Chapter Text
It’s a beautiful day in Il Dottore’s laboratory, and Childe is a horrible test subject.
Of course, Dottore knew this would be the case when he first met the boy - his face just screamed “I am going to complain about shots and pull wires out of their sockets and damage your carefully constructed one-of-a-kind ‘scientific’ devices.”
He’s gotten better trained over the years - now things only blow up when it’s one of the lab assistant’s fault. And they are always swiftly dealt with.
Childe really would be a lovely test subject, if not for his… personality. Dottore is a doctor, not a psychologist. If he was just allowed one lovely vivisection…
But no matter. Today’s experiment will be satisfactory - the next step towards understanding the time- and space-warping effects of the Abyss.
“So, the usual?” Childe smiles from where he stands in the center of the room, hooked up to dozens of wires. “Foul Legacy, take readings, draw blood, blah blah blah, boring doctor stuff?”
“Yes…” Dottore lies through his teeth. “That. The usual.”
And he flips a switch.
“Woah!” yelps Childe as a surge of anemo energy floods the room through hidden vents on the ceiling. It leaves him with what must be hundreds of tiny cuts across his clothes and any exposed skin. “Didn’t like that.”
“Ah. An unexpected occurrence. Won’t happen again,” Dottore says. Utter bullshit.
He flips another switch. This time, electro crackles through the air. Then another switch. Another. Another. Geo rumbles through the earth. The gusts of anemo swirl with frost and snowflakes even as the temperature rises.
“What the fuck is going on?” Childe shouts over the sound of the wind.
“The usual,” Dottore yells back. “Hold still.”
He turns a dial, and the toxic tinge of Abyssal energy fills the room. Dottore quickly pulls on a highly modified breathing mask, meant to filter out toxins and keep his elemental energies stabilized.
“What’s going… on…” Childe wheezes through the haze. Dottore snaps on a pair of goggles as Childe slumps down, nearly unconscious.
That’s when Dottore walks forward and gives him a good ol’ fashioned stab in the thigh. Don’t worry, he’s careful to miss any arteries! He might’ve grazed the bone a bit by accident (on purpose) but it can’t possibly hurt that bad!
Childe - no, Foul Legacy - roars. Dottore quickly darts back as hands morph into claws and a spectral eye turns to him.
“Incredible! Now open a portal,” Dottore instructs.
Foul Legacy lets out a long, wordless growl and attempts to stalk forward, but the thick bundles of wires that were loose around Childe are tight around this form, effectively restraining it.
“I said open an Abyssal portal,” Dottore orders. He’s trained it well by this point - Foul Legacy and Childe both know that disobeying the doctor is always followed by hours of pain.
Foul Legacy strains against the wires again, pulling its arms apart with a snapping motion. The wires fall to the ground. So much for his measurements. But a small portal opens - a rift made of stars and galaxies, leading to who knows where.
And then it grows.
hunger. so hungry. eons since last fulfillment.
The words echo through the room and Dottore’s mind. Foul Legacy flinches back.
And the portal continues to grow. Foul Legacy makes a snap-shut motion with its arms, a sort of half-clap, but nothing happens.
“Close it,” Dottore says, and starts frantically flipping switches. He doesn’t dare mess with the Abyssal dial. “Close it! ”
Foul Legacy growls and makes the half-clap motion again. The equipment on the walls is rattling. Dottore can feel the pull of the portal from his workstation. Foul Legacy’s boots are digging grooves into the floor as it leans away. Blood still drips from its thigh, straight into the portal’s gaping maw.
more. more.
Dottore throws random objects into the portal - anything he can afford to lose. It doesn’t help.
Foul Legacy looks at him with that haunting, singular eye. The portal is fully dragging it in now - its cape is halfway gone.
All Dottore can think is, My most interesting test subject is going to undergo the most exciting experiment ever on the other side of that portal, and I will be there to witness it!
