Chapter 3: Reminiscent of the Past
I was walking around Springvale for my patrol when Viox walked up to me.
"Hey, Violet" she greeted coming into stride with me.
"Hey Viox," I replied, stopping under a shaded tree. She stopped too, her back to the tree.
"How have you been?" she asked with the same kind smile on her face that she's always had. I snorted at the question.
"I'm good Viox, how are you?" I asked her, she smiled brightly at me
"I'm really good" She said with her hands behind her back, she's hiding something and I know it. I narrowed my eyes at her crossing my arms.
"What are you hiding" I asked her. She squealed and took her left hand out, on her ring finger sat a ring, that was a simple silver band with three icy blue gems on top, one large that sat in the middle and two small ones that sat on each side of the large gem.
"He got you a promise ring?" I asked even though I knew it to be true. Viox nodded her head viciously. I smiled at her
"Congrats Viox, we'll celebrate tonight drinks are on me" I said pulling her into a hug.
"We already sent a letter to mom and dad telling them the news, do you think they will be happy?" She asked me with a bright smile
"Of course they will be happy for you Viox, you are the apple to their eyes" I tell her softly still smiling at her.
"How have mom and dad been treating you since I've been gone?" she asked, turning serious. I sighed
"Same as they always have" I answered putting my arms at my sides. She crossed her arms with a huff.
"That's not fair!" She said frustrated throwing her arms in the air. I placed my hand on her shoulder to calm her down. I was about to say something but I heard the sound of a hilichurl. I whirled around seeing a few of them. I quickly pulled out my sword making short work of them. I breathed a sigh of relief, relaxing my stance. I began walking back towards Viox when I heard a whistle of air pass by my ear. I stopped walking, I looked at Viox in shock, I saw the arrow in her adamant my eyes widened as I saw her slowly fall to the ground. I searched for the hilichurl once I found him. I snapped my fingers making blades form out of water before driving into the hilichurl killing him. I ran to Viox to see her unconcious.
I scooped Viox in my arms, before running to Mondstadt to get her to the cathedral. As I was running I ran by Kaeya, who started running next to me.
"What happened?" He asked frantically.
"No time to explain right now, i'll explain later" I said running through the doors. Lucky Barbara was walking out of the infirmary, she saw us and ran over to us.
"What happened" She asked as two guards helped her bring Viox into the infirmary.
"She was shot by a hilichural shooter" I explained to both her and Kaeya. Barbara nodded her head giving us a reassuring smile before walking back there. I sat down at one of the benches inside. Kaeya sat next to me. He placed his hand on my shoulder.
"She's gonna be okay" He said reassuring me and himself. I gave him a tight lip smile and nodded my head. We waited till Barbara came back out and told us she was resting and that she would be released as soon as she woke up. We breathed a sigh of relief.
I was sitting at a table at the bar, drinking away the night till I heard that Viox is okay. I hear footsteps approach my table and see that Jules is standing there. I raise an eyebrow at her.
"Good news and bad news…" she started looking at me for my reaction to whatever she's gonna say "Good news Viox is awake, Bad news your parents are here" She said. I just blinked at her letting her words sink in before I sighed and got up.
"Let's get this over with" I mumbled under my breath as I walked down the street towards Kaeya's house, I figured I would wait here for them. I leaned against the wall of the house, preparing myself for what's to come. What felt like hours of waiting I finally heard footsteps approach the building, I pushed up off the wall and walked towards them. I see Viox walking with the support of Kaeya and my parents behind them with frowns on their faces. I walk towards them. Once they see me they stop walking, Kaeya and Viox smile at me faintly. I look at my parents for a split second and see them frowning at me with their arms crossed.
"Hey Viox, how you doing" I asked her gently
"I'm doing fine Vi, thank you for saving me" She smiled brightly, I let out a breath that I didn't know that I was holding.
"I'm glad, and no need to thank me, i will protect you always" I say smiling at her. I lose my smile when I hear my mom clears her throat.
"Violet, I'm sure Viox would like to get inside," my mother said crossing her arms and looking at me in disappointment. I nodded my head about to walk towards the house when my father spoke up.
"No we need to talk to you, Kaeya and Viox can go inside" He said looking at me then at Viox. Viox looked at me and I nodded my head. Her and Kaeya walked inside Viox being hesitant about it. Once they were inside my parents looked at me.
"You had one job to protect Viox and you failed again!" My mother whispered and yelled at me to not draw any attention to us. I just looked at the ground letting them lecture me on this for the hundredth time.
