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Walking down the stairs of Fontaines prison, being led by a guard you thought back on how you got into this situation.
It started when you wanted to visit Childe on his mission in Fontaine. It was a surprise visit since you two hadn’t seen each other in a while and you really missed your boyfriend. While he often tried to make time for you, lately he has been flooded with work over work and barely had any time to see you. If you saw each other it was only for a few seconds where he quickly kissed your cheek and told you that he loved you.
So when you learned that he would be stationed in Fontaine for a bit, you decided to pack your bags and visit the nation of Hydro and surprise your boyfriend while doing so.
And surprised he was when he suddenly felt you tap him on his shoulder and he turned around and saw you smiling at him while saying “surprise!” He had been so happy that he had picked you up and spun you around, not caring that the people around you started staring. You did not care either, just happy to enjoy the feeling of being in his arms again.
The next days were peaceful for you two, even though Childe had some business to attend to and some champion duelists to battle, he made sure that you two were spending some good quality time together. He spoiled you to the best and most expensive food Fontaine has to offer, buying you whatever items you laid your eyes on for more than a second. Even if you told him that he did not have to do all this, he insisted, especially with how absent he was the last weeks, he wanted to spoil you. Knowing there was no way to get him to change his mind you let him keep spoiling you.
That is until one day the two of you were walking together near the Fountain of Lucine when suddenly
“11th of the Fatui Harbingers Tartaglia. You are under arrest for being the prime suspect in the serial disappearances case!”
Both you and Childe were confused, neither of you having even heard of this case, so how was he the prime suspect?
But there was nothing you could do as he was being taken away but to await his trial, surely it would come out that they had the wrong suspect and that Childe did nothing wrong…Right?
When the Traveler had entered the courtroom and revealed who truly was behind the disappearances you felt a heavy weight lift off of your shoulders, it would all be fine and you and Childe could go back to your peaceful lives. He apparently just had to be judged by the Orattrice and he would go off free. You had been sure that since the Chief Justice declared him innocent, the machine surely would too but clearly you were wrong and honestly somewhat annoyed but also scared of what would happen to him now.
Childe clearly was even more annoyed than you, just in his case he decided to actively rebel against the judgement which ended with him being on the ground after Neuvillete had stepped in. You wondered how strong the Chief Justice was considering he easily knocked Childe down, even when he was about to use Foul Legacy.
You tried to shake the thoughts of the past days off as you walked along the many cells in Fontaines prison.
Though you were quickly brought back to reality when you bumped into the guards back since they had suddenly stopped.
“Here he is. Only 15 minutes. You are already lucky enough you can even be here. Normally this never happens.”
“Yeah, yeah…thank you.” You mumbled as you turned to the cell and looked into it.
Childe’s hair was dishevelled, and he seemed to be exhausted, but that was probably due to trying to activate foul legacy and getting bodied by Neuvillette.
His eyes were downcast, and he seemed confused, angry, and…tired. Yet when he saw you he put on a happy face.
“My sweet darling, how nice of you to visit me! My lonely day in this prison now has been severely made better.”
His happy attitude did not help you in your emotional state, he was in prison yet he had the nerve to act so happy and carefree?
“My my, why do you seem so annoyed? Shouldn’t you be happy to see me?”
“Happy to see you in prison? Ajax, do you know how much I had to beg to get to see you. Could you please not act so nonchalant? You are in prison! You may not have done what you are being accused of, but I always warned you that one day your idiotic and battle lusty behaviour would get your idiot ass to prison. And clearly I was right!”
Childe wanted to pretend to be offended, to lighten the mood and hopefully somehow make you laugh. That was when he saw the worry and tears in your eyes. You weren’t angry at him…no you were scared.
He was with you when you learned that Fontaine had the Death Penalty. At that point that information had shocked you, but you hadn’t thought more of it until it now affected you and your boyfriend directly. Even if it was rarely carried out…Childe was a Fatui Harbinger and neither of you knew if that fact would make his punishment worse than if he had been a normal person.
You had tried to keep your tears at bay, to not cry and instead to talk with your boyfriend normally and also maybe reprimand him for trying to activate his foul legacy in court but…you couldn’t. Seeing him behind bars and the uncertainty of what would happen with him was too much for you. You turned your gaze downward, not wanting to meet his gaze.
Childe’s heart broke when the tears were falling from you eyes. He wanted to reach out and wipe your tears away but he couldn’t, the cells in Fontaine had an invisible wall between the bars so convicts couldn’t even put their hand through them.
It hurt him to see you like this all because of him, when you two started going out together he swore to himself that he would make sure he’d never be the reason for your tears yet here you were crying because of him.
“Hey, look at me please?” His voice was gentle, kind, gone was the teasing and amused tone and replaced by that of a worried lover. So you did as you were asked, your eyes which were still streaming tears, meeting his blue ones which were filled with worry, love and comfort.
All for you.
“I know this is not how you imagined we would spend our time in Fontaine and I am sorry that it has to be like this. I know you came here so we could catch up on lost time together and now this has all been ripped away from us. But I promise, promise by the Tsaritsa, the other archons and every other god that is out there, that I will get out of this soon and I will be able to hold you once again. To wipe your tears away and comfort you as much as you need. You are so important to me that I can’t be away from you long. Afterall if I am here in this dingy cell, who will be there for you to protect you from bad guys…well bad guys that aren’t me.”
The smile he had on his face now, wasn’t a fake one, it was one that showed you he was confident that every word he just spoke was the truth. It made you smile as well, despite the tears.
He would get out soon, and would be by your side again.
And if he believed it with all his heart, so did you.