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Past his defence

Chapter 3

Notes:

And things will start to get interesting from here on :D
Also good news, I nearly finshed writing the entire story, only chapter 12 is missing.

Btw sorry for the long list of characters involved, actually they will all make either a small or big appearance.

Also thanks for any kudos/comments!!

Chapter Text

In retrospect the evening at Zhongli’s place had been fairly uneventful. Actually when Childe had agreed to have a cup of tea with him, he certainly hadn’t expected much, but somehow, when he had left the chaotic apartment later in the night he felt a little sad. They had not talked about a lot of things, basically at one point Zhongli had started to explain the origin and meaning of all his different stones, that Childe had zoned out after the third stone. Still he had very much enjoyed to listen to the mortician’s voice. It was low and melodious and it even made the history of a stone turn into something magnificent. But somehow Childe would have liked to hear a bit more about Zhongli. Granted he himself had not dared to ask any specific questions and since he was part of the Fatui, he would also not freely share any details about his own life, but still. There was something about Zhongli that had started to fascinate Childe, although he couldn’t point a finger on it.

When Childe opened the door to his own apartment it was already near midnight and he yawned while turning the key.

His apartment was a stark contrast towards the stuffed flat that Zhongli was living in. Childe liked his own home to be practical and minimalistic. There were zero decorations, but instead his furnitures were expensive designer pieces. Since he also didn’t spend too much time at his apartment, it made no sense to invest time into interior design.

Right now however Childe only craved the warmth and comfort of his bed. All the talk about ancient stones had made him more tired than he would admit and when he finally fell into his bed and closed his eyes the last thing he thought of was Zhongli.

~**~

There was no need to look up from his work, when suddenly the door to his office at the Northland Bank flew open. Childe had heard the loud clacking of la Signora’s heels already the moment she had entered the bank’s foyer downstairs.

“What do you want?” Childe asked, but his eyes were still glued to his laptop-screen. He could feel how the temperature had dropped several degrees the moment this haughty woman had stepped into the room.

“Tartaglia! Don’t act as if you are above me. I’m still your senior!”

Finally Childe looked up and rolled his eyes.

“As one of the eleven Harbinger of the Fatui we are actually all on the same level. But nevermind. What brings you here?”

La Signora had both her hands on her hips and she lifted up her chin in defiance.

“Although you are hardly worth my time I was asked to deliver this to you in person.”

From out of nowhere she produced a sealed letter and held it out for Childe, only she had not moved from her spot, so that Childe had to get up from his chair in order to take the letter from her.

Grudgingly he stood up and walked over until he was able to snatch the paper from her delicate fingers.

However the moment he saw the official seal of the Tsaritsa his eyes went wide and his heart started to beat faster in happy anticipation regarding the job he was going to get assigned.

La Signora studied Childe for a while, but when he didn’t make any effort to open the letter in front of her, she turned on her heels.

“Then I guess my job is done.”

Yet before she finally left, the beautiful woman stopped once more and spoke over her shoulder.

“This task has the highest priority. Don’t mess it up.”

Now Childe was even more curious regarding the content of the letter, but prior to opening it, he closed the door and locked it.

Eventually he sat down in front of his desk and unsealed the paper. He unfolded the handwritten letter and quickly read through it.

My dear Childe,

tomorrow at 16:00 you will meet a man at the Dihua park. Look for the dragon.

You will do as he says, you won’t ask questions, you will stay by his side and you will protect him with your life until instructed otherwise by me. Failure is no option. We are counting on you.

The Tsaritsa”

Now this was the most cryptic message Childe had ever received. Also since when where the Fatui bodyguards? Childe knew how to take a life, how to protect one was an entirely different story.

Still, the person must be extremely valuable for the Tsaritsa, if she would go as far as to assign one of the Harbingers.

It made the young man a bit proud that he had managed to snatch the job away from everyone else. Considering his abilities he was indeed the best choice for the task, also because it was more likely that he would be able to get along with the target person. If la Signora would have been the bodyguard the person would probably gladly kill himself after having to listen to her for one hour straight.

