Two days have already passed since he stood unmoving on the Throne of Fire, yet you felt like it had been 100 years at this point. A life without him, the man who oh-so-sillily joked with you about grilling Paimon for dinner one night when you failed to hunt a Bulbozaur, or even a small little Crawahal; the man who was feared by so many people that you thought you were going to pee your pants; the man whom you first bedded with in this world and taught you to love men again.

In other words, Il Capitano, the First of the Fatui Harbingers, and your one week lover was now sat unmoving and devoided of any soul he might have on that stupid throne. You never left that room in the underground, staying by his side and going to drink water by an underground little stream and eating whatever Paimon brought you from aboveground.

Sometimes, you swore that he moved, or flinched when you'd be crying at his self-made grave, like he wanted to while away your tears with his gloves hands and tell you everything will be OK, to tell you to stop mourning and save Snezhnaya as you did with the other nations. Because he can't now, he can't protect his people from the terrors that hide in the frozen tundra. Corvins... were only a nuisance, not even full threats, yet they could tear off the head of an unfortunate human in one swift claw move. But a greater threat played upon the land of the Archon of Love: the forever frost.

"Comrade-" The voice grounded you back to the world of the living, though truth be speaking, you wanted to follow the captain into the abyss that the Nightkingdom was, just so you know he's OK. Your twin knew where you were and never tried to come after you the same way you tried to go after them, so what was the point? The only people who would actually miss you were Paimon and maybe Child, but you could never be sure.

You turned your head to see the very familiar shade of bloody orange that Tartaglia's hair had, and a small floating white bunch of hair hiding behind. Childe and Paimon came to check on you and give you some resources again. How nice of them; how pitiful of a situation for you.

You sat up on wobbly feet, feeling as if the ground under you turned into a pit of quicksand and you were slowly sinking into it with a sharp pain in your soles. They furt like you were walking on broken glass wine bottles from Monstadt; they hurt like you were walking on shards of chaina from Lyiue; they hurt like you were walking on electrocharged sakura flowers from Inazuma; they hurt as if you were put to walk over a pit of over heated sand from the desert of Sumeru; they hurt like you were stabbed with mechanical daggers from Yvres shop in Fontaine.... and they hurt like you lost your kindred soul somewhere in Natlan.

"Mavuika was right... she should've"

"Don't even start it, Y/N. She meant well-"

"She killed him"

"He killed himself, traveller"

You didn't want to admit it, but they were right. The Captain being the all-rightous man that he was, wanted to save everyone. Everyone but why not himself. Why make you suffer. Why was he so quiet a day before everything happened... it was like he knew what was going to happen...

___________________

Cold- no, frigid was what Il Capitano's first contact with the barrier between Natland and the Kingdom of Nighttime Shadows, one of the many names the liminal space bore into the commonfolk. He felt undressed in the sheer cold. You'd think a man that spent more than 500 years in the land of The Cryo Archon would make a man get used to the cold, but this wasn't the same. It wasn't the same feeling as the one of snow on your lukewarm skin on the overworld of Teyvat; it was a forever chilling sensation in the deepest parts of your bones. Having had 10 furcoats and one would still be able to freeze to death.

'Perhaps this is not the Place I should guard. A trickery, might've-'

He glenced up and saw i, in the myriad of darkened clouds that covered both ground and 'sky', a spiral of blood and terror formed before him. The agonised screams of the ones before him echoed from the epi-center of the crpitid-like tornado. 'Well isn't this just sweel.' He took a couple steps forward, cautiously looking around for any other realm deformity he might find.

A sudden gust of wind hit from his back and and one from his front. Weird... this place has no winds- He turned his head and saw behind him the same kind of rupture in the realm, each one of them trying to suck up everything in their path. Almost aligned to a comma, the two deformities could cause a vortex and rip appart everything that was unfortunate enough to fall in between them. And guess who was in between the two reality-altering colosus? Capitano, of course. Why wouldn't he!?

'Most unfortunate... Perhaps of I stand right in the middleway, I will be able to stand until the passing of one of them.'

But that was easier said than done, as the two vortexes seemed to last forever, and hold their ground in eternity, not moving a milimeter left or right or wrong or true or- you get the idea. He was going to fall victim to the realm deformities one moment or the other. Even he could not stand still for eternity (irronic, in the overworld he is very mmuch unmoving). He was slowly growing more and more desperate as time went on and his legs started to give in. He felt heavier than ever before, even if now he had no armour on him to slow him down or ground him. Ground him... ground!

