Chapter Text
The sun has risen.
The people of Mondstadt are beginning their days. Good Hunter and the General Shop welcome in customers. Multiple Knights of Favonius walk around the city trying to help anyone in need. In this bustling city, everyone was up to their own business.
However, the day began earlier for two individuals.
Diluc Ragnvindr had walked into the city with the sun up. Everyone stared at him in awe as he walked in—after all he was the uncrowned king of Mondstadt. However, he ignored them all and walked straight into Angel’s Share.
“Master Diluc,” says Charles as the man in black drops his body onto the counter. “Tired. I had to put up a fight. It was tiring. It truly was,” he spoke in broken sentences. “Master Diluc I suggest you head home. Leave today to us. If you would like to tend here at night then do so, but please get rest.”
He headed home although he did not wish to. It wasn’t like he wanted to see someone in particular. As he walked out the city gates, he looked at the children playing amidst the dandelions in front of the gates. His mind automatically thought of the girl who loved them.
She was busy and there was no way they would be able to meet right now. They had gone different paths after all. If given the chance, he would choose to stay there and wait aimlessly for her. He wanted to.
Passing by Windrise, he decides to sit there for a while to regain a little bit of energy. He had just finished the apple Charles gave him inside the tavern. Instead, he ended up staring at the sun. It illuminated the sky and unconsciously, he reached out to where she stood a few years prior.
“Now’s not the time,” he says shaking the thought out of his head. He passed and sat by this tree almost every day. He saw those dandelions every day too. Why was his mind constantly shifting to her?
With that, he headed straight home locking himself up in his room. The thoughts of her still lingered in his mind. He didn’t mind anyway, he thought it was rather comforting and enjoyable too. It was just shaking him up in the ways that it caused him to yearn for her more.
He could fight the Abyss Order so easily but the thoughts of her were way above that.
On the other side of the dawn was Jean. She was stumbling back into Mondstadt masking her exhaustion. Smiling for everyone as she walked through the city gates. She just had singlehandedly taken done two ruin guards all on her own.
Everything in hindsight was completely the same. Except for the fact that there were pieces of longing in Jean’s heart that for some reason were too hard to control. It was odd. It was odd since it’s been a while since she’s longed for her sunrise this badly.
“Master Jean, we’ve already taken care of a handful of morning commissions for you. You may rest first you have been out since the morning anyways,” Kaeya said as she entered the building. He opened the door to her office. Lisa was already standing there ready to tackle Jean down to rest.
After numerous protests, Jean was finally down and taking a bit of rest. She was drinking the tea and eating the pancakes Noelle had made for her as she gazed at the window in her office. She gazed at the book on her table—Heart’s Desire—and it reminded her of him even more, making her yearn more.
It hadn’t gotten this worse ever since then. The last time she felt this longing was years ago when Diluc told her that he would be leaving Mondstadt. Oh, how she wished she could get on her knees and beg him to stay in that moment. There were things she’d do just for him to stay with her.
She needed him.
A recurring nightmare since that day was a scene of her waiting and growing old. Growing old without him. Waiting for his impossible return by the city gates. It never failed to scare Jean. During those years without him, the now Acting Grandmaster simply did not yearn for him fearing she’d find herself in an incurable heartbreak if the day comes that he plans on no longer returning.
It was likely to happen. Diluc left without even a proper goodbye. Not to anyone at all. He had just disappeared leaving only the vaguest details of his plans. A note and three dandelions were all he left and Jean would not be surprised in the slightest if he came back to leave again or to never come back at all.
When he did come back was a much different story. By this time, Jean was already high in the ranks of the knights while Diluc still despised them with his existence. As much as she wanted to run into his arms and bury herself within them, she did not. She had a job to do and maybe she wanted to prove herself more to him than anyone else at that moment.
Diluc Ragnvindr was within her reach again but it had felt like the distance was farther than before.
