On steel wings
You are a cursed child.
Heavy rain dropped unto the liyue plateaus, the sun that usually rang so high and burned so bright remained hidden behind the darkened clouds as the wind blew and howled threatening to tear the world apart from its roots such was its strength.
None remained to witness this, as monsters and men found shelter from such an ugly day…
All but one single child who swayed and stepped through the forces of nature, her legs shaking under her own weight looking towards the beyond with unfocused and emotionless eyes.
You are a cursed child.
Her clothes were tattered and filled with grime and blood clearly her own as her skin was littered with cuts and bruises, in her right hand remained the only object in her person… a knife which she gripped with all her strength as if losing it meant death.
At this point, it was the only truth she knew fully understood.
You are a cursed child.
Her strength failed her once and for all as she fell, the mud-filled dirt splattering all around her, she took rapid breaths as she coiled around herself trying to keep warm to no avail.
After everything, she went through, was this truly how she ended?
Then again how else would someone cursed continue on living.
But…
Her hand clenched at her leg, the nails biting to her own skin drawing blood, her blank eyes opening once again now with a fire burning behind them, a fury really, she wanted revenge, against her father against the gods, against the world itself that wanted to her end her existence...
She would not die here and that in of itself would be enough, they tried to spurn her so she wouldn't leave unremembered.
She began to move her body lethargic and slow, trying to stand up only to fall unto the dirt once more.
She tried again… and again.
To no avail…
Even if her spirit tried, her body was at its limit, fighting after 4 days without food nor water it was a miracle that she had even survived for this long.
But if she couldn't stand, then she would simply crawl.
Her fingers dug deep into the earth as she grit her teeth with all her hatred and started to move even if all the world was against her, she wouldn't give up even if just out of spite.
She didn't go far though as something stopped her in her tracks…
...a large shadow now loomed over her.
She snarled and glared up at the man swinging the blade around in a maddening fashion, looking more like a frightened animal than the human girl she was.
The man on the other hand simply kneeled and grabbed the offending arm with care as to not hurt her "You went through a lot haven't you… that ancient malice now clings to you like a parasite, seems I was too late." he said gruffly, his hood keeping his expression hidden "Rest now, I promise you are safe with me."
She wanted to yell, to call him a liar… nowhere was safe for her, she trusted no one…
And yet, she found herself losing consciousness quickly as joyful warmth surrounded her.
Strong arms grabbed her not caring for how dirty she had gotten.
Why? I'm cursed can't you see?
A feeling of protectiveness lulled her to sleep as she tried her hardest to keep awake despite how tired she really felt.
The last thing she saw before the darkness consumed her, was his gray eyes and a steel ephemeral feather.
(?)
She was running…
She didn't know why… or what from…
But she needed to be far away from whatever it was.
The darkness around her was suffocating and she couldn't see anything, the world was hidden from her as if she didn't belong, as if it was rejecting her.
She fell once more, her short legs just couldn't keep up with her spirit.
She could hear it, that thing, growling and snarling for her, it would soon render off her flesh.
But she couldn't do anything anymore.
She grabbed her head crying in desperation awaiting her end without hope.
...until light shun around her once more as if coming to her wishes.
She looked back slowly, afraid, as the world was made bare to her even if only a piece of it.
It was a field of flowers, she knew them they were her mother's favorites or so her father said she barely remembered the woman, the darkness however still clung around deep, but this small piece of land was alight with color.
In the middle a single silver feather remained shining against the dark, it was the only source of light she could see and it attracted a sense of awe within her.
She wanted to touch it and with that thought she moved towards it, careful and mindful of the flowers beneath so that she wouldn't crush them and ruin the only beautiful part of this horrid world.
She grabbed it and...
...her eyes flew open as she stared at an unfamiliar white ceiling.
The girl rubbed her eyes slowly trying to stave away her sleepiness "Where am I?" she asked herself her voice hoarse.
She looked down now noticing the bandages all around her body some slightly bloodied, she groaned as she touched them wincing in pain.
Pulling the covers back and stepping down she decided her best bet was to look first and find some sort of weapon to defend herself with, she remembered it was a man who picked her up but she didn't know their intentions, and trust in other people was at an all-time low.
Regretfully the room was rather bare as if unused, it was quite spacious but nothing filled it except for the soft bed she slept on and unless she wanted to destroy it she wouldn't get much in terms of weaponry here.
The girl sighed and calmed herself down, her eyes closing as she focused outwards.
There was sound, plates clinking, water boiling, and a gentle humming that she couldn't quite make out… it was a kitchen and someone was using it.
Her eyes opened once more now glinting with something more, something darker… she got her target.
The girl moved slowly through the rooms in a way that only trained assassins could.
Until she found him and had to stifle down a gasp that almost erupted.
The same feeling as back then, the same one within her dream.
A gentle protectiveness made her hesitant to do what she must to survive.
She shook her head and grit her teeth in anger...
