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sagau-my-beloved · 1 year

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Death At The Hands Of A God

Warnings: general sagau, imposter au, light descriptions of violence/gore, you die/are killed (by Venti), angst

It seemed as if the rain was particularly heavy, almost unusually so as it fell in sheets, occasionally catching the light of the moon, making it look no different than strands of silver.

That should have been a sign, the rain, the fog, the agitation of the weather. Mondstadt hadn't faced a storm this bad since before their current Archon, even the winds of Dvalin paled in comparison.

Venti was so ignorant not to pick up on the clues laid out before him by his own nation as he trudged through heavy rain, his bow at the ready and a sinking feeling in his chest.

He would never say he disliked the rain, despite what unpleasant memories linger in the back of his mind from those times. But everything carried a harsher weight when was faced with his current task, one assigned to him by no other than his creator.

Venti stopped to rest a moment, leaning against a tree for partial coverage, though it did little to shield his already soaked clothes. He felt something heavy and unpleasant in his chest as he reflected on the situation, an unshakable sense of wrongness, one that clouded his mind and dulled his senses. You were what he was after, you who posed a threat to the divine order simply because of your face.

He thought back on his creators’ honeyed words, a sickeningly sweet tone that he had never heard them use before, not that they very commonly addressed him at all, which made this particular summons out of place, a mixture of excitement and worry bubbling in his chest as he walked through their temple. To kill someone impersonating them, that is what they ordered him, hinting at the possible consequences his nation may face if he didn't comply with the utmost enthusiasm, the threat of which rang particularly loud when faced with what they had done to other nations in fits of anger.

He knew deep within him that this wasn't remotely justified, that he might as well be punished alongside you if the crime was simply stealing a face. If only you chose to look like another human, or even an Archon, he would have taken your mimicry of him as a complementary. But alas. Those feelings were pushed down and covered by the vow he made to his nation, one born of nothing but love and a promise for a brighter future.

Venti had considered alternatives, confronting you with your motive, begging you to make yourself scarce, making his own judgement on your reasons and framing his response accordingly, but those were all fleeting thoughts, quickly pushed away as soon as they arose. He couldn't get attached, he couldn't afford to think of you as human, and he certainly couldn't afford it getting back to his creator that he failed them.

He had heard about your existence from other sources, apparently being so bold as to walk directly into Mondstadt. You weren't met with pitchforks and torches, his people were more civilized than that, but the hostility was as sharp as a knife. You had left of your own accord after having no luck obtaining food or a place to stay, he had only heard after the fact from gossipers drinking late into the night, the faces of which were forced into his mind as he once again thought of his creators’ threat.

Venti was pulled from his thoughts due to a subtle noise, one almost unnoticeable through the heavy onset of rain, but it was there. A branch and a pile of leaves, something big enough to break them, and no one in their right mind would be out in this weather, except...

He swallowed what little apprehension he’d not already buried, reverting his mindset to something it had been five hundred years ago with the quick draw of his bow. The Archon saw you in the distance, just as soaked as he was, clothes tattered and foreign, scared. A quick death was the least you deserved, one free from suffering, and maybe your next life would be more forgiving.

He aimed for your head, a clear shot even now, but it seemed the moonlight that glinting off his bow caught your attention as you quickly turned your body to face him in a defensive stance, eyes wide, fearful, as if you could see what was about to come to fruition.

Your mouth moved, only fragments of the noise it produced were carried to him, broken syllables and muffled notes the very wind urged him to listen to.

You had said his name.

Venti faltered before the arrow released, for the first time in centuries, its' path no longer as steady or sure as it had been.

It hit your throat.

Venti's legs were moving before he consciously realized, forcing his body to where you fell, as if collapsing in on yourself, until he could finally see you clearly, drenched in rain and golden liquid, mixing together indiscriminately as they soak into the ground below.

There was a feeling of shock, which developed in his throat first, spreading evenly throughout the rest of his body, as if it were in his bloodstream. He looked at your terrified expression, a pained and now lifeless one, holding only fragments of the fear you felt.

What had he done.

Venti felt himself fall to his knees, hands immediately going to where his arrow lay firmly lodged, feeling for a pulse in an act he knew to be worthless.

"No. No, n-no— no. Please!" His voice cracked as his mind caught up with what his eyes were forcing him to behold.

You were the divine creator, Teyvat's one true God, and he had—

No. He couldn't even think it, the word that was on the tip of his mind carried nothing but pain, anguish and insufferable heartache, the likes of which he hadn't felt, well since...

Without thinking, Venti wrapped his arms around you, laid his head on your stomach, forced his eyes closed, and prayed. For your return, for forgiveness, and if not for any of that, then simply for a form of retribution.

He hadn't realized he'd started crying, tears and rain alike falling from his face onto your form, pooling at his eyes until the world around him became harder and harder to see.

The position you both rested in was not unlike that day long ago, forever etched in his memory and resurfaced through reflections.

Was this simple his fate? To find himself holding in his arms the corpse of someone he loved so dearly, over and over again. Was it written in his very being that all good things would be torn violently from him with little care to how it left him shattered, scrambling for the pieces of what little piece of mind he had left.

There was no coming back from this, no form of atonement. He could feel the shackles encasing his wrists, invisibly tying him to this moment, to where you had stood alive moments prior. His days of living freely died with you, forever encased in the space between where your souls had briefly met, and it was no more than he deserved.

It was only a moment later that your body was gone, dissolved into the stardust it was born from, slipping through his arms and carried by the wind that no longer obeyed him. That didn't stop him from reaching desperately, gasping and clawing at the air for what remained, heart in his throat as he begged for mercy, for anything but you depriving him of your vessel even after death.

