Look Me in the Eyes (and tell me that it's me) [Zhongchili]

Chapter 27 - Old Colleagues

It's a strange couple of weeks without Zhongli.

Ajax spends a good part of it packing, deciding which parts of himself get placed into the single suitcase he's allowed to take with him, and which parts of Ajax must remain at home. After The Incident, Teucer and Anthon act a little reserved for the first couple of nights, but after Ajax sneaks them some midnight snacks, sitting under their blanket-tents, the torchlight highlighting the chocolate stains around their mouths, they seem to forgive him. However, the rest of them aren't so easily convinced, and his newfound packing hobby is a good excuse to avoid Father's looks of disappointment, Mother's concern, and Tonia's nervous confusion.

Packing also helps him avoid thinking about Zhongli. Even so, during the long, silent nights, his hands reach for his phone, instinctively scrolling to Zhongli's name, searching for the new message that will never arrive.

Damnit, Zhongli. If he could've only learned to love Ajax as much as he loves Tartaglia, they could've been great.

It's a difficult pill to swallow. If only he were someone who is nearly him but not quite, he could've had it all. But Ajax is Ajax, and he must accept that. However, those thoughts don't stop him from packing a small, blue rock the colour of his eyes into the bottom of his suitcase.

Before long, the day comes when the Fatui-contracted train is due to arrive to take the newest recruits from Snezhnaya City out to the base where their basic training will be conducted. The family bundles into the car before first light, Teucer propped on Mother's lap in the front passenger seat, and Anthon sandwiched between Tonia and Ajax in the back.

Father doesn't say much all morning, other than barking the odd word at Ajax to make sure he's got everything. In the past fortnight, they've exchanged less than a dozen words between them, not that there's anything constructive to say. Ajax fucked up. Father is mad. They both know that. No need to force the rest of the family to hear about it again and again.

Father doesn't say much on the drive there either, leaning forward over the steering wheel to focus on the twin beams of light illuminating the way to Ajax's fate.

Ajax isn't sure how he feels about it all. It's a new start, the path to becoming the strongest warrior he can be, to fulfil his destiny. However, it also means saying goodbye to Mother, to Father, to his siblings. It means waking up each day without them under the same roof, without being able to wish them goodnight before he goes to bed.

It also means being far, far away from Zhongli.

Will Zhongli go back to Liyue now they're over? There can't be much else left for him in Snezhnaya. If he goes back to Liyue he can make a new start with the people he cares about, secure with the closure that Tartaglia has gone for good.

This is silly. He should stop thinking about Zhongli.

The station is already buzzing with activity when they arrive, hundreds of cars jammed into the carpark—a combination of daily commuters alongside the new recruits. A riddle of signage directs the general public towards the back of the station, while the recruits and their families march across the tarmac towards the station front. There they form twin lines, the surnames starting with letters from the first half of the alphabet on the left, and the remainder on the right. At the head of each line stands a Fatui agent with a clipboard, checking the recruits onto the platform.

They get out of the car, and Ajax drags his suitcase along behind him to join the line. It's surprisingly efficient, and soon he's standing at the front, giving his name to a woman with grey flecks beginning to salt her dark hair and a face as scrunched as a dog's bottom. She pauses as she checks off his name, looking him up and down like a piece of meat at the market, before writing something on her clipboard and handing him a little card with his carriage and seat number written on it.