Stargaze | Tartaglia (Childe) x Reader (Genshin Impact)

Chapter 6 Supernova

Chapter 6 - Supernova

The placid air was humid with a brewing storm, foreboding clouds billowing over the now darkened horizon. Grievous rain would soon befall Liyue Harbor, though the nature of the yearning flood was a force you had yet to discover. Perhaps a rather vicious storm would drench the city in sorrow.

As thunder boomed overhead, you felt no obligation to retreat within your home. There would be no stars to illuminate your path tonight, for afflicted clouds that encroach the heart don't dissipate so easily—not when a wild tempest festers haunting memories, at least. You didn't know what you sought for as you gazed dispassionately at the sky. When had you ever felt so lost? Maybe Tartaglia's words resonated deeper than you thought, but the undecipherable nagging feeling in your chest suggested a different reason you didn't want to acknowledge. Is there anyone who can give me a straight answer?

In that moment, you felt truly alone. Or maybe that was simple the case all along. What had been your childhood? Parents more concerned with where the wind led them than the children they sheltered in Liyue. What use was drive if the benefactors sacrificed the happiness of others to achieve their own contentment? If relying on your sister to care for you like a parent was considered filial love then you'd extinguish the flame that tied your heart to familial longing and set ablaze the blood that flowed silver with new beginnings.

On the day black had washed over the stars with mourning satin, you sent a letter with such agonizing sorrow that the sheer misery oozing from the contents blackened the hearts of whoever grazed their fingers across the paper. Such was the intention of writing so despairingly, yet what returned was nothing short of atrocious. The words of their blatant disregard—at least from your perspective—would forever seer your memory; something your eyes would wash lilac to hide the truth.

Cold rain pattered against the indifferent pavement. Should you choose to seek cover it would be mere steps away, but you were compelled to withstand. Maybe in a way you were cursing whatever fate you had so miserably endured, though in the end it was just physical rain, and your drenched clothes only reminded you of your helpless mortality; the sky was unforgiving.

You started to meander mindlessly around the harbor, no destination nor a will to seriously contemplate the consequences. Your feet led you to Bubu Pharmacy, though you hadn't taken a set pathway. Your steps had been deliberately discreet as to not draw attention to your pitiful state, so it wasn't a surprise when those gathered at the place hadn't been alerted to your presence.

Forgetting your earlier plight, you spotted Tartaglia exciting the pharmacy, laughter still fresh off his face. Something was unusual, however, as he turned to a member of the Fatui who had been stalking in the shadows. Now with growing suspicions, you moved closer to hear what they were saying whilst hiding your presence as best as you knew how. Unlike just after the Rite of Descension, you didn't have the Millelith to rely on if you were to be discovered and given Tartaglia's unpredictable nature, it could be a matter of life and death.

"...They spoke of the Qixing taking the Golden House," you caught the end of what the Fatui woman was saying. They're talking about the Qixing? If I hadn't been so preoccupied with myself, I might have been more involved in this matter.

You felt a sharp, stinging pain in your chest. You were gradually distancing yourself from the affairs of Liyue Harbor, yet you still felt an obligation to defend it. It was as if it had been drilled into you, though you could not recall such a thing happening. Maybe you should leave Tartaglia to do whatever he was planning after all.

No.

No, how could you let the Fatui do as they please? How could you have forgotten all the people in Liyue that had helped you over the years? You may not have agreed with all of its principles, but you felt no resentment towards the city, rather, it was closer to the opposite. Your geo vision was a reminder of where your loyalties lied. At the heart of all your strife, your home was something that remained throughout all of it. It was not the time to bid it farewell just yet.