It was only too bad that he would have to wait an entire day, before he would get to know the mysterious person. He wondered who he could be. Maybe an influential politician, a chief witness or a rich business man?

Somehow there was no name coming to his mind and Childe read over the letter several times, before he knew the content by heart.

He took a lighter from the drawer of his desk and set the paper aflame. For some seconds he watched the flames dancing upwards towards his hand, but before he would get hurt, he let the paper fall into a nearby ashtray and made sure that the flames would consume it, until nothing was left of it, except ashes.

~**~

Finally the fateful day had arrived and Childe was standing inside a hidden room of the Northland Bank basement that was filled with different kinds of weapons. He wasn’t quite sure what he would have to expect so he reckoned bringing something big like a rifle would be too much. If his task was to protect someone, then this was most likely more of an undercover operation, therefore he should act as unobtrusively as possible. Small guns and maybe a few sharp knives would do the job. Being an expert when it came to weapons he had quickly made his choice and hid everything inside his clothes. If he needed anything more, he could always come back to top up. Also if something special was required, he could simply buy it, because thanks to being part of the Fatui he had the right connections and his credit card balance was nearly unlimited.

On his way out Childe walked over to Ekaterina once more.

“I’m out. Don’t start looking for me.”

Ekaterina nodded knowingly. Since there were several customers inside the lobby they were not able to speak openly, but they understood each other even without many words.

“Take care,” she nodded and waved the young man goodbye. When Childe was on a mission there was of course always a chance that he would not return, but Childe didn’t worry about that too much. There would always be a replacement at the Northland Bank for him. But actually when Tartaglia went on a mission he never expected failure. He was too confident in everything he was doing, that he would never believe that there would be anything he would not be able to handle.

~**~

He took a taxi that brought him to the entrance of the park and the rest of the way he strolled through the nice park grounds killing some time, while he was looking for “the dragon” as the letter had stated it. Because the sun had been shining the last couple of days the trees had started to grow leaves again and the ground was littered with tiny flowers in different colours. In total it was a very nice day to walk through the park and it was indeed quite busy with people. There were children playing on the grass and young couples walking past Childe while they were holding hands.

The task to find “a dragon” among all these people seemed more complicated than he had expected. Soon it was already past the arranged time and the harbinger was starting to get nervous, speeding up his steps while looking left and right. After he had rounded another corner, he suddenly ran into a well known figure all clad in black.

“Zhongli?” Childe greeted the other, his actual task almost forgotten. The older man looked quite out of place with his dark clothes that nearly covered up all his skin in contrast to the people around him wearing flashy colours of spring.

When Zhongli did not immediately react, Childe already thought that he might not have heard him, because he was possibly once again lost deep in his own thoughts. Then abruptly he looked up as if he had made up his mind about something very important.

After a few steps Zhongli stood in front of the surprised Childe, took both of his hands and placed something into his palms.

With raised eyebrows Childe looked down into his hands and saw that he was holding a hairpin that was shaped like a Chinese dragon.

The seconds ticked by and slowly realization dawned on him.

“You?” He asked a little louder than intended and his head snapped upwards to meet Zhongli’s eyes.

The mortician looked as mysterious as ever and only gave a small nod.

“Maybe we should discuss this somewhere else.”

It wasn’t actually a question and he gently pushed Childe into the direction of the park’s exit. The harbinger, who was usually not someone easily surprised had somehow lost his ability to speak and he followed Zhongli, while still holding onto the hairpin as if this was the only proof that what was happening was real.

Outside the park Zhongli stopped a taxi and both men got inside.

During their ride the young Fatui wondered why Zhongli could be important to the Tsaritsa. First he thought that maybe the Tsaritsa and Zhongli were secret lovers. Zhongli had the looks, but then again he doubted that this would be enough for the Tsaritsa’s tase. Also something Childe did not yet want to label ‘jealousy’ was praying to the gods that this was not the reason for his job as a bodyguard. Then again, the most obvious reason could only be that Zhongli wasn’t who he was pretending to be. It was driving Childe nuts and he nervously drummed his fingers on the leather seat, much to the annoyance of the driver.

