Chapter Text
The school located on an island inside the neutral zones between nations is a blessing for anyone without a swimming pool filled with mora. Without money you have to be gifted a vision to attend. Lumine thought she would never be accepted to such a place. Instead she would be cursed to live her life on a small farm on the outskirts of Mondstadt, killing small monsters for money to aid her ailing mother.
Even after gaining city wide recogiton for her sword work, which took countless hours, she still had no vision. Some would even gush about what it would be like if she did have a vision - a blow to her own selfesteem.
Shes worked so hard, and yet all people could talk about were the 'what ifs'.
Then it happened, a strange string of life changing events.The result of which would haunt her for the rest of her life.
She enjoyed spending her free time sitting under the statue of the seven in windrise. It gave her a reprieve from her day-to-day life of school, killing, then sleep. She polished her blade most days she sat there, enjoying the sounds of the wilderness around her.
As she sheathed her blade, wistfully thinking about what it would be like to magically summon and desummon it as a vision user, a light began to shine behind her. There was a flash, and she thought maybe a vision might appear as she recalled all the tales she had been told. But this was no test or life changing event like the stories had spun - this was her merely existing.
Wind surrounded her body, lifting her skirt in the breeze. She turned, it followed as if it was a friend trying to say hello. She lifted her hand as a power surged through her then a burst of wind jetted from her palm and sliced across the water. It trimmed the tops off the over grown grasses lining the ponds edge and faded off into the distance. The wind died down, and she could almost hear a giggle as the last of it left. Then the light went to, leaving her in the same place she started, visionless.
Befuddled, she stared at her hands. A sudden power surged from deep inside her chest and shot down her arms. Trembling, she raised her palm again, calling on the energy - it listened. Shocked, she tried it again and again, smiling gleefully with each blast of wind. She twirled around, searching for her vision, but came up empty.
That is how the first visionless anemo user was born. At first people didn’t believe her. Delusions were not unknown to the common folk of Teyvat, seeing as they were a staple favorite of the mafia families across the regions.
But she quickly smashed those theories to pieces. Not only was she a poor farm girl fighting to survive, but where on earth would she have the money to afford such a powerful object. They are rare, so rare that one going missing would not go unnoticed.
After the authorities decided that she did not have a vision (or a delusion) she was free to do as she wished. That was until the head talent scouter of Teyvat’s school for the gifted showed up on her doorstep. The scholarship she was offered would give more money to her mother per month than she could in six months of hunting. She took it without question.
That’s how she ended up here, gawking at the building in front of her. The school defied the rumors with satues carved from marble, fountains made from gold, even something as simple as the wood it was built from looked impossibly expensive.
The only thing that held her from running right back to the boat was a woman pinning her down with a chemically assisted cheerful gaze. A shiver ran up her spine as she waved her over. She obliged only because her eyes looked a hairs witdth away from snapping into crazed frenzy.
“Welcome to Teyvat’s finest Lumine!” She cheered then began to clap.
“Thanks,” She mumbled, intimidated by her nature. She looked like a robot. Sleek black hair, not a strand out of place. Perfectly pressed blazer and pencil skirt in matching shades. Her glasses glistened in the sunlight, even if they were just plain black frames.
“Follow me and I'll take you to your dorm. Then it’s a trip around campus!” She quipped then turned on her heel. Even her footsteps were a perfect tempo.
They walked through the faculty building, which thankfully looked normal inside. The site quelled her turning stomach. It was into the garden next that, as expected, looked immaculate, it even had a massive sand garden. Back in Mondstadt something like that would be destroyed in seconds.
Eventually they came upon another wooden building with a large ‘girls’ over it. The woman stopped and spun so fast on her heel Lumine almost let out small scream.
“This is the girl's dorm; your roommates are waiting for you inside with your things. I'll be back in thirty minutes for the rest of the tour,” she said, smile never once faltering as she left Lumine to her own devices.
Her roommates were nice, they greeted her in the common room just as her guide stated. Amber was a bit too enthusiastic for just about anything it seemed. Barbara was a very cheerful but more reserved. It was a breath of fresh air to see two friendly faces. They had even led her to their dorm to get settled.
“So, what do you think?” Amber asked as Lumine began to unpack her luggage. She finished placing her uniforms into the provided small closet along with her own casual clothing. Her own things almost felt dirty compared to the schools uniforms, and the room was much bigger than what she expected from a dormitory.
“It's overwhelming,” She admitted after taking it all in, frowning at the contrast of her old and new life laid before her.
“You'll get used to it,” Amber laughed.
“Are you?” Lumine began to ask, but quickly ceased the question. Digging herself into holes on day one wouldn't look good.
“Scholarship,” Amber answered, holding up her vision, “They keep the poor kids together so we don’t infect the rich kids.” She laughed.
Lumine sighed in relief.
“Hey!” Barbara yelled at her. Lips pointing into a pout.
“Except for Barbara, she requested to room with me. She's the exception.” Amber smiled at her friend.
“So, it's exactly how I thought it would be,” Lumine grumbled. This school was probably dripping with rich kids causing trouble for the normal folk, like she expected.
