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Prompt: Childe steals Venti’s gnosis instead of Signora
Aether and Venti exited the church together, Venti nervously chuckling as he steered Aether away from the soon-to-be irate Deaconess.
In front of them, a ginger male stood. He had grey clothing, the color majorly clashing with his hair, and wore a mask on the side of his head, with bright red and black clashing with literally every part of his outfit.
His eyes narrowed, before he smiled. The malice in his eyes didn’t fade with the very suspicious smile.
“Do I know you?” Venti squinted, smiling back. “Oh, are you one of my many fans? Well it’s your lucky day, I’m in the perfect mood to compose a new song! One of the Traveler here, maybe…” he trailed off, in thought.
“Oh, no no no no.” The male chuckled. “I’m here, for your gnosis. I hope you resist, it’s been a while since I’ve gotten to have a real fight. I wonder if gods can bleed?”
Aether cocked his head in questioning towards Venti.
“Uhhh… what’s a gnosis?”
Venti turned to face Aether, his own face contorted in thought.
“Actually, I have no clue. Ehe!”
Paimon scowled, stomping her feet mid-air. “Stop doing that ‘ehe’ thing! It wasn’t funny the first, and Paimon thinks it’s not funny the second!”
Aether sweatdropped, pulling Paimon away - she looked like she was 5 seconds away from trying to bite the archon.
“Well, then why does… whoever this is, want it?”
The ginger looked mildly offended, crossing his arms. “Excuse you. I’m well known, thank you very much!”
“...would you mind introducing yourself then?”
“I’m number 11 of the fatui harbingers! Codename Childe, although I also go by Tartaglia!”
“T-targalia? No no, Tarmalgia-” Paimon started muttering, trying to pronounce the complicated name. Aether’s brow furrowed as he started trying to pronounce it as well.
Venti nervously laughed, bringing back the attention to him. “Either way, I’m afraid you can’t have the-”
Childe, apparently fed up with this inane conversation, leaped forwards, twin daggers of water held in his hands, as he thrust them into the archon’s chest, before removing it (none too gently), holding a… chess piece? In his hand.
Venti coughed, clutching his chest.
“Well, that was quite rude!”
Both Aether and Venti watched, dumbfounded, as Childe ignored them, and proceeded to climb straight up the face of a building, taking to the rooftops.
“After him!” Paimon shrieked, pointing, and Aether followed, ready to fight this ginger-haired Ed Sheeran wannabe. He didn’t know what a gnosis was (most likely the chess piece that Childe had somehow extracted from Venti), but it seemed important enough to warrant a rooftop chase sequence.
The traveler took off in pursuit of Childe, and watched as he vaulted over a wall that was a little bit too high for Aether to do the same. A wind current materialized, and taking advantage of it, Aether unfolded his glider, continuing his chase.
From below the buildings, Venti followed the trio, summoning wind currents as necessary.
“I’m afraid I’m no help in a fight, Traveler! But, I can sing inspirational songs!” As he took a deep breath, Paimon paused mid-float, turning to him.
“Tone deaf bard! No-!” But it was too late.
“And the wind whipped all around,
The traveler looking
The villain was found.
As the bitch,” Venti lowered his voice, muttering the curse, but Childe (apparently having heard himself being called a name) whipped his head around to see the bard, looking extremely offended.
“The bard follows, looking quite mild.” It was true, Venti looked good as new, not winded in the least by singing and running. Aether prepared himself, calling out “Plan B!” and Paimon looked horrified but also in anticipation.
“The hero swings,” Aether picked up Paimon, and proceeded to-
“And throws a feral child.”
Childe looked back, before feeling a pressure on his arm. Looking down, he saw a mass of pink and white, scrabbling to find purchase on his arm, before finally sinking razor sharp teeth into it.
A shriek echoed off the rooftops.
