Chapter Text
‘An emergency,’ they said. It’s always an ‘emergency.’
Ugh.
Ekaterina snickered at Childe as he left the bank for the third time that day to see what new ‘emergency’ his men managed to stumble across. They’ve been hesitant since the whole summoning Osial thing, but that was a year ago! He may have accidentally trashed the Fatui’s reputation and caused every agent to be regarded with ire and sometimes outright hostility, but they need to get over it. Childe can’t oversee every single issue that pops up. Having almost destroyed an entire city, you’d think he’s the last person they’d go to for approval, but being able to say, “Well, I was just following orders, and my boss is the guy who almost destroyed the harbor, so you know how it is…” is actually a pretty good excuse for fucking something up, so...
He makes his way to the Qiongji Estuary this time. Their typical patrol routes don’t cover that area—too many travelers asking too many questions—but evidently a patrol encountered some issue on the way to a shift change.
It’s probably nothing, it’s usually nothing, but there’s a huge commotion when he arrives. They’re on the eastern shore of the Guili Plains, standing at the entrance to a cave near a domain.
“Sir!” The patrol captain greets him. “Thank the Archons.”
“So, what’s going on?” Childe asks, surveying the area with a frown. It’s not just the one patrol that’s gathered there. The other three patrols that should be around Yaoguang Shoal are there, too. There are usually a few hilichurls in the area, but it’s nothing to be this up in arms about.
“It’s over here.” The captain leads him over to the cave entrance.
The cave is practically quarantined off. The mages of the group have formed a perimeter around it, maintaining a barrier of cryo and electro energy between three of them. The rest of the patrol groups are in various stages of worry, ranging from investigating the surrounding area, to stomping around the beach uselessly. There’s also a small group of them in a make-shift camp, tending to a few bruises and roasting sunsettias over a fire.
Beyond the mages’ barrier there’s something glowing in the shallow cave, nestled in the center of the back wall. It glows a soft orange-gold. Beneath him, the ground shakes.
“Did Yakov throw his vision at a wall again?” Childe jokes. He squints at that glowing thing. It’s rounded; a gem, maybe. “There hasn’t always been a cave here, has there?”
“No, we found it this morning,” the captain says. “One of the patrols fell into a hole in the ruins in the Guili Plains. There was a cave that led them out here. It collapsed behind the group, leaving that behind.”
“What is it?”
One of the mages answers. “We’re not sure, but there’s a massive amount of elemental energy coming off of it. We can’t get close to it without setting it off.”
“Close how?” he asks.
The captain sighs. “We tried prying it out, physically and with elemental energy, channeling energy into it, destroying it, touching it; every time, we get blown back.”
Childe frowns. Whatever that thing is, it’s too round to be a gem, but he can’t make out any more detail from behind the barrier. He holds up a hand, pressing it to the barrier. The barrier presses back.
And then it pulses. It’s a solid thunk against his hand; two pulses, like a heartbeat.
Childe snatches his hand away. Barriers don’t do that. They buzz, infusing whatever touches it with seeping cold, or gentle jots, or some other sensation related to the element the barrier is made of, but they don’t pulse. Maybe it was just his imagination, though. The barrier is partially electro, and he doesn’t make a habit of touching them. It could just be the electricity running through his nerves.
But if it’s not…
“Take down the barrier,” he says. “I want to see it up close.”
“But sir—”
“Let me through,” Childe commands. The mages hesitate, but relent when Childe redirects his frown at them. They open a hole in the barrier, just big enough for him to get through, then close it back up behind him.
He almost falls to the ground when the barrier closes. Outside the barrier, the ground rumbled, but inside, the ground isn’t shaking so much as it’s quaking beneath him. Pebbles and dust get thrown up with every shake; the pauses leaving just enough time for them to settle before kicking it all back up again. It beats in that same rhythmic one-two-pause pattern. The pulses resonate through the rock up into his body. It’s so strong that he can practically hear it.
