Final Goodbye (Zhongli x Childe)

"It's a fine day isn't it, Mr Zhongli?" Childe turned to Zhongli who is currently quietly drinking his tea as he turned his head to him "yes, it is indeed a very fine day"

Zhongli and Childe decided to go to Guyun Stone Forest, even if Childe knew that Morax is Zhongli himself, that didn't stop him for hanging out with him, or even date him, they took a long walk, chatting here and there, they even didn't notice how they did reach their destination that fast. They sat on the sand wetting their feet in the cold water of the ocean, after a few minutes of silence, Childe decided to talk about their future

"well for me" Childe took a long sigh and looked up to the sky "I plan to go back to Snezhnaya, just to take a long vacation to spend time with my siblings, I miss them so much" Childe looked at Zhongli who is now staring at him and tears almost escaped his eyes "X-xiangsheng, are you okay?"

Zhongli flinched as he was staring out of nowhere, he sees Guizhong in Childe, his past lover. He remembered how he left her alone that night, he remembered how those m*rderers killed his precious Guizhong while he wasn't around

-flashback around 3000 years ago (before the Archon war)-

"It's getting late, I'll be going now" Morax turned to the smiling Guizhong who is now waving goodbye to him "take care Morax, stay safe!" Guizhong chuckled and Morax secretly smiled as he walked away, making his way back to Liyue

The next day, Morax came to Guili Plains to pay a visit to his dear friend, as soon as he reached there, his jaw dropped, tears escaped his once emotionless eyes to see Guizhong on the glaze lilies and was bathing by her own blood, without thinking, Morax quickly rushed to her and brought her to his arms "w-what happened? Guizhong tell me what happened?!" he yelled at the top of his lungs as he tried to look for anyone who can help them "Guizhong! Please! Hold on!" but he felt like all of his energy went down the drain, she slowly turned to dust and faded away with the wind

-end of flashback-

"Mr Zhongli are you alright?" Childe asked as soon as he saw his tears escaped his eyes

"I am fine Childe, do not worry about me" Zhongli smiled bitterly, Childe knew something was off that's why he invited Zhongli at dinner the net day and without hesitation, Zhongli agreed

As soon as Zhongli reached his room, his tears escaped from his eyes again, he tried to sob quietly as he felt his knees weaken, a loud thud filled the room which in that case, Childe heard. He immediately rushed over to Zhongli's room and he rushed the door open "Zhongli are you okay?! Did something happened?!" Zhongli gave him a head shake, signaling a no sign, Childe didn't buy his head shake and he looked at Zhongli directly at his eyes "I know you're lying, Xiangsheng tell me the truth please, you can't lie to me forever" Zhongli looked at him and smiled "I'm fine I promise, do not worry about me" Childe looked at him and sighed heavily "well if you say so"

After a few days, Zhongli accompanied Childe to the dock, saying their farewells to each other. Zhongli tried his best to not overthink, he tried to smile even though he want to let his tears escape his eyes. Childe noticed this and he went towards him, caressed his cheek and smiles softly "Do not worry Xiangsheng, I'll be fine and I'll return home safely, I promise" he kissed Zhongli's cheek and boarded the ship "take care my love, I'll write to you as soon as I got home okay?" he waved goodbye for the last time and blew Zhongli a kiss. Zhongli waved him a goodbye and walked away from the dock as soon as the ship Childe's on it, disappeared into the fog

It only has been a few minutes when everyone noticed the sky turned gray and another sea monster emerged at the sea

"It is I! Besiht! The wife of Osial!"

Zhongli looked at the ocean to see Osial's wife emerged at the sea, his eyes widen, he saw the Jade Chamber heading towards it, for the first time ever, he felt scared because it only has been a few minutes since Childe left the dock of Liyue, he rushed over to the scene and saw everything "Childe can't do this can he? He already left-" his eyes grew bigger as he saw the huge wave coming fast towards them, he was about to use his elemental burst to stop the wave but to his surprise, Shenhe, the one cloud retainer has been training and taking care of, stopped the wave in an instant. They won the battle but Zhongli couldn't stop overthinking if the ship Childe's on is safe. Zhongli forced himself to stop overthinking, he went back to Liyue and pretended nothing had happen

