Scarlet. Blood.
Everything's blurry and painted orange. I can't even make out where I am.
I hear something. Something horrible—fighting. Are we… at war? I hate war. I hate fighting. I don't wanna fight.
"Tao…! Tao…!"
Someone's calling my name. A sweet voice amidst the noise of war. But… whose? It's too muffled.
Damn, I can't move my body at all. Everything's so painful. Was I attacked?
"Hu Tao…! Tao-Tao…! Please… Stay with me!"
Wait, everything's clearing up bit by bit. I think I see someone. I feel them, too, cradling me. In their loving arms. It's somehow easing the pain away. Is… is it…?
Pink hair.
Green eyes.
White horns.
Adeptus.
Law.
Scarlet.
"Yan… Yan…?" I breathed out. "Yanfei…? Yan-Yan…?" She smiled, putting me at ease.
I felt rain… wait, no. It's her tears. "Don't cry… Yan-Yan. You're gonna make me…" Huh…? What's that on her cheek? Blood? Did… I do that?
"There they are! For the…!" Oh no, that doesn't sound friendly at all.
"Ngh, not now, Abyss rats…! Get away!" 'Abyss'? I… I think I remember something.
All-out war. All nations versus the Abyss. Disaster. Catastrophe. Liyue invasion. Weeks.
Then, a scarlet hue. I was cloaked in some sort of scarlet hue with this person. Flashes of red and orange started appearing like some sort of fireworks. I could hear more screams. I don't like it. I hate it. Please, make it stop, Yan-Yan.
Suddenly, I felt like I was being hastily hoisted up.
Oh no… The pain!
"AGH!" So painful. So painful!
"No-no-no. Shh-shh. I got you, Tao-Tao. I got you. We need to find shelter. Please, bear with me!"
Yan-Yan found a spot behind some rocks and a fallen tree. I think we're safe for now. She carefully rested me by the trunk.
No… why's her body covered in red? Is she hurt? Who hurt my Yan-Yan? Argh, this pain's making it hard for me to focus…!
"T-Tao-Tao, I… I'm fine. B-but don't you worry about me. Please, hang on just a little longer. I'll call for Dr. Baizhu." That doctor? "He'll… wait, no! D-don't move! Please, don't move, Tao-Tao!" She quickly held me in place and pressed my stomach. Argh, this pain! "The wound'll open up again!"
'Wound'?
I remember now. Stabbed once. Multiple explosions nearby. That must be my blood on her body, not Yan-Yan's.
I let out a weak chuckle amidst this excruciating pain. "Heh… Sorry… Yan-Yan. I made you… look pretty ugly… Urgh! Gack!" O-oh no, everything's starting to fade again… but there's a light behind her now.
Wait…
Light…?
I… I think I know this. Grandpa told me this before.
Is it my time already?
But then, Yan-Yan…
"They went this way!" An echo, the Abyss! They sound like they're a lot. Can Yan-Yan even…?
"C-curses!" Yan-Yan looked back at me. "D-don't waste your energy talking, Tao-Tao. I'll hold them back until Dr. Baizhu comes. Please, I-I'll—"
"No…" I forced a smile with all my strength. "Live… Yan-Yan… I'm gonna… kick the bucket anyways… I'll… hold them off…" Ngh, even raising my arm's taking much—
"NO!" She clasped my charred hand. "No. No! I… won't leave you! I… we promised! We promised we'll stick together, till the very end! So… please… Tao-Tao… Stay with me… Don't go…"
The light behind her's becoming brighter. I guess I don't have much of a choice here. Damn it, and right in front of her, too. "Yan-Yan… Come closer… I need to tell you… something…"
Once she leaned a little closer to me, it's like some energy from the other side surged into my dying body, as I wasn't even injured in the first place.
"I'll always love you, Yan-Yan.
Even in death, I'll never forget you.
Promise me.
Promise me you'll be the Ace Attorney Liyue—no, Teyvat needs after this stupid war's over.
'Cus I know… I know my Yan-Yan's gonna kick some legal butt!"
I raised my arms to hug Yan-Yan as tight as I could and drew her towards me until our lips met. A few seconds felt like eternity, and all of the moments we spent together flashed before me.
Snap.
Something in me snapped.
I don't know what it was, but it must've been something important. I couldn't feel my body anymore. The pain's suddenly gone, too, and it's like I'm slowly being pushed away from my body. But… I can still hear the war going on and see Yan-Yan in front of me. What's going on?
"Tao-Tao? Hu… Tao?" she quietly called out to me, mortified face painted all over.
Huh? Yan-Yan? C-can't you hear me? Hang on… Where's that light behind her? Wait, no, why's everything slowly becoming black? Not only that, everything's slowly becoming muffled again.
"No… you're not… are you… Tao-Tao…?" She stepped back and fell to her knees. I could even hear her bawling out, calling out my name over and over.
Yan-Yan…! She can't hear me, can she? A-and this growing darkness…!