Whatever that thing is, it’s definitely causing the quakes. Now that the barrier isn’t between him and it, it’s clear that its natural glow pulses as well, but not at the same rate as the quakes. The glow pulses slower, its intensity swelling and fading with a completely different rhythm. It swells…and fades…and swells…and fades; slowly, but still steadily.
He could call the quakes a heartbeat. And perhaps the glow is breath.
Childe creeps closer, timing his movements as not to fall when the ground quakes. Not that it matters much. The quaking, the beat in his ears, and the glow grow harsher as he nears then enters the cave. He can barely stand without using the cave wall to support himself. He can hardly see around the pulsing glow of orange-gold light. He can hardly hear the world around him, though he knows there are voices shouting for him not far behind. There’s some sort of elemental energy hitting him, but there’s so much going on, he can hardly tell what kind of energy it is.
And then finally, past the sensory overload, he sees what put his men through so much trouble. It was some sort of artifact.
The artifact was rounded, and sandy white in color. It reminds him of a Snezhnian fabregé egg, only this one is filled with elemental energy. Veins of gold broke up the islands of white, and those veins pulsed with the orange-gold light. Between the swell and fade, the veins still glowed a dim light that flowed through the veins like shining jewels flowing down a stream. Those veins sparkled like liquid gold, and then shone as bright as the shining sun, but only for a moment before fading back into a gentle stream.
“What are you…” Childe mutters to himself.
He moves closer, slowly, still holding the cave walls for support. There’s a pattern engraved on the swaths of white, aside from the golden veins. It looks like there’s an elemental symbol there, but it’s covered in a layer of dust.
Childe reaches out, then snatches his hand back at the last second. Whatever this is could blow him away if he gets too close. He calls on his vision instead. If it’s going to blow him back, at least he’ll already have some sort of hydro to cushion himself with. Carefully, Childe pulls water into his hand, and reaches out with it slowly. He’s careful not to let any of it drop before he’s ready to touch, just in case. Then, gently, he brushes over the white patches, barely touching the water to the surface.
The artifact sucks the water from his hands, absorbing it, and everything stops.
The quakes, the pulsing beat, the glowing, the waves of energy; all of it suddenly stops.
The sudden lack of sensation leaves his ears ringing and his eyes struggling to adjust to the light. Childe frowns. What just happened? He looks back at the artifact.
It shifts, and Childe freezes.
He braces for impact, but nothing comes. Rather, it seems the artifact has merely shifted out of place. Where it was stuck in the rock of the cave, it’s now slightly ajar.
Gently, Childe maneuvers water around it. He surrounds it easily enough, and with a single tug, it breaks free of the rock. It falls into his hands, though he almost drops it. It’s smoother than he expected, just bigger than his head, and it’s warm to the touch. The artifact pulses in his hands, that same steady heartbeat-type rhythm thumping gently against where his hand is pressed to the surface. The breathing glow returns, as well, though it’s muted. He was right about the engraving, too. The white sections are marked with geo diamonds, in contrast to the swirling veins of gold that carve hydro circles across the white. Were those hydro symbols always there?
“Might as well be a gem,” Childe says, tracing his fingers along the engravings.
“It’s not.”
Something sharp presses against his shoulder.
“Hand it over.”
Childe freezes, holding the artifact tighter to his chest. Slowly, he turns over his shoulder, until he’s face-to-blade with the pointy end of a pole-arm. Attached to it is that green adeptus who doesn’t know how to smile.
“It’s Xiao, right?” Childe asks.
“Hand. It. Over.” Xiao says. He presses the spear harder against Childe’s shoulder, but not hard enough to draw blood.
“Why?”
Childe looks past him. He hadn’t heard anyone come up behind him, not that he could hear much beyond that pulsing rhythm. Turns out, it’s not just Xiao who’s arrived. Just past him, four whole patrols worth of Fatui soldiers are either on their asses or locked in a stale-mate against the Qixing’s secretary, a white-haired lady (adeptus?), and Lumine.
“Because he said so!” Paimon shouts. “Just hand it over, Childe! We know you’re planning something nasty, so you might as well just give it up now!”
