Work Text:
Childe was kneeling down, body worse for wear, the mask on his face made it hard for him to see, the fact that he only had one eye didn’t help. He was kneeling but he was still looking down at those around him. Aether, Diluc, Kaeya, Ningguang, Moon Carver, Cloud Retainer, Mountain Shaper and possibly worse of all Rex Laping, Morax or should he say Mr. Zhongli?
“Childe- no, Tartaglia. You are defeated, lower your weapon and release your form.”
Morax commanded as if he still had any effect on him. Childe bitterly laughed, shoulders shaking with the effort.
“That name holds no power over me. Do you think I’m stupid enough to tell you my real name?”
And the clouds of the storm broke, sunlight poured down and Childe recoiled from it, he couldn’t see in this light, his eye was made to see in the dark, darkness like the Abyss.
“Yes.”
Xiao stated and Morax frowned, Cloud Retainer cuffed him around the ear with her wing. A blade was pressed to his throat, Childe didn’t care, he was too busy staring at Kaeya because he was hoping the man would recognise who he was, what he was, where he had come from and what it had done to him.
“Change to your normal form, the form you were born in. You have lost. At least have the dignity to take your loss humanely.”
Morax spoke slowly and deeply as if talking to a child and that pissed him off, it pissed him off more than anything because he hadn’t been a child since he had fallen into the abyss, since he only had a short sword to protect him from the creatures that prowled in the eternal night. He hadn’t been a kid since he found the corpse of an ancient and broken God whose spirit was barely there.
Childe kept his mouth shut. How was he supposed to say he didn’t know what he was born as? Ajax was dead, he was not Ajax, Ajax was a boy who had knelt before him and with his last dying wish asked for him to save and protect his family. Childe didn’t know what he was, Childe didn’t know his true name, Childe didn’t know how he ended up in the abyss of what he was there for. All Childe knew was that he listened to the wishes of a dying child, took the child’s body and protected his family.
“He should be punished for his actions! He put Liyue in danger and threatened the lives of everyone here! Not only that but people did die! Civilians died! He should be executed and his body thrown at the Tsaritsa’s feet!”
Mountain Shaper squawked, flaring out his wings and stamping his feet.
“No, no he should suffer. Death would be a blessing compared to what he should go through.”
The red headed man, Diluc as was the description his other Harbingers called out, seething with anger.
“And what do you propose we do to him Master Diluc.”
Morax was interested in what he had to say, of course he was, who was Childe to forget just who and what Morax was? The unforgiving and cruel Archon of war.
“Can you create an opening to the Abyss?”
Diluc’ so grin was feral, all teeth and no kindness. Both Kaeya and Childe flinched, Kaeya turned to his brother and gripped his sleeve, he began shaking his head, eye wide, Kaeya knew what the abyss meant for Childe. Childe however was hit with an onslaught of both mortal and immoral memories, a mix of Ajax falling into the abyss and the endless, tortures emptiness of being but a Ghost attached to his long dead corpse, of Ajax shaking, injured, clutching his sword for dear life and a tall, forgotten being walking around, it’s physical body decaying.
“Yes I can.”
Morax didn’t return his grin but Childe could tell that the God sounded pleased with what Diluc was offering.
“Send him down there. The ultimate punishment, being sent to the abyss.”
Diluc tried to swat Kaeya away but the cryo user grabbed him by the shoulders.
“Are you fucking retarded Diluc? What the hell is wrong with you? Yeah he is Fatui and yeah he did something bad but he was working under orders! He is a human fucking being and you want to send him to a place like the Abyss? Have you even been to the Abyss before?”
Kaeya spat, shock and fury evident in both his features and his voice.
“What? And you have?”
“Yes! I grew up next to it! Fuck you could even say I grew up in it! I’ve seen what it does to people, I’ve seen them both before and after being in the abyss! Even the most kind hearted people get warped and poisoned by the abyss and you know that they are locked up in their body but in one will help because all they see is a bloodthirsty monster!”
Kaeya, for one, was acting so unlike himself. He never showed this much emotion, was never this passionate towards anything.
“It’s a good thing he won’t have a chance to escape then isn’t it?”
And with that Diluc grabbed Kaeya’s arm and yanked him away, followed by the others and the ground opened up beneath him.
Except Childe wasn’t Childe anymore. Instead of the monster that was one kneeling where a boy was clinging to the surface with all his strength. Blue eyes wide with fear, ginger hair a mess and tears were running down his cheeks.
“Wait! Please don’t go! Please help me. I don’t want to be alone again! It’s so dark down there! It’s scary! Please! I’ll do anything just please help me please! Don’t leave me! Mama, Papa, Andrei, Tonia! Please anyone help me! Mama, Papa please I’m scared I’ll never run away again Please just SAVE ME!”
A boy wailed, a boy Childe thought was long dead. A Boy who didn’t know any other language than Snezhnayan, a boy in a nineteen year old’s body who cried out please in a language he barely even knew.
And the others turned, Kaeya broke free and ran towards Ajax who was clinging as well as he could, blood seeping from his fingers where the rock was cutting into the soft, mortal flesh. And both Gods, Adepti and humans alike watched as a boy no older than nineteen, a child, a human, a kid screamed desperately for help as he fell into the Abyss again with no understanding why he was being punished like this again.
God, Adepti and human alike watched as the ground swallowed up begging please of a scared, terrified and traumatised child and those amongst them who understood Snezhnayan found themselves with tears in their eyes because in the end what was Childe but just a mortal boy that fate decided happiness, love and freedom would not ever come to him free. Who was Ajax but a desperate fourteen year old in a nineteen year old’s body who once had the world at his fingertips and now destined to certain death for a second time.