He got an idea, an idea so trivial that he cursed himself for not thinking about it earlier. He felt stupid - maybe this is how the 10th felt all this way. But, I digress. Il Capitano carefully let himself crouch down to the ground, and then lay flat on his front. He felt the suction power of the two colosus' getting stronger; a response that whatever Purgatory this was, it did not like the fact that he was trying to escape.

"This is your devine punishment, Thrain! Do not dare run away from it, you coward!"

He did not care for the voice that shouted after him, a mixture of broken souls and terror if was. He crawled away from it, his skin burning from the friction with the uneaven ground that was covered in sharp stones and bonedust. He bit down on his lower lip to cover a whine, his sharp cannines puncturing his lips and slowly drawing out droplets of fresh blood. The harbinger managed to crawl away for a couple of feet before the strength of the void-wating deformities grew. His nails dug deep into the ground to anchor himself, his knuckles turning an off shade of white from the pressure.

"You will not get me alive, you-"

"You are already dead, Thrain"

No, no he cannot be dead. He needs to succede, he needs to complete his mission in order to return to his darling above, the little ray of sunshine that barged in his life like the sun does in the unlit room of a teenager trying to sleep in on a Saturday morning. He needed to survie, he needed to be remembered! Capitano pulled himself away with one last sliver of hope and strength lef tin him and managed to escape the two deformities' range of distruction.

'Run!'

He turned his head with such a whiplash that he swore his head had fallen off his shoulders for a second. You weren't there, of course, only a sick part of his brain thought that you were. Or maybe this place was trying to trick him once again. Maybe eevrything was just in his head or in the head of whatever malevolent creature reigned the Kingdom of Nightshadows.

Either way, he needed to find a way to fulfill his destiny and return to Teyvat before it was too late, before you would find solice in another man's arms.

_________________

Days felt like seconds and months felt like years in this horrid place. Or maybe only a couple weeks passed, or maybe a couple seconds. Il Capitano couldn't tell anymore, because he lost track of time rather rapidly after the incident with the vortex; and to be honest, tracking time is the last thing you should worry about when you're in the land of the damned, alone and naked.

But why did he felt like time was important if he didn't even knew time here. And even if he knew it, loosing count would be too easy and therefore he'd loose the notion of what time was here.

His mind was a total fog, one as thick, if even thicker than the one that layed before him. He stopped walking cautiously a long time ago, the soles of his feet bleeding every now and then from the open wound caused by bone sharps and sharp stones scatered here and there, or by the laked and rivers of boiling blod that he had to traverse.

The world around him was going on for ever and ever; over and over. This was hell. His punishment for being imprudent and using his imortal powers a bit too much. And the heavenly principles do not like it when other omnipotent beings live on their turf, as you might have already found out. He finally eencounteres something after so many eoans of walking around. It was a fragment of a soul that floated minlessly in this abyss of a world he was in.

A slight smile crept on Capitano's dried and cold lips. "Do you know me, elder?" He had a feeling that this lost soul was one of the people he needed to guide in this place, and he was right when he saw the sparklet of light flicker slightly and kept following him around. He let if tag along, for now, until they will find its place in the forever realm.

This was his life for a long while, almost as long as the time he spent in silence. His wounds were cauterised and the ground seemed to shift to softer stone, someetimes finding moss on it to rest for a while before starting his endless journey. Only one thing kept him going: the traveller from the stars that found her way in his very heart, in the deepest of cravaces and taken roots there. A week they spent together, but that week was far more valuable than any years spent with souless and empty women of the Snezhnayan court rooms. He was tired of the way his life played as the Captain of the Fatui Harbingers.

"You seem very preocupied today, young man" One of the souls spoke to him in not one but 4 voices... they died as a group most likely. "Because I do not know when I will be able to return to my world and my home..." They laughed "Ah, don't worry. This place always serves justice"

'Tell this to the vortex that wanted to eat me alive the second I came here idiot...'

________________

A month passed in Teyvat since that unfortunate day and you were forced to leave Natlan by the impending doom that had to come in Snezhnaya. The parting was painful, sorrowful; you felt like you left a good part of yourself in that cave with him the day you left. But it's what was needed to be done, it's what he would've wanted to.

