immortality • childe

chap. 7

The female blinked in surprise.

"What?"

A laugh escaped Childe, when he saw (y/n)'s expression.

"I have never been in Mondstadt, so I thought it would be a good idea", he added hesitantly.

The female paused and coughed quietly.

"Well.. don't you want to visit your family? It seems like you rarely get any days off", she stated and caught herself again.

He furrowed his brows and sighed, his eyes suddenly looking a little sad.

"I wish I could, really. But I can't go home and back to Liyue in three days. Even if I did, I would be able to only spend a few hours with my family. If I don't do my duties as a Fatui, it won't end very well", he laughed a little.

"Well.. quit being a Fatui then. Or ask your boss for more free time", (y/n) asked slightly irritated.

Even if she was a goddess and lived for over 6000 years already, she didn't know a lot about jobs and family. Other than Zhongli, she wasn't very interested in human culture.

Childe laughed loudly, drawing attention to the two of them.

"Oh, (y/n).. if it was that easy, I would've left the Fatui a long time ago", he chuckled, still shaken by his laugh-attack.

"Ah..", he sighed after a few seconds, slowly running his fingers through his curly hair.

A sad smile appeared on his face, making the female worry for a moment.

"You know.. I wish it was different. But this is a barbaric world. If we lived a better life, I would have probably travelled around and have fun"

It became silent between the two, just the chirping of birds in the background could be heard.

(y/n) looked at the tall person in front of her. He glanced at her with sad eyes, but quickly shook his head and started to smile brightly again.

"Im sorry, that was probably a weird thing to say", he said with a playful grin on his face.

(y/n) was confused about the sudden change of his mood.

"So, what do you say? I promise I won't be a bother on our journey", Childe added with a closed-eye smile.

In the beginning (y/n) wanted to decline his offer, but after Childe talked about his family she tried to sympathize with him.

"..If we lived a better life, I would have probably travelled around and have fun.."

She highly doubted that she was very fun to be around with, but the Harbinger has never been in Mondstadt.

She sighed to herself. With him, the journey will take a lot longer than when she was by herself.

"Let's go then", she finally answered swiftly, earning a happy chuckle from the Gingerhead.

—

They arrived at the Stone Gate in the noon. Childe refused to take a break, since he promised to not be a burden. But he sweated a lot and often tripped.

"You're tired. Let's take a break", (y/n) suggested for the sixth time already. He panted slightly.

"I'm sorry, I didn't expect you to be so fit", a sigh escaped his lips, causing the female to give him an amused look.

"Just take a break. Your legs look like they're going to break anytime soon", she giggled, sitting down on a stone nearby.

Childe, against his own will, let himself fall next to her. "It's embarrassing to see a young lady be better at sports than me", he laughed and let his head fall back.

(y/n) hummed in response. "Do you have a map with you?", she asked the Harbinger. He nodded and pulled out a map of Tevyat.

She looked at it for a split second, then pointed on a place in the middle of the paper. Childe's gaze followed her index finger.

"That's where we are at the moment. Stone Gate", her finger traced along a line, stopping at a cube-looking thing.

"That's the Dawn Winery. From there, we will go North until we bump into a new path. From there, we will go towards the East", she explained.

"And then..", Childe slightly tilted his head to get a better view of the map. He never really looked at the part of Mondstadt.

".. there is Mondstadt, right there".

The male nodded and stretched his legs. "You know, you can just tell me whenever you need a break", (y/n) giggled at the sight of the relieved boy and folded the map, putting it back in its past state.

Her giggle made his heart skip a beat. He shook his head. This was not like him.

—

"Well, let's get going. With a little bit of luck we will arrive before midnight"

—