Actions

Work Header

Down Below

Summary:

So, maybe surviving in the abyss isn't the best way to pass the time, but at least the prettiest girl he has ever seen is teaching him how to use swords.

Or:
Childe falls into the abyss when he's fourteen and Lumine promises to help him find his way out.

Chapter 1: Falling

Chapter Text

“Hey. Are you okay? Are you hurt?”

That concerned voice definitely didn’t belong to his mother or his sisters. Then who? He strained to sit up. God, everything hurt. What happened?

“Don’t push yourself.” said the same voice as a small but firm hand pushed against his back for support. Ajax slowly opened his eyes. 

An angel. An angel was helping him sit up right now. He must have died. With blurry vision and a quiet ringing in his ears, he further surveyed his surroundings. He died and went to hell, based on his surroundings, but an angel was here for some reason. That was weird, he didn’t think he had lived a particularly bad life. Running away had probably worried his family but surely that wasn’t enough for him to land here.

Ah, that’s right. He ran away. Memories flashed through his head and he winced. He went into the forest, he was being chased, and then he was falling, falling, falling. And now he was here. He was disoriented and probably stuck. Maybe the angel was here to take him back.

“What’s your name? Can you speak?”

“Ajax.”

“Hello Ajax.” she smiled at him then. It was meant to be comforting, but it made his heart race. 

“Where are we?”

“Ah. About that. I wanted to know how you got here.”

“I don’t even know where ‘here’ is.”

“Oh.” Something like pity flashed across her face before another comforting smile took its place. “Well then, welcome to the abyss.”

And just like that, Ajax’s life changed forever.

***

Her name was Lumine. And apparently, she was not an angel, just a person. Though, he was skeptical. The way her golden eyes glowed just slightly in the dim light definitely was not natural, and she moved with far too much grace to be human. When he told her that, she laughed a little and insisted that she was really just a normal person.

Another thing he learned- the abyss was crawling with monsters from nightmares and eldritch monstrosities. He couldn’t deny that the prospect of seeing one was exciting, but it was overshadowed by the less exciting news that he was, as he predicted, trapped here. 

“Not forever.” Lumine had told him. She would help him find a way out, and she’d keep him safe until then. He had insisted that he didn’t need to be kept safe, and had shown her his iron sword. She just smiled in response. 

“Thankfully you’re not too hurt,” she said after looking him over, “looks like you just have a minor concussion.”

“‘M fine.” he grumbled, abashed.

“How old are you Ajax?”

“Fourteen. And you?”

“Hmm. That’s a good question. I don’t really know. Probably at least a few hundred years.”

“Ha. Ha.”

He waited for her to reveal her true age, but the only reply he got was a twinkle of amusement in her golden eyes.

“How would you like to accompany me on my journey until we find a way for you to get out of here?”

“I don’t really have any other choice, do I?”

“You always have a choice.”

Ajax let out an exasperated sigh and ran a hand through his orange hair.

Lumine stood and outstretched her hand to help him up- an olive branch.

He put his hand in hers- a silent agreement.

“Well then, we had better get a move on.”

***

They had been walking for hours and Ajax was getting tired, more emotionally than physically. He’d be chatting with Lumine and suddenly some creature that would surely haunt his nightmares tonight was sprinting towards them with clear intent to kill, and Lumine would just end it with her sword without even pausing their conversation. Lumine had needed to stop talking and engage in battle a grand total of three times, he was counting. Ajax began to wonder if the only thing he had to fear down here was right next to him.

His surroundings were red and black and purple and the lighting was dim. He had experienced more adrenaline rushes today than he had in his entire life combined. Lumine told him that so far they had faced only the weakest monsters the abyss had to offer. He wasn’t sure he wanted to know what the strongest monsters looked like.

Who was he kidding, he totally did. 

He was terrified and he felt powerless but never in his whole life had he ever felt so exhilarated, so excited and free. Everytime a monster went for their throats he watched eagerly as Lumine struck it down without hesitation, wondered if he could win against it, wondered how it would feel to be pushed to his limits.

Lumine, sensing that he had run out of energy, said, “Let’s stop for today.”

“Okay.” he agreed easily.