With heavy footsteps and an even heavier heart, you rose from the undertow, met by the teasing sun. It burned your eyes the first couple of seconds, as you were not used to it anymore. The sun... is this realy the reason why he sacrificed himself? For others to enjoy and bask in the fake light of a man-made sun? It was not fair, none of it was.

"Traveler! Are you ok? How are you feeling?" Paimon, the sweetheart that she is always had (and hopefully will still) been worried about you. One of the few people who actually cared enough about you was a small floating fairy with the glutony of a thousand gods. It would have been funny, if you were not still grieving the loss of The First Fatui Harbinger. "You look so pale... Paimon thinks you should rest before leaving Natlan."

'Can we stay here forever, Paimon?'

You couldn't bring yourself to even say a yes or no to her question, only making a vague gesture with your head towards her. She knew what you were thinking about and this broke her little heart. She took one of your hands in hers and slowly nudged you to sit on some fluffy moss. You'd think that saving a nation would earn you its respect and the people would treat you good, especially the Archon. But you knew better than to believe that.

Mondstadt only used you to save its own ass, kicking you out the second you solved their problems. Lyiue thought you were a killer for so long only because you were not from their nation, that not even a thousand half-teethed 'thank you's from Ningguang could change how you felt. Inazuma hated its own people and you thought it would treat you good? Sumeru was much like Mondstadt, but they actually expected you to help them no matter what, not only gambling on you. The Aranara were somewhat sweet to you in their own weird way. Natlan... Natlan thought it would be very funny to make you fall in love and then crush your soul alltogether.

Capitano was right; the Archons and the people that serve them are nothing but entitled pricks who's make anything in order to proffit off your well being and your kindness. And of course, there were Deinsleif and Aether. If they so claimed that they hold enough power to go against the Heavenly Principles now, why didn't they? They had to wait 500 years for you to break from the meteor and start looking for them? To start repairing their mistakes? Thrain was the only one you could trully trust, that you could share your beliefs with.

Even in Paimon you couldn't confine in, she was sometimes too clueless or innocent to understand your true feelings and the language barrier was always a problem. Yes, you did learn some amount of universal Teyvatan, but it was never enough. You could never trully express the way you felt towards everyone and anyone.

You found yourself laying on the green, lush moss and slowly falling asleep. A restless sleep but sleep nevertheless. It felt so real, it was so lucid, he was there. Capitano was with you, or you with him, in a realm of shadows and darkness, no light to even illuminate the way you were going. But you were going, because you trusted him, because you believed in him. But in a moment-

The view. or rather lack of it was shattered and torn and you were thrown in the frozen Tundra of Snezhnaya. "Are you alright, cara mia?" The voice was so much rougher and drier, like it was that of a man thousands of years living without a sliver of water to wet his vocal cords with. His voice sent warm shivers down your spine and you threw himself in his claws, giggling.

But every dream with him has to end, doesn't it? He was gone, after all.

You were now in a cacrt dragged by a local type of horse. Lavian horses, in all their warm might could never melt the ice in your heart. The ice he left when he decided to save Mavuika. And for what?! What about you?! You felt yourself growing more and more cold at even the thought of your Capitano thinking of saving another woman. Maybe you two were never meant to be. Maybe it was them and you misstook his kindness to love. It had been so long, forever even, since someone showed you care and affection.

Suddenly, you heard Paimon shrieking and telling the woman handling the Lavian to start hurrying. You turned your head towards the shadows that Paimon was looking at and they were... massive. And moving fast.

"I have never seen something like this before...! Go Gero, go fast!"

"We're going to be human popsicles soon!"

You took your sword, your grip painful on the already worn down handle. Your knukles were turning white with desperation, you needed to act now. There was no way a horse could outrun whatever this thing was, not for long at least.

At Paimon's desperate attempts to stop you from confronting it, you snarled and told her to fuck off. You jumped off from the cart and the soles of your feet hit the frozen snow, the flakes crushed into small pillars of icy terror that pierced your skin. Maybe you should've made sure to wear something more than your socks and a dress adeqvated to Sumeru's climate than this one, but you didn't care at this point. To be honest, you didn't even know why you cared in the first place. None of them did. None of them helped you.

