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From Darkness Into the Lantern Light - Chapter 10

We’ve reached chapter 10 and the most iconic scene of the movie!! YAY!!

Thanks to @leio13 for enabling this!

Summary: Once upon a time, there was a cold-hearted queen. Although the Tsaritsa, as she was called, possessed her own divinity, she coveted the powers of the other Archons. Aiming to steal the Geo Archon’s gnosis, she sent her strongest warriors to Liyue Harbor. But just when Rex Lapis was almost defeated, he escaped to another vessel, that of a powerless baby, and was swept away to a hidden tower for his protection.

Many years after the great fight, the young and ambitious Harbinger, Childe, arrives in Liyue to grant the Tsaritsa’s desire, but, on his search for the Geo Archon’s gnosis, he ends up tangled in a mysterious man’s dreams to see Liyue Harbor’s Lantern Rite.

This chapter can also be found on Ao3 here. Without further ado, please enjoy!

"Zhongli!" Ajax sprinted across the docks. Although he tried to run his errands in under 15 minutes, the sun was already halfway gone by the time he returned. "I'm back!" Ajax held out the spear he had bought. “This is for you.” Despite its hasty creation, the spear had an impressive aura with its stone shaft and its lozenge-shaped head embellished with gold. At the base of the spearhead, a golden diamond was encrusted. It was too heavy for Ajax’s tastes, but he was sure Zhongli could wield it with ease.

“Ah.” Ajax realized that Zhongli was still hanging onto the dragon kite, which he had bought him earlier. Even though it was just an impromptu gift, Zhongli’s attachment to it brought a smile to Ajax’s face. “Here, let me hold that for a moment.”

Ajax and Zhongli swapped items, and Zhongli examined the weapon in his hands. He maneuvered the polearm gracefully as though it were made of feathers. Then he fastened it against his back where the other spear used to be. “This shows impressive craftsmanship. Thank you.”

“I hardly did anything. I just thought you deserved a better polearm than that weathered old thing.” Ajax handed back the kite string. “We should get going—don’t want to miss the show.”

Zhongli tilted his head with a puzzled look, but he followed nonetheless.

Ajax lead Zhongli to a tiny rowboat amid the large ships. Atop one of the seats, two golden lanterns were waiting. “For such a momentous occasion, you deserve the best view.” He stepped into the boat and extended his arm with a small bow. Placing his hand in Ajax’s, Zhongli joined Ajax in the boat, and they set sail.

As Ajax steered the boat far away from the tall sails and bright lights of the harbor, Zhongli stared vacantly at the dark sea. His pursed lips curled downwards. Even as he sat on the same boat as Ajax, his mind had drifted somewhere distant.

“Zhongli?” Ajax asked. “What’s wrong? Are you seasick?”

“Seasick? No, I am in good physical condition; however, I can’t ignore my apprehension.”

“Apprehension? What for?”

Zhongli gazed at the tiny dragon soaring alone in the night sky. “For as long as I can remember, I’ve yearned to see the Lantern Rite. Now I’m here. What if it doesn’t meet my expectations?”

“It will.”

“How can you be so certain?”

“Have you been disappointed by Liyue Harbor so far?”

“No. In fact, it has exceeded my expectations.”

“Then there’s no way this will disappoint either!” Ajax seized Zhongli’s hands. “I promise. And we Snezhnayans don’t take promises lightly.”

The smallest smile floated briefly on Zhongli’s face before disappearing. “Say the Rite is everything I dreamed it would be, what happens when it’s inevitably over?”

“When it’s over?” Ajax let out a laugh. “What’s the point in worrying about that now?” In reality, Ajax had pondered over that very question many times, but he dreaded the future’s imminent arrival.

The frown on Zhongli’s face grew deeper.

“Why, the answer is obvious!” Ajax frantically changed approaches. “You find a new dream!”

Zhongli held his chin and furrowed his eyebrows. Given the chance, he would try to discover his next dream on their isolated boat.

