I woke up in one of the palace rooms. The view from the window that I recognized helped me to realize it without being much shocked. What did shock me however was Tsaritsa awaiting my awakening.

"What is it you wanted to talk about?" I asked.

"I'm sorry for Dottore did to you. I made sure he would get disciplined well for doing something like that to our new ally. I hope." She looked at me. I couldn't say that I liked the idea of allies with fatui, but I kept losing reasons to hate them. Especially with how kind Tsaritsa was to me. "I do have to admit I didn't expect Tartaglia to take action like that." She said suddenly making me remember the fight he had with the doctor.

"Is he alright? He used his transformation again right?" I panicked a bit and for some reason, she smiled, as if she realized something that I didn't know yet.

"He's resting right now. I have to admit that I was surprised to see his strength grew so much in the time he wasn't around." She said smiling softly. "But still even seeing him living life only to get stronger, I couldn't help but see some of Ajax still in him. Like he fought for something else this time than just to fight."

"Ajax?"

"It's his birth name. He probably doesn't use it much these days." She smiled sadly. I didn't know, what his real name was and now I realized that I never even asked. I wondered if he wanted to tell me about it sometimes but couldn't, or if he just completely threw away his past for the sake of becoming stronger.

"What was he like way back when?" I became a bit curious. Not knowing anything about Childe never bothered me before, but now, after seeing him becoming so angry for the first time and how he stopped his attacks to make sure he placed me in a safe spot... It made me wonder, what really was inside his mind. Tsaritsa smiled at me.

"Why don't you ask him yourself?" She said smiling that warm smile again, not fitted for the cryo archon.

"I don't think he would want to talk to me about it."

"I'm sure that of all people, you're the one that he wouldn't mind opening up to." She stood up from the chair next to the window. "He also needs someone to talk to." Then she came closer to me and sat at the edge of the bed I was lying in. "You see, I used to be a God of love..." She started looking into my eyes. "... but I have long lost my ability to love my people because of how much of myself I gave away to the harbingers. However it always makes me happy when I see one of them having these feelings grow inside of them... And Childe is honestly the last person I expected to ever feel these feelings towards someone." She grabbed my hands suddenly. I was a bit confused as to, what she was talking about and she probably realized that as she sighed. "You really should look into his eyes more." She added letting go of my hands and leaving the room slowly.

I didn't know what she meant. She did mention love and said that she never expected Childe to grow feelings towards someone, did it mean that Childe had someone he loved? Did she say it to me because...?

No. No. No.

I shook my head telling myself that I'm being delusional and there's no way that Childe... Ajax would feel any kind of feelings other than the want to spar against me. Ajax... I liked this name and before I could feel that a smile crept on my lips as I repeated it in my mind multiple times.

*KNOCK* *KNOCK*

"Come in." I said before the door opened at first slowly letting me see Zhongli holding the handle - to suddenly bust opened as Venti and Paimon rushed into the room and towards me, crying about how much they were worried when I wasn't waking up for hours.

"I thought we came too late!" Whined the archon as he moved away from a bear hug I found myself stuck in as soon as they entered, which actually brought to mind a certain question.

"What are you even doing here?"

"We came along with Childe to get you back." He sure seemed to speak of the man with leisure. It made me wonder, what he actually thought about fatui, but then again I myself wasn't sure, what I would say if someone asked me about them. At one point I grow to believe that they have some reasonable reasons for their actions and start to trust them, but whenever I do - something happens that makes me doubt them again... And Childe, he's like a complete contradiction. He was the reason I was captured and yet he would assemble this weird rescue squad and eventually be the one to help me. Then there was Tsaritsa - she didn't seem like a bad person, but I honestly couldn't understand her... She was very straight forward and yet I felt like every word she said hid some riddle to it. What was the thing she said about Childe supposed to mean anyway? 'I should look into his eyes more'. I did look into them sometimes, but no matter what the circumstances - they always looked the same. Be it in the middle of a battle or when he was cheerfully smiling - his eyes would always lack any kind of glow to them, always looking like he's dead inside. I honestly doubted I would find any hidden message in them.

