Chapter Text
It was a rainy day in March and the ground had already turned muddy, leaving not only ugly stains on his new black shoes, but also on the hem of his expensive trousers, that were part of an Armani suit he had bought exclusively for this occasion. During his life Childe had not yet visited many funerals, but this one he wouldn’t have dared to miss.
He was glad that the Tsaritsa had assigned this task to him. It wasn’t every day that the head of the biggest rival clan would let himself get killed. Sending him off to a better life in the next world seemed to be the least the Fatui could offer to make the best of a bad job.
Although probably most of the present persons thought that Childe had killed him and now had the audacity to stand first row during his funeral.
Slowly Childe followed the mob of black clad people in front of him, while he held on to his umbrella like a lifeline. A few people were softly sobbing and dabbing at their faces with handkerchiefs. It cost him all his self-control to not start rolling his eyes. As if anyone would ever really feel sad for Rex Lapis! As if anyone had ever even remotely known him personally! Especially all the Adepti, who huddled together at the other side of the grave and who could be called the closest to Rex Lapis had grave expressions on their faces and were throwing angry looks towards the foreign Snezhnayan.
Rex Lapis had been a legend for his own syndicate and also for the Fatui. No one had ever seen his face, no one knew where he had lived and Childe could swear that also no one could tell if he had really died. For Childe it felt like a personal affront that a legend like him was even able to die. Just like that from one day to another.
The hyaenas, that were now feigning sadness had been waiting for this day for a very long time. Everyone was eager to know who would be the next person filling out the empty spot for the head of the “Archons”. Who would inherit all the wealth and reputation that came with the job?
It made Childe sick and he himself would stay as far away from this fighting as he could. Of course he was well aware of the fact that La Signora had her own plans with him, but in the end he didn’t care much about her opinion. Only if the Tsaritsa would command him, he would follow the orders without second thoughts.
But for now, he had not received any new instructions, so it was business as usual for him.
Not much longer and the crowd of people had finished gathering around the grave and now they were waiting for the mortician, who would bring the casket.
The young man just hoped he would come soon, because he could already feel how the dampness of his clothes was making him feel uncomfortable.
While everyone was waiting Childe took a look around. He was familiar with most of the faces and several meters away he also spotted a few police officers trying to look like civilians but failing badly. The handsome officer Kaeya and his colleague Jean would certainly stick out everywhere and it nearly made Childe laugh out loud, if it hadn’t been for the fact that he was actually attending a burial. It didn’t matter if they saw his face though. He knew who they were and they knew who he was. It was a truce and no one would dare to approach, unless they wanted to find a quick death. They were probably here to get new insights regarding the possible murderer. Actually Childe also suspected that the one who killed Rex Lapis would also attend the funeral, to make them look less suspicious. Still Childe found that none of the present people would have had the guts or the skill to do it, apart from himself of course.
Still the one thing that he couldn’t stop wonder about was, that no one of the Qixing have had the decency to show up. Most likely they did not want to show their support for Rex Lapis although everyone knew that he and Ningguang had been quite close business partners. Her absence was indeed quite suspicious to say the least.
Finally everyone looked up, probably because the casket had arrived and when Childe followed everyone’s gaze he was instantly taken aback.
With gloved hands and with a solemn expression on his face, the mortican who was an extremely handsome man, stepped forwards, while carrying the black casket, that was covered with golden ornaments. He had dark brown hair, that was tied into a long ponytail that fluttered behind him in the wind. He was wearing an interesting earring on his left ear, that dangled with every step, but what was most striking about him were his eyes.
For the first time in his life Childe felt excited, although this was not about fighting a battle. He couldn’t help but openly stare at the man, wondering who he was and how an impressive figure like him ended up being a mortician. It was only when the man had placed the casket into the grave and turned around to leave, that the spell was broken and Childe found himself back into reality, where people were now lining up to toss some earth into the grave. This was around the time, when the young man decided to leave the place. Rex Lapis was dead, it was no use to dwell on it any longer.
*
*
One week later the weather had improved a lot and the first signs of spring were within the air of Liyue. However this was nothing the man who called himself Tartaglia cared about. While he strode through the crowded streets of the city, he once again was thinking about the strange man he had seen at the funeral. Of course he had already made a background check on him, however there had not been much to discover. His name was Zhongli and he had been working for the Wangsheng Funeral Parlour for several years. There was nothing about friends, family, school or anything. It was suspicious and infuriating at the same time. Childe’s best guess was that he might have immigrated and during the process most of the certificates had not been translated and therefore they would not show up, if he only checked the local database.
But Childe was not yet giving up, he just had to find some time for a more thorough investigation. While a new plan started to form inside his mind, he went into his favourite coffee shop, ordered a tall Iced White Chocolate Mocha, took a seat at his usual spot and enjoyed to just sip his coffee and watch the people getting in and out of the place.
However when suddenly a man wearing all black with a long dark brown ponytail was entering the shop, Childe nearly spit out the coffee. He barely managed to hold back and instead he started coughing, but before it became embarrassing he had managed to get his body back under control.
Zhongli stood in front of the counter and he was studying the display on the wall for a very long time, looking as if lost deep in his thoughts, before he approached a staff member to make an order. Childe could not overlook the fact that Zhongli was once again wearing the same earring and the same pair of black gloves, although today’s weather was actually much too warm to still feel comfortable with gloves. Childe reckoned that this had probably to do with the job he was doing and he simply might have gotten used to wearing them.
