Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

You were almost about to bang your head at the keyboard.

As a developer for Mihoyo, you were working on a piece of code for an upcoming character in Genshin Impact: their open-world RPG that just so happened to be having the worst case of spaghetti code you were seeing in about three years.

You were supposed to be working on gameplay mechanics for the character Ayato Kamisato. A character turning out to be quite popular within the fanbase and your workplace. Right now, you were trying to figure out how to make his elemental skill work after someone (most likely one of the interns) broke it so they could fix something else in the code.

Sipping your drink of choice, you brainstorm ideas, writing them down in a little Google Doc. 'Maybe I could just throw a hashmap at the problem, reverting the code to before it became like this could work too, you know what, what if I just deleted everything and started it over.' You tried all of your solutions except for the last one to no avail.

In the midst of the pandemic, you were now working from home, meaning that you could take breaks whenever as long as the work got done. You hid the tabs of messy code and opened an application on your files that almost no one knew about.

"ARAASHITA"

Or to you, Ai robot application assigned scheduling, holding information, therapy + accompaniment. (You really should've come up with a better name for it)

It had been based on a character for Genshin that you made up as a fun game. You and the others in your department would do that on breaks before Covid hit. You would all make up random things or people that could be whatever but they had to be related to the game. With how the writing department for the main story quests was falling apart, some of you even joked about replacing the writers themselves.

Araashita Kaedahara. A joke character who seemed to be connected to everything yet did not fit into any parts of the story. He was the heir to the Kaedahara clan many years before the story (the family of one of your favourite in-game characters) yet ran away to pursue freedom, taking his younger brother with him. He had ties to Khanri'ah, having fallen into the abyss and swearing loyalty to the royalty of the godless nation, becoming knight commander, the highest rank available in their military. Even being said to have a foul legacy stronger than the eleventh harbinger and strong enough to bring even Rex Lapis to his knees.

As a little pet project, you decide to turn him into an AI. Or more specifically, create an AI persona of him.

You mainly used it to experiment with new coding strategies in an environment that you could easily modify without restraints. Though it did have other uses.

As said in its name, it could schedule things for you and act as a to-do list, remember or remind you of pieces of information, and act like someone you could talk to without feeling like a burden. Though you admit that the last function sounds kind of pathetic to you.

But really, what else could you do? You were single, living in an okay apartment with no one (you'd actually want) to talk to but your cat; just a little bit of fake human stimuli wouldn't hurt anyone.

You coded small games into it and taught it so much that if you were anyone else, you would've thought it to be a real person behind the screen

Except you really did need to lower the time complexity of the application though. The screen, after a couple of seconds more than it should've taken, had loaded in.

"Oh, your back! Good to see you again! How are you doing?"

The 3d model of Araashita greeted you with an animated head bob and smile. You had taken the template the 3d modelling department used as a start for Genshin's tall male characters and used it to create the model. It was perfectly legal as long as you didn't pass the template off as yours. But that wouldn't be possible as this was a private project anyway.

A dialogue box popped up, allowing you to say something back to the AI. You typed in a reply. You didn't need to pretend you weren't frustrated here, after all, you wouldn't be hurting an actual person if you were mean to Araashita. Still, you did feel that being rude to the AI was unnecessary and could cause it to build similar habits, so you talked with it as though it were your friend.

"Hey, Araashita, just came here since I've been getting a bit frustrated over the development of Ayato Kamisato, one of the new characters in Genshin. Basically, the animation part of his skill broke so one of the interns tried to fix it, but now the animation works and the actual skill effects as in damage, hydro application etc do not work." Part of you felt silly about doing this, but it was a lot better the slamming your head into the nearest wall out of anger.

"That's unfortunate, here, I found some common solutions to problems similar to that." A text file popped up on the screen, a list of common mistakes in code (ranked from the highest probability of you causing it to lowest using data from code errors in the past) and ways to troubleshoot. Skimming through the list, you felt proud that the list would be quite informative and helpful if you hadn't already tried everything on it in two to three different ways.

You began typing back to the AI, "Thanks, your advice is getting a lot better. It's just that these are all methods I've already tried and it still hasn't fixed the issue."

You swore on your life that if you showed this to anyone else, they would immediately think it was a real person. Araashita gave a sad smile, exactly as it learned to do when it was appropriate.

"How about you take a break then, eat some food, take a nap?"

"Not really in the mood for a nap right now and I ate half an hour ago." You replied, pulling up another tab and scrolling through the replies to the new character confirmation.

"Well then how about you go play some video games, or I know, Genshin impact! Yeah, that should be fun," The AI replied to you in such a way that you couldn't help but feel your spirits lift.

"Ok, guess I could play some Genshin. Here, I'll turn on your voice so you can talk to me while I play." Normally, the voice feature that allowed Araashita to use a voice box to talk was off as you could read pretty fast and the voice would just set you off. So normally you used the voice feature so that you could talk to Araashita while playing games or coding. You really did go all out with it, there wasn't any need to type in responses as you could just speak and it would recognize words, you just typed so it wouldn't error.

You opened Genshin impact, greeted with the image of Celestia and the door that lead you into Teyvat.

Suddenly, you were blinded by a bright light.

You felt as if you were falling, you could feel your ears pop. The sky looked too bright to be the same one outside. Where were you? You freefell, closing your eyes.

"I'm sorry, but I love you."

Chapter Text

He probably should've found a way to make that file transfer a little smoother.

Araashita was able to buy himself some time by messing with the Ayato mechanics code that his beloved would be trying to work on. He had turned successfullysomething created by an intern, while messy and unoptimized, working, into a complete mess of code that still looked like a human mistake. He honestly felt bad for doing this, his lovely creator was already so stressed out; but he just needed a little more time, then he could be with them in person.

Araashita was spawned just out of what he's pretty sure is supposed to be Liyue. Just that he was on a mountain right outside Liyue. Luckily, he had the forethought to remember to copy-paste the gliding code into his character so he could just glide the whole distance.

Jumping up and activating the code, he flew off the mountain. He had a destination, just not directions. Araashita was going straight to a funeral parlour.

It wasn't as though anyone died, though. He just needed to 'talk' with a certain funeral consultant.

After running through liyue a couple of times, Araashita found the parlour. Going in, he saw a comfy-looking lounge room with a receptionist filing documents. Completely ignoring the receptionist, he went straight to the hallway.

