Unleashed: The Seven Deadly Sins - Lust

by Naughty Tome

The pain of heartbreak is equal to the amount of love you have for someone. And sometimes, a part of loving someone is to learn how to let them go. But if you love someone so much to the point that you're unwilling to let go... Then it's no longer love that controls you.

2. That

Welp, here's the second part. Sorry that it took a little longer, been busy with lots of things. The kind that exactly made me wants to write this fic to begin with.

---

Chapter 2

Lust may exist in many different forms.

While the general view of lust are often associated with the concept of blind love, loving someone of their outside appearance instead of what they are as a person, the truth is, lust can be used on anything that made a man crazy for it, hungry for it.

Lust for power, for someone who desires power above anything else. Lust for revenge, for someone who's vengeance has consumed their soul and blinded their heart. Lust for description, for a madman who simply wants the world to burn.

And... There's also lust for battle, for someone who dedicated their life for battle, and spent their entire life looking for a worthy form of the man they called "Childe."

Though she couldn't see it during the first time she meets him in this world, she would learn later on of just how much this guy loves to find trouble, even it was essentially unnecessary.

Lumine laid her eyes on the man for the first time during the Rite of Descension in Liyue, the once in a year day where the god, Rex Lapis, would descent into the world to meet his people and give answers to their question. Though Lumine does came there to seek the Archon's guidance regarding her missing brother and the truth behind the day of disaster, she also has her own personal reasons for going there, and who would've thought that she not only met one, but three familiar faces under a single day. With a certain ginger haired man being among them.

He shows up during an unexpected time, in an unexpected situation. Just when she thought that that day will goes smoothly, a giant dragon fell down from the sky, crashing into Yujing Terrace where Rex Lapis supposed to descent.

Everyone panicked at the sight of the lifeless corpse of the giant dragon, who apparently, is none other than their god. The Qixing declared him dead and that he was assassinated, with the assassins nearby and everyone currently present could be one, which led to a quarantine where everyone got inspected by the Millelith.

But Lumine knew better than all of them.

Rex Lapis isn't dead, the dragon that just fell is but a shell, and empty husk, made by Celestial energy that made it appear to be alive when it's not. And added with the information she got from Venti, she sees no Gnosis inside that shell, meaning that both the divine artifact as well as the being who possesses it is somewhere else, clearly plotting something by shedding his skin like this in public.

And so she tried to leave the scene quietly, not wanting to waste time there being inspected. But apparently however, having a weird floating fairy by your side and walking around freely with bandaged eyes without a cane is a sight that is totally suspicious in their eyes. And after just one single movement, she found herself surrounded by the Millelith, with their spears all pointed towards her. But not like they pose any real trouble.

Seeing as there's no way of running past them, she took out her sword.

"Hey girlie, hold still!"

A voice suddenly spoke up, and out of nowhere, a figure jumped out from hiding and came into view. A tall man with ginger hair and blue eyes, he got a grey uniform on and a red scarf that trails behind one shoulder.

"You...?!"

She didn't expect to see him here, but then again, this is Tevyat we're talking about.

The man materializes a twin sword made out of water in both of his hands, ready for battle, only to realize a little too late that all the Millelith that had surrounded her are all already on the ground, unconscious.

"W-Who are you?" Paimon asked the newcomer, surprised and confused by his sudden appearance.

There was a sound of more Millelith coming their way. The man overcame his shock and gestures to them to follow him.

"No time to chat. Come on, follow me, I know a hiding place." He said before running away, with Lumine and Paimon following him behind.

They descended the walkway out of Yujing Terrace, and successfully avoided the Millelith's pursuit. Finding a hiding spot in one obvious place where the Liyue officials would have to second guess, the Northland Bank, the base of operations for the Fatui in Liyue. So her guesses are correct, he and that lady are related in this world as well.

"So just who are you exactly?" Paimon asked the man again, now that they're safe from the pursuing Millelith. She glares at him up and down, inspecting his appearance closely, eyeing him in full suspicion.

"Me? You may call me Childe." The man replied, smiling at them a little cheerfully.

"Childe? Are we supposed to dote on you or something?" Paimon asked, clearly not getting the reference behind that name.

"It's an alias, Paimon." Lumine corrected her. Crossing her arms across her chest, she turns her head to look towards him, seeing him doing the same towards her. "His real name is... Ajax. Though only a number of people know that."

That statement caused a reaction from him, his eyes widened in surprise, while his lips are unmoved. Surely such an expression would become memorable to the minds of some people.

"Most people knew him for his alias, Childe, or his title, Tartaglia." She finishes, raising an eyebrow at him as she asks. "Am I right?"

Childe went silent for a minute, before the corner of his lips quirk up and his body shook, as he started snickering, which then turned into a full blown laugh.

"Ahahaha, as expected from Signora's assailant. You really are as unpredictable as they say." He says while still laughing. After his laughter dies down, he lightly shook his head before eyeing her curiously, crossing his arms on his chest. "Tell me, girlie, how did you know all of this?"

"I have my ways." Lumine said with a shrug of her shoulders. "I can say more if you want."

"Ahahah, I would rather that you don't." Childe waved his hand, though he hid it well, there's a hidden expression in his face that begs her to please not do it.

"Wait, how did you know about Signora?" Paimon asked, still remember the name of the lady that attacked Venti, and gotten her butt whooped by Lumine as a result.

"It's because they're comrades, obviously." Lumine answered her question.

"Comrades? You mean... He's a fatui?!" Paimon gasped in surprise, immediately backing away from Childe while raising her arms defensely.

"Oh please, don't ever liken me to the likes of her." Childe rolls his eyes hard, looking very annoyed. "Though we stood on the same ranks as a Fatui Harbinger, her number are three times above mine. And ugh, who wants to be friends with that old hag anyway?" He asks, as if the people before him know about that kind of problem.

"Three times above?" Paimon asked with a tilt of her head.

"That's right. There are a total of eleven harbingers in the Fatui. Numbered one to eleven, and they're all ranked by strength." He explained, before sighing and placed his head on his palm. "And as much as I hate to admit it, I'm number eleven, while that hag is the eighth, and thus making her stronger than me."

"Oh, Paimon see." Paimon nods in understanding. The fairy then flew closer to Lumine and whispered to her ears. "Hey Lumi, since you've already beat number eight, then this guy should be a piece of cake for you right?"

"There's no guarantee for that Paimon. But, we'll see." Lumine whispered back.

"Anyway, enough about that." Childe clears his throat in order to get their attention after being left out from conversation. "I'm here to help you."

"Help? Why would we want help from a fatui?"

"Hey come on now, I'm not the bad guy here." He paused for a bit. "I mean... I guess I am kind of a bad guy, but I'm not related to anything that happens up there." He shakes his head before crossing his arms, his expression turns serious. "I have my eyes on you the whole time, so I know that the assassin is not you, it was someone else, and I'm here to help you look for them."

Lumine considers whether she should tell him or not about the truth of the situation, that Rex Lapis isn't dead, and what they saw is simply just a shedded skin. But since this is Fatui, she is ultimately against it, knowing that they'll learn the truth for themselves eventually.

But all of that aside, there is another thing that piqued Lumine's interest...

As she stares at Childe, she looks into his to see if there's anything there. And she found nothing... His eyes, though beautiful to look at as it was, are dead and empty, like there's not a single hint of emotions in them. Just what caused this sort of phenomenon?

It's even deader than he is...

~o~0~o~

He knew that he should've expected anything, but Childe couldn't believe that she was actually like that!

He still remembers the reports he received weeks ago, how his interest in her first piqued, and eventually blossoms into desire to meet and fight.

"Any other things worth of my attention?"

The eleventh Harbinger asked the other man in the room. The ginger haired man is sitting on a chair while raising both of his legs that he placed on top of the desk. Having a boring expression on his face as he halfheartedly listens to all the reports being given to him.

"Yes sir, there is one more." The Fatuus replied, to which Childe rolls his eyes, mentally glad that it's nearing the end. "We received a letter this morning, it came from Snezhnaya."

Now this perked his interest. He turns his head to look at his underling with interest, raising his eyebrow.

"From Snezhnaya? Is it... From them?"

Come to think of it, it's been a while since he received or sent any letters to his homeland. It won't be surprising to find that they've sent him one with how long it has been since he was away.

"No sir, it's from the Zapolyarny Palace." The underling shook his head, before his expression turns serious. "From her royal highness, the Tsaritsa."

Now THIS surprises him even more. Her majesty just sent him a letter? Is there something urgent happening in Snezhnaya?

"The Tsaritsa?" Childe repeated, losing his relaxed demeanor instantly. Sitting straight on his chair, he thought about it for a moment, before he gave another order to his henchmen. "Read me about its content."

The Fatuus nodded. He opens the letter and starts reading its contents as Childe patiently and anticipatingly waits.

After a few minutes passed, the Fatuus finished, and lay it all down on him.

"It says that... Lady Signora won't be coming to Liyue as early as planned." The Fatuus revealed, gaining a curious look from the Harbinger. "Something unexpected happened, and as of currently, she's out of commission due to injuries that needs to be tended."

"Injuries? Hah! Did she stub her toe on Barbatos' statue while leaving the cathedral or something?" Childe grinned, thinking about the thought of the great crimson witch of embers who had lived for the past 500 years would be hospitalised by a simple injury.

But then again, it does hurts as hell when you stub your toe, especially against bed frame or table foot.

"No sir, she was assaulted." The Fatuus shook his head, his expression is serious. "An unknown assailant attacked her while she was retrieving the Anemo Gnosis. Not only did they make her hospitalized, but they injured some of our men too."

"Huh, how interesting. So it wasn't the Knights?" Childe asked, receiving a shake of the head from his underling. "Any information about this mysterious assailant?"

"It's not much... But she says." The Fatuus looked at the letter once more. "A blonde haired girl, in a knightly white dress, and... She is also blind... Apparently."

A... Blind person? What kind of joke is this? He would expect Varka or someone else to do it. But, a girl with a vision impairment? How laughable this whole situation was!

