Chapter Text
Eyes are windows to the soul, where words are restrained, the eyes often talk a great deal.
I've been watchin' you for some time. Can't stop starin' at those ocean eyes.
Thunder began to rumble and a storm rolled over quickly from the horizon, concealing the blood orange sky and further illuminating the fiery remnants of Mondstadt upwards, as if the flames were clawing upwards to Celestia. You had a feeling the four winds of Mondstadt pushed it over the city, trying to take out the fire that engulfed it.
Childe flew near the edge of Wolvendom, by the north waypoint and landed in a rushed grace. He gently placed you down on the ground but your legs were violently shaking, threatening to buckle in at the sight in front of you. The view of Mondsadt from where he landed was a clear and close one, one that you weren’t expecting to stick around and watch. You stood there in Childe’s arms, unsure if you’re breaking out from an exhaustive fever or feeling the intense heat coming from the nearby city.
“What are we doing? We should go!” You said, tugging on his hand desperately and trying not to look to your left where the city was falling apart.
Childe slowly took off his mask, looking up at the sky and taking deep breaths.
“Give me a moment, I...need to see this.” He said, his voice breaking. Your heart sank and panic consumed you.
“Childe...What do you mean?” You asked in a still, horrified tone .
He closed his eyes and for a long moment, he didn’t say anything. It felt like years before he spoke and when he looked down at you, something in his eyes was unsettling.
“After every mission, I have to stay and observe what I’ve done. It’s...one mission accomplished and closer to finishing my own.” He said, turning to face you.
Burning cities and napalm skies. Fifteen flares inside those ocean eyes, your ocean eyes.
Those eyes, those deep blue ocean eyes that you constantly felt like you were falling into were lit up, excited, and burning like the city in front of you. The storm had engulfed Childe’s precious eyes, and the thrashing of waves within him resonated against you.
“What mission?” You asked, unsure that you wanted to hear his answer. You never realized that maybe he had another agenda…just like you. Your heart was beating loudly in your ears, almost as loud as the distant screams and loud rumbling of the still falling castellan walls that echoed across the valley and it’s cliffs.
“Since I was fourteen years old, I loved the thrill of a fight, and often went out of my way to seek it. My father saw that death and destruction always followed me... wherever I went... and I embraced it. The adrenaline that a fight surges into me is one that I will forever yearn for. That was when he turned me over to the Fatui, thinking that their intensive military training would set me straight. It not only did, but I also gained more combat skills, thus gaining more hunger for that bloodlust I craved.” He laughed, placing his hands on his hips and turning to watch Mondstadt crumble before him, basking in the destruction. His aura had changed completely - it became large and menacing, like a tidal wave looming off the coast.
“I nearly took out the entire military in one night, you know. Probably one of my most memorable feats. Those fuckers didn’t stand a chance and I barely broke a sweat.” He sighed, reminiscing over his victory. “Pulcinella, the fifth Harbinger, saw the whole fight go down and told the Tsartisa, and that was how I became a Harbinger. After every mission, every fight, every life I took and won, started to become less...satisfying. I wanted more...More fights, more missions, more... power . That’s when I realized I wanted the world. I want to rule the world, force it to kneel to my blades.” His voice grew stronger the more he talked, so certain that he would rule it.
“And I will.” His conviction moved something inside you, and his confidence made you feel like it was possible, something that didn’t just sound like the ramblings of a crazed man. But it still didn’t make the blow any less shocking. You felt stupid and naive, thinking you were the only one that had a mission of your own to see through.
This whole time, the two long years you were in Snezhnaya, you saw the Harbingers, the Tsaritsa, Childe and Balladeer as bad guys; humans that didn’t feel anything but hatred and didn’t do anything that wasn’t for the Tsaritsa’s main goal. Now that you were one of them, you realized they were just like you; they started out somewhere, used to be someone innocent before something tragic or something major happened to them that pushed them to either join the Fatui ranks or somehow, they were forced to join.
No fair, you really know how to make me cry, when you gimme those ocean eyes.
He suddenly turned to you, rushing forward and taking you in his arms once again, but much stronger. His enormous claws wrapped around your waist, almost closing around it with one hand. His galactic, glittering cape billowed in the wind behind him, and those eyes, those damned eyes that you were drowning in once again bore into yours. You felt yourself getting tossed about the waves.
“Be there when I take power. I...I thought I wanted to be the only standing on top of the world, ruling it. But...when I think about it more, ruling it looks better with you by my side.” He said longingly and with a little bit of desperation.
You struggled to think of an answer, stuttering here and there, opening your mouth to accept but then closing it when doubt clouded your mind. You couldn’t see under the water; perhaps it was hand coming to pull you up through the damning waves?
“But…you told your brother that you’re a toy maker. How will you explain it to him then?” You asked boldly, trying to buy yourself some time to think, just enough time to get a gasp of precious air before going under again.