Xiao grips the polearm tighter as Paimon speaks. He hasn’t actually tried to hurt Childe, nor has the rest of the group continued to fight the Fatui soldiers. They’re all in defensive stances.
Childe’s planning something? More like, Xiao’s hiding something, and Childe’s going to find out what.
Childe sighs. “Well, looks like you caught me,” he says. “You’re right; I was planning to dig up some artifacts and see which of them I can use to get a bit of revenge on Zhongli, but I guess I have to hand everything over now.”
He leans into Xiao’s spear, until the sharp point pressing into his shoulder actually hurts. Xiao backs off, drawing his weapon back mere inches. Childe smiles down at him. Xiao frowns.
“Although, we haven’t had the chance to look into what this particular artifact is. Must be pretty important if adepti came by to stop me.”
“Yeah, it is!” Paimon says. “It’s—”
“None of your business,” Xiao interrupts.
“Hey—”
“Paimon.” Lumine shakes her head, and Paimon frowns.
“I don’t know.” With a wicked smile, Childe tosses the artifact in the air, just a few inches above his hands, and catches it again. As he does, Xiao’s eyes lock onto it. He jerks, knees bent, like he’s about to dart forward and catch the artifact as it falls. But it doesn’t, so Xiao doesn’t. “Even if I don’t get to keep it, I get some sort of finder’s fee, right? For something this precious, there’s got to be some sort of reward.”
No one answers him. Childe tosses the artifact up again, catching it with ease. Xiao looks more and more on edge the more Childe plays with it. It must be fragile, then.
“Let’s see,” he muses. “Is it…a catalyst?”
No reaction. Childe leans into Xiao’s spear again, and Xiao backs off again.
“Maybe it’s a special gem? No, you already said it wasn’t.”
Still nothing. Childe picks up some water with his vision, brushing it over the surface of the artifact again. He fashions it into a blade, and there’s a sharp inhale of breath. The edge isn’t sharp, but Xiao doesn’t know that. Childe drags it down the side of the artifact, using it to pry out some last pebbles still stuck in the veins and engraving.
“Ah, is it a gift of some sort? Maybe candy with a toy inside?”
He shakes the artifact, gently, holding it up to his ear. No one around him says anything, but there is some sort of sound from inside the artifact, like a hum of some sort, or maybe a voice. What, is the thing alive?
“Or an egg? Is there a baby adeptus in here?”
Childe says it more to himself than his captive audience, but he hears a gasp. When he looks up, all of the adepti are doing their best not to react, but they’re actually pretty bad at keeping straight faces. Paimon is the culprit, of course, but even as Lumine tries to quiet her, the look on her face tells Childe everything he needs to know.
“So, it is a baby?” Childe whistles. He looks down at the egg, hand brushing over the surface. The child inside seems to follow his hand, kicking or punching against the shell where he rests against it. Despite his casual demeanor, he holds it a little tighter. Who the hell would leave their baby encased in rocks? It could’ve been crushed during the cave-in. “Who’s baby, I wonder?”
“Give me the egg,” Xiao says, finally acknowledging Childe’s question.
“Maybe one of the cranes? Cranes lay eggs.”
“Childe, please,” Lumine says.
“Probably not yours or Miss Secretary’s over there.”
“This is your final warning.” Xiao presses the spear into his shoulder, but still not hard enough to hurt him. Childe shifts, holding the egg more snuggly against his chest. Xiao can’t want him to drop it, but it’s hard not to feel defensive with a live egg in his arms and a spear pointed at his face.
“Not too sure what kind of adeptus you are—” Childe says to the white-haired woman. “—so that leaves…Zhongli?”
Xiao drives his spear forward, and Childe turns over his shoulder, dodging the stab. All hell breaks loose. The Fatui who are still standing unleash their attacks against Lumine and the adepti, trying to keep them off Childe’s back. They do a good job of it, too, leaving only Xiao for him to deal with.
Holding the egg in one hand, Childe summons a hydro blade to the other just in time to block a downward swing of that spear. Xiao stabs at him a few more times, each stab being blocked by the hydro blade. Then, he turns and whacks Childe’s hip with the blunt end of the spear.
