The fallen girl lay there clutching at her body helplessly, the beads of her crimson essence reflecting off the blades of grass like a glittering jewel. Her weapon, a beautiful sword of white and silver, lay discarded uselessly on the ground.

He wasn't quite so sure about the situation he had happened to stumble upon on a whim, but the scent of fresh blood in the air had the effect of drawing him closer like a moth to an open flame. For him, it was a familiar, even sensual smell, a faintly sweet and damp perfume that addled the senses and deluded the mind.

It also had the side effect of stimulating his sexual arousal.

"S-Stop...! D-Don't come any closer...!"

Her desperate pleas fell on deaf ears. Bathed in the bright rays of light coming from the frozen moon above, the writhing motions of her sleek white body stirred a hot, arousing rhythm that toyed with his reason and made him feel like he was losing to his instincts.

Everything, from the way she twisted and turned in agony, to how her throat leaked out sweet, pained moans along with the scarlet liquid dripping down her thighs made it seem like she was an innocent girl losing her virginity for the very first time.

Somehow, looking at this girl in her moment of weakness made him feel like he was peeping into a forbidden world, along with all the underlying voyeuristic implications it carried.

It was the purest, barest expression of a woman, fully laid before him.

Bit by bit, step by step, her voice grew hotter and damper as he approached. She kept frantically telling him to stop, but he tuned her out as he continued to come closer. Somehow, by choosing to ignore her, it felt like he was ruthlessly violating her dignity as a woman. With each heavy step, he found himself driving deeper right into her very core.

If that was the case, he thought to himself, what would happen when he had finally reached her?

The answer to that was-

She would probably climax.

Right as he was about to cross that final threshold, the sound of guttural cries broke through the silent night. He recognized that sound, it was a common encounter when one ventured out in the wilderness. They were Hilichurls. Nothing more than detestable weaklings waiting to be slaughtered.

Her eyes widened in shock, if it was from the blood loss or something else he did not know.

"Please!" She begged him. Wontonly, shamelessly, desperately, as if she was a woman who had been brought to the edge and denied her release. "It's not safe! You have to run!"

Looking at her helpless state like this ignited a primal, manly instinct in him. It was an automatic reaction, a desire to protect a person of the opposite sex at critical times like this. It was a strange thrill, one that was similar to the rush of battle, but ever so slightly different.

So he did as he was told.

The first thing he noticed as he lifted her was how light her dainty body was. It felt as if he was cradling something fragile and precious in his arms.

The other thing he quickly noticed was the damp fabric of his shirt sticking to his skin. Now that he was closer to her, he could see it clearly.

She was wet. Dripping even.

Blood was running freely from a nasty-looking gash on her midsection. Until now, it had been mostly hidden, but judging from the copious amount of fluids she was leaking onto him, he knew that she did not have much time. The power of Hydro surged through his body and sang like a war song. He would have liked nothing more than to draw blades right now and cut her pursuers down, but such a thing was out of the question at the moment.

Forcing down that pressure back into his chest, he swallowed his urges and started to sprint. The scenery in his field of view quickly transformed into a blur.

He already knew it deep down, but it was such a farce.

For the sake of an unknown woman he'd never met before up to this point, he'd been reduced to retreating like a weak fool. What had once been the apex predator was now fleeing from his nominal prey.

Illuminated by the silver moonlight that perfectly complimented the color of her pale yellow hair, the boy ran harder than anything he could ever recall in his life, towards the brightly lit safety of the oriental city in the distance.

When she buried his face into his chest for support, he hoped that he could explain away the hammering impact of his pounding heart as a byproduct of physical exertion if she were to ever ask.

The girl was in a daze and she did not notice, but he had gently smeared some of her blood on her lips. A delightful makeup that she wore for him and him alone.

Later on, he would find out her name as he sat by her bedside.

"My name is Lumine. Have you seen my brother?" She asked, gold eyes shining with innocent trust.

He smiled, a gentle veneer hiding the violent beast within.

Yes, she would do wonderfully.


A/N:

Scribbled this in around 40 minutes. Didn't really have an outline or anything for this, not even a plan, I kinda just came up with a classic boy-meets-girl scenario and started to write from pure intuition. For this work, I wanted to convey the toxic, unhealthy reality of a relationship involving Childe instead of an idealized one.

Before anyone gets excited, I only wrote this to stretch my creative muscles. I don't intend for this to become anything serious or to turn it into a proper long-form story, nor do I have any outlines or plans to. I guess one could call this a one-shot, maybe? A sample? A taste of what could be? Hm.

But if there's a large amount of feedback requesting me to follow this up, i.e the writing style interests you, then maybe I might consider it. I won't promise anything, because I have a lot of writing projects as it is, but I might consider opening this as a side project, to be produced whenever I feel too creatively stifled by my other works.

However, if that were to happen, it would be under a new work/story entirely. For this piece of work 'Rafflesia' specifically, it ends here. Think of it as a proposed draft, if one will.

Also I'm a huge Chilumi fan. So that helps. That is all.