#I don't like making Aether canon but also Dain is overstepping I think

[astrophelstella]

Worthy

Genre: One shot, Angst, Hurt/Comfort

"Defeat me, command me to step aside, show me that you are worthier than I to rescue him."

There was a pause. A great silence between them stretched on as the words sunk in to her head. She needed to process them again as something brewed in her chest. It's as if time had stopped.

A snap.

"How dare you."

It was spoken like a whisper, but it could still be heard. There was incredulous belief as she spoke.

Star pupil eyes stared back at her. Slightly taken aback by her words.

"How dare you." In a flash of electro, she moved as lighting, and grabbed his neck.

A loud crack! could be heard as she slammed him into the closest wall. The force of which caused massive damage, leaving cracks behind where his body was thrown into. She kept his deathgrip on his neck, no doubt leaving bruises. Thunder was heard in the distance, reflecting her feelings.

He began choking for air as he looked at her face.

Golden eyes glowed inhumanly at him but the major notice was the unmistakable, unrelenting rage burning in them. As if they were windows to the pits of hell. They no longer looked human. Lumine no longer looked like the righteous Traveler. But something far less human. Less good.

"What gives you the right to say that to me? Bough keeper." She said the last word like a curse. "What gives your the right to judge me? You. Are. A. Blink. In our lives."

Dainsleif had never expected someone like Lumine to regard him with such a look. Or to even have this outburst. There was geo energy trapping his limbs and anemo stealing the breath from his lungs, electro energy sending dangerous sparks close to his face.

“I am his other half! His sword! His sister! The last of kin and the only one who has his safety in mind!" Somehow, she pushes him even further into the wall. Almost histerical in speaking. The pain made him claw at her hand. "He's been by my side since the day I was born. Our bond forged through centuries of traveling through worlds. We've faced wars, gods, extinction- FATE. What makes your measly 500 years of being travel buddies in anyway equal?! You couldn't even save him from the Abyss! Yet you have the audacity, the DELUSION that you could even come between us!?!"

Her companion, Paimon's shrill voice could barely be heard, as she shouted at Lumine to get a hold of herself. But to the blondes, it barely registered. Too caught up in the altercation. They didn't even notice she flew off to get help.

She turned and threw him onto the ground where he gasped air into his burning lungs. The pain on his back stung as he tried to get up but was left hacking for air.

"I understand your-"

She kicked him in the face, sending him back. "YOU DO NOT UNDERSTAND ANYTHING!"

His collar was grabbed before he could recover and he was brought face to face with those burning eyes once again. He had the faintest feeling he had crossed a line that no one in Teyvat had managed with the kind hearted Traveler.

"I have the only right. Hear me, Twilight Sword?" Said like an insult again. "I had hoped my brother was only wrong about you, blinded by emotions and circumstance to see you as an enemy. But if this is how you see things... Then I see his point."

She looked like she wanted to kill him.

Fortunately, an interruption.

"Traveler, that's enough." Tighnari, with a scared and horrified Paimon peeking over his shoulder, spoke. He sounded like he was approaching a wounded animal. "Please let him go. I dont know what's going on but you need to calm down."

At the presence of one of her friends, her grip tightened, glancing furiously at him and glaring at Dain, before slacking. Releasing his hold he fell back.

"Leave. Don't show up again."

Another twin had come to hate him.

With Dain gone Tighnari led her back to the camp, as gentle and soothing as he could. With plenty of experience to mitigate the leftover rage she felt. Paimon was uncharacteristically quiet.

"Are you okay to tell me what happened back there?" He asked, carefully, and setting down some incense pots. The scent smelled refreshing. "I've never seen you lose it like that."

She didn't want to at first. But this entire ordeal had left her mind in a mess. She never spoke about her brother’s situation openly and especially her feelings, but she felt like an explosive barrel about to explode. So she told him. What Dainsleif said, her brother’s situation, her history, her reaction.

"He doesn't get to say that." She pressed. There was less anger and more pain. "He doesn't. I was the closest thing to him. I'm the one who's going to bring him home and everything will go back."

Tighnari doesn't say anything as he listens to her. That's when Paimon inevitably speaks up.

"Traveler... you've never lost control before. You can't let what Dain says affect you so much."

Lumine turned away, staring out into the horizon.

"Why did it affect you so much?"

"What? Because he-"

"You have incredible discipline over your emotions. I've seen it during fights, as you battle gods, face atrocities, even during your mission to overthrow the Akademiya. You never had an outburst. Your principles and beliefs are almost unshakable, clearly. If what he said was so wrong, you simply would have told him so." He stared at her back, refusing to see his gaze. "Why lose it over a simple statement. Unless some part of you believes it."

Did I fail him? Should I have woken up sooner? Was I distracted by everything?

What if we both disagree in the end?

"Traveler." A comforting hand on ber shoulder. "You are worthy. You have every right to find your brother again. Whatever doubts you have, they are unfounded."

Are they?

"Tighnari's right. But what made you start thinking you couldn't save your brother..." Paimon trailed off. "Was it what Lesser Lord Kusanali said?"

"Lesser Lord..."

You're brother hails from Teyvat.

Have our fates changed, brother?

She walked away, sword appearing in a flash if light. She needed fight something.

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Note: I changed the original line from the trailer from 'her' to 'him' since this refers to Lumine as Traveler.

Just a short snippet I made. I wished we saw the traveler get more personal like this. The closest thing we got was during the Sumeru quest. Sorry if this is OOC btw, still new to writing for Tighnari and Lumine. I just wanted Traveler to snap for once.

Also, I know there's a possibility that Dain wasn't talking about the abyss sibling when he said that line in the Travail trailer. But I wrote this wondering what the Traveler's reaction would be if it was. Bc the AUDACITY OF THIS TWINK-