Can't Stop Loving You | Childe x Zhongli | Genshin Impact [COMPLETED]

Arc 4: Chapter 37: Half a Decade Later

Tartaglia waited. A week passed, no sign at all. A month passed, and he started cleaning up Zhongli's place for him. A year passed, and Childe often slept at Zhongli's place instead. He believed that Zhongli would keep his promise. That he would return for him.

It was hell. Every moment that passed tested his patience, his faith, his trust. His heart died a little everyday when he saw Zhongli's home as empty as ever. Every night his guilt haunted him, his nightmares terrifying him to the point he could barely sleep. It felt like forever as he waited and waited without knowing when his wait would end.

But it was okay. Anything for Zhongli. Tartaglia had all the time in the world and he was willing to wait till the very end.

Until one day, he returned to find the lights in the house on. Childe broke out into a run, rushing in to see the man he loved so much cooking a meal in the kitchen. He let out a cry and ran over, nearly tackling Zhongli to the ground. Tartaglia had spent so much time waiting for him. He spent so long waiting to finally be able to talk to Zhongli.

"Zhongli! I missed you so much. I missed you..."

That was when he realized that Zhongli wasn't hugging him back. Tartaglia pulled away and saw a very confused Zhongli staring back at him.

"Sir, you are trespassing my home and invading my personal space. Please leave at once."

His eyes, his face, his hair, his voice. All of it was like Zhongli. Yet...

"It's me, Zhongli. Quit joking around." Tartaglia said, trying to muster a smile. Surely Zhongli was just pulling a prank on him, right?

"I do not know who you are." Zhongli said firmly, pushing him away and stepping back. His expression was serious and even somewhat angered. A man he did not recognize just entered his house.

Looking at his expression. Tartaglia's confidence wavered. His heart felt like it had just been smashed by a hammer. Zhongli just pushed him away. "You... You are Zhongli, right? Morax?"

"I am." Zhongli confirmed, frowning slightly, a little confused how the orange head foreigner knew his name.

"Then... do you not... remember me?" Tartaglia asked slowly, begging in his heart that Zhongli wouldn't answer it that way.

"I do not."

As if hit by an invisible force, Childe stumbled backwards, his sapphire blue eyes widened in shock. He who had the sharpest memory in the world did not remember him. Zhongli did not know him at all. After everything, he just forgot it all.

"I... My apologies." Childe ran, sprinting away from the house. His mind grasped at any possibility that perhaps it wasn't the Zhongli he knew.

Zhongli stared at his back as he left, feeling rather confused and a little guilty. The poor guy seemed so heartbroken when he had said he didn't remember him. However, it was true. Zhongli's memory of his past six thousand year long life was fuzzy. There were chunks of hazy memories that he knew vaguely what had happened, but not the details of it. Unfortunately, the short time he had spent with Tartaglia was not part of the memories he had.

-

Childe sat at the wharf, staring out at the calm water that refracted the orange sun rays from the setting sun. What would he do now? Zhongli did not remember him. His family thought him as dead. He could return to Snezhnaya, he supposed, but what would the Fatui do? How would they react knowing that Scaramouche died while he didn't? Tartaglia couldn't risk the possibility of the fatui thinking he was a traitor and in turn hurting his family.

Staring at the water, he wondered if it might be better if he was actually dead. Zhongli wouldn't have had to sacrifice himself. The soul of Durin wouldn't be a thing anymore either.