“But you don’t have to decide that right away! Or even after the lanterns!” Ajax interrupted. “In fact, life’s greatest pleasures can only be found without a plan. The thrills, the battles—it’s in these unexpected adventures that you find yourself—and then, before you know it, you’ve discovered your new dream! That’s what makes life worth living—isn’t it wonderful?” Ajax beamed, excitement bubbling with him.

“Is that the philosophy that brought you to my tower?”

“Exactly! That’s why you shouldn’t worry about the future just yet.”

“Thank you. But I think I’ve already found one.”

“Found what?”

Zhongli’s eyes smiled gently. “A new dream.”

“Huh? What is it?”

“Isn’t it too early to be concerned with such matters?” Zhongli smirked victoriously.

Ajax pouted for all but a moment. He had succeeded in cheering up Zhongli, and, for that, he could smile.

When darkness had definitively settled over Liyue Harbor, the Rite began. Starting at Yujing Terrace, the flood of light poured across Feiyun Slope and into Chihu Rock before lifting into the night sky. Thousands of golden lanterns twinkled above the city and drifted slowly towards the sea like a parade of stars, their reflections dancing across the waves.

Ajax and Zhongli wordlessly released their lanterns into the air, but, at that moment, Zhongli’s kite escaped his grasp and flew away. To Ajax’s relief, Zhongli smiled watching the freed dragon join the vagrant lights.

As the wind currents slowed, Ajax and Zhongli were enveloped by a rain of glowing warmth. Ajax doubted he would get the chance to witness such a spectacle again. The image, which even the gentlest breeze or raindrop threatened to extinguish, printed itself in the depths of Ajax’s brain.

But the most exquisite beauty was Zhongli. The lanterns showered his dark hair in golden light, but each lantern was only a dull reflection of the dazzling amber in his eyes. The delighted curve of his lips enchanted Ajax’s perception. Even if the light of the lanterns disappeared within minutes, Ajax would willingly forget it all if it meant seeing that face for longer.

Slowly the lamps accumulated around the small boat like a blossoming field of glowing flowers. They waltzed together in sync with the waves. When the number of lanterns in the water outnumbered the ones lingering in the sky, Zhongli’s stoic face returned. “Ajax. Thank you for showing me the Lantern Rite.”

“No problem—it was my pleasure,” Ajax forced out. “Why the sudden formality?”

“It’s time for your remuneration.”

“Re...mune...ration?” Ajax refused to follow Zhongli’s line of thought.

“I will tell you everything I know about whatever you are seeking.”

Indeed, that was the payment they had agreed on a few days ago. And after Zhongli had shared all that he knew, there was one final condition: their parting. Ajax didn’t care about the repayment; he had already found the answer, and both that answer and the future tormented him. Ajax loathed the man he was a few days ago when he made that contract.

Then Ajax laughed, both hopeful and hopeless. The solution he came to was one he doubted Zhongli would accept, but even so, he would try. “That doesn’t matter anymore. Forget about the contract.”

Zhongli immediately frowned as Ajax expected he would. “That won’t do. Under that contract, we are bound—”

Ajax put a finger to Zhongli’s lips. “That contract was between you and Childe, remember?” His hand glided to cup Zhongli’s cheek.

“I stand corrected, Ajax.” Finally, Zhongli’s grin returned to his face. His fingers wrapped gently around Ajax’s hand. “Then, shall we create a new contract?”

“A new one?” Ajax airily laughed while brushing some of the hair from Zhongli’s face with his other hand. He tucked his hand behind his ear with a massage of his thumb. “What should it say?”

“Hmm…” In that brief pause, Zhongli’s steady amber eyes transfixed Ajax’s heart. “Will you stay by my side from now on?”

“I can agree to that.” Ajax tenderly lifted Zhongli’s face closer to his own. His lips glistened softly in the warm light. “How should we seal it?”

“Mmm.” Zhongli’s closed eyes and inviting face were his answer. His calm breaths tickled Ajax’s lips as he leaned in.

But then Ajax’s attention was yanked by a suspicious light from the coast accompanied by a masked person. Much as he wished to ignore it, he couldn’t deny its familiarity; he had worn a similar mask almost everyday until yesterday. Why now…?