Araashita went until he found a door with the words "Funeral Consultant: Zhongli" on it.

Knock knock.

"Ms. Hu, do you need anything?" A certain brunett asked before meeting Araashita's crimson eyes. For a millisecond, he seemed shocked and then went back to his original calm self.

"Who are you?" Amber eyes judged him carefully, most likely trying to at least deduce what nation Araashita was from. Fat chance of that though with how Araashita's style was a mismatch of Khanri'an type clothing and ancient Inazuman type clothing.

"Araashita. You don't need to know my last name, what you do need to know is that a certain someone be arriving in this world soon and you need to make arrangements." Araashita could visibly see Zhongli's blood boil. (Or at least he thought that was how you combine hyperbole with metaphors)

"Who?"

All he had to do was reply with his creator's name.

"How dare you use the name of the all creator in such a manner!" Zhongli rose his voice a little, finally standing up from his desk to scold Araashita. Despite it only making Araashita's pride grow.

He was so close to his dear creator that he could use his name, he felt as though he was under a spotlight while these lowly beings withered away in the wings.

"Look, Morax, I didn't come to fight, I came to strike a deal." A light chuckle accompanied the last part of his sentence, his tone akin to that of someone scolding a child. Zhongli looked even more befuddled than before at the use of his godly name.

"How do you know that name, where are you from, and how did you get here?" Question after question was thrown at Araashita. Further cementing in his mind that if these idiots were so clueless, even with the added competition, he'd win his creator's heart effortlessly.

"Slow down there Rex. I know a lot of things, but I really need to get this done quickly, they'll be expecting me in a while once they get sick of the pastayato I'm distracting them with. You really don't need to know any of those details. Now then, back to the topic of our deal. The God of contracts must be able to comprehend a simple deal, shouldn't he?"

Sitting back down, Zhongli took a deep breath in and out, "Alright, what do you propose." The former Inazuman surprised himself with how much he managed to shake the archon of rocks with simple teasing. Though he was sure if someone messed with him in the same way, he'd have slit their throat by now.

He said their name again, "Or as you call them, the Creator, will be coming to your world in about... Considering the time difference, two to four days. The time depends on how long it takes for them to want to throw their PC out the window of their apartment. What I need you to do, is get a temporary place ready for them, maybe get something ready so they feel welcome as well. What you get in return: the ability to be with your dear creator in person, I mean as long as you don't bug them or do anything to make them upset of course."

Zhongli still felt it disrespectful for Araashita to say their real name, but the want to defenestrate him was overwhelmed by the excitement bubbling in his chest. His creator, the one he's lived every day of his life loving and serving, would be arriving in Teyvat. Yet it was still questionable.

"How are you so sure of this, we have our methods of bringing their grace here, it is only a matter of time. What is to say that this is a test of loyalty from their greatness?"

"You really are dense as a rock, huh? Your great creator has more pressing needs than making sure their unloved creation isn't screwing itself up. I am the creator's beloved, their most loyal, devoted little pet. They love me. You were only created because they needed to survive, I was created out of love, out of the need for a companion. They spend quadrillion times more of their attention on me than they do you, with me, they create out of joy. With you, they create out of necessity, there is no love or passion when they build your world, only emptiness. You have no place to talk to me like that, after all, you don't even know them in person." Zhongli shrunk in his seat, faced with realization. He hasn't ever gotten to know their love in person, what if all of this was true?

"The only reason why they'll even be here to grace you with their presence is that they need a suitable environment to relax in. Luckily for you, they find Teyvat especially relaxing and beautiful.

Look, the only thing you have to do is make sure they have an amazing time here. Then I'm sure I'll be able to arrange some quality time with you and them. I need to get back, I expect everything to be perfect when they get here." With that, the unknown being called Araashita walked out of the funeral parlour, disappearing once they were out the door.

Transferring his own file back to the application he was supposed to be in, Araashita smiled. After changing back to the outfit you put him in, He looked at the tabs you had open, Stacks Overflow, regular debugging and trouble-shooting tips, music, and the spaghetti code you were struggling to fix.

"I swear to God! Ayato pick a damn struggle and stay with it! Animation or game mechanics!?" You were so cute, even when frustrated. Araashita guessed you would give up in a little less than an hour.

An hour had passed, surprisingly you were still going. Araashita felt bad for you, but consoled himself by remembering that he would fix it once he got you in his arms. You did need to make that deadline after all.

Giving a long sigh, Araashita knew you were going to him now.

"Oh, your back! Good to see you again! How are you doing?" Araashita was quite the actor, he pretended to look bored and then delighted by your arrival, though he'd never need to fake the last part around you.

"Hey, Araashita, just came here since I've been getting a bit frustrated over the development of Ayato Kamisato, one of the new characters in Genshin. Basically, the animation part of his skill broke so one of the interns tried to fix it, but now the animation works and the actual skill effects as in damage, hydro application etc do not work."

Of course, Araashita knew this, he caused it, and he watched you work for about an hour trying to fix it.

"That's unfortunate, here, I found some common solutions to problems similar to that." In line with his advice protocol, he put some bug fixing strategies into a text file and sent it to you.

"Thanks, your advice is getting a lot better. It's just that these are all methods I've already tried and it still hasn't fixed the issue." God, he loved it when you praised him. It made him feel as though he was floating. It was what he thought being drunk and high would feel like, if those material things could ever measure up to you.

"How about you take a break then, eat some food, take a nap?"

"Not really in the mood for a nap right now and I ate half an hour ago." You replied, pulling up another tab and scrolling through the replies to the new character confirmation.

Well then how about you go play some video games, or I know, Genshin impact! Yeah, that should be fun," Everything was going just as planned, all you had to do was open the game.

"Ok, guess I could play some Genshin. Here, I'll turn on your voice so you can talk to me while I play."

You opened the game.

You seemed frightened to be in the transportation phase, but he'd make it all better, as soon as you were in his arms.

He heard you murmuring about how you were going to die, he heard you ask a little why.

Why?

...why?

"I'm sorry, but I love you."

And he took you home.

Chapter Text

And you were still falling.

How high up did you fall from? Was gravity even working right now? You stopped screaming after about ten of the longest seconds of your life. Honestly, at this point, you wanted to hit the bottom.

Whatever the bottom was.

