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She found him sitting in the corner of his cell, back against the wall and arms folded across his chest. His gray jacket was tossed next to him. Though his eyes were closed, his posture was guarded. His arms were covered in bandages and from underneath his unbuttoned collar, Lumine could see the tips of white cloth that would cover his entire torso.
Lumine almost felt sorry for him. Almost. And she would be infinitely more worried if the person locked up behind one of Fortress of Meropide's solitary confinement cells was someone other than him. But since the person behind the bars was Tartaglia, the 11th Fatui Harbinger, she didn't allow herself to be as concerned.
After all, the best thing she could do in the nation where law and justice presides is to maintain a clear conscience, unswayed by personal sentiments. That might also be the quickest way she could find more information on Aether.
"Childe," she called out.
The red-haired man perked up, his eyelids lifting open at the sound of her voice.
"Lumine!" He jumped up immediately and hurried over to her. "What are you doing? How did you get here?"
She couldn't help a small smile at the Harbinger's liveliness. His quick and fluid movements showed no signs of injuries. Those bandages on him might as well be fashion pieces rather than medical dressings.
"I asked Neuvillette to let me visit you as a favor. He's well acquainted with the current prison administrator, Wriothesley. They're the ones who showed me the way here." She looked around at the small room that adjoins Childe's cell, its walls and floors filled with complex machinery. "Quite a place they put you in."
Childe chuckled. "Right? Absolute VIP treatment. An impenetrable cell in an impenetrable fortress. The perfect place to hold an innocent man. Justice must be an irony around here."
"You realize the fact that you had to make a big show of your Delusion earlier did not help your case at all?"
"Yeah, I know that," Childe replied dismissively, "but I had to defend my honor somehow. I've tried telling the guards they didn't need to put me in a maximum-security prison. It's not as if I'll force my way out of here."
"You won't?" said Lumine, throwing him a look of utter disbelief.
Childe laughed. "Oh ye of little faith. Did you really think I'm that much of a troublemaker?"
"May I remind you that you once unleashed an ancient god on Liyue over a Gnosis and almost drowned the entire nation in the process?"
"Okay, okay, point taken. But the past is the past. Liyue still stands, nobody drowned. Happy ending. In my defense, I was tricked by multiple sides into doing that so technically it wasn't entirely my fault. You know that if it was up to me, I wouldn't resort to such a method. Hurting the weak and breaking the law unnecessarily is not exactly my M.O."
"So you really wouldn't try breaking out of here even though you are kept on charges you aren't guilty of?" Lumine asked.
Childe shrugged. "No. I believe real justice will speak for itself. Besides," the Harbinger grinned, pressing his forehead against the prison bars, "I'm confident that you can prove my innocence once more."
Lumine blinked. "Huh?"
"Oh and before I forget, I want you to know that the way you handled yourself in court last time…absolutely enthralling. I didn't know that you have a knack for law. You are truly one-a-kind, comrade ."
"Idiot! Can't you be serious for once?" Lumine huffed. She immediately turned around, her back to him. What she hoped Childe wouldn't notice was that she didn't turn away out of annoyance. Rather, she was trying to hide the growing warmth across her cheeks. She didn't want to give him the satisfaction of knowing the effect of his words over her. Especially not, after being apart for so long, the first thing he gave her was his prison sentence.
She took a few steps back until she could feel the cold metal bars behind her. Her head hurts. She needed to lean against something.
"Lumine, what are you here for?" Childe asked.
Lumine let out a sigh as she stared at the ceiling lights.
"Honestly? I don't know," Lumine said. "I have a lot of thoughts with no solution on end. I'm not even sure of half the things I said or did ever since I stepped on this region. I –"
Lumine paused when she felt warmth pushing against her from behind. She could smell his scent from their proximity, the delicious smell of fresh ocean that somehow never leaves Childe. She could almost feel the rough edges of his skin.
Back to back, this was the closest they could be to each other, with metal bars forcing a few inches in between them.
"It's okay," Childe muttered, his voice as calm as a running stream, "Just let out all that is on your mind. We can figure out a solution together."
Lumine exhaled, feeling the tension that had collected at the pits of her stomach ease. Childe might be one of the most impulsive individuals she has ever met. Yet strangely, he always had a way of putting things in place for Lumine.
"You are not guilty of the mysterious disappearance case, that much we know."
"Obviously," Childe nodded.
"But, it could be that the Oratrice was charging you for … that power that is inside you."
