Chapter Text
Childe hates Zhongli, or maybe he didn’t hate Zhongli, he didn’t know at this point. No matter how much he tried to hold a grudge against the ex-archon, he could never truly harbour any ill will against the adeptus.
Sure, Childe was bitter about the betrayal, but he couldn’t hold so much against Zhongli since he was sent there to steal the archon's gnosis. At least he actually told Zhongli what he was sent there to do!
Ever since the day at the Northland Bank where Zhongli had exposed that he was the Archon, Childe couldn’t fight the deep rooted feeling of betrayal, foolishness and pain.
Foolishness for not realising earlier that Zhongli was Rex Lapis, even when the evidence was clear as day, betrayal for the fact that Zhongli never even considered telling him who he truly was, and pain for what he had been doing for the past few days.
Childe had done his absolute best to avoid Zhongli at all costs, for every time someone were to refer to the consultant, Childe’s mood would sour. He wasn't over it yet.
‘I didn’t even want to catch a glance !’ is what he told himself. Ajax knew he was lying to himself.
During lunch, Childe had gotten Ekaterina to order food from Wanmin Restaurant and brought it right to his office. If he saw Zhongli walking around Liyue Harbour, he would immediately turn in the other direction and act as if he never saw the ex-archon. He would ignore every call of his name from that familiar voice.
Part of him had forgiven the consultant, another part of him was still mad at him but could see past their indifference, and the last part of him was furious. He was angry at the fact that he was a pawn. Nothing more than a wallet to the man.
Even still, it was hard not to miss what they had together. Their shared meals, the long talks where Zhongli would explain everything and anything Childe ever brought up. Their walks all over Liyue, from just around the harbour to all the way to Qingce Village.
The presence of the ex-archon had always given Childe a sense of security, which was honestly quite weird to him. Childe knew he was very capable of protecting himself. Having learnt everything he knew from the abyss, which is much worse than anything that could hurt him here.
Still, not feeling the company of the man had thrown Childe off his usual. Everyone at the bank had noticed. Most people in Liyue could see it, even if they didn’t forgive him for what he allegedly did. It wasn’t like the people of Liyue would actually know it was him who unleashed Osial.
Childe’s smiles had been a tat-bit forced recently. Smiles a little too wide to look natural. His shoulders tense, though no one who wasn’t around him would notice. The only thing that really sold it was the deep eye bags under his dull oceanic eyes. If one were to ever ask him about them, he’d just reply with an excuse.
From, “Oh! I was just up last night filling out some paperwork!” to even, “I was up all night writing a letter to my younger siblings! They can never get over how nice it is in Liyue!”
The truth was he couldn’t sleep knowing that everything he did with Zhongli was a lie.
It wasn't like Zhongli had actually left Childe alone without trying to reconcile with the harbinger. But every time Childe heard the consultant, he would either bite back or just ignore the man. Even with his best efforts, he just couldn't get the adeptus out of his mind.
On one such occasion Childe had been shopping for gifts to send to his family along with his letter he wrote for his sister, Tonia. The people of Liyue were skittish around the harbinger but were quick to turn a blind eye to his Fatui affiliation when mora was a part of the conversation. Childe walked along the marketplace looking at various stalls until a small jewellery store caught his eye.
As Childe was skimming through the jewellery case, a pair of rings caught his eye. One had a small cut piece of noctilucous jade, with it a golden dragon wrapped around it, like the most precious treasure. The other was more simple, a simple band of cor lapis with a rim of gold. The gold outer shell had small carvings of flowers that looked like glaze lilies.
As Childe stared at the rings the shopkeeper came over. "A pretty pair, ey?" the shopkeeper said to Childe with a grin. The simple conversation starter snapped Childe out of his trance. "Oh, yeah. Uhm, so how much for the rings?" Childe didn't know why but the rings reminded him of a certain adeptus with glowing gold eyes. "Ah, these babies here? An easy 100,000 mora for the two, but sonny, I'll give 'em to ya for 90,000, ey? What'd ya say? Pretty good deal!"
"Sure, I'll take 'em. Just come to the Northland Bank for the payment." "Not a problem, sonny," as the shopkeeper put the two rings in a box and then in a paper bag, Childe couldn't help but be curious, so he asked the shopkeeper. "Uhm, If I may, may I ask why you gave me a discount?". The shopkeeper placed the paper bag on the glass surface in front of Childe and gave a small chuckle.
"Ya look like you've been heartbroken, couldn't help but feel a little bad!" the shopkeeper kept chuckling as they rubbed the back of their neck. "Anyway, best get going on, ey?" So with that Childe grabbed the rings, bid the shopkeeper a farewell and left the store with a small smile. He laughed at the thought, 'Me? Heartbroken? Never, I don't even miss anyone.'