During those years he was gone, he was in various places in Teyvat. He had nothing to remind himself of the girl in the sunrise. There was only the view of the dawn and he rarely sees dandelions he’d pick up when traveling. It was a nightmare in real life that one day, Diluc would forget her and every feeling he associated with her.
Warmth. Healing. Happiness. Longing. Exasperation. Comfort.
Although surrounded by the world, Diluc had never felt more alone in those years. Coming back to Mondstadt, he searched for her in the crowds. Her black ribbon. Her golden hair in a ponytail. The greyish blue eyes that had once looked at him with all the happiness in the world. They all were not there.
The last time he saw her was that morning at Dawn Winery. The morning where the sight of her caused him to start to get up. He left that same day. But not before he had left a few pieces of dandelions and a note on her desk. Jean did not need to know where he was going, but it just felt right. Diluc thought that maybe if he left those there, leaving Mondstadt would be easier.
To Jean,
When you read this know that I already have left Mondstadt. My current goal is to travel Teyvat in hopes of avenging my father.
Enclosed here is my vision, I trust you enough to keep it safe for when the day does come, I shall take it back from you and use it once more. All matters at the Winery have been settled so fear not.
Take care of yourself.
This is farewell for now,
Diluc
The note and the vision hid inside Jean’s drawer for years. If only she could have made it to her office in time as he placed the note there maybe she could have asked him to stay just a little longer. The last time she saw him was at the site of where Crepus lay lifeless.
No certainty was placed upon his return to the city. “Keep it safe for when the day does come, I shall take it back from you and use it once more,” those were the words Jean held on loosely for those four years he was gone. When he did return, he was different. Far different.
Diluc went to the Knights of Favonius headquarters to claim his vision back. It was also a cheap excuse to see Jean once more. “Oh, your vision? Jean has left instructions about that. Let me get it for you,” the color from Diluc’s face faded at once when Jean was not there forcing him to ask whoever seemed reliable enough in the building.
Lisa handed him the vision, which he took quickly and he went back to his estate. The distance between the both of them grew so much that he didn’t even get a glimpse of her.
It brought him heartache.
In the winery, Diluc had woken up from his dream. It was the dream of his first day back at Mondstadt. The recurring nightmare of Jean not even knowing he had returned when part of the reason he came back was solely just because he searched for her too much that his heart began to ache without her within his reach.
“I still don’t have her off my mind,” whispering in the pillow he then again prayed to the archons that she’d knock on his door and inquire. Of course, Diluc has also instructed the staff at the winery to commission Jean with trivial and easy tasks just to see her but every time they did so—it was never Jean who came but another knight explaining that Jean was somewhere else tending to others.
He had to take matters into his own hands. He knew this. There was one way to face Jean and it was to see her, head-on.
He knew what to do but he did not do so.
Yet this time the yearning was far too difficult to fight.
With an excuse to borrow books from the Knight’s library, Diluc slowly waltzes into the Acting Grandmaster’s office. He once was a knight too, he still knew the layout of this building more than he ever wanted to. Hidden in his coat were a few tufts of dandelions he picked on the way.
“For you. As always.”
She too was asleep. At peace. Diluc wished to see her in this state more often. At rest. Free from the shackles that held her down from becoming a normal girl. She looked ethereal. It was a sight he’d protect with his very own life.
With a randomly chosen book in hand, he walked out of the building happy at the thought of her. Mondstadt’s most desired bachelor held a romance book in his hand and walked quietly out of the city as if he did not just come there to see his beloved.
In her office, Jean had woken up. The dandelions placed on the surface of her table made her smile. It didn’t matter who it came from, she felt rather refreshed to see that someone took their time to give her those. Although she did wish deep inside that it was a specific man who stopped by.
“Master Jean! It’s Klee,” Kaeya says as she walks out of her office. “What is it now?”
