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Childe knew there would be a time that he would eventually die. He’s the 11th of the harbingers, death was basically an eventual job requirement. But, then again he wasn’t the same reckless man that first stepped into Liyue. He was older now, and had some thing besides his family to look forward to. His mind started to build the image of the man who collected his heart. Zhongli, the former Geo Archon, despite everything and the utter betrayal he felt, he was still in love with him. Luckily for Childe, Zhongli had felt the same about him and had confessed to him onto top of a mountain in Jueyun Karst. It’s been history since then, Zhongli knew the risk of Childe’s job, which also caused Childe to be more careful for the sake of the funeral consultant’s mental health. So when the traveler came to the bank asking Childe if he wanted to come on a commission, Childe jumped from his chair, dragging Aether by his wrist as he shouted to his agents that he’d be gone for the rest of the day, which led them to the current situation they were in. The commission that was taken led them to ruins and the work shop that Childe had to rescue his little brother from. Aether explained to Childe the purpose of the mission as they walked together. “There have been reports of an abnormal amount of ruin hunters and guards in the area, some of the straining too close to the harbor.” states Aether as he gently pushes a butterfly out of his face. “So what do you need me for comrade?” asks Childe as he twirls his bow. “It’s quite obvious Childe, we need your man power, and if it gets too much we need your Foul legacy.” says Aether with a smile. “Ah, glad to be of proper assistance then, hopefully I’ll be able to finish before evening.” chuckles Childe. “It’s unusual for you to have a time frame for a battle, you got somewhere to be?” says Aether as he pushes away another branch. “Ahah, Zhongli wants to go out on a date, so I’m going to take him to the opera.” giggles Childe. Aether gags at the love sick expression his friend held, as they continued to walk something in the air shifted. Both Childe and Aether tensed up as they slow drew their weapons. Whirling sounds could be heard a couple hundred feet from where they stood. Childe looks to aether, who gives him a nod. Childe dashes through the trees and into the opening. His eyes widen at the sight. There was about 30 ruin guards spread out through the area, above floated at least 15 ruin hunters. “What the fuck is this.” said Childe as he summoned his dual blades. “I have no idea, but looks like you can get some stress out.” says Aether as he summons his sword. Childe snickers before turning to the guards. As he walks closer, one guard to his left turns their head. It makes that dreadful sound before heading towards him. Childe grins, sprinting towards the hulking machine, he weaves through its tangled limbs, flipping forward, his dual blades quickly change into a bow, he shoots it dead center in the face, causing it to stagger. Childe lands behind the machine, shooting it again in the back, the machine groans before slumping forward, Childe quickly runs to it, noting the 4 other guards sluggishly moving towards him. He hops onto the guard, plugging his hand down into the core and grabbing it. He crushes it and watches in glee as the robot crumbles away. He dusts himself off, quickly glancing to his battle buddy, he watches the traveler with a sense of pride as he weaves through guards, slashing and blasting away the metal limbs that grab at him. As he continues to watch, Childe easily dodges the incoming missile that brushes past his head. He turns back, seeing now 5 ruin guards walking towards him. “Ah my apologies, I did not forget about you guys, come come, let’s dance shall we.” laughs Childe as he shoots through the small crowd. He hums in approval as he slashes and grabs cores and tears through limbs of the guards. He thinks to himself that if they keep up this pace he’ll be able to get flowers for his date. Smiling softly at the thought, Childe summons a whale, watching it drown the ruin guards and cut through their cores. As he knocks out the last of the guards around him, he hears a pained shriek. Turning his head quick, he sees Aether stagger back with a cut on his arm, the blood running down his arm. Childe could see from here that Aether was getting tired. He rushes forward, hopefully he can be able assist the traveler and get him out of harm ways. “COMRADE, roll to the side.” yells Childe as he jumps up, pulling the mask onto his face. Aether eyes widen and he rolls to the side, barely avoiding the strikes of electricity that rain down. Childe lands in front of Aether, a feral grin can be seen under the mask. Electro energy cackles and whips around him. The rest of the guards begin circling around him, some of them getting in position to shoot missiles. Childe cusses under his breath, and shoots yet again into the jungle of metal, he cuts down and pushes through the limbs, groaning slightly as one of the