The demise of a hero

Farewell

In the early morning everything was still quiet. But then Childe met a group of compatriots. They were also here and could be found everywhere. Interesting.

"Sir Tartaglia, finally! We knew we'd find you here. Here. An urgent telegram from Dottore, strictly confidential," the Fatui said, handing him a message. Childe grinned as he read through the document. This was good news. They had located Scaramouche's whereabouts. Only, unfortunately, it was quite a journey from here. But that didn't matter, after all, he would finally be able to beat up the deserter.

"Thank you," he said, bidding farewell to the squad. Then he set off without hesitation. This letter now led him to Fontaine. That Scaramouche had left the country did not surprise him in the least. He only wondered how he had managed to do so unnoticed. But because of his small size, he could hide anywhere. After all, there were trade contacts with the other countries. In Ritou, he would surely be able to catch such a ship.

Before he got there and could look around the harbor, he ran into a familiar face.

"Hey, are you leaving Inazuma yet?" the blond young man called Thoma, he had met here just the other day, asked him.

"Yeah... I've received an order. I need a ship towards Fontaine today," Childe explained, hoping his counterpart didn't ask any questions.

"Oh well, I already thought you didn't like it here. Too bad. I was hoping we could chat again about local recipes and household hacks. It's so rare to meet cool guys who are interested in that," Thoma said somewhat dejectedly, though he continued to smile bravely. Childe laughed and ran his hand through his hair, lowkey embarrassed. He was a little sorry to just leave him standing there now, as he had already enjoyed the blond's company.

"Yes... Unfortunately I have to leave Inazuma as soon as possible. But if I ever come by here again, we can meet up. I'm looking forward to it!" he promised him, grinning happily at him.

"Then we'll have a cooking party with food from Snezhnaya and Inazuma!" said Thoma, patting him on the shoulder.

"Sure thing, comrade!" retorted Childe, smiling. Then he waved goodbye and headed toward the harbor.

#

After an agonizingly long journey by ship, Childe finally arrived at his destination. In the dark alleys of the large otherwise beautiful city situated on canals, it was certainly possible to go into hiding. But the message from Dottore was direct and comprehensive. According to it, he was on Scaramouche's trail and would probably find him soon.

In an old backyard of a beautiful but abandoned house, apparently haunted according to the residents, the little, shitty gremlin had taken up quarters. When Childe arrived there, no one was present. At least, it didn't seem that way to him as he wandered through the old, dark, abandoned corridors, where only old junk stood around, the wallpaper already hanging off the walls, and strange traces could be seen on the walls and floor. Obviously, someone had once been cruelly killed here. But Childe didn't mind in the least; he had seen far worse.

And so he sat down on an old corduroy chair and waited. When at some point he heard a suspicious noise in the courtyard, he made his way outside because he wanted to check. As hoped, there he met none other than Scaramouche - who was quite astonished at the sight of him.

"Well, kid. That's it for your trip. Surrender and hand over the gnosis!" said Childe, laughing. Scaramouche laughed, too.

"Forget it, you fool!" he said coldly.

"Okay no...this is an order from Dottore. Either you obey or-", Childe continued, but was interrupted by the midget.

"Or what? Do you have to hurt me then?" he said sarcastically, looking at him from his big eyes in appropriate suffering.

"Oh ... no, I WANT TO hurt you. I'm so gonna smash your face in, you won't know up from down!" hissed Childe, walking towards him. Scaramouche adjusted his hat and grinned broadly.

"Go ahead."

#

A bolt of lightning whizzed past his head by a hair's breadth, and Childe was unfortunately the one who no longer knew up from down. Unfortunately for him, he had underestimated Scaramouche. His water attacks bounced off the little guy like shallow raindrops. He hadn't known that Scaramouche could create a protective shield around the brim of his hat and send out powerful attacks at the same time. On his hand, he had already been hit by one of his high-voltage lightning bolts and almost couldn't feel it anymore. He would have liked to go into his stronger electric form, but he probably couldn't do anything with it against Scaramouche. Accordingly, he was forced to go straight into his Foul Legacy form. With his whale, he might be able to get a win. But never before had he skipped his second form so quickly, and Scaramouche hadn't taught him that way back then. It cost him a lot of strength and only with effort he could still avoid the fierce attacks of his opponent.

"You're really serious, aren't you?" asked Scaramouche in amazement, "...so suicidal..."

"Yeah, and I'll finish you off first...", Childe murmured and started to attack again.

But Scaramouche had probably seen him train long enough, and so he knew Tartaglia's attacks inside out... whereas Childe knew too little about how Scaramouche fought. And what he knew, he couldn't compete with now, as he had to realize.

Scaramouche sent out a wave of successively timed lightning bolts that Childe could no longer dodge, especially since he was now heavier and more ponderous in Foul Legacy form. Hit by the attacks, Childe stumbled backward, toward the canal. With a larger bolt of lightning, he was now hurled into the water as he felt the electricity run through his armour and shatter it. Only thanks to his delusion was he probably still alive. He stared out of the water at Scaramouche's cynical face in disbelief. Had he really lost?

With a well-aimed jolt of electricity, Childe suspected his last hour had come. But it hit the Delusion, which shattered into a thousand pieces.

"You're a disgrace to your element and shouldn't be able to control electro at all. I have always thought so. And therefore you shall regret that you dared to stop me!" he heard Scaramouche, who then sent more lightning bolts crashing down into the water.

Only these no longer reached Childe, since he had already sunk. The heavy fabric pulled him further and further into the depths. At some point he saw no more lightning. Shortly after, he saw nothing at all.