Chapter Text
"Ever considered that im actually not useful in the slightest so you can let me go and let me freely continue my travels without threat?" Lumine sighed, sat on the bed as Dottore took some more of her blood.
"You may not see yourself as useful-" Dottore held up the syringe up to the light to make sure no large air bubbles had gotten in "-however your blood certainly is."
Lumine just held the small cloth he had given her over the bleeding holes in her forearm. "Gee, thanks."
Dottore glanced at Lumine, before leaving her cell-like room.
She had been caught off guard while alone wandering around the outskirts of Nod-Krai, and the Doctor had ambushed her, pratically saying she had to come with him or he'd kill her friends. Not that she didn't believe you friends wouldn't be able to defeat him, but being alone with him on the outskirts didn't provide much leverage to help Lumine. So, going with him was arguably a safer idea. She'd get out of here somehow, but she didnt have any true external support. No one could really 'attack' dottore, since she had come willingly, coerced, but still willing. Her nod-krai friends all had their own problems to deal with, and no one in Mondstadt would come. Only chance from Mondstadt was Diluc, but hes banned from even stepping on Shneznyian ground, let alone getting this far in to save her.
She was alone. Not even her brother was around. Surly he'd come and save her if she was on the verge of death, however? If she died because Aether wasnt willing to come save her then that's his guilt to live with. Tangent. Back to the point.
Lumine had been stuck here as Dottore's free blood bank for around two weeks if she got her time framing and maths right; it usually was right. Dottore hadn't tried to take away her sword, oddly. He did make her change into a clean, basic, white dress but didnt make her forfeit her weapons. Nor her foreign flower. All she wore was her bra, underwear and a thin white dress. No socks, no layers to provide warmth in this exotic winter desert. Everything he does has some reasoning behind it, so he wouldn't just leave her with her sword without thinking she wouldnt try something? But perhaps because Dottore is expecting her to try somthing that she wont try it? The conditions definitely werent as bad as they could be. The food is at least edible, the room was cold but the bed for comfortable enough instead of having to sleep on the floor. There was a small barred window that looked out into pure snow, which wasn't helpful. If Lumine went out there in this thin dress, shed freeze to death. She knew that for a fact.
This was borning. There's nothing to do. She won't talk to herself - thats a step into a level of crazy she refused to reach. You can only reminisce memories for so long, and all the memories of Lumines had already been reminisced, and her brain was truly lacking stimuli. Would dottore care if she got blood over this room? Probably. However, pushing limits was a specialty of Lumines. She summoned her sword and gently cut the vein on her right wrist. Not enough to cause anything - well maybe a scar - but enough where the blood flowing was comfortable.
She enjoyed seeing her own blood. It was red, like a regular person's should be, yet it had the purple-like undertone. Was that due to all the abyssal corruption shed absorbed? Perhaps. She wasn't a scientist. There were scientists in the building but she wasn't one; she did take a alchemy crash course back in Mondstadt, did that count? Lumine dipped her left pointer finger in what had turned into a pool on her wrist. The difference in hues in her blood provided her a colour palette. A tiny selection of red, dark red, purple red, brown red and black. Lumine started to draw using her limited artistic skill, but it did provide somthing to get her brain thinking instead of just staring at white walls.
She stepped back, looking at what she had drew. Lumine will admit, she did just blank out while she was drawing and can't remember any of it. It was a detailed drawing of the Khaenri'an ruins with somthing looming over it. She assumed Celestia, yet Celestia was depicted in the top centre of the painting. This looming shadow wasn't Celestia, yet Lumine couldn't remember. Her wrist had started to scab over, so atleast there wasnt a flowing river coming out her wrist. What was this drawing showing her? It's something she cant remember, yet her mind sees it as important enough to use her own blood to draw it.
What was this? The ruins of Khaenri'ah.. Celestia above.. a mysterious thing looming.. was that thing a person or a creature..? Lumine couldn't tell. She felt quite lost, just sitting on the edge of the bed, trying to decipher what her memories held.
She was stood on the far left with a backwards facing figure behind her, possibly Aether? Infront of her were the clear ruins of Khaenri'ah which was the only thing Lumine did know. Above these ruins, a drawing of Celestia was depicted. Then, like before, there was something dark looming in the right corner. It was made by her black blood blending into her red then fading into the white of the wall. She could see the faded scribbles of what she presumed to be the persons of Khaenri'ah, defending against this looming threat. What was the threat at this time outside of Celestia's punishment? What was it? It was clear the mind knew it, so why couldn't it just tell Lumine?!
So caught up in deciphering this drawing, she didnt hear as the door opened. The doctor slowly entered the room, taking in the detailed drawing made out of blood.
"What does your drawing mean?" He asked Lumine, who snapped out her train of thought and look up at him.
"I dont know!" She groaned and fell backwards onto the bed out of frustration.
"Explain what you do know about it, then."
Lumine sighed. Bouncing ideas off the only person who could could see he wouldnt be too bad.
