It was currently early morning,
With the sun rays shining through the window and into the room...
...
It was a new day, which...
COUGH! COUGH!
COUGH!
...Started with a hoarse cough,
One that persisted for more than a minute,
As Lisa desperately tried to stop it, all the while wondering...
...
Why did she wake up in such a troublesome way...?
...
COUGH! COUGH!
COUGH! COUGH! COUGH!
...
GASP!
...
-...B-blood...I was coughing...Blood...-She couldn't help but say as soon as she sat up on the bed, looking down on her bloodied hands, some of the blood had already been dripped down on the bed sheets. She should definitely clean that...And her hands. Did she have anything she could use in the room...? But more importantly...-..It's really...It's that time already...Isn't it...?
It was almost time for her to...
*Just how much time did she actually have...?
...
Considering the amount of blood she just cough out,
Perhaps a day's time tops...? Or just a few hours…?
...
...
That day, when the Abyss Order attacked Mondstadt,
Starting with the sneak attack on their cute Archon and Amber sacrificing herself...
...
...
Back then, when they hurt their cute Archon and later tried to kill him and Benny...
"It seems like a failure, he is somehow still alive.
No matter, this mistake can still be easily corrected."
...
At that time, she acted without thinking...
"OH NO, YOU DON'T!
I WON'T LET YOU HURT THEM ANY FURTHER!"
Creating a powerful electro shield around the two,
Successful blocking the enemies' deadly attack...
...
"...Lisa, are you okay...?"
"...I should be alright for now, Jean. It just...
...Looks like I got carried away...!"
...
In truth, she wasn't alright,
She used her own life force in order to create that barrier,
And due to this, her curse, her already diminished lifespan...
...
...
"LISA!
LISA, WHAT HAPPENED TO YOU?! LISA!"
...
She truly didn't regret this choice, not back then and not now...
*She did what she needed to, to save those she cared about...
...
...
And now, she didn't have much time left, did she...?
*Her hourglass was almost spent…
…
"An hourglass marks the end of the work day for Lisa. Its sand moves fast."
Her own constellation was an allusion to this fact…
*Time really flew for her, didn't it…?
...
…
…
"Venti, sweetie, there is no need for any more excitement. This day has been exciting enough already, right...? I do remember quite well that originally, the full plan was to hold the "Welcoming party" at the Lawrence Estate.
...Yes, Little Collei, everything that you have experienced until now were events that everyone came up with later during our group discussion~
You really don't have to worry, all that's left is the big banquet and the present giving. Should suffice as a closure for such an exciting day, don't you think...?"
...
"Little Collei, let me show you to your seat first.
We can leave the cake for later, if you want. It is a dessert, after all.
Pick any dish or dishes that you want, don't be shy. Enjoy the meal at your own pace and I am sure you will have a great time~"
The last celebration she joined with everyone,
Little Collei's welcoming party...
*One she sadly couldn't join until it's last part...
...
She still had a lot of photos from that time,
With most of them carefully put together in an album,
The group photo was inside a frame, standing at her bedside table,
Nearby all the other other group photos she had...
*Including the one taken during her Akademiya graduation day,
And the one with all the KoF members gathered together...
...
...
Her life might not have been as long as she wished it was,
Yet it was still quite a fulfilling one...
...
Even with the way she was, usually quite mischievous,
She still had her found family, friends and a place to call home...
*They would surely be sad when she's gone…
…
A shame she wouldn't be able to celebrate Windblume with everyone…
...
...
This day is bound to be quite tiring,
Yet she had to make sure to visit them all...
...
Well, no better time to do so but now...
...
...
"What I am actually concerned about is Barbara remaining in my body...
...And sharing the fate...Of an immortal..."
...
"...Even though I like playing human...
...I am not actually one...
...I shouldn't have become close to you all..."
That time, when their cute Archon and equally cute Deaconess exchanged bodies,
Just like everyone else in Mondstadt, she too was greatly affected by Venti's tragic situation...
*So much so that she made sure to write "her" words down as to never forget them...
...
Now, where were those notes again...?
*They should be close by…
…
Perhaps...
...
...
In a separate folder on her bookshelf...
*Oh, and there are also some wet tissues for her hands...
...
"Venti", huh...? But I was never really "Venti", was I...? It was always "Barbatos, the Anemo Archon"...I was just fooling around, ignoring the pain and acting as if there is nothing wrong. Just running away from the truth. Running away from reality.