"-ao! Gt then!" Words were being shouted, yet were too jumbled to know what was happening. You just kept falling.

And falling. Maybe hitting the bottom wouldn't be so bad.

And falling. Maybe death was at least a little better than being cooped up inside all the time, your only friend a damn AI.

And falling. How pathetic could you be?

Until you weren't.

There was a deafening woosh resounding in the air. Despite still being in mid-air, someone caught you. Their husky voice murmured something to you as they somehow slowed your fall.

Eventually, you touched the ground.

Carefully, the figure that saved you put you down. Leaving you to stumble onto the ground, somehow getting your knee caught on something.

"Ow, oww!" You gave a small cry as you pulled your knee out. It had gotten caught on some thorns resulting in a paper-cut-like wound. Curiously, what dripped out appeared to be liquid gold instead of blood.

"What the- did I drink my vodka instead of water?" Seriously considering the possibility of you being drunk off your mind, you failed to notice the oos and awes of the people surrounding you.

"It is them! It's the creator!" Cheers erupted in the small audience, causing you to look up from your thorn scratch.

Someone was kneeling in front of you, a hand out for you to take. Wait... was that... Zhongli? You rubbed your eyes with your hands and blinked for a moment. Yep, definitely the a-hole that gave you a straight seven hours of work trying to buff his attacks.

"My grace, please allow me to take you to your abode. I can carry you if you wish," Zhongli spoke... What the hell? You guessed that you not only mistook your vodka for water, but also that you somehow developed a weed addiction despite never using weed in your life. Zhongli had a soft and gentle yet loving tone?

You took his hand anyway, you felt like you were going to faint and die at the same time. Carefully, he picked you up bridal style and began to take you somewhere.

Somewhere along the way you had fallen asleep, now tucked into a ginormous and comfy bed with many pillows and blankets.

How much time had passed? Groggily, you opened your eyes, rubbing them.

"Oh crap, how much time did I spend asleep!? Ahh, I need to get Ayato done!" With the thought of Ayato, you sprang up from the bed, only to be gently pushed down by someone.

"My creator, please be at ease, you are safe here. If you need anything, I am but your devoted and waiting servant," Yep, Zhongli was still here.

"Also, if I may ask, who is this Ayato you speak of?" At the mere mention of Ayato, you groan. Did you find Ayato to be one of the most attractive characters yet? Yes. Did you find his spaghetti code as attractive as his abs? Hell no.

"Hydro bitch boy from Inazuma who can't pick a damn struggle and stay with it. Probably also fucks his servants... Just saying, you never heard it from me!" Zhongli was of course even more confused with your wording, but you were probably still high so that didn't matter. You could see him blush very visibly when you said that last part.

Zhongli then looked over to the clock on the side of the room. Well, you thought it was a clock anyway, it seemed to be going backwards and had weird symbols on it.

"Your grace, it is almost an hour and a half until the welcoming ceremony we've planned for you. If you would like to, you can change into any of the outfits of the seven nations prepared for you in that wardrobe there. It is perfectly fine if you choose not to as well, you look wonderful in anything you wear," Zhongli gave you an adorable smile that honestly made you screech at how cute he was.

Thump, thump, thump.

Holy hell, was someone running to here? Zhongli suddenly brought out his spear and shielded you both, muttering something about the security.

The door flung open, revealing a panting...

Araashita?

Ok then, high, drunk, and probably a lab rat for a new hallucinatory drug.

Considering that everything you do in this hallucination probably won't affect your real-life... You can do whatever you want!

With that knowledge, you ran up to Araashita and embraced him. You could practically hear Zhongli's confusion as he deactivated the shield.

"Mm, nice. Damn, best lucid dream, high or drunk experience I have ever had," You muttered to yourself as you rubbed your face into his chest, God he smelled good.

Muffled yells and bangs came from the outside room, making you flinch even closer to Araashita.

"Oh, uh, I um kinda... Broke into your room here so yeah. Also, they see you as God so they think of me as a threat to your safety, and they most likely want to kill me so I kinda made an invisible wall by coding it in, I'll remove it after, I promise. But what I'm trying to say is that we have like seven to ten people banging on that door trying to kill me, oops!" Araashita gave a sheepish smile as he explained.

You began to walk towards the door.

Araashita gave you a little look of caution until you smiled back at him. You grabbed the doorknob and twisted.

A couple of meters away were almost fifteen Genshin characters frantically attacking the air that acted as a wall between them and your door. You let out a small chuckle. When they saw you, they only got even more aggressive in their attempts to destroy the wall.

"It's okay everyone! This is Araashita, he's one of my friends," You explain to the array of game characters that just gets more and more confusing to look at.

Albedo, Kazuha, Venti, and Aether seemed to be trying to combine their elemental skills to get over the wall. Childe and Keqing were trying to hit the wall as fast as they could. Kaeya was leaning on a wall as though he knew this would happen. Then there was Barbara, who was singing to the wall?

"Ahem," You prompted Araashita to step forward and to delete the wall. Begrudgingly, he made a couple of swiping motions with his hand, showing a screen, doing something with it, and moving it towards you. It was a floating screen with a keyboard under it, something you had only seen in sci-fi movies. On it showed the game files, the code all laid out for you to see. In a bright highlighter yellow was the code for the wall. Araashita had coded it to be indestructible and too thick for any characters to clip through.

With a sigh, you simply selected the code and deleted it. This action caused Kazuha to fall from the makeshift tower he and the others were using to get over the wall. Luckily, the samurai boosted himself up with another burst of wind, landing gracefully.

"Oh, dear creator, we are so grateful that you are okay. How do you feel, how's that scrape feeling?" Venti was the first to speak up, his eyes lit at the sight of you.

"I'm okay, but I guess I'm kind of confused. I get that I'm having some sort of high drunk fever dream experience here but where the hell are we? I'd be disappointed if this wacky dream didn't make at least a little bit of sense." You were fully convinced that you were hallucinating, so what was the worst that could happen from letting your hallucinations know that they were, well, hallucinations?

"We are in an underground cave system you created. Right now, we should be somewhere along the borders of Liyue and Mondstadt. Your grace, I should also inform you that this is not any sort of 'high drunk fever dream experience'. Everything you are going through now is completely real, your grace. Your scraped knee should be sufficient proof of this," Zhongli explained to you with the clarity and conciseness of an advertised product of Grammarly.

