Adding my own SAGAU brainrot to the pile
Creator!Reader | Word count: 1551
Someone is speaking.
It’s in a language you don’t recognise. But you still gravitate towards it without a second thought. You haven’t seen anyone in months. Haven’t heard another person speak in just as long. The whole living as a Disney princess off the land had been going pretty well so far; you had ample food, water and shelter. But you were lonely. Squirrels and birds were cute, but they didn’t understand you. You previously had never gone over a few days without speaking to someone that would speak back. And the lonelier you got, the more uncomfortable you became. Hyper aware of the cold and your lack of shoes, unable to relax due to the roaring sea that crashed constantly against the nearby craigs.
You pause as you reach the edge of the forest. Peering through the thin trees to the sandy beach you had woken up on only a month ago. There’s a woman there, muttering to herself as she paces along the length of the beach. She is also dressed as the character Yelan from Genshin Impact. Blue Hydro vision replica and all.
Still. She’s the first person you’ve seen in months. The first person you’ve seen since you woke up on this beach. It’s not weird enough to dissuade you from making your way down to the beach.
“Hello?” you call out.
For a moment you think she might not have heard you. That your voice, brittle with disuse, was overwhelmed by the crashing waves. You open your mouth again to call out to her again, when she turns sharply towards you.
The words she speaks are just as unfamiliar as before. But the fact that they’re spoken by another person is more than enough to fill you with relief.
“Hello,” you say again. Hopeful that that word is universal enough that she will recognise it as English. Even if she doesn’t speak the language. “Can you understand me?”
The woman—you try not to think of her as Yelan—looks at you consideringly. She takes a step forward, hands flexing at her side, before pausing.
“Greetings,” she says, bowing shallowly. Her accent is entirely foreign to you. Rolling the r and placing hard emphasis on the consonants. It makes her tone sound harsh, even though her body language and voice are relaxed.
You smile uncertainly at her.
“This envoy has been searching for you.” Her words are spoken with obvious care. It’s apparent from the concentration on her face, never mind the awkwardness of her speech, that her English is not fluent. But it’s such a massive relief to find out that she can understand you at all. You can’t help the relieved grin that works its way across your face. There was an envoy? A search party? Send out to find you after all this time? You had half given up on the possibility of ever seeing civilization again.
“Thank you. You’re a live saver. What’s your name?” You ask, after telling her yours.
She looks at you with the same assessing gaze. Taking you in; your scraggly hair, your threadbare clothes, your bare feet.
Whatever it is she’s looking for, she seems to find it. Because she crosses the distance between you, pulling her coat off her shoulders and throwing it over yours. It’s far too narrow to fit comfortably, but the fur trim against your face is so incredibly soft that you can’t resist the urge to brush your cheek against it. You snap out of it a second later, looking down at her with an embarrassed grin.
“This one’s name is Yelan,” she says.
It makes you frown. Maybe she really was nothing more than a weird cosplayer. But even so, this was still a person. One that presumably had a way off this island.
If she was even real. Your heart lurches at the horrible thought that this was some kind of mirage, crafted by your loneliness. An illusion would disappear the moment you took your eyes off her.
Moving faster than you thought possible, you grab her wrist. She feels real. Her arm is solid and warm beneath the thin material of her sleeve. You think you can feel the beating of her hard beneath your fingertips, but it’s just as likely to be your own.
“Sorry, I just-“you drop her hand. Abruptly aware of what you had just done. “Sorry I didn’t mean to. Please don’t leave me here.”
You do not look up and see her expression. Embarrassment and shame mixing in your gut. Instead, keeping you eyes fixed on your feet.
“This one will not leave Guyun Stone Forest alone,” the woman says softly. “Follow.”
She leads you to a shockingly large boat moored not far off the beach. You wonder how it was possible to have missed it. But you know the answer just as quickly as the question had crossed your mind. You had been far to occupied wallowing in your own loneliness in your makeshift shelter. Hidden away from the elements and the outside world alike. You wonder if there were any other similar vessels or search parties you missed.
A hush falls over the vessel as you board. The crew glancing nervously between themselves as Yelan helps you from the rowboat onto the deck.
The silence is cut by the sound of a woman yelling something, in that same unfamiliar language. You look towards the sound and are shocked by the sight of another woman dressed as Beidou. Electro vision catching the sun light as she walks towards them, chatting jovially all the while.
You are suddenly hit by the thought that what if there are not just a bunch of cosplayers working in search and rescue. After all what kind of search party had access to an eighteenth-century style vessel with canvas sails and rigging? You look up, towards the crow’s nest, and sure enough there’s a young man there dressed like Kaedehara Kazuha.
You look back down at the woman dressed as Beidou. You look at her vibrant purple eye, her overly confident demeanour and say, “Beidou?”
The woman, Beidou, tilts her head to the side as she says something that you assume to be a greeting or acknowledgement of some kind. She looks to Yelan with a predatory smile speaking all the while.
You don’t have much time to process the revelation before Yelan is grabbing you by the upper arm and leading you beneath the deck. Grip far too firm to be a mere suggestion. You suddenly feel incredibly overwhelmed. Is this some kind of Isekai scenario?
Yelan opens a door to a cabin, escorting you inside and finally letting you go. The cabin is sparse, little more than a bad nailed to one corner with a hempen blanket, and a bucket in the other.
“You’re name… it’s really Yelan right?”
“Do not leave this room,” she says in lieu of an answer. “Listen to the captain, listen to this one. This one promises Your Grace will reach the shores of Liyue Harbor safely.”
She leaves. Locking the door behind her.
You watch the closed door with disbelief. Waiting a moment before checking the latch, verifying that it really was locked—it was—before sinking to the ground in a daze.
And just like that you’re alone once again. Only this time, rather than being stranded on an island surrounded by friendly fauna and the open sky, you’re stuck in the dank hull of a ship all by yourself. You want to curl up in a ball on the bed. Only you can feel the boat creak and shudder around you. You’re too scared to move from you perch on the floor, one hand braced against a bed leg. Scared that the moment you let go the boat will lurch, and you’ll be flung across the room.
You realise that Yelan (Yelan from Genshin Impact) said that you would reach the shores of Liyue Harbor. But she never said what would happen afterwards.
It is, by far, the worst possible scenario. You can feel the panic building inside you. All-encompassing, loneliness forgotten. You feel the sting of betrayal. You had followed Yelan in good faith. Thinking that she was your path to rescue, your safety line. Only… for this.
The boat lurches, waves crashing deafeningly against the hull. It drives all thought from your mind other than fear. You’ve never been on a boat like this before. Never been beneath deck in a ship where you could smell wet wood. Where the ship was weak, flimsy enough that you could picture it smashing against the water after the drop from a tall wave.
The ocean only becomes more violent as you fall further into your state of blind panic. Louder and louder. More and more violent. You realise now, just how gentle the waves against the rocky outcrops of Guyun Sone Forest had been. The bucket, the only loose thing in the room, starts rolling around. Getting thrown around more and more violently as the boat crashes down on the uneven sea, again and again and again.
You know without a doubt, that this is the worst day of your life. You wonder how long the voyage to Liyue Harbor is meant to be.