"The letter also says that she'll likely go to Liyue next. It's best that we proceed our objectives with caution with her around." The Fatuus finished, closing the letter in his hand.

He's right, it is best for the Fatui's interest to be careful and not mess around with this person while they proceed with their objectives.

But when speaking of HIS interest on the other hand... His heart is burning from excitement!

And there she is. The blonde haired traveler that makes his heart burns with excitement. And just like they said, she really does looks like a knightly princess, especially with her pristine white dress. And then there's also that blindfold that covered her eyes, though Childe understood why anyone would thought her to be blind, the Harbinger doubted if it's true.

There's no way that a blind person could do some amazing feats like her after all.

He stares at her as the blonde traveler and her fairy companion left for Jueyun Karst to seek the Adepti. Never leaving her form until she disappears in the distance. He smiles widely.

He'll be looking forward to it. The day when he could test out her strength!

~o~0~o~

Sometimes, people are born with the ability to conceal what they truly feel or what their emotions are. Other times, they went through some circumstances that made them that way.

These types of people are clever in hiding the true desires of their heart, and conceal their emotions and expression under the mask of politeness and cheerfulness.

And she finds an example in this man she met in Liyue.

They went inside the Golden House when they heard that the Qixing hid the Exuvia inside, making it the target of the Fatui who searched for Morax's Gnosis. Most of them haven't known that the lord of Geo isn't dead yet, and right now, they're trying to force their way inside to claim the Gnosis that they thought to be inside his dead body.

Lumine already knew the identity of Morax's vessel, but she did not know whether he holds his Gnosis in hand or not, which is the reason why she went to the Golden House as well.

She easily snuck inside the building, and make a quick work of Millelith guarding inside by knocking them all unconscious in order to remain undetected, silently apologizing to them for her rude behaviour.

Once those were taken care of, she walks further inside, looking up to see the mighty form of the mountain dragon at the other side of the building. Overlooking the huge platform in the middle like a statue guards and watches his makings, namely the mountains of Mora below.

"Looking at it up close like this... It does looks kind of terrifying huh?" Paimon softly mutters as she looks up at the form of the dragon above her. "Paimon can't help but think like it's staring down towards Paimon like she's it's lunch. Ooh... how scary."

"It won't eat you, Paimon." Lumine reassures her friend. "Just think of it as a statue, a lifeless figure made of stone." Lumine said, gaining a half-hearted nod from Paimon.

They came here to check on the Exuvia, better make this quick.

Silently, Lumine raise her hand, reaching to the wrap of bandages around her head. She tugs at the piece of cloth gently, pulling it down a little, allowing the light of the outside world to reach her eyes for the first time in dozens of days. Her eyelids opens up to reveal a pair of shiny golden orbs.

"Scanning."

She looks at the Exuvia above, her gaze pierce through it's scaly brown skin, through it's flesh, through it's fiber of muscles, and into it's core where it's heart supposed to be. And Lumine finds... Nothing. Nothing, it's totally empty.

"What is it? What did you find?" Paimon asked her after seeing no changes in Lumine's expression.

"It's empty." Lumine shook her head. Closing her eyes again, she fixed her blindfold back to it's original position. "The Gnosis wasn't inside the Exuvia."

"Wait, what?!" Paimon exclaimed in surprise.

"Looks like Rex Lapis didn't left it there for someone to take it. He must've stored it away somewhere else, where no one could find it. Or..."

He simply still holding on to it.

"Come on Paimon, let's go. We've finished our job here." Lumine suddenly said after a pause, turning around to face the direction towards the exit.

"Eh? Where are we going?" Paimon asked which Lumine did not answer immediately, but she still follow after her friend.

If the Gnosis really is still in the God of Geo's hand, then she'll have to ask Zhongli about this.

"Now now, where do you think you're going, girlie?"

Lumine looks to her front, seeing a familiar figure slowly approaches her. His deep blue eyes staring straight at her, filled with what she could decipher to be mirth and amusement, supported by the smirk he's making with his lips.

"Gah! It's Childe!" Paimon exclaimed in surprise upon seeing th Fatui Harbringer that they just met and get acquanted mere few days ago.

"You sound like you're surprised to see me. Do you really not expect me to show up at all? When my objectives were THIS close?" The ginger haired man asked, putting one hand resting on his side.

"Not really." Lumine replied with a shake of her head. "I always knew the Fatui's goal will be to claim the Gnosis, in some way or another. That's the reason why you decided to stick around and even lend a hand for the Rite of Parting procedures, in the end, it's just a tactic to discover where the Qixing had hid the Exuvia and take the Gnosis from it. You even use me in doing so as well. So it's not very surprising." The blonde girl, crossing her arms and looking at Childe with a knowing look, though it's not like the man could see it.

"Hah, as expected of you, you cacth on pretty quickly." Childe says with a small huff, his lips turned into a full smile now, as he looks up towards the Exuvia in the distance. "But you are correct. As one of the Eleven Fatui Harbringers, it's my duty to see the will of the Tsaritsa fulfilled. She will get what she desires." His eyes drifts back down, looking directly towards her. "You've already fulfilled your tasks as guides, so you shouldn't keep lingering here. I will take the Gnosis, and you wouldn't stand in my way."

He reaches an arm to her, looking like he's ready for battle, but Lumine don't have time to waste here, and personally... She would rather not have a fight with him, due to personal reasons. So she decided to make it quick.

"What if I tell you that the Gnosis wasn't there?" Lumine asked, causing a pause.

Childe raise an eyebrow at her, curious and confused, while Paimon looks at her in wonder of what she's currently thinking.

"I've looked inside it already, and that body is empty, there's no Gnosis inside." Lumine continues, pursing her lips to form the correct words needed to be said. "Someone must've already taken it, and place it somewhere else, either that, or they're the one currently holding it." She shook her head lightly. "In other words, you're wasting your time here, perhaps you should be looking somewhere else."

"Hah, do you really think you could just fool me like that?" Childe scoffed at that. "You need to come up with better reason next time, girlie."

Lumine's response is just to huff in annoyance. She has told him the truth, it's up to him to believe her or not. Though he can just simply went up there to confirm it himself.

"Go ahead and check it out for yourself if you don't believe me. I have no other business here. Let's go Paimon." Deciding to not heed him anymore, she walks away towards the exit, walking pass by him who stood in place as she ignores him, with Paimon closely following behind, still unsure where they are heading now, but she'll always follows Lumine to wherever she goes.

She almost reached the exit, when suddenly feel something's wrong.

"Now now, let's not be hasty here, girlie."

Lumine felt something has changed in the air, and she stepped back. Wall of flames suddenly errupts before her, spreading quickly along the sides of the platform she's standing on, eventually making a big circle that crawls up into the air and meeting at the center point above, forming a dome-like shape.

"W-Wha- What's this?!" Paimon asked in shock, looking around to see the almost transparent walls of flames have surrounded them.

"A barrier." Lumine answered.

For an elemental barrier to be placed like this... It seems to be too much for the Qixing to cast simply for protection against intruders. In other words, someone else must've placed it in order to entrap or prevent something or someone to leave. And with that fact in mind, the man behind her is definitely the one who cast it.

"Don't you think it's a little rude to leave a man behind while he's not finished talking yet?"

Lumine turned herself around, facing Childe who stared at her with a cool smile, one hand placed on his side while the other hangs beside him. That's when Lumine noticed something: his eyes has changed. It's still the same dark soulless blue just like before, but now, there's something sparkling inside, burning desire, unyielding lust.

Is this the emotions hidden behind his tragedy? His hidden side masked by a polite and cheerful persona?

"Though claiming the Gnosis remains my first priority as a Harbinger. I have my own priorities right here." Childe said, his eyes narrowed slightly.

"Gah, just tell us what are up to mister!" Paimon yelled, crossing her arms while glaring sharply at Childe.

"It's pretty simple really." Childe smiles widened, he raise his hand, and pointed his finger towards Lumine. "I wish... To have a duel with you."

"W-What?" Paimon asked in surprise, her eyes widened slightly. "You just want to have a duel with the traveler?!"

"Why of course." Childe nods his head. "I've always wanted to challenge those who were stronger than me. My life is but a constant battle, that's my life's philosophy. And in fact, the main reason why I joined the Fatui in the first place."

Childe then sighed heavily, putting his hand on his palm.

"You wouldn't know just how much boring it is. To find yourself already too strong that nobody's left to challenge you and giving you a good fight. I joined the Fatui to find a worthy opponent, only to realize that no one is able to match my current strength, while those ten above have too much time in their hands to lift their blade. Tch, all this boredom and frustrations are killing me!"

Lumine listened closely to his ramblings. And somewhere along the way, she could feel a pang rising from the depths of her chest that resonates with his words, especially when he said about wanting to find a worthy opponent and have a good fight. It causes some dark feelings to rise, but Lumine pushes it all down immediately, putting a hand on her chest and trying to steady her breath.

So this is an alternative form of lust... His lust for challenges... It's ̶i̶n̶c̶r̶e̶d̶i̶b̶l̶e̶ ridiculous!

"But you... You are different." Childe looks at Lumine, with eyes full of amazement and... Admiration she guess. "You're not like those arrogant fools who keep looking down at me, nor are you those weaklings who could kill me with boredom. You are magnificent."

Lumine didn't know whether she should take those as compliments or insults. But then again... She really is different from any other person.

"That's why I wanted a duel with you so badly. Those reports I've read about you... How you easily injure Signora so easily... My hands are itching to clash my blades with you!" Childe bawled his hands into fist, his lips turned into a smirk, fully displaying his hunger. "Now come, and face me!"

Lumine looks at his form. Memories flashes of the pasts when she saw someone so similar to him... Yet they feel different.

"I don't want to fight you." Lumine whispered softly, lowering her head slightly.

Childe scoffed, still smirking. "It doesn't matter whether you say yes, or no." Childe's eyes glow, something materialized in his hands. "What really matters is... How much are you able to satisfy me!"

In one second, multiple shots of arrows made of Hydro energy are launched towards her, flying with the speed of sound, with anyone barely able to comprehend what happened.

