Work Text:
𝙀𝙈𝙋𝙏𝙄𝙉𝙀𝙎𝙎 𝙎𝙏𝘼𝙍𝙀𝘿 𝘽𝘼𝘾𝙆. a cerulean sea vortexed into a singular, black void, towing you in. it was lifeless, indescribable as if he wore his eyes to exaggerate himself as human. then, to act in a play for the audience to witness, as long as it obscured his inner being that would not surface to shore.
you only dipped your toes into the sea and were ravaged by the unforgiving floods.
did no one teach you not to play with the tides?
to think, out of the endless possibilities, on this one unassuming night, out of all timelines, universes, and lives, it was here that your fate swam to a silent childe in an alley, his blade hauntingly divine in crimson scarlet.
“... childe?” you mustered all the confidence that was not yet miraculously drained. however, it betrayed your intention when it came out crooked, submerged in your doubt and fears.
moonlight shimmered and rippled like water on childe’s complexion. it was difficult to tell if the light was playing mischievous tricks, or if your eyes certainly caught the contorting of his lips. perhaps you wished not to believe anything for the sake of your sanity.
“yes, darling?” childe replied. it was disturbingly affectionate, entirely dismissing the stench of metallic demise emanating from the indistinct corpse behind him. it was bloodshed incarnate. the death reaper wasted no time executing his duty.
an eeriness crept along your spine. vision blurred. throat dry. you recognised the familiar identity.
“is that… one of my clients?”
was. an easy correction you did not want to acknowledge.
childe turned his body fully towards you, drinking in your hesitant movements, flittering eyes, and lowered head. fear contaminated you, yet he drank it like nectar - a taboo chalice. “yep. he was quite an annoying customer for you, wasn’t he?” he swiped a finger along his blade. “well, i sorted it all out, so don’t worry your precious head about it.”
your heart dropped to your stomach. a wintry flood washed over you. tendrils of a sinister breeze blew its instrument, whispering warnings. but the flood overwhelmed, and drowned you, trapping you in the unpredictable disaster you accidentally walked into, your legs cemented into the ground.
“why?” your lips trembled.
although you asked, you felt the answer already gnawing on your bones. all the beliefs you held in your heart, naively thinking that you knew childe, so naive. a bewitching siren who sang you his favourite lullaby, drifting you into a peaceful sleep, and you who dreamed of a shallow fantasy.
the silhouette before you, finally standing on the land he used to admire; this was childe in his rawest flesh.
childe raised an eyebrow. “why? i thought i was being obvious, no? all those gifts, me bumping into you at every opportunity; were these not the ways to the heart?” he questioned with genuine confusion. gradually, his foreign presence inched closer to you- carefully, as if you might swim away. he freed a shaky breath as his cold fingers trailed along your jaw, staining red along the path. “if you need me to say it, i love you - a little too much.”
when the abyss consumed him, childe sunk into the rivers of his buried consciousness, an asylum that protected his stability. however, he was stuck in a monotone limbo that did not arouse him. there was no threat, no excitement in the safety of his waters.
childe yearned for the other side of the sea. the flaming sun, clear skies, and grainy sand; to be human, laughing and chanting joyful tunes. alas, they were only illusions reflected on the surface of the ocean, passing over the waves.
it was an unassuming day, like all his others, when he witnessed you in the reflection, poised calmly with a kindness that did not discriminate against the monster of the sea. adorned with a pure smile, just like the first snow, you were childe’s revelation into another world. you pierced a light spear through the black surf of sin and shadows.
it was your chaste sympathy, but childe manipulated your brightness, infecting it black, twisted to a pulp for his liking.
when you did not respond, broken, childe began to worry. why were you not talking? were you angry? please, don’t be angry, he prayed. he pulled you into his arms, cradling you like a lost animal. “won’t you love me back? everything i do is all for you.” he pressed his forehead against yours, nuzzling into your warmth.
to discover every crevice of each other's body with all senses, riled to the worst; raised to the top, experiencing extreme emotions, push and shove, flip inside out, understand, caress, comfort, argue, hate, love, save, hold, yell, cry, act, tug, run, hit-
he wished it was the same for you. to feel everything about each other to the point of being deeply entangled so that neither could escape the deep end. no matter if it was corrupt, misguided, infectiously sinful, was that not love all the same? to love someone was to accept them for who they were, the best and worst.
childe’s eyes were onyx dark. the blackholes drank in the remaining sea, the last semblance of his humanity, an obsidian overcast riding the tidal waves. there were no more oceans to return to; childe’s home was now with you, his eyes reflecting yours - all yours to admire.
but you did not know how to feel. to murder for your sake, pledge his devotion to the ordinary you, to worship the ground you walked. it all conflicted inside your chest, wrenching, wrangling, throwing you left and right. forced into a tide so brave and relentless.
however, even admist everything, the murmurs of your heart resounded: you were the one who led him to shore - take care of him, won’t you?