Genshin Impact- Tartaglia x Reader

Starting a New Life

It was a month after your injury.

Childe had gotten a job as a miner, using his strength and his hydro daggers to help mine out cor lapis and noctilucous jade veins. He made quite a lot of money out of it, and occasionally brought lovely jewels home, but he had to work for 12 hours a day, and came home exhausted when work hours were over. He didn't even eat any dinner, just came in and threw himself onto the sofa to sleep. You had woken him up a couple of times to eat, but then you realized that it messed up his sleep schedule and made him late for work, so you stopped doing it.

You had gotten a job helping Chef Mao at the Wanmin Restaurant, and had a knack for making even the most bland dishes, like chicken mushroom skewers and Teyvat Fried Eggs have a little more emphasis and attractiveness to the customers. Chef Mao instantly hit it off with you, and you became fast friends. Unlike Childe's bosses, who were cruel and unrelenting, Chef Mao was flexible with your hours, and sometimes let you take days off even when the restaurant was busy. He often told you how much he wanted you to think of him as a friendly uncle, and if he continued treating you as amiably as he did, you would have no problem welcoming this man into your family.

One night, you were cleaning up after a busy work day. It was pretty late in the evening, around ten, and you wanted badly to go home and soak yourself in a warm bath before resting in your comfortable bed. But, sadly, that was not looking too promising.

While you were in the middle of cleaning up the woks that you used for frying, you heard a man calling out your name in a tone that sounded urgent and concerned. You shot your head up from where it was bent down scrubbing dirty metal, and accidentally hit your head on the wooden counter that Chef Mao put takeout orders down on. It hurt like hell, and you would probably have a huge bump on your scalp later, but you didn't care. This man seemed worried and serious, and you needed to make sure that something terrible didn't happen, or that if something terrible did happen, that everyone was alright.

"L/N Y/N! L/N Y/N!" the man screamed, running down the street at a breakneck pace towards the restaurant. He cursed as he slipped and tripped, landing facefirst and swallowing a chunk of dirt.

Seeing that he was struggling, you put down the wok that you were scrubbing, put your hair up so that it wouldn't swing in your face, and rushed over to where the man was getting up off of the ground. You offered your hand to help him up, but he didn't need any help, and got up by himself, brushing off his clothes and giving you a small, unemotional smile.

"What's wrong? You seemed to be concerned," you said, looking the man over to make sure he wasn't seriously hurt. Other than scrapes on his hands that looked pretty menacing, he seemed alright, which was good. You didn't want anyone getting hurt on your part.

"You're Childe's significant other, aren't you?" the man said.

Your rapidly fluttering heart dropped to your feet and seemingly stopped beating, sitting there like a heavy stone, unable to beat or even move.

What if.... no, he couldn't have! You refused to believe that any accident could be that serious.

"Yes, I am," you said, keeping your voice controlled and not showing a hint of the overwhelming anxiety that was hanging over you like a cloud, about to drop torrential rains down on your head.

"Oh. I'm sorry to inform you that he got badly hurt during a mining expedition. There was a cave-in, and we managed to save him, but-"

You just wanted to throw yourself into your bed and sob into your pillow right now. The anxiety and stress that this was giving you was far too much. You felt as if you were about to break down, right here and right now, in the middle of the main street of Liyue Harbor.

No, Y/N. You will not break down in the middle of the street. You've got this. Just stay composed, pretend everything's all right...

As much as you consoled yourself in your mind, your body wouldn't listen. Tears started to roll down your cheeks, faster and faster, until you were sobbing great, choking sobs. You had fallen down onto the ground, and the dirt was scratching your cheeks. You were grabbing at something, you knew it had to be something important, so why was it getting farther and farther away?

"Y/N? Are you alright?"

You opened your eyes and saw that you were lying on the main street of Liyue Harbor crying your eyes out, the exact thing that you promised yourself you wouldn't do. The thing you were grabbing at had been the ankle of the young man who had given you the message that Childe had been hurt. He had been dodging your flying hand, and you had scraped your palms against some rocks that were mixed in with the gravel on the road. They were bleeding, but you didn't feel any pain. Your heart was too numb.

"Is he dead? Tell me, young sir, is he dead?" you asked the young man, as if your entire breakdown hadn't happened.

"No. But one of his legs is crushed, and two of his ribs are broken. He is in very bad pain, and he is asking for you. He will survive, but from the way he is crying out and suffering, it sounds as if he believes he is going to die. He needs you, Y/N. He needs you very much right now."

"I'll go to him! I'll go to him right now! Take me to him, sir!" you cried out, feeling the tears return to your eyes. "Where is he?"

The young man took your hand in his and led you to a miner's camp on Mount Tianheng. There was a large red tent set up in the center of the camp, and he pointed to it and said that Childe was in there, probably refusing to sleep or something like that. He then told you he had to continue with his work, and went down the mountain with a group of other men with pickaxe in hand, probably to mine some ores.

You steadied yourself with a few deep breaths before entering the tent, preparing yourself for whatever you would see. Surprisingly, it wasn't that bad. A thick, large wool blanket was covering Childe's body, and he was lying on his back, staring straight up at the roof of the tent, his eyes red with previously shed tears.

"My love," you said, falling on your knees by his bedside and taking his hand in yours. He was burning hot, and his hands were trembling. Could it be that he was sick with a fever, along with all his other wounds? How terrible!

"Y/N... y-you c-came..."

Childe's voice was weak and small, and he sounded aggrieved. Not just sadness, but a deeper sadness that you could only call grief, was running through his body at the moment, hurting much more than any wounds. Even if you gave him a million kisses, stayed with him for a million years, that grief would never leave. It was deeper than your own, the grief you had accumulated after seeing hundreds of innocent souls slayed by your hand and the hands of your comrades. This grief cut deep in your heart too.

"How badly are you hurt, love? Will you recuperate soon? I want to see you smile again..." you trailed off, unsure how much of this sadness you could take without breaking once more.

Childe slipped his hand out of your grip and dropped it to the mattress. His breathing was deep and even, which was good for someone who had two broken ribs and a crushed leg, which probably had many more broken bones in it. You noticed that his eyes had closed, and that he was asleep.

You smiled to see him in peace, and gave him a kiss on his forehead, running your fingers through his sweaty hair and stroking his cheeks and jawline. Such a lovely man had become yours purely by luck. You would make sure that luck was proud of you for how you treated you.

Gently, you laid your head against his chest and smiled once again at hearing his strong heartbeat and breathing. He was going to recover soon, and you could embrace once more. Even if he couldn't do any serious work or heavy lifting for years or even for the rest of his life due to his leg injury, you wouldn't care. You were just glad beyond words to see him alive and safe with such serious injuries.

"You're the love of my life," you whispered in his ear. "I'll protect you forever, until our ends come."

A/N- It's the end of this story! Thanks for reading this one! I'll come out with the next one as soon as I can! I hope you enjoyed this and felt home in my writing, as always. This is my goal: to make you feel happy, enjoy my writing, and feel home in the words I type. I love you all very much, and I'll be seeing in a new story very soon!

-Asha-