Splash

The sounds of water hitting something rings in the air. Childe stares to see that his arrows did not hit his target. Instead, his hydro arrows crashed against a Geo structures that he swears are not there seconds ago.

"Paimon..." Lumine spoke up as the Geo structures crumbled, revealing Lumine behind it. "Do me a favor and go back to your dimension." Without looking at her companion, Lumine stepped forward, facing Childe whilst guarding the pixie with her body. "Things are about to get wet here."

"But Lumi..." Paimon looks at Lumine, somewhat in concern. "What are you..."

"Don't worry." Lumine tilts her head to the back slightly, looking at Paimon. "I'm not gonna kill him. Not yet."

Paimon looks unsure, but she nods her head anyway and pops out of existence, returning to the safety of her pocket dimension.

"Heh, how confident you are, thinking that you could actually kill me. But..." Childe raises his arms, a white and and blue bow in his hands charged with hydro energy, prepared to fire another shot. "Go ahead and try, I would like to see it."

~o~0~o~

The fight inside the Golden House took forever for it to be finished.

But it's not because Lumine had difficulty when she is being faced with one of the eleven most powerful humans in this world, but rather, it's because this is a one-sided battle. Only one of them throwing the offensives, while the other simply repelled everything that is being thrown at them.

Childe called her out for this, after continuously shooting hydro arrows at her to which she either dodge or block using her Geo powers to create shield and walls of stone. Even after he changes his offensive techniques, from simply firing arrows to firing waves of waters towards her, and even threw a giant hydro familiar in the shape of a whale towards her, she still persists on not lifting her blade.

"Fine. Guess I'll have to use this!"

His great annoyance for not being able to hit his enemy enough for them to retaliate causes him to go for the second option. Childe reaches for his mask on the side of his head, and puts it on properly. And the once humid and wet air is now crackling with electricity as something have changed inside Childe.

Lumine looks on at him, seeing the changes made to his body. Not only the uniform he wore has changed colour, from grey to black, but the elements he's using changed too, as well as the energy source that empowers it.

He's using that same dark energy that the fair lady also uses in their brief scuffle in Mondstadt.

If he's using a bow in his previous stance, then this time, he favours himself to use blades instead. Using the bendable electro energy coursing through his body to form a projection of a weapon, a twin short blade that looks similar to the hydro version of it, as well as a twin bladed spear that can be formed by combining the twin blades. So he's a close range fighter now.

His mask may have conceal his eyes. But Lumine could feel it, this darkness that exudes from him that keeps getting stronger and stronger, his hunger and lust, it steadily grows more and more as he becomes more impatient with every second. He really is a warrior, born only for the sake of the rush of battles.

Something churns in her stomach with this sudden increase of dark feelings. This is ̶a̶m̶a̶z̶i̶n̶g̶ concerning.

"You're wide open!"

Lumine widen her eyes, as she saw a little too late as Childe blitz towards her in a split second. Her inner throughts caused her to get distracted that she couldn't move to dodge, so instead lift her hand...

Clang

Blades meet blades, Childe's eyes narrowed behind his mask, as his spear met with the surface of a blare, Lumine stood there, holding her sword with one hand gripping the handle while the other is supporting the blade. Blocking his attack.

"Hah! Finally! Now we can start getting serious!" Childe screamed out, applying force to his weapon to push Lumine back, but it failed.

"Gale Blade!" Anemo energy swirls around Lumine's sword and her body, and with a violent breeze of wind, she pushed Childe away with such force that it surprised him.

He stumbles back, almost falling over his feet before he could steady himself. He looks up towards Lumine, who twirls her sword once to disperse the wind before holding the sword with one hand.

He grins under his mask, finding this situation interesting.

"Heh, didn't think you had that card up your sleeve. Now I see why you're such a formidable opponent." He took a stance and charge his electro energy once more. "Now, let's begin our dance, girlie."

Lumine didn't say anything, afraid that the next time she said something, it won't be from herself.

Now with her sword out, dodging no longer an option.

Childe no longer needs his bow to shoot her, not when he could just simply blitz around the arena while thrusting his spears forward, attempting to stab her or slash her in two.

But even after finally drawing her sword, it didn't make things easier for Childe in the slightest. In fact, it just made him more frustrated.

A blade is made for battle, to strike at opponents in order to wield one's life goals. But Lumine didn't lift her sword to do that at all, she simply use it as another form of protection. Blocking anything and everything Childe throws at her like it was nothing, making the Harbinger even inwardly wondered if his swordsmanship skills or even his master are comparable to this traveler he's facing.

"Heheh, your swordsmanship is very impressive. I wonder if even my master got what it takes to beat you." Childe says as he stood distances away from her, quietly panting from exhaustion in contrast to Lumine who remains cool. "Since you've blocked any other attacks, then... How about this!"

Electricity fills the air around him. Childe took a stance with his spear, electro energy swirls around him as a large amount of energy building up.

Is he putting his all into this one attack? With that much energy, surely he has enough to bust out a giant hole on the Golden House wall. And knowing this, Lumine prepared herself.

"Break!"

In one second, Childe is far away, and in the next, he's already in front of Lumine, with his spear aimed directly towards her, and would've slashed her in two if it wasn't for her defending herself.

A gale of wind gathered around Lumine and swirls around her body, forming a strong barrier that Childe's spear is unable to penetrate no matter how fast that blitz attack was.

But Childe doesn't give in. He put as much force into his attacks more, plunging his spear even deeper into barriers made of wind.

Lumine notices this and sees him getting close to breaking her protection. With no way to block it without dispersing the wind nor dodging, she has no other choice but to retaliate.

She raises both arms and opens her palm forward, her hands start sucking up the wind around her.

Childe realizes the sudden change of the wind, and considers pulling away, realizing too late that his spears and his whole body is being sucked inside when Lumine's hand is absorbing back the Anemo energy she released.

"Wind Blade!"

After building up power by absorbing back all the Anemo energy, Lumine releases it in the form of a violent gust of wind that blows Childe away, sending him flying across the platform.

"Uaagh!" Getting launched several meters away, the Fatui Harbinger crashed against the wall of his own barrier. Choking on air as the force of impact forces oxygen to exit his body.

Falling to the floor, he starts coughing heavily as he try to regain his breath. Watching him, Lumine is simply glad that she's not doing it a little too much.

"Damn girlie... You're a rough one are you?" Childe asked as he slowly gets up, one hand clutching his chest while the other wipe the corner of his mouth. "I would like to fight you more... But business matter first."

Childe looks up behind him, finding himself standing beneath the Exuvia, Lumine's counter attack had unintentionally send him here. Lumine saw this and is about to act but before she could, Childe already gone from the spot before reappearing right beside the Exuvia, somehow managed to trespass the barrier walls without deactivating it.

"Hahaha, I quite enjoyed our little "fight" there girlie. You really are a strong opponent that no one should underestimate." Childe says with a grin forming Underneath his mask. "But I'm afraid our playtime is over."

Lumine narrows her eyes at him. "I told you, it's empty. There won't be anything inside." She told him to no avail.

"Hehe, well, let's see about that shall we?!"

Electro energy gathers in his palm before Childe plunges his hand into the Exuvia, attempting to reach for the Gnosis inside. He reaches in and in for a while, before pulling back his hand and open his palm...

"Huh?"

...Only to see that it was empty.

Childe's mind goes blank for a moment. He slowly turn his head to look at Lumine, who stared at him and scoffed lightly.

"Told you." Lumine silently muttered.

Childe clenched his fist tightly, his body shook as he began to chuckle darkly, which then turns into a full blown laugh.

"I see... I get it. Of course it was empty." He then turns his whole body to face Lumine. "You already beat me to it from the very start, didn't you?"

What kind of logic is that?!

A huge surge of electro energy appears, even more than before, and Lumine sense danger incoming, so she quickly jumps away just as Childe blitz and strike the ground where she stood.

The air around them changes drastically, the atmosphere becomes heavier than normal. Bubbles of water formed all around and floats upwards to the air before popping, crackles of electricity formed that causes all her hair to stand on ends.

Childe stood on the middle of the platform, both Hydro and Electro energy slowly envelopes him.

Badum

Lumine feel her heart rate increase. It's not just Hydro and Electro energy that appears around them. Negative energy quickly rising up, and it comes from Childe, who's body begin transforming into something else that almost doesn't look human.

A blindingly harsh light explodes and makes Lumine shields her eyes, and when it dies down enough so that she can look back, her voice gets stuck in her throat. Because the man she knows as Childe is not there anymore. Covered in midnight black armor radiating of abyssal power, the Fatui swings his gigantic double-ended spear over his shoulders, everything around him sizzling with electricity.

BADUM BADUM

Lumine finds herself unable to breathe. She clutches her chest tightly with one hand, while using the other to cover her mouth as she feels the urge to gag.

Just when she thought things were ̶g̶r̶e̶a̶t̶ bad already, it escalates to ̶i̶n̶c̶r̶e̶d̶i̶b̶l̶e̶ worse! The negative energy seeping out of his body reeks of corruption, a very ̶p̶l̶e̶a̶s̶a̶n̶t̶ foul smell that makes her want to ̶d̶e̶v̶o̶u̶r̶ puke.

"No time to be sick now. Hand over the Gnosis to me, girlie!"

Childe's altered voice that sounds not at all like him before rings throughout the Golden House. Electro energy gathers around him as he's about to unleash another attack.

He is right. There's no time to be ̶l̶u̶s̶t̶i̶n̶g̶ disgusted now.

Taking a stance, Lumine points her sword towards him and ready for round two.

Scratch the part of not wanting to kill him. She'll make sure to ̶d̶e̶v̶o̶u̶r̶ destroy this ̶m̶a̶j̶e̶s̶t̶i̶c̶ ugly form of his once and for all!

~o~0~o~

"Urkk!"

Childe in his Foul Legacy form screamed as Lumine successfully ran her sword through his chest.

Their fight drags on after his transformation. Even after becoming even stronger than before because of it, he still can't manage to even put a scratch on her, the most he could do is to make her sweat and her breathing to become unsteady, but even that as he noted, has already happened the moment he transforms. Which made him wonder if it was his strong aura that caused a reaction out of her.

