stranger [C. TARTAGLIA]

05

"good morning lady [Y/N]. what can i do for you?" ekaterina, the receptionist at the northland bank, greeted you as you walked down the stairs to approach her.

"have you seen childe?" you asked, resting your arm on the counter.

"he left this early morning saying he had something to do at yujing terrace." she answered.

yujing terrace? what was he doing there? you were curious, but you were still hesitant. should you risk going out and disobey the order that childe gave you to stay at the bank?

you weren't afraid of the man, you simply wanted to win over the fatui's trust to gain more information as to what they were up to. from what you gathered, childe was sent to liyue for a mission. that mission, you didn't know just yet.

"i'll just buy something from chef mao, i'll be back soon." you lied. ekaterina nods before you exit the bank.

you walked down the stairs, trying to be alert incase childe came back sooner than you expected. today was rather crowded however, as you saw multiple people walking towards the terrace.

you felt like you were forgetting something, but you didn't know what. what was it today? was there an event?

"[Y/N]?" a voice spoke behind you.

you wanted to curse out loud for getting caught. you had completely forgotten about the one person you knew well in liyue, and that was ying'er.

"ying'er, hey!" you turned to greet her. you took the fatui mask that was on your hip and placed it behind you where she wouldn't see.

"are you alright? you've been missing for a couple of days now. if it weren't for some fatui telling me you were fine and just quit the job i would've gone haywire." she sighs.

"i'm sorry for the short notice ying'er." you apologized, feeling bad you had to leave her out of the blue. "i'm doing well, don't worry. where are you off to?"

"you didn't know? today's the rite of descension!"

of course, no wonder why there were so many people. you could tell some even came from other nations. "oh."

"want to come with me? you never attended these things for the past years i've known you." she frowns.

"it's alright, i think i'll pa–" something clicked inside your head. what if this was part of the fatui's plan? it could not have been a coincidence that childe was going to yujing terrace the same time that the rite of parting was being held.

"i have to go." before ying'er could even reply, you bolted towards the direction of the terrace. you prepared your catalyst, ready to do whatever you had to do just to stop something bad from happening.

bumping onto people along the way, you finally arrived at the scene. at the center of the crowd stood a white haired woman, the tianquan of the liyue qixing herself.

"the hour is upon us." she spoke.

you were mesmerized by what she was doing. she was a beauty after all, no one could deny that, and you didn't know if you were in awe of what she was doing of she herself. a beaming light shone upwards, sending it up to the heavens. suddenly, the bright clear sky turned into a gloomy one.

your brows furrowed, thinking that this has never happened before to your knowledge so something must have gone wrong. you looked towards the sky and saw a figure falling down, hitting the ground hard.

your eyes widened, it couldn't be...?

ningguang walked towards the dragon, examining it for a moment. everyone felt scared and confused. then, realization hit the tianquan who also widened her eyes in surprise. she turned to face the mililleth and ordered them, "rex lapis has been killed, seal the exits!"

you stood there in shock. the timing was just too good, could the fatui have something to do with this? you bit your lower lip and walked away from the crowd, hoping to find the ginger haired man to ask questions.

more mililleths patroled the area, they were more alert than ever. their god as just been assassinated after all, it was natural for them to act like this. you spotted some fatuis being questioned, as well as some visitors that came from other places in teyvat.

you weren't being questioned though since you were known as a local at liyue harbor. you shielded your fatui mask with your clothes to avoid suspicions just in case.

your eyes scanned the crowd, looking for a certain redhead until you saw an unfamiliar blonde being surrounded by mililleths.

"freeze!" they pointed their spears at the male.

you stood in position to protect the boy, since you had thought the mililleth was going to attack him out of nowhere, but before you could come close childe appeared out of nowhere from behind him. "hey buddy, hold still!"

water blades appeared and shot the men,  stopping them from attacking. you saw them run away from the scene, so you quickly followed behind.

°

when you were sure that he was done talking to the blonde that seemed to have a floating pet with him, you walked towards childe and dragged him to a corner where no one would eavesdrop.

"what– [Y/N]? what are you doing here?"

you pushed the man towards the wall, tightly grabbing his shirt. "what did you do?" you hissed.

"oh? what did i do?" childe smirked. he held both your hands that was gripping his clothes, "you thought i had something to do with this?" he leaned towards you, but you wanted nothing more than to wipe that smug grin on his face.

"there's no way you could actually kill a god." you glared at him.

he scoffed and pulled your hand by force. he spun you around, now you were the one trapped on the wall while both your hands were pinned to your sides. "well aren't you smart?"

"tch." you weren't as strong as him but you could get out of his restraints with no sweat so you pushed him away from you, "what did you come here for?"

"i can't tell you yet." he folded his hands on his chest. "you'll just have to wait to find out."

he paused, and you only now noticed him getting quite irritated judging from the look on his face. "plus, i told you not to leave without my permission didn't i? you are under my supervision. from this point forward you will never leave my side."