“Some of the students are alright, indifferent you might say. But there are,” Amber held up her hands as air quotes, “those types.”
“Will you guys be in my classes?” She asked.
“Nope, third years!”
Lumine felt her insides twist. Great, now she would be alone on her first day. At least her dorm would be nice. Amber was warm and friendly and Barbara seemed sweet even if she wasn’t talking as much. The pair would only be a year below her so they were still close in age. Hopefully she wouldn’t be moved to another dorm with the ‘adults’ if she attends the next four years after this one.
“You don’t want to be in our year anyways,” Barbara laughed.
“Whys that?” Lumine felt a small smile form for the first time since she set foot on the island. Barbara wiggled her eyebrows and gleamed over at Amber. She turned red in response and threw a pillow at her.
“Stop! Its not my fault!” She shouted.
“It’s gross the way he drools over his desk for you,” Barbara added.
“Mind filling me in?” Lumine asked.
“No!” Amber shouted.
“She has this wolf boy that follows her around and causes trouble. Its adorable,” Barbara said anyways.
“I didn’t ask for it he just did it!” Amber defended herself.
“It's like a comedy slash horror show every day,” Barbara giggled.
“Stop teasing me,” Amber whined.
“Wolf boy?” Lumine asked. Mondstadt had a steady population of people descendant of shape shifters or animals, but she had never seen a wolf before. Most of them were cats. Granted, she did keep to herself and didn’t really mix with the town folk, even at school.
“Half werewolf, half human, grew up in the wild before coming here earlier in the year,” Amber explained.
“He can smell everything, it's awful,” Barbara moaned, “one time I tried to bring some leftovers from lunch and he almost ripped apart my bag looking for it.”
“Sounds like a nice boyfriend,” Lumine said, hiding her smile as she sorted items into her desk drawers. Amber gasped from behind her. She swallowed a laugh.
“H-he's not my boyfriend!” She yelled. Lumine busted and began to giggled along with Barbara. She was interested in seeing the exchanges between the two now.
“Very funny guys, I'll make sure to make fun of your pain in suffering next time I get the chance.” Amber crossed her arms.
“Alright I'll stop,” Barbara waved her hand at her. A sharp knock on the door quickly soured the cheerful mood. The door swung open and Lumine’s guide walked in.
“Fantastic, I'm so glad you are getting along with your new housemates. We must complete the tour now,” The woman said, still as cheerful as ever. Lumine noticed Barbara and Ambers shoulders fell on her entrance. “I'll be waiting out front,” she chirped and left.
“God, Mrs.Lee always gives me the creeps,” Amber said.
“Glad it's not just me,” Lumine laughed as she stood.
“Good luck! See you at dinner,” Amber waved as Lumine exited the room. She heard faint whispers of gossip as she left but knew it was nothing bad, those girls didn’t have a mean bone in them.
They walked around campus and Lumine slowly became accustomed to the wildly expensive taste. She was shown the inside of the year one through four buildings, for the fourteen-to-eighteen-year old's. Then the outside of the adult facilities. Mrs. Lee assured the only real difference between the two was the uniform requirement and some extra freedoms.
After taking the tour she felt less overwhelmed, but it was the final stop that really cemented the reality most of the students lived in. It was the cafeteria of the school, but should have been classified as a food court. There was the line for the scholarship students where they could use one of three free meal tickets per day, or a snack coupon, all loaded onto her school ID. Wich was normal, same thing that she had in Mondstadt, minus the dinner.
What was different was the restaurants lining the walls. Everything you could imagine from each region on tap. And the prices were nothing to scoff at. A Fishermans toast was going for ten thousand mora, she could make that for less than three hundred back home. Lines scaled out to the isles as students waited, eager to be robbed for food.
“Lumine!” A familiar voice shouted. She sighed in relief. A distraction to this insanity was required right about now. She carried her tray adorned with less appetizing food from the school over to the table Amber sat at.
“This place is crazy,” Lumine sighed in exhaustion.
“My first day I ran away,” Amber laughed. She placed a spoon full of mac and cheese into her mouth.
“Those prices are more than I make in three weeks back home,” She said as she began to eat. Pleasantly surprised that even the free food was delectable. The pasta was perfectly cooked, cheese sauce an ideal creamy texture. She moved on to nibble at her cookie, baked expertly with a crispy outside and a gooey center. “God,” she murmured, savoring the taste.
“I told you, you get used to it,” Amber smiled sweetly. A book bag slamming down on the table instantly cleared her face. She looked up to see what she assumed was the wolf boy from earlier discussions. Lumine wondered why Amber felt it was bad to have his attention. He was attractive, silver hair and red eyes, giving him an exotic look (at least from Mondstadt standards). His arms were coated in scars and a massive sat across his face, not too bad if your into that type. Some of the girls back home would swoon over the attention, actually most of them would, once he got a bit older that is.
“Why,” She groaned as he pulled out a seat, pushing it right up against hers as he sat a plate of meat and potatoes down. It must have been one of the free creature meals from the school line. He sat, making sure he was as close as physically possible to her.