Lumine set down her backpack and unclipped her sleeping bag before seeming to come to a realization. “Ah. I only have one sleeping bag.”

“Oh.”

“I didn’t exactly expect to find a kid down here.” she mumbled.

“We could share?” Ajax offered (definitely not hopeful).

Lumine let out loud laughter. When it died down she said, “No need, kiddo. I’ve got a better idea. Would you mind if we made one more quick trip before settling down for the night?”

“Sure.” Ajax wouldn’t be opposed to watching Lumine fight a few more monsters.

“Wonderful.” And then she led them to an open field in which a giant black mockery of a rabbit was peacefully grazing on the corpses of other monsters. Ajax caught a glimpse of a mouth filled with bone daggers for teeth. It would have been cute were it not so terrifying. This must be one of the stronger monsters Lumine was talking about.

Lumine whispered, “Stay right here.” before ruffling his hair and charging in. She didn’t take it by surprise and she didn’t need to. When the beast noticed her, it snapped its head down in an attempt to bite Lumine in half. It was fast, but Lumine was faster. She rolled to the side and then her sword was in the eye of the monster whose head was where she had been standing only a fraction of a second ago. She used the handle of her sword to vault herself onto the rabbit’s neck, holding tightly to its fur as it raised itself on its hindlegs and roared.

Lumine removed the sword from its eye while gripping its neck with powerful legs. Then, to Ajax’s delight and horror, she took out its other eye. But this time she kept pushing until her hands and the sword handle were out of sight. It didn’t take long for the beast to drop dead. 

“Holy shit.” Ajax whispered almost reverently. Lumine looked over to him from atop the beast and gave him a victorious grin.

Ajax grinned back.

***

Lumine had lit a fire, skinned the damn thing, and made him a blanket from its pelt. He would treasure this blanket for as long as he lived. Then she used it to make him dinner. Rabbit had never tasted so good.

“Teach me how to fight.” he begged.

“No.” Lumine was afraid that if she started teaching him, he’d get overconfident and try to fight a creature he wasn’t ready for. No offense to the kid, but he seemed like the impulsive type.

“Please.”

“No.”

Ajax sat down and pouted. The temptation to ruffle his hair was almost overwhelming but she refrained, for fear of angering him even further.

For several minutes there was silence, until Lumin said, “I’d recommend going to sleep, Ajax.”

“Is it even safe to go to sleep?”

Lumine put a finger to her jaw and glanced up, considering. “Probably not,” she answered truthfully, “but we really don’t have much choice.”

“What happened to ‘there’s always a choice’?”

Lumine laughed but didn’t otherwise respond. Ajax glared at the hypocrite, but snuggled into his blanket anyway.

The lighting hadn’t changed at all. From the looks of it, the abyss didn’t have day or night. It seemed that Lumine told time only by her internal clock. Ajax couldn’t deny that he was tired, so her internal clock probably wasn’t far off. But then again, with the day he had anyone would be tired no matter the time of day. Lumine was looking a little tired herself.

Speaking of Lumine, she clearly knew how to handle herself. She wielded her sword as though it were an extension of her body. She moved with an impossible grace and killed monsters with ease. Not only that, but her appearance was ethereal. She was the prettiest girl Ajax had ever seen, just his type. And she became more his type everytime she slayed a monster without an ounce of hesitation. At this rate, Lumine was going to set the precedent for what his type even was.

It was almost suspicious.

Still, even if he didn’t trust her yet, he needed her. He wanted to grow powerful enough to kill all these monsters on his own, and she could teach him. Today she had turned him down, but he’d keep pushing until she agreed. Slowly but surely.

But for now, he’d close his eyes and get some much needed sleep, his sword an arms length away.

***

He awoke to a clang. It was so sweet of his mom to get up early to make breakfast, but he wished she’d be a little quieter about it. He groaned quietly, a small sound of protest.

Then he heard growling and he shot out of his bed, his eyes darting around in search of the sound. Ah, he wasn’t in his house, he was in the abyss. And for some reason, Lumine was standing right by his head, back facing him. His eyes trailed up and up until he could see why.

Oh. Well, fuck.

Lumine was holding back an entire monster's maw with the flat of her sword. One hand on the handle and the other supporting the blade closer to the tip. She was panting and her arms were trembling. She clearly would not be able to hold it back for much longer.