You strode painfully towards the shadow as you realised something... It didn't move for some time, as if it was waiting for you to come to it. Maybe it was not a hostile mob, but one of the 'gentle' giants of Snezhnaya like the frozen Tibiru (a giant bear with 6 heads that roamed the forests in search of frozen meat discarded by humans near the streams; rule no 1: if you left it alone, it will leave you alone).

"Y/N, you are here-"

You could swear there was something familiar in that voice. But it couldn't be right? You had to be dreaming, right? One of those lucid dreams with him in it... Most likely.

___________

The wind cut roughly through your hair and skin, as you were holding on for dear life by the horns of Thrain. Horns? Well darling, you were surprised to find out that the shadow in the tundra was no other than the Captain, back from the Underworld in his true form and ready to fulfill his desteny to a full. You were torn between being happy he returned and being angry with him... But after he told you his true reason for descending into the Nighttime Kingdoms, you were back to adoring him.

"Cara mia, you need to understand that sometimes a man has to hide things from his darling in order to protect her. It was not my intention to make you suffer... I apologise for this, but-"

"It's ok, I think I understand..."

"Then would you like to accompany me in battle one more time?"

"Yes-"

And now you were swerving the skies together to get to the Zapolyarny Palace and kill the head of the snake that coiled around the power of Teyvat once and for all. Even if it was going to be the last battle you fight, you knew that, this time, everything will feel like it came from the bottom of your heart. There will be ballads about two lovers who went and challanged the unchallangeable for a chance to change the world as it is now.

"Thrain?" You leaned in closer to him, your heart pounding "I feel the Statue of the Seventh just bellow us." You always thought that your powers to absorb all elemental powers without a vision was a blessing, but sometimes it was a curse. Now, it was one of those times you thanked yourself you had these weird and unpredictable powers.

You felt his body twist and dive at a greater speed, making you dizzy. You so needed to get reaccustomed with riding dragons. Now more than ever sincce Thrain was one.

__________

Blood, everywhere you looked there was blood pooling from the countless bodies of Fatui agents and palace guards. You had no mercy. They all needed to pay for their sins and you werre ready to make them suffer for it too. Simply taking their life was too much of a blessing, as the Cryo Dragon told you. His stories about the underworlds made your soul shatter. He went through so much just to make sure that the innocent people of Kaenri'ah were safely guided through that nightmare of a realm.

A newly fledged agent caught your gase, as he desperately tried to trag the upper half of his friend away from the battle, not realising the fucker was already gone. Thrain has swung his tail once and beheaded banny, or cut them in half from the strength of his nsap-back. You let our a small laugh. This was going to be fun. You got to them and swung your Dull Blad into the already dead body. "He's gone, buddy. Quit looking so desperate. It's pathetic really. Didn't the Tsaritsa teach you to fight with glory in your poisoned hearts and brains?"

The look on that poor fella'ss face made your day and night for maybe 3 weeks. You were proud of yourself as you saw him literally crawling to you and asking you to spare his life, that he had family- family ey?. You grabbed him by the throat and held him up in the air, chocking him only slightly. "Listen here you fucker, you better go and tell Pierro that if he does not get here right this instant, the Cryo Dragon will blow ice so cold over the forsaken region that it will burn. Understood?"

He nodded rapidly, scurrying away like a rat before being stomped once by Thrain's clawed leg, his body making an all-known bone shuttering crack. He didn't even scream, all his nerves were mostly crushed and his body pure'd into mush. "Oh, oops~ How silly of myself." He let out a chocked and dry laugh and lowered his head, licking one of your cheeks. "I'll be careful to not hurt one of your pets again, cara mia." You placed a kiss on his muzzle and pat him.

You loved him, he loved you. And the two of you were going to fight here until either they manage to kill you, or until there are no more Harbingers to torture.

A week and a day worth of slaughter was what finally made the Tsatrisa act, with almmost all the Harbingers on her side, not counting Capitano and.. surprisingly, Childe. He and Paimon came to the palace as soon as he caught word of everything and decided to side with you against these tirants. "It is an honour to fight along side you, Capitano-" "Likewise, Ajax. But now we no longer bare the names she gave us. Let us win and show the people of Snezhnaya that they believed in a traitor all along"

And so, you all clashed into battle, yet you had an advantage. Paimon was floating over everyone and giving you intel about their positions and next attacks, like a great spy. You were surprised that she offered to fight and did not seem terrified or taken aback by your display of anger and violence. This felt like home, this was home.