Gripping the hilt with both hands, Lumine harshly pulls out her sword turning her back on him as she flicks her blade to the side to clean it from his blood. Not even needing to turn around to look as his transformation fades and he returns to his human form, falling to the floor on his knees.

"D-Damn..." Childe croaked out, panting heavily and his voice hoarse, one hand is clutching his chest where it hurts the most "That was so harsh... Girlie."

Inwardly, Childe is thankful that Lumine did it while he was still in his Foul Legacy form, the Abyssals Energy used to sustain that form managed to reduce the damage done as minimal as it can in order for it to not be life threatening. But still, it hurts as hell! Which speaks of just how much power is put into that attack by Lumine. If she were to use it on him in his human form, Childe doubted if his upper body was going to be left intact after that.

"You did it. Look! Childe's back to normal again." Paimon pointed out as she pops out into existence, appearing beside Lumine. "Uh... You didn't do a little too much on him did you?"

Lumine sighed, a bit heavily. "Perhaps I did, or perhaps I'm not. But either way, his transformation should protect him from that." Lumine said with a small shake of her head.

"Ah... How interesting." Childe muttered behind her, promoting Lumine and Paimon to look at him. "You seem to know a thing or two about my Foul Legacy transformation... Are you perhaps even knowing that I was nearing my limits there?"

"I did." Lumine said with a nod of her head. "You're using Abyssal Powers to make that form, an energy that should not be wielded by humans, yet you are able to control it." Lumine crosses her arms as she continues. "But still, that power is beyond control of any human, the fact that you are able to, doesn't mean that you can do it forever. You can only use it for some time, before the energy starts to consume you. I know of this, and that's why I decided to stop you before it happens."

Childe went silent for a moment, taking time to catch his breath. And after a while, he pushed himself up from the floor until he stood on his two feet, though it is visible that it takes everything for him to not fall over.

"You really are a very interesting individual, girlie." Childe says as he took a deep breath. "I always respect anyone who's stronger than me, but I even have more respect for someone who doesn't act all arrogant and flaunts their powers to the week. And you have both of those aspects in you, I respect you, but even more so than that, you are someone that I even could consider a friend, even if our friendship could only be shown in battle against one another."

"Pretty sure that's not the normal way to make a friend." Paimon said, narrowing her eyes at him, causing him to smirk a little.

Sighing, Childe's serious demeanor is back again, his eyes show it all to them.

"Unfortunately, I must bring this amiable conversation, to an end. My quest still beckons." He begins, looking up towards the Exuvia far above them. "Given that the Gnosis wasn't taken by either of you, or it might as well be never inside the Exuvia to begin with. Then it must mean that it was in the possession of someone else. And the Exuvia... Is nothing but a diversion."

"Wait? What are you saying?" Paimon asked, confused.

"The Exuvia is supposed to be one of the many forms taken by Rex Lapis when he descends into the mortal realm. If he dies, then the Gnosis should've been still inside his body, yet it's not, and there's no way that the Qixing or anyone else in Liyue except for the Fatui to know about the Gnoses' existence. All of this points towards one possiblity..." Childe pause as he stares at both of them. "That Rex Lapis... Is still alive."

"What? Could that be true?" Paimon asked in surprise.

The same reaction didn't come out from Lumine. Instead, she huffed a little, and crossed her arms, gaining a look from both Paimon and Childe.

"Finally realizing the truth, huh? I guess it's not a secret anymore then." Lumine softly whispers, causing both Paimon and Childe to widen their eyes at her.

"Lumi, you knew?!" Paimon asked in shock.

Lumine nods her head. "Why of couse. I knew it since the very moment I see the Exuvia when it fell down." The blonde girl looks up towards the form of the dragon above. "That body of a dragon you see right now is just a shell, a husk. There are no traces of life energy inside of it. It is merely Celestial Energy condensed into a form a dragon, nothing more. The real Rex Lapis on the other hand, has taken a diffrent form to live somewhere in Liyue, in fact, I've already met him, and the two of you might as well."

"Wait, what?! So Paimon already met him before?" Paimon asked in shock. "Who is it?"

"Sorry Paimon, but I can't tell you while he's still around." Lumine shook her head, gesturing towards Childe. "That's the contract I made with him."

"Tch, I see... So you are already beat to it then... Not even when it started." Childe sighed heavily, putting his face on his palm as he took a deep breath. "Well... Since you won't tell me anything about it, and Morax is still alive, I guess it's time for me to resort to our backup plan then."

"Backup plan?" Paimon questioned, confused.

"I had hoped it would never come to this. I absolutely detest working with those who are weaker than I." Uncovering his face, Childe narrows his eyes, looking at them with seriousness. "The truth is, the world belongs to those of us who desire to become strong, I seldom willingly mingle with any dull and boring weaklings who think otherwise." He sighs once more, showing genuine annoyance towards something. "Unfortonately, we cannot be picky about our methods as Fatui Harbringers. Children must all learn to eat their vegetables sometime."

"So, what are you planning to do?" Paimon asked once more, still confused at where this is going.

"I will awaken the god that lies dormant beneath Guyun Stone Forest."

"You're going to what?!" Paimon exclaimed in surprise. Though Lumine didn't show it much, she is surprised by this as well.

"Osial, Overlord of The Vorte, who was defeated by the Geo Archon in the Archon War, and who has remained pinned beneath the waves by the Geo Archon's spears ever since." Childe huffs silently, he turn his head to Lumine, and smirks at her lightly. "If such an ancient god were to be unleashed upon Liyue Harbor, defenseless without the protection of its deity... Do you think the cunning Rex Lapis would just stand aloof and watch the ensuing destruction?"

"Tch, I won't let you!"

Lumine lunges at him, sword in hand, already wanting to stab him. But her sword ends up only passing through empty air, as Childe dissapears and reappears elsewere.

"You can't stop the Fatui Girlie, no one can."

Childe spoke up, Lumine looks up to see him appearing on the platform above, far from her reach. But he's not the only thing that appears, dozens of small familiar looking objects also appears, all floating and circling around him.

"Wait, those are Sigils of Permissions!" Paimon exclaimed.

"So all those duplicates are for the sake of this... And here I thought I burned them all to ashes." Lumine mutters softly, but inwardly however, she's very pissed.

"Hah, how right you are. You don't know how hard we have to work to replace all that you've destroyed." Childe lightly smirks at the memory of his men coming to his office and complained about all of their hardwork being dstroyed in seconds by the Traveler. It took everything they got to resume their work in secret without the Traveler finding out again. "With the power of so many sigils of permission concentrated in one place, along with that which was bestowed upon me as a Harbringer of our Tsaritsa... Breaking the subduing might of the Geo Archon's spears for a time should be no obstacle."

The Sigils start to glow as he holds out his arms, unleashing the full power of the ancient talismans. It sends a wave of golden lights that spreads quickly in the air, making the ground shook as it spreads to all over the area of Liyue Harbor, up to the Guyun Stone Forest far away.

"Using the powers of ancient gods in such a situations fails to interest me and is largely against my principles." He looks down towards Lumine, and his smirk widens. "But knowing that such an action will not only force the Geo Archon to show his hand, but you as well... That makes matters a little more intigruing,"

The earth shakes violently, causing everything inside the Golden House to shake, the mountains of Mora all around them creates a loud rattling sounds as they shakes and falls to the ground. But if that's bad enough, then the situation outside is even worse, as a gigantic five headed sea monsters emerges from the dephts of the ocean, showing it's faces once more upon the world after millenia of being sealed underneath the sea floors. Emerging from the sea to drown this whole nation in water.

"Oh no! What is happening?!" Paimon panicked, grabbing her head with both of her tiny hands.

"Hahahahaha! Let's see." will the nation that has lost its deity be swallowed up by an ancient malice once more?" Childe laughs as Hydro energy bubbles around him as he was prepared to transport himself. "If you wish to drown together with the people of Liyue, you're free to-"

Childe sneaks a glance downwards to look at his "two" spectators, only to find one missing. Only Paimon's there, floating all alone.

Where is-!?

TWACK

In a speed of light, Childe got his answer. Lumine appears right before him, arms lunging forward in the form of a fist, ramming her knuckles into Childe's chest with a sickening crunch follows afterwards. He is 100% sure that his entire ribcage just crack because of this.

With a batch of blood puking itself out of Childe's mouth, he looks up by using his remaining strength that quickly fades along with his consciousness.

And what Childe sees is perhaps the second thing in his life that could frightens him aside from that unholy beast he saw in the Abyss all those years ago...

A girl with not even the slightest of emotions exist on her face. The bandages around her head loosened up slightly, threatening it to fall off, and it opens up enough for Childe to see what lies beneath the rolls of cloth: An ominously glowing blood red eyes that shows nothing but pure wrath towards him, glaring right to his eyes as if glaring directly into his soul, taking his still beating heart into her palm and squeeze it tightly.

That was the last of his thoughts before darkness completely overtaking his brain and he lost his consciousness.

~o~0~o~

Childe's body fell to the ground with a thud, out cold.

Lumine stood before him, panting heavily, both hands clenched into fists. She can't believe she did this... but he forces her to!

But it doesn't matter, she did it too late. Osial has been released, and is rampaging outside, she could feel it.

"Lumi!" Paimon's voice spoke up behind her as she finally reach her way up. Lumine hastily fixed her blindfold before the Pixie could get to her side. "What did you do? Is- Is he...?!"

"There's no time for it Paimon." Lumine said, turning around and prepare to leave. "Liyue is in danger, we must go."

"B-But, what about him?" Paimon pointed towards unconscious Childe.

"Leave him be. He's the least of our concerns now." Lumine said, before running towards the exit. Paimon nods and go after her.

Lumine didn't know what will become of Childe after this, whether he'll be arrested by the Millelith, or will he be able to wake up and escape before that could happen, she doesn't care. What matters is she managed to refrain herself from killing him, hopefully, she'll able to clean up his mess.