While the ginger was still trying to make sense of the strange man he suddenly heard Zhongli speaking up. His voice was low and melodic and Childe would have loved to listen to it for much longer.
“One Chai Tea please.”
“Anything else?”
“Thank you, that’s all.”
When the young boy behind the cashier waited for Zhongli to pay, the man clad in black started to pat his long coat and then he put his hands into his pockets only to find them empty.
“Oh…,” he sighed, “I don’t have any money with me.”
The cashier behind the counter was stunned into silence and he was just about to send Zhongli away with an acerbic comment, when suddenly Childe hastened to jump in.
“The drink is on me!”
Both Zhongli and the cashier looked at him as if he had appeared out of nowhere, while Childe gave them his most winning smile and quickly put the cash on the counter.
The staff member took it silently and afterwards turned around and started to prepare the order for Zhongli.
“Thank you,” Zhongli moved towards Childe and gave him a soft smile, that nearly made Childe’s knees go weak.
“It was nothing really.”
Before they could continue any kind of conversation the man behind the counter barked into the room that the drink was ready and Childe had a mind to kill the cashier for his worst timing ever, but when Zhongli returned with his Chai Tea in his hand, his anger was already forgotten.
“I’m sorry for your loss,” Zhongli suddenly said and it caught Childe perfectly off guard.
“What?”
“The funeral a week ago, I saw you there. I was the mortician.”
“You remember me?”
Childe’s eyes went wide and his heart was beating unhealthily fast. He didn’t know why, but the fact that Zhongli remembered him, made him a bit proud.
“Well, it was a rather special clientele.”
Not wanting the conversation to end too soon, Childe quickly invited Zhongli over to sit with him and somehow the older man did not seem to mind.
“Special clientele, you mean the Mafia?”
Zhongli nodded with a smile.
“Were you not afraid?” Childe asked cheekily.
“I’m the mortician. I don’t judge the people I send off into the next world. When they are buried under the earth every human is the same.”
Childe rested his chin on his hand and studied the man opposite him a little more. Actually he had to stop himself from staring too intently in order not to look like a freak. Still Zhongli was up close even more beautiful. His amber eyes had a golden hue in them and the red eyeliner, that framed the edges, made them look even more special.
“But it seems despite them being the Mafia they don’t pay too well?”
Childe gestured at the drink which he had just paid for and it made the older man laugh out loud.
“Actually they are good customers, from a mortician’s perspective. Many people die in this business. But in this case, I just tend to forget to bring my wallet with me. So once again, thanks for helping me out.”
“You are welcome. I’m Childe by the way and you are?”
“My name is Zhongli.”
“Well Zhonlgi, nice to meet you. Is this your first time visiting this place, because I have never seen you entering before and I’m something like a regular here.”
Once again there was this mysterious smile tucking at the other’s lips and Zhongli placed both his hands around his cup and swirled the content several times before he replied.
“You are right, this is my first time here. I wanted to try something new.”
“And then you only order a boring Chai Tea?”
“Actually I’m very fond of tea, however this,” he swirled the liquid once more, “it’s a bit too sweet for my taste.”
“I can imagine,” Childe grinned. He would have offered his own drink to Zhongli to try, but it was already empty.
“Most of the drinks in here are very sweet, because they put a lot of syrup in there.” Childe explained as if he was the expert on this topic. The words sounded stupid even to himself and he wondered, why he was discussing such a plain topic of all things. Next he would speak about the weather and hit a new low.
“Mister Childe, were you close to the one who had died?”
The question came so much out of the blue, that Childe needed a moment to actually grasp the meaning.
“Rex Lapis? Actually no, I have never met him.” Childe answered truthfully enough.
“Oh? And you still went there and bit him farewell? Was he special to you in another way?”
On a second thought Childe would have preferred talking about the weather, but he reckoned that this was probably only some twisted business interest for the mortician.
Before he answered Childe leaned his head on one hand and looked into the distance out of the window.
He would have gone there with or without the order of the Tsaritsa, because somehow Rex Lapis had been someone to look up to for Childe. However explaining this to someone outside the Fatui would probably take forever, so Childe tried to summarize it.
“He was kind of a legend in the Mafia. He had a lot of power and influence. For me it’s hard to believe that he is actually dead. Maybe he just went home?” Childe mused and Zhongli raised his eyebrows in confusion.
“Home?”
“Like Elvis the famous singer, you know? Staging his death and live a life in peace.”
The older man chuckled lightly and his laughter was extremely pleasing to Childe’s ears.
“Sounds like a good idea!” Zhongli smiled and after a few seconds his expression became solemn again.
“I probably should not ask about this, but are you...part of the...you know. Are you also?” Zhongli struggled to finish his sentence and therefore Childe helped him out.
“What do you think? Do I look like one of them?”
The young man leaned back and looked as innocently as he could muster.
Zhongli put one of his gloved hands at his mouth and it seemed as if he was choosing his words carefully.
“I think you should not be taken lightly.”
This was probably the first time that someone had not fallen for his innocent appearance and Childe could not help but feel impressed. He wondered if working as a mortican would actually help to judge the true character of a person, but he doubted it, since all customers were dead already and had nothing to tell anymore.
Before Childe could say anything else the man in black checked the watch around his fabric covered wrist and his eyes became a little shocked.
“Oh, I’m sorry. My lunch-break ended ten minutes ago. My chef won’t be happy about this. Mister Childe, thanks for inviting me to a drink. It was a pleasure to meet you.”
With this Zhongli quickly rose from the seat and before Childe could add anything, he had vanished through the shop’s door, leaving a very confused Harbinger behind.