The Tsaritsa was most terrified the second Thrain regurgitated the bodies of most her beloved Harbingers and with her weapon on your side, this was a loosing battle. "I... I do not understand, I-" "You were always destined to loose, Mariushka. Bow before the dragon of cryo or face the consequences"

And she did, forfeithing her gnosis and the other captured to him.

______________

You now stood on the icy throne in Prishkanitza Palace, as Thrain now called it, listening in on some complains people had about lack of food, nodding your head along. The vaults of the Fatui were full of food, so you'd just lead them to it and serve them with enough to last them a month or so. The foreverfrost was slowly stepping back now that you became ruler. And what a ruler you were now: with Thrain's draconic body coiled around the throne and yoursel, his head resting by your side, muzzle bumping in your thigh to beg you for your attention.

"I crave you...."

"And if someone comes in? Have you not thought about this until now?"

"Humans have always made me confused. But one thing is for sure: no man will dare enter when they hear the way I make you scream"

How he never ceased to make you blush.... it was his talent truth be told. Not that you complained, but you were more red than an overriped sunsetia in may. You felt a clawed han tentalizingly pulling your fluffy leggings off. "You are as horny as a teenager..." You muttered, as you lifted yourself slightly to allow him to pull the garment off completely and discard it somewhere in the distance. "Tharin!" You shouted in complete shock to how rough he was right now.

"Hush, you enjoy it"

True, you were enjoying it, but you were not going to let him know that. He didn't need to know that. You shivered and mewled at the feeling of a cold talon brushing against your core. You heard him chuckle and say something lewed about not wearing any panties on today. It was very comfortable and refreshing alright? Sometimes you were so tired of your granny skirt underpants that wearing underleggings gave you... freedom so to speak.

He nuzzled his head in between your legs as you shifted on the throne to allow your legs to part more. He game you a first lap, his tongue so cold it tickled your tiny clit and made it pulse slightly. "P-please... more!" Like you needed to beg; he would've gave you more even if you didn't want to. He was a service dragon alright.

Thrain's tongue ran over you folds many times before making you tremble and beg for him to take you. "And ruin you now, cara mia? No... not yet" Oh this gian fool- You lightly smacked the top of his head, his tough reptile skin rough to the touch. Bixby, reminder to force dragon husband to bathe in lotion- He rumbled and blew a light lizard in your facec as a response. Such a man- dragon! He was so kinky and silly before. You cannot imagine now.

He brough a tallon to his mouth and bit it shorter, rouder. "Hold still and tell me if it hurts-" He then pushed that finger in, slowly making your wet pussy give in and accept it inside you. It didn't hurt as much as you'd thought, but it did hint a bit of discomfort the first moments. He gently curled his finger inside you, trying to remember where exactly your- "Oh, my stars!" There it was. He began to draw in and out of you at quite the pace as his muzzle found its way back to your clit. Thrain loved every each of your whiny moans, drawing orgasm after orgasm out of you.

"Oh, just fuck me already, you overgrown lizard!"

"Only if I see this pretty pussy squirt for me, love. Come on, give it to me~"

He teased you, moving so his big phallus was resting over your vagina. "Oh don't tease me-" You tried to protest as he rubbed back and forth on you.

It was a sunny summer morning in Lyiue. You woke up from a restless slumber, as Paimon was already complaining about the heat. "Paimon didn't remember the Harbour being this steamy last time we were here." You giggled slightly, putting on your skirt over your undergarments; the little fae was right. Liyue really did get more hot than the last time you were here for your adventure with the Carp Adeptus. But that is a story for another time, my dear. The sun was shining brighter than usually, the incoming warmth, or rather heat, was making itself felt from morning. This was going to be a long day, wasn’t it, traveler?

The two of you went outside, still groggy after a not-so-good night's sleep and made your way to Wangming Restaurant to see if you could buy something for 200 mora. In the weird economy of the land of the geo archon, you could never know what 200 mora might get you: a fried egg or an entire old-style house. Stay tuned to find out! The economy in this nation was horrible, truly. Imagine not knowing how much something will cost the next day or how much inflation and deflation will last; horror, pure and utter horror.

