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

Chapter 15 - Between Two Friends

28th Day, 8th Month

Alive.

He's alive.

There's less pain. Less than before, anyway.

A warm cocoon encases his body, holding him secure, and his head is sunk into a deep, plump pillow.

Wake up. He needs to wake up, needs to find Zhongli and Xiao.

If only his damn eyes would open.

Somewhere to the left a door hinge squeaks, followed by the tapping of footsteps. With a soft clunk, the stranger places an object onto a nearby surface. The rustling of fabric, a squelch and a drip, then the blankets are drawn back and his shirt is pulled up to his chest. He's not wearing his usual shirt though; this material is thicker, fluffier, homelier.

A cloth is pressed to his side, the icy chill stinging against an open wound. He hisses between clenched teeth, eyes cracking open.

"Ah, greetings, Human Childe," says Cloud Retainer. "It appears you have awoken."

His body is heavy and uncooperative, but Childe manages to grunt a response as he attempts to bring a blurry Cloud Retainer into focus. Every action saps his energy dry and he sinks into the sheets, his body crying for rest.

"Hush now." Cloud Retainer squeezes the cloth into the bowl with her beak and pulls the sheets back up, tucking them in over his shoulders. She crouches beside the head, her tone turning softer, "The Conqueror of Demons spoke of your deeds. While this one cannot condone your reckless actions and the risks taken, the favourable nature of the outcome cannot be denied."

Childe lies still, not that his body allows him to do so otherwise. A favourable outcome must mean Osial isn't gallivanting across the Liyuean countryside, at the very least.

Forcing his lips into shape, he croaks out a single word, "Zhongli?"

Touching a motherly wing to his forehead, Cloud Retainer sighs. "We have not yet located him, but do not fret, for the Conqueror of Demons seeks him as we speak."

His spirit sinks, but pushing down his concern for Zhongli, Childe allows himself to feel a drop of relief.

Xiao is alive and quite well by the sounds of it.

But as for himself, he is not well at all. Peculiar adeptal machines are hooked up to his body, pumping in a concoction various fluids, chugging and beeping in rhythm with his heart, punctuating each beat with a whoosh and a whir. Cloud Retainer has taken great care to ensure the blankets are tucked high on his chest, shielding his view from his lower body. Nothing hurts, which is simultaneously relieving and concerning.

His legs. He needs to feel—

He makes an attempt to curl the toes of his right foot, but he's greeted with a searing pain, the grinding of bone and cartilage. He groans, forced and pitchy, the sound coming out as more of a whine.

Cloud Retainer shushes him, feathers brushing against his cheek as she adjusts a dial on one of the machines. The pain lingers, dull and throbbing, but its existence relives his fears. He's been through similar before; he'll be okay, he'll get through this.

It's strange having someone tend to him this way. Injuries in the Fatui are dealt with in a hospital ward, the patients arranged in rows of thirty to forty, a line of inconveniences to be dealt with and dumped back into the field as soon as they can hobble to their feet and hold a weapon.

It must have been years, at least a decade since anyone has fussed over him this way.

If only it could be Zhongli stroking his hair the way Cloud Retainer does while humming a tune he doesn't recognise, but Childe allows his eyes to drift closed regardless.