With a Heavy Heart
is a Genshin Impact fanfic written by TravelerMaria.
Her mother once said that every storm is just temporary. However, as she finds herself alone and cold on a stranded beach, she understands that not every wound heals.
Sometimes, one has to live with them.
A novelization of Genshin Impact where Lumine wakes up in a world without her brother and sets out to find him with her new companion and guide Paimon. Except Lumine is wearing a blindfold as she sets out on her journey.
With a Heavy Heart contains examples of
- Armor-Piercing Question: When Paimon is skeptical of Lumine being a dimensional traveler, Lumine asks her if she has any right to judge considering her own existence.Lumine: "You're a fairy, Paimon. You disappear and reappear at free will. Do you even have the right to deny the existence of the stars?"
- Blindfolded Vision: Lumine wears a blindfold. But that does not mean she can't keep up with the others as she utilizes her other senses and her elemental sight.
- Broken Bird: Lumine in this story is much more broken compared to her canon counterpart. She deeply misses her brother and the separation from him after they were attacked by the Unknown Goddess cuts her deeply. She wears a blindfold solely because she does not want to see a world without Aether.
- Cat Fight: This is what Amber describes the fight between Kaeya and Paimon as when the two of them get into the argument after Stormterror's attack on Mondstadt, even if the argument is between a full grown man and a small fairy. She finds it hilarious.Amber: "Oh my, they're now hitting each other like two angry kittens!"
- Cuteness Proximity: Lumine and Paimon share this. When Paimon is explaining to Lumine what a slime is, she says she would keep one if it weren't for the fact that they attacked people. Lumine asks Paimon for more of an explanation on slimes when the fairy describes them as cute.
- Fairy Companion: Paimon after she meets Lumine.
- Hidden Depths:
- Paimon seems to have this in the story. While she seems to be the same for the most part, Amber notes when they first meet that the fairy seems wary and has a forlorn expression similar to those she has seen on some women in Mondstadt who are implied to be dealing with abuse in some form. The Outrider realizes that there are people out there who wouldn't hesitate to hurt a small and defenseless creature like Paimon and sadly comes to the conclusion that people have hurt Paimon in the past, which in turn has made the Fairy wary of others.
- Amber herself seems to be quite observant within her own story segments. From realizing that Lumine is not blind in the short time with her to realizing that people in the past may have hurt Paimon due to her small stature as well as defenselessness against others.
- Kaeya takes great joy in predicting outcomes. Whether it is reading the movements of his opponents or the bashful gazes of innocent maidens, who will string them along and carefully carve out their secrets and examine them under a microscope until he knows them like the back of his hand. Eventually though, he gets bored of his victims and then moves on to a new one and repeats the process all over again.
- Little Miss Snarker: Both Lumine and Paimon are this. Paimon's snarky side comes out in full force when she and Kaeya get into an argument in regards to him not helping Lumine out when she was swept up by Stormterror's winds. Not that there was much he could do anyways.
- Mascot: When Lumine introduces Paimon as Emergency Food, Amber inwardly thinks of Paimon as being more of a mascot.
- Ms. Exposition: Paimon serves as this for the newly awakened Lumine.
- Mysterious Past: Even Paimon herself does not know her past.
- Not So Stoic: Kaeya noticeably comes frustrated when dealing with Paimon, his cool demeanor showing cracks in them as the persistent little fairy continues to chew him out.
- Small, Annoying Creature: Kaeya thinks Paimon is this. Especially after they get into a cat fight that Paimon starts by slapping Kaeya in the face when he taunted her.
- Unusually Uninteresting Sight: Subverted. All the characters take note of Paimon, recognizing that she is a fairy but pointing out that she is an unusual sight since fairies haven't been seen for a long time.
- You Didn't Ask: When Amber demands to know why Lumine did not tell her she wasn't blind, Lumine replies with this.
