Chapter Text
“That’s…it?” Childe questioned with furrowed eyebrows as he stared at the sight in front of him.
It was an abandoned ruin, all right, but it was just so…simple. Overly simple. There were, like, three, four, underground passageways? How could this be a C rank mission?
He was already bored out of his mind but Lumine didn’t think the same way. She was quite the opposite, in fact. She poked around at the various old mechanisms, peeked behind odd-looking bushes, and investigated the many murals depicting ancient civilizations.
Childe strolled around impatiently, trying to find anything to keep him from boredom. Shouldn’t there be some monsters around here? Maybe a few geovishaps to test his new bow on? Even a hilichurl would do at this point. Perhaps a mitachurl with a big shield? He’d been itching to fight one of those with his hydro vision. They were always a pain in the ass to deal with without a pyro vision. Those damned shields can practically block all his arrows. But using his delusion he could electrocute the thing and stun it temporarily…huh, maybe he should try that again. Last time he did it he nearly shocked himself, but that was just a little blunder. He had forgotten about the hilichurl behind him, and it slammed a rock against his shoulder. He had a bruise for a few days from that alone. Eh, but it was good practice so he gave it a quick death as a symbol of gratitude.
He felt a finger poke his back. Lumine raised an eyebrow. “Are you that bored you won’t even listen to me?”
Childe snapped out of his thoughts and gave a sheepish grin. “Of course not, Lumi, you know I’m all ears the moment you open your mouth~”
“Yeah sure,” she huffed, turning away to walk toward the ruins. “I’m going in to take a look. Follow if you want.”
He followed - quite enthusiastically as a matter of fact.
Lumine snapped a few pictures of the murals with her kamera. The clicking sound echoed in the narrow ruins, a sound that was just barely louder than their breaths. The torchlight flickered rather eerily despite the lack of wind in the area and if Childe listened really carefully he could hear an odd whistling noise. Maybe a seelie of some sort, but definitely not the wind.
“Hm,” Lumine muttered quietly, “I think I recognize these symbols somewhere. See these markings here? They have a distinct design. I’m sure I’ve this somewhere…”
Childe had no idea what she was talking about, nor was he even the slightest bit interested in what she was saying. “Uh…cool?”
“Cool indeed,” she stated, tracing her hands over the murals as she gazed at them with interest. “You really don’t have any interest in ancient civilizations, huh?”
“Nope,” Childe said smugly, popping the ‘p’. “Fighting’s a lot more interesting.”
Lumine shook her head with a disappointed sigh. “As expected of you, battle enthusiast.”
“Mhm, you got that right, nerd. ”
He was silenced in a matter of seconds after that. Lesson learned. Don’t tease Lumine when she’s not in the mood, especially if she’s in the middle of trying to solve a mystery. Why is she so interested in paintings , of all things? Some old guy probably just splattered paint on the wall to draw a children’s story or something. Who would spend hours studying that?
Click.
Huh?
Childe whipped his head back to Lumine, whose foot rested on top of a button-like mechanism. She froze in place, keeping her eyes glued to the apparatus. Childe hurried over.
“What’s that?” He asked, glancing over at the unknown symbol carved in it.
Lumine shook her head. “I don’t think it’s a part of the murals. This thing was skillfully hidden. I only stepped on it by accident.”
By accident?
Childe narrowed his eyebrows. “Are you saying it might be a trap?”
She nodded. “Why else would it be so hidden? Someone clearly wants it to be accidentally stepped on.”
“But this place is completely abandoned, there’s not even a single hilichurl here,” Childe remarked, looking around the walls. “Who would even pass by?”
“Not now, in the past. This was probably a secret meeting spot for Treasure Hoarders,” she mentioned before bending down carefully, feeling around her foot for any indication of a bomb. Who knows what could happen if it triggered something the instant she removed her foot?
Childe was confused. “A secret meeting spot?” He repeated, a bewildered look on his face. “The fuck is that supposed to mean?”
“It means exactly what it sounds like,” Lumine responded evenly. “I recognized the symbols on the wall as the Treasure Hoarder crest.”
Childe blinked.
Lumine pursed her lips. “They practically just scribbled their crests all over the ancient paintings…talk about a waste.”
“Huh,” Childe mumbled, seemingly deep in thought before looking down at her. “What are you doing?”