And so, Lumine explained the painting to the best of her ability, and told Dottore about how she didnt understand what certain elements meant with what they were trying to tell her. He was (annoyingly) the only option since barely anyone really knew about Khaenri'ah.
"Do you wish to use the library?" Dottore asked.
"What do you want in return."
"Whatever you learn to inform me. You've gotten me involved and my interest has been peaked."
Lumine abandoned any refutes and just nodded slowly, brushing her hair back with her hand. The doctor smiled and led Lumine to the library in the building. The halls looked repetitive and despite her efforts, she couldn't keep track of which turns and how many steps between she took to try and find her own way back. That seemed like the point, but it still seemed annoying. She was dropped off in the Library.
Who knows how long she spent in there reading anything, even the ones that seemed unrelated to anything previous.
"Lumine, you must return your room." Dottore sighed from the entrance.
"Fine fine." Lumine groaned, shutting the book and laying her head on the table for a moment, before begrudgingly getting up and walking towards him. Why was she doing this out of her own free will? She didn't have to cooperate with him at all, it was tiresome sitting in the blank room. Well its not blank anymore, and it wont be getting any whiter. As Lumine was returned to her cell, she saw her food waiting for her on the concrete floor.
Once again, she was left alone in the room but this time somthing felt different. Like a pair of eyes was looking at her. Lumine assumed atleast one of these walls were a fake - one way glass. Perhaps this had been constant and just leaving the observance and then returning is the cause. She ate the food in her sad tray, deeming that she wasn't suspicious, however this food had been tampered with. The subtle shift in flavour was enough to assume that much.
Most assumbly, an experimental drug dottore wished to try, except, it wouldnt work. Not only was she a descender with different blood, her otherworldly impacts stained her more than whatever intense blood tests Dottore could use to try and find out. Her immunity was almost guaranteed to anything (even considering the god at the beginning of her journey who had sealed her to mortality). What was he trying? Finishing the food, Lumine put the empty tray right by the door then laid on her bed, observing her bloody mural once more.
She didnt learn much at the library that she didnt know already - all just confirmations of what she assumed. Her, Aether, Celestia, the ruins... what could this shadow be? Perhaps a god or... Wait, had she drawn a crack in the sky? Or was that just a blood smear? If it was a crack, then it would enforce the idea that the fake sky was around during Khaenri'ah. When was the fake sky made? She wasn't sure. Lumine assumed it was during a significant event, such as perhaps the war of the seven sovereigns. This all only makes sense if she knew factually that the drawing depicted a crack instead of a smear of blood.
Dottore hadnt provided her a pen. He probably wanted her to keep drawing in blood, he was quite a masochist man. The doctor hadn't questioned the different colours in Lumines blood, meaning he hasn't noticed or already has a theory. He was quite a smart man, also.
What could the traveller do? She felt abnormally tired - perhaps that was the effect of the foods tampering. No, she was just tired. Perhaps this drug was adding to it, however succuming would be easier. Lumine could fight against it if she had to, but she didn't. She would rather fool Dottore with her strength, even if he doesnt end up underestimating her. The traveller plopped down on the bed, looking up at the ceiling. She heard the door opening with someone entering, but before she could work the energy to get up to see who it was, (probably the doctor because who else would just come into her cell like this?) Lumine practically passed out from exhaustion.
When she awoke, the room was the exact way she left it (the empty food tray had been taken) but she felt different. What was the effect of that drug? It must've just been enduced exhaustion in a high concentrated dose or her body wouldn't have even felt it in her system. The visitor wasn't around, but Lumine was sure he'd return any moment now. On cue, the door opened, and none other than the teal haired man stood at the door.
"Lumine, come with me."
"Dont use my name. You have no right to."
"You still need to get up and come with me."
She groaned as her bones clicked, putting weight on them with every step she took. Each step she took on the cold tiles, she felt her feet sticking to the tiles as if they'd never move again, only to lift into the air and walk normally. Once more, the halls were impossible to track and Lumine had no idea where she was going. Finally they reached a door which Dottore opened, which went outside.
"Ladies first."
"You want me to go out there?"
"I see no problem with it."
Lumine sighed, and walked out into the freezing snow. She stood there for a moment, allowing the frost to bite at her skin. It was a nice feeling, only when it was short lasting though. Dottore had no plans of letting her return inside, which she no issue with. Finally able to use her elemental abilities outside, she created a circle of pyro around her. Lumine was standing on the fire itself, and she felt it burning her feet. Just like the frostbite, it was a nice short lasting feeling. She took her feet off the fire, which, expectly, were burnt. Immediately standing on the snow, it made sure the burns wouldn't get infected, as if they would in the sterile environment anyway.
Lumine just sat down on the snow with a circle of pyro around her to warm her. With her eyes closed, she wondered what dottore was planning with placing her out here? No way he expected her to freeze to death, that was be a severe underestimation that she could see as an insult? Dying to hypothermia is a pathetic death, Lumine thought.
