Chapter Text
2 months.
"Ajax, where have you been?!"
It was the first time he felt his mother's warm hug in 2 months.
She had a worried expression, he felt awful for making her feel that way. But it didn't matter, all that mattered was that he was back. To the surface, to the snowy land he was familiar with.
He quickly got dragged into the family's mildly run-down house, covered in warm but ragged blankets. In his hand was a hot bowl of soup. His mother's specialty.
He drank it quickly, ignoring how his tongue and throat burned. It had been so long that he almost forgot the taste. Almost.
He put the empty bowl down on the table with a thud. He didn't ask for more, knowing how his dad probably stopped working to find him.
And the awaiting questions were thrown at him.
"Where have you been?" Some place called the Abyss. "Are you ok?" Yes. "Do you want more soups?" No. "Do you know how worried we were when you disappeared for three days?" Yes-
Three days? He stared at them, shocked.
He wasn't trapped there for three days, it was two months. Two whole months. But they didn't buy it. He told them more about the place, about the horror. About the impossibly large creatures he had seen, the murky water he had dived through, the abandoned yet upside down buildings. He saw all of that with his own eyes, felt the terror it brought every single day. And yet they looked at him like he had hit his head.
Confusion, disbelief, distrust, doubtful, concerned,... were all seen on their face but none indicated his word got through to them.
Maybe it was better to just stop.
-------------------
His body ached for a fight.
No amount of wood chopping or labor could quench his dying thirst for blood. Blood was one of the things that was even slightly warmed down there.
It fueled him with warmth and the knowledge he would live another day. That he escaped being prey.
It meant he could see his family one day.
And then, the blood no longer only serves as a mean of warmth. It became a trophy for defeating enemies. For growing stronger, faster, deadlier. A clear warning to all creatures of the Abyss.
But up here, there were no enemies, no monsters, nothing to fight.
He ached for a fight.
"Hey weirdo!" He caught a rock thrown at his head.
That didn't stop the neighborhood kids though.
"Heard you went missing for a few days, whatcha did?" The bigger kid walked up to him.
Maybe this was his chance to pick a fight, maybe he could-
Cold.
He looked down at his clothes.
The kid had got a bunch of snow and shoved his coat. The one his mom got for him when he returned alive, brought with the little money they had.
Cold. Chilling. Damp.
The Abyss.
-------------------
The sound of fire filled his ears. The flame shone a bright mix of blue and green, abnormal. At least to him back then.
"Remember kid, warmth is crucial down here."
"The place I live is far colder, there's snow storms and-"
"The Abyss is not like your home."
The woman tossed him the freshly grilled meat of a small hound he killed.
"It doesn't only keep you alive, it keeps you sane. Remember that."
He bit the awful tasting meat, his first prey. He learned that the taste was similar to rotten flesh after a while.
He missed his mom cookings.
-------------------
Screams.
All the kids were all 10 times weaker than a small hound. Even the adults who went to help them weren't that strong.
How disappointing.
He went back to what he was doing as they all scrambled off. Maybe another day.
-------------------
Slaps
"WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO AGAIN, AJAX!"
He reached for his redden cheek, that hurt less than it usually did.
"ALL THE VILLAGERS HAD BEEN NAGGING ME! HOW DO OUR FAMILY SUPPOSED TO EVEN TRADE WITH THEM."
His father slapped him again, his mother struggling to stop her husband. His older siblings watched in the corner, expression unknown.
"I don't care about what you fucking been through when you went missing, but you either stop or I'll make you."
His father left just like that as he felt his mother's comforting hands on his face. Just like the day he got back.
"Oh the Tsaritsa, my dear boy, please promise me you won't do things that angered your father again."
...
He didn't answer, he only looked down to the ground. The creaking wooden floor was the same.
He wished he didn't miss being in the Abyss that much right now.
-------------------
”Attention!"
He stood in neatly formed rows of fellow recruits. He was 14.
On the taller platform was a short man, old, long nose. Harbinger.
"From today, you shall train to be loyal servants to our Archon, the Tsaritsa."
The recruits stood still. The presumably old man was pretty short compared to most of them. The 5th, he never would have thought he would get to meet such a person.
"I trust you all will become excellent soldiers."
They saluted.
He did the same.
-------------------
His father's voice rang in his head.
"Come back when you've burned all that energy of yours"
He put on his long coat, adorned with a red scarf he got from his family.
He would not come back home today, or tomorrow, or anytime soon.
"Give this letter to my family." He ordered, and his subordinate quickly took it.
Boarding the ship, he looked back at the snowy land that is Snezhnaya. The howling wind of the snow paradise seemed to pick up.
"Mr. Tartaglia, everything is ready."
"Alright, I'll head inside shortly."
He wished he could see Morepesko from here, but all there was was a huge Fatui port.
"Come back when you've burned all that energy of yours"
"Oh Tsaritsa, my dear boy, please promise me you won't do things that angered your father again."
Those words had long registered in his brain, even if they had gone through many different alternative versions. But the meaning was still the same.
He would come back when he had completed what they wanted of him, but for now, his next destination was Liyue.