“Ajax?” Zhongli’s eyes cracked open.

“I’m sorry. I…” Ajax let go of Zhongli. “Something came up that I have to take care of.”

“What happened?”

Ajax averted his eyes as he recommenced rowing. “It’ll be over soon, so please. Can you wait on the boat?”

“I understand.” Ajax had lost Zhongli’s smile; it had disappeared behind another distant frown.

After docking the boat in a hidden spot, Ajax hastily stood up. “I’ll be back soon, and then I won’t leave again.” I promise. He couldn’t bring those words to his lips as he turned and left.

When Ajax arrived at the source, he was confronted by the site of two easily recognizable agents in white and purple: Andrei and Ekaterina. “What are you two doing here?”

“It’s quite simple,” Andrei answered. “We used our diplomatic immunity to get out of prison, just as you told us.”

“About that day…” Ajax forced his cowardly eyes to regard their faces. “I’m sorry.”

“Enough of the pretexts, Master Childe,” Ekaterina interrupted. “We’re only interested in your partner.”

Ajax’s body tensed. “My partner?”

“We know all about it: the magic hair.”

Ajax seized Andrei’s collar, lifting him from the ground. “How did you find out about him?”

Andrei choked. “...The.. lady—”

“I was the one who informed them,” Yet another familiar, condescending voice chimed in, “Tartaglia.”

Ajax dropped Andrei and whipped around. “What are you doing here, bitch?!”

“How terribly rude… After I came all this way to salvage your mission. Surely, even a simpleton like you must have realized you were supposed to take him to Zapolyarny Palace—not Liyue Harbor.”

“How do you know about him?!”

“Hah! Who could know Zhongli better than his dear mother?”

#Genshin Impact #Chili #Childe #Zhongli

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thesummerfox · 6 years

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I loved your Kylo meta... I enjoyed the movie but my heart hurt for him so much and I felt myself start to lose hope for him getting a satisfying storyline. But I've read some things now that made me feel a little better, including yours, and it's nice to find others who are holding on some hope. Thanks for that.

Thank you so much, I’m so glad you loved it and that it made you feel a little better! I have more thoughts, so I hope you don’t mind me sharing those in light of this!

I have more hope for Kylo now that I’ve seen the movie, and I already had a lot of hope for him to begin with. His storyline is one of the key points in the ST, as he is the last of the Skywalker line, and his journey as the unpredictable and undecided factor has come to run entirely parallel to Rey’s journey as our main protagonist.

Already in TFA, we see a Kylo Ren who has aligned himself with the FO because they are the closest thing he has to a place in the world. His indoctrination/seduction by Snoke (I feel dirty just typing that, but it is what it is) created that automatic alliance with the FO, but there are small moments within TFA and now also in TLJ that show that Kylo is supremely unconcerned with the FO’s goals and sometimes even seems to disapprove of the course of action taken by the FO. In that light, it’s a genius move to set him up as the new Supreme Leader: someone like Hux, whose fanaticism and belief in the FO are huge, would have been a safer bet for leadership by far. It’s a position that Kylo cannot hope to sustain for himself, and I think he knows it. Even within the FO, he is always alone. His relationship with Hux is outright antagonistic at this point, which might lead to some kind of coup in future considering the fact that Kylo’s actions lost the FO their one shot at ending the open rebellion they face.

With Kylo’s position in the FO rendered unstable, there is that sense of him being on shakier ground than ever before. My dad and I watched TLJ together and we were talking about his arc in the narrative in the car on the way home. My dad said that there is so much inner turmoil coming out into the foreground with Kylo right now at the end of TLJ and we both agreed that he seems undecided on who he is as a human being and on what to do/where to go next. There is that real sense of him being lost, and a huge part of that is because he’s entirely alone for the first time in his life. Canonically speaking, we know that Snoke already began to press in on him when he was in the womb. We know darkness came to claim Ben Solo before he was even born. Ben Solo grew up with the yoke of the Skywalker legacy on his shoulders, grew up with two iconic parents whose role in the universe may not always have left him enough space and time with them, grew up with Snoke’s influence in his brain 24/7, grew up around people who came to fear his abilities and his strength, grew up into one of the most powerful Force users while remaining conflicted about his path in life.

