Whale and Dragonfly // OC x Childe Genshin Impact fanfiction

Chapter 37: A Ghost

Charlotte lifted her head up just a bit to look at her friend's pale face. She then glanced at his vision, her heart breaking to pieces.

He was gone.

With more tears spilling from her eyes, she gently placed her hand on his cheek, brushing her thumb on it back and forth in a comforting motion. The warmth of his body has started fading too.

"I'm so sorry..."

Girl felt like beating herself up. Apologizing? Now? All too late, damn it! If not her carelessness and not watching where she was going, he'd still be there, safe and sound. What will his family think now? How will she have to tell his parent's that their son is not coming back home this time?

How about Teucer? There's no way he won't find out about the heroic, best toy salesman in Snezhnaya being not what he always told him he was. How will he react when his all childhood dreams get shattered to smithereens? When he finds out his brother was a part of Fatui, even worse – A Fatui Harbinger?

What about when he finds out it's her fault that his beloved brother is gone?

~~~

Childe never thought about death being this peaceful. It was just like falling asleep.

He remembers being snuggled in his friend's arms before he closed his eyes. The darkness soon turned into a beautiful dream: the dream of his lifetime.

Boy saw his mother and father looking at him with loving eyes as he was just a baby, spending his first moments in this world, in his mother's arms. He watched himself growing up, his father eventually taking him to the frozen lake to teach ice fishing. Hearing his father's adventure tales that he used to tell while cutting ice really did warm his heart up again.

After a second he saw himself being just 6 years old, dragging a bundle of tree branches he gathered in the forest. His father was busy that day, so he was the one who went to gather wood to keep the fireplaces burning. That's when he bumped into a beautiful brown-haired girl with eyes greener than Cuihua tree leaves and blushy from cold cheeks. Before they both knew it, they became best friends.

Sadly, the friendship didn't last long as it was time to say goodbye. Charlotte left with her parents and sister for Inazuma and Ajax had no choice but to come back to his boring everyday life alone. But boredom didn't last long again as his little sister Tonia was soon born.

Being big brother has weighted down boy's shoulders heavily. Yet, he would still find time to go out with his father and listen to his tales. When he was 14, he finally decided that village life is no more – time to experience more of this life.

Childe watched his memories of abyss training like a theater play. That was the greatest crack in his life – he wasn't the same ever since. It was the unnamed warrior who came back from the abyss, not Ajax. Later on, he was given the name of Childe, Tartaglia, and bestowed upon the title of 11th Harbinger.

After the year of being a Harbinger, he met his long-lost friend he never thought he'll ever see again. He watched how he nursed her back to health, how he trained her, and how he helped her achieve the title of 12th Harbinger. He saw all of their adventures in Liyue, with Traveler and the events of the domain and...

How she held him in his last moments...

Childe opened his eyes to see his friend still squeezing his body, tears running down her face as she cried in his chest.

"Charlotte?" he called but got no reaction. "Charlotte, I'm here-"

He reached out his hand to touch her cheek, but immediately backed away as it went right through her. Ready to scream in horror, he backed away, his heart pounding from the sudden adrenaline dose.