Okay, maybe that’s why.
He tilted his head like a new puppy, “Why?” He asked, voice thick with an unknown accent.
“We talked about this,” She shoved his chair away. “This is Razor,” She sighed as he sunk into his chair to pout. Lumine nodded and greeted him with a smile.
“I bought brownies!” Barbara sang as she skipped over to the table, “For our new friend,” She handed out the sweets, “And beef jerky for you,” She said as she handed Razor a slim piece of dried meat. He perked up and took it, chewing on it greedily. After the experience with the cookie Lumine thought the food couldn’t get better. But the brownie was smooth decadent layers of velvet chocolate that melted in her mouth. She had to suppress a groan.
There was a pickup of chatter in the room that pulled her from her chocolate induced fantasy. She looked towards the entrance of the café where a group of boys walked in. They were followed by a gaggle of other students, mostly female, all adorned with an expensive accessory or more.
Lumine was an honest person and she did not deny that these boys looked like royalty. They walked with an air of confidence even through the crowd, knowing that the sea of students would part for them. She counted each of their visions, anemo, geo, cryo and hydro. There was a distinct leader to the group out of the four. A redhead who wore his vision on his belt, showing it off by messily tucking in half of his unkept shirt. Like he wanted people to see it, unlike the rest of them that wore them on chains by their side, falling in with everyone else in the school.
“Don't stare,” Amber hissed. Lumine snapped her eyes to her friends.
“Who are they?” She asked. Amber eyed her wearily before divulging the information.
“Sons of the school's elite,” She glanced back at the group to ensure they were distracted with food or girls before continuing, “The shorter one with green hair is Xiao, the son of the wangshu inn owner. The geo looking guy is Zhongli from the Wangsheng funeral parlor. Blue hair is Kaeya, one of the sons from the dawn winery.” Amber stopped speaking as she got to the last subject. Lumine quirked a brow as both Barbara and Amber swiveled their heads to check on the group again.
“It's not really them you should be weary of though; besides Xiao they are nice. Xiao has always had a stick up his butt,” Barbara added to the conversation.
“Then what is it, why are we acting like we are defusing a bomb?” Lumine asked.
“It's Childe, the redhead,” Amber whispered.
“Childe? That’s a dumb name,” Lumine thought out loud. The girls hissed at her to keep her voice down.
“He smells mean,” Razor added. Amber pulled on his ear.
“I told you not to talk about him,” She growled at him. He grasped her hand in his, forcing her to release.
“But you are!” he argued.
“Thats because we are warning her!” Amber explained. Razors eyes darted from Ambers to Lumines and he resigned himself back to his half-eaten steak.
Amber rolled her eyes and turned back to Lumine, “It’s not his real name, no one even knows his real name.”
“Childe is an awful nickname,” She whispered back to her friend.
“He’s mean, and evil, once he has you in his sights there's no stopping it,” Amber warned her.
“What about his friends? Don’t they say something?” She asked.
“They are rich, us poor folk don’t matter to them even if they act cordial towards us,” Amber told her as she leaned back, “Besides you don’t have a vision, he will probably just ignore you.”
Lumine widened her eyes, “well...” She felt a tint come to her cheeks, “Actually...”
Amber slammed her fists on the table, “NO WAY! YOUR THAT GIRL!” she screamed. Drawing the attention of half the students.
“Show us!” Barbara insisted.
“Ah, I don’t think now is the best time.” Lumine tried to quell her friend's voices but both girls were oblivious to the attention they were attracting. She glanced over at the red head she was warned about to make sure he was still entranced at whatever activity he had chosen.
“Awh comon I wanna see!” Amber whined.
“First anemo user in history without a vision! Don’t hold out on us!” Barbara added.
“Fine! Just stop yelling at me,” Lumine finally conceded. She put her palm face up on the table and gathered a small amount of wind to it. It tinted green with her power as it swirled into a miniature tornado. She hoped they wouldn't ask for more as it was the only 'trick' she had figured out how to do.
“This is so cool!” Amber gasped.
Crisis averted.
“It's the same as anyone else,” Lumine said, closing her hand to cease the wind. She was more than a bit tired of people going ballistic over her powers.
“Let's get back to the dorms,” Amber suggested, “We have much to talk about,” She smiled gleefully. Razor whimpered next to her, “fine you can come too,” She sighed. Razor looked up with a beaming smile.
“Boys are allowed in the girls dorms?” Lumine asked as they gathered their trays and bags.
“Only until eight with a strict open-door policy,” Barbara told her.
She hummed in response as the group made their way over to the trash bins. Eyes were on her now, some searching for a vision trinket she didn’t possess. She was the last one out the door when a chill tingled down her spin. She grabbed the back of her neck and turned, expecting a cryo user to be standing there with a smirk on their face. That one with the long blue hair fit the bill.
Instead, she was greeted with sea blue eyes cutting through the crowd. He smirked when they made eye contact. The chill went down her entire body. She glared as the door to the building swung shut, cutting them off.
Shit.