Whale and Dragonfly // OC x Childe Genshin Impact fanfiction

Chapter 9: Goals and sacrifices

"Girlieee... wake up!"

Charlotte slowly opened her eyes, awakened by orange-haired Harbinger shaking her shoulder. She had no idea how long was she sleeping and yet – girl was still sleepy, wishing she could go back to the Land of Dreams.

"C'mon Charlotte! It's already past the midday! Isn't that enough of sleep for you? Harbingers wake up early!" Childe shook her shoulder once again, making girl drag the blanket over her head.

"5 more minutes please..."

"We're starting your training today. Your clothes are on your desk. Meet me at the stone platform in the forest, Northway from here. You have 20 minutes. See ya there!" boy patted the blanket cocoon girl has curled in, standing up and leaving.

Charlotte had to rethink the situation and process the info she just heard once again. The moment she realised she's wasting her very precious 20 minutes, girl jumped out of bed, running to put on her clothes.

Her new outfit was pretty simple: pants with inner layer of wool, surprisingly comfy and easy to move in, t-shirt, a warm coat with hood and a pair of boots, suited for walking in snowy areas. Girl didn't doubt Tartaglia was an expert at picking out outfits to serve in both: fighting against your opponents AND against Snezhnaya's freezing climate.

On her way to outside-leading door, she didn't met a single soul. Charlotte was surprised, but assumed everyone was just minding their own business. She should do the same as well...

The moment she stepped outside, a frosty gust of wind slapped her in the face, making her cheeks turn pink due to coldness. Where did Ajax ask to meet her again? At stone platform in the middle of forest, Northway? Where could that possibly be?

She spotted her first target – forest, full of leaf-less trees, looking dead and hollow. Yet the frosty tree branches with icicles hanging from them and snow piles sticking on top of them made the whole sight look somewhat magical...

There was a path leading into the forest, so without further ado, Charlotte started walking at quick pace. Unfortunately, the path ended very soon and she found herself surrounded by naked trees, all alone. It was time to use the knowledge her father taught her...

"If you don't have a compass, use natural environment. Stars and other sky bodies are the best navigators. If it's daytime, look for trees. Trees' branches grow in denser clusters in southern direction due to more sunlight reaching them here." Her father once told her, when they were on an expedition together.

Girl looked around, examining every single tree closely. She went around a few circles, making sure her theories will turn out true. Finally, she spotted exactly what she was looking for.

Most of the trees, if looking from specific angle, had more branches and were way more dense on one of their sides. Without a second thought, girl went to the direction where tree branches were more spread-out and not too dense. This is where north direction was.

After a bit of walking forward, she soon noticed a flat and tree-less surface ahead. Her destination was just a few hundred meters away. Not entirely sure how much time she had left from the 20 minutes Childe gave her, she started running, soon making it to the stone platform.

She stopped in the middle, catching her breath and looking around. Childe was nowhere in sight. Did she really come to the right place? This looks exactly like what he described: stone platform with strange symbols and patterns, 4 pillars on each of its side, probably serving like compass direction letters. It was in north side for sure – girl checked the trees behind her back once again, and of course – it was in the middle of the forest.

Charlotte's all worries were soon cleared as she hears steps approaching her and clapping sound.

"Well, well, well. Must admit, I didn't think you'd find this place. Not to mention, in less than 20 minutes... Congrats." Her childhood friend congratulated, smilling at her. "How did you find it, pray tell?" he was looking at her curiously now, his arms crossed on his chest.

"I... Used trees and indicator... Tree branches grow more densely on southern side, so I went to opposite – to north." Girl said, straightening her back.

Young Harbinger's eyes slightly widened as he obviously expected different answer. Yet, it seemed to catch his interest as he started looking around too, investigating the snowy trees.

"Huh... I see..." he seemed to finally notice this natural compass sign, turning back to girl. "Your orientation skills truly are impressive... Well done. Now then, let's see how your battle skills truly are. But first, let me show you something, to give you some inspiration. Follow me."

Charlotte nodded, obediently following after the 11th Harbinger deeper into the forest. The walk wasn't that long as they soon came across the small hill and climbed on top of it. From there, you could see a hilichurls camp in a distance.

"Is... this hilichurl camp the thing you wanted to show me, Childe?..." No answer. "Childe...? Childe?!" Girl looked at the empty space next to her, but her companion was already gone.

She looked at the distance, seeing her friend approach the camp. He was walking in a normal pace, not too fast, nor too slow. Hilichurls soon noticed Childe's presence, sending the danger alarm through entire camp. Charlotte wanted to go and drag her master out of there, but he suddenly turned around and their eyes met before he smiled at her.

A group of hilichurl fighters charged at the young man, but before any of them could hit him, all of them were knocked away by a strong wave of pure hydro splashing from Childe as he summoned his 2 twin blades. Girl, who stood on top of hill and watched the entire thing was frozen to place. She wasn't sure whether it was from horror or from Snezhnaya's climate... Or both...

Masterfully wielding his pure-hydro weapons, ginger-haired warrior wiped the camp out in no time, leaving lifeless hilichurls laying in the pearly white snow. The whole fight, of course, was a satisfying sight to see – Harbinger in action was not something you get to see every day. But what did these poor souls do to him...? Why would he kill them so cruelly, without a second thought...?

Ajax soon came back to the top of the hill, proud smirk on his face.

"Well, liked what you just saw? That's some good warm-up, must say! Though, hilichurls are no match for me, so it makes the whole thing quite boring..." ginger head sighed, his proud expression dying off and getting replaced with disappointment.

"I... what... w-why...?" Girl was still too shocked, her wide eyes unable to look away from the snow that was slowly turning crimson red under hilichurl bodies.

Boy looked at where she was looking, his face expression once again changing. This time, the emotion was impossible to read.

"Charlotte, I want you to understand something. Goal requires sacrifices. Warriors like us have a goal to spend every single minute trying to become stronger. Strength is chased after for various reasons. Weaklings like these hilichurls become just a group of training dummies. That's the sacrifice we should be willing to make for our goals." he said coldly, walking off.

Girl was still too shocked to even move. Thousands of thoughts were running through her head like crazy.

"Hey! You froze to place there or something? Come on! Let's spar a bit! It's your turn to show whatcha got!" she heard Childe call from behind.

"C-Coming..." after one last glance at the now abandoned camp with dead hilichurls, girl walked away too, following her coach back to the stone platform, where it all started.

One thing she knew very well. Ajax's mother was telling the truth last evening. Old Ajax was gone... The battle with hilichurls only proved it right for her...

Yet, the girl couldn't help but once again ask herself the question that was bothering her ever since the day they reunited... What exactly happened that made him behave this way? Surely just getting lost in woods at young age and being chased by wolves wouldn't affect one's personality this much... right?

There was way more to his past than met the eye... She was sure of it.