Childe froze, staring wide eyed at Y/N for her reaction. To her credit, she seemed pretty unfazed even though she was currently facing off an abomination- a monster. Y/N blinked slowly, humming through her bamboo muzzle as she rocked on her heels. "...Hmm?" Childe deadpanned. Of course. Sweet, innocent Y/N. Can't even tell apart a monster to a rabbit. The monster snarled. "You... you smell like a human..." It slid closer, to which Y/N responded by stepping back further- only to back into the wall of a building. "Shameless... How shameless!" It snarled. "Coluding with humans! Stinking filth!" It raised its tentacle- and Childe jumped. He soared through the air, summoning his bow and triggering the mechanism to transition into dual wielding. He brought it down on the slimy appendage, slashing through it and rolling to a stop in front of Y/N. "Mfhm?"
"Oh?" The monster leered at him. "You... don't seem like a demon," It mused. "And also... that smell..." Childe blinked, resisting the urge to sniff himself. Did he really smell? The last time he bathed was literally just- oh. Wait, that might be why. "You're that human!" It said, triumphantly. "Ha, for a demon to protect such a human as you... you must be important, right?" Its eyes narrowed into slits as it laughed, a strange combination of snorts and chittering. "So... if you were to die..." Childe's blood ran cold- and he barely had any time to bring his daggers to his face to block the monster's next attack.
The tentacles buid more speed and force as they shoot towards him- and not only that, they're slippery, and almost rubbery, so they're hard to cut- he thought. "I can see the look in your eyes!" The monster sang. "You think you can beat me! Beat me, a demon! Ha! You can try!" A demon. It wasn't just any monster. There were more of them out there- more of the things that had slaughtered Y/N's siblings- and possibly-
"I don't know what killed him. One night he went out to town, and he just... never came back."
Y/N. I think I know, he thought as he dodged another swipe- the attack slamming into the wall behind him, leaving a large crater in the stone bricks. I think I know now- what killed your father. He jumped as a tentacle swiped at his legs, almost falling over when it caught on his ankles. He slashed through them, quickly righting himself before sidestepping another attempt to slam him into the ground.
There was no questioning it. Y/N's father- he had left at night, and had never returned. He had learned from Scaramouche that demon's only hunted when the sun wasn't out- because sunlight burned them, and could kill them. It was also why Scaramouche had warned him to keep Y/N covered during the day. Y/N's father had never abandonned them. He was killed by a demon. And now, Y/N had become one herself. If she ever knew the truth...
Childe transformed his daggers back into his bow, quickly nocking a hydro infused arrow and pointing it towards the demon- only- it wasn't there. He grit his teeth. He- he made a mistake. He whipped his head around, but it was nowhere to be seen. Which only meant- he looked up- and there it was- it had jumped in the sky, and was now descending towards him, its sharp toothed mouth opened wide to devour him. He was frozen. In fear? In shock? He didn't know. Move, his mind shouted to himself. Move, before you get killed! But he couldn't-
Crack. A horrifying screech. The demon's body, now beheaded, continued to fall- he sidestepped, and it crashed into the ground with a sickening squelch and the crunch of breaking bones. He brought his gaze shakingly up to Y/N, crouched in front of him and heaving heavily. The demon's head lay a few feet away. Y/N- as quick as a flash- had leapt in the air and kicked it right off it's shoulders- with more strength and agility than she had had when she was human. Scaramouche- although he hated to admit it- was right. Y/N wasn't weak. She was a demon now.He sighed. "Y/N," He called. Y/N flinched, turning towards him slowly. Her eyes. They were like before- again... he inched closer. "Y/N... It's me, remember?" Y/N blinked. He waited, counting silently in his head. One. Y/N panted, staring at him with conflict in her eyes. Two. Y/N straightened, her face lighting up with recognition. Three. Y/N was Y/N again, and she hopped to her feet and trotted over to him, standing expectantly in front of him. His heart warmed, and he reached forward and patted her head a few times, to which she happily closed her eyes and hummed in contentment. "You... you did good."
"AHHHH!" The both of them turned. Childe's mouth dropped open. The demon stared at them with hatred in it's eyes. "You- You brat- you kicked my head off! You're so vulgar! And my body's dead now, too! I can feel it! I was just playing around before, but now- now I'm angry!" Childe squinted. As he watched, veins began to sputter and appear from the base of it's neck from where it's head had been severed. Another blink, and it had grown tentacles- it righted itself and launched itself at Childe. Childe gasped, pushing Y/N to the side and reaching into his tattered uniform. He grabbed the first thing he could find and slashed it across the demon's face.
The moment seemed suspended in time. He held his arm in the air, staring at the demon's face,a line of red running clean through it. Red spluttered from the wound, and the halves fell apart, quickly dissolving into ash- like the bodies of hilichurls when they died. The demon's body had disappeared in a similar fashion, leaving behind the smell of ashes and blood. He looked at his hand, which held Scaramouche's dagger. Ah. His previous attacks didn't seem to do much damage- the demon healed in mere moments. But this small dagger had ended it in one strike. It had probably saved his life. He gripped it. It was a weapon made for exterminating demons. Well then. "Alright," He sighed. It was time to get back to the others. There were still more civilians to save, and from the sounds of the screaming- the battle was yet to be over. "Y/N-" He looked up. "What-" She was gone again. Seriously? He thought desperately as he quickly sprinted out into the open street. He had only taken his eyes off her for a second! And daylight was coming soon. He needed to find her. And fast. Childe looked around, beheaded a hilichurl, and kept running.