Only when he returned to the bank did he realise he never bought his family their gifts.
It seemed that with every passing day, Childe seemed to look like he was slowly deteriorating. So much so that everyone at the bank had forced him to go on a week long break.
So here he was, walking around the north-west area of Liyue, in the Huanguang Stone Forest. It was a quiet place that had an occasional ruin guard or grader. The large stone peaks with violet grass swaying in the wind, the large ponds of crystal clear water. The cranes here and there. Childe didn’t know what about the mountainous area was, but it made it feel as though the world was still. He stepped into the shallow water, hoping to derail his thoughts.
Childe would’ve rather gone to beat up some monsters but he was too fatigued to do any of that. Sure he killed the few monsters here and there but that obviously wasn’t enough to sate him. “Maybe I should just ask Katya to overrule my week off. This is torture…” Childe moped to himself. He hadn’t had much to do and he didn’t want to spend his time moping over a certain ex-archon. He still disliked Zhongli deep down.
He was used to locking himself up in his office and finishing anything and everything he could to occupy his mind with something that wasn’t the consultant. As much as Childe wouldn’t admit it, he did genuinely miss the ex-archon a whole lot.
Childe waded through the shallow water, water coming up to just over his boots. It felt nice to be so close to his element. He bent down and cupped some of the water in his hands and watched as it flowed back into the pond. As he walked along the river bank, something caught his eye deeper in the water.
Just below where a few cranes were standing was what looked like a deep cave. To Childe, it just looked like a giant rip in the water. He didn’t know what made him so curious about it, but Childe couldn’t help but walk closer. The water had risen to his waist at this point. As Childe got closer, he finally got a clue of how deep the cave really went.
He could peek over the side and saw the cave looked quite large. It looked nice from what Childe could see. His curiosity was peaked.
As Childe took another step closer a large gust of wind swept over the water causing it to rise up. He lost his balance due to the small tide pushing against him, and so, Childe was sent tumbling down the cave’s entrance. “gAh-“ Ajax yelped just before he was thrown in.
His senses were kicked into overdrive. He could feel that he was falling down through a waterfall so with as much power as he had, he transformed into his form of pure water. Childe pushed his way out of the water stream and bounced against the wall. He was akin to seelie bouncing around the walls of the cave.
He bounced and bounced until he lost form and landed back into a shallow pond of water. “Ugh.. Man, I was doing so well too…” Childe sighed as he got up. He looked around where he had landed. He couldn't help but notice his heart was beating like crazy. He didn't even realise his water blades had materialised in his hands.
“What the..?” The area was a deep cave that was covered in moss and leaves. Flowers littered every surface of the cave; from silk flowers to mist flowers and even mints but the most prominent flower that could be seen everywhere was the glaze lily. Geo crystalflies could be seen flying around the cave without a care in the world.
Perhaps they didn’t have a care in the world.
Childe stood and used his vision to rid himself of the water dripping off of him along with letting his blades drip down into the pond. “What a place..” as he looked around he couldn’t help the feeling of wonder that overtook him as he looked around the magnificent area.
The feeling of wonder was accompanied by the feeling of curiosity. He stepped out of the small pond he had landed in and looked upwards at where he fell from. He saw a long waterfall falling from the top. The water fell like a large curtain splitting the cave in half.
“So that’s the entrance or exit…” Something in Childe was calling for him to walk through the water. He didn’t know what it was but there was a pull on his heart that he just couldn’t ignore.
He pushed his hand through the water cautiously and watched as it passed through effortlessly. His vision glowed on his belt, waiting to be used in a moment if something went wrong. Childe stepped through the curtain and was greeted by one of the most beautiful places he had ever seen.
The other half of the cave was wonderful but was nothing compared to the other side. The flowers and moss were also on this side but it was illuminated by a bright glowing pond in the centre of the room.
The walls were accompanied by cracks of gold and cor lapis. There were small pockets of water dripping down onto the plants and flowers. Vines hung from the ceiling and crystalflies and other small animals roamed around freely. The thing that shocked Childe the most was a statue of the Geo Archon in the back of the room.
The statue looked the same as all the other ones littered around Liyue but it felt different. Childe couldn’t help but stare at it and step closer. He looked over the statue’s carved jawline and his masterfully shaped abs.
Childe’s face all of a sudden had a small hit of pink on it. ‘Why was I thinking of that, of all things?’ He walked over to the statue and placed a hand over the glowing blue centre. He let out a small sigh.