“Master Jean I want to play with you. Please! I’ve been a good girl and I haven’t spent too much time with you. I also helped Marjorie look for her cat to lessen the work you need to do. Pretty please,” the child begged. “Come on Jean, you haven’t had a proper rest day in months. Don’t you think Klee deserves to play with you too? I reckon she misses you too.”
Jean could not say no when Klee already put on a puppy-eyed face asking.
“Don’t worry, I’ll be doing this whole stack of commissions for you. If it isn’t done—fire me,” Kaeya dares as they walk out of the headquarters. “Distribute them to others too, your brother would probably be enraged if I threw all the work to you,” she gestures.
“My brother would be more enraged if you did all the work.”
Jean did not hear those words since Klee was already dragging her to the Whispering Woods. “I want to show you something here Master. Where did I put it again?,” Klee speaks as she drags Jean further into the woods. The Acting Grandmaster sighed at the thought that Klee had yet again hidden her bombs somewhere people could just discover.
But this place was all too familiar for Jean. Sneaking off in the middle of the night to train by herself and to spar with her training dummies. She would often find herself watch the moon’s reflection on the water of Cider Lake form while she tried to think of ways to be better.
One night was different, however. It happened years ago when she was around 16. After sneaking out of the confines of the city, she found herself visit Windrise first. She fell there from exhaustion. She tried so hard to be able to prove herself to Varka and to her own mother.
She had to.
The Gunnhildr girl tried to pull herself up from that position but she could feel the burnout consume her. With tears running down from her face, she fell back to the ground out of frustration. If anyone found her there, it would be such an embarrassing sight to see. She was helplessly sprawled on the floor.
“Jean.”
There stood the then cavalry captain, Diluc Ragnvindr. With his hand extended forward, she unconsciously grabbed it. Pulling her up, the girl realized what just happened. “Master Diluc, I’m sorry for letting you find me like this. I swear that you won’t be seeing me in this state again.”
“It’s alright Jean.”
“It is not.”
“It is.”
“Clearly you’ve been overworking yourself. You’re very much tired, aren’t you? Take a rest, Jean,” the redhead told the girl. Stubborn as she is, she said no. Diluc had somewhat of an understanding of why she worked too much. He sighed facing the girl.
“Jean it will never be a matter of whether they see that you are one of the greatest knights or not. They clearly are blind if they can’t even see that—they shouldn’t even be qualified to tell. You are already a knight of great honor and one we value. Don’t lose your valor over such trivial matters. If you want validation, then I’ll come with you to train tonight. Stop pretending you don’t sneak out of the dead of the night to train.”
He took her hands without a word and they ran through the pathways of the city. Jean never fathomed that Diluc knew. That he knew about her late night training excursions and the locked thoughts buried within the depths of her heart. But it was somewhat enough to make her feel genuine calmness.
Upon reaching her spot, Diluc pulled out his greatsword and challenged Jean. She accepted eagerly as the blades of their weapons clashed. “Lower the angle when you attack to effectively hit your target’s weak spot. You’re almost there Jean.”
Guiding her while fighting, Jean felt happiness in what she was doing. It felt like a whole different experience while training with him.
This went on until a few weeks. A rendezvous at midnight in the Whispering Woods as they dueled each other till the early hours of the day. For once, it no longer felt like a harsh duty she had to shoulder. It felt more like an escape.
“Master Jean! Look there are slash marks here on this tree that’s why I hid my treasure here,” Klee enthusiastically said snapping Jean out of her reminiscence. “What exactly is the treasure, Klee?,” she asked worriedly fearing it was one of Klee’s bombs. “This!”
The young girl held up something that was seemingly a bouquet of sweet flowers and mint. It was decorated with pinecones too. “For you,” Klee says. Jean chuckled at the thought of the young girl behaving herself and calmly collecting flowers. “The dandelions got blown away but Klee tried her best.”
“Thank you Klee, you made me happy.”