As Paimon's mouth salivated over the fresh fruit salad and cremmy tea puffs, your stomach was crying and your wallet was embarrassed to even show face to other people. "300 mora for a fish cutlet?! This is obscene!" You hear some cummon passerby say intrigued. Obscene indeed. Paimon was tugging at your hand like a child begging you to get something good to eat. You didn't had the heart to tell her the both of you were broker than Zhongli. Ah, how much you wanted to go back to those simpler times, when people didn’t knew you and you and Paimon would sleep under the stars, eating sunsetias and skewers, and didn’t had so many things on your mind, didn’t know the dark secrets of Teyvat.

You heard an all too well known whistle, you didn't even had to turn aroud to confirm your suspicions on who it was. "Oh? What do my favourite ladies want to eat this morning?" Tartaglia, Childe, Ajax, 11th of the Fatui Harbingers (regardless of the free spots in the mafia), and all time pretty boy was back in Lyiue. Sometimes, you felt like he was following you around, but you couldn't really say he followed you in Natalan from what you know. And he wasn’t in Monstadt… but Liyue, Inazuma, Fontaine were on his checklist, and you could only guess that he also was spying on you in Sumeru through Dottore’s eyes.

"Childe!" Paimon chanted in a sing-song voice, excited to be telling him all about your travels since you parted ways in Fontain's Court Room. He gave you his wallet and gave you the heads up to order whatever you wanted as he took your companion to one of the tables. After ordering and grabbing the plates, you went to them.

You nodded slowly and sat down. You still had his vision, who was stupid enough to ever lose, missplace or sell a vision. Not you, not ever. You told him you left it at your room at the Harbour with your blade and Paimons plushie. "A plushie-" "Mavuika gifted her a plushie to make the parting better." He sighed deeply, it was clear that the whole shabam with Natalan was not a good thing for him. After all, his idol, his master and maybe friend has lost his life to the Kingdom of Night, forever condemned to forever guard the Throne of Flames.

"So? What brings you back here?"

"I could ask you the same thing, girlie. Still got my vision on you by any chance?"

While you and Paimon ate confused he told you everything that he knew. Aparently, the God of Love was growing more weary of the harbingers and was afraid that if she allowed the strong ones to continue on, they will riot against her. So she was sending them off to suicide missions like she did with La Signora, drove them to insanity like she did with the Wondered (you thought), and now cursed Capitano and forced his soul into the Night Knigdom to guide the lost souls. But souls will forever get lost there. It was like the problem imposed by Oroboros, an all powerful snake. Childe didn’t knew more than he already told you.

"So, you met Capitano... I believe you were surprised of what happened?"

"Why?"

"Because the Tsaritsa wanted him dead for a long while"

The God of Love and Compassion loosing herself to doubt and hunger for power was something inimaginable at first, but you remembered Venti’s and Zhongli’s words, as well as Mona’s. The ones that love the most will one day turn as cold as ice and will start to hurt not only others but themselves also… In other words, the Tsaritsa was destined to go mad with fear and hate. Her people, her believers… were they going to be ok?

"So, you see... since the Tsaritsa sees me as powerful, I have to hide back in Lyiue again. Here, the Fatui can't reach me easily since the area was cleared long ago by you." He slowly sipped from his tea cup. He tried not to show it, but he was scared that death was waiting at his doorstep at home. Or maybe he would die with honour, but he could never make his family mourn or suffer from the loss of his life. Yes, this seemed more like it, the ginger man was always thinking of his family before anything else.

"So this means that you are now stuck here? For eternity?" Paimon inquiered with her mouth stuffed with sweet red bean paste buns. Childe nodded. "Well, not really eternity. I'm still just a man, you know? I'll live maybe to 60 or 70 years considering how many wounds I have had all these years... One of my hands already started to get too stiff, you know?" He emphasised his words by trying to flex his left fist, but his hand moved hardly, his palm convulsing for a second before allowing him to close his fist.

You wanted to reach out and hold his hand, to reassure him to comfort him in a way. To loose something as simple as free mobility in a hand from this age was hurtful to watch, let alone actually experiencing it. Tartaglia was a strong man, hiding his emotions and feelings from everyone around him. Yeah… definitely he didn’t want to put pressure or concern his family. You wondered what lie he told his parents and his little siblings for them to not even question his sudden return to the land of the Geo Archon.