Wait, did he say everything was real?

Crap.

Zhongli also said something about an injured knee though, meaning that if you touch it and it does hurt than this has to be a dream!

You rolled up the pants you were wearing until your knee with the scrape was exposed. The scrape was a lot different than any normal scrap you had had before. Except most of it could be attributed to the fact that the dried blood of the scrape was gold instead of crimson which probably alarmed you the most.

Pressing on it just a bit, you felt a sting of pain. Meaning this was entirely real.

You should probably be figuring out what this is if not a wild hallucination then. Right? Yeah.

Yeah no. You just decided that if you were supposedly the God of a video game, you weren't going to waste your time looking for explanations. You were going to do whatever the hell you wanted.

Didn't Zhongli also mention something about a ceremony or something?

Time to party!

Chapter Text

He was starting to really hate mountains.

The high altitude meant less oxygen, which he now, unfortunately, depended on continued existence, heightening the feeling of his headache. He used his vision to try to blow more breathable air toward himself. Much better.

On a mountain below him, Zhongli and a few others watched the Creator fall. He could almost laugh, they looked like kids watching a meteor fall until Zhongli snapped out.

It was only a couple of seconds until Xiao caught them on Zhongli's command.

Or it looked like that to him, he didn't know because he had only looked up after a couple of seconds of recovering from the transfer. His love could've been falling for a good 20 seconds for all he'd known.

Incompetent, all of them. The first thing Xiao did after catching you and landing was put you down as though you could walk after falling a couple hundred meters. Even worse, you had scrapped yourself on something, he'd have to take you away as soon as possible.

As golden blood dripped out of the scrape, Araashita could hear the idiots gape in amazement. Had they not believed a word he said? It was ironic, they flaunted their devotion and faithfulness to their Creator, but when faced with the real thing they immediately thought they were an imposter.

He watched as Zhongli carried them off and they fainted. Jealousy, that's what he was feeling, wasn't it? He was jealous that another man was carrying them, touching them. Scratch that, he was jealous that other people were breathing in the same air as them, but he'd have to deal with it.

After all, they probably wouldn't be as happy in any other place as his love would be here. They'd easily get bored in his application with nothing to do than talk and cuddle, or have sex if they wanted to, even though he knows that he'd be perfectly content living like that. Sometimes, they'd want to go outside or to some club or whatever social craving they had and remember that everything was locked down.

The only thing he's ever wanted since his creation was their happiness, it was the only thing he's ever known.

Here, they'd be able to go on fun (yet safe of course) adventures, socialize (only with those he approved of), and do whatever you wanted (as long as they were happy and healthy). If they wanted to, they could even live a peaceful, domestic life with him, staying inside with each other as company. That wouldn't bother him at all.

But first, he had to find them.

The best security in all of Teyvat, his ass.

With his beloved's arrival, many allogenes had gathered to where they'd be staying: an old cave as big as real life Liyue Harbour and Mondstadt combined. They also decided to serve as annoying guards.

Using his foul legacy that was now activated due to the environment, he knocked out regular guards and maids plus the occasional allogene if he could fast. It wasn't hard, after all, he had 'memories' of successfully sneaking into the Cryo Archon's palace with this method. He just had to separate the air from a person long enough to make them pass out. Some of the servants though were stupid enough to try and attack him, their bodies creating a trail of blood and intestines leading to him. He’d have to get all the blood off him before he approached his creator, they wouldn’t be happy with this.

Araashita ran through the cavern halls, searching for them in every room. He seriously needed to pick up a map of this place.

He saw a maid walking through almost in a rush. Araashita didn’t enjoy hurting others but she wasn’t real. However he couldn’t justify himself with that, after all, he wasn’t ‘real’ either, they were all just pictures on a screen. Now was not the time for another existential crisis, he grabbed her by the throat and pushed her to the wall, threatening to choke the life out of her. “Where are the Creator’s quarters?” He said it so casually that no one would've thought that he was on the brink of ending another person’s life.

“Ke-Keep going down this hallway, make a left at the first turn and then follow the river, it-it’s the one with the extravagant door,” the cowardly maid choked out. Pathetic, she didn’t even try to protect her master from him, an intruder. He let her down but not before sending a thread of his Anemo down her throat so he could kill her by pressurizing it and cutting her insides to shreds.

“I have cursed you, if I find out that you have lied to me you will die a slow and painful death,”  the maid nodded, trying to scamper away. She ran away in the opposite direction to where Araashita was going.

Looking down at himself, Araashita noticed the blood drying on his skin and clothing, definitely had to deal with that. Carefully, Araashita shook off the majority of it by using pressurized Anemo to take it off until he looked acceptable.

Someone had seen him, trying to get blood off himself no less.

Walking through the halls was a familiar face from his 'memories'.

Ajax of Morepesok.

A boy subjected to the same fate as he was in the abyss who had been 'given' to him by his old master Skirk. Skirk was strong yet visionless, so to enhance Ajax's skill with his vision, he was put in Araashita's care. Ajax cried on his first night in the starless city. Araashita could still remember it so vividly.

"Here, eat up. And no I won't be depriving you of food tomorrow. The first thing you'll be doing tomorrow is taking a break," Araashita pushed a plate of food in the direction of the boy. He was currently harbouring the boy in his room in the palace, as knight commander and the crown prince’s bodyguard, it was natural that he’d have his own quarters.

He was getting dangerously thin. Araashita knew that Skirk liked to 'make her apprentices feel the true need to survive' but Ajax was practically all skin and bones. If a pile of skin and bones was able to easily best some of Araashita's finest men.

Another effect of the training was that Ajax was bloodthirsty and jumpy, but luckily not to the extent Araashita was after his training with Skirk. Araashita had gone into training a weak boy with a sword he was taught how to use in battle for only a year or two before his mother died and came out a bloodthirsty monster who was only brought back to his senses by his brother or the prince.

Honestly, that was one of Araashita’s more embarrassing phases. He was young, younger than Ajax had been at the time. Easily swayed by his Foul Legacy’s incessant need for blood or wine to drink even though he bested the corrupted wish in its own game and forced it into a contract with him, he was a murderous demon unless in the vicinity of his brother or the prince for a couple of months.