As a reward, the Acting Grandmaster allowed the Spark Knight to play until the sunset, given she does not blow anything up. Dusk did arrive too quickly than desired and the two began to find themselves in a pinch. A group of Hilichurls with an Abyss Mage showed up.
Jean did not want the child to fight for herself, deciding to take the burden of the battle for herself. “Klee stay back, I’ve got this,” she said shielding Klee as the creatures came running towards her. She positioned her sword and before she could strike, the red hue of flames filled her sight. “Jean, get back. Get Klee to safety.”
There he was. Saving her again.
Diluc finished the battle swiftly and without a struggle. Jean thanked him and Klee was amazed by the man. “Again!,” Klee said cheering for him. “No Klee, thank Master Diluc,” Jean instructed and Klee does exactly that. “Lower the angle of your blade when you do that attack. Only aim it upwards when you plan to release them and let them fall.”
Déjà vu.
“Let me escort you two back. It appears so that Klee is sleepy. I’ll carry her back, Acting Grandmaster,” he says scooping up Klee in his arms and holding her. “You don’t need to. I can do it by myself,” Jean protests against him. “I don’t need to, but I want to.”
That’s how they ended up walking back to the city with Klee half asleep in his arms. If you had not known the truth about Klee’s parents you would automatically assume that she is the child of the heirs of Mondstadt’s most powerful families. It even appeared more so like that know that the two entered the city gates together with the sleeping child.
“If you want me to deal with such rumors I will. It was in my pure intention to keep you both safe on the way back to the city. Especially you. Stay safe, Jean. I eternally look forward to seeing you.”
“Thank you, Master Diluc. Stay safe. I share the same sentiments.”
She headed into the building with the sleeping child and Diluc headed to the city. “Hmm? Bringing Jean home?,” Kaeya spoke suddenly catching the redhead off guard. “And if I am escorting those two back?”
“It’s at times like this that the Acting Grandmaster will feel lonely. Disappointed in herself. Like she routinely does, she’ll be taking an early morning jog but way earlier tomorrow. Like the bad subordinate I am, I would rather have Jean collect her thoughts first before going into battle so I leave you with this. An anonymous tip that there will be an attack tomorrow morning while on her jog.”
And before the sun even rose, Diluc was already by the gates of Mondstadt anticipating the attack. He had two objectives, to protect the city and to protect her peace. As for what the Knights said, Jean would not be back until at least six in the morning. It was four in the morning now and there were no signs of an attack.
It never struck, however, Just before Diluc could finally leave his post, he picked more dandelions and waltzed right into her office to leave them there for her. He didn’t care already if Lisa pestered him about his business there or if Noelle kept offering him tea. He left the dandelions there and rushed out for he knew what was about to unfold.
Hiding behind the tree in Windrise, he leaned against it. He was waiting for her. It was him who grew up with her and understood her to an extent, so he knew she would be here first. She rarely runs away but when she does, there is always one place for her tired soul to go to.
Her footsteps echoed in the distance. They were slow and it felt like she was forcibly dragging herself to get there. Forced. It felt like having to come back home after a vacation. To Diluc, it felt like it was himself during the time wherein his father passed away. How was Jean really feeling?
On the other side, Jean slumped down. She was far too tired. It felt like a storm of emotions was coming her way and perhaps dawn would not arrive for her this time. It felt hopeless.
“Nothing. No progress from yesterday. Why am I unable to work like I used to? And for it to happen after I merely took a nap. I shouldn’t even be slacking right now. I must go back to Mondstadt, what if something happens while I’m here? A true knight does not have time to dwell on trivial matters like this.”
“But why can’t I drag myself there? I want to but I can’t. What’s wrong with me? Should I change my ways? Should I forcibly bring myself there like I always do? I can’t leave the city. What will Grandmaster Varka say? I won’t even be able to change his opinion if I am inefficient.”
It was quite obvious to him that she was crying now. There were sniffles in between her words and it wasn’t her usual tone. Diluc had never seen her discouraged except for that one time she lay here tired years ago. She was just sobbing at this point. With her sword impaling the ground, she knelt there in front of the tree cursing herself for not being better.