___________

After you ate and talked some more, Paimon decided to go back to the room you two had near the harbour and take a small nap. She was teribly tired after the long walk from Natalan to Lyiue; and to be entirely honest, you were as well. But of course, you chose to spend some time with the redhair instead, not knowing when exactly you'd see him next. He was like a wild fox, fast and cunning, always hiding himself in the shadows until he'll strike again and capture the mouse or hen he wishes to eat. But was he going to be able to hunt again like the predator he was raised as? Was Tartaglia going to be ok laying low under the radar?

Was the Tsaritsa really this heartless? To kill her most precious soldiers?

It seemed horrible. Absolutely horibble! But it was the cruel truth: from the predator, Childe became the pray in a matter of days, weeks, heck even months! But, the archon did seem insane enough to have considered this form the beginning, planing the intricate deaths of all her dear harbingers. Why else would she let them fail almost all missions… and, in first instances, Signora and Childe were the only ones who retrieved the gnosises without too much trouble. You were the trouble, in a way, but much more weaker and inexperienced than now. Were you the reason why everything was happening? Why people died?

The sun was shining brightly, and it was humid outside, the heat even more unbearable as you walked with the harbinger near the Quingxu Pool. He invited you to take a stroll around the Lisha, but found yourselves walking for a couple of hours now. "Y/N, I... I was going to ask you if you're any closer to finding your brother? I know how much family means to you. " Ah, he read you like an open book. "Well, to be honest, we did meed a couple of times and we talked. I even have a picture with him but i don't remember ever taking it..."

That was curious really. Not remembering a fond memory with your lost twin, yet remembering everything you and Childe did together. It seemed like you were a traitor. He didn't judge you though. He held your hand and lead you to the pool, trying to pull you in. He climbed up the trees and got fresh sunsetias for you. He even collected some nice and shiny pebbles from the deeper ends of the Pool just so he could give them to you. "The lake isn't even that deep, girlie. You just have to get in! It's more fun-" He tried to reason with you, but you still refused him, vehemently. Not after seeing Ferminet almost loose himself in the Primordial waters.

And so you followed him. The water almost instantly got colder, giving you goosebumps as soon as it hit your skin. You shivered slightly, feeling the sand slip loose from under your feet, you had to rely now simply on yourself to stay afloat. Now, when did Childe get soo good at swimming? You didn't remember him being so good? Or maybe his little predicament with the All Devouring Narwhal changed him more than you thought. The water was like an ice bucket, the complete opposite of the weather outside. If you were going to get sick from this, you’d kill him.

"A traveller afraid of a little challange?"

"Wll, you didn't challange me, Mr.~"

"Fine, then I challange you to swim with me in the deeper ends" Now, a traveller not accepting a challenge was like a watch not telling you the time… And so,…

You finally were almost next to him, the redhead inviting you to dive in with a smile. You took in a large breath and dove underwater. Your head, dried and overheated by the sun, met with the cold, refreshing gust of waters that got in between your locks. You wanted to shriek from the sudden change in temperature, but you couldn’t, not right now anyways. You felt a hand gently wrapping around your upper arm, and tugging at it, like telling you to follow it. Childe, the ever-so-gentleman that he was, allowed you to hook around him as the two of you dove deeper and further into the water. At this rate you were going to drown! You needed air at some point and you were anxious about getting out in time for it! You squirmed in protest, as you saw he wasn’t even thinking about the obvious like you did. He held you closer to himself, your head pressed to his chest allowing you to feel the steady and slow rhythm of his heartbeat to calm down. You felt the water pressure getting lighter and lighter.

You realised he brought you to the surface only when the sun mercilessly burned the top of your head and you opened your eyes reluctantly. You laid on top of the ginger harbinger as he floated, smiling up at the sky. “Scared ya? Don’t worry, milyy. I’d never let you drown, get pierced my a hilichurl’s arrow or shredded by the claws of a saurus.” You really didn’t want him to notice the blush dusted darkly on your face, but you were sure he did notice it. Even someone as oblivious to love as paimon would. His words were more than a comfort told to cool the waters (pun intended); he actually meant everything he told you, which warmed your heart more than the heatwave was already doing it.

“You’re staring, girlie…”

“And are you complaining, Mr. Tortellini?”