guards lands a steady hit on his side, Childe rolls onto the ground, coughing. “CHILDE WATCH OUT!” screams Aether, Childe looks up and barely dodges the guard that lands near his face. He rolls to his feet, weapons in hand. “If this keeps up I’ll be forced to call upon my Foul Legacy, and why haven’t the ruin hunters moved yet.” Thinks Childe as he grits his teeth. He slashes again, and begins to move with the lightning, ducking and dodging missiles and limbs. He pants as he continues to slash through the guards, he faintly sees Aether out of the corner of his eye, covering him. “Aether, I need you to handle the rest of the guards, I have a theory I need to test out.” says Childe as he braces himself for his final transformation. He faintly hears Aether calling out his name over the cracking of his bones and buzzing of electricity. He groans loudly as the armor latches on. Just as he finishes, he notices the ruin hunters spring to life. True his theory, they reacted to the large amount of power, and that also meant Aether would be more likely to survive. But, something felt odd, he didn’t like the energy. He jumps up, claws ready to break through, but all of a sudden the hunter dashes forward, its spear piercing through his armor. “CHILDE!” screams Aether, Aether rushes forward, he watches in horror as the hunter slams Childe into the ground. He could hear the pained roar that teared from Childe. Aether began to run faster, as he saw two more hunters begin to spin. He screamed out again, both hunters spin down, slashing into Childe’s armor. Aether could see Childe trashing and slashing, trying to break through. Aether knew he wasn’t going to make it in time. So he opens his mouth. “XIAO, I NEED YOU PLEASE.” yells out Aether. There a sudden darkening of the sky. Aether watches as Xiao slams down into the ruin guards, kicking them away from Childe, and jabbing them with his spear. The other ruin guards begin to move, but before they could move closer there was a rumble of thunder. Looking up, the sky danced with gold and blue. Aether watched as the sky opened to will of a god. The meteor slamming down on the hunters while arrows of ice pierce through. He sees Zhongli and Ganyu standing on a hill. Zhongli eyes glowing as he grips his speak tightly, Ganyu besides him with her bow aimed. Zhongli eyes land on Childe’s battered form. A cry leaves his lips as he rushes to him. Childe didn’t feel much but what he could feel felt like true pain. The pain that gripped him was one that he wouldn’t wish on his enemy, he could feel the broken bones and deep cuts, hot white pain raced through him. He could hear his beloved voice, it was wrapped in an embrace of pain as he cried out Childe’s name again. Childe opens his eyes slowly. He sees Zhongli leaning over him. Even in this moment he was still beautiful, his golden eyes craved with tears, long hair following around them like a soft curtain, the setting sun framing his face softly. “Childe…Ajax my love, please don’t do this.” begs Zhongli as he threads his fingers through Childe’s bloodied hair. “Zhongli…there’s not much I can do, just let me enjoy what I can with you.” whispers Childe as he takes in a shaky breath. Zhongli sobs, his tears dropping softly onto Childe’s slowly draining face. “Please, Ajax just hold on just a little longer. You can’t leave me alone.” pleaded Zhongli. Zhongli felt panic bubble up inside, he couldn’t lose Childe, not him, it would leave him alone yet again. He knew those above wouldn’t answer him, yet he still held on to Childe’s draining life. “Zhongli…the one thing I regret right now, is not asking you to marry me sooner. Shame I…planned to annoy for the rest of my life.” chuckled Childe as he took in another breath. Zhongli let out a wet laugh through a sob, his hand gripping Childe’s own even tighter. “You still can, just please, hold on for me, we can still get married, and you can introduce me to your family.” sniffles Zhongli. Childe coughs, blood sputtering from his mouth. “Zhongli, you know I’m not making it out of here.” says Childe softly. Childe turns his head slightly. “Xiao…I know we don’t get along…but please take care of him.” wheezes Childe. “And, Aether, thank you, you were my first…friend.” says Childe. “Zhongli, my love, thank you so much for loving me. I’ll never forget that.” says Childe with a bright smile. He pulls Zhongli down, smashing their lips together. Slowly his hand drops, he lays there, a warm smile on his face as he passes away. Zhongli eyes widen, “no…no..NO!” pleads Zhongli, Zhongli screams, screams louder then he ever has, he barely acknowledges Aether hand on his shoulder. He sobs, his whole body shakes. He doesn’t even feel himself being moved, or even noticed it had began to rain. Even then Childe was still beautiful wrapped in the embrace of death. Zhongli puts a shield around Childe’s body, the warmth he had died with Childe and zhongli would have to carry that around until he too decided to pass on. “Soon, soon my love, I’ll be reunited with the calming waves of your love once more.”