"Where is he?" I asked looking around the room. Oddly enough he didn't come with them.

"He... Uhm..." Paimon started looking around as if trying to find the right answer.

"He collapsed halfway to the palace and still haven't woken up." Zhongli interrupted looking at us from the chair across the room. "Tsaritsa said that he's been overusing his delusion recently and his body couldn't take it, so it decided to shut itself off for while." He seemed weirdly calm, while revealing the fact that his friend is in a coma and I couldn't help, but feel a bit guilty for whatever reason. I shouldn't have, because none of what happened was my fault - but I still did over the fact that he overworked himself while trying to protect me there. Maybe if he didn't unleash it in the lab, he would have been okay. But right now he wasn't.

"Can I go to him?" I asked, visibly surprising the other two with my question. Well, I never would've expected myself to ask them that question either, but there I was - anticipating an answer, not moving my sight away from Zhongli as if it was his decision, whether it's okay for me to go or not.

"Perhaps you should." He sighed. "But perhaps it would be better to stay in bed for now. It's not like he's in grave danger - you will have other occasions to see him." He said standing up. "That said, I might actually pay him a visit." And with that, he left the room and I turned my gaze to Venti that looked oddly sad all of a sudden.

"I honestly don't know if he was ready to die there or if he just didn't think straight." He said half whispering then smiled at me sadly. "Still, he's pretty strong, isn't he? I'm kinda glad it was Signora that ambushed me rather than him. It could be pretty ugly if it were him."

He was slowly walking down the corridor towards the room at the end of it. Childe had a certain amount of recklessness in him, but he would never expect that someone of big goals and family to care for would let himself get this carried away by anger. Upon entering the room with the ginger-haired man lying on the bed - with a visible expression of pain on his unconscious face - he couldn't help but spot a tall lady standing by the window.

"Who would have thought you cared about your harbingers to the point of watching over him now..." Said geo-archon looking up and down the lady in the long dress.

"I always cared about my people, even though I express it in a different way than normally imaginable, I actually wish for nothing but peace and safety for them." She looked away from the window and the sudden sadness overlapped her usually neutral expression. "But right now this boy is far from both. He's probably struggling to even keep himself breathing at this point." She added as she slowly approached the unconscious male and placed her hand on his forehead then a small cryo energy could be seen around the area. "He's going to make it. He's strong in both mind and body after all." The man looked up from his friend's painful face and saw the lady now measured him with a small smile on her lips. "Who would've thought that your first friend after entering the life of mortal would be this one."

"It was a most unexpected occurrence indeed." He said as he looked at the screens next to Childe's bed. He didn't know, what any of the lines or numbers indicated, but he still acted like he did if it meant avoiding meeting the gaze of the cryo archon.

She chuckled as it didn't take her long to figure that the man had no idea, what he was looking at and yet didn't show any confusion. She slowly approached the door and stepped after opening them to look back at the man.

"One of our doctors said that he should wake tonight. He should have some rest for now." She said as she left the room leaving the doors opened, as if to wordlessly say 'you should leave as well' - and he did as told, moving his gaze away from the weird screen and examining his friend. He did look much better than the moment they brought him in - he didn't look like every breath he took was heavy enough on his body to shatter his ribs even though he could barely manage to take in even a shallow breath at the time. His face still indicated that he's in much pain though and he couldn't help but sigh thinking about how stupid Childe's actions were sometimes, and with that thought, he left the room - closing the doors behind him.

I opened my eyes slowly but I'd don't see much difference in lighting. I figured it was pretty late since I saw only darkness whether I closed my eyes or not. Still, I didn't know how long I've slept for, but I sure did get some awesome rest. My body still felt a bit heavy when I moved due to brainless usage of Foul Legacy Transformation once again, but I didn't regret it. If I could I would do it again and again if it made Dottore make that scared expression that I never saw before that fight. Thinking about it actually made me wonder how Lumine was doing and if she didn't encounter any issues. The technology that we had for treating injuries was probably enough to heal whatever it was that he did to her, but I still felt like I should go and check on her... If she was still in the palace that is. Traritsa took a weird liking to her from what I realized while accompanying the lady on her way here, so that got me a bit relieved about Lumine's safety.

