Chapter Text
With the location now in his possession, Childe sped away from Albedo’s. He peeled into a long dirt road and came upon a building. An unassuming, “abandoned”, warehouse sat in front of him. It looked ordinary—if you ignored the 3 black SUV’s and men in suits carrying automatic rifles. A weird observation stopped him for a moment. There were awfully few guards around. Ignoring this, Childe pulled right up to the building without any sense of fear. Instead, he was borderline manic. He grabbed the black bag from the back of his vehicle and walked towards the door. Three men immediately cornered him before he could enter. He laughed, his eyes were filled with something that made the guards think twice about engaging. Childe began to raise his hands slowly, still laughing. Instead of complying with the guards’ orders, however, he quickly reached towards his back, grabbing a concealed pistol and pulling the trigger 3 times. The bullets hit the men’s heads with alarming precision. He kicked their bodies out of the way and pulled the large metal door to the side. He knew it was most likely a trap, but he was running on pure instinct—fight or flight. His reasoning skills were completely absent.
“Ah I really wish you wouldn’t have done that. They were some of my favorite men.”
Childe quickly looked up. In front of him sat a man with his legs crossed. He had one hand in his lap and the other reached down to grab something. Childe’s eyes panned towards the movement. The man pulled up a motionless body by a clump of hair. Childe recognized the gemstone ponytail. He clenched his fists as he examined the state of Zhongli.
“Surprised to see me?” The man said with a chuckle. “I have your dog here. He’s been a bad boy so we had to restrain him. I’m sure you understand.”
Childe brought his attention back to Ayato and scowled, “Ayato you execrable piece of shit…”
Ayato’s face remained unchanged. A nasty smirk sat there, mockingly. He released Zhongli’s head, letting it hit the floor with a soft thud, and wiped his hands together as if to clean himself from the “dog” he had just touched. Childe could feel himself losing control, but he didn’t care to stop it. He knew that his autopilot psychopathy would be much more effective than negotiation. He’d been in this line of work long enough to know when the time for talk was over. His consciousness flickered as he approached the blood stained man.
“It’s quite bold of you to approach me when you know I hold Zhongli’s life in my hands,” Ayato said calmly.
Nothing was getting through to Childe, and he continued his pursuit. He raised a pistol that was once holstered to his hip and pulled back the hammer. The clicking sound bounced off the tension that hung in the air. Ayato responded to the threat with his own gun, but instead of fixing his aim on Childe, he pressed the barrel to Zhongli’s head. Though it was a move Childe had already anticipated, it made him hesitate the slightest bit. Ayato, noticing this and responded in his usual cocky tone.
“Your weakness is showing, Ajax. You won’t shoot me.”
A deafening sound echoed through the concrete room–the first action it had seen in years. A thud followed seconds after.. Ayato and his gun dropped to the floor quicker than Zhongli could understand the situation.
“Childe what are you doing?!” Zhongli cried.
His sudden outburst broke Childe’s trance, but he was bewildered at Zhongli’s reaction. Next to Zhongli, a soft voice spoke from the floor. Childe moved closer to hear it.
Ayato’s blood pooled around him. There was a slight smile on his face, but it held no malicious intent. It was more innocent, like that of a child. It was then that Childe noticed the tears streaming down the sides of his face.
“Thank you for finding Zhongli.”
As Ayato’s consciousness drifted, he mustered up enough energy to slightly turn his head towards Zhongli and simply said, “I’m sorry.”
Then he was gone.
Childe walked closer and checked his pulse. He then picked up the gun that lay beside him and took out the clip to empty it. To his surprise, it already was. Not even a single bullet was housed inside. He looked over at Zhongli.
“Dammit,” Zhongli exclaimed, “why did things have to turn out this way? I’m so sick of death. I’m so sick of fighting.”
Tears streamed down his face. He was frustrated, and for good reason. Childe, however, was the most confused he’d ever been. He walked over to Zhongli and knelt down. Reaching behind him, he pulled out a small but strong metal cutter and released Zhongli from his chains. He pulled Zhongli into his arms and held him as tight as he could to his own body. He needed to make sure this was real. Zhongli looked up at Childe, his glowing amber eyes awash with tears was breathtaking and heartbreaking. Childe stroked Zhongli’s face, wiping away his sadness.
“Listen, I’m not sure what happened here, but you can explain everything to me AFTER I get you out of here. You need to see a doctor first.”
Zhongli said nothing, but his body language agreed. Childe removed his jacket and wrapped Zhongli’s exposed upper half with it. Zhongli buried his face into Childe’s chest as he carried Zhongli to safety.