“GET IT OFF GET IT OFF GET IT OFFFFF” Childe’s voice grew louder and louder, as he frantically shook his arm in a futile attempt to throw Paimon off. Aether was mildly impressed; Childe didn’t trip up on the rooftops once while doing so.
Jean stepped outside her office, before turning to a nearby knight (coincidentally, the same knight that guarded the solitary confinement).
“Did you hear that?”
“Yes, Acting Grandmaster. Would you like me to assemble a force of knights to investigate?”
“Yes, please. I’ll come with you - this might be important.”
As the knights gathered, a blue-haired figure lurked in the background. Jean gestured towards the doors, leading a company of knights to the center of Monstadt.
The blue-haired figure smirked, before leaning towards solitary confinement, and materializing a bobby-pin out of nowhere, before unlocking the door.
“Kaeya! What’re you doing here?”
“Hello, Klee. I just thought that you’d like to know…”
“Know what?”
“Well, a city building is currently on fire.” As Kaeya said this, the building shook, bringing down debris and rubble. “Make that two. You should go out and… help.”
“Whatever you say, Kaeya!” The small, red-haired figure saluted, before rushing off outside the doors.
As Kaeya exited the building, he watched as a ginger vaulted across two roofs at the same time, shaking his arm frantically, and as a blonde haired figure followed in pursuit.
Below them, a familiar bard was summoning wind currents, which were enhancing the fire’s spread across buildings.
Jean and the other Favonius Knights were spread out, gathering civilians and moving them to safer locations.
And where was… oh! There!
Klee was standing by a fairly undamaged building. Well, undamaged… and then she pulled out an explosive from her backpack, and with surprisingly accurate aim, threw it inside the second story window.
A loud explosion commenced, bringing the building crumbling down.
Below it, an ashy-blonde boy with goggles scratched his head, before turning around and looking up to see a building collapsing on top of him.
“Not again-!” Was the last thing Kaeya heard before the building hit the ground with a thunderous boom.
In the center of the town square, right in front of a fountain that was miraculously untouched, another blonde clothed in black and purple, stood. She seemed to be monologuing. As Kaeya strained his ears, he could barely make out what she was saying.
“Rejoice, all thee that seek redemption! For your Prinzessin der Verurteilung is now upon you! Tremble! The world will seek to cleanse itself of thy sinners! The burning square is only the first! All thee who dare mock thy Prinzessin will be wiped clean!”
A purple raven hovered near her, looking hesitant as it whispered into her ear.
Kaeya turned as he heard footsteps, before seeing his brother nearby.
“Ah, Master Diluc! So nice to see you again!” He waved. Diluc didn’t seem all that happy to see him, as he approached with a scowl on his face.
“Ah ah ahhh, frowning like that all the time isn’t good for your complexion.” Kaeya teased.
“Kaeya, shut up. What’s happening here?”
“So mean to your own flesh and blood. Well, if you must know, a fatui harbinger has stolen the archon’s gnosis.”
He gestured in the ginger’s direction.
“But not to worry! Our fellow honorary knight is in hot pursuit!”
Diluc grumbled, before lifting his claymore.
“You might want to do that, however! You might hit the Traveler, and what a shame that would be! Why don’t you help put out the fires?” Diluc’s face told Kaeya exactly what he thought of that idea.
“Why can’t you do it?”
“I’m currently supervising the situation! What’s wrong with you doing it?”
“I have a fucking pyro vision, you idiot. How the hell am I supposed to help?”
“Problem solve, dear brother!” And with that, Kaeya strolled away, ignoring Diluc.
Chaos reigning in every corner of the city, with so many people causing more, and some trying their best to help stop it.
And above it all, Childe cackled. This was the best present the Tsaritsa had given to him a quite a while!
“Man, if only Morax were here to explain what a gnosis is for…” Venti muttered as he continued summoning wind currents - either unaware of the destruction he was causing, or not caring.
A country away, a man standing above a fake corpse sneezed. Strange. He couldn’t get sick.