"Venti"...It's the name and form I use, of a friend whose death I can't get over even after 2600 years have already passed...
...For an immortal, an Archon to grieve for so long...It's just pathetic, is it not...?"
...
"...You are so cruel...Making me promise to continue living...
...While in less than a decade you are going to all die and leave me alone!
Just when I thought I had a family and found a place to belong...In a few years you are all going to die and I will be all alone again and I can't ask you to remain with me like Vennessa did!
...A-and then it's going to continue over and over again and I won't be able to rest because of the promise made to you all and...!
...T-tears...? O-oh, right, I am in a human body now...A-and my head is starting to hurt...B-but I can't stop the tears from flowing...
Hahahahahahahaha! H-how pathetic! F-for an Archon to act like this...F-feeling sorry for myself...!
...I-I am such a mess...! S-such a mess...! H-how can I even...C-call myself an Archon…?! W-when I am so pathetic…! T-that I…! I-I…!"
...
"...I-I can't...D-do this...! I-I don't...W-want to...B-be all alone...! I-I don't want...T-to outlive everyone...I-I know...! E-even Dvalin...A-and Boreas...A-and Vennessa...! I-I...!
...I-I know you...A-are worried...I-I know you...D-don't want to...L-let me go...B-but I...I-I...! I-I can't...! I-I can't...L-live like this...! I-I would rather...D-die than...L-live like...T-this...! I-I...! I-I...! I-I...C-can..t..."
...
And then cutie Barbara showed them that horrible "Vision"...
*Their cute Archon, how much he suffered in the past...
...
"...I mostly thought of it as a way to get my wings groomed more frequently, but...
...To be able to freely fly wherever I want, worry only about my daily necessities and not get heartbroken due to outliving everyone I know...
...And not having to ask myself: "... What do I live for...? Is there any reason to live so long...? When so many die and have their memory erased to the passage of time...?"
...It would have been so nice to be a bird. Living as the actual definition of "Freedom", instead of the fake one I am now...
..."God of Freedom", huh...? More like "God of Regrets and Heartbreak"..."
...
...
This happened a while ago, but still...
...
Only a little over a half year ago, two weeks and a half after the end of Ludi Harpastum,
When their cute Archon was kidnapped and after they finally found and rescued him...
"...Why did you do it...? Why did you kidnap me...?
...And not only that, why did you have me drink that sleeping potion...? Why did you need me to be permanently asleep...?"
...
"...Even though life wasn't the best for me until a while ago, I finally found a place to belong, a home in Mondstadt and its people.
...I don't want to leave them or to sleep forever. I want to continue spending time with my friends and family, those who love me and whom I love in return."
...
"I just want to cherish the time that we have together.",
Was what he clearly wanted to add at that time...
...
...
...
Ever since she first heard of his tragic situation,
She tried to find a way to help her poor Archon...
*Looking through the books in the Favonius library,
Trying to find information on how to retain memories after reincarnation...
...
...
It took some time, but perhaps,
Perhaps she did find a way, theoretically...
*But whether it works out or not...
...
-Seems like I am going to be the first "test subject", huh...? -Lisa couldn't help but say aloud, sounding a little amused. -...Well, I would be dead by then, so it should be fine...
"...Librarian Lisa, we have been quietly listening to your thoughts until now, but...Is this really okay...?" , the Winds suddenly said, sounding very concerned, "...Not only are you not going to inform anyone of THIS beforehand and asked us not to do so either, but to sound so nonchalant about...?"
-I am going to tell our brilliant Alchemists, Albedo and Emillia, of this, since I do need their help. -Lisa interrupted them, sounding and looking a little amused, as well as serious now. -...As for me sounding nonchalant about this, I already knew, for quite a while, that this is going to happen. My curse, my fate...I did have enough time to come to terms with it. -She admitted in all seriousness, before she suddenly sighed. -...What I am worrying about most is how everyone is going to take it, as well as fulfilling my earlier promise. And perhaps I should also make some preparations for when the Traveler would want to check the Library's Forbidden Section and also all those revelations that I found about myself...-She added in thought, wondering when that could be. Nevertheless...-...The day is short and there's still so much to do. I better prepare to go out now, or else I wouldn't have enough time for everything. -...In a way, this was so ironic. -...This is so much overwork for poor little me. My, I wonder if our Acting Grandmaster somehow infected me...~