Childe stumbles, having to readjust his grip on the egg.
“Xiao, be careful!” Paimon calls out. “What if he drops it?”
Xiao hesitates, and that moment is all Childe needs to get out of close range. He tries to run for it, the Fatui soldiers trying to make a gap in the perimeter for him to escape, but Xiao is faster.
Darting forward, Xiao smacks him again. He hits the same spot on Childe’s hip, then his other thigh, and his stomach. Childe doubles over.
He drops the egg.
In a gust of wind, Xiao sends the egg flying into the air and follows it, jumping up to catch it. But, a stray electro bolt from one of the electro mages stuns his hands. The egg slips past his fingertips and plummets with no one to catch it.
“No!” Lumine cries out. She dives for the egg, but she’s too far away.
Xiao tries to dash for it as soon as he lands, but he won’t reach it in time.
The other adepti are too busy with the Fatui soldiers to react.
Childe is just out of reach.
But he has barely enough time to maneuver just enough water under the egg to catch and cushion it.
He sends the water up, creating a column of it as the egg crashes down. It splashes into the make-shift pool, submerging, sinking, and then gently floating down to the ground. Though the fall is slowed in the water, it still bounces off the ground and rolls a bit before settling.
The whole battle field freezes with all eyes on the egg. Childe pulls the water away slowly, not wanting to rock the egg much more. He crawls forward to get a better look.
There’s a crack.
“No, no no no…” Childe’s heart sinks. Was there a crack there before? No, there wasn’t, was there? So did he just…He didn’t mean to do that. He didn’t mean to hurt it. Archons he should’ve just handed the egg over.
“Shit. You’re okay. Come on, you’re okay.” He latches onto the egg, scooping it into his arms. It wasn’t all his fault, right? The adepti came at him with swords drawn; was he just supposed just let them take the egg? Take him? “Fuck, I’m sorry. Come on.”
Maybe he should’ve let them take it.
The adepti creep over to him, anxiously trying to get a better look. None of them touch him or try to take the egg, just in case they make it worse. Childe brushes his thumb over the crack, trying to figure out how deep it is. It runs across the entire egg, cutting diagonally through the veins of gold. He shouldn’t have been so reckless, so eager to start shit.
Xiao grabs a fist-full of his shirt. “You—"
Crack
A branch splits off perpendicularly from the main crack. Childe’s hand pauses. He could’ve sworn he felt a pulse against his hand. He runs his hand lower around the egg, where there’s no cracks at all, and there it is: a pulse, two pulses, and then crack. A second branch forms from the main crack. It’s smaller, though, barely an inch in length.
“It’s hatching,” Xiao says suddenly. He tugs on Childe’s shirt, pulling him to his knees. “This child is not yours. Give it to me.”
Childe frowns, holding the egg tighter to him. His instinct is to tell Xiao to fuck off, but Xiao is right. He shouldn’t have tried to keep the egg in the first place.
He sighs. His hands itch to draw his blades again as he hands the egg over, but he refrains. “Fine. Just. You could’ve said something instead of attacking my men!”
As soon as Childe holds the egg out, Xiao snatches it from his hands. “They were attacking an unhatched adeptus.”
“They didn’t know!” Childe protests, standing.
“It attacked us first!” One of the Fatui soldiers shouts out.
Childe grimaces. “Not helpful, Yakov. Look, I know I have to be the bad guy here, but you weren’t exactly good guys in this situation. Besides, how do you even know it’s a baby adeptus? How would we have known?”
Xiao frowns at him. “Shenhe,” he calls to the white-haired woman. “Take the hatchling back to Cloud Retainer.”
Shenhe nods and reaches out for the egg.
Crack.
A third, larger crack appears
Paimon floats up to the egg. “Uh, is it just Paimon, or does it look like the egg is hatching now?”
The adepti stare at the egg for a moment. When a minute passes nothing more happens, Shenhe reaches out again.
“Hatching can be a long process,” Xiao says. “Shenhe will make it back to Jueyun Karst with the hatchling before—”
The egg splits in half.