This beast made the last one seem almost cuddly. If Ajax were to compare it to an animal, it would be a wolf. It stood on four legs with brown matted fur and an elongated jaw. But that was where the similarities ended. Pieces of its skin were falling off as though it were rotting. It was huge and its knees were all backwards and wrong and it’s spine made its skin bulge. Its tail was nothing but a string of bones. Its ears looked almost human, and its eyes were slitted and were glowing a sickening shade of purple.

That thing had just tried to kill him. It was easy to put two and two together. That thing had gone for Ajax while he was sleeping and Lumine had awoken and rushed in to save him. That monster was going to take him out in his sleep and Ajax wouldn’t have known, would have gone down without a fight, would have had a death that was weak and meaningless.

Ajax saw red.

Ajax grabbed his sword and clumsily rolled to the side just as the beast threw Lumine to the side and made a move to snap its jaw at Ajax.

Ajax swung his sword at the beast and made a shallow cut along its jawline. It released a feral growl, but otherwise seemed hardly phased.

In the background he managed to make out Lumine dashing towards him, she was close but she wasn’t going to make it in time. She had been flung too far over. This monster was so strong, it was amazing that Lumine had been able to hold it back at all.

Still, he wasn’t going to die so easily. He hated to admit it, but if he was going to survive this, he’d need to get to Lumine. She could handle herself, but if the monster was focused on him then he’d die for sure. One day he’d find a creature on par with this one and kill it, he swore to himself, but for now he wanted to live and grow stronger.

So he sprinted beneath it before it could bite him, despite his every instinct telling him to run in the other direction. He swiped at its leg on the way out, changing directions so that he was running to the side towards Lumine. The monster roared.

He and Lumine passed each other, making eye contact for just a split second. Safe. He was safe. Lumine could handle it. He hated this. He hated this so much but he’d leave it to her.

Ajax slowed to a stop and turned around to watch as they fought, too busy being bitter to appreciate Lumine’s power. It was clear to Ajax that this monster wasn’t even comparable to anything that they had seen thus far, and it showed. Lumine was clearly struggling, but everytime she fell she got back up. Still, Ajax couldn’t be sure that Lumine would win this battle. His veins were coursing with adrenaline. What would happen to him if Lumine lost? He’d die for sure. He could run, but if this monster didn’t kill him then another would. He was powerless and he hated it so much.

The more he thought about it, the more helpless he felt. If he was going to die either way then he may as well go down fighting. He looked to the sword he was gripping in his white-knuckled hand. And if Lumine was distracting it, then he may be able to do some damage. 

Ajax made his decision. It was reckless and ambitious and stupid, but it was his. Even if it got him killed, he’d feel okay with it.

As Ajax rushed in, he should have felt afraid. Instead all he felt was exhilaration. If he had a crazed grin on his face as he ran toward the monster's hind leg, well, it was no one’s business but his own.

As he raised his sword, there was an overwhelmingly bright flash of blue light. When he swung his sword his eyes shined with an emotion that he hoped his mother never saw.

He was so focused on the monster that he didn’t even realize his sword was covered and lengthened by a layer of water. 

He felt unimaginable pride when the monster’s leg came clean off. It howled, purple eyes bloodshot.

Lumine spared only a second to drop her jaw and look at him with shock, before she was back in the fray. They both were. They fought together, though Lumine made sure to keep the monster’s attention on her. 

Minutes passed before Ajax made the killing blow. He had never felt such bliss in his entire life. He had bested a foe that thought it could kill him. He won a battle that would kill most. He was powerful. He was special. This feeling was absolutely addicting. He soaked in his victory as everything had caught up to him, before taking the blue orb in his hand to his face and staring at it in awe.

He plopped to the ground. His legs were shaking from adrenaline and every other emotion he had felt tonight. “I have a vision.” He whispered, an acknowledgement and a prayer.

Lumine turned to him, looking tired but proud. “It appears I’ve misjudged you. Tomorrow I’ll teach you how to wield swords.”

Despite everything, despite the danger, the excitement, and arguably the trauma, Ajax fell asleep easily that night. The last expression on his face before he fell asleep was the biggest grin he had ever worn.