As he headed down the street, he spotted Lumine facing off a ruin hunter as it rained missiles down on her from above. He quickly sprinted towards her, jumping off the wall in spinning into a plunge attack. His arm scraped the metal as he stabbed his dagger into the machine's core, but the pain was nothing to him. He had suffered far, far worse. "Hey, I had that one," Lumine complained, her hands propped on her hips. He chuckled. "A little thanks would be nice," He retorted. Lumine pouted. She paused. "Did you find your cat?" Childe froze- and gave a sheepish smile. "Ah... yes... but I lost it again." She stared at him. "...Again?" He nodded. "Do you... do you want me to help you find it?" Childe shook his head wildly. "No! I mean-" Ah, maybe that sounded a bit too harsh. "I- It's okay, I can find her myself." He quickly turned around. "See you! Save a spar for me, okay girlie?" He disappeared around the corner.
Lumine frowned to herself, startling as Paimon appeared beside her. "Is... is the bad guy gone?" She asked timidly. Lumine nodded slowly. "Yeah... Childe helped me." She said quietly. All traces of fear seemed to leave Paimon's body at the mention of the harbinger. "Childe? Mr. Money bags? What does he want now?" Lumine stared at the spot where Childe stood before he had ran off to god knows where. She thought for a moment. "I don't know," She finally answered. "But whatever it is..." She recalled the strange aura emitting from Childe's basket back at Liyue Pavilion. Something that was definitely not human. She sighed. "...I hope he knows what he's doing."
~🌸🌊~
Childe continued to run, turning and helping an elderly lady and her granddaughter before continuing. He reached the adventurer's guild, the robotic like woman strangely absent from the stand. Across from it, was the house where the Chop Suey vendor would usually sell her dishes. Under it, was Y/N. Standing in front of a frightened mother and child, along with several other panicked civillians who had grouped together near the entrance of the house. "Everybody inside!" A man called. "They can't get us here!" Oh yes they definitely could, Childe argued in his head as he rushed over. If they were a demon. He saw it a fraction of a second before it happened. The wall- it wasn't a stone building, instead it was made of wooden frames and plaster. And it was peeling off the building- from the looks of it, it was going to fall- directly onto the people underneath it.
Childe weighed his options. He could try to cut through the wall, small enough so that the pieces would only injure- not kill- the civilians. Or, could he somehow reattach the wall to the building, temporarily? He just needed time, so that the people could get to safety. The final supports holding the building together snapped and broke. Childe's eyes widened. No. Y/N- the wall fell. He stopped in his tracks, closing his eyes shut as dust flew into the air. He waved the remaining dust in front of him away and opened his eyes, ignoring the immediate watering of his eyes as he quickly searched for Y/N. Who was- he almost keeled over. Y/N- had never failed to surprise him. He gave a short laugh. Really, she really didn't need protection. Not when she was holding up the wall with her own two hands. There she was, standing upright beneath the fallen wall, the wall stopped from falling a good meter from the ground before it fell. The people- were unharmed, all crouched or laying on the ground. "Get up!" Childe brought himself to yell. "Get up and get out from under there!" At that, the people quickly stumbled to their feet, running in several directions to escape the danger of being crushed. A woman held her child close to her chest as she ran past him, sobbing. Another man stumbled away, mumbling prayers to morax.
Y/N continued to hold up the wall, her eyebrows furrowed in concentration. The weight of the wall was too much for her to handle, but Y/N held her ground. Her hands dug straight into the plaster, and even when the wall finally fell through, she was relatively unharmed. Just covered in dust and wood chips. She blinked in confusion, looking down to her hands that now held fistfulls of plaster and broken wood frames. "Y/N!" He shouted, almost falling forward as he attempted to run towards her. He winced. After sprinting at full speed around Liyue- combined with fighting for hours- the fatigue was starting to get to him. Y/N turned, brightening when she caught sight of him. She skipped towards him. "Wait, Y/N, you might be hurt, I don't want-"
Y/N stumbled, her eyes widening. Childe blinked in confusion. Was something wrong? She shakely brought her hands to her abdomen- where an arrow was embedded into her stomach, the point protruding out the front. It was shot from behind, from above- Childe cranned his head upwards, where a lone pyro hilichurl archer danced triumphantly from a roof top. Moments later, it was cut down by Adeptus Xiao, who turned to face him. But that wasn't his concern. He pushed forward despite the burning in his legs, reaching Y/N just as she fell to the ground. Blood. So much blood. He'd always hated the sight of blood- even though he tried to hide it. He grabbed a tattered cotton sheet from the ground beside him and pressed it to Y/N's wound, her face scrunched in pain.
He hated it more when it was hers.
~🌸🌊~