Whale and Dragonfly // OC x Childe Genshin Impact fanfiction

Chapter 38: Afterlife?

Childe watched how the girl left. He was about to follow after her when another ghost appeared right in front of him, making him jump in surprise.

"O-Oh, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to scare you!" It seemed to be a ghost of a young boy, way younger than Childe. Possibly around 12 years old.

"It's okay... You... Can see me?" Childe asked curiously.

"Yeah, haha. But nobody else can see us, though..." boy scratched the back of his head, sighing.

"Did you also...? You know...?"

"Hm? You mean, did I die? Yeah." The boy seemed to be completely okay speaking about such topics despite being so young.

"May I ask how?"

"Food poisoning..." boy sighed. "And you? I just saw your body getting delivered here. Plus, the giant wound on your chest." he pointed at Childe. "Looks serious."

Surprised, passed-on Harbinger looked down to see his clothes still bloody. The explosions must have been so powerful that they ripped his skin completely – in some places, ribs were exposed.

Not wanting to scare the young boy, ginger hugged himself, hiding his massive wound.

"You... Shouldn't look at such things."

"Huh? If you think I'm scared of blood, you're completely wrong!" for some reason, the boy's voice sounded quite proud. "Honestly, I've seen worse... Anyway, you didn't answer my question."

"Ruin guard's missiles..." Childe finally answered.

"Ouch..." boy shivered. "Well, forget about it. How about we go now? Afterlife is waiting for us."

Childe had no idea what the young boy was talking about, but he seemed to know way more than the ginger did. Deciding to trust him, passed-on Harbinger followed after.

The young boy was telling tales of his short life the entire trip, so it didn't get too boring. The pair soon reached the creepy Wuwang hilltop, where many other ghosts have been gathering. Childe couldn't help but notice how different all of them were. You could meet every age group here: babies, kids, teenagers, young adults, adults, seniors... Some ghosts had clean and obviously meant for grand events clothes while others were dressed casually, some with bloodstained clothes. Most of them seemed to be unharmed, but some also had wounds on their faces and other exposed body parts.

Despite them all being unique, all of them without exception were slowly moving towards the portal that looked like a sort of domain door.

"We are finally here!" the boy cheered. "All we need to do now is cross those doors and we'll finally get on the other side! From there, we get the chance to ask our last wish to be fulfilled before we finally get to lay down for the rest we deserve!"

Ajax felt really uneasy. He didn't want to go just yet. He still wanted to know what will Charlotte do next. Boy felt horrible for leaving just like this. Afterlife wasn't something he wanted now.

But did he have a choice?

Despite his heart and mind screaming at him, he started walking towards the mysterious portal. The old lady in front of him stepped forward, disappearing the moment she touched the gate to the afterlife. It was his turn now.

Sighing, with an aching heart, he stepped forward.

It felt like he just got struck by high voltage electricity. He fell backward, wincing in pain. The surrounding ghosts gasped, rushing to help him out.

Ginger wasn't sure what just happened. A few ghosts worriedly helped him to stand up, before encouragingly pushing him forward again.

Yet, the afterlife portal didn't accept him again.

Ajax groaned in pain again, this time backing away from the portal and letting the other ghosts go first. Surprisingly, the others went through just fine.

It was him only that the portal did not let through.

Not knowing what to do nor what was the cause, he decided to leave it be for now. He can try tomorrow or any other day, why would it matter? It's not like he wanted this anyway. Boy had others plans now.

He thought about his best friend and immediately found himself standing in their Northland Bank apartments, in one of the bedrooms. He was facing the door and couldn't see a bigger part of the room, but judging from what he could see, he could tell he was in his room.

Yet, small sniffles and sobs could be heard behind.

Childe turned around, to see the girl he was looking for curled in his blankets, hugging his pillow as she cried in it. Her entire body was shaking, tears flowing like rivers. It felt like Childe's now cold, non-beating ghost heart has shattered in pieces once again.

Slowly, he came to sit down on the bed, pieces of blanket going through his body. He then laid down, carefully shifting closer to the girl. Despite not being able to touch her, he embraced the girl. It felt like he was hugging air and his arms felt numb doing this, but at least he could feel like he was closer to her.

He has promised to be there for her, after all...

~~~

(A/N: Happy Easter! :3)