“I don’t know,” he said, looking angrily at the ground for a brief second, “but I hope I’m powerful enough that he’ll overlook my lie. I just...want to make my family proud of me. If I conquered all of Teyvat, they’d finally be proud of me…” he said, his voice trailed off with a hint of sadness to it.
“I don’t have a family.” You blurted out, stunning yourself at your outburst. It was your turn to look angrily away. “At least not anymore.” You mumbled, as if coughing out sea water.
“I know. I’m sorry...But, we can start our own…” He whispered in your ear, a longing ache in his voice tugged a string in your heart you never knew you had. His hand, for the slightest second, hovered over your stomach before wrapping around you again, tighter this time and to another, it would have been an uncomfortable tightness but to you, was everything you ever wanted. The life raft around you was keeping you afloat, for now.
You didn’t know how to process everything he just unloaded and you swallowed but the nervous lump in your throat was still there.
You two stood there silently, and you considered his words but you knew you didn’t have a choice...you didn’t want another choice. You were already too deep into this, deep as the trench that Osal was trapped in. You were as deep as the bottom of the ocean.
You looked at the mess you made as louder screams filled the air, and surrounded you as the last of the walls came down, some crashing into the water below and others tumbling into houses and shops. Snow started falling around you two and you looked up, surprised at the unusual weather. But you gasped when you realized you were the one causing the rain to turn into snow, and you looked down at your bloodied hands on his big and broad chest, frost thick over them and slowly spreading over him. He never took his eyes off you, studying every expression that flitted over your face.
I'm scared. I've never fallen from quite this high.
“Let's leave. We can rule the world without being Harbingers! We...We’re both powerful enough!” Your words came out fast in an attempt to form an alternate plan, a safer one with less variables that weren’t in your control. Your heart ached and you couldn’t believe what you were saying but you wanted it just as badly as he did. What innocence you had left desperately wanted to find some happily ever after with him. You wanted not to return to the shore from which you fell, but find a new island to call your own.
He took your hand, keeping a grip on you with his other and the two of you watched as his fingers intertwined with yours and his brilliant, beautiful blue eyes locked onto yours once again.
“Say yes. We can do it. We can rule together. We have everything we need already...You and me…and these,” you said, your voice breaking as you took your Delusions in your hand.
A smile formed on his face but it was one you weren’t expecting. It was filled with pain and sadness. “Even if we could, baby, we don’t have the freedom. Tsaritsa and Fatui are everywhere. Their reach is endless and their ranks are infinite. You know this.” He said with a heavy and haunting breath, and just like that the waters began to form highs and lows again.
“I hope one day, you’ll find the freedom you deserve.” Venti’s voice filled your head, forcing tears to flow down your reddened cheeks.
He caressed them, wiping away the hot escaped tears with his thumb. His eyes mimicked yours and were silent waterfalls. You reached up with both hands and copied him, taking his face in your hands and cleaning his cheeks. He rested his forehead against yours, closing his eyes and sighing as you both went under together, hoping that the next time you come up would be the last.
Fallin' into your ocean eyes
“But that doesn’t mean we can’t be together. We’ll get through this. You and I, and in the end, we’ll rule a land without gods. We’ll rule all of Teyvat. We deserve the world and I’ll fight to give it to you.” He whispered achingly and he sounded so confident, it scared you to reach for something that seemed impossible. “This is just the beginning,” he held his hand out and looked at Mondstadt falling one last time but you couldn't bring yourself to look at the destruction again, the screams and rumbling were already enough, “This will pave the way for our future. I could see it now, rebuilding this shitty city into something glorious .” he said in awe, ignoring the scene in front of him and imagining his rule. As Childe’s eyes remained locked on what remains of Mondstadt you couldn’t help but get a breath of fresh air as it dawned on you how much like a leader he looked to be. You could see Childe being the one to lead forward your new world together - even if it meant taking dominion over Tsaritsa and the Fatui from the inside, or manipulating the strings to give you the life you want.
You couldn’t help but feel like you were trapped still, though. So much work and you felt like you were back at the start with an even longer road ahead. But now at least, you weren’t alone anymore. Childe’s lips met yours again and you sighed, drowning in his kiss and falling into him, falling into your ocean. “We’ll get through this together, and we will succeed. Just think of all of Teyvat bowing at your feet, begging for mercy as you choose their freedom, as you choose their future...our future” he whispered to you, resting his forehead against yours and looking into your eyes.
And suddenly, you believed it and wanted it just as badly as he did. You were tired of having others choose who you were meant to be, choose what you did, and choose your life. It was your turn to make that decision and this was the start.
He’s bad but you’ve met worse, you thought to yourself,
“Perhaps this is a good kind of curse.”
Those ocean eyes...