Dottore had come out with her, just silently and around a minute later, meaning Lumine hadnt noticed.. The doctor has been observing, like he always did.
"Why did you allow yourself to burn your own feet?" Dottore finally asked her.
"I like the feeling." She replied simply. "I like the feeling of any short term pain, same reason i didnt immediately summon pyro - i enjoyed feeling the cold pricking my skin."
"You're unnatural, traveller."
"Well aware." She sighed. What if she tried to do some of her old godly magic? Not like it would work though, dottore would question her relentlessly...
Who cares? She doesn't have to answer his questions anyways, and if she does then she'll just lie. Despite denying it many times infront of others, her and Dottore were similar in many ways, just not in the illegal human experimentation part. She also has to be nice to every single person she meets or else everyone would deny her of anything for being rude, since it always snowballed into something bigger than it was.
Lumine cracked her fingers, and made a sort of box with her thumbs and pointer fingers, and blew through her mouth gently though it, and the spell crashed into the mountain a fair distance infront of them.
"What the fuck." Lumine pulled herself backwards, almost forgetting about her ring of pyro. The rocks on the mountains base crumbled and fell.
"Care to explain, traveller?" Dottore glanced at the blonde sat on the floor.
"Firstly, you did put somthing in my food yesterday, right?"
"Yes, however it was a simple test to see how much it took for you to fall asleep since I wished to investigate your drawing of Khaenri'ah." Atleast he seemed honest enough? Lumine couldn't tell in the moment, she was too surprised by herself.
Lumine breathed in. Whatever Dottore had done, whether it was just a sleeping drug or not ; it had broken the seal. How had he broken a seal made by a powerful god?
"You owe me an explanation, traveller." Dottore reminded her.
Lumine took a breath. "Simply, when I first came to leave this world, this god stopped me and my brother, took my brother and placed a seal of mortality on me. Meaning, i couldn't use any of my powers. All my powers so far originated from Teyvat because of the seal. That spell isn't teyvat's magic."
"So, your 'mortality seal' has broke?"
"..yes?"
"How strong are you now?" The doctor asked. Obviously his first question would be about how strong she was.
Lumine shrugged, not really wanting to sound cocky about her strength. "I'd say if I really wanted to, i'd be able to beat Mauvika in a battle in my current state. And its been five hundred years since I last tried to use any magic belonging from outside Teyvat."
"If you were in a prime state?"
"I dunno. Id like to say a little less than Barbados, however I've never seen his full extent of power, and I dont wish to overestimate myself. From what I do know, I would presume i would be able to defeat Raiden shogun quite easily if I had reason to. Morax maybe would cause a struggle if I went in impulsivly but with the right planning he'd simply be outmaneuvered."
Dottore just sighed."I assume you're not staying here?"
"I would like my dress back, doctor."
He opened the door to return inside, and she returned to the sterile enviroment. Dottore went to get her dress while she remained stood at the door. Lumine placed her fingers in a symbol resemblaning a plus, blew once more at the centre were her fingers overlapped and all her cuts and burns closed up rapidly. She leaned against the wall, letting herself feel the foreign powers in her return. That god wont be happy with her seal getting broken on a random day from a sleeping drug. Thats what Lumine assumed broke it anyway. What else would be the cause? Its the only thing that makes logical sense. None of this made logical sense.
The Harbinger returned with her dress and she smiled at him. "As thanks for breaking the seal, take another syringe of my blood - now thats its all, you know, godly..?Well i'm not a god but..." Lumine trailed off, not really wanting to develop her statements. Who knew what he was doing with this blood? But he sure used it for something, so she wouldn't question it. Dottore just grabbed one from his coats pocket and took a full syringe. The blood was still red, that much was positive. That might just be because of the world itself. Some worlds where yellow is the normal colour of blood, her blood would adapt. Lumines blood was a little rainbow with the sole purpose of fitting in.
"I'm still not the smartest with this world, would you might if I came around sometimes to ask questions?" Lumine asked.
"As long as it doesn't interfere or interrupt me."
"Thank you! Also, dont kidnap my friends." Lumine added the end on quickly and left the prison she had been in for around a month. She quickly dressed back into her dress in the snow, which felt a lot more comfortable then the white thin dress. She dropped the rag in the snow, except it flew into the wind.
What nation to go to? Definitely not Mondstadt, Liyue, Inzauma. Their archons were a little too observant. Sumeru - Nahida is most likely aware that Lumine had just gained power. The ley lines wouldnt be specific - how could they identify something that came from a different world? They couldn't. Meaning the open options allowed either; Fontaine- the currently Archonless nation after the sacrifice of Focalors; Natlan- a celestia blessed human archon is still human, Mauvika wouldn't see Lumine as a threat; and finally, the most recent pit stop, Nod-Krai.
Weighing her options, Lumine decided the cold gave her comfort, leaving one icy nation with a weakened moon goddess.