"Walk me through it."
So Lumine did. She told him about the possibility of the Oratrice having a consciousness of its own, created by the Hydro Archon and a device on Celestia’s side. She told him about the Primordial Sea. Its origins, and how it wasn’t something that could be found on the surface of Teyvat anymore,
“And considering your past link with the Abyss, and that many things down there once stood on the surface of Teyvat…”
“The Primordial Sea Water could have been an abyssal substance presently and the Oratrice sensed a part of it in me. Hence, the verdict,” Childe continued.
Lumine nodded. “That’s one hypothesis.”
She heard a chuckle coming out of him. “Well, then we just have to prove to them that I have no involvement in any of this. A mother guilty of murder does not make her offspring murderers just because her blood runs in them too.”
“Right…” Lumine muttered quietly.
“....Something else is bothering you, isn’t it?” Childe asked.
Lumine fidgeted with her fingers for a few seconds. "I kept on thinking of the power growing inside you ...and why you suddenly lost the ability to control your Vision."
"Oh, that," Childe laughed. "Are you worried?"
"..."
"Don't be! It'll all work out. I found my way out of the Abyss at fourteen. Whatever this is, I know I can control it eventually."
But by now, Lumine has seen enough to know the corruptive power of the Abyss. She wasn't sure anyone in Teyvat would be immune to them.
"What if it's a power beyond your control? What if it will lead you to a path of destruction?"
"Then I trust you know what to do when that happens."
Lumine curled her hands into tight fists. She pushed herself off the bars, turning around to face the Harbinger. "Childe…"
Childe shifted to face her, his face void of the playfulness he showed earlier.
"Lumine, do you see me as someone capable of bringing havoc and destruction to the world?"
Ocean eyes met honey. In the depth of that blue sea, Lumine saw the man who loves and cares deeply about his family. The man who enjoyed the many aspects of life —- good food, good company and art. And despite his associations with the Fatui, Childe was a man who loathes to see the weak and innocent hurt by those with power.
Most of all Lumine saw the man who — in his own unique ways — would never fail to make her smile.
"You have the strength to do so," Lumine began, "but you harbor too much love for this world and the people in it that you wouldn't willingly destroy it with your own two hands."
"Good," he nodded, satisfied. "As long as you recognize that in me, have faith that I can be stronger than whatever is trying to take me over. But the moment you can't see that in me anymore…" Childe offered his gloved pinkie from the gap between the cell bars, "promise me that you'll be the one to stop me."
"Childe!"
"Promise?" Childe asked, looking at her earnestly.
Archons. That was so, so unfair of him to ask this of her. Begrudgingly, she lifted her own hand and curled her own finger around his.
"If you make me act out on that promise, I will never forgive you," Lumine whispered.
"Feel free to take all of your anger out on me later," Childe replied. He released their intertwined fingers and pressed up his face against the metal bars. "I'm all yours."
The softness of his voice as he spoke those three words tugged a string in Lumine's chest. Without realizing, Lumine found herself taking a few steps forward, until she was as close as she could be to Childe. For a moment, neither of them spoke. They gazed at each other's eyes wordlessly, breaths in sync with one another.
"Do you still have my Vision with you?" Childe asked, breaking his silence.
Lumine nodded. "Do you want it?"
"No. Keep it with you for now."
"Are you sure?" Lumine tilted her head, "I've been told that parting with your Vision is as good as losing your ambition and life purpose."
Childe smiled. "I wouldn't worry about that." He brought his right forefinger between the bars and gently stroked the side of her face. "Especially when you're the one holding it safe."
She felt the tell-tale sign of a blush blooming on her face. "What do you mean —"
A loud beep reverberated into the hall. It caught Lumime off guard that she jumped away from Childe.
"Ah, I guess that means my time is up," Lumine pointed out.
"Already?" Childe sighed. "That was too short."
"Yeah," she shrugged. Lumine brought her gaze to meet Childe's once more, memorizing every detail of his face. "Promise you won't do anything stupid while you're here?"
"Only if you promise you will get me out of here as soon as possible," said Childe.
"I'll try my best."
She turned around, walking toward the automated door that awaited her. Before she exited, she stole one last glance at Childe, whose gaze remained fixed on her.
Lumine swore to herself that she would find the truth behind the justice of Fontaine.
And she hoped she didn't have to keep the promise she made earlier to the Harbinger.
For now, she could only believe.