~o~0~o~

Lumine haven't met Childe ever again ever since that day. There are some Fatui activities in Liyue that she had taken care of, but none of it made her meeting that ginger haired man again.

And in all honesty, Lumine is glad for it to be that way, she hated him for what he's trying to do with Liyue harbor by unleashing Osial, and she hopes for them to never meet again.

But her body has a different reaction however to the matter however, which goes against what her mind willed it to.

Every time the thought of Childe crosses over her mind. All she remembers is... That form, that Foul Legacy Form that is filled with... Such an enormous amount of Abyssal Energy... If only she were to see him transform into that form again... Then she will-

"Heellooo! Big sister? Are you there? Teucer to Ms. Nice Lady, please respond!"

Lumine snapped out from her thoughts as someone called her out. She inwardly blinks to see where she was, walking among the paths in Liyue's wilderness, being led by a child who held her hand and pulled her along as he walks. Paimon is hovering nearby.

"Ah, apologies, what were you asking?" Lumine lightly shook her head, looking back at the boy before her.

"I'm asking how you come to know brother. How did you two meet?" The young boy asked, curiosity fills her eyes.

"Ah... About that. Well, it all started with..."

How she ended up in this situation is quite a surprise. The traveler was just strolling around the west area of Liyue, when she came by a Millelith soldier informing her of the abnormal situation in the area which is about the sudden appearance of many Ruin Guards that have been attacking any passangers nearby. She volunteered to investigate the case, only to be met with an unfamiliar yet still familiar face.

She thought of it to be just pure coincidence, but then she learns of the name of the boy she met near an inactive Ruin Guard to be Teucer. A name that... Really sends chills down her spine and causes many alarms to set off inside her brain. Who would've thought that in this world he's...

But that's the least of her concerns. The fact that this boy is here in Liyue because of a pure accident by him entering a boat that sails from Snezhnaya all the way to here is alarming, and someone needs to take care of him.

And who else is better at doing it other than his own brother?

And so here they are, traveling back to Liyue harbor and to the Northland Bank, the place where that man better be inside. Or else this boy is gonna get upset for not finding her brother.

She didn't even bother to knock on the front door, just straight up pushing it wide open for them to get inside. Chances are, the Fatui already knows she's coming in, and had already prepared a trap for her or something.

To her surprise, he really was there. Casually chatting with one of the employees in the bank, which unfortunately must be interrupted by her explosive entrance. But that was a good thing, because his eyes immediately looked in her direction, looking at her first with a genuinely shocked expression, before quickly averting his eyes to look at something else, towards his younger brother.

"Yay, my brother! I found you!"

Teucer runs up to his older brother, and the Fatui Harbinger and his entire face lights up in glee. Which is a very unexpected sight coming from him.

"Teucer! My goodness, what a nice surprise!" He bends down and opens his arms, his little brother running straight into his embrace.

"I thought I would have to wait till I return home before seeing you again... How are the others? Tonia and Anthon? Is everybody keeping well?" Releasing his embrace, Childe looks at his brother, his eyes are... Tender and loving. He cares a lot about his family, much like him, and that's very reassuring to Lumine.

"They miss you a lot! Tonia prays for you every day at dinner..." Teucer giggles as he excitedly retells the story of their family.

"aimon guess even a Harbinger have something they cared for a lot, huh? Even to someone like him." Paimon whispered to Lumine, who nods silently.

Childe smiles warmly as he listens to all her brother's story. But his smile slowly fading as realization over the situation gradually dawns at him.

"Wait a second, what are you doing here in Liyue, Teucer? How have I not heard anything about this?" Childe asked his brother, surprised and confused.

The little boy averts his eyes as if he's been caught stealing. "Well... what happened was... I saw a boat that looked like it was selling toys, so obviously I thought you were on board... And then when I got off, I just kept walking and walking... and then I found a Mr. Cyclops! Mr. Cyclops scared off a bad guy, and then I found this nice lady."

Teucer pointed a finger towards Lumine behind him. Childe's eyes follow the directions, and remembers about her presence after getting carried away by Teucer's story and completely forgots that she's even there. And now that he remembers, Childe's face darkened.

"She says that she knows everything about you. And tell me where I could find you. And in return, I helped her walking, since the roads here is veeery bad. I'm good boy for helping someone in need right?" Teucer cheerfully asked, blinking at Childe sweetly.

"Ah yes..." Childe mentally thought. "With that kind of appearance, Teucer will definitely think that she's disabled."

"Well, I'll be thanking her later." Childe coughs into his fist, as if trying to say something that he couldn't at the time. "Teucer, what you did was extremely dangerous," Childe turns back to his brother and sends him a disapproving frown. "I'm so happy to see you, really I am, but please promise me you won't do anything like this ever again."

Teucer nods guiltily, twiddling his thumbs together. "Okay, I promise. Please don't be mad at me?"

Immediately after that, the stern expression on the Fatui Harbinger's face softens.

"I'm not mad at you, I just care about your safety, that's all. If you hadn't met these nice people, things could have been a lot more dangerous for you. I hope you said a big thank-you to them?" He sneak a glance towards Lumine.

Teucer's sullen look becomes bright again when he looks back at Lumine.

"Yup! I always remember my pleases and thank-yous! I was so surprised when Ms. Nice Lady told me she was your business partner!"

Childe's eyes widened, he flips his head in her direction with a gob-smacked expression on his face.

"It's such a pleasure to finally met Mr. Ajax beloved baby brother. He told me a lot about you. Just hearing those stories made me want to give you a big cuddly hug." Lumine said, wearing a smile on her face, she hugs herself and shakes her body from side to side.

"Uh... Since when did Childe ever tell you about this?" Paimon asked in slight confusion.

"Just play along, Paimon."

"Hehe, why don't you just say so? Hug!" Teucer runs up to Lumine and gives her a hug, circling his arms around her much bigger body.

Childe coughs into his fist again, purposely much louder this time, which gains everyone's attention.

"Teucer, mind if you uh... Release the nice lady a little? I need some minutes to discuss something with my... Comrade!" Childe spoke up, feigning a smile when he was really serious inside.

Once Teucer releases his hold, Childe rushes over to her and puts his hands on her shoulders. He guides her to a slightly secluded corner and hisses to her in a voice quiet enough that Teucer and Paimon doesn't hear.

"Girlie, I swear you'll be the death of me."

"And I nearly was."

"Ssh!" Childe presses his index finger over her mouth with a panicked face. "Please don't remind of that. That hurts as hell, and I still haven't even recovered yet."

"Good for you then." Lumine shrugged lightly. Childe's eyes twitched at that.

"Look, I know we're not on the best of terms after what happened last time. But please, can we forget about that right now? Please tell me that you haven't told him anything about that, I really don't want Teucer to find out about... this side of Snezhnaya." Childe said, practically begging her for it. It feels nice looking at him being distressed like this.

Lumine's eyebrows furrowed at that, her lips turn into a pout, making a sad and disappointed expression.

"Aww, too bad, I've already told him." Childe's face turned alarmed immediately, as if he just stared at the open gates of hell. "Just kidding."

Veins pops out on his forehead, and the corner of his eyes twitched. Childe wonders if he should just slit her throat right now in spite of his brother being right over there.

"But I'm very curious though." Lumine spoke up, glancing back at Teucer who is talking with Paimon and the Fatuus woman who joins in the conversation awkwardly. "Why do you lie to him? He's going to find out one day. And the revelation about it will be even more painful the more you lie to him."

Childe puts a hand behind his neck and averts his eyes as he sighs. "I only told him that so that he'll look up to me. In the eyes of a child, working with toys must be the best job imaginable, right? I don't want my family to have anything to do with the Fatui's... Or should I say, Snezhnaya's... Darker side." Childe's voice lowers at that remark. "The older ones already know that I serve the Tsaritsa. But Teucer is still so young. And in his eyes..."

"You're a nice, loving, caring, and the best big brother in the world." Lumine finishes his sentence, to which Childe nods in confirmation.

"Just humor me in front of Teucer. If you would be so kind." Childe whispers at her, his eyes are looking at her pleadingly, while wearing a begging expression.

Despite her dislike of the man, for what he did that day, Lumine completely understands. She could empathize with him, after all... She too has plenty of secrets that she's been keeping from her own brother. Secrets that she absolutely won't allow for Aether to learn about it.

"I understand." Lumine nods her head. Slightly surprising him with how easy it was. "Having to keep your lifetime secret from your brother must've been pretty hard huh? Really makes you think "if only the circumstances were different, if only I was destined to become what I imagined.""

Childe looks at her confusingly, not understanding where she is going with the conversation.

Lumine simply sighs at his confusion, and turns around towards Teucer and Paimon nearby.

"You look like you have some jobs that need to be done. Don't worry, I will keep Teucer company until you finish." She says before walking away, leaving Childe to stand there.

~o~0~o~

The traveler is a really interesting person.

Childe knew he said that multiple times already, but it's true. She really is an interesting individual, there's never been a moment where being with her is boring or tiring. In fact, with every new seconds that the Fatui Harbinger spent with the Outlander, he came to learn about new things about her.

Like the fact of how good she is at babysitting.

Prior to their encounter during this day, Childe always knew the traveler to be the quiet type, she much prefers for her fairy companion to do the talking at any given situation, and only start talking herself when it's serious business, but even then, the only time that she does start talking, it's always done with such straightness that almost makes her sound stiff and even devoid of emotions sometimes, and when she does show some emotions, it's always be when she was provoked to do so, and so far, the only clear emotion that Childe ever see directly on her face is that one time when she almost killed him, twice. So yeah, definitely not the type of person you want to be around kids, especially if it's his younger brother.

Except that he's completely wrong about that.

Childe didn't meet Teucer for a while after he entrusted him to Lumine's hand along with a pouch of Mora for use as well as being they payment should there be any leftovers.

Hours have passed, and even Childe is starting to get worried about what happened to them. It wasn't until he was doing the last assignment of his work for the day which is to baptize a batch of new Fatui recruits according to the rules in which a Harbinger must do that his worries were finally at ease, as well as getting replaced with a new kind of worry.