He leaned forward and rested his head on the statue. He could feel himself calming down, like something was giving him comfort. “I hate you.” Childe said quietly. “I hate that even now, all I can think about is you.” it’s not fair, I bet you don’t even care.
Those words never got spoken.
Childe looked up at the statue and made a mental note to himself to come back here. As much as he didn’t like the ex-archon, Ajax missed him. It was a first, being away from him for so long. Childe turned around and left that side of the cave. He turned back into his pure water form and left through the waterfall.
That night, Childe couldn’t think of anything other than that cave. Thoughts such as ‘I wonder why there was a statue in a cave, shouldn’t it be in a place where a lot of people could see it? Why was it in such a place, so hidden away' and 'I wonder what brought it there. There's no way it was built there' He soon fell asleep but not without promising to himself that he'd return to the cave.
Childe woke up the next day feeling a little less fatigued then he did the last. He had a quick shower and put on his harbinger clothing. As he was leaving his small apartment, he snatched his mask and vision from his bedside table. He affixed his mask on his messy copper hair and gave it a ruffle with his hand. As Childe was about to place his vision on his belt, he couldn't help but stare at its reflective surface and stare at the deep blue.
The shine reminded him of the pond he saw in that cave.
He left his apartment and made his way to the bank. As he walked up the stairs we bid "good morning" to Vlad and pushed open the doors. When he entered the Northland Bank, the first thing he did was call out to Ekaterina. "Hey Katya," Childe called out as he passed through the doors. Ekaterina looked up at the harbinger and responded in a smooth voice.
"Good morning, master Childe," Childe couldn't help but laugh. "Katya, no need for such formalities. I told you all before, just call me Childe!" the two shared a laugh together. "So, are there any debtors today that I need to catch up on?" Childe asked.
"Childe sir, aren't you supposed to be on a week break?" Ekaterina asked him sceptically. Even without seeing her face, Childe could hear her smirk. Childe couldn't help but act cheeky back, "Well, actually Katya, I just wanted to make sure no one was slacking off while I'm away!"
Ekaterina laughed and told Childe how the bank was doing just fine and how there was nothing to worry about. Just as he was going to respond to her, Ekaterina shot up.
"Oh! Actually, you have a letter from the Tsaritsa. It came in this morning." Childe was shocked to think he got a letter from the Tsaritsa herself. Usually, Pulcinella was the one to send him letters. Telling him of new assignments and such, since they were the one who was responsible for recruiting Childe.
Childe thanked Ekaterina for her hard work and took the letter to his office to read alone. As he slid open the door to his office, he was already peeling back the wax seal on the envelope. Childe flipped up the envelope and pulled out the letter within, he admired the smooth penmanship that his name was written in.
He slid the door closed and plopped down on his desk chair and started to read.
~
Dear Tartaglia,
Hello, my 11th,
You are expected to return to Snezhnaya as soon as possible. There is to be a meeting on recent events concerning Fontaine as well as Inazuma. You will also be dispatched on a new mission.
It seems as though our sixth Harbinger, the Balladeer, has disappeared after claiming the Gnosis from the Electro Archon, Beelzebul.
There should be no delays, I am expecting to see you home soon. You will be given more information once you return to the Zapolyarny Palace.
I await your arrival home.
- The Tsaritsa
~
Childe read the letter, then reread it for good measure. “So, I'm going back to Snezhnaya”, he said to himself. He folded the paper back up and opened the left side drawer of his desk. He was planning on putting the letter in there but just as he opened the drawer a long wooden box slid along the bottom of the drawer.
The box was slim and had paintings of dragons and a type of bird on it painted in gold. Just looking at the box made Childe feel an ache in his chest. Childe pulled the drawer open more bit by bit and more and more little trinkets revealed themselves.
From small things, like slim pieces of Cor Lapis to fine Jade hairpins. There were lots of small things as well as a small book that smelt like spring. He picked up the wooden box and opened the lid. There, gleaming up at him were a pair of beautifully crafted chopsticks. As much as his brain reminded him to throw away everything that that consultant gifted him, he just couldn't.
Childe had shoved everything that man had given him into the a single drawer in this office. 'Out of site, out of mind, right?'. He ran a finger down one of the chopsticks then drew it back as if it burnt him. He hastily closed the box with the lid, fumbling a few times before dropping it in the drawer with all the other things. Childe looked back at the letter before grabbing it and slamming the drawer closed.
Childe sped down the stairs and walked up to Ekaterina, who was talking to Andrei. Andrei noticed Childe walking towards the pair, so he waved a hello. As Childe got closer he raised the letter in his hand to the two. "I guess, it's time for me to return to home base."
Silence fell over the entire bank.