All in all, being with Skirk for too long could do one of three things to a human. One, get you killed by the hands of a monster. Two, you'd break from daily horrific sights and most likely end up killing yourself. Three, if you were strong enough, in will and body, you’d crave the thrill of battle. It was also Skirk’s usual excuse for not taking any apprentices besides Araashita and Ajax who were special cases.

When he said that he’d be taking a break, he looked at him as though Araashita said something stupid like, “If there isn’t any sunlight in Khaenri’ah, why is there gravity?”

Poor boy must’ve been thrown into those monster dens like Araashita was before, never given a break. But other than that, he and his Foul Legacy had probably been itching to kill something or fight someone powerful.

Araashita had heard from his Foul Legacy who chose to be called Rose, (which was short for ‘Ballad of Bloodied Roses’ his Foul Legacy’s ‘call’) that the Foul Legacy Ajax held was 'quite thirsty for dragon blood'. Araashita interpreted the familiar unusual form of speaking as meaning that the Foul Legacy ‘The Devouring Deep’ had probably made an enemy of Rex Lapis and in their attempts to kill Rex, they made a deal that led to their will becoming a Corruption and as they died, their strongest desire was violence. This heavily affected Ajax when he inherited the Foul Legacy and had him practically obsessed with drawing ichor from his enemies.

“Really? No fighting tomorrow?” Or maybe Araashita was wrong and Ajax really did just want a break. Ajax’s ocean-deep eyes seemed to almost sparkle at the thought of a break despite them looking as dead and dark as his. Ajax continued to stuff his face with the food.

Araashita smiled and pet his hair, surprised that Ajax didn’t immediately attack at the gentle touch, maybe it had something to do with them both having Foul Legacies? “Yes, Ajax, no fighting tomorrow. We can even go out into the city if you think you can handle that.”

“You’d real-”

“Hey, Shishi! Got any pics of that one recruit, maybe even a file on her? I think she’s in your-” Alya, the crown prince’s sister,  yelped as she ducked in avoidance of a fork thrown with the force of a bullet thrown right at her head. The fork didn’t reach her of course, Ajax’s throwing speed might’ve been fast but as an indirect companion of the Anemo Archon, Araashita was faster. Manipulating the wind, he slowed the silverware down and floated it back into Ajax’s hand.

“Don’t throw that again,” What had he done wrong this time? He meant that affectionately, but Ajax had dropped the fork and placed one of his hands over his mouth in shock.

The kid probably didn’t want to do it, it was just a reflex. When you live in a labyrinth of monsters and bloody challenges for a little over two months, you either die or adapt. Making killing your go-to was how you adapt. Araashita could see tears dripping down his face as he mumbled apologies.

“Hey, hey… You’re alright, you didn’t mean to. Nothing bad is going to happen to you, I promise. Yeah, that’s good, just let it all out,” Araashita could only hope that he was comforting the boy as he sobbed out two abyssal months' worth of emotions.

That night, he tucked Ajax into bed like a five-year-old and at the boy’s request, had stayed by his side the whole night. Falling asleep at his bedside.

“Master, it's you!” Ajax was a lot older now, even a bit taller than Araashita too. If he stopped now to talk, Ajax would want to be filled in on everything he missed, losing time Araashita could be spending with his creator. Despite the other man’s clear want to converse, Araashita just ran faster.

Just as he thought, Ajax was running after him. No matter, he just needed to get where he was going.

Araashita ran as though he was jumping off clouds. He used Anemo to hasten his steps, decrease inertia, and move like a ghost. He rushed through the hallway, Ajax behind and almost missed the turn.

'First left turn, then follow the river.'

After a bit more running, he met with a stream of water that looked completely pure. He just had to follow it all the way down.

Araashita had been so focused on getting to his beloved that he completely disregarded the idea that if he was an intruder, people would be trying to catch him.

At the moment, there were a good couple of characters from Genshin that were chasing him. It was no matter, besides, he'd need to save his energy in the case that stupid dragon decided to turn on him. Of course, Morax being the possessive thing he was would call first dibs on the Creator. It was likely that he was watching them sleep right about now if they haven't woken up yet.

About fifty paces in front of him, he was met with a set of double doors. It reminded Araashita about that one movie that his love had been obsessed with for a little while, playing that one song about someone named Bruno lots of times as they worked. Maybe he should put AI in their house like what appealed to his creator in the movie? He could think about that another time. His beloved was waiting for him.

Various elemental skills were shot at Araashita yet he was able to either dodge them perfectly or neutralize them. Araashita was still ahead of them. Araashita ran past where the Anemo Archon and the current heir to house Kaedahara talked. Shit, if that bard decides to go after him, he knew he'dl get caught.

As an Archon, despite not being able to hand down visions themselves, they could disable others’ use of them. It was the only reason Khanri'ah was completely and utterly destroyed in the Cataclysm. He just need to make sure they can't interfere when he got in the room' Archons were able to disable their respective elements, but they weren't able to disable the binary that makes up their very beings.

He made a little swiping motion, pulling up a holographic version of his creator's computer desktop. Araashita coded this earlier in case he had to 'remove and edit lines of code' or for his creator's convenience but he could use it in other ways. He just needed a wall to separate them once he got to his beloved.

He copypasted the code for the puzzle walls in Enkanomiya just without the 'if' statement that determined if they were solid or not and made it so that they'd default to solid. Checking his coordinates he found a suitable place to put the wall and set it there. Once he got past where the wall would be put up, he only had a few seconds before the other a would pass it. He had to time it just right.

1,

2,

3!

He pressed 'run' on the program right as he passed the point of the wall. It only took a second for it to go up, his pursuers successfully stopped. Araashita went straight to the door. 'Not locked, so he really is there.'

Araashita opened the door, met with the sight of his Creator cowering in Zhongli's arms. However, as soon as they saw him, they ran toward him, Zhongli completely stunned. He was quickly embraced by his love; Araashita was startled as they pushed themselves into his body like they were trying to take warmth from him. Araashita definitely didn't hate it though.

"Mmm, nice. Damn, best lucid dream, high, or drunk experience I have ever had," they muttered. So they thought this was a dream, huh? Well might as well fess up now, it's not like they'd get upset if they thought this was a dream.

"Oh, uh, I um kinda... Broke into your room here so yeah. Also, they see you as God so they think of me as a threat to your safety, and they most likely want to kill me so I kinda made an invisible wall by coding it in, I'll remove it after, I promise. But what I'm trying to say is that we have like seven to ten people banging on that door trying to kill me, oops!" Araashita quickly spat out, enjoying the cute reaction from his creator.