You couldn't really be gone, not fully, you who so powerfully morphed this world from willpower alone, who disappeared for an infinite stretch of time only to descend again. Even if your vessel may have been no stronger than human, your soul was as old and powerful as existence itself, it would linger on in whatever form it had existed before, watching, waiting.

He would be ready for when you decided to give this world a second chance, he would wait an eternity and more to see your face again and repent a thousand times over, bear any hardships in the time between only to fall to his knees in complete acceptance at whatever you deem an acceptable punishment when faced with your light again.

But first...

It seemed as if there was a loose end to tie up, a deceiver bearing the ultimate sin, one much more deserving of his arrow, and one that would suffer a fate worse than death in your name.

Venti roughly brushed the tears from his face, eyes darkening as he shakily pulled himself from his knees, feeling as if his body couldn't decide between flying or collapsing.

His ‘creator’ would soon face all the fear and pain that was forced upon you, the wrath of a god who had lost everything for the second time, a goal he planned to pursue till his dying breath.

#genshin impact #sagau #genshin venti #sagau impostor au #genshin angst #my attempt at imposter au cause why not #I didn't realize there was like no dialogue until editing whoops #kind of set up so that I can do a part 2 where you come back and we get that fun dynamic #don't know if i will tho #also hi #it's been a minute #how you guys doing #school sucks that's how I'm doing #despite that I'll probably be posting another oneshot tomorrow #not as sad thankfully #anyway yeah this was more just a self challenge to see if i could do imposter au without breaking the characterization I've got going rn #luckily he's just so full of trama that i can make constant references to that to help tie things together #anyway lantern rite how we feeling

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mx-julien · 3 years

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glacier hcs with meta based on canon s11 bc this season had so many ideas stuffed into it i have to expand (at the end an AU idea wrestled its way in so uh whoops?)

first of all, y'all, Zane's put in mortal danger twice in this season and the first time he's a smug bastard about it and the second time he goes full death metal so the vibes are aspirational, honestly

Cole doing a paper puppet show in the Never-Realm for the kiddies so they'd know about Zane's sacrifice and then defending it when Nya (understandably) asked if it was too mature; obviously the dialogue Cole says is edited and paraphrased from the actual moment, but let's look at what he edits, why don't we?

gives all the ninja heroic dialogue "Put down the staff and surrender, Aspheera. Your days of evil are over." for Zane and "What did you do to my friend?" for Nya

completely skips over everyone else having a reaction as if after he realized what was going on, nothing else happened until they found out what Aspheera had really done, which we know isn't true and says a lot about his perception of the event (Zane's gone, Nya says something, he realizes what happens, then he's numb until they find out they can get him back)

meta-wise, this is a recap of the season for viewers who haven't seen earlier episodes. there are four other ninja that could've done this, however, with Jay being the likeliest out of all of them since he's usually billed as being funnier than Cole; Kai also being a contender because he usually likes telling their stories to other people. so what other reason would overpower those two? probably that, out of the five of them, Cole's the one who's closest to Zane and thus acts a bit seemingly ooc now that he's gone.

Cole constantly keeping himself busy/making himself useful after Zane's gone by holding onto the traveller's tea, building the village new weapons, with the paper puppet show, finding more traveller's tea, and making friends with Krag

this is, of course, a way to grieve and process tragedy, but let's look at the meta, too, why don't we?

overwhelmingly, he likes being with other people during missions and will immediately be paired with another character if he's alone for too long [ref: we're ignoring episode 1 of rebooted b/c the only reason Cole's not with the others is that Bad Love Triangle that we will continue to ignore in this house; befriending Karlof in the tournament so he's not alone in the prison; taking care of a baby when Zane runs off in SoG; making friends with Krag in s11 when Zane's not there; befriending the Geckles and Munce in the work camps (yes i know that's a later season but this is the reference section so sue me)]

whenever Zane's gone, they immediately have to pair him with someone else. this has happened in two different seasons: in SoG they put him with baby Wu and in rebooted they pitted him against Jay

Pix is doing perfectly fine during this season, save for the one nightmare scene, she's perfectly able to adjust [ref: The Absolute Worst, The Kaiju Protocol]. i mean, she's practically fine without their relationship whereas Mr. Brookstone (or Hence, whatever you hc) is going through the five stages of grief right here except he hasn't yet got past the denial one. although they absolutely didn't mean for it to be, it's very much the trope of the lover who's lost after their partner dies.

Zane's poster for march of the oni says that he'll "leave his love behind" and literally nothing happens to Pix but Cole practically dies? was that a weird merch issue or was that intentional? we'll probably never know but it is great meta (that a ton of other people pointed out and it's not even s11 but i just want to mention because come on)

since they play the same video game [ref: Wasted True Potential] and clearly it at least somewhat matters to Zane (otherwise why would Jay bust into his room and wake him up, yes he's dramatic but if Zane was that indifferent he probably wouldn't've done it) so please do imagine the two of them curled up on a couch together and shoving and pushing each other to throw the other off his game. absolutely think about how Zane had the most recent high score and the smug look that bastard probably gave Cole when he scored it. just. glacier competing at video games. a real dose of I Can't Believe It's Not An AU!

another s11 take: Baby Wu and why he should've stayed a baby

i'm definitely writing more on that Pro Gamer Ninjago AU and you can't stop me

#lego ninjago #ninjago headcanons #ninjago glacier #ninjago #glaciershipping #zane julien #cole brookstone #ninjago season 11 #s11 #Krag ninjago #ninjago Never Realm #mentions of Jay Nya Wu Kai and Aspheera #Pixal Borg

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