Two big chunks of shell fall to the ground, leaving Xiao and Shenhe stumbling forward to catch the baby that emerges, kicking and squirming. Childe is expecting some sort of crane, phoenix, or even a little dragon to emerge from that shell, but instead, it’s a very human-looking baby girl. Her skin is a bit red, and she’s still covered in egg-goop and bits of shell, but she sure looks human.
Xiao and Shenhe hold her a bit awkwardly, attempting to juggle her between four hands. Neither of them can decide how or who should hold her, so the baby makes a decision for them.
She opens her mouth and wails at the top of her little lungs.
“Take her,” Xiao says through his teeth.
“I. Um.” Shenhe does as she’s told, but she holds the baby at an arm’s length. The baby continues to scream, head lolling to one side. “I don’t know how to address this.”
She looks at Lumine who’s eyes are wide with panic.
“Don’t look at Paimon,” Paimon says.
“Ganyu,” Xiao says.
“Right.” Ganyu steps forward, taking the baby from Shenhe. She does better, cradling the baby instead of holding it outward, but she can’t quite get the hold right. The baby keeps squirming, and Ganyu can’t calm her. “Um. Please stop moving.”
The baby cries and cries. She kicks and wriggles in Ganyu’s arms. Then Xiao sighs, and steps forward, grabbing her by the ankle.
“Archons! Don’t—” Childe reaches forward to stop him, but luckily his protest alone stops Xiao from picking up the newborn by her foot. For all of their power and might, none of these adepti, nor Lumine, is capable of handling one tiny newborn baby. “Let me hold her. Please?”
Ganyu looks grateful, but a spear appears in front of him before Childe can reach out for the baby. He finds Xiao at the other end, still frowning.
“She belongs with the adepti,” Xiao says.
“I know what happened just a second ago, but I’m not going to take her,” Childe reasons. “I’m just going to calm her down, and show you how to hold a baby, because clearly none of you are capable of that!”
“And you are?”
“Yes! I have three younger siblings. I’ve done this a lot.”
Xiao looks like he wants to protest, but the baby screams become shrill and angry, and Xiao winces. “Fine. Just make her stop.”
The moment the spear disappears, Childe removes his scarf and reaches for the baby. He scoops her gently from Ganyu’s arms, making sure she’s nestled in the fabric. She’s still incredibly wriggly and upset, but at least she can’t get far in Childe’s arms.
“Okay, okay. I’m sorry about that, precious,” he coos. “Let’s get you cleaned up first, okay? Then I’ll make sure you’re nice and warm.”
He draws water to his hand with his vision, trying to be quick, but gentle about cleaning her off. He starts at her head, using the water to clean off the egg goop and stray pieces of shell. It sticks to her hair the most, since she has so much of it. It’s a little mop of sandy blonde whisps with ends that fade to a bright gold.
Trailing down her face, Childe is careful when he picks the shell and goop off of her face. She’s awfully cute, even as she cries. Though, as Childe works, her tears start to calm. He moves the water down her body, careful to maneuver it around back of her without soaking his scarf. There’s a pattern of faint golden diamonds and swirls all down her arms and legs, mimicking the diamonds and swirls on her egg. If he wasn’t sure she was an adepti before, this certainly proves it. Who else would be born with such markings on their skin?
Childe discards the water and wraps her in the scarf, next. He can only make it so tight while he’s holding her, but at least there’s enough fabric to cover all of her. He holds her tight, close to his chest where its warmest. It takes only a moment for her to settle, and her little hiccups soften into steady, even breaths.
“There we go. All better, right?”
The baby reaches one hand up, out of her makeshift swaddle, stretching above her head. Childe smiles. He brushes a finger over the little hand and her tiny fingers grab hold of him.
“Yes, hello to you, too. You gave us all a scare there, but I guess you were eager to meet everyone, huh?”
He rocks her, gently, swaying side to side on his feet. With a big yawn, she blinks open her eyes, and they’re the same striking gold that made up the veins on the egg. Babies can’t actually see when they’re only minutes old, but she looks up at him and Childe’s heart melts anyway.