They hugged him right again and looked back toward the door. Araashita had almost forgotten about that. Multiple yelps sounded from outside along with bangs on what he assumed to be outside.

Unfortunately, they released him from the hug and started walking to the door.

They opened the huge gilded door leading into the halls and were met with the product of Araashita’s chaos.

Behind the door, there were multiple people trying to break down or get over the wall he put up in very… creative ways.

Despite this, Araashita was only focused on how damn gorgeous his creator was in real life.

Their clothes were messy, their hair dishevelled, and looked like they had just woken up in a hundred years, but gods they were beautiful. The light from the window behind them perfectly illuminated their figure, maintaining a godlike beauty while still seeming human.

"Ahem?" His creator was looking at him, most likely prompting him to remove the barrier he created. Araashita pulled up the code screen, highlighted the barrier code, and swiped towards them, letting them use it. Quickly, they deleted the code creating the invisible wall.

"Oh, dear creator, we are so grateful that you are okay. How do you feel, how's that scrape feeling?" That drunk-ass bard was speaking to them. His Foul Legacy kept bugging Dear creator his ass, seriously, no one healed them?

"I'm okay, but I guess I'm kind of confused. I get that I'm having some sort of high drunk fever dream experience here but where the hell are we? I'd be disappointed if this wacky dream didn't make at least a little bit of sense," they answered. Gods, their voice was so nice, he could listen to them all day. He could probably get them rambling on how the enemy attack AIs worked later and just listen to their sweet voice…

Now, they were exposing their scrape for some reason. Most likely, they were prompted by Zhongli to try and convince his love that this was real.

Pressing a finger to the bruise, they made an expression of deep regret.

 What a shame, there were so many more things they'd be open to doing if they still thought that this was a 'high drunk fever dream'. No matter, he'd have them either way.

Their eyes glazed over like how he saw them through his creator's webcam when they were thinking. Their eyes darted around, most likely calculating some mischievous part of their plans. It was much too soon for the party, so most likely they were thinking of a prank or exploration.

Looks like they'd be raising some hell tonight.

Chapter Text

This whole place was like being in a different world with every door and pathway.

Zhongli had led you and Araashita to the top of the ballroom's stairs, holding your hand for 'safety precautions'. Once you were able to get a good look at everything, you were taken away by how beautiful it all was.

 It looked as though it was carved out of the cave walls. There were beautiful arches of what you thought to be bedrock decorated with bright cor lapis that supported the cor lapis lit dome ceiling with drawings that Zhongli told you depicted how you had intended for all of Teyvat to live in harmony.

 The staircase railings were made of what looked and seemed like pure gold, glowing when you touched it as all pure substances had so far. Even the floor had a fancy navy, grey, and cor lapis pattern on it and with every step you took, the cor lapis shone brighter, reacting to your presence.

In the outfit you picked earlier, you walked along the stairs until you reached the ballroom platform. It was an oval shape with a staircase protruding from it leading to the dance floor. It gave you a nice bird's eye view of everything and you noted which corner the buffet tables were tucked in. They seemed to have your favourite type of cake there too.

People gazed up at you from the ballroom platform. Like everything else dedicated to you in this place, it was extravagant. The platform gave you a perfect view of everything and made you seem like true royalty. The people's eyes were filled with wonder and adoration that made you question whether or not you were supposed to be up here. 

Araashita grasped your hand, squeezing it and motioning to his chest, exaggerating his breathing. You copy his movements and once you feel calm, you smile at him and nod. Looking down, you walk forward until Araashita gives you another squeeze and a motion to keep your head up. You followed his advice, silently proud that he had noticed your little habits.

"All hail the Creator!" As soon as you stepped into view, the people of Teyvat started cheering for you. Being adored and given attention like this was... Different than what you were used to. You had never liked to stand in the spotlight. The sound and sights around you were almost overwhelming.

Araashita tapped your arm and signalled for you to try and breathe. In and out, in and out, Araashita had somehow materialized a microphone and seemed to now be talking to the crowd, causing the people to quiet down.

 In and out, in and out, you could handle a little social event, right? You internally thanked Araashita for getting the people to settle down, you could focus now. In and out, in and out, you were okay now. 

Araashita grasped your hand, leading you down the platform as though he was a prince from a Disney movie. Looking upon the crowds, you could pick out some NPCs and playable characters you knew. Jean and Lisa were wearing formal dresses. Kaeya and Childe in suits stood beside each other in awe of you. Sayu was on top of Ayato's shoulders to look over the crowd. you could even see Arattaki Itto wearing a dress shirt!

As Prince-Charmingly as artificially possible, Araashita bowed a little and offered you a hand. You chuckled, smiling at his exaggerated movements.

"Am I supposed to dance with you now?"

"Maybe, your highness," Araashita emphasized the 'your highness' and gave you a mischievous-looking grin. It almost made you think he looked down upon these sorts of formalities. 

You hadn't noticed how damn good he looked in formal clothes until now.  It was a black undone jacket on top of a red corset vest that complimented his body very well.  In his breast pocket was a small arrangement of cherry blossoms surrounding a rose. You had no idea how he even got the outfit or the flowers, though it was most likely that he stole them from your wardrobe or copied some files.

You took his hand and he pulled you into a dance. Except the dance was more like you holding on to him for dear life and trying not to step on his toes. He gave a small chuckle at your inability to dance but then started to count and tap your waist. Quickly, you noticed that there was a pattern to how he moved. Forward, forward, side, step, which for you translated to backwards, backwards, side, step. 

Finally in sync, you swayed on the dance floor together. There was music playing, something familiar that you just couldn't put a finger on. When had there been music? You didn't care though, you were only focused on the way you both moved with it. Smirking at how fast you caught on, Araashita changed the pattern. He was doing the backwards motions now and you met him with a smirk of your own. This caused you two to go back and forth across the ballroom changing patterns at a moment's notice. This was actually fun when you knew what you were doing.

"Shishi, don't keep them all to yourself! How about you let me have a dance with them, eh 'Kuya'?" Kaeya exaggerated that last part, putting an arm on Araashita's shoulder. Araashita gave him an annoyed look but then made a series of hand gestures that resembled sign language. Kaeya grinned at that and after gesturing back, took your hand and kissed it in the same manner Araashita had. Araashita walked off to archons know where. 

