one last time

chapter 4

Zhongli

he looked like a fine man, dressed good , looked rich and spoke very formally. we adjusted ourselves onto our seats and we immediately got into the topic of conversation. "its good to see you back here" Zhongli said as formally as ever. 

"this my comrade, we are here on an important mission and we assist your help" Childe began. you realized how you still didnt know what the mission was till now . Childe had only told you the surface of it. "we want to know about Mazu" Childe came straight to the point. "why is that" Zhongli sipped on his wine . 

"if theres anyone who knows anything about Mazu, its you" Childe continued. "Why do you intend to find her?" Zhongli asked now with a serious tone in his voice . "Tsaritsa requests your help , we need Muza's heart to reach our goal" 

"Muza is dead" Zhongli continued. "You're lying , i did some research the moment childe told me about Muza . Every document about her states that Rex Lapis killed her but noone of the books about rex lapis states that he did really kill her" you stated with curiousity in your eyes.

Zhongli sighed. "I am surprised anyone could actually figure that out. Muza, the goddess of kindness , what a sad  woman she was. Human blessed with god like powers " 

"what do you mean? do you know where we can find her heart" you questioned again.

"muza might be far from her glory days but she is still a god a powerful diety. she rules the sea. Did you travel by a ship?" zhongli asked. 

"yes but what does that have to do with anything?" 

"did you talk about her in the ship" Zhongli sighed and closed his eyes

"you dont mean..." childe now had a nervous tone in his voice.

"she knows you are looking for her, you arent looking for her anymore, shes the one looking for you"  

"what do you mean by tha-" you were cutoff by Childe. " If we find her heart before she finds us we can get away " childe spoke as if with himself.

you processed the situation at hand and understood what was actually happening. Muza heard you talking, you and childe about stealing her heart and she knew exactly where you were right now. the one listening to your conversation at the ship, the one who watched you sleep it was her.

"there was suddenly a huge tension in your table. " She might be called the goddess of kindness but donot let names deceive you , she is ruthless doesnot show mercy and kills anyone who stands in her path" Zhongli said.

"why is she presumed dead then?" you asked. "her heart, you are not the first trying to get it , thousands have tried , each of them dead. the same fate awaits you if youre not careful. i cant tell you much but do not look into her eyes , her heart , no one knows where it is but it is said to be in the shell of a turtle , if the turtle is a metaphorical reference or an actual turtle no one knows , someone must have written books about how morax killed her to keep others safe" Zhongli explained.

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you were now back at the hotel with Childe. "we are moving immediately childe said, she knows where we are she must have seen everything i planned all the places we will be staying in all the people  we will be talking with" 

with that you packed your bags and you both were soon heading to an area far from the hotel you were staying in. you couldnt leave liyue , there was still a lot of answers about Muza here. you and childe reached a secluded hotel , kinda run down and not so fancy as the one you previously were in. 

"i want us to stay together"

"in the same room" childe said. you were a bit taken aback. "i think we can protect ourselves" you said confused. "no we need to remake the plan from the start we need to plan a detour too" 

"reasonable" you said. You both entered the room you would be staying in. you took a quick shower and changed . so did childe. you both were now rummaging through maps and books planning stuff. you were lucky you got your hands on books of missing people . you went through everyone of them and you finally found something big on the 267th page. "rudolf lanchaster" he was an alchemist from monstad , he went missing 7 years ago. he was searching for a rare mineral a rare object that would bring a drastic change and improvement in alchemy. he was reportedly asking people about someone named Mazu before he went to sail in the sea. that was the last time people had seen him.

you and childe went through countless of papers but this was the only one where Mazu was mentioned. You both decided you would ask around liyue tommorow and go to monstad the next day.

it was 2 in the morning now. Childe looked really tired " you should sleep" you told him. "we should sleep" he remarked. The only lead you had found was rudolf lanchaster and it didnt seem like you were about to find anymore of it.

you laid in the bed and realised how there was only a single bed in the room. Childe laid beside you. you turned towards him and stared at his eyes , his blue ocean eyes . "dont stare at me like that" 

"you getting nervous?" 

"why would i ?" childe asked as he turned towards you too.

"many reasons" you said "i could burn your throat easily right now or i could-" you were interrupted.

childe had grabbed your wrist and pressed it on the bed, he was now on top of you , your faces almost touching. You could fight back but you didn't.

his lips came close to your ear and he wishpered "you could ?" 

that sent a shiver down your spine. you frooze and couldn't move , didn't move. Childe got off you and turned away from you "you should get some sleep we have a long day ahead" he said in a complete normal tone. you snapped back to reality and you both dozed off after a while.