All of a sudden, and in the last bit of light I could see and sound I could hear, a deafening scream from her rang around until it was hushed into pitch-black nothingness.
Darkness. Silence.
Yanfei…
Yan-Yan…!
"Yan-Yan?!"
… Huh?
Where… am I? This place doesn't look familiar. I look around me, and I see strange devices and machinery.
These bandages around me. W-what happened to me?
O-of course. It makes sense. I let out a little chuckle. Hospital. I think I'm in a hospital. But… this doesn't look all too familiar and—
Something dropped. I looked to my left, and I saw a woman in white. "Oh my God… You're awake…! You're finally awake!" She quickly summoned two strangers in front of me.
"Tao-Tao!" Both of them cried out as the woman of the two rushed in to hug me.
'Tao-Tao'? Is that… my name? It feels so familiar, like someone's been calling me—
Hu Tao? My name's Yanfei. Attorney at law, and Liyue's legal advisor.
Are… you serious? You actually like a boring person like me?
I'm honest. I really like you, Hu Tao. I… from the bottom of my heart.
How about I call you… 'Tao-Tao'? Huh? 'Yan-Yan'? I guess that's, er, I mean, yes!
You hate fighting, too? Well, ditto, but the war has already begun…
W-what are you saying, Tao-Tao?! That's suicide! What'll you gain from that?!
T-there are other soldiers ready to die for Liyue! They'll do it, just not you!
Don't do it, Tao-Tao! Please, don't! I don't want to lose you!
No… you're not… are you… Tao-Tao…?
HU TAO!
I remember now. Everything.
"Tao-Tao? Dear?" the woman called me out, snapping me out of my trance. "Is there—"
"Yanfei…" I blurted out softly.
"Y-Yanfei?" the man asked.
I need to find her. The war waged by the Abyss still might be going on, and the whole of Teyvat's in danger! No, she's in danger, too!
"Yanfei! W-where's Yanfei?" I asked the woman in front of me.
"Who is Yanfei, my dear?" the woman replied.
H-how…? How could she not know her?! I… I don't understand this!
"S-she's a really famous lawyer in Liyue… wait, no, in all of Teyvat! Why? Why haven't you heard of her? There's even a war going on!"
"Lawyer? Liyue? Teyvat? Goodness, a war, too?" the woman commented, worried all too clearly on her face.
"T-Tao-Tao. What are you talking about?" the man added.
"Why're you—"
"Tao-Tao. Dear. Please, calm down and let us explain. You must be in shock," the woman interrupted. The two of them quickly hushed me and let me lie back down. What they said next haunted me.
They said I got into an accident a year ago. A serious one at that. I fell into a deep coma after that. Then, I was rushed to this hospital to keep me under a watchful eye until I had woken up, but no one knew that it'd be a year until I did.
No… It's not possible…!
You're telling me… that everything that's happened was just a dream? As in, every single thing and event? My life in Liyue, my time in the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor, meeting my Yan-Yan, the war against the Abyss, my mission to take on the stronghold of the abyss? All those, just a dream?
It just can't be… My Yan-Yan. My one and only Atty. Yanfei. She's not real? The times we spent together weren't real? The times she defended me weren't real? The times we kissed and made love weren't real?
All those moments, weren't they real?
All but a dream?
No…
It can't be.
I refuse.
I refuse to believe this!
It's all too real to be passed off as a dream!
"M-maybe what you experienced was just a—"
"No… It's all real," I cut the man in front of me. "I swear, it's real. I… I need to go! Yanfei needs me!"
I tried to escape from this bed, but the two strangers quickly held me from moving further. "Oh no, it's happening again. Call the doctor, and some anesthesia, stat!" The woman in white barked. If my Yan-Yan were here, she'd sue you all to hell!
"It's all real, I swear! W-why? Why won't you let me go?!"
"Tao-Tao, you're not making this any easier for your parents!" the woman barked. W-who are you two to call yourselves as my parents, anyway?!
In just a few seconds, a man in white holding a strange device appeared.
"Hu Tao, this is for your own good, so please, stop resisting!" the man who called himself my 'father' added.
Suddenly, they immobilized my right arm and injected me with a strange fluid. Argh, what was that thing?! I suddenly feel lightheaded… Oh no… Everything's slowly… fading…
"Just a dream… Tao-Tao…" No… you're wrong! It's all real…!
"You need to relax…" No… you're wrong… too! I can't relax… not when Teyvat's in danger…! Not when she's in grave danger!
I need to fight this…! I can't give up… Yan-Yan wouldn't… give up! No… why isn't my body responding…?!
Yan-Yan…! Where… where are you…?
Please… I need you here…
Come back…
Yan… Yan…
And there we have it! This a YanTao angsty oneshot based off CzasjbArts's short comic over at Twitter, and reading her comic had really moved me to create this fanfic, in just a span of three hours, too 😅😆. Do give the author a follow if you like her works!
Artist👩 🎨: CzasjbArts
Comic🔗: /CzasjbArts/status/1534138772312317952