“Making sure we don’t die in an explosion,” she grumbled, rolling her eyes.
“Lemme see,” Childe said, bending down and touching the sides of the mechanism. He traced his fingers along the rim of the button and tapped it a few times, listening attentively. He leaned his head down so he could see it at a side angle and narrowed his eyes.
“Aha, got it!” he exclaimed, popping up suddenly as Lumine nearly jumped back. With a grin, he announced his findings, “It’s a simple mechanism. There’s no bomb attached, it doesn’t have the unique ring when I tap it. I don’t know what it was supposed to trigger, but it’s probably broken from the lack of use. I’m not hearing anything distinct from it and it looks rather normal. It was probably one of those traps that drop a net on you or something like that. But we’re fine,” he stated before quickly adding, “I think.”
Lumine raised an eyebrow. “So I can lift my foot?”
“Mhm,” Childe hummed, striking a thumb up. “Just to be safe, though, prepare to summon one of those geo boulder things you have. Y’know, just in case I was wrong. But don’t worry, I’m barely ever wrong so you can trust–”
Lumine removed her foot and quickly dashed out of the way before the harbinger could finish his sentence. She conjured her sword in an instant and put up a hand in preparation of casting her elemental skill.
She waited a second.
Five seconds.
Ten seconds.
Nothing.
With a sigh, she put her sword away and stretched her ankle. “Huh, I guess you’re right this time.”
Childe smirked. “Told ya,” he said, putting his hands behind his head in a relaxed manner. “Now are we done here? I’m hungry,” he whined.
Lumine rolled her eyes before grabbing her kamera and checking the photos. Childe peered over her shoulder. “Got everything?”
“Mhm,” she mumbled, pocketing the kamera into her bag. “Let’s go.”
Childe bowed, a smile on his face. “After you, milady.”
Childe just found out that Lumine isn’t the greatest at reading maps.
They’ve circled around the same around three times already. And she still hadn’t noticed.
Childe didn’t know what was worse - her map reading skills or her eyesight.
“Lumi,” he started, poking at her arm on their fourth rotation. “You’re…not noticing anything similar here?” he asked, pointing to the familiar murals that even he could recognize from a mile away.
“Huh?”
Well, now he’s confirmed something - never trust the traveler with a map or any directions in general.
He decided to just blurt it out. “We’ve kinda been circling around for a while…if you didn’t notice.”
“What do you mean?”
How oblivious could she get?
Childe chewed his lip, debating how to say it without angering her. “How about we, uh, consult the map again? Maybe let me read it this time?”
Lumine frowned. “What, don’t trust my skills? I know what I’m doing. Just follow along.”
“That’s the thing…” he sighed, “I’ve been following along. For the past twenty minutes or so. You still don’t recognize these?” he asked again, pointing to the multitude of footprints on the ground.
She blinked. One second went by, and then another, and then her face suddenly lit up. “Ohhh–”
Ah, there it is.
“Did someone else enter the ruins behind us?”
Huh.
“L-Lumi, those are ours, ” he stammered out, utterly defeated. “We’ve been walking in a giant circle this whole time.”
She blinked. “Oh.”
Childe blinked. “Can I…read the map now?”
With a sigh, Lumine held out the piece of paper in front of his chest. “Fine. You get us outta here then.”
“ Finally,” Childe muttered under his breath in Snezhnayan as he studied the map carefully. Lumine shot him a glare and he mustered a cheeky grin.
The map really wasn’t that completed. Sure, the fatui have a thing for not always giving the best instructions, but they’ve always provided readable maps and resources needed to complete a mission.
The damn thing was even color coded. Red for exit routes, blue for mural locations, and yellow for blocked off areas. Even for a first-timer, it shouldn’t be this difficult, right? Lumine was smart. Lumine was the traveler. She defeated a god. Surely she must be…pretending, right?
She was not pretending.
So, Childe did everything a gentleman would and led her, by the hand, toward the first exit written on the map. She protested, but ultimately gave up because she knew she would end up even deeper in the ruins if she didn’t sacrifice her dignity and hold onto his sweaty palms.
But just when they were meters away from the exit and he could've sworn he could see light, Childe felt a click underneath his foot.
He froze. Lumine froze.
He looked at her. She looked at him.
And then the room started to shake.