It reminds him of his sister Tonia, how she used to need someone in the room with her at all times. She’d look around, and as soon as Childe or their parents were out of sight, she’d bawl. Oh, and Anton used to cry his heart out if anyone put him down. Then, Tucer followed Childe around constantly, as soon as he could crawl.
Archons, he can’t imagine leaving his siblings alone like this. Who the hell would leave their child encased in rocks? The adepti don’t seem to know, or at least they haven’t made it obvious who her parents might be. Is it normal for adeptus babies to just show up, out of the blue?
“Alright,” Childe says. He moves towards Shenhe, showing her how to hold a baby properly. “Time to go home with Auntie Shenhe.”
“Thank you,” Shenhe tells him.
The baby squirms in her arms a bit, trying to get settled in new arms.
“Hold her tight,” Childe says. Shenhe tries, but the baby starts to fuss. Shenhe frowns, stiffening as she starts to panic. “It’s fine! You’re fine. Newborns do that.”
“Take her back,” Xiao says.
Childe looks up at him. “What? No, she’s doing fine. Just make sure you support her head, and hold her if she cries. Bouncing can help too—”
“Take. Her. Back.” Xiao isn’t looking at him as he says it. He’s looking at the baby, frowning at her like he’s trying to figure something out.
“…Okay?” Childe takes the baby back. She whines and fusses, but as Childe coos at her, she calms quickly.
Xiao sighs. Ganyu gasps.
Childe frowns at them. “What? Babies are just like this. Sometimes they get fussy.”
“Not adepti,” Xiao says.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“What did you do?”
“Okay, you’re not making any sense. I cleaned her and swaddled her. You watched me.”
“No, you—” Xiao stops himself and sighs again. He looks to the other adepti. “Ganyu, inform the Qixing. Because it’s him, they should know about this. Shenhe, fetch Cloud Retainer, and inform the others. Traveler, can you find Rex Lapis and meet us at the Jade Chamber?”
“Uh, sure, but why?” Paimon asks. “And why do you need the Qixing? Paimon can understand Zhongli and the other adepti, but surely the Qixing don’t have anything to do with an adepti baby, right? You can’t just deal with Childe yourselves?”
Xiao glares at Childe. “You. Follow me.”
Xiao, Ganyu, and Shenhe turn to leave, but the Fatui soldiers block their path. Those that can still stand, block them physically, and those that can’t, still have their weapons and magic ready. Xiao and the adepti pause.
“Whoa, whoa! Stand down!” Childe shouts at his men. He glares them down until their weapons are away. At the last second, he glances down at the baby, worrying that he woke her, but she doesn’t seem bothered. He marches up to Xiao, getting in his face. “Tell me, what the fuck is going on!? You were willing to fight to make me hand her over, I did, then you demanded that I take her back, and now we’re gathering the most powerful people in the country? Why?”
Xiao stares him down with as much hatred as he can possibly channel into a single look. “She is an adeptus. Quite possibly a pureblood adeptus. She has the potential to be more powerful than even myself. You did something, and whatever it was, it caused her to bond to you. And you are a Fatui Harbinger.”
“…Okay. So, it’s a political issue? Then, just take her back!” Childe holds the baby out to Xiao. “I know we haven’t always been on the best of terms, but I’m not heartless. She’s an adeptus, so she should be with the adepti. I don’t even want to be a dad! At least, not right now.”
“I can’t,” Xiao says through his teeth. “She’s bonded to you.”
“Meaning…?”
“Meaning, I can’t take her from you. Adepti aren’t like humans. Adepti bond to their parents at birth, and they can’t be separated. If they are, the child suffers. Are you prepared to make a child suffer? Possibly die? Because she will, if I take her from you.”
Childe looks down at the baby. She yawns, cutely, and snuggles into his arms, pressing her face towards his chest.
“…You’re lying. You’re messing with me! Right? Lumine? This is all some big prank to get back the Harbinger for the hundredth time! This is…” Childe trails off when no one affirms him.
Xiao sighs, and turns back towards the road. “Congratulations. You’re a dad.”
Well, shit.