This was just an illusion, he was playing with her mind, just like everybody else he wanted to hurt her, she would kill him first… she would carve down her name in his flesh, bite his throat ou…
"That's quite a lot of bloodlust you have there little lady." the man imparted with something akin to regret, talking as he moved through the kitchen in expert fashion "Why don't you sit down instead so we can talk for a bit, this is almost ready."
His words seemed to shake away her momentary lapse into a murderous rage as she shakily nodded and sat on a nearby chair.
Her eyes though remained focused on the man in front of her.
Tall, taller than any other person she had seen before, with red and silver hair, she had never seen anyone so... colorful in her life, she had to refrain from asking if he had painted it. His clothes were less so but still quite a bit extravagant, a white coat that fell almost to the ground with golden linings and red wisps as if fire.
All in all, he looked like a rich noble of a distinct house, someone her own family would work for… what the hell was he doing in this dingy hut?
She remained quiet though despite her burning questions, her mind weirdly calm despite her storied days.
He continued cooking, humming an unknown song to himself… it was almost uniquely peaceful watching him so…
Why am I feeling this way?
He finally turned around putting the pots filled with food on the table, far more than she had seen, her eyes shined slightly in awe as she watched…
Even her tummy rumbled much to her embarrassment.
The man didn't comment on it much other than a small smile plastered on his face that made her frown harder and blush more prominently.
He grabbed her plate and she sank deeper into her chair, her eyes widening in fear as he closed in on her space, the man simply sighed and grabbed a tablespoon filling it with large quantities of food.
She looked at it for a second as if trying to refuse her own body but soon succumbed to the nice smell eating furiously not caring for how she looked while doing so.
"My name is Shirou…" he answered the unquestioned question as if waiting for her to do the same "You know I can't keep calling you girl right?"
She grunted her mouth filled with chicken "Shenhe." she said after a second of thinking, not as if he could do much with her name.
Shirou nodded in thanks "Well Shenhe it seems you had a rough couple of days, do you remember anything?"
She dropped the cleaned-out bone she had in her hands, the past few days flashing at the back of her mind.
Her father dragging her…
That cave…
The monster within…
You are a cursed child.
She took a shaky breath her eyes filling with frustrated tears that she refused to let leak, only now had the weight of everything hit her.
"Seems that you do…" The man… Shirou said in a comforting tone "Evil spirits seem to surround you child, and you can't control your emotions nor your strength, I'm afraid things will only get worse for you."
"...I know." Shenhe sorrowfully said as she now understood that despite surviving her life will forever be changed.
Shirou sighed leaning back on his own chair "You shouldn't go back, you would only endanger others and yourself."
She bared her teeth at him some of her fire coming back "So I'm to be your prisoner."
He stared at her his silver eyes shining slightly with power… she could hear the monster whimpering in fear inside of her "Like I said you shouldn't go back as you are… but it doesn't have to be forever, I will help you learn how to control yourself."
"What if I refuse?"
He remained quiet, his face not betraying a single emotion "Do as you wish, I am the master of no one but myself. Just think about what path you want to take before choosing, ultimately though it is your choice."
Still… if there was any future for her.
"I accept."
"Then rest for the day, tomorrow we will start… you better be prepared this won't be easy and I won't pull any punches." he further explained in a serious tone, as he grabbed the plates on the table, she hadn't even seen him eat…
"What should I call you, Shirou, shishou or..?" Shenhe suddenly asked as she stood up from the table.
"Whatever you wish…"
She nodded and simply walked away with an emotionless face hiding away the turmoil, only for it to fall apart once she was again alone tears finally falling as she sank into the mattress.
This was her new life…
Away from everyone she knew… and even those who knew her didn't want her.
Her eyes closed, trying to shut off the world, her exhaustion helping as she quickly fell asleep.
Once again she chased after the steel feather in her dreams, the darkness now ignored.
Okay, honestly I don't know if I did Shenhe right as this is pretty much my interpretation of her backstory and how I think she would be without the red rope binding her emotions and before her training with the adepti so it's pretty OC to me and it's hard to tell how she thought about everything as by the time we see her she's already grown up, as for Shirou himself well all I will really say is that he is connected to the normal fate verse, he went through the grail war and all that... he is more than that but as usual his backstory will be dug as time goes on let's just say he has a storied history.
For obvious reasons the pairing won't be shenhe shirou if you had any hope for that, I'm pretty sure you can tell what type of relationship they'll have in the future.
Hopefully, everyone enjoys this because i really want to explore genshin in fanfic format a little bit, my nier story helped me connect with it's story and world a lot more in a way i didn't think it ever would so i wonder if it'll happen again.
Thanks to Ivan Tridelan for helping me out.
Edit: next chapter should be next week, hopefully, after that I'm going to work on my other stories, expect at least a chapter a month.
Edit 2: The second chapter was up but the site seems to be having problems with updating right now, so I'm going to wait until it's working again to post it once more... seems like a general problem hopefully it doesn't take long.