The 12th Fatui Harbinger

Transformation

As usual, Childe went into Yuria's room to wake her up. He liked seeing her in the mornings. She was always the most adorable curled up on her side, pink hair slightly tangled as she slept ever so soundly. To his surprise, the servant at her chambers informed him she was already up and running at the training chambers.

"Morning sweetheart!" He beamed as he swung an arm around her shoulders. "You're up early today!" He remarked.

Yuria had been shooting at targets, and she placed the bow down on the ground to remove his arm. "Yes comrade, good morning." She replied stiffly.

Childe faltered. She was upset. "Look, I'm sorry about what happened. I swear I didn't--"

Yuria placed a hand in his face, cutting him off. She looked down today. Wait, it was more than that-- something in her was broken. The gleam in her eyes was gone and she looked ever more frail and hollow.

"Can we just train? You were supposed to guide me into the final stage of delusion today." She inserted.

Childe gulped. He had low key been pushing that off to the side because he didn't want their time together to end, yes. But also, he was worried about her condition. She didn't look well today to begin with, and the first transformation was always the most taxing.

"Are you sure? Your condition doesn't look good today, Yuria." He remarked in worry. "The first time will be very energy consum--"

"I'm fine." Yuria huffed. "I want to get it over with."

Childe was at her side instantly, tucking her hair behind her ear. "Is something wrong?" he asked softly.

Yuria stiffened. Instinctively, she slapped his hand away. Something was indeed wrong with her. Why did she still care about his feelings? Something in her throbbed a little when she saw his hurt expression. Childe looked like a kicked puppy and she was mad at herself for caring. This was self defense. Hurt or be hurt.

"Can you just teach me without the extra flirting?" she exhaled sharply.

Childe squirmed, not sure how to deal with her change in attitude. Yes, he had crossed lines with her previously, but she hadn't seemed to mind. In fact, she had seemed to reciprocate just up until a few days ago. He knew he had fucked up over the Scaramouche incident. But she wouldn't even let him apologize. His head swirled with many emotions, and he shut them out for the moment, doing as she asked.

"Of course, comrade." He sighed. "Why don't you go into your second phase first and we'll start from there."

Yuria easily shifted into her second phase. The fox shaped mask she wore at the side of her head became embedded with sapphires, and blue flames danced around her as her clothes changed color. She summoned her anemo imbued fans, as the winds howled against the backdrop of vivid blue flame whisps.

"Okay, now I want you to focus on the energy present in both of these forms-- the rush of air and the spark of flames, and think about combining the two of them. Bring the elemental forms together, and into your own body." He explained carefully.

Yuria did as he instructed. She could feel the elements, the anemo energy in the air, pulsating in each particle. But it was harder to pinpoint the energy from the flames as it was second to her nature. She exhaled again and focused. It was definitely there. She just had to reach out...

A rush of warmth hit her, igniting the pyro energy as particles came into her, sparking the energy between anemo and pyro.

Childe sat back in awe as he watched her perfectly execute her final form of delusion transformation. Anemo swirled around her limbs, and fire burned traces of her second transformation away. From the ashes arose a woman he was unfamiliar with.

Her hair had turned to almost a pure white, the pink hair that he always loved on her was gone. The fox shaped mask covered most of her face now, and her eyes flashed sapphire. She grew taller and more built in size, a common enhancement for third transformation delusions.

A final burst of pyro ignited at her feet, igniting blue fire as the flames morphed to form a nine tailed fox before exploding into a blinding light. She was unbelievably beautiful and terrifying at the same time. He smirked as he let himself transform into his final stage. It had been awhile since he went all out.

Water and electricity engulfed him, and from the purple explosion, he emerged, ready for a fight, his galaxy cape fluttering behind him.

He slashed ahead with his blades, zooming forward rapidly with electro energy. Yuria easily reflected those back at him with her anemo imbued fans. 

Rotating her wrists, she formed three tornadoes made of fire, causing everything in the tornados' path to catch on fire, causing the chamber to shake and tremble.

Childe simply summoned his hydro imbued narwhal, engulfing the tornadoes with its gigantic splash. There was steam everywhere, and electricity crackled in the air.

To his surprise, she summoned the nine tailed fox he saw at the beginning of her transformation, causing a huge explosion as electricity was still crackling on the ground everywhere. It was too late for him to dodge, and the impact knocked him to the other side of the room. He groaned in pain as he got back up.

Yuria had flown up to dodge the explosion using an anemo based wind current. Clever. 

Yuria plunge attacked without warning, and he barely dodged it in the nick of time. She was doing amazing, but he was just getting started.

He spun his electro and hydro imbued spear around in a half circle, creating massive AOE damage, as he managed to land a hit on her.

Yuria grunted and wobbled a little bit. She felt so lightheaded, the world was spinning. She saw Childe zooming toward her at the speed of light and thought it was the end. She had no energy left to move out of the way.

Instead, he simply caught her by the waist as her transformation snapped, and she passed out in his arms. Her vision was splattered with black spots as she fought to stay awake.

Childe transformed back into his regular self and princess carried her in his arms. "See, I told you today wasn't a good day." He chastised her gently. "You did great, but the first time always knocks people out. And you really did look like a ghost this morning." He joked.

Ugh. She had no energy left to give him a witty comeback to that one.

"Rest, sweetheart. I'll make sure you get to bed." were the last words she heard before fatigue overtook her completely.

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