Foul Legacy seems to read the glee on his face, and in a startling moment of conflict avoidance, chooses to dive straight through the portal. Before Dottore can follow, the portal snaps shut.
a meal complete.
—
Xingqiu and Chongyun have just finished wiping out a camp of hilichurls for a commission. It’s not like Xingqiu needs the rewards, but it’s something to do with Chongyun - an excuse to say, “Hey, I saw there was a commission posted at the Guild the other day, will you come with me on a day trip and absolutely slaughter the shit out of something?” It’s an excuse to watch Chongyun’s considerable muscles flex as he swings his claymore in a graceful arc, an excuse to stand back to back with him as they cut down hilichurl grunts, an excuse to show off his own latest techniques and have Chongyun say, “Wow Xingqiu, you’re so cool. Will you go out with me?” Okay, maybe not that last part - that doesn’t happen. But Xingqiu can dream.
Regardless, they’re both panting as the last of the hilichurls fades into darkness and dust.
“Chest?” Xingqiu asks between breaths.
Chongyun nods to the wood and canvas hut. “In there, probably.” His face is red and he’s breathing hard.
Xingqiu hands him a popsicle from his inventory. “Here.”
“I’ve got my own, you know.” Chongyun furrows his brow.
Maybe I just want to take care of you. Xingqiu doesn't say that. Can’t say that. “I know.”
Xingqiu climbs the stairs to the hut, and sure enough, there’s a wooden chest. He gives it a sharp kick to pop the weak lock, and it springs open to reveal a small sum of mora and other treasures.
Chongyun peers over his shoulder. “Ooh, good stuff.”
Xingqiu turns around to face him. “With the commission rewards, that’s a good profit for today! Don’t you think so? Chongyun?”
Chongyun drops his popsicle. His face is pale. “Xingqiu,” he says, “There’s something behind you.”
Later, Xingqiu will wish that he had just grabbed Chongyun and booked it. Maybe then he wouldn’t be in this mess. Chongyun wouldn’t be -
But he doesn’t do that.
Instead he turns around, and stops and stares at the slowly growing portal in the middle of the hut like an idiot.
He reaches out, fingers about to brush it, when Chongyun shouts, “Don’t!”
“I sense evil energies,” Chongyun explains, pulling him away. “We need to leave. Now.”
“Can’t you just exorcize it?” Xingqiu asks as he lets himself be dragged with some reluctance.
Chongyun looks him in the eyes. He’s shaking , Xingqiu realizes. “I don’t think I could if I tried. It’s too strong,” Chongyun says, “We need to get out of here, Xingqiu. I can call Auntie Shenhe here later to deal with it, but for now we need to leave.”
And then the portal speaks.
so hungry.
Xingqiu drops his sword, he’s so surprised. It appears floating at his back, then dissipates into his inventory.
“Now, XIngqiu,” Chongyun insists. He looks more shaken than Xingqiu has ever seen him.
“I just want to look at it for a little longer…” Xingqiu says, distant. He feels a little bit out of his own body, but he feels himself climb the steps back up to the hut until he feels the gravity of the portal. It’s swallowed the chest by now, filling the entirety of the doorway. It looks like a shard of the night sky has fallen to earth - stars wheel in its infinite depths, and Xingqiu is transfixed. The portal flares bright -
“No!” Chongyun shouts, and pushes him out of the way.
Xingqiu snaps out of his trance just in time to watch the portal pulse as Chongyun is sucked in.
fed.
The portal snaps shut. The chest - and Chongyun - are gone, as if they’ve never existed.
“Chongyun!” Xingqiu yells. He rushes to his feet and into the hut, but there are no traces of Chongyun.
Xingqiu sits on the floor of the hut, in shock. This is all his fault.
—
In a forest in Mondstadt, a boy sleeps surrounded by wolves.
Razor snores peacefully, lounging comfortably in a shaded clearing with beasts twice his size. Boreas, the Wolf of the North, watches over all of them distantly in his wolf form.