After what felt like an eternity the car finally stopped in front of a modern looking building and Zhongli led the way into a vast lobby from which they took an elevator into the 10th floor.

The man Childe had met inside the coffee store and whom he had invited to a Chai Tea and the man standing next to him now with the air of a rich businessman, couldn’t have been any more different. While Childe usually praised himself for being able to read a person, he felt now at a loss. What had he overlooked? How could a simple mortician become the most important man for the Tsaritsa?

Eventually Zhongli opened a door that led straight into a penthouse and by now Childe was just about to pinch himself to make sure that he wasn’t still dreaming.

When Zhongli spoke up, it was effectively bringing Childe back into reality and he tore his eyes from the expensive interior that was now surrounding him.

“I can imagine that you have a lot of questions and I will try to answer them as best as I can.”

Suddenly remembering the pin inside his hand Childe looked down at the object in his palm and then held it out to Zhongli.

“What’s the meaning of this?”

Zhongli closed his eyes and folded his arms in front of his chest as if he was contemplating his reply.

“I think you already gave the answer yourself. What if Rex Lapis only staged his death in order to live a peaceful life from now on?”

Childe’s eyes went wide and realization dawned on him.

“Yes, I am Rex Lapis.”

Zhongli voiced out loud, what Childe didn’t even dare to think.

“What?” He asked stupidly, although he already knew that it was the truth.

“There aren’t many who are privy to this secret, however the Tsaritsa is. We made a deal, that would put her in a very favourable position and actually I had never planned to involve anyone else...however my plan somehow backfired.”

Zhongli walked over to a sideboard and opened a drawer from which he removed an envelope. He then walked back to Childe and held it out for the other, who hesitantly took it from him and removed the content.

Inside the envelope Childe found a large piece of paper that looked like the typical letter a blackmailer would send. The letters were cut from newspaper and glued together to form a new sentence.

 

We know your secret. You are not safe. We will come for you.

The Abyss

 

“Who is The Abyss?” Childe asked after he had read the letter and put it back into the envelope.

Zhongli sighed and looked into the distance.

“I don’t know, nor does the Tsaritsa.”

“I reckon you have many enemies, so there must be someone hating you the most?”

This made the older man chuckle.

“During my time as Rex Lapis not many knew my face, so actually the number of people is fairly limited. For my part all of them had my full trust, but maybe I was wrong in trusting them.”

Childe now also crossed his arms in front of his chest and his brain was on overdrive, trying to process all the new information.

“A few of the Adepti knew my identity, but most of them have been with me from the beginning, so it doesn’t make sense for them to rebel against me only now. Then there is the lady Ningguang from the Qixing. Although they are more like a trading guild, we were working together quite closely. Of course this was only unofficial, but we helped each other out. If I had to name someone being the most suspicious then it would be her, but actually I wouldn’t believe it.”

“Shouldn’t everyone be happy that you made room for a new leader? Shouldn't they start to kill each other instead of killing you? Or did you assign a successor against the will of everyone else?”
Zhongli shook his head.

“No, I didn’t. Actually my retirement was meant to disband the old hierarchy and to open the possibility for something new.”

Childe shrugged.

“Some people don’t like something new. Old habits die hard.”

“You are probably right about that.”

“So anything else they could be after?”

The silence of the other immediately betrayed him.

“Zhongli? I know I’m not supposed to ask questions, but if there is anything else, I really should know about it.”

Finally the older man seemed to give in.

“The Gnosis.”

“The what?” Somehow Childe started to feel like the most stupidest man on earth.

“The Gnosis. It’s like a codeword I use for all contracts that I have ever made and that are still in place. Signing the Gnosis over to somebody else, would put them in a position of power.”

“I can imagine,” Childe commented and he could feel that his head was just seconds away from exploding.

“However, the Gnosis will go to the Tsaritsa. That is the content of our deal, if she is keeping me safe from harm and helps me to uncover the identity of the people calling themselves The Abyss. Afterwards all my contracts will go to her.”

Now everything made sense and Childe understood why this was probably the most important task he had ever been assigned.