Chapter Text
Clank!..Clank!..Clank!..
.
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“Lord Harbinger!” An agent scurried over to Childe and bowed. “There has been another organisation that has been terrorising our camps in Liyue. We haven’t been able to capture them.” The agent explained as he looked up at the harbinger’s expression.
“Don’t worry, it’ll be taken care of.” He simply smiled, his lips stretching into a relaxed smile. “Just give me their most recent location on the camps they’ve infiltrated tomorrow and I’ll be sure to make sure the damage has been paid in hand.” He cracked his knuckles.
…
It was like said, not an easy task to find the others. They moved around quickly, but thankfully Childe was quicker. He found traces of electro energy left by one of their enemies, and found it leading to other camps in the far east.
“I see where you’re going..” Get ready for a bloodbath, Childe thought with a smirk. He was becoming confident that he had found them, but each and every camp he went to, no..None..Negative. These people were good.
Before frustration crept up to the ginger who was silently biting into cooked fish, taking a moment to relax before hearing loud footsteps approach him. He perked up in surprise and stood up.
“Sir! We’ve gotten an update that the camp they are located at is camp 256!” The agent informed him. Childe nodded, giving a small thank you with raising his hand.
The harbinger grabbed his mask and scarf. He sped off into the distance, holding his scarf against him to not fly off while his legs carried him away. He sniffed the air, he could smell smoke the closer he got to the location.
Right on time..The last agent had fallen, there were 8 men in total, they looked pretty big and strong. Could definitely hold up for a good couple minutes, the hydro pooped around his hands and formed a firm and sharp polearm.
He threw it, spearing it through one of the men as he charged forward and kicked the man down, his hands gripping onto the polearm and pulling it out and staining the glowing weapon with crimson.
A smirk formed on his face when he heard the other men yell in horror.
“Get him!” One yelled, they were bigger than the others, probably the one leading the group. The large man charged at Childe with all his might, his giant axe behind him as he swung it at Childe with great force.
The ginger almost laughed seeing how slow the swing was despite it being filled with strength. He responded by shattering his hydro polearm against his thigh to create two double blades and went in again..
…
Childe’s foot was placed on top one of the enemy, the heel of his foot pressing into the rough body and sighing. His heart thumping quickly against his chest as he kicked the body across the grass.
“Next time, only take what you can take.” He scoffed, the blood was splattered on his grey jacket. “yebat'” he cursed under his breath, his brows furrowing in annoyance, he flicked his wrist and let his blades disappear.
“I just cleaned this!” Childe says chuckling, the frustration in his tone as clear as the joy. He walked out of the camp with content, finally finishing his task.
A falcon flew by catching the Ginger's attention, the bird released a sealed letter and flew onto Childe’s arm. Childe caught the letter as it fell into his hand.
“Good girl.” He smiled as the falcon made a shriek like sound and took off once it saw Childe had collected the letter.
He eagerly unwrapped the letter, glad that letters could be delivered this way now because his red has a birdie friend.
Childe smiled, his heart leaped with joy as he read the letter from His Red.
Diluc was red, he was THE red, the colour of Ajax’s blood. The blood that flowed through every vein and organ he had and gave him life, Diluc that made his heart pump and spread life to his body, the red in beautiful flowers, Ajax’s favourite scarf, his favourite songs, it’s in everything.
Everytime the adrenaline flows through him during battle, it pumps blood into it, it makes him human. The thump of his heart against his chest in each spar is thrilling, accelerating, incredible, and so amazing. He loves it, and that’s because of the red in him. It was what made him feel alive, what he lived for.
The traces of blood on the snow like bread crumbs behind Childe, easily one of his favourite things. Taking justice and making his enemies surrender, cutting down people who deserve to be sliced apart and tortured. It was a beautiful sight.
The thick white snow and the crimson blood being absorbed, a clear indication of what had gone down. He enjoyed leaving those traces behind, like a sign of his victory..Standing in a field of fallen men, but only himself still on his feet holding his weapon in hand.
Diluc is in everything..His hair is beautiful, so long and scarlet red, his eyes just as beautiful, like an owl made of the sunset and so much red, the lipstick he wears out to their dates, dark red, the clothes he wears almost always tainted with his beautiful scarlet hair that cascaded down his back or shoulders, the flush in his cheeks that made his face bloom with redness..It was the red dendrobiums that Ajax sent to Diluc on Valentine’s Day.
It became one of Ajax’s favourite flowers, apart from sunflowers. Sunflowers were like Diluc, warm. He loved the red in Diluc’s eyes, it reminded him of the fire, the fire his mother would set during winters in Snezhnaya to warm his family. Diluc was the fire, the warmth Ajax had that filled his heart even if it didn’t reach his eyes.
The silly lipstick marks he’d leave on his letters to Diluc, always in a vibrant shade of red and never actual lipstick. Either it be the blood of Ajax himself, or something he ate. As he deemed it disgusting if it was anyone else’s blood that were to touch the delicate letter
Or the way Diluc’s claymore would light in a bright red everytime they sparred, it would make Ajax tremble in excitement seeing such color being produced by him. It would make his lips quiver with delight to see this, how this powerful red flame was all for him. All to harm him, to love him, and to destroy his cockiness. He loved it.
It was the fire people reached for in Dragonspine and Snezhnaya to survive another night without becoming a frozen brick. The fire he’d love to settle in for a night and take a good nap.
The people would gather around fires and talk, during winter festivals they would enjoy being together and singing songs, telling stories, or just sitting in comfortable silence. The fire that always brought them together, brought the people together. There’s no man in Snezhnaya who didn’t love the sound of the crackling fire, the warmth it created was enough to lull one to sleep.
Ajax loved burying his face into that exact red, Diluc’s hair being so soft and so warm, god enough for the ginger to fall asleep in every single time.
The things he eats are red, the dumb jueyun chili’s he gets tricked into eating that burns his mouth and wets his eyes and stuffs his nose, the bright red octopus legs he uses in his signature dish, the yummy Flaming Red Bologense, the small red Medaka fish his cooked to eat, all these foods were delicious to Ajax and always leaving a nice taste on his tongue in the end.
The red in cherries, strawberries, apples, valberries, and the watermelon Ajax ate whenever he was at the hot beach..And yet, the hot blazing Sun had a red layer to it. Red was the sunset, so red, but also having so many different layers to it. Just like Diluc, in his vibrant red he has so many different layers to him, his core is just him, the raw flesh of himself and not the shell he wears to hide himself. He loves the color red, it’s in everything..He could probably live in it now.