Love or hatred? (Diluc x y/n) OLD VER

29:Ice and Snow

None of the informations or places that I wrote about I this chapter is real in the game. This is all made up and it is all part of what I think Snezhnaya would be like

Third person POV
(Y/n) was finally at Liyue. It was half an hour from midnight when she reached Northland bank. Childe was there, waiting for her. "There you are, lets head towards Snezhnaya early. We'll arrive about...1 and a half hour earlier than we are supposed to. The mission actually starts tomorrow at dawn," Said Childe. (Y/n) made a face. A long journey was ahead of them.

They boarded their boat to Snezhnaya, their coats were already on them. Halfway towards Snezhnaya, there will be a drop in temperature. (Y/n) fell asleep on Childe's shoulder an hour into the 6 hour journey. Childe smiled at his sister, it's been a while since he has seen her peacefully rest on him.

6 hours later...

(Y/n) woke up with Childe hugging her. From the temperature, she guessed that they have reached Snezhnaya. The thought of Childe freezing himself when he uses Hydro was funny enough to make her giggle. Childe opened his eyes. "What's so funny?" He said.

"Oh nothing, let's get moving shall we?" Said (y/n). Childe yawned and nodded. They got off the boat and walked through the port. "Brother! Sister!" Yelled an awfully familiar voice.

Teucer was running towards them with Tonia right behind him. Childe entertained Teucer while Tonia spoke to (y/n). "I never expected to see you two come back so soon, Tecuer and I just do happen to be here actually," Said Tonia. A serious look flashed onto her face. "Ajax said that you two won't be back for another month...why return so early? Is it because...you're on a mission again?" Tonia whispered the last part. (Y/n) nodded.

Tonia sighed. "Come on Tecuer, your big bro and sis have to go to work! I'm sure they'll visit when they are done! Come on!"

Tonia brought Tecuer away, Childe heaved a sigh of relief. "Phew, luckily that didn't take up our 30 minutes before we have to work. We only have 25 minutes left, it'll take 20 minutes  to reach the northern side of Snezhnaya if we take the shortest route possible which is through the ice tunnels..."

(Y/n) shook her head. "No, those tunnels might collapse anytime soon. Anyways, they are narrow and hilichurl-infested. We can just take the longer route above ground."

Childe sighed. They took the longer route in the end. A snowstorm was picking up. It was normal but this would cause some inconvenience. They were outside the forest where the creature was suppose to be at on time, there was barely any way to see what's going on. Trees and rocks were just shapes, nothing could be heard clearly over the noise or the wind.

Childe lead the way, they soon found huge footprints in the snow. "Whatever this is, it's huge..." whispered (y/n). Childe bent down to examine the footprints. He stood up again and they continued on. They soon reached a frozen pond, traces of blood was around the pond. They walked a little further and found a skeleton, a skeleton of a human.

"What happened to them..." Said (y/n). Even Childe was scared. "Let's move on. The faster this is done, the better," Said Childe, putting on a confident look before trotting on.

The snow was almost up to their knees. Well, at least (y/n)'s knees.

"ROARRRRR! Grrah!"

The whole forest seemed to rumble. Snow fell from the branches of the trees. It seemed to be an earthquake or maybe it was the monster shaking the earth. Whatever it was, it made the trees drop piles and piles of snow, it also separated (y/n) from Childe.

(Y/n) POV
I coughed, there was snow everywhere. It wouldn't be long before the cold get to her. The storm seemed to have worsen, the situation got even worst. I stood up, I sighed. Where was I going to find Childe?

I decided to trudge on, hoping to find Childe. There was still distant roaring noises as I walked on. An abyss mage was lurking near some boulders so I decided to take it down.

I activated my vision to pyro charge an arrow. I shot the arrow at the abyss mage, causing it to fall off the boulder. I changed my bow to a sword and leaped over the boulder, I stabbed the abyss mage and ended it quickly. Another loud roar was heard, this time more muffled. I shivered, I sure hope Childe was ok.

Suddenly, something fast-moving slammed against me, knocking me into the snow. I opened my eyes to see a bloody Childe. "Ajax!" I cried, shocked into using his real name. Childe winced, he was bleeding from several wounds. "This monster...it's...cough...not from anywhere in Teyvat...It's so fierce..." Childe put up a smirk before charging at the beast which he was fighting.

The beast was Midnight black, it had many horns, six scarlet red eyes, huge claws. It stood on four legs, it had many spiky parts and its mouth could split into three parts. It's aura was intimidating enough to make my shoulders tense automatically. And even worst, it's thrice the size of a frost lawachurl.

It let out a screech, it stomped its foot on the ground which summoned some sort of black spikes. I leaped out of the way, not daring to get hit. Childe activates his delusion, he attacked from behind. His hydro and electro infused spear stabbed into the monster's back. The monster whipped around, it's long spiky tail hitting Childe in the side. Blood sprayed out and stained the white snow.

Childe flopped onto the snow, struggling to move. "Ajax! Hang in there!" I yelled, gathering myself. I activated my delusion and used electro and pyro to cause overload. The monster took a step back and roared. It slashed at my body, I narrowly dodged its blow.

The last slash hit me, I felt a searing pain. It was as if I was being burnt, shocked and stabbed at the same time. I fell to the ground, I was already badly hurt. I looked at Childe's direction. The monster was advancing on me, I felt paralyzed. I couldn't move. I was scared. I closed my eyes.

Word count: 1082