"You're a Knight for fucks sake, and you can't even protect your own sister, how do you expect to protect the people of Mondstadt." My father said, I looked up when he said that anger in my eyes.
"You're the ones that made me join the Knights to begin with" I said through gritted teeth. Dad just glared at me when I said that. We just glared at each other for a while.
"You need to start appreciating everything we've done for you" My mother snapped at me. I just stared at her with a blank face.
"Come on Mika, let's go inside and see how Viox is doing," Dad said, grabbing her hand and beginning to walk away.
"Okay Altair" she said walking away. As soon as they walked inside I walked away.
The next day I walked to Viox's and Kaeya's house, I knocked on the door and Kaeya answered with a smile. He moved aside without a word. I looked around the house trying to see if our parents are still there.
"They went out," Kaeya said, noticing what i'm doing.
"Thank you, she in the bed room?" I asked. He nodded his head. I walked to the room and knocked on the door before slowly opening it. I saw Viox reading a book on the bed. I walked in and sat next to her, she put her book down and rested her head on my shoulder.
"How are you doing?" I asked her softly
"I'm doing fine, it hurts a little but now as much as the burns" She said.
"I'm sorry" I sighed out. She shot up and turned to look at me
"You don't have to be sorry, you saved me and got me help." She said taking my hands before she got a devious smile on her face "Besides this reminds me of when we were younger" She said.
"How so?" I asked, tilting my head slightly.
"Well when we lived in Dragonspine we would always play together and one of us would get too close to a hilichurl camp so they would attack us but you always protected me even before you had a vision, you took most of the attacks" she said with a small smile. I smiled at her before giggling a bit
"Do you remember when that first happened when you and Viper dated?" I asked her giggling some more.
"Oh God, he didn't know how to handle that" She laughed as well
Viox and I were walking around talking about Viper and what he did. "He's really sweet to me you know," she said smiling widely. I just nodded my head at her as she talked. "He just gave me a bunch of my favorite flowers, I don't even know how he got them," she ranted happily. When a bunch of hilichurls attacked us, Viox screamed as she ran for cover as I took care of them. Viper heard the scream and ran up the hill as I took the last one out. He ran straight to Viox frantically searching her for any injuries.
"Do you remember how he asked me out?" Viox asked laughing as she remembered it
Viox and I were sitting around the campfire with my team. We were all making s'mores, when Viper suddenly walked over and sat next to Viox we all stared at him wondering what he was doing. "Viox, w-w-wo-would y-y-yo-you g-g-g-go o-o-on a d-da-da-date with me?" he asked nervously, stuttering his words. Viox blinked "sure" she said
"That came out of left field, but you still let him court you for a few months" I said giggling. She just nodded her head smiling at the memories.
"Yeah but we found out we were better off as friends so we broke things off" she said letting out a yawn. I smiled at her.
"Get some sleep, i'll see you around." i said getting up and leaving the room. I waved bye to Kaeya and walked out the door. I walked to the Tavern to relax some before my next patrol.
I sat down at my usual table just people watching till I heard a chair scoot against the floor, I looked up and saw Diluc sitting down, I smiled at him. He placed a drink in front of me.
"How's Viox doing?" He asked
"She's fine, she's resting now" I answered playing with the rim of my glass. He nodded his head crossing his arms
"How are you doing?" He asked me. I blinked at the question not expecting it
"I'm doing fine, I wasn't the one to get hurt" I said slightly confused. Diluc chuckled slightly
"I know you didn't, but it couldn't have been easy for you and I heard your parents are in town" he explained, I tensed up a bit, I don't know how he knew that them being here could be a problem for me with the little information I have him...the last person that could read me this well was...I shook my head getting that thought out of my head.
"Yeah they weren't too happy about it all" I chuckled out. He nodded his head in acknowledgement.
"They favor your sister over you" he stated. I nodded my head before taking a sip of my drink.
"I could tell by my interaction with them earlier" he said casually. I whipped my head to face him a shocked expression on my face
"They were in here?" I asked bewildered.
"Yeah, they came in for a drink. They were talking about how their little girl got hurt and how a knight hadn't protected her. I put the pieces together…" he explained before picking up some of my hair "I see where you and Viox gets your hair and eyes from" he said letting go of my hair. I blinked at him not sure what to say or do. I finished my drink with a blush on my face.I have never been this flustered over anyone before