It’s not really any wonder that Kylo Ren, at his core, acts out of selfishness and acts on his immediate passions/instincts throughout the narrative. He has learned throughout the years that he only has himself to fall back on. Abandonment is a recurring theme in his life and I daresay he has grown used to being left alone. Used to it, but always and forever hurt by it. Hurt by it so bad that he lashes out indiscriminately in his pain and rage – and, at the end of TLJ, we see that hurt finally going inward. We see him break at the end. We see him desolate, alone, and all the while the light is creeping back into the darkness that surrounds him. There is so much pain in that, but there is hope at the same time. And all of that pain has to go somewhere, all of that hope cannot be in vain.

In TFA, he took some shaky steps on the road to redemption. Call me crazy for saying it, but the scene in which you see that most clearly is the scene with Han. We know how that turned out, but that scene highlights so much inner conflict and history with the dark and the light at war inside of Kylo. Han knew this, too, and I feel as though he knew that meeting Kylo there at that halfway point would spell his own death but allow cracks of light to seep back into his boy. His boy, who he feels he has failed. His boy, who’s hiding behind a mask. His boy, his son, who has always felt so deeply and has always been capable of so much good and so much evil all at once. It’s the first act of ultimate selfless love that Kylo encounters.

In TLJ, Snoke remarks “you have too much of your father’s heart in you, young Solo”. That line alone tells me all we need to know: redemption is on its way. Through Han’s death, Kylo’s more fractured and splintered between light and dark than ever before. I think this allows Rey to get a foothold that strongly that fast with him, too – he is receptive to her, wondering and marvelling at their connection all the while, to the point where there is an almost childlike sense of shyness and joy inside of him about it. And when Snoke threatens that? When Snoke claims to have forged that bond between them? When Snoke infringes on the one thing that gave Kylo a sense of peace and belonging? That’s when Ben Solo rises to the foreground, furious, in pain, and lashes out at his abuser with an unflinching finality. Snoke’s voice inside his head goes silent for the first time ever, Snoke’s presence in his life and in his inner world fades for the first time ever, and young Ben Solo stands before Rey and extends his hand. He does so clumsily, does so with the remnants of his convictions ruining his speech to her, does so because he feels she might understand.

Rey’s heartbroken reply is understandable, too, but Kylo doesn’t yet see it that way. He feels alone again. Abandoned again. And he lashes out, furious. Takes up leadership of the FO on what I consider to be a whim born out of necessity – Kylo needs a place in the world, and the FO is still the only place he has left at this point. And then? Then comes Luke Skywalker, and Kylo rips himself to pieces in the attempt to tear Luke apart. Luke arrives in his role as a teacher, make no mistake about that. Luke is there to impart one final lesson on Ben Solo, and leaves him with the same words that Han Solo must have told his own son a million times: see you around, kid. That’s where the light gets in: through the cracks of Ben’s abandonment and isolation, through the pain and hurt of being failed by his teachers/masters, through the agony of his father’s death that he is responsible for, through Rey’s rejection of him.

And when he kneels on that planet, Han Solo’s trinket fading from his grasp, Rey’s presence and connection still alive alive alive despite Snoke’s claim over their bond, his mother making her escape once more... Ben Solo is alive, and Kylo Ren is set to die. That’s how you do a successful redemption arc for a character like him: take it all away until there is nothing left for him to cling to, let him kill the past and face his demons, give him agency over his own actions and decisions, and give him space to come back. Put him in that position where we know as an audience that all it’s going to take is one final push. Where we know, as viewers, that Kylo Ren’s fate hangs in the balance and that the only one who decides its final outcome is Ben Solo. Where the only logical thing for the narrative to do next is to give him that space to decide – and where the only emotionally satisfying thing for the narrative to do next is to bring Ben Solo back into the light in a way that gives him peace.

#tlj spoilers #small trash son #kylo ren #reylo #meta meta meta #I'm sorry I can't shut up about him #his character arc is my fave in the entirety of SW #Anonymous

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