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FICTION

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Chapter 12: Meeting and Reunion

P.S. I now have a discord server! Discord .gg/ceBMM2Zz6c

Kratos felt a sliver of relief land on his back as he finished the climb for the mountain. Mt. Aocang was indeed one of the tallest peaks in the area, but it was, without any doubt, lesser compared to some of the mightier heights he had faced in the past. Both in Greece and in the furthermost North.

As the man took a moment to look at the mostly flat surface, surprised by the way it was structured with a central pool and a 'table' in the middle of it all, Shenhe stepped closer to the water and looked around, a hint of eagerness and a bigger one of confusion. It was clear to the warrior that she was looking for her master, the one that they were expected to find here after this journey.

But Kratos wasn't as worried about the entity skipping on this meeting. Not when he had noticed her presence during the climb, the divine being having hardly bothered to hide it as much as she did before the climb, and now... he turned to see her. Far in the sky, away from Shenhe's keen eyes, and slowly descending. A bird- one that he had never seen before but... a bird.

Why is it always a bird?

What is it with 'clever' divine beings having bird-like forms to use? Zeus, Athena, then Freya, Odin had his own 'eyes', and now this one.

He held back a grimace, just so that he couldn't trouble the young woman that behaved as his guide. "She is here," He ultimately muttered, and the girl's gaze first landed back to him, and then to where he was looking.

It was a brief exchange as the avian figure landed, and she looked... simply green and blue.

"Greetings. This one has been waiting for you two to make it back to this peak. Shenhe, this one is glad that you are well and, stranger- this one is Cloud Retainer, and Mt. Aocang welcomes you both."

Kratos nodded, while Shenhe bowed her head.

"Master, the situation in the harbor is... troublesome."

"This one has heard of a ruckus. Yet, there's a need for details on the matter. What has occurred to stir this development?"

Shenhe opened her mouth-

"Your God is hiding."

Kratos was faster, and his blunt tone caught Cloud Retainer off-guard.

"W-What? What jest is this?"

Shenhe flashed a brief shocked look, but that was refrained as Kratos spoke once again.

"Your God was meant to appear to his mortals and provide them with a blessing. All they were met with was the sight of a faux corpse of his hitting the ground and make them think he is dead."

...

Her shoulders stiffening, Shenhe saw Cloud Retainer eyeing her and she nodded. "Rex Lapis has faked his death. Yet the Harbor now thinks he has been assassinated."

"Truly? This is... hmm," The Avian stepped away from the two for a few seconds, thinking about something as her eyes narrowed at no one in particular. "This explains the troublesome disappearance of the Geo Archon. Alas, this matter is indeed a most concerning one and it will solved by the Adepti-"

"No."

Kratos' interruption drew a surprised look out of Cloud Retainer. Surprise that turned into annoyance.

"This one demands an explanation."

"If you seek to solve this matter, then you shall involve the harbor. These people are in a panic, and the last thing they need is for their questions to be left unanswered and for their will to help to be shunned away," The warrior pointed out, only for the avian to scoff.

"This is not a matter for mortals. The Adepti are those closest to Rex Lapis, and thus it shall be solved by us."

"Is this your point of view, or what your god would have wanted?"

Kratos' curt rebuttal was nothing short of simple logic at work. While it is true that some divine beings may feel themselves entitled to 'worry more' about deities, it was untrue to say this applied to Liyue. The way the Geo Archon handled his affairs was through the careful balance of Divine and Mortality. Through Adepti and Mortals.

This last question once again drew a surprised silence from the Adeptus, and Cloud Retainer's boiling anger... slowly simmered to a cool sigh.

"Perhaps you may have a point. At least to prevent any unsavory reaction from the mortal governance in the harbor. This one can already see them planning a widespread search for a culprit."

"They think my companions and I are behind the 'attack'."

...

"A foolish notion, this one presumes," Cloud Retainer admitted. "As much as anyone can tell you have the means to slay gods, you wouldn't be as calm and docile in such a place. You sound too 'calm and collected' to be guilty."

"I have no reason to cause anyone trouble here."

The avian nodded. "This much can be noticed. Alas, it is best to focus and see this matter solved before... hm. It seems we have guests."

As Cloud Retainer offered that unexpected announcement, the three of them turned to see someone finishing climbing the mountain and... Kratos felt surprised at the sight of a certain Girl and Brat making their way towards them and...

Then Lumine got sight of Kratos and started to bolt towards him. That didn't look like good news at all...

Many things could be said about Lumine's body. It wasn't the same as it used to be centuries ago, she was still struggling to get back to prime shape, and she still hated traveling for long.

She had built something of an endurance with Mondstadt's plains and she had just a brief trip in the Dragonspine Mountains in regard to tall heights-

This time she was ready to give up on climbing altogether.

Her feet were killing her, she was going to turn into an hunchback with how much curved her back was during those lengthy climbs through tall mountains, and the pretty white flowers on top of each peak were as salty and horrible to taste as possible. Childe had lied to her about that cute lady Ganyu liking those because there was no way this was a possible favorite dish to anyone!

That being said, Lumine was told this place, Mt. Aocang, would be where she would find Cloud Retainer. Another Adeptus, this one important to get the point across that something went wrong with Rex Lapis, they had been framed and-

"When are we-"

"Shut! Up!"

Paimon whined some more much to Lumine's immense chagrin. As much as she had trained a degree of resistance to the floating girl's bawling, the constant whining was now getting to her nerves. Paimon can be an adorable little angel, but right now Lumine was getting tempted to go through her weeks-old dream of making her emergency food.

Luckily for the blonde, this would be the last mountain-climbing of the day and... she finally made it to the top. But right as she took a moment to get her wobbly legs readjusted to a mostly flat terrain, Lumine thought her eyes were deceiving her. Was that Kratos speaking with a cute white-haired girl and a crane?

...

Wait, that was indeed Dad!

As if forgetting of her fatigue for a moment, Lumine launched herself in a mad sprint. Paimon's reaction was multi-faceted. First there was shock at the wild action, then she looked where Lumine had looked, her eyes widened astronomically and then... the winged plump bullet rushed at a break-necking speed, tears raining from her eyes to try and mimic Lumine.

The foolish Brat forgot that the Traveler was a woman of mysterious ways- and equally mysterious drives as she sought one thing - a hug!

Kratos intercepted first Lumine, then Paimon, and he had this classic annoyed dad-tier scowls on his face.

...

"What are you two doing?"

"Feet hurts!"

"Belly empty!"

"Paimon whiny!"

"H-Hey!"

It took them a while to recover from that miraculous reunion, but while Lumine was introduced to Cloud Retainer, she couldn't help but notice a strange look from the stoic beauty that had guided Kratos to this very place. And while Lumine was willing to share...

Shenhe appeared to be ready to draw a bloodbath to secure the only-seat title of Daughter.

AN

Lumine: Dad, my feet hurts!

Shenhe: Get off of him, you shameless homewrecker!

Cloud Retainer: *Husbando*

Paimon: *Food*