Not even 2 seconds after you called him that, he twisted his body to the side, making you fall in the water unexpectedly as he laughed like a hiena at your futile attempt to bring him down with you. You both held each other in a kind of far embrace and laughed at the absurdity of it all, life being so hard, yet the two of you playing in the water like two kids that did not yet learned about the cruelty of the world and how vile some people could be. You were two kids playing, two kids having fun and two kids falling in love with one another… Falling in love, in this economy?! (Sorry I had to make the joke), but no really, falling in love in this situation, with him of all people could lead to only pain. Will it be more painful to never tell him, or to live with loving him only for him to die so easily so suddenly…

You were conflicted, deep down, your mind not fully allowing you to feel happy about this moment with Childe. How about a brain factory reset, traveler? Only 2 trillion mora, only for you. Buy one get one for free-

“Y/N, you look so pretty with your hair all wet like that, you know? The prettiest girl ever, my milyy” The harbinger suddenly said as he places a butterfly kiss on your cheek, his hands slowly going further up your arms, now grasping your shoulders lightly. You knew that part of this gentleness of his was due to the join pain he felt… You felt bad for him, feeling the need to hold him even tighter and tell him you loved him more than anything. But will you? Risking everything, your friendship and your memories with him only because you were selfish and you wanted him to offer more of his heart than he already had? It was a horrible thing to do: confessing to another human. Horrible, but more than that horrifying. What if he didn’t just said no, but felt so disgusted and used by you that he would tell you to go fuck your self, stay away from him for 100, no 1000 years in this and the next lives that will come.

“Aren’t you going to tell me anything, girlie? You’ve been staring at that poor calla lily for the past 10 minutes…” And answer, he wanted an answer from you. But to what question.

“I don’t think I can tell you.

“Then I’ll wait for that answer: 100, no…. One thousand years I’ll wait for your answer in this and the next lives to come.” His grasp on your shoulders was more powerful and meaningful, he wanted you -- he needed you to answer him and to tell him you felt the same, didn’t he?

You just smiled and sighed with a slight shake of your head. This man will be the death of you, that was for sure. Either from his cuteness, from his devotion to you or from a brutal future spar. Though, you did help the later doesn't happen ever again. You still had bad dreams about what happened at the Golden House.

All this time, all this mother fucking time that you two had spent together in an awkward-ish way that mutual pining people do; he belived you two were a couple. Genuinely belived you were a thing?! Sir how dare you not be more obvious for this sweet little traveler. A big part of you was reliefed he felt the same, but there was a tiny part that was confused. You never gave him signals that you even liked him romantically, yet he believed you two were together. The 11th Fatui Harbinger was a very stange man, a cold and unforgiving person, yet he protects his family and loves them all with his very being. And now you learn he loves you; maybe just as much.

"I think I am in love with you, Childe..."

"Of course you are, we're together-"

"What?"

Childe gently cupped your cheeks in his hands and slowly pulled you in for a kiss. You didn't fight it, not one bit as you let yourself go soft in his arms. Not a thought between your eyes as his rough, yet warm lips glide against yours in a slow dragged out way. It felt good, having him here like this with you in the water. "You cannot believe how much I've wanted to kiss you, milah, but you always act so cold.."

You didn't know how and you didn't know when; but the red haired man brought you both back to the lake shore. You were still drunken by the kiss, as the lack of cold water around you made you instantly warm up to un uncomfortable level. You gently pushed him away to take a deep breath in and calm your senses. Or rather tried to come back to your senses, but you were drunk. You were so drunken by this man.

Well, how can anyone not let a cute fox like him take a bite when he asks so politely?

"Childe-"

"Please let me love you, Y/N~"

______________

When you've gone back to your place by the harbour it was already late at night and you found Paimon waiting for you by the porch, with a cup of chilled tea and a few sweets. She looked like she waited for you for quite a bit. The still partially wet hair, dusted cheeks and crampled damp clothes were signs that something did happen between you and the Harbinger. But Paimon was never one to ask you something like this, and definitely she wasn't judging; she was just worried you came home late.

"I promise I'll come back before sundown next time-" You half-appologised like a pre-teen girl caught out with her boyfriend. And what a boyfriend you now had: one that knows how to make your mind foggy with pleasure as he laps at your folds, one that gently kisses you as he puts it in the first time and caresses your cheek as you let out soft sobs or when he spils deeply into you.