Remember Me at Summer's End [ZhongChi/TartaLi]

Chapter 9 - Found

27th Day, 8th Month

"There he is!"

"Where do you— ah, this one sees him now."

Cloud. Cloud is here.

"This one thinks he has left us already; look at the state of him."

"Hush, Mountain Shaper. One would do well to have faith in this one's abilities."

The clutter of voices whispering on the edge of Childe's consciousness, ushering him back to the waking world are the first thing he's aware of.

The second thing he's aware of is that he wishes he wasn't aware of anything at all. Pain floods through him, radiating up from his legs, his hips, his ribs. It sends his head spinning, a dizzying ungrounded sensation as though he's falling from a great height while simultaneously being crushed by a great weight.

Four pairs of footsteps arrive at his head. Moon Carver, Cloud Retainer, Mountain Shaper, and one other yet to speak.

"He doesn't look very well at all," says the fourth, her voice small — Ganyu, the sweet girl.

Four adepti.

Then it must have worked, or at least not backfired. That's good. He would've given them more warning if he could, but the circumstances were as they were, and everything has turned out fine in the end.

"His condition is indeed dire." Cloud Retainer's footsteps squelch around Childe's head, and he tries to open his eyes, only to find them as heavy as his father's sword seemed when he was a boy. She pauses, and Childe feels her presence as she dips her head close to his. "Yet he breathes. One suspects there is hope for the boy."

"Then we must move fast," says Moon Carver.

Mountain Shaper interjects. "But his legs—"

"Can be fixed. Madame Ping is awaiting our return to Jueyun Karst. It is as this one said; doubt not our abilities, Mountain Shaper."

"Of course, Cloud Retainer, of course."

A light breeze flows under Childe's neck, pushing him upward as it supports his head and shoulders, edging under his body. When it reaches his waist, it shifts his shattered ribs, alighting the pain anew as the bone fragments grind together.

No, he wants to cry out, he's not supposed to move like this. Stop stop stop. It hurts oh Archons it hurts.

But his voice refuses to make a sound and his eyes remain sealed shut.

He tries to focus on anything else as the air continues to scrape him from the ground like a fish from the grill. As much as it hurts, he should be thankful for this, really. There was no obligation to rescue him after the decision they made.

On the topic of 'they'...

Childe lies suspended in the air, vaguely aware that he's moving now, two sets of footsteps either side him as his escort.

If Madame Ping is waiting at the adeptal realm, and there are four adepti here...

There should be five.

Xiao.

Where is Xiao?

If Xiao is in trouble or facing punishment because of him... no, Xiao shouldn't be the one taking the fall for this. Childe is the one who did it, after all, and yet the adepti have come to rescue him, despite what he did and who he is; he is the hated villain of Liyue, and today he more than fulfilled that.

Then if Xiao is not condemned, did something go wrong?

He strains his ears, trying to catch the faded voices, for some mention of Xiao or Zhongli, but his consciousness slips further from his grasp, words muffling into vague sounds, an indistinguishable jumble just out of reach of comprehension.

Come back, come back. He needs to hear them, to know what they're saying.

But they grow ever more distant.

Distant...

Distant...

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Author's Note: Just a short chapter for this update, but it should be a fun teaser for you still. 😊

New Cover! As you probably noticed, the fic now has new cover art. It's a commission by @/aribiaobi on Twitter, and the full size piece will be included in a later chapter - it's gorgeous and I can't wait to share it! Just to note, I specifically commissioned it for use in this fic and this fic only, so please do not use it for any other purposes. Her commission slots are open if you like her style, however, and wish to order anything for yourself.