#couldn't be like. half the stuff ive ever posted LMAO /s

[strxnged]

KAZUHA: 🍁 wind on the calmest eve.

epilogue to lightning on the sunniest day, in which you are beckoned away from your comfortable inheritence of the endo clan by a beautiful stranger to voyage across the sea. please consider reading lotsd, allegedly one of my best works so far.

word count. 2k. genre. lovers to friends (lol)

overview. chances bring you to a hearty reunion with the alcor's crew, and later, kazuha himself.

warnings. angst, implications of alcohol (not consumed by you or kazu), me projecting onto... "you"

Things would never be the same for you.

It had been three years and four moons since you last saw Kazuha Kaedehara at your bedside in that house-of-a-friend in Liyue harbour. It had been a renewed lifetime since you met him in your home village, since he had “suggested you come along” onto Captain Beidou’s ship. That village was no longer your home now. Your home had become wherever the wind of Liyue led you, furnished with curiosity and courage.

Your faithful satchel, a gift at Kazuha’s unexpected parting from you, had seen better days. The metal clutch was dulled from its original shine and the boar leather was cracked and worn. There was a hole in one side through which you had lost a few knick-knacks before you became aware of it. This hole had been patched many times but by now you had accepted that there were no items you needed to keep in your satchel but bread for the day and your diary, in which you tried to maintain records and sketches of your journeys. No, all you needed with you was your blade, your meals, and a certain crimson maple leaf which had curiously remained unfaded in vitality and colour. Yes, it was still much the same hue as his eyes, which had not faded from your memory either.

You weren’t sure what had beckoned you to return from the peaks of Minlin and journey to the sea of clouds to spend some time in the harbour. It may have been the elation of the view over Liyue and nations beyond. Perhaps it was the almost-forgotten taste of Zhongyuan Chop Suey. Or the smell of the sea. Regardless, you were determined to follow the wind south.

It was only as you strolled yourself down the roads of the harbour, your nose catching the olfactory wonders of Wanmin restaurant’s specialties, that you heard something you did not expect. Beidou’s laughter was nearby—an unforgettable but welcoming sound, like a bell on a tavern door.

You must find her. You had not had the chance to bid her farewell all those years ago. Though you did not hold any grudge for the Alcor’s quick departure that day, you had wished from time to time that you had known it would be the last meeting for three years.

You were glad that it was not the final time you should see her, with her before you now. And she seemed to feel the same. As you rounded the corner to discover that her and the rest of the crew were congregated at the tables outside the restaurant, her eye lit up as a scarlet lamp. She stood and ran to you, crushing your ribs in a quick hug.

“Endo! By the archons, it’s you!” 

Not long after that, you were sat at a table with the Captain on your right and the First Mate on your left, and served spicy Jueyun Chili Chicken on a plate fuller than your stomach could ever handle. It did not take long for Beidou to update you on all her crew’s voyages—as well as the politics in Inazuma, which you’d already heard tidbits of from other travellers—as well as the romantic affiliations between herself and a woman from the Qixing, between several crew members, and between Juza and a fish. 

“Wait, a fish?” you couldn’t help but ask, raising an eyebrow at him.

Juza lowered his eyes to his mug, downing a gulp and saying nothing in his own defense.

You had meant to ask where Kazuha might be, but you decided that maybe he was off somewhere alone. You could remember back to the voyage you took together, and how often during the social instances he would withdraw and look out on the sea by himself. He’d been mourning his friend at the time, of course, but it wasn’t unlikely that he was also just that type of person.

And so you were caught slightly off guard when Beidou said, “By the way, Kazuha’s at the usual spot. He told me to let you know if we happened to see you.”

“The usual spot?”

The strange thing to you was that there was no usual spot for yourself, much less for the two of you. If he was in Liyue Harbour, there would be nowhere he’d been with you more than once in the past. And besides, the chances you would remember such a spot were low after all this time.