I got up from the bed, groaning a little as my muscles tenses up and felt like they are ripping apart a short while after.

"I should really give my body a break from that." I thought as I came closer to the doors. The halls were empty and dark but you could see a tiny bit of light coming from one of the infirmary rooms and I assumed that it was where Lumine rested. Quietly I opened the doors as to not wake her up in case she was actually asleep and walked inside, leaving them slightly opened. The candle next to her bed was lit, which indicated the fact that someone left this room not long ago and I couldn't help but become a little jealous once again when the thought of it being Venti or even Zhongli crossed my mind.

The girl however was fast asleep but seemed peaceful. Her breathing was fine and she wasn't hurt from what I could tell. She also got dressed into more proper clothes, which made me glad knowing that she's not cold.

"Even when asleep, she's still so damn adorable." I thought coming a bit closer and caressing her warm cheek slightly but moving my hand back right after she let out some quiet sleepy moan and turned to the side which made me chuckle. She was healthy and I was glad for that. Seeing her locked in that glass case, drowned in some weird strange liquid, and connected to various cords made me scared for a moment, but apparently, she was alrighty and was enough to make me happy.

I quietly closed the doors behind me leaving her alone after blowing the candle in her room. Once I went through the corridor I realized that the doors to my room in the infirmary were opened, even though I was sure I left them closed. I peeked inside the room to see a young boy with a feminine appearance sit on the window frame and smile at me once he acknowledged my appearance.

"Hi there." He said waving slowly. "How are ya feeling?" He asked. I had my suspicions about it, but then again - we did spend a few days together so I guess he maybe has warmed up to me a bit... And now he's in the Fatui headquarters pretty much just chilling as if nothing ever happened.

"I'm good. What are you doing here?" I asked.

"Well, I saw your head to Lumine's resting room. I figured that since you're going to check up on her, someone should still check up on you." He smiled again with that childish smile. "You really tend to overdo it when protecting people you love, don't you? I can respect that." He said and I turned my head instantly.

"Did Paimon tell you about that?"

"No. It became obvious when I saw how you looked at that clone on the street." He jumped off the window frame reminding me of the fact that something like that happened.

"Right. What happened to it?" I looked at him.

"Tsaritsa suddenly appeared and froze it, then made it shatter and boy should you see our faces. We thought that she killed Lumine right there and then." He laughed a bit.

"Well, her majesty is not the type to brainlessly kill anyone. Not like her subordinates." I chuckled.

"We all have our reasons. If it was for Mind, I probably wouldn't feel bad committing arson either. But now that I know you're alive and well I guess I can go to the chambers that they showed me. Sleep well." He said leaving the room. I felt like he had something he wanted to say but he didn't and it made me feel a bit uneasy to watch him close the doors behind him. But I wouldn't go chasing after the guy - if he didn't want to say something then I wouldn't force him, it's not like I needed that information most likely anyway. What I needed though, was more rest that every muscle of my body was begging me for, so I lied down again and tried to fall asleep while thinking about everything that happened and is going to happen.

"I might visit home tomorrow since I'm here already..." I thought but discarded the idea as soon as it appeared. I did miss my family, but if they saw me in the state I was still in they would probably get more worried than happy that I'm there - not to mention the pain that spread all over my body whenever I slightly touched or bumped into something. I would have to wait a few more days if I wanted to meet them and it made me wonder, if Lumine would stay in Sneznhaya for these few days or if she was about to leave as soon as she wakes up tomorrow.

Not that it would make much difference... I didn't feel like I could look her into the eyes now anyway, after all, I was the one to blame for this whole situation and she probably felt the same.