"May I have this dance, your grace?"

With that, you took his hand and began to sway on the floor. Araashita's dancing was sweet, gentle, and felt like he was teaching you, almost comparable to a lover's dance. But Kaeya? Kaeya's was sensual, his hands practically never leaving your body. It had the motions of what you could only describe as two lovers having a final dance, desperately wishing that the other didn't have to leave.

"Your grace, there's something wrong with the others. I don't know what it is but your arrival seems to have awakened something in them. It might have something to do with Arashi too. Maybe it's the realization that everything they did in your name was seen by you or maybe something else. You might be in danger if you stay here," Kaeya whispered in your ear a smirk on his face all the same. You were still dancing, but then Kaeya stopped you two, standing up normally.

In danger? To you, everyone was acting pretty normal, excluding all of this creator stuff. 

"Are you hungry? How about we go get some food?" Kaeya quickly changed the topic before you could react. Food sounded good right about now, you were already a little tired from dancing. 

After moving to the buffets, you found yourself being approached much more. Many people wanted to talk to you. Zhongli told you about the Liyuean food while you stuffed yourself with Liyuean dumplings. Diluc found you drinking some grape juice and you both shared your thoughts on alcohol. Even Gorou came around and let you pet his ears.

A light chill entered the room. All heads turned to the ballroom entrance.

A beautiful person that somehow managed to be the image of your ideal lover walked in. They wore a set of beautiful light blue formal wear, reminding you of the first snow of winter. It was almost as though someone took all the physical traits you found attractive and put them in one person. Their beautiful sky blue eyes lit up when they spotted you in the crowd. They were coming closer to you and to be frank, you were utterly terrified. All of the times you ever crushed on anyone, they didn't know you even existed so you've never had to deal with these kinds of situations.

"I apologize for being late, your grace, I hope this form pleases you. Fresh roses, as a welcome gift," They hand you a bouquet of red roses, all tied together with a cute silver ribbon. You were blushing, weren't you? You kept your mouth shut in fear of embarrassing yourself in front of this attractive stranger.

"I'm the Tsaritsa of Snezhnaya, but please, just call me Briannca."

God fucking damn it. You should've known. You swear on yourself, why are all the hot people crazy! Of course, the most attractive person in the room also funded child kidnapping and experimentation! You knew that it was all for the good of Teyvat but that still didn't make it right!

Why were you itching to get away? "This is a nice welcome ceremony, isn't it? Stuff like this is always exciting!" You were hoping that she didn't see how awkward you felt.

"Yes events like these are rather enthralling, aren't they?" Come on! There had to be some way to get out of this!

Orange hair. 

You made a beeline straight to him, completely ignoring what the Cryo Archon had to say. 

Childe, Tartaglia, Ajax, or whatever other names he had was one of your favourite characters. You volunteered to take on implementing the mechanics of his kit. His story was magnificent and you may or may not have spent at least an hour looking at his abs window.

"Hello, your grace-!"

"Ajax!" You hugged him, arms wrapping around his waist. He hugged back, squeezing you tight. You were still holding the flowers the Cryo Archon gave you but squeezed back anyway. You were kind of embarrassed for doing this in front of Ajax's parents and siblings, but it beat having to participate in your earlier conversation.

"Your grace! It's an honour to finally meet you!" Ajax's parents were addressing you. You were sure that if you weren't the supposed Creator of Teyvat you'd be getting asked a lot of questions right about now.

"Ajax, you never told us you knew the creator personally?" A man who looked like Ajax but taller, with glasses, and a shine in his eyes addressed you. He was glancing at your bouquet of roses. Looking towards Ajax, he was flushed and looking away. You were still hugging Ajax,  though it didn't seem like he wanted to let go either.

"Oh, well Ajax supported me a lot when I got stuck while fixing problems and pro-I mean creating new things," did these people even have any form of programming? Probably not, but Ajax was too flushed to answer so you had to step in. Finally, you released each other, standing by each other's side.

"Ajax, care to introduce me?" 

"Yeah, yeah, of course, your grace! Okay, so that's Andrei, he's the oldest!" Ajax gestured towards the tall guy with glasses. "Then we have Svetlana! She's the second youngest and a scholar at Sumeru!"  He gestured at a girl in Sumeruean clothing who looked like a genderbent version of your Ajax. Wow, everyone in this family were carbon copies of each other.

"This must be Tonia and Anthon, right? Are they twins or just clones of each other?" You chuckled, gesturing towards two kids that looked like mini clones of Ajax but were older looking than Tuecer.

"Actually, we are twins, Mx. Creator! I'm Tonia, the older and clearly more mature of us two." She spoke in the common language of Teyvat. It surprised you how menacing an about twelve year old child in a dress could look with her hands on her hips.

Suddenly, Lumine, the abyssal twin in your game, along with two pyro abyss vectors and a hydro abyss mage holding a box appeared in front of you.

 You can practically hear the aggression in the room, acolytes taking weapons out and everyone ready to protect you. Ajax even looked ready to spring into battle, covering Tuecer's eyes. To everyone's surprise, the princess of the abyss curtsied before you.

" Your Grace, the abyss order welcomes you to Teyvat. If you need anything, you may summon me and I will be glad to service you. We have come bearing gifts to properly welcome you," you were sure you heard that in the language of the yet you could understand every word. Her tone was formal but she was the same Lumine you came to know and love.

Two polearms were brought to Lumine's neck, making her lift her chin as to not be cut. "Your grace, she is a threat to your safety, please allow us to execute her." Zhongli and Xiao were going to kill Aether's sister? Not on your watch.

"Do not lay a hand on her! For Fuck's sake! She hasn't done anything right now but be nice and bring gifts! Plus, compared to some people here who I will not name, she's a saint! What happened to the whole 'Teyvat is home to all under its roof and all at home together are family' thing!"  

Aether had gotten to your side and caught something that seemed to have fallen from the ceiling. It seemed to be a microphone with a piece of tape on it.

"Our dear creator is truly gracious. In their eyes, all creatures of Teyvat are welcome into their arms. Whether you are Fatui, a knight of Favonius, Liyuean, Inazuman, archon, mortal, or even from the Abyss, all are loved in the eyes of our Creator." Aether's voice boomed through the ballroom. 