Beidou shrugged. “I thought you’d know what that meant, ‘cause I sure don’t. He says it every time we’re here.”

“Is there a usual spot you guys come to when you’re in the harbour?”

The Captain shook her head. “I really don’t know. Other than the restaurant, I couldn’t tell you.”

You sat with it for a few minutes as you engaged with others in the crew, who received you with drunken excitement. Soon, the chatter was drowned out by your own thoughts.

How long had he been waiting for you? Where was this spot? Why did he want to see you?

You had developed somewhat of an idea, but it seemed so personally contrived that you weren’t sure whether to trust it. You were always on the move, so there was no usual spot. There was just you, the road, and the unknown.

—🍁

The road north of the harbour had always been a favourite of yours over the last few years. Every journey that led in and out of the city had had such meaning to your travels, and along with that, it boasted a stunning view. At daytime you would see the busy ports and businesses on the waterfront bustling with activity, but now at night a look over your shoulder offered a serene picture of lights reflecting on the Sea of Clouds.

You weren’t really sure where you were going (a feeling you knew and mostly liked), but something was telling you it was the right way. Something in the post-dusk breeze; perhaps it was the same something that lead you to the harbour in the first place.

Someone stood overlooking the city, and you knew who it was immediately. You opened your mouth to make your presence known, but you did not have to. The figure who was Kazuha Kaedehara turned at that moment, smiled, and ran towards you for a long overdue hug.

“It’s you,” he said, “finally.”

You couldn’t do anything but nod and grin at him.

“How did you know where to find me?”

“I—well, Beidou told me you’d be at the usual spot.”

He laughed. The sound of it made your chest hurt. “I didn’t expect that to work,” he admitted.

“It wasn’t much to work with. I’m not sure, Kazuha, but I think the wind was more telling.”

“Yes, the wind has changed recently,” he spoke wistfully in the way that only Kazuha could. In the way that awoke your pulse and attention in the same way it had all that time ago. And suddenly you felt like your old self, captivated by his charm, wistfulness, and challenge—yes, his challenge for you to change everything to be with him.

You could not tell whether he wanted you to be with him. But now you realized that you did not want to be with him forever. Only in this moment would his presence suit you, and it did so magnificently.

“It has,” you agreed, “in a way I may not have predicted all those years ago.”

He responded with silence, and a knowing look.

You felt yourself grow lost in his eyes for a few moments before you recovered your senses. You inquired after all the time between you. “Kazuha—Kazuha, my dear friend—please tell me how you are faring. Have you avenged your friend? Have you seen the edges of the earth?”

The two of you talked for a few hours as the night went on. The air was cool and the stars were striking as you finally reached silence. Your voice had been slightly hoarse, before, from the time spent with the Crux’s crew—and now it was nearly gone, from more narration and laughter. You sat together in the grass, both gazing at the sea in the harbour and both knowing, though it was unspoken, that you would part again very soon.

Someday maybe you would again need a “funny old voyage with Kazuha,” as you’d once said to him. But you were sure that it would not be soon.

He had once been all you wanted. He had been the object of your first pursuit. But now, it was the life which had succeeded him. Your love for him had grown into something that was no longer of him but of life itself. And in this life which he had given you, there was no room for his companionship. Not yet—perhaps not ever.

You might never again see the pools of maple red that were his eyes. You might never again hear his voice of timbrous breeze. But you would carry the eternally scarlet leaf; you would patch the satchel as many times as it would allow, and you would know the unending enervation of adventuring the valleys and mountains ahead.

You had once thought yourself to be in love with him, and though you could not forget the rush of importance he bestowed upon your heart, you knew now that you were more enamoured with the curiosity that he had given you. 

Someday, when your heart again ached for routine—well, he wouldn’t be waiting for you. Things would never be the same for you and him, and that was the greatest gift of all.

thank you for reading! reblogs are (quite) appreciated.

🍁LIGHTNING ON THE SUNNIEST DAY

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