𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐚𝐧𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐦𝐲 𝐞𝐱𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 -𝘎

𝐃𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐥𝐞𝐭 𝐠𝐨 - 𝘝𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪

"𝐎𝐡 𝐠𝐨𝐝 ..." I whispered under my breath, holding onto Venti's hand tighter. Kaeya laughed and walked over to the Traveler, congratulating them on what they've done. I stood there, hand in hand with Venti all while Kaeya praised them. He eventually saw me and Venti and smiled, opening up his arms.

"𝐘/𝐧! 𝐈𝐭'𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐚 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐞, 𝐡𝐚𝐬𝐧'𝐭 𝐢𝐭?" He shouted, almost leaning in for a hug. He was stopped in his attempt by Venti clinging himself onto me, catching me by surprise and almost causing me to fall over. I grabbed onto the bard and stabilized myself, sighing and rubbing my face into his cape. He's been more clingy than usual.

"𝐊𝐚𝐞𝐲𝐚! 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐚 𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐞!" Venti shouted, glaring at the man with a small smile.

"𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐞, 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐧'𝐭 𝐬𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐢𝐧 𝐚 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐞. 𝐑𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐰𝐞 𝐦𝐞𝐭?" Kaeya sneered at him. Venti scoffed and shook his head, throwing it into my shoulder and peeking over it to look at him.

"𝐒𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐝𝐨! 𝐒𝐚𝐲, 𝐰𝐚𝐬𝐧'𝐭 𝐢𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐝𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐭 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐛𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐭𝐨 -!" Kaeya laughed and bent down to his height.

"𝐈'𝐝 𝐤𝐞𝐞𝐩 𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐞𝐭 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐲 𝐛𝐨𝐲. 𝐖𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝𝐧'𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐥𝐞 '𝐟𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐝' 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭, 𝐲𝐞𝐬?" Venti's grip on the back of my clothes tightened as he laughed. He nodded and let go of me, patting my head. I look up at him in confusion but he shook his head and chuckled a little.

"𝐃𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐫𝐲 𝐘/𝐧, 𝐢𝐭'𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭. 𝐍𝐨𝐰, 𝐊𝐚𝐞𝐲𝐚, 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐛𝐫𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫?"

          The door to the tavern slammed open due to the rough winds, causing Diluc to look up in frustration. He slammed the glass on the table, trying to imitate the same tone as we had when we opened the door. I smiled and shyly waved at him, causing him to sigh and give me a small smile to me. Venti noticed and laughed a little, pushing ahead and waving at him with a small wink.

"𝐃𝐢𝐥𝐮𝐜! 𝐖𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐚 𝐬𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐛𝐥𝐞𝐦, 𝐞𝐡𝐞." He walked up and hopped onto one of the bar stools and placed his head in his hand, looking up slightly to him. Diluc raised a brow, as if telling him to go on.

Venti talked on and on about Dvalin and what was going on. The Traveler looked down slightly in shame, knowing that they were the cause of this outbreak. I smiled at them and started to pat their back, as if telling them that it was ok and that they didn't know. I looked over once I heard Diluc sigh, and saw Venti glaring at the Traveler but looked over and smiled at me once he saw me looking over.

"𝐈 𝐬𝐞𝐞, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐇𝐨𝐥𝐲 𝐋𝐲𝐫𝐞 𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐇𝐢𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐥? 𝐃𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐝𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐬?" Venti looked over at Diluc once more and smiled at him. He spun on the bar stool and pointed over towards the Traveler.

"𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭'𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐲 𝐰𝐞'𝐫𝐞 𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐥𝐦𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐲 𝐓𝐫𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐯𝐞 𝐢𝐭! 𝐖𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐧𝐨 𝐡𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐞, 𝐞𝐡𝐞 ...!" The Traveler stood up straighter and looked at Venti with a confused look. Venti giggled at this and spun back over to Diluc. "𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐓𝐫𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐫 𝐢𝐬 𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥, 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐬𝐞𝐞. 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐲 𝐦𝐮𝐜𝐡 𝐝𝐨 𝐚𝐧𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐚𝐧𝐲𝐨𝐧𝐞, 𝐚𝐬 𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐬 𝐢𝐭 𝐢𝐬𝐧'𝐭 𝐦𝐮𝐫𝐝𝐞𝐫! 𝐒𝐨, 𝐓𝐫𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐫, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐇𝐨𝐥𝐲 𝐋𝐲𝐫𝐞 𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐇𝐢𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐥 𝐢𝐬 𝐥𝐨𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐚𝐬𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐡𝐮𝐫𝐜𝐡. 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐠𝐮𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐬 𝐝𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞, 𝐬𝐨 𝐤𝐞𝐞𝐩 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐠𝐮𝐚𝐫𝐝 𝐮𝐩. 𝐄𝐡𝐞, 𝐬𝐞𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐈 𝐝𝐢𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞?" Venti giggled. The Traveler winced a little, before nodding and looking at their floating companion. Paimon shook her head and started to drag the poor Traveler out the door and to the Church.

"𝐏𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞, 𝐛𝐞 𝐚𝐬 𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐜𝐤 𝐚𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐚𝐧. 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐬𝐞 𝐭𝐰𝐨 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐛𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐲 𝐝𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐤 𝐦𝐲 𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐫𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐜𝐤 𝐛𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤."