Damn it-!

Diluc knew he should have pulled Divya away the moment the Abyss Mage had gone silent. Those things never gave up and were stubborn little pieces of garbage that constantly popped up out of nowhere. 

"I'm alive-!!" a sudden exclamation from below the cliff snapped him out of his thoughts.  

The traveler rushed to the edge of the cliff, peering down and looking around frantically to try and find the brunette.

"Not on the ground Lumine" her voice was slightly strained, as if she were exerting a lot of effort. 

Diluc sped towards the edge of the cliff and knelt down to look over the rocks. His eyes widened at what he saw.

Divya had somehow latched onto the jutting rocks by the side of the cliff. Her knuckles were a ghostly white, clearly straining to hold on, but her vice-like grip refused to shake, or even tremble in the slightest. 

She was clearly bruised from the attack, with minor scraps cutting her arms. Admirably, she still held on fast to the stone, clearly knowing that jumping from that height without a wind glider or a vision would mean instant death.

"Oh god!! Wait!! I'll get down and try to help y-"

"Don't. Climbing down is far more dangerous than climbing up" The red-head pulled back the blonde traveler from the edge before she attempted to do something foolishly dangerous.

The rocks had broken off from the top of the cliff, not the bottom. Therefore, any remaining debris would be much more unstable than where the brunette was holding onto. 

The teen was clearly panicking at the sight of her friend hanging on for dear life, for she tried to push against the male. 

"Jean. Please take her back" He spoke to his accomplish, who nodded and pulled the girl back. Venti stared in worry at the red head.

"Do you think you can climb up?" He called out to the brunette. 

Divya gingerly opened her eyes, before slowly scanning the rocks above her. After an achingly long moment of contemplation, she replied "I think I can..."

"Take your time then" Diluc nodded, his alert eyes scanning for any lose piece of stone that could potentially endanger the brunette. 

She shook her head slightly, as if to get rid of any negative thoughts before she started the rather dangerous climb up. 

Releasing her right grip, she flexed her fingers momentarily before reaching up and grabbing hold of another jutting piece of earth. Quickly raising her leg, she slammed her foot into the rock wall, shifting her weight as she did so. She relaxed the grip in her left fist, and repeated the same motion. 

Slowly but surely, the eighteen-year-old was climbing the rather unstable cliff. 

Climbing a normal cliff was easy enough if one paid attention to what they were doing. Climbing a cliff that had just broken off from the edge? That spelled a lot more danger than simple rock-climbing.

So, to see her climb without shaking, trembling, or showcasing any signs of fear was quite shocking. Though the red-head supposed, after what he had witnessed in the last hour proved that almost everything about the brunette was shocking.

Lumine, Jean and Venti watched with bated breath as she inched closer and closer towards the edge. 

"Ah-!" The stone underneath her feet suddenly broke. For a split second, Divya was dangling from a now bigger height. 

Diluc stiffened, then relaxed upon noticing her regain stability. Said eighteen-year-old exhaled a long breath, shaking her head again before continuing her climb. 

With their hearts in their throats, everyone watched as Divya inched closer and closer towards them. 

"Give me your hand" The man stretched out his arm the moment the brunette was close to him by the top of Starsnatch cliff. 

Gingerly, the girl reached up her hand to try and grasp his. 

The rocks underneath her feet cracked. She gasped, feeling gravity take hold of her body. She began to fall down. Her heart dropped to her stomach. She screwed her eyes shut. 

"I've got you" A low voice whispered next to her ear. Gingerly, her eyelids opened up allowing her brown irises to meet flaming red ones. The Mondstadtian had wrapped his arms underneath her shoulders and around her back, hoisting her up towards him. 

The Star-born traveler quickly helped him pull their friend back up. The brunette collapsed against the red-head, trying to slow the rapid breathing that had been induced due to anxiety.

Jean and Venti moved forward to meet the three that were resting on the ground. Venti immediately began to whisper countless apologies to the eighteen-year-old who gently waved him off and reassured him that it wasn't his fault.

Diluc didn't attempt to push the tired brunette off of him.  He couldn't bring himself to. The look on her face when she realised that the cliff had broken underneath her legs had implanted itself into his memory. 

Fear

Desperation

Helplessness

Those emotions didn't unsettle him as much as the one he had barely gotten a glimpse of.

Acceptance 

It was as if she had been prepared to fall off the cliff, like she hadn't expected anyone to catch her. It was as if in that moment, she believed that not one of them would lunge forward to break her fall. 

Physically close, but mentally distant....

The red-head couldn't help but sympathize with her instincts. It was wise, but foolish at the same time. In more ways than one, it was also hypocritical. Hypocritical to herself, rather than to others. 

To let others place their trust in you, but to be unable to place your trust in them...

It reminds me of a certain infuriating Cavalry Captain...

Though he did wonder... why did her presence not irritate him like the Captain's? 

"...You never mentioned your injury nor your experience with the crystals" Diluc suddenly mentioned to the startled Divya.

Lumine and Paimon nodded vigorously with him, as if they too wanted to know the reason she never mentioned it.

"I....didn't think it would be that important-?" 

All eyes narrowed at Divya, who smiled awkwardly at the immense attention.

"I'm guessing I can no longer tag along-?"

"No" was the collective blunt answer from Diluc, Jean, Lumine, Venti and Paimon.

Ah shit-

"So let me get this straight.. your next step is to breach Stormterror's lair?" Divyasree asked as the group re-assembled a day later at the Dawn Winery. 

"Yes. It was a bit of a hassle, but I managed to dig up a few clues. We tracked the Abyss Mage to the vicinity of the Winery and extracted the information we need" Diluc said, bringing the brunette up to speed with the now finalised plan.

The teen didn't try asking how exactly they 'extracted information'.

If i'm not wrong, during their fight with Dvalin, the Lair breaks apart due to the dragon's strength.

Even if afterwards they manage to hitch a ride on him, it's still going to be dangerous... Not to mention the attack on Mondstadt by Hilichurls..

"What happens to Mondstadt then? Given that the Acting Grand Master is accompanying all of you, wouldn't Mondstadt be slightly defenseless right now?" She posed a question that had long since been in her mind the moment she had read up about this part of the Traveler's journey back home. 

Jean smiled at her worry, and answered, "I am confident that the Knights of Favonius will do just fine without me for a few hours" 

"No matter how large or strong a pack of wolves may be, without the Alpha they will fall to even a rabbit" 

What is she implying?  The Dandelion knight had to step back and ponder upon what she said. It felt too much like a warning for her to ignore it completely.

But ignore it she had to, for they had much more pressing matters to attend to.

"Ehe!! I'm sure the Cavalry Captain will handle things for our dear Ms. Jean here" Venti said, smiling blissfully as if he weren't about to take a dive through the sky in the next few hours. 

The owner of the Wine Industry scoffed and turned away in irritation.

"Are you sure you all don't want me to come with-"

"No" 

Man, they're harsh- the eighteen-year-old sweatdropped a bit at everyone's response. She sighed, succumbing to her fate of being left behind. 

"Alright then. Please take care and be safe" She said, waving to the group as they began their march towards Stormterror's lair.

"We will. Get back to Mondstadt quickly alright?" Lumine said, narrowing her eyes at the innocent smile on her friend's face. It was too innocent for her to trust. 

"I will. Oh, and don't go around falling from high places like I did ok?"

Why did she mention that-? 

They wouldn't know if i took a little detour back to Starsnatch cliff right? I mean its only a thirty minute walk from the city so if i rest there then I should be fine. 

Divyasree took a moment to stretch, to try and release the slow, bubbling anxiety she held within herself ever since she stepped foot in Teyvat. She had too much to worry about back home. 

How were her parents? Were they safe? Were they searching for her? Did they think she had died? Did they get the police to search for her? 

How were her friends? How was Poorvi, Aditya, Vaishnavi, and Samastha? Prakash? Were they fine? Did they know what happened to her? How were they reacting? Did they miss her at all?

What happened to her exams? She had only one left, but now she would be marked as absent... god damn she didn't know why she worried about her exams but she did. Would she fail? Would she pass?

Ugh... I can't believe my brain is still hooked up to exams of all things... How annoying..

To be fair, it is twelfth grade exams, not to mention i had to study JEE after that-

UGH NO SHUT UP STUPID BRAIN!!! JEE AIN'T SUPPOSED TO BE MY PRIORITY RIGHT NOW!!

MY PRIORITY IS GETTING BACK HOME IN ONE DAMN PIECE WHICH CLEARLY IS SOMETHING CELESTIA IS AGAINST-

The brunette almost tripped on a rock as she fought an obviously losing battle with her mind. Recovering from the shock of almost face-planting onto the ground, she turned back to see that the rock was not actually a rock.

Tilting her head in confusion, she reached down to pick up the object that had almost caused her to trip.

It was a hairclip. Well, technically it was two hairclips that seemed to somehow fuse together to create a single piece of accessory. It had two light blue feathers and two beautiful flowers. The flowers were a pearly shade of white, with one odd petal being blue. The name of those flowers was in the back of her mind, but everytime she tried to reach out to fully comprehend it, their name would vanish like smoke.

Divya however, recognised the hair clips.

Aren't these Lumine's hair clips? Did she lose them in yesterday's encounter?

No.. I just saw her fifteen minutes back, and she still had these in her hair.

Then how are they here?

The eighteen-year-old flinched as alarm bells started shouting within her head. She looked up from the clip and turned around, only to find ominous golden eyes glaring back at her. 

EH-?!

AETHER?! 

THE HELL IS HE DOING HERE-?! I'M NOT SUPPOSED TO BE MEETING HIM SO EARLY ON-

DAMN IT FATE WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO ME-?!?!