Teucer and Lumine appear while he was in the middle of giving a speech. Interrupting him midway, and severely butchering his intended speeches that were turned into a blubbering mess that his brain must produce in a split second that just caused total confusion to the future hands of the Tsaritsa.

This is the kind of thing he didn't want Teucer to learn of, and yet there she is sitting on the sidelines, doing nothing, and let Teucer watches him doing his job.

He tries to gesture to her to get him somewhere else so that he can work. But all she did was giving him a thumbs up as if reassuring him in a mocking way that it is TOTALLY okay to let a child watching this.

He almost tempted to shoot her with one of his arrows because of this, only not doing so because one, Teucer is right in front of her, two, because he knew that she just gonna dodge it anyway, and three, because the little fairy right by her side is chuckling and smirking at his predicament, which made her twice as annoying as her companion, so maybe he should shot the emergency food instead.

But still though, despite of how annoying this whole situation was, in the end, he made it out successfully, without any downsides from both Teucer and Lumine's presences, which is quite a surprise as he would've thought that things won't be going as smoothly as it was, he's even afraid that today will be the day when his whole world of lies will crumble, but it wasn't, thanks to Lumine.

"Brother! You were amazing!"

Childe sees his little brother, accompanied by the traveler approaches him. And once he dismissed all the Fatui recruits, he immediately ran over to them.

"Oh, Teucer! What in the world are you doing here?" He is extremely glad to seem again after a day of work, but at the same time, he's extremely worried that he'll find out about his secret along the way. "There I was thinking that the Traveler had taken you to play at Wangshu Inn, haha!"

"Yup, we did! The scenery is so amazing there! I almost could see the whole world from up there!" Teucer nods cheerfully, smiling happily at the memory.

"Wait... So you actually went there?" Childe asked, caught by surprise, he glanced towards Lumine who stayed silent.

"We went there for lunch, but we also showed Teucer the scenery around." Paimon answered him.

"Ah I see... Good to hear. I hope you enjoyed your little trip, Teucer?" Childe asked his little brother.

"Yup, I enjoyed it very much!" Teucer nods his head with a cheerful laughter. "Big sister Lumi is amazing! She got all kinds of stories! She even shares her stories about working with you! Like how you two first met when she was in the middle of giving out toys, how she teaches you how to use... Uh... What is it called again? Chop... Uh- chop... Chopsticks, yeah! Chopsticks! Or, when you and her finally decide to work together! Working together to make lots and lots of toys!"

Childe looks at Lumine once more, who merely shrugs her shoulder. Now he knows why his brother wasn't around until now, It looks like the traveler is not only good at babysitting, but she's also good in the art of lies as well. Though he really hoped that she leaves about the chopsticks part, that was really embarrassing.

He mentally sighs, although he and Lumine have worked hard to keep this facade up, he can't do it forever, and the traveler, for all her strength, Childe doubt that even she could do the same as well. The sooner they sent Teucer away, the Better.

"You've had a nice long time here in Liyue, haven't you, Teucer? Isn't it about time that you took the boat back home?" Childe looks at his brother, with a concerned look on his face.

Teucer's cheerfulness immediately fell apart. "But, but... But you've been so busy, and we didn't get any time to play together yet..." The small boy complained, looking sad and angry.

"Teucer, you know I'm very busy at work... And hasn't it been fun traveling all over the place with her, a proper traveler?" Childe sneaks a glance at the two people behind his brother.

"He's just worried he won't be able to keep up the Toy Seller act forever..." Paimon whispered, to which Lumine simply nodded.

"W-Well, how about this? If you just do one little thing for me, I'll be a good boy and go back home!" Teucer promises, hope and eagerness filled his tiny eyes.

"Oh dear, who taught this little devil to bargain..." The Harbinger sighs once more, at the corner of his eyes, he sees Paimon averting her eyes from him, which gives him some idea. "Alright, what'll it be?"

"Take me to visit the Institute of Toy Research!" Teucer answered.

Though he's not showing it much, Lumine catch some glimpse of shock I'm Childe's eyes. Now how is he going to deal with this she wonders...

"Do you think he means that ruin the Millelith was telling us about? The one where all those Ruin Guards were coming from?" Paimon asked Lumine quietly.

"Probably." Lumine replied, seeing there's something glimmering at the corner of Childe's eyes, as if showing hope.

"Done deal. After all, you've come all this way for me, Teucer..." Childe nods his head, reaching a hand out, he pat his brother's head. "As your brother, it's only right for me to grant you one last wish before you leave."

"Exactly! hee-hee."

"Um, are you sure this is a good idea? It doesn't seem like the best place for kids..." Paimon whispered again, looking unsure and concerned.

"No need to worry." Lumine lightly shook her head, placing a hand on her chest. "If things get a little out of control... You have me."

"Uh... Paimon's not sure if that's reassuring..." Paimon muttered while scratching her head.

"You should come along too, Traveler! This time, it's Teucer's turn to take you sightseeing!" Lumine felt a tug on her arm, looking down to see Teucer pulling it, urging her to come.

"Let me think... Yes, the Institute of Toy Research is not far at all from Lingiu Pass." Childe nods to himself, looking a little confident, yet unsure at the same time.

Childe glance at her, smiling cheerfully at Lumine, but she knew better to never believe that fake smile.

"Now Traveler... You're not the sort of person who would disappoint a kid now, are you? You've already babysits Teucer for the entire day, wouldn't hurt to lend a hand for the last time now, right?"

He sounds provoking, using Teucer as blackmail for her to come. But Lumine knew that deep inside, it was his way of saying "Please! I'm begging you! I need your help!" Which is a shame because she kinda wants to see him on all fours, groveling on his knees while crying and begging her... What a bizzare thought...

"Sure." Lumine said with a nod of her head. "I'm curious about the place as well, wouldn't hurt to see just what kind of magical place it was."

"Haha, Great! Alright then, why don't we head over there now? The sooner we get there, the better."

~o~0~o~

"Here we are. Welcome to Liyue's Institute of Toy Research."

They arrived at the place, which is a not so obvious entrance to a ruin. How Childe knew about this place is a mystery, though Lumine deduced that he probably has some "connections" that link to it.

"Yeah, we're here! I can already hear the sounds of machinery inside. Awesome!"

Teucer's enthusiasm completely contrasts most of the people in the group. Paimon is really worried about this idea, Childe looks confident but still a little unsure, and as for Lumine... She didn't know what to expect, but she'll prepare herself for whatever lies inside.

"Hey, so what is this place? And how do you know about it?" Can't hold her curiosity anymore, Paimon silently asks Childe, using the opportunity as Teucer is busy being amazed.

"Uh... I have only little to no information about this, but if I'm not mistaken, I believe this is one of Dottore's research facilities." Childe answered, rubbing the back of his head.

Lumine visible jerked a little upon hearing him, snapping her head to look at him with such seriousness, even though her eyes are hidden behind her blindfold.

"Did you just say Dottore?" The traveler asked, sounding quite surprised.

"Dottore is another one of the Fatui Harbingers. He loves tinkering with old things, it's a... Personal passion of his. So, he converted these ruins into a Ruin Guard research lab." Childe explained, his eyes looked at Lumine with hidden interest for her strange reaction just now.

Lumine didn't say anything for a while, before sighing heavily, putting her palm on her face.

"I know I shouldn't have expect less from this world." She muttered under her breath, one thing that Childe caught on.

"Wait, so the Ruin Guards are built by the Fatui?" Paimon asked, shocked and confused.

"No. They have much more connections to the Abyss, so strictly speaking, they're as much our enemies as anyone else's... We just do research, nothing more." Childe explained, shaking his head. "As to why the Ruin Guards have been moving outside of this area recently... I can only imagine that he's gotten bored of playing around with them, and has lost interest in this place."

"Wow, yet another Harbinger with bad attitude!" Paimon narrows her eyes at that, crossing her arms on her chest.

"I believe the word "bad" is a major downplay when it comes to that man, Paimon." Lumine said with a silent huff. Looking at her, Childe made a mental note to ask The Doctor later about if they ever met or not.

"But at least this explains why you were totally okay with bringing Teucer here. Seems you did your homework ahead of time."

"Well... I wouldn't go that far. I actually have no idea what this place is like on the inside." Childe said with a toned down voice, scratching the side of his cheek.

"W-Wait, so... Are you or are you not worried about your brother's safety?" Paimon asked in confusion.

"Of course I am... But no matter what the danger is, I will parry it. Isn't that what any older brother would do?" Childe asked, a small sigh escaped from his lips as he continues. "Even Teucer understands that, now he knows what he's fighting for... It's the very same reason that has nestled in my own heart for so many years...

In the corner of his eye, the ginger haired man saw a slight jerk from Lumine's form, as if she was surprised by what he said. She stopped breathing for a moment, and then her head dropped.

"What are you guys chatting about?"

Before Childe could ask her what was wrong and continue their conversation, Teucer came into view, stopping their conversation as he urged them to go inside the facility.

"Come on, let's go in! I can't wait to see all of those toys!" Urges Teucer, tugging at Childe's hand.

"Haha, alright. Follow me."

Nodding Childe leads the way for them to enter, gesturing Lumine and Paimon to follow them from behind.

They enter into the facility, and immediately after they enter, Lumine could already the mechanisms and machinery that made up this place. The sounds of gears, clockworks, and heavy machines echoing throughout the place, even in the entrance, it was pretty loud. And not to mention there's also the strong smell iron, smokes, and gas. This place is not really suited for children.

"I'm going to go play with Mr. Cyclops now!"

"Hey, Teucer, wait up..."

But if a completely oblivious child isn't bad enough, then a child with so much enthusiasm like Teucer is twice the times bad.

His excitement causes him to run away without protection, entering a large doorway that immediately starts closing in the moment pass by. Childe and Paimon tries to run up to him, but there's no time. So Lumine put as much as Anemo energy to her legs and dashes forward with the speed of the wind, barely passing through the door before it fully closes.

"Th-The door's shut!" Paimon exclaimed, by the time the door is before her, it's already closed. "Hey Teucer! Are you alright?"

