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Zhongli watched on silently as the Adepti and the Qixing argued loudly inside of the grand meeting room of the Jade Palace.
“We should have him killed!” Keqing declared.
“He has the powers of Rex Lapis at his fingertips. We will be crushed in an instant,” Xiao fired back.
“He is destroying Liyue!”
“No,” Ganyu insisted. “What he’s doing now will pale in comparison to what he will do if we take him on.”
“We cannot allow a Fatui Harbinger to rule Liyue any longer! It isn’t right! It’s a disgrace to the name of Rex Lapis and all that he has built!”
“Enough!” Ningguang finally got to her feet. At her words, the whole table finally fell silent. Zhongli took this as his chance to return to his seat from where he had shifted towards the window, overlooking Liyue as the Qixing and Adepti argued. “As of this moment, Lord Tartaglia is the Geo Archon of Liyue. Whether we like it or not, any act against him is treason and therefore, he can and will have our heads.”
“Then what do we do?” Keqing demanded. “I will not sit by and let him rain destruction down upon my nation.”
“ We don’t do anything,” Ningguang replied. Her gaze shifted to Zhongli. “You were his friend, were you not, Mr. Zhongli?”
“I was.” Zhongli offered nothing more. He already knew what she was going to ask of him. “But I have not spoken to him in a very long time. It has been years since he left.”
“And now he’s back, raining hell down upon our nation,” Keqing snapped. “Surely you can talk some sense into him.”
“I fear any words from me specially will go unheard,” Zhongli responded. “I have reason to believe I will only make it worse.”
“ Why ?”
He didn’t answer, but he didn’t have to. Xiao beat him to it. “Because you’re Rex Lapis.” Silence fell. Zhongli looked over at the Yaksha. His expression was unreadable, but Zhongli detected a hint of anger lying beneath the surface. “Aren’t you?”
Cards on the table, there was little point in lying now. “I was.”
Chaos exploded. Everyone began yelling. The Qixing at Zhongli, the Adepti at the Qixing.
“He’s drunk on power, you have to do something! ” Keqing shrieked.
“How dare you raise your voice at him!” Cloud Retainer cried.
Zhongli remained silent. He was regretting coming to the meeting. Over the din of cries and shouts, Ningguang turned her gaze to him. Upon meeting her eye, Zhongli sighed and stood. No one notice as the two slipped out the door.
“You have to talk to him,” Ningguang pleaded. “He won’t listen to anyone else.”
“He will not listen to me either.”
“You have to try .”
He sighed. She had a point. “I will do my best,” he promised. “But I assure no outcome either way. He may very likely have me killed.”
“When all this is over, I’d like to know the story,” Ningguang told him. “Why he has your power in the first place.”
“I can’t answer that.”
“No, maybe not that . But you can answer why you don’t have it. Why we watched your body fall to the ground, why we mourned you and fought a war without you.”
Zhongli merely nodded. “When this is over–” if Childe does not kill me on sight. “–we will talk.”
“All of us,” Ningguang insisted. “The Qixing, the Adepti–”
“Yes. Everyone.”
With her nod of dismissal, Zhongli headed off.
………………….
The Golden House gleams in the distance. Zhongli had never liked the place, had never once considered it as a throne room, even if most of Liyue did.
Clearly Childe had other opinions. Fatui guards stand at the doors, eyeing him warily when he approaches.
“State your intent.”
“I am here to request an audience with the Geo Archon.” It feels wrong to use those words in reference to another. It feels wrong to use those words in reference to Childe . The Fatui guards don’t laugh in his face, but oh it’s a near thing.
“Oh no, Mr. Zhongli, I’m afraid Lord Tartaglia has no interest in speaking with you. As a matter of fact, he has given us very explicit instructions to bar you specifically from entry.”
“I am a member of his people. One of the Qixing and Adepti–”
“The days of the Adepti are over. Lord Tartaglia has declared it. So turn around before we use force.”
“You cannot harm a citizen of Liyue.”
“But you’re no true citizen, are you Morax?” Zhongli turns. Childe stands at the base of the stairs, glaring up at him with cor lapis eyes that look so wrong on him. “So really, they can do whatever they want with you.”
The guards grinned. Zhongli had a sneaking suspicion they’d been hoping he would turn up. He had an even bigger suspicion that they had more than enough permission to attempt to beat him into the ground.
“Childe–”
“Lord Tartaglia, actually,” the Harbinger corrected, as he ascended the stairs. “I’m your Archon now, remember?”
“Yes. My apologies.” Zhongli cleared his throat. “ Lord Tartaglia .”
Childe huffed. “No need to sound so sarcastic ,” he drawled.
“We need to talk.”
“Is that really how you talk to your Archon?”
Zhongli took a few deep breaths to avoid punching him. That wasn’t going to end well for anyone. Calming himself, he tried again.
“Lord Tartaglia, I would like a moment of your time.”
“Good.” Childe grinned, but the expression fell quickly. His cor lapis eyes were cold. Zhongli hated them. “I’m not interested.”
“You’re enjoying this,” Zhongli remarked as Childe pushed past him and headed for the Golden House.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“The power. The control. You were the eleventh of eleven –” Childe went still. “Two of which are no longer active, yet your rank never changed.”
“I suggest you stop talking now.”
“Now here you stand, with the powers of a god at your fingertips–”
“That’s enough.”
“Archon of a nation–”
“Zhongli.”
“Drunk on the power my Gnosis gives you–”
He’s expecting the strike, but still doesn’t move out of the way in time and the patch of Earth that Childe flung strikes him in the head, sends him rolling down the stairs. He struggles to his feet and looks up, finding Childe descending the stairs, eyes blazing.
He’s angry. Good. That’s what Zhongli was going for.
“It’s not your Gnosis,” Childe tells him. He doesn’t have the same geo markings on his arms as Zhongli does, but there are golden cracks forming in his skin. He’s mortal, after all, and he’s holding the power of a god.
Zhongli’s Gnosis is ripping him apart from the inside out and he’s too drunk with power to see it.
Childe repeated, “It’s not your Gnosis. Not anymore, is it? You gave it away. In exchange for retirement, for stepping down and staying out of the way , you gave it to The Tsaritsa and she gave it to me .” He bends down, face mere inches from Zhongli’s own. “Speak to me like that one more time, in my nation, and I’ll make sure it’s the last thing you ever do.”
Zhongli keeps his own voice calm, heart rate steady. “You’re corrupt, Childe,” he tells the self-proclaimed Archon. “You have my power, you have six thousand years of memory inside your head, that’s enough to drive anyone insane, let alone mortals who are not meant to live that long. Who are not meant to harness that type of power.”
Childe straightens up. The air seems to grow cold. “Guards,” Childe orders. “Take him away. Make sure Mr. Zhongli never sees the light of day again.”
“Yes, Lord Tartaglia!”
Zhongli watched Childe’s retreating back as the guards approached. “It’s only a matter of time, Childe,” he called. The other did not look back. “It’s only a matter of time.”