As The Sun Gazes Upon The Moon [Zhongchili]

Chapter 19 - The Name to Which You Answer

"Childe?" Zhongli storms through the front door and into the hallway. The stench of the Abyss sends him reeling—it's thick, overbearing, and stings as it worms its way through his sinuses, a heavy pressure building, threatening to break him apart from the inside.

"Childe, where are you?" Zhongli shrugs off his coat and pockets his gloves, covering his nose and mouth as he presses forward into the hallway. A heavy crash from within the bedroom answers him, followed by a thud against the bedroom door and an anguished roar.

Childe.

Zhongli races down the hall and yanks the door open. A shockwave propels a book through the opening and Zhongli ducks to the side, avoiding it by centimetres. He peers inside to find a room in chaos.

The drawers from the dresser have been torn out and strewn across the floor, while the wardrobe has been flipped on its side. Childe crouches above it, ripping out various items of clothing and flinging them at a battered suitcase on the bed, where his jacket and Fatui sash already lie. Electro crackles through the damp air, arcing and flickering, and a lamp shatters as a bolt hits it, spewing shards of glass across the floor.

"Childe, what are you doing?"

Childe stands, his eyes lit with electro as he glares at Zhongli. "Funny question to ask, xiansheng." He pulls out a scrunched up ball of paper from his pocket and flings it at Zhongli. "I think you know quite well what I'm doing, or were you planning to perform your little clueless act again? I won't be played a fool a second time."

The paper lands at Zhongli's feet and he picks it up without unrolling it.

"Childe, there has been a misunderstanding here."

"A misunderstanding? Is that what you call it?" Childe shoves his sleeves up to his elbows and clenches his fists, revealing veins of throbbing purple pulsing through his forearms. "How long were you planning to keep this from me? Until the day I had to leave?" He starts to pace, grabbing and tearing at his hair. "Kick me out at the last minute? You like doing that, don't you? Pulling the rug out from under me just when I think I've gotten the full picture."

"Please listen, that is not the case. I have just returned from Wangsheng—"

"Ha! You want me to buy that? I guess this was all fun for you, playing house with your cute little life in Liyue, just like you wanted. Well, I'm glad I was fun for you." Childe's arms darken and he growls low in his throat, a purple haze seeping from flared nostrils. He puffs a few laboured breaths then spins with a shout, sending a bolt of electro toward the window, which bounces off the geo reinforcements and rebounds toward the mirror.

Zhongli watches his reflection fracture with a resounding crack.

Childe paces, and Zhongli remains rooted in the doorway. There's no way he's getting through to Childe like this. The Abyss has taken hold, working into every suspicion and anxiety to turn Zhongli into his number one enemy.

"I guess this is all just a game to you, huh? A fun little game, playing with us lowly mortals, just like the rest of your plans. But it doesn't matter now. None of it matters." Childe stops by the wall, panting as he rolls his shoulder and draws his fist back. "A Harbinger without an Archon. A warrior with no mission. A weapon left unwielded, to rust in disuse." He unleashes a strike, his knuckles crashing into the wall with a crack that Zhongli hopes isn't bone. "But it's all a game for you. Playing with your fun little pawn on your fun little chess board."

He swings for the wall again and again, plaster pillowing into the air like dust from a meteor strike. Electro and hydro flash across the room, while Childe lets out an agonised shout at each impact. His fingers elongate and swell, the knuckles sharpening and hardening, and a carapace creeps down over his wrists toward his elbows.