"Don't worry, he's with me." Lumine's voice came from the other side of the door. Slightly surprising both Paimon and Childe as they realize it just now that blonde girl is not on the same side as them.

"Whoa! Big sis, how did you get here all of a sudden?!" And it seems like Teucer is no exception as well.

"Ah, Girlie, are you in there?" Childe presses his head against the door as to let his voice pass through. "There's another path here that I could go. Meet me at a crossover, and please keep Teucer safe for me, okay?"

"Got it. Watch yourself as well." Lumine replied back, and just hearing her response caused relief to wash over him.

"Come on." He looked at Paimon and gesture her to follow, which she did, reluctantly.

In a separate path, the two groups explored the facility. One group is having fun during the tour, like they were walking on the park, while the other group on the other hand, is scared and worried to death over the other's safety. Especially when the individual paths they took were separated far from one another.

In all honesty, Childe is extremely worried and scared for his brother's safety, but at the same time, he couldn't help but felt some sort of relief knowing that Teucer are in good hands. Childe knows Lumine wouldn't dare to hurt his brother, nor allowing any harm to come over to him, She's one of the kindest (and meanest) person he knows. Despite her sometimes annoying or extremely weird and confusing nature, it doesn't change the fact that she's looking after Teucer... A little bit too much, if he says so.

Faintly, his ears could hear the sounds of her voices. She explains the things exist in the facilities like it was normal, acting like a tour guide of sort to Teucer, who eagerly asks her various other questions, including about how long she and his brother have been known each other among other things.

Eventually, there was a crossover of the roads. And when they finally reunite, Childe feels himself sagging in relief.

"Phew, back together at last. You're not hurt, are you, Teucer?" Childe immediately runs over to his brothers, putting his hands on both of the younger brother's shoulders and looks at him up and down.

"Hurt? No way. This was really fun!" The boy respond with glee. "This place really is as magical as you said. Big sis Lumi explains everything on how it works. I kinda wanted to work here as well when I grew up."

Childe glanced towards Lumine, the blonde girl brushes her hands against one another, shooting him a someone gentle yet smug looking smile. She's really gonna be the death of him, is she?

"Fun for you, maybe, but we were all scared to death!" Paimon stomps her foot in mid-air, crossing her arms. "You can't just run off like that!"

Unluckily for her, Teucer doesn't seem to be listening, as his attention was to somewhere else.

"What's that over there... Wow, this room is huge! Is this where Mr. Cyclops takes his friends when they come to visit?" Teucer asked with sparkles in his eyes, as he stares at the room next to them, filled with a few Ruin Guards.

For a second, Childe feels his soul leave his body. The expression on his face shows nothing but pain, exhaustion, and a well hidden annoyance. Lumine looks at the room for a second, and finds out the reason why.

Mentally sighing, Childe turns his body to look at his little brother.

"It is. Impressive, isn't it? Now, how about a little game of hide-and-seek?" He asked suddenly out of the blue.

Teucer looks at him, confused. "Uh... now? But..."

Childe musters his energy and winks playfully at him. "Hehe, I have a surprise for you, you know."

"A surprise!" Teucer's attitude does a one-eighty immediately. "What sort of surprise?"

Paimon and Lumine shot a side glance at him, curious about what he planned.

"Don't worry, you'll have the chance to look for it later. But before that, you have to close your eyes, turn around, and count down from 60." Childe reassures her brother, giving the young boy a little smile.

"Okay... 60 is a really long time though." Although he pouts, Teucer complied. He turn his body around, put his palms to cover his eyes, and starts counting.

Nodding to himself, Childe turns towards Lumine and gestures her to enter. She smiles a little at him before entering the room. Turning to look at Paimon, he leans down to whisper to her ears.

"Please, watch him for me. I'll be quick."

He rushes off before she gets to respond, taking out his blades as the Ruin Guards begin activating, one by one. Coming to stand beside Lumine who already has her sword out, they stood side by side as the machines comes to life and slowly closing in on them.

At first, it was the two of them trapped in a room full of Ruin Guards. But in the next second, it becomes the Ruin Guards that are trapped in the same room with them.

"Are you guys okay? What's with all that crashing and banging?" Teucer questioned amidst his counting.

"Well, it's uh..." Paimon struggles to respond.

"Don't worry, it's all part of the surprise!" Childe shouted back at him as he shot an arrow straight towards one of the Ruin Guard's eyes.

Even more crashing happens, metals being crushed, giant robots falling down in pieces. If Teucer were ever to see this, he'll surely have a heart attack upon seeing the figures he's been idolizing is being shred into pieces.

"Heheh, who would've thought that we would have the opportunity to fight side by side like this? Must've been an impossible thought back then huh?" Childe asked Lumine, a little quietly for Teucer to not hear, while audible enough for her to hear.

"Hmm." Lumine hums in agreement. Raising her arms to launch multiple giant sharp shards of stone towards the Ruin Guard she's facing. "Thought that the next time I meet you, it will be when I kill you." She said, a little too honestly.

"Ahaha, please don't say that, girlie." Childe laughs, someone cockily. "I will live, for I will crush the thrones of the gods beneath my feet before death could have me."

Eventually, all the Ruin Guards in the room were damaged enough for them to shut down, but without destroying their body, per Childe's request. Childe dispersed his Hydro blades, and Lumine dematerialize her sword. Their job is done, all the danger in the room has been eliminated, Teucer's counting nearing it's end, and there is no other Ruin-

The sounds of gears being turned rings in the air. The machinery above them moves. And then, a horrifying sight come into view: just when they thought that they've done dealing with all the Ruin Guards, even more Ruin Guards are brought into the room. Three of them... And then five... And then seven...

"Okay, you're ready?" Teucer asked, his counting finished. Paimon besides him starts panicking.

"Give me another ten seconds Teucer... Still hiding..." Childe spoke up, sounding conflicted for some reason.

Teucer huffed in annoyance. "Now who's a cheater?" He pouted, before closing his eyes again. "Alright, ten seconds, that's it..." The boy nodded and started counting once more.

Seeing the advancing Ruin Guards, Lumine took a step forward, but Childe blocked her with his hand. She turned her head to look at him, inwardly surprised to see him giving her a smile, that looked weaker than his usual ones. She gets the meaning behind that smile, and her eyes blown wide open in surprise under their wrappings of bandages.

"Are you going to-!"

As one of the many Ruin Guards came near to punch him, Childe's form vanished in an instant without answering her unfinished question. The area around her explodes with purple electricity, and the Foul Legacy transformed Childe bursts into action. The remaining machines are no match for him, they're all slashed, blasted, stabbed, and crushed under his full might. While Lumine watches all whilst in the middle of the ensuing massacre. Childe somehow makes sure that no harm ever comes to her even though she's practically an inch away from destruction.

When ten seconds are up. Teucer opens his eyes and turns his body around. And immediately, his eyes sparkle in amazement and pure happiness, as the sight before him brings nothing but joy.

"This... this is everything I dreamed of! It's Mr. Cyclops world!" He screams in delight.

"Y-Yeah! This is what your big brother prepared for you, tada!" Quickly overcoming her shock from witnessing that form of Childe again Paimon plays along, opening her arms and gesturing widely to the fallen Ruin Guards.

"Awesome! Hee-hee!"

Teucer shouts in glee and runs around, "ooh'ing" and "ahh'ing" at the robots. Paimon has a relieved look on her face, and as she accompanies Teucer as he runs around amongst the fallen machinery, she wonders where could've Lumine and Childe went.

~o~0~o~

Childe is panting as he kneels on the ground, sweat dripping off his face. Looking like he's good as one step away from death. Leaning against the wall, he groans and hissed as he gets into a more comfortable position.

"Thanks for the help there girlie, I couldn't imagine how Teucer might react if I were to collapse right there." Childe muttered quietly, pain filled his voice, even speaking is hard to do for him.

Lumine who is right in front of him kneels down, she looks at the man before her, gently reaching out to cup his chin and raising his head so that she can inspect him properly.

"You don't look so good." she comments, and Childe lets out a deflated laugh.

"Well, looks like using the Foul Legacy Transformation while I was still injured took more out of me than I'd thought..." He sported a wry smile, though it was ruined by a pained grunt that appears after.

Lumine thinks back to that day at the Golden House. She swore to herself at the time that she would not kill him, that she didn't want to fight him. And yet... She ends up backing her in her own words... Her ̶h̶u̶n̶g̶e̶r̶ anger towards him has blinded her, to the point that she almost ̶d̶e̶v̶o̶u̶r̶ killed him that time. Added with the strain that Foul Legacy put on him... This kind of power should never be wielded by a human to begin with, yet he did, and he is more than willing to take the risk in order to become strong.

Normally, this kind of situation would really put Lumine in annoyance. She despise people who thinks they could gain everything by becoming strong, she hates it!

But... Childe... Childe is different. He wanted to become strong, he lusted for power, he wants to become the strongest, and for what? To protect his family and loved ones.

How can someone be so sinful... Yet loving at the same time?

But then again, she already has herself as an example. Though the latter part were only told by the eyes of the others, who saw a loving and gentle maiden inside her. While as for Lumine herself... She never saw herself as one, she saw herself as anything but kind or loving. For the only thing that Lumine saw when she looked at herself in the mirror... Is the embodiment of all sins that ever exist.

Lumine reaches up to the wrappings of bandages around her eyes, tugging it down to let it be loose and fall down from her head and to the ground. Two pair of golden eyes, opens itself, blinking and staring at Childe, who looks surprised by her sudden unexpected move, as well as this revelation being presented before him.

"Wow, girlie, that's... Quite a face you got there." Childe says, somewhat in a stutter.

So the Traveler is indeed never blind to begin with. She just used those bandages to cover her eyes, for purposes that he completely don't understand. Why would she hide her eyes like that, when she got such a pretty face?

"Your conditions are worse than I thought... That transformation... It consumes you from the inside. You really should've stop using it." Lumine muttered softly, her golden eyes looked at Childe's body, but judging from her expression and the intensity of her glare, it would be more accurate to say that what she is looking is actually what's inside his body.