And then something unseen shifts in the air. Boreas begins to growl. Razor snaps awake and to his feet. The wolf cubs begin to whimper. One puts its paws over its eyes.
Boreas stalks to the middle of the clearing - strange enough in itself, he only ever sits on the outskirts of the pack - and flicks his tail.
The wolves (and Razor) recognize the signal and scatter - there is a danger here that Boreas must deal with.
Unfortunately, they weren’t quite fast enough - a portal Razor recognizes as similar to the Riftwolves’ appears on the ground and begins to pull at him as he runs. Other wolves whine and yelp as they feel the pull too, pushing themselves to run faster and further. Large wolves snatch up the young by their scruffs and haul them along.
But Razor isn’t as fast as the other wolves. He doesn’t have claws to dig into the earth and propel him along. Behind him, he can feel bursts of anemo and cryo as Boreas tries to subdue the portal, but it just sucks in the extra energy.
yes. yes. more.
He flinches as an awful voice runs through his head. It’s nothing like when Boreas speaks to him - powerful, but benevolent to those who are part of his pack. Boreas is careful with them - he knows they are not as strong as him. This voice is different. It’s grating, rough, as if it doesn’t care if it bursts his blood from his body with its strength.
Razor pulls out his claymore and digs it into the earth, struggling not to fall backwards into the portal.
Razor! Boreas shouts through his mind, and his jaws reach to pick Razor up by his hood, but it’s too late - the portal swallows his claymore, and with it, him.
—
“I’m telling you Jean, she just disappeared! I turned around for one second, and then she was gone!” Kaeya says, exasperated. He leans over her desk, side ponytail dangling over the papers scattered across it.
“I believe you Kaeya, I do,” Jean says. She’s still working on incident reports, even while she talks with Kaeya. “But children don’t just disappear, especially not Klee. Are you sure you didn’t hear any explosions afterwards? That’s usually what happens whenever Klee goes missing.”
“Nothing. It was so silent, it was scary,” Kaeya shudders. “I just don’t know where she could’ve gone… I swear I was keeping a close watch on her!”
“I know, I know,” Jean says soothingly. “That doesn’t change the fact that Klee is now missing. She could be anywhere, blowing up anything, and we need to keep her and Mondstadt safe while Alice is gone. You should know - ” She looks up.
There’s no one in the room.
“ - that. What? Where’d you go? Kaeya?”
—
It’s a lovely day in Liyue Harbor, and Zhongli is on the hunt for deals.
He’s walked past this one celadon vase three times now - it’s a beautiful work, emulating the styles of a thousand years ago, but with modern techniques and glazes.
That’s it. He simply must have it. He pulls out his wallet -
Ah. He’s left it at home again.
Zhongli sighs. He misses Childe. Long distance is doable, of course, and the three months it’s been since he’s last seen him is less than a drop in the bucket of the six thousand years he’s spent on Teyvat, but it feels like so much longer without his partner by his side.
If he closes his eyes for just a moment, letting the crowd of the market flow by him, he can pretend that Childe is here with him. He can almost hear his laugh, see his smile, sense the subtle Abyssal taint that follows him around - wait. That’s not Childe’s Abyssal taint, that’s something else -
Zhongli is about to do something stupid, like pull out his polearm, or summon his shield, or consequences be damned, shield the entire marketplace, when the portal appears, directly above the pottery stall.
People immediately start screaming and running. Zhongli stands in the chaos, a pillar of calm, watching the portal suck up pots and dishes and the tent that covers the stall. It’s being relatively harmless, for a random Abyssal portal.
Until it tries to suck up the celadon vase, that is. Then he can’t help but dart forward and grab it, even though it means getting caught up in the portal’s gravity himself.
He could easily break free, if he was in his Exuvia form, but that would require revealing himself to the whole of Liyue. What a pain.
Zhongli cradles the vase closer to his chest and lets the portal drag him in.