"It has been 3 days, why hasn't he writing to me yet?" Zhongli asked to himself as he look up to the sky and gently closed his eyes and gently felt the warm breeze in Liyue "Give him time Mister Zhongli, he'll write soon enough" Hu Tao said as she popped out from nowhere, Zhongli looked at her "I hope he's okay" Hu Tao sighed and looked up to the sky as well "why do you care for a Fatui anyway? He almost wiped out off Liyue!" Hu Tao exclaimed, her thoughts bursting out, Zhongli looked at her and sighed heavily "he may be a Fatui that almost wiped off Liyue but deep inside, he's the sweetest man I could ever met" he smiled and Hu Tao just shaked her head in disbelief and stayed with Zhongli for a couple of minutes and they returned to Wangsheng Funeral

-FF 3 months later-

"Why hasn't he wrote to me yet? Did he..? Did he found another and left me or he's gone..?" Zhongli's tears escaped his eyes once more and started to cover his face in embarrassment. Venti pitied him and patted his back gently, telling him that everything will be alright and maybe he hasn't wrote to him yet because he's too busy in the house chores or maybe he bonded his brothers and sisters that he forgot to write to him, Zhongli sighed and Venti offered him Mondstadt's famous Dandelion wine, he took out two cups and carefully poured wine into them, Venti sighed heavily on the sight of Zhongli, he felt awful for his archon friend who misses his lover. "Hey Barbatos, what if, Childe will disappear like Guizhong did..?" Zhongli asked his dear friend and Venti instantly looked at him "eh? He'll be okay, don't worry" Venti assured Zhongli even though he wasn't sure of what he was saying, he just sighed and handed Zhongli his drink

While drinking wine, Zhongli saw a human laying around the sand in Guyun Stone Forest, when he clearly saw that this person has orange-ginger hair, Zhongli immediately went down the cliff, thinking it could be Childe, he now had bad thoughts as he went nearer and nearer to the body. Zhongli frozed when he saw Childe there, not breathing and his body was rotting, his tears escaped his eyes as he weakly knelt down to his side and caressed his hair "w-why? Why did you have to leave..?" Zhongli asked the corpse beside him, his tears unconsciously dripping down to his cheek as he held Childe to him and hugged him as tight as he can

Childe's POV:

'I saw the way Xiangsheng's eyes looked at me as I boarded my ship, he must felt lonely as soon as I departed' Childe told himself while staring at the beautiful blue sky, Childe knew the story of what happened to Zhongli's past lover and he knows he can't lose him for the second time, he sighs heavily and stared at the crew he's with at the ship to Snezhnaya, he can't wait to go home and hug his little brothers and sister, a smile was shown on Childe's face when all of the sudden a loud thunder was heard from the sky and there emerged Beisht, Osial's wife. Childe's eyes grew wide when Beisht summoned a huge wave and was only 3 minutes away from them!

Childe knew he had to think fast because there is no way everyone will survive that massive wave, he tried to look for ways on how to save his comrades and himself but it was too late, the ship that was Childe on had been washed away by the huge wave. Everyone was screaming for help, everyone tried to seek help from Childe as soon as possible but he knew he can't do anything at this point, his vision and delusion were both helpless to him now, Childe cursed under his breath and silently watched his comrades drown to their death one by one

Childe luckily managed to survive and was relieved until all of the sudden he felt cramps on both of his legs that made Childe helplessly drown. He was screaming for help but he knew no one would come to his aid because he was a hundred miles away from Liyue

A tear escaped Childe's eyes and told to himself the words "I didn't knew this was going to be our final goodbye, my love. I'm sorry" and now closed his eyes and let the sea take away his breath

-a year later-

"I-i wished I didn't let you leave that day if I only knew Beisht would attack" Zhongli said to himself and continues weeping, it's been over a year and still he kept reminiscing that day when Childe waved his final goodbye to him, he smiled as he remembered Childe's smile, making him regret he ever let him leave even more. As soon as all the guests left, Zhongli looked at Childe's tombstone and spoke the words "what's the worth of my strength and power if I, Morax, can't even save you my love?" A tear fell from his cheek as he wiped it immediately and looked up to the sky "I'm sorry I couldn't save you that day, if only I know that, that day will be our final goodbye, I should've not let you leave my sight"

-End-

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