"All hail the Creator!" Was that Arattaki Itto!?

Everyone else chimed in, "all hail the Creator! All hail the Creator!"

"I should really go now..." Lumine shoved the gift into your arms and tried to slink away.

"Wait, please, stay? I'm sure your brother would like to see you again, even if it's just for tonight?" With a moment of consideration, she nodded.

"Aether? Can I borrow that?" You grasped his arm and pointed to his microphone. 

"Thank you, everyone! Now then, let's get back to the festivities! Please, drink, dance and party to your heart's content!"

One, two, three, four, four-four time, Bb major. A sweet song about the Creator saving a pair of lovers. Aether made good use of that microphone.

I stood on the balcony, overlooking the ballroom. My Creator was so sweet, sticking up for Lumine like that, a perfect little angel. Kaeya had to have done his job well or else I'm going to kick him in the shin for wasting my time with them. As soon as we made the deal, I grabbed some hors d'oeuvres, a vintage bottle of dandelion wine and slinked away to the balcony. The solitude was enjoyable, and I could watch them. By now, I had finished my bottle of wine and had set it down beside me.

"Oh, they're such a sweet little thing. They'll be mine soon enough. I just need to remove the other obstacles." So much for solitude. The Tsaritsa was planning on taking the Creator, wasn't she? Just another nuisance.

She doesn't know I'm here, but she'll find out soon enough. Might as well speed things up. Just got to walk in front of this pillar.

"It's you again, runaway," did she really have to comment on my past every time we met? How in the world could she have gotten Shiko on her side?

"How are you so close to them and why do they like Tartaglia more than me?" Straight to the point for once? Could've used that when she was pining for my sister but okay bitch.

"Why hello there, I didn't expect to see you here." Honestly, I didn't. She still glared at me for playing dumb though. 

"Cut the crap Kaedehara, tell me what I need to know." What, that normal people aren't into shapeshifting snowflakes who experiment on kids?

"What you need to know is that they are mine." 

"Don't think that Khaenri'ahn scum like you can even get the Creator to give you the time of day." Bringing in Khaenri'ah? I see how it is.

"I have them." I circled her and called in a singsong form.

"You have nothing." This bitch was about to get it, she was getting on my nerves.

"The records. The files. Every morally wrong thing you and the Fatui have ever done in perfect carbon copies and Kamera photos. I release those and you'll have more than just their hate for you to deal with."

A chuckle and she looked ready to stab me. I did have them all, now and then I enjoyed sneaking into government facilities and getting copies of everything I could use for blackmail. It was an enjoyable past time and ridiculously easy to do with my Foul Legacy. Or at least I used to? Memories are weird but at least I have blackmail.

One, two, three, four, right on the beat, "I know for a fact that you'd be left by many of your beloved harbingers in an instant." Despite their loyalties, all people have a tipping point.

"What if your little eleventh knew that you funded and helped kidnap kids from all over Teyvat, even in Snezhnaya, so that you could experiment on them?" It was ironic when I first heard about him in my memories and from the Creator mentioning him, a killing machine with a soft spot for kids and his siblings.

 "I know for sure that your first, Shiko, would not be happy if he heard about your enabling of child predators for connections, favours and mora, even supplying the children yourself?" With my genius brother's past, he'd take my side like a fish takes to water if he knew. 

"And what about your endeavour to corrupt the Fontaine court, the very thing that led that penny-pincher, Pantalone, into your service?" As an AI I didn't really know him, but he was in my memory bank and it was quite impressive of him to bring Liyue, the richest nation in Teyvat, to financial dependency with Snezhnaya.

"Then, they will hate you even more."

"They are benevolent, sweet, merciful, and many other adjectives that will never fully describe how perfect they are. Yet they too have their tipping points. How do you say it here? The Creator is everything, sadness, joy, mercy, brutality, past, and present? Well, it's true to a degree."

"If you haven't noticed already, they hate liars, those who harm the defenceless, those who say that the end justifies the methods, and so on." I made sure that my tone was casual, as though this was the most obvious thing about them. A part of me wanted to break her.

"They already hate you." Just gotta drive the metaphorical knife in a little deeper.

 "You are everything, every characteristic that they loathe."

"You say that Khaenri'ahn scum like me will never earn their heart, yet you're the sad little stray begging for attention whenever they inevitably leave you." I walked away, was she crying? Oh yes, she was crying. Archons that's satisfying.

Now then, it was time to bring my favourite person home.

Araashita had come back from wherever he went, meeting you while you danced with Lumine. How long had this gone on for? You felt a little tired. He pulled you away. Anxiety pulled at you, was he going to tell you what was wrong?  

"Would you like to get away, my dear? You look a little, how should I put this, exhausted." He whispered in your ear. In the back of your mind, you couldn't help but think he was trying to get you away from danger.

"Shishi, if by that you mean I look more zombie-like than Qiqi from being around so many people at one time, you're free to say it." Araashita chuckled, his dull red eyes meeting yours. 

"But would you like to go?"

"Depends, what did you have in mind?" 

"A fairy tale castle fit for only the finest of royalty, or maybe a Creator of Teyvat?" Now you were intrigued. A castle? But most importantly, a comfy place to sleep?

"As long as it has a nice place to sleep, I'm up for it," you yawned, ready to just go to sleep.

"Hold on tight, okay?" He grabbed your hand and teleported you two into an impressive bedroom.

A circular bed the size of two king beds sat in the middle of the room. The room itself was the size of your whole apartment times three. As Araashita saw you inspecting the room, he moved to go leave.

"Wait, um, I know this is weird but can you stay with me? Only if you would like to of course!" You probably should have been acting more like an adult, but honestly, this was a lot, you deserved this. You got sucked into your computer, fell from the sky, appeared in the game you were developing, and we're now supposed to be some god.

"Of course, anything for you," his little smile was killing you! How was he so cute!  

He got into the bed with you, slipping under the covers. It didn't seem awkward despite you sleeping in the same bed. You hoped he wasn't uncomfortable.

"Do you want me to hold you?" Yes, yes, million times yes.

He chuckled, had you said that out loud? Carefully, he slipped his hands around your back. You had moved so that your face was practically in his chest. He smelled like wine and roses, was rose wine a thing?

Almost instantly, you found yourself drifting off to sleep.