Her heart was clearly breaking there.
“Jean Gunnhildr do better. Are you really worth that title? Can you truly produce results that people will admire? Can you really protect Mondstadt? No! You can’t in this state. Jean, do better, will you? It’s not like we’ll kill ourselves doing it.”
You are worth that title. Frankly, it can only be you who holds that. You can produce those results that people will admire. The pain in your voice tells me you haven’t cried in years because you put up a front to appear perfect. You are far from that. You can protect Mondstadt—and I am sure of that because if you’ve put up this front for years then it would be for the city solely.
You can’t love a human like that. You crumble when you know someone will catch you.
He can no longer bear to see her crumble right there knowing the person to catch her will be her own self.
Diluc comes out of hiding to find Jean in the position he expected to. Quickly running up to her, he holds her in his arms. Shocked by the embrace, she finally releases her grasp on her sword to fall under his touch. There he faces her.
“You do realize you are the greatest in anyways possible, right? You can do those things you doubted you could. I don’t care who told you that you can’t. Please, take a break. If you’re guilty about slacking off then I’ll protect the city for you. If you feel like entrusting it to others makes you less of an Acting Grandmaster then I should personally tell you that it doesn’t matter.”
“It doesn’t matter if you’re less of an Acting Grandmaster, because no one can surpass you. I won’t know if this will make you better but come here. Rest. Talk to me. Let it all out before I take you back there. Knights do have fragile hearts, and I’ll help you take care of yours.”
Jean was wrong. There was a sunrise for her today.
Without words, she leaned on his shoulder as they sat down. Déjà vu yet again.
At the same time, the sun rose. Jean had gotten her sunset and Diluc was now able to see Jean with it all over again like he always secretly wished to.
It is normal to look for things that we know shall make us happy. Things we know that will make us feel less lonely. Things we know that will give us warmth. Things like the sunrise.
Even when it's cloudy or if the dawn is wrapped in the gentle mist that the fog has brought, we still look for it. There is something quite special about it. There is something within the hues of the sunrise that is cannot be described by words.
Wanting someone there is normal. It is part of our human nature to try to chase happiness in moments.
And of course, you'll know it is no longer normal when you look for someone in the sunrise itself.
But alas, we are forced to look forward to the sunset that ends it all. And as the story goes, the dusk serves as a closure. At the end of the day where some finally can breathe from their jobs and for life to start to calm down in the slightest.
The two stayed there until dawn finished. Without a word, they walked back to Mondstadt.
It may feel like home, but sometimes we must leave too.
Unfortunately, it was an all too familiar feeling for them. It wasn’t just yearning or the special sentiments that made them want to see the other in the sunset. Because years ago, the day Diluc turned 18 was the last time they both thought they could see each other in the sunrise again.
Rested against the thin trees atop the waterfall near the winery, they watched the sunrise without a word. It just happened. Without a word, they both sat next to each other and watched its rays illuminate the sky. For a moment, everything felt like a miracle.
That’s it. Sunrises are miracles meant to be shared with others.
They found their miracle then and there—for the last time. That is until that moment that came upon them. It was their last sunrise as Diluc left Mond not even a day after that. It felt all too fast and all too rushed.
But sunrises are nothing but quick miracles we can either let go of or foolishly yearn for time and time again.
And as they were inside the building of the Knights of Favonius, Diluc stretched out his hand to her. “My dear Dandelion Knight, please come rest with me at sunrise once more.”
A new thing Jean would yearn for.
“My dear Darknight Hero, I will from time to time.”
A promise made to maybe one day be broken.
“I’ll wait there every dawn. I eternally look forward to seeing you, Jean Gunnhildr.”
“Please don’t get tired of waiting. I eternally look forward to seeing you too, Diluc Ragnvindr.”
The sunrise has never been more meaningful.