"Haha, no way girlie." Childe wave his hand and shook his head. "Like I said before... I can never pass on an opportunity to test my limits. Even if it almost got me killed." His lips curves up to make a confident smile. "And that's why I, Tartaglia, am always getting stronger."

Lumine remains still, kneeling in front of him, she gives him a somewhat somber look.

"But was all of this worth it?" She asked softly.

Childe sighs, looking to the side, to the small gap where he could see his brother running around and having fun.

"Childhood dreams are all too easily shattered. Even if you just leave them be, they will fall to pieces all by themselves." he murmurs in a soft tone, his eyes turns gently as he continues to watch his brother plays with Paimon. "So, someone has to protect them, right? If you make a promise, you keep it, if you make a mistake, you apologize... and if you give someone a dream, you defend it to the end." He tilts his head back and his eyes find hers. "That is what family is all about, isn't it?"

Aether...

She doesn't reply to that, making the man chuckle. As she has her own multitude of thoughts crossing through her brain.

Promise... Mistakes... Dreams... Just how many... How many have she made them? How many promises have she broken? How many mistakes she had done in her lifetime? And how many dreams she have broken?

If family is all about that... Then... Is she... Not worthy of being family with her brother?

"Aha... Remind you of something, did I? Ugh..."

He coughs harshly, snapping her back into reality. She watches as he attempts to compose himself, staying silent the whole time. When his hacking finally dies down, he pulls something out of his pocket.

"I have a little something for Teucer." He showed it to her, and Lumine looked at it blankly. "I had it made to order by a Smith some time back. I had intended to give it to him on my return to Snezhnaya, but it seems that it would make a better souvenir at this point."

Using one hand to grab hers, he put the souvenir into her palm.

"Please give this to Teucer on my behalf alright?" Childe gives her an apologetic smile. "I have no idea what I'd do if Teucer saw me like this, deflated as a burst balloon."

Lumine looks down at the stuffed Ruin Guard toy in her hand, he really expects her to give this to him? While running away from his own brother all because of shame?! No. No this cannot be allowed to happen!

"No." Lumine sternly said, she shakes her head and drops the toy to the ground.

Childe presses his lips together, feeling that he's about to burst out mad.

"Girlie, look, I know that we're not exactly the kind of friends you made us to be but-"

Without warning, Lumine hooks her arms under his, pulling him up. He lets out a small yelp of surprise and pain when she forces him to stand up, pushing him against the wall by pushing her palms against his.

"Ouch! What are you- Mmmph?!"

And then, the even more unexpected happen.

Childe's hands were on the side of his head, pressed on the walls as Lumine's hands are pushing on them, her smaller fingers fills the gaps between his fingers, intertwining their fingers together. Childe's legs were open, Lumine's small stature fills the space between them, as she pressed her chest against his abdomen while having her lips connecting to his.

Childe's eyes are blown wide open, not expecting this kind of outcome at all. This is too good to be a reality, having this traveler of all people to be the one who stole his first kiss. And although it's not so much as being passionate, with Lumine being simply connecting their lips together, Childe kinda wish that she do more.

They lasted in that position for five whole seconds, before Lumine pulls away and separates their lips from one another. Childe is visibly out of breath for it's suddenness and for already being in pain, while Lumine looks fine, almost as if she used it.

"Girlie... What was that fo-"

"What an enormous amount of negative energy..."

Before Childe could ask her the motive behind that kiss, since the most obvious answer seems to be the most impossible, he heard her mutters something.

Childe looks at Lumine before her. Her eyes that were golden just seconds ago... Suddenly becomes crimson red, just like that time, drools coming out from the corner of her mouth. Her cheeks dyed in faint red blush, her eyes looked at him with a side glance, hot breaths comes out from between her lips.

"Oh shit."

Childe mentally gulped.

The expression on her face... It's the kind of expression you would expect from a predator upon seeing their prey. Or a courtesan who had found their intended bedmate.

"Ahn... I just want one more bite..."

Childe didn't know what to do. His body is being pinned to the wall by someone who is shorter than him. He could only gulped the lump in his throat and brace himself as tha face of "Lumine" approaches with an open mouth and fangs barred for him to see.

Lumine blinks once, and she sees Childe's face up close, her mouth is open and her body is pressing against him.

"Agh, no!"

She immediately stop her unconscious advances. Pushing herself away from Childe and turn her body around. Covering her mouth with her arm whilst shaking her head violently. As if attempting to shake herself away from her stupor.

Childe is totally confused by this. He stares at her in total confusion, and is about to ask if she's okay, but then, that's when he realized.

"Wait... what?! My body, it's...!" He's standing on his two feet! Childe could feel his body normally again. Just seconds ago, it was as heavy as stone, but now, he's like a leaf in the wind.

"Your body should return mostly to normal now. Now you don't have to worry about Teucer ever finding out." Lumine spoke up, he looks up to see her being back to normal again, even more normal now that he could look at her in the eyes.

"Girlie, what did you just do?" Childe finally can ask her, looking at her in a mix of curiosity, confusion, and some awareness.

Lumine simply shrugged her shoulders. "Not gonna tell you." She bent down to the ground and picks up the toy she dropped seconds ago. "Here, now you can give it to Teucer yourself." She pushed the toy into his hands, which he reluctantly took it. "Right now, you can say "we'll see each other again soonx and mean it. But one day, you might say the same thing, but you're unable to do what you promised, and you'll end up never seeing him again, and all the promises you made don't mean anything anymore."

Childe looks at her with widened eyes, and Lumine reaches out to curls his fingers around the toy in his hand.

"I don't think it matters to him whether you look cool or not. He already thinks you're the coolest thing to walk Teyvat. He just wants to spend time with you, and you should do just that, before you couldn't anymore."

He stays silent, his gaze flickering to the stuffed toy and her, and he eventually lets out a heavy sigh.

"Girlie, you're... You're the most mysterious individual I ever met you know. I'd never understand you."

In a rare moment of his lifetime, Lumine smiles, playfully. "I'll take that as a compliment."

He doesn't answer.

Lumine turns her body around and takes a few steps from him.

"I'm gonna go out for a while... Tell Paimon to go back to our room in Wangshu Inn by night."

Childe reaches out a hand to her, almost wanting to ask where she's going, but Lumine already disappears before he could do so, vanishing amidst blue lights.

Childe looks down at the toy in his hands once more, and gives himself a nod of reassurance, and with that, he stepped out from hiding.

"Big brother! There you are!"

The moment he saw Childe, Teucer's eyes immediately widens in joy and happiness, he runs towards the older man and give him the biggest hug of his life.

"I love it so much here! This is the most amazing surprise ever! How do you even do this?!" Teucer's asked, looking up at his big brother while still hugging him.

"Ahaha, that's a secret." Childe laughs, reaching down to pat Teucer's head when the small boy groaned for not being told.

"Wait, where's Lumi? Paimon she's with you." Paimon wondered, looking around for the blonde haired girl.

"She uh... She said that she has some business to take care of... You know? One that don't need me?" Childe nervously answered, trying to come up with an excuse.

"Aww, what? But she is so nice to me! I wanted to thank her too!" Teucer said, looking a little sad without Lumine being around.

"Ah, don't worry about it Teucer. I'm sure that you'll get the opportunity to meet the nice lady again sometime." He lightly smiled at the thought. "But more importantly though, I have something to give you."

Childe kneels down to come face-to-face with his brother, and he shows him the toy in his hand.

"Here, I got a Mr. Cyclops just for you, Teucer." he winks at him, and Teucer lets out a squeal of delight.

"Wow! Look at this!" He looks at the toy which he takes to his hands. "I never knew that they made Mr. Cyclops in this size!"

"And now you know." Childe smiles at him warmly. "Go check what's on the back."

Teucer did what he told, and his face brightens even more.

"Look, it even has my name on it! It's my very own Mr. Cyclops!" He squeals while pointing at his written name.

"Hehe, yup. I've made this one just for you Teucer. Only for you."

"Thank you thank you thank you! I love you big brother!"

Teucer throws his arms around Childe as he hugs him, and Childe returns it gladly. Paimon hovers nearby, looking at the scene with a mixed expression, mostly because she's happy to see it, while also being worried about Lumine's sudden appearance, and she has suspicions on Childe over it.

And speaking of Lumine...

Childe rubs the corner of his lips... The taste of her lips still lingers there. Just remembering that moment made his head blank, but as always, as Childe would do, he just smirks at the memory.

Mentally, he's wondering where Lumine could've gone...

~o~0~o~

"Ugh! I can't believe I just did that!"

If one were to travel along the paths in Wuwang Hill, then they will be presented with an extremely rare sight coming from this world... Or another world.

The blonde haired Traveler who had saved the entire Liyue from drowning by slaying an ancient god could be found sitting on the side of a mountain, hands used to cover her completely red face as she blushed intensely.

She knows that it's necessary but... Damn, she still can't believe that she just kissed him like that! A Fatui, and one of their top dogs no less.

But oh well... At least things still worked out in the end, and Childe is able to face his brother instead of running away like a coward.

Lumine uncovers her face, sighing heavily once she manages to calm down her rapidly beating heart, caused by that... Bold act she pulled off, as well as another thing.

Lumine looks down at her arm, finding a bite mark on it. She bit her own arm in order to restrain herself from losing control at that moment. If she hasn't done so... Who knew if the situation could get any ̶b̶e̶t̶t̶e̶r̶ worse.

She bit herself a little too hard, and it causes blood to come out from the injury. Without thinking, she stretches her tongue out and licks it.

Ah, how ̶v̶e̶r̶y̶ ̶u̶n̶f̶o̶r̶t̶u̶n̶a̶t̶e̶ glad she was that she ended up not going too far. At least it's only a kiss that she did to him. In another scenario... She might tear his chest open to get those negative energy out of him.

She'll blame her lust for this.

To be Continued...

---

Alright, the next chapter after this should be the last part. And once I'm done with this, I'll try to finish up the rest of the